Teal Giraffe

Whipped up another Melly & Me Giraffe.

This one was made by request, with the idea of matching the mom's choice of colors for the new nursery. The polka-dot is a tad more towards teal than her colors, but it blends pretty well.

I'd forgotten, until I was already into it, just how much hand-work this pattern requires.
The main parts are all machine sewn, but each one is left open for stuffing, requiring you to hand-stitch the openings shut. Five of those, people. And that's just the larger parts.
Then the horns are hand-stitched on the head.
Followed by hand-gathering the ears and stitching those to the head.
The eyes have to be sewn together, add the little x, and then sewn on - all by hand.
The legs, four of them (yeah, duh, but somehow it seems a lot when you make this fella) are attached to the body using heavy-duty thread, doubled & waxed, threaded into long soft-sculpture needles, sewn through buttons. This means he's jointed and pose-able, though the options are a tad limited.
Finally, you get to hand-knot each part of the mane (and tail) as you stitch lengths of floss into the seam.

I adore the finished product, but it sure takes a lot more time than you'd think. (Especially when you can't find your brown felt because you didn't put it away properly after the last time you used it.)

I have yet to find a gift bag that is tall enough to tuck him into without his cute head sticking out.

('scuz the rustic background on the pics, please. it was raining, my options were limited.)