Here’s our whale, made by us.

I was so eager to make him, while Isabelle was still interested, that I didn’t even bother with seam allowances. That would probably explain why he didn’t match up properly, his bottom was a little too big and he ended up bunchy.

And that also explains why his flippers seem tiny and pointy.

But ain’t he cute? And big too. Bigger than I expected. From the picture in the book I thought for some reason he would sit in the palm of my hand. But I was wrong.

I asked Isabelle to hold him so I could get a picture of his size.

She thought throwing him up and down was a better idea.

Project Notes
Pattern: 23 from isbn-10: 452904114x (isbn-13: 978-4529041140)
Fabric: linen

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last posted. The time just got away from me. The last few days I’ve been working on that dress. I’ve been sewing so much that I’m actually sick of looking at my sewing machine. I didn’t think such a thing was possible!

And before that I was distracted hand sewing this little sea turtle as a surprise for Olinda’s birthday.

I was working on him Friday night in the closet. Isabelle was sleeping and not sleeping very well. So I sat in there, close by, in the closet where there was light. Sewing away while Isabelle woke up too many times looking for me. I’d get up, get her back to sleep, and then sew some more. I had to finish him that night because on Saturday we went out to see Olinda. We met her at the Aloha festival in San Francisco where Isabelle got a little bird.

It’s not a real bird. It’s fake and it sings and moves and I’m such a sucker. I just wanted to show it to Isabelle but she liked it so much I got it for her. She has more than enough toys and I knew she wouldn’t play with it for long but I still bought it because…I AM a sucker.

And of course she’s not playing with it anymore. She played with it that whole first day, constantly asking where it was but by the next day she was done. It sings REALLY loud and Isabelle says, “no noise! Quiet bird!!” and wants me to turn it off.

Oh wait. What was I talking about? Oh yes, the sea turtle. At the festival they had a whole bunch of sea turtle toys. They made my sea turtle look all misshapen and mutated. I should have made his front arms bigger and his shell rounder and his head not so big and and and…oh well. I should have made a test one before Friday night. Then I would have had time to work all that out.

Even though he’s a little mutant, Olinda seems to like him and Isabelle does too. She’s been asking me, “where’s turtle? Make turtle? Winda giva me my turtle? Winda giva me birthday?” So I guess my little miss will be getting a turtle…because I’m a sucker. But I think I’ll machine sew a turtle for Isabelle. Probably a lot faster than hand stitching the entire thing again. How long do you think she’ll play with it?

On the weekend, when I was trying to start the reverse appliqué skirt for myself, Isabelle said, “Mama, make dinosaur!”

And I said, “Ok” and hurriedly made one.

Then Alan said, “why does it look like he’s squatting to take a poop?”

“I don’t know! But did you know I didn’t stuff his neck completely? How the hell did I manage that?!”

That’s what happens with hurried sewing.

Everyone enjoy your weekend. We’re waking up early to watch a parade! Eeerr…or I should say attempting to wake up early.

Project Notes
Pattern: Brontosaurus from Toys to Sew
Fabric: Calls for felt but I used fleece