The kitty

It is my goal to make Adelaide one thing for each gift-giving occasion.* The Wee Wonderfuls book has been helping me meet that goal so far. There was the mermaiden for the first Christmas, and for the first birthday I gave "Katie Kitty" a whirl.



Adelaide is kind of obsessed with our real cat (the cat, let me take this opportunity to say, is not likewise smitten), which is what led me to choose this project.

It came together quite nicely, I think. The only change I made was to follow this suggestion with the legs.



I do so little hand sewing that when I start a project that requires it, I remember "Oh, I hate hand sewing!" But as this project progressed I found myself thinking that hand sewing isn't so bad after all. Maybe. At least, I seem to be improving with practice. My ladder-stitched attachments may not be the prettiest of all time, but they aren't glaringly bad and the parts seem like they'll stay on when subjected to abuse from the kiddo. Which is the whole point, I guess.



The body fabric is some wool (I think) herringbone I grabbed a ton of at a thrift store quite some time ago. And the dress fabric is left over from ... something. I had a heck of a time finding any nice colors of wool felt locally, but I finally found some wool scraps at a local quilt shop that seemed like they'd work (not really felt, I think, but the edges didn't unravel at all after me picking at it quite a bit). So far, so good. I didn't make the shoes. I ran out of time before the birthday and haven't felt the need since. So she's shoe-less, possibly forever.

Anyway, stuffed kitty verdict: I am pleased.



*This is easier than it might sound to some people, because Christmas and birthdays are pretty much the only regularly scheduled gift-giving occasions I am into. Every Hallmark-recognized event need not be an opportunity for more "stuff." If feeling gifty, an out-of-the-blue gift on a random Tuesday is much nicer.