Stuffed Unicorn

A while ago, Claire found a scrap of fabric and announced to Julie that she needed me to make her a stuffed horse with a saddle. (The saddle was very important.) Once Claire found out I was moving closer, she was very excited that I could bring my sewing machine to her house. (Julie also started lining up sewing projects it wouldn't have made sense to mail me.) I started looking for a pattern and found one for Henry the Horse in Jill Hamor's book, Storybook Toys. Claire loves unicorns so we added a horn. It came out fairly well considering my lack of experience with 3D patterns.

Bird Pillow Covers

Amanda asked me to make her a pillow cover. I was going to make it to match her quilt, but I wasn't thrilled with my options. When asked for inspiration, she suggested a bird silhouette. This worked out nicely to coordinate thematically, even if I didn't use matching fabric. I like this color combination as well.
 

I'm not the best at applique, so it's a very basic bird. The applique itself turned out much better than expected. There is only a slight wrinkle near the tail. I used my zipper foot rather than do a blanket stitch because the bird was so curvy. Unfortunately it's not exactly centered. I centered the entire design when it would have looked better to center the body of the bird.

I wasn't sure applique would be comfy on your face, so I decided to make a flannel one with scraps I had left from the flannel bird blanket.

They both have unexciting envelope backs.

Finished sizes: 12" x 12"

Flannel Bird Blanket

After finishing Amanda's birthday quilt, I had 2.5 yards of bird flannel left. I went and got 2.5 yards of this green flannel so I could make another completely flannel blanket. These are 8" squares without quilt batting in between. I left a half inch seam allowance, snipped a quarter inch to fray.

Finished size: 42" x 56"

Flannel Owl Blanket

My first project on the new machine! I'm pretty sure I've had this owl flannel for at least 5 years, so I decided I should finally turn into something. An easy blanket seemed like a good test project for the new machine. 

Finished size: 40" x 35"

Airplane Baby Blanket

I bought this remnant of airplane flannel a couple years ago, because I knew it would be perfect for when my sister had a baby, and now she is! I was excited to finally get to use it. I ran right out and got some orange flannel for the back. She likes orange, and it will be one of the nursery colors.

Finished size: 31" x 39"

Green Flannel Bears

Several years ago, I made a little bear out of green corduroy. I used the same pattern to make this little trio out of leftover flannel:

They are about 8" high. Of course I hadn't saved the pattern, and it took quite a lot of searching online to find it again. I don't really enjoy stuffing animals, but I was motivated to use up this flannel, the noses and eyes, and scraps of quilt batting. I save way too many batting scraps that are really only useful as stuffing.

The flannel was leftover from this bear, which I made in approximately 2002:

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Blue Flannel Blankie

I'd love to say that I whipped up this little blanket in no time at all, but unfortunately I repeatedly ripped out many, many stitches while trying to quilt it. The quilting was ultimately very minimal and very straight, after my failed attempts at curved and free-motion quilting. Nonetheless, it is a great project for my 2013 goal of using up my stash, even if it took longer than anticipated! This print is cute, but the primary color scheme did not lend itself well to anything else in my stash except this blue flannel, which was a perfect match.

It will be a perfect baby gift, especially with the addition of my home-made "ribbon." I frequently forget about wrapping gifts until the last minute, and by using a strip of fabric, you can easily make a matching tie for your quilt. Cuteness!

Finished size: 36"x39"