Kitties and bunnies and bears, oh my!

A little while ago, I mentioned the GetCrafty toy and blanket drive to benefit Project Night Night.

I had intended to make a couple of fleece blankets. After making a blanket for my dog and two for Project Night Night, I had about a 1/3 yard x 2 yard scrap left over from each of the colors of fleece I bought. Turns out, there is some merit to determining your yardage requirements before you go to the fabric store.

I also had a giant bag of fiberfill leftover from a girl scout uniform giraffe-making endeavor a while back. Voila - fleece toys.

I used this "easy teddy bear" pattern. I like patterns with the word easy in them. And I more or less copied this pattern from My Little Mochi for the kitties and bunnies (I skipped their little pants - hope no one is offended by nekkid bunnies that vaguely resemble Cartman from South Park). I know you aren't supposed to use button eyes for little little kids because they can eat them, so I tried to embroider eyes on one of the kitties. Yeah, embroidery is hard. Mostly I think I'll have to stick to making toys for kids old enough to know not to eat buttons.

There is definitely a learning curve to toy-making and these guys certainly look homemade, but they are soft and cuddly. I like making stuffed animals though and the fleece seems to hide a lot of mistakes, so we'll probably revisit toy-making in the future.