Duck Duck Goose ... no ... Duck Duck Duck!

Despite many challenges presented by the horrible Lizard Lock downloadable version of this pattern (Burda 7754) I was able to make this little guy for a Christmas present for one of the greats :)  I used a store bought pillow form and I'm going to add some extra stuffing to it so it will fill out the cover more fully, but other than that I'm really pleased with how this guy turned out!  Of course, things didn't go smoothly ...

... yep, during construction I realized that I had stitched the head, 2 feet and tail with the right side facing the zipper side of the pillow :D  Froggy stitching ensued, appendages were rearranged and reinserted, and ...

Burda 7754 - duck pillow face :D

Burda 7754 - duck pillow DUCK BUTT!

Burda 7754 - duck pillow finished :)

Burda 7754 - duck pillow - which is my best side?  ALL of them!  ;)

Now I can cross this item off of the Christmas To Do list!  I like doing theme gifts, so along with this guy, I'm including (NAYY on the links):
- Lemon the Duck book (this page was actually the inspiration for this gift)
- Rubber Ducky (this is still on order - I hope it arrives soon :D)
- 5 Little Ducks board book
- ducky cookie cutter :D

Rubber ducky, you're the one ... you make bathtime lots of funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn *sings* *badly* :)

And another recent Christmas gift finish ... beanbags!  Here's the bag I made to hold them ... along with the book I bought to go with them :)

Letter bean bags, storage bag and ABC book - gift set :)

... and here are the bean bags :)

Letter bean bags :)

These two gifts are being posted to the Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew linky party for August - I made it just in the nick of time!

And one last quicky - there's a tutorial online that I've seen for a while and have drooled over.  I finally got around to trying it out, and I'm very glad I did!

Train Case - tutorial from Choly Knight :)

It's a "train case", but this one is a simple version - it's made without having to stitch round seams or do intricate stuff - it's basically a boxy bag done easily with strategic zipper placement to give it the traditional train case shape :)  I had a bit of a problem with the thickness of the French seams (used to hide all the raw edges) and I made a few minor changes to the construction (to eliminate the raw edges around the zipper) but overall - WOW.  Useful, cute, and simple - that's a win/win :)  Thank you Choly Knight for the tutorial!  She does awesome fun designs, gives use lovely free patterns/tutorials, and writes books (I have 3 :D) - she's a woman of many talents :)  This project will count towards the New to Me linky party for August, and also as #22 in my so-far-not-very-successful attempt to do 52 new projects in 2016, lol.  

Posting to:
Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for August :)
New to Me for August :)