Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Owl and the Bunny

We've recently introduced pocket money in our house. In an attempt to keep on top of the daily disaster site that is my home, the kids each have three jobs to do every afternoon. For their efforts, they earn a whopping $2 every Saturday morning. We've been doing it for a month now, I can happily report it is going extremely well.

Anyway, Meg decided last weekend that she wanted to spend her pocket money on a new cuddly bunny. Specifically, she wanted me to help her sew one. So off we went to Spotlight to pick out a few pretty coordinating fabrics.

We then searched google and found the cutest free bunny pattern  - The Jack Rabbit Softie by The Mary Frances Project. This pattern is ridiculously cute with the oversized floppy ears.

We cut out all the pieces. Meg sat on my lap for most of the sewing. She guided the fabric while I controlled the foot. She also stuffed the bunny and sewed on the button eyes.

Here's her bunny. So cute. One thing I didn't do properly was to fold a little of the ears over at the seam where they attach to the head.  This gives then a bit more lift. I noticed this when Meg had pretty much finished the stuffing. She was quite excited that we'd almost finished, so I chose to ignore it.



Using some of the leftover fabric, I sewed an owl doorstop for Meg's room after seeing the gorgeous ones on Katherine's blog a few weeks ago. The pattern was from Hammer and Thread. Meg has actually been in need of a doorstop for a long time but I never remember to pick up the bits when I'm at the hardware store. I'm glad I've been forgetting, because this is a much cuter alternative.

I filled most of the owl with standard polyfill. For the bottom third I used lentils wrapped in a plastic bag.


Well I think Meg has done quite well, don't you? She only forked out $5.40 and got an owl and a bunny and she still has leftover material. I don't think I've actually gained any time. The time I would have spent tidying toys, has been spent making toys. That said, it is a much more enjoyable way to spend my time, so I it's still a bit of a win-win.

Speaking of owls, we have a Papuan Frogmouth living in our laundry. So cool!

7 comments:

  1. I do like that rabbit with its floppy ears. They add to his character. And your door stop is pretty fab too!

    What a gorgeous Frogmouth. I'd be stoked to have him/her in the laundry. Does he/she just sit there watching you? Frogmouths are up there with kookaburras in my book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Completely adorable! Your daughter is so clever. She will treasure these.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What excellent spending priorities on your daughter's part. The animals, toy and otherwise are very cute.
    We have a green treefrog in our laundry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is super-cute and not at all spooky! Oh except perhaps the eyes if you have seen the movie Coraline ;)
    Pocket money system sounds genius. I think we need a few more 'just do it as routine' chores like that around here rather than 'do it when you're nagged to'. We've had some good results with the occasional ten-minute-tidy involving the whole family and energetic music.
    And that frogmouth is just beautiful. Look at the eye, what a colour!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Both are super cute! I'd rather sew than do other chores for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the bunny especially. It is great that Meg wants a lovely home-made bunny instead of some plastic rubbish! And how awesome that you have the frogmouth living in your laundry - bet the kids love it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very cute. Makes me wish I had printed out the owl properly and got the proportions right. Great work Meg!

    ReplyDelete