I Made A Doggie

After I posted a picture on Facebook of my Scottie, my friend asked if I could make a Beagle. I went through my stash of patterns and a year later, I found a doggie one -- yes, it took me a year since I have so many due to my Hoarder's Disease -- and made this little guy.


His front feet look like flippers (I don't know what happened to the stuffing I shoved in them), his right eye is larger than his left, and my blanket stitching makes me think of Frankenstein but I still love him the same. And, really, could I iron my hankies before using them for pictures?

I confess the pattern came from that Portuguese blog that I swore I was never going to link to again because I think her posting practices are questionable. But the little dog was too cute and I couldn't help but print out the pattern. I did modify his face somewhat but I still feel guilty using that pattern.

The good news is I found a video with instructions on how to draw your own stuffed animal patterns, and I plan to give that a shot one day. I had been searching for a tutorial on attaching button eyes to a softie once it's stuffed -- I do mine beforehand and wasn't sure if that was right or not -- and instead found a very helpful video for embroidering the eyes & nose and that led to discovering a whole series of videos on making stuffed animals.

Did I ever mention The Toy Society? I heard about it from Kellie and thought it was such a great idea. It was started after a woman saw her artist friend leave his work in public places and she decided to do the same with handmade toys. The idea has spread worldwide and now more people are making and dropping off toys in their cities and towns. Now that I've made a few stuffed animals and know what not to do next time, I think I'm ready to make one for The Toy Society. And, now that I will soon be driving again, (I'm waiting for the insurance guy to call me back), I can drop it off somewhere in town.