Giddy-Up

Ok so we are still playing a little catch up here, despite being quite sick in December I made the girls each a handmade Christmas gift, that I would like to share.  I had plans for much more Christmas gift sewing but in the end was happy to get the girls gifts finished.  I really like to make the girls handmade presents, especially while they still love the things I make them.  This year I made Philippa a hobby horse like I made her sisters the week before she was born.  She has been asking for about a year to have her own horse, so was delighted to unwrap her own Mummy made pony on Christmas morning.

I used the Giddy-Up pattern by Melly & Me, great pattern but the finished result is a bit big and heavy for a 2 year old so I tried making it a little smaller.  Reduced it by about an inch, except the nose as I didn't want it to look stumpy and used a much lighter, smaller diameter stick.  Turned out fine although the nose is perhaps a little pointy.  The size and weight is much better for a 2 year old.  Alannah and Xanthe's ponies were made to pattern.  If the pony is for use and not decoration I highly recommend adding some form of protective cover to the bottom of the fabric covered stick as the fabric wears very quickly.  I added rubber chair foot stoppers to the end of the our horses.

Yes, you have probably noticed that none of the horses have eyes.  This is because when I made the original two horses I didn't have any felt and at 39 weeks pregnant I didn't really feel like going shopping for felt for eyes.  So they were declared finished as they were.  As time went on and even after getting felt supplies, the girls grew attached to them without.  To the point that there were tears over my plan to put eyes on Philippa's horse.  So our ponies are blind and we love them that way!