Homemade Christmas: Felt Deer

To:  Clara

made with love

From:  Maryanna

While searching for the backing fabric for George's quilt I came across this cute little felt kit and knew it would be perfect for Clara's personality.  What I didn't know was how difficult it would be for Maryanna to actually participate in the making.

The deer are not very big so the pre-cut of pieces of felt were tiny.  On more than one occasion Maryanna misplaced the little deer's eye lashes, we were both on our hands and knees sifting through the scraps on the carpet.  The determined little girl found them!  So she did help.

Actually she was quite good at stuffing and beading the little necklaces.  Other than that she painted a piece of doll furniture while I worked on the intricacies of these cute felt creatures.  I should have started with the "mama" because the "baby" was harder to stitch and it took a while to get even stitches.

Maryanna named them Cutie (the baby) and Bootie (the mommy).  Here are some more photos of them in action:

Cutie and Bootie have seen enough action since Christmas to make them fuzzy felt creatures.  Even the nice Japanese felt becomes fuzzy after too much handling.  Also, Bootie got her head detached yesterday.  Here is a tragic picture:

But she was easily fixed up during a tea party I shared with the girls.  I also touched up Cutie a bit because her head was starting to detattch as well.  Here they are again good as new sitting on the green blankets Maryanna cut out (I only had to square the corners and roll hem them on the serger).

They sure turned out cute!  Even Peter is hoping I make him a pair (only maize and blue and wearing winged helmets) for his upcoming birthday.

And here is the China cabinet that Maryanna painted all by herself for Clara while I worked on the Cutie and Bootie.