Hello there! Meet Aristotle Axolotl, my
Island Batik Ambassador challenge for the month of April. This little guy was fun to make!
Disclaimer: The products used to make this project were given to me by Island Batik and Industry Partners.
This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were lucky enough to choose a pattern from
Funky Friends Factory to create a stuffed animal of our choice.
I've made a few Funky Friends Factory patterns before. I've made Lloyd the Llama, a Fox, and a Kawaii Cutie Cat. They were all fun to sew. The patterns are detailed and easy to use. Aristotle Axolotl was rated as an easy pattern, but I found it a little challenging. That's okay, Funky Friends Factory has photo tutorials available on their website to help get you through the tricky parts.
My son chose the pattern and the fabric, too. He picked out two sold color Island Batik fabrics, Fuchsia and Pink. Island Batik has beautiful solids to coordinate with their batik fabrics. They are printed on the same high thread count fabric as the batiks, so they pair really well and do not fray.
In this photo I am doing some topstitching on one of the Axolotl's outer gills.
I did a little research and they are pretty cool! Axolotls are an endangered type of salamander. They are found in two freshwater lakes in Mexico and they come in a variety of colors. It is estimated that the current population is less than 1000.
In this photo I am pinning the head to the body. Pins are your friend when sewing Funky Friends patterns. They help keep everything lined up correctly while sewing the curvy pieces together. Chessie the stray cat helped. She's my friend, too.
This project sewed up quickly. I only worked on him for a couple of days. I used some craft eyes that I had leftover from another Funky Friend Factory pattern project. In this photo Aristotle is partly stuffed. He's starting to look pretty cute!
The reason my son chose the Axolotl is because they are featured in a popular video game that he loves to play. I took this cute pic of Aristotle and his game partner together. Then we went outside to play.
Axolotls spend most of their time underwater, so he was keen to go exploring. We went on a bicycle ride.
Then he tried driving my car. Oh my! Not recommended.
What is he doing here? Up a tree?
Tree climbing close up.
And the reward. A lofty perch.
Playing in the flowers.
Axolotls like to eat frogs. Watch out, Mr. Frog!
Hanging out in the woods.
I should mention that I also used
Schmetz needles,
Aurifil thread, and my
Oliso iron to create this fun critter.
So cute!
And one last photo with some Pansies and seashells. If you would like to try sewing a stuffed animal, I recommend you check out the
Funky Friends Factory website. The variety of downloadable patterns is truly amazing and the patterns are well written with handy check boxes for each step.
Thank you for visiting my blog today. Please visit the rest of the Island Batik Ambassador crew to see which adorable Funky Friends Factory patterns they have created. Here's the list:
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He is very cute! I like him lounging on the tree and eyeing the frog. Oh and life imitating art or art imitating life with the video game
ReplyDeleteI love your Axolotl. I had to look it up and learned a few things. I am so impressed with all our makes for this challenge. Love how you photographed it with the seashells and all the escapades are so fun.
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