Triple Kitties

I was expected a visit from my grandkids from Southern California so I pawed through my drawer of panels perhaps to make up something for them prior to their visit. I came across these three kitten stuffed toys already cut out from its parent panel. What caught my interest was that each kitten had an oval base. I have absolutely no idea how long I have had these plus there were no instructions anywhere in sight.

Inserting the oval base would take a bit more finagling than just flat sewing. I have recently completed a laser cut blue quilt top with curved piecing (post for January 10, 2018) so felt relatively skilled and not intimidated by the mini-challenge. I made a sharp central crease with my thumbnail enabling me to line up the midline of the base with the midline of the front and the back of the kitten.

Then I pinned the living blazes out of the little curve, sewed the base to the front and then repeated for sewing the base to the back.

Even though I pinned from the curved side, I flipped it over and sewed from the straight side. I stitched slowly directly over the pins. An instructor once told us that sewing over pins is not a problem for your sewing machine as long and you sew very slowly over them so the pins have a chance to move away from under the needle as it descends. Works for me. No broken needle and no bent pins.

Only after the oval base was on did I sew around the outline of the kitten shape. I like the little detail of the kitten breed printed on the base.

That oval base adds more dimensionality to the kitten and it can stand more upright on its own. I stuffed the kittens so they were squishy soft and not so much that the bottom base would bulge excessively.

The labeled bases, which sport the breed of each kitten, eased in very smoothly with no tucks or folds. I considered inserting some sort of stiffener in the base but rejected the idea as an additional complication that might also reduce the huggable aspect of the toy.

Here is the completed trio of kittens, one each for the 4 year old, 2 year old, and 2 month old.

The two older girls are positively in love with our geriatric cat Wima. When they Facetime my husband and me, we definitely have to flip the view to focus on our cat so they can pet her over the air waves via the screen on their mom's cellphone. They are visiting now and are thrilled to pet her in person. Next week they will be able to take their own mini-Wima replica home with them. Yes, the live Wima is grey – but details... details... ! Linking up with Let's Bee Social #231 to share the kitties.