Stuffed Heart

Fernando has been a hit with the littles. He spent a night resting on a cushion beside Lola, with a very small blanket placed tenderly over him. She even got up to inform me Fernando was ready to go to sleep so she would turn the light off to make it easier for him. A few days later, Pearl took a shine to him and spent an afternoon sucking on various limbs. Being filled with a natural substance like barley, I was curious to know what would happen if he got wet. After the slobbering, he now has a quite particular odour and I'm afraid he might sprout any day. He's also very heavy for a small thing. Someone threw him across the room at one point and he nearly took my head off. Good for intruders. Not so good for small children.

Nonetheless, he has a lovely, weighty feel in the hand and the barley made him fill out beautifully. Unlike this week's stuffing challenge...

We're heading to a party today, and the birthday girl turned four over a month ago, so she's already enjoyed our gift. But we felt it essential to bring a little something else - it is a party after all. Stealing an idea from one of Amanda Soule's books, Lola and I made a heart pillow - pretty and decorative, and with a little pocket on the back to stash secret notes in. I envisaged the whole thing from start to finish, complete with all the appliqued hearts on the front and buttons on the back. But in my visions, it was a lovely smooth, plump cushion, not the puckered thing we ended up with. Everything was going perfectly until we turned it right way out and stuffed it (polyester this time). Perhaps someone can help me out here. I clipped all the corners and even ironed it out before stuffing it. We tried using lots of filling first and then removed a whole lot to see if it made a difference. But no matter what we tried, we just couldn't get the curves and seams all nice and lovely and smooth. So is it the type of stuffing, the shape of the cushion or the fault of the really very inexperienced sewer?

Lola likes it regardless. We think it has a quirky cartoon-like quality to it. And who needs perfect? She's even requested one in exactly the same colours for herself.

Lovely ribbon and very cute buttons from my favourite lovely ribbon and very cute button supplier.