Cheeky monkey hijinks

The monkey and his book

When you get a new sock monkey, bite its tail

Ta da! Here is what I was working on last week in anticipation of meeting my newest and cutest cousin. He lives far away from Canada, and so his visit warranted a command performance of several members of his Ontario family at his Nonna and Dado's house. Nonna Stella is my first cousin, and we are pretty close.
When she learned she was going to be grandmama last year it was quite exciting for everyone.
Lauren, her daughter, is married to a chef  and they both work on an island paradise.
Liam is very smiley and the least fussy baby I've ever met. Living in a tropical wonderland, he's got that "don't worry be happy" thing going on!
We all had a little time together this weekend, and of course, there were presents involved.
Liam's first birthday is coming up soon, so I made him a sock monkey dressed in overalls. I also made him 5 Funky Monkeys -- a fabric book from Erin Michaels' line of sock monkey fabric from Moda.
I made the monkey's overalls from a vintage pattern. I stupidly did not check to make sure the monkey I was making was of the same proportions as the vintage monkey. He was not. It was so sad that his overalls did not fit. I did not cry.
I pulled out my old proportional wheel and resized the pattern on a copier at  Staples so I could use 11x17 paper.
Fortunately, I had extra fabric, so I made a bigger pair of overalls. I used felt for the eyes and the overall buttons because Liam doesn't know yet that buttons are not a delicious treat.

Liam found the monkey delicious

Now, I will have to make a smaller sock monkey -- I might as well, I already have the overalls.

It was such a pleasure to make a couple of things for a dear little boy who lives so far away. We might not always be able to visit him, but he will have little handmade reminders that there are lots of people in the world who love him very much.