Two Bears and a Penguin

My daughter, Kelsey was born in May 1989. I decided to make an ornament for the tree each year for her to celebrate the season. When I decided to do that I had no idea how long I would continue this tradition. All I know is that in my house when you start a tradition you are not supposed to stop the tradition. My daughter is now in her sophomore year in college and I am still making ornaments!

All of the ornaments that I have made have been sewn. Back in 1989 it was easy to find patterns from the traditional pattern companies (Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick) for ornaments that were sewn and stuffed. As the years went by these became harder to find. I think today all you can find from these companies are ornaments that you glue together. Being a sewer, I find it hard to get into gluing fabric together. At this point I am creating my own ornaments rather than using a pattern.

These three ornaments are the first three that I made for her. The panda was made in 1989, the polar bear was made in 1990, and the penguin was made in 1991. Of the three my favorite is the penguin. I think he came out really cute! I don't even remember which pattern company made this pattern and I don't have my pattern any more. The ornaments are made from velour fabric and are about 4 to 5 inches tall. They are stuffed and have eyes painted on. The penguin has felt for its feet and beak. The ear muffs are tiny fuzzy craft balls and the scarf and head band are pieces of ribbon. I did glue some of the pieces like the ear muffs onto the ornament. It got harder to find the velour fabric as the years went by as well as trying to find patterns.

This year will mark the 20th ornament that I will be making for her. I have never missed a year and they have always been done before Christmas. Sometimes I have been finishing them on Christmas Eve, but they all have been hanging on the tree on Christmas day. In fact the last few years I have finished them well ahead of time. I wonder how I will do this year. Look for more of my posts about the ornaments.

And yes...I do know a panda is not really a bear. I'm sure my daughter would point that out to me.
Chris