Make A Stuffed Animal Owl!

My daughter disappeared into her room today. Awhile later I peeked into see what she was up to. She hadn't made her bed or picked up her clothes, but she had been busy. She was making an owl. A stuffed animal. For her birthday she got a big stack of felt. I think that she was more excited about that gift than any others that she received! Since I didn't see what she was up to until she was at this point I don't have step by step pictures, but I'll do my best to explain what she did.

She hand drew a pattern for her owl. It's basically like a circle or a squashy oval. She adds the ears where the circle would curve. She just goes straight up and then comes back down. You can't make them too small since you need room to sew around them. Then she makes a straight line from one ear to the other for the top. You can curve it a little if you want. She also makes the bottom of the pattern more of a straight line too.

After she cut out her pattern for the owl body, she moves onto the eyes.

She cut a "mask" piece out and two different sized circles for the eyes. She pinned and then hand stitched the green circle to the blue circle. Then she pinned and stitched the circle pieces to the mask piece. Next she pinned and stitched the mask on to the owl front piece. She then pinned the two body pieces together and hand stitched those together. She likes the way the hand stitching looks and it's more secure than hot gluing fabric.

Her stitches aren't perfect or even very even, but they hold it securely. (Plus, she's only 11!) She left a hole on the bottom so she could fill it with stuffing and then stitched that part up too. She does still have a little more to do. She doesn't have the eyes finished or the ribbon trim on it yet, but it is really coming a long.

She has had more fun with that felt than you can imagine. She is always coming up with something. Sometimes it's made into other stuffed creations or something else she has imagined up. Things like this picture....

She named this one "Sushi" because that's what it is - sushi. She made a rectangle of "rice" on the bottom and then a yellow fish shape on top of that. To finish it off she wrapped it in "seaweed!" How funny and cute is that?! She already has tons of stuffed animals. But if she wants to spend an afternoon creating more, who am I to argue? What a great way to spend a rainy day!