Quiet Toy: Animals in a Blanket

I'm always on the look out for good quiet toys for my kids. I especially like something I can throw in my bag for church, doctor's visits or long car trips. I decided to make my own quiet toy during a few nap times this week. A simple little toy that will be perfect for my activity bag.

Just tie and toss.

I went a little overboard on creating the animals for my little pouch. So, now the kids can choose which three they'd like to play with.
They can go with farm animals:

Forest animals:

Or a mixture of the two. Jellybean was pretty excited when I finished these today and promptly introduced herself to each one of the animals. She decided that the fox isn't a very nice animal, so she's letting Buddy play with it. I think I'm going to have to make another pouch for the extra three just so that Buddy and Jellybean can each have their own.

So would you like to make one? Here's the tutorial:

Animals in Blanket Quiet Toy:

Time to completion: approx. 3-4 nap times

Materials:

Pouch:
1/4 yard duck cloth
1/4 yard soft flannel, or other fabric for liner
1 package double folded bias tape
Thread, pins, scissors
Protractor
Air erasable pen
Ribbon

Animals:
Scrap fabric in several different patterns
Felt in several different colors (depending on what animals you'd like to create)
Floss (in coordinating colors)
Soft batting

Start with a 10X11 inch piece of your duck cloth and flannel (wrong sides together). You can pin them together if you wish. On one end, pin and sew a piece of bias tape. Before I made this, I had no idea how to sew on bias tape. I used this tutorial on Dana Made It in order to figure it out.

 Fold the bias tape edge up 4 inches. Use your protractor and pen to get a nicely rounded edge on both sides.

 Pin and sew your final length of bias tape along the outside edge. Sew three equal pockets. Each of mine measures 3 inches. Now, stitch your ribbon to the back of your pouch and it's done, wasn't that easy?

I spent one of my precious nap times sketching out the animal faces that I wanted to use. Then I took my sketches and cut them all out in felt.

Using floss, I stitched the little faces together and then attached them to the bodies. I used an oval pattern that was 5X3 inches for the bodies of my little animals. Then I used a 1/4 inch seam. Make sure when sewing the bodies that you leave at least an inch un-sewn for turning the fabric and stuffing.

Six sweet little animals, now ready for travel. Can't wait to take them for a test run.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ