blue cow fuzziness
Yesterday Harvey attended his first toddler birthday party (well, other than his own of course). Our friends' house was packed with toddlers and their German-speaking parents. These friends are German, you see, along with (apparently) many other young families in Cambridge. Everyone had a great time, especially Dan and I who indulged in far too much German-styled cake while we tried to act sufficiently cultured as the only Americans there and field questions on why Americans don't let their children run around naked at the beach (answer: we don't know.)
For the occasion, Harvey helped me make a special present for 2-year-old Noah:
clearly related somehow to Babe the Blue Ox
It's a blue fleece cow according to this pattern. I had made two of these cows for Harvey's birthday ark, but those were half sized and in felt, so this fleece full-sized rendition was an absolute pleasure to sew something, all on the machine, without any hand stitching.
a great help with the pinning
In keeping with my new years resolution, all the fleece was from my scrap pile, meaning that the present cost me no new outlays of cash, except for the $3.50 that Dan invested in a new bag of stuffing.
Dan even made an awesome card to go with the present:
moooove over, Hallmark
For his part, Noah was very pleased with the toy. He carried it around immediately, calling it "horse cow."
satisfaction!
Of course, most of the credit for this project goes to Dan. It was his idea to make a big cow in blue fleece, and as much as I love my earthy crunchy felt, I do have to admit that toddlers love fuzzy fleece. I've been cutting up a lot of my fleece scraps for a quilty baby blanket, which means it's almost time to go back to the store for more. You know, just in case there need to be more big fuzzy cows in the future.