Ellsworth the Elephant, a nap mat for Kindergarten and a simple blankee

Usually, I become so excited about completing a project that I will work on it relentlessly until it is finished.  However, recently my mind has been swarming with so many ideas for crafty projects that I will begin one project and quickly become distracted by another project.  I guess you could call it Crafty ADD. I found myself with so many unfinished projects that I vowed that I would not start another one until the rest of the things I had started were completed.

Ellsworth the Elephant was born out of my desire to create a taggie style, stuffed animal for Baby C.  Initially, he was going to be much smaller.  However, I had Mr. W have my original pattern enlarged at our local copy store. He is approximately 17" by 13".   I used quilting cottons on the front and minky on the back.  I love the knot that I added at the end of his tail.  I also used fleece interfacing in his ear, which I think will withstand many hours of play.  I love the finished product, and Baby C seems quite fond of him as well.

Miss L is very excited to be starting Kindergarten in several weeks.  The school asked that each child bring in a towel for nap time.  They specified that they did not want any pillows or blankets, which is understandable.  I could not imagine sleeping on a towel, so I decided to try to create something more comfortable.  I decided to create a nap mat made out of towels, so as to comply with their request.  I sewed a polka dot beach towel from the Target together with a large bath towel that I also purchased from Target.  I attached a pillow that I created with a coordinating hand towel to the inside of the nap mat.  The pillow is attached with snaps, so that it can be removed when the nap mat and pillow need to be washed.  I hand embroidered her name on an applique that I created for the outside and appliqued her initial to the pillow.  I think it will serve its purpose, even though I know Miss L will never fall asleep for them :) 

I also recently finished a simple blanket for Baby C.  I used some leftover Nicey Jane fabric from the quilt that I made for Baby C and some minky on the back.  This was my first experience sewing binding by hand, and I found it very relaxing.  I have created and sewn bias binding in garments before, but this was my first experience sewing it by hand.  I was a bit intimidated by creating the mitered corners at first, but I was able to follow some great tutorials that I found online.  I found this tutorial at Comfort Stitching to be quite helpful.  http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/making-and-sewing-binding.html

Have a great weekend!  It is going to be 100 degrees here for the rest of the weekend, so I should be able to complete some more projects as I stay inside to escape this heat. 

Erica