Softie menagerie

Not sure if two more animals counts as a "menagerie," but I'm going with it. These animals are the rest of JJ's birthday present, both made from clothes she has shrunk out of due to her awesome weight loss! This pig was made from her favorite pink shorts, which were super soft. I used the pattern from the Martha Stewart Christmas 2008 issue. I'm not sure why the lamb I made using a pattern from the same issue turned out awesome and this pig came out so wonky, but there it is. It's silly because the pig's legs are so skinny they can't really hold it up! And the snout came out really pointy for some reason. Still, I like it. It's got personality, right?? I had to do a lot of hand-stitching on this, like on the ears, because I had a hard time turning things inside-out that I had machine-stitched.

This elephant was made from a lightweight cotton shirt of JJ's. The pattern is "Pull-Along Nellie" from the book Toys to Sew, which I love. Again, not sure why this guy came out so wonky. There are more photos on my Flickr page; for whatever reason, his butt is really pointy! I made the tail out of a knotted length of twill tape, and I used felt for the bottoms of the legs.

So, not the most successful batch of crafting I've done, but the hippo turned out great, and I think the wonkiness of these other two critters just adds to their personality. Right?!? Or maybe I just get sentimental and can't bear throwing away things I've spent time working on... Whatever the case, these got me back in softie-making mode, and I have a bunch more hippos I'm working on, so stay tuned for pictures. First, though, I have some quilts to finish...