I’ve finally finished my most longstanding project! A couple of months ago- in January- I was contacted by a family member of a family member who I’d never met, and she said she was interested in what I can make. After I made her a little stuffed animal for a friend of hers- something I’ll post later- she ordered a large set for a friend’s baby. She wanted a blanket with the baby’s name and date of birth on it, a book like the one I made for my niece for Christmas, and a pillowcase to hold the book so the baby could use it as a pillow. I’d never done so much at one time before! But I was really excited to start this project, because other than the instructions “pastel colors” and “a story about a turtle and a bunny,” I had as much creative reign as I wanted. So here’s what I came up with!

There’s a little curve to it so it’ll stay on the baby’s feet. (It gets cold in NY) The pictures here show the curve both ways. It can also be used as a fitted mattress sheet! Sorta.

 

The pillowcase was fun to make- just a basic granny square. I love how the shape turned out when the book is placed inside!

And the book took the longest of all. Just sewing the words and appliques onto the pages took me nine hours! I did that all in one day when I was ready for this project to be complete. Embroidering the words took an hour and a half per page, except the Winter page, which is twice as long, and that doesn’t even take into account the time it took to make the pages and appliques! A very long process.

 

If you can’t read the story, it’s this:

A Bunny and a Turtle lived not too far apart,

They had not much in common, except their good good hearts.

 

In Summer, Bunny raced around and pushed his legs’ great power,

Turtle was shocked he didn’t stop to smell a single flower.

 

In Autumn, Turtle strolled around and crunched the leaves below,

And Bunny thought, “how can he stand to move so very slow?”

 

But in the winter, they both slipped and fell upon the ice.

The Turtle slid by on his shell and thought, “wow! Speed is nice!”

But Bunny slipped upon his back and stopped there on the floor,

And he thought, “Wow, this sky is nice! I’ve never looked before!”

 

When Springtime came, the Turtle called, “Come race me! Move your feet!”

But Bunny asked, “Hey, did you know that flowers smelled so sweet?”

 

Here are some more pictures!

 

 

 

 

Overall, I’m very happy that I was able to do this project. It was a lot of fun!