Huggy Pals

I have a few babies to prepare for.  I have been busy working on play mats. I have sewn the mats and made the arches, but I have just started knitting the animals that hang from the arches.  I am making two of them; one for my great niece's baby and one for my neighbor.  I also have a grand daughter due in August.  I will not be making a mat for her because I have already made two play mats and a toy box filled with toys for that family.  I am going to make some toys for her, but I don't know how many, what medium I will use, or in what form they will be stored.  I know it will not be a play mat or a toy box.  I will have to think about it.  However, I have made three new toys of my own creation for each of the three babies (two girls and a boy).  I have made cuddly pals in the past, but the blanket portion was bigger than I wanted for these babies.  The heads, of course, were bigger also because the blanket was bigger.  I decided that I could come up with a way to make smaller versions by using the heads of some stuffed toys I have patterns for and just attach them to smaller squares of material. They are about 15 inches square.  Here is the result of my efforts for the day.  I'm calling these little guys Huggy Pals.

This little cow is for my great niece's baby boy.  The eyes are brown and do not show up in the picture.

This elephant is for my grand daughter.

My favorite, the puppy, is for my neighbor's baby girl. What do you do when you sew two ears for the same side? Luckily, you just make the inside ear brown on one and white on the other. Of course, the backs are the same way.  It works for a dog.

Now, I need to get back to knitting the animals.  I am making a forest mat for the boy and a jungle mat for the girl.  I have only started the owl for the forest mat.  The animals do not take too long, but I need to have the forest one finished for the baby shower in July.  I have a little bit longer to go before the other one needs to be finished.  It is a good thing because the jungle animals take a little bit longer to do than the forest animals.