Giving Thanks and Holiday Preparations

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My babies, fresh out of bed and snuggling together - these are the moments that I'm most thankful for!

'Things I'm Thankful For' list toppers: Hearing Evie call me Mommy (pronounced more like 'Mah-MEE'), a husband who works hard for his family, Lilly's incredibly quick wit, an awesome new job and equally great boss, finding an amazingly therapeutic new hobby, parents who go WAY out of their way for us, and the love and support of a handful of truly great friends. I'm a very blessed girl!

And on another note :) .....

In exchange for a few weeks of free babysitting, I've been helping one of my best friends create some handmade gifts for her 4 (that's right, I said FOUR!) boys for Christmas.  She's not a sewist... well, at least she wasn't when she asked me to make these. An early Christmas gift to me - I think I've converted her! So, TOGETHER we created these 4 amazing works of fiber-filled art!

 She calls them "bed partners" - I call them creative body pillows. Whatever you call them, they're a great gift for kids. We used some out of print Simplicity pattern (whose number I cannot currently remember) that had 2 other patterns - a cat and an elephant - that we didn't use. She chose a fleece fabric that she thought suited each boy's personality and that's what we used for the bodies. A nice touch, don't you think?  We started off with the panda. I cut this one and did 95% of the sewing - leaving just the long, straight seams for her since she's a complete newbie.

 

Boy #1's Panda

She cut this one out completely and sewed everything after the head was completed. That muzzle was a bear! (no pun intended... okay, a little pun intended. *grin*)

 

Boy #4's Bear

Feeling much more confident, aside from the nose seam, this puppy was 100% her! *sniff* I was so proud! :)

 

Boy #2's Puppy

 Now, this one I completed after she cut. (God bless her... I've offered her a job being my permanent 'Cutting Assistant' - sadly, she's not interested.) We kept it for last since it was so involved. Not quite sure what it is, exactly. I've been calling it a dragon, she calls it a dinosaur. We have no idea, but it suits Boy #3 perfectly. It took me over 2 hours to do the face, alone. Not even the back of head... just the FACE! It didn't help that my machine kept jamming every 2 or 3 minutes from the ridiculously thick thread. Got it done in one evening, though, so I can't complain too much. By far the most tedious, but also the cutest, don't you think?

 

Boy #3's Dragon-saur

  

A close up of the face

  

And just so you can get an idea of the gigantic scale of these bad boys, Mr. Bear decided to do a little sewing of his own. 

All in all, it was a fun adventure. And the best part of it? I get a new sewing buddy out of the deal! Hooray! Any of you ever 'convert' one of your friends to sewing? I have to say, it's a ton more fun sewing with a friend (especially one who will do the cutting!) even if she doesn't want to sew any garments. Yeah, it's true - she's strictly a craft sewist. Well, until I convert her on that, too. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!