Stuffed Animals & Star Wars

I made some stuffed animals for my kids for Valentine's Day.  Both were challenging projects, but for different reasons.
I made my daughter this corgi.  The pattern is by Fluffmonger and is a free download.  I purchased the fabrics from Fluffmonger's Etsy store.  This is the mini size and it's around 6" tall.  I had a really hard time fitting the butt onto the back fabric, but with the help of about 6,000 pins I finally got it in there.  It was a challenge to sew due to its tiny size.

I made my son an axolotl.  The pattern is by Bee Zee Art on Etsy.  I used micro fleece to sew the pattern.  I had two reasons for this.  One, I hate sewing with minky.  Two, I already had the light pink micro fleece, so only had to buy a small bit of the darker pink.  Overall the pattern was pretty easy to sew.  The only part I didn't like is that you have to hand sew the head to the body.  I would have rather had an open body seam to close up after stuffing.  For some reason my sewing machine had a complete meltdown while sewing this.  I had tons of ripping due to massively long skipped stitches.  And then, when I was almost done, I accidentally ripped a small hole near the mouth seam and had to make a really wonky seam to cover it.  Heartbreak!  The eyes ended up a bit crooked too, but he likes it and I am relieved.

On the plus side, both kids liked their gifts and my sewing machine seems to have recovered from whatever was possessing it while sewing the axolotl.

I finished up the four Millennium Falcon mug rugs this week too.  The pattern is by Isabella's Whimsy on Etsy. I was amused while binding the first one because we were watching tv and Star Wars episode VII came on while I was binding one of the BB-8 backed pieces.  And then Han and Chewy came in.  😀

I've been trying to start sewing a kit I bought from Primrose Cottage Quilts on Etsy.  Life keeps intervening.  I finally got everything cut on Sunday, spent most of Monday resting with a nasty cold virus, then spent yesterday morning judging my teacher friend's elementary school science fair.  And yesterday afternoon resting again. Maybe in between resting periods today I can start sewing.
I've still been moving bits and pieces downstairs into the sewing room closet.  I've emptied most of the things out of the office, so it's looking quite spacious.  My replacement long arm frame pieces were shipped yesterday.  They show a delivery date of Monday, but I'm hoping they arrive before the weekend so that we can expand the frame to king size.  

My husband spent part of the weekend working on the desk in the sewing room.  He's been experimenting with different templates to cut an inset into the desk.  The plan is to have the bed of the machine sit level with the counter.  He's going to cut a hole in the countertop and then cut a plexiglass piece to fit tightly around the machine (template at left in picture below). I think we're going to try doing the cutting tonight. We are a bit nervous about this, because one slip of the router and it's game over on the counter top!  If all goes well, I should be able to finish moving in within the next week or two.
Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • wire the outlets
  • install one more light
  • install a drop ceiling in the big closet
  • install carpet in the big closet
  • install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets
  • clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them
  • finish the countertop
  • install shoe moulding along the cabinets
  • install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing
  • put on the doors for both one more closets
  • install doorknobs
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors on order
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

We've had so much rain lately, mixed with small amounts of snow and ice, and most days it's been really gloomy.  I'm really hoping that spring is truly on its way.  My daffodils are coming up, there were flocks of robins in the yard last week, and this week I had some red winged black birds on the feeder--they are summer birds for us.  However, I do still have the juncos, which are winter birds. I'm gonna ignore them and go with spring's imminent arrival.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

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