Hero in a half shell

Amazingly, I finished the presents long ago for a visit this weekend with a friend and his family. But of course I can't resist a little last-minute crafting. I decided I needed to make something a bit more fun for a little girl than a rag quilt, so I searched for a cute stuffed animal pattern. This cute turtle toy is a simple project from Make It & Love It.

I grabbed bright fabrics from my stash to put it together. The tutorial had a link to these helpful instructions on hand sewing an invisible seam.

This was the first stuffed toy I've attempted and it went fairly smoothly, although it gets a bit tricky sewing around the bulky appendages. By complete chance, one piece for the little guy's head caught a large circle in the fabric's pattern to make an eye. Too bad I didn't realize until after it was sewn together, cuz now he's a cyclops. Well, the other side has a swirl, so it's kinda like he's winking.