Howdy

Do you ever get a bee in your bonnet and just have to make something silly?
I have always been a huge fan of William Joyce's work. Santa Calls, and Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo are both mainstays in our book rotation.
He has a distinctive style that evokes a simpler and more beautiful time, and that just makes me happy.
A few weeks ago we added Rolie Polie Olie to the bedtime story list, and The Youngest took a liking to that really swell guy.
It seemed to me that it wouldn't be too difficult to make a hugable Olie Polie to have at home, so I took out Stuffed Animals from Concept to Construction, and my copy of RPO and went to work.

Abby has a pattern for a bee in her book, and part of the pattern are different sized spheres.

I sewed up a couple and though they were the right size I wasn't really pleased with all of the seams; both in number and quality. I had a mishap last week with a leaky faucet and a ruined sewing table along with all of my sewing machines, so I sewed the spheres by hand. Also, I wasn't too careful with the direction of the fabric when I cut out the pieces, and the light hit the fabric in such a way that each piece looked like a different color even though they were cut from the same cloth.

I decided that the only way to make it work for me was to needle felt over the surface to give it a nice smooth finish.

I used pipe cleaners for the arms, legs and antenna, and needled the other details from scraps of roving and yarn I had around the house.
He's not perfect, but I think he came out pretty well. The Youngest loves him, and that's the only thing that really matters.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rolie Polie Olie, there was a tv show about 10-15 years ago as well. There are only a few episodes on You Tube but they're worth a watch.