Christmas presents

Happy New Year! Let's talk about Christmas.

Posts have noticeably dwindled a bit in the past three months and someone, somewhere out there, may, for a brief nanosecond, have wondered why. Was it you? Ah, shucks. Well, I spent most of my time making these for my nieces and nephews.

Here are a few technical things I learned:

• Use tight knit fabric, cotton works well.
• Use strong thread.
• Use sharp needles.
• Become friends with the sewing machine. It knows a lot of tricks to make things easier, like the embroidery hoop attachment. 
• Try not to get mad at the sewing machine. It didn't do anything to you.
• Small details are hard to sew.
• Hope and pray the kids won't destroy your handiwork on the first day.

What to do with rice filled animals?

• Throw at parent
• Throw at sibling
• Throw in the microwave to warm feet at night
• Throw at wall
• Don't throw to dog!
• Make into puppets
• Balance on head
• Open for food during the coming apocalypse

Moms and dads might want to practice ducking! (No ducks included.)

Acknowledgments: To all those who posted stuffed animal critters on the web so I could steal ideas and, more importantly, to my husband, aka The Man, for design ideas, quality check, and grunt labor.