Stitching Kanga Kitties

When I was little, I had a stuffed animal I loved, a kangaroo, and I loved her because she had a baby kangaroo in her pocket. So why not combine my love of embroidering on felt, stuffed kitties, and babies in pockets all together?
I drew my little patterns and cut them out on scrap paper, then pinned them to the felt, and cut out two kitten bodies, two kitty bodies, and one pocket piece for each Kanga Kitty.

 

First, I stitched together the baby kitty from a fun contrasting color or patterned felt. Before blanket stitching the little body together--with wrong sides facing, so no need to turn out--I embroider on little eyes and nose with a dark color that will show, then I blanket stitch all the way around, and leave a little opening. Since I have some dried beans from my garden, I thought it would be fun to use them for the stuffing! (just so I can say that some of my garden is in there) Then I finish blanket stitching the little body closed.

Next, I embroider the pocket onto the front of the kitty body, just free embroidering with cute loops and swirls and French knots in at least two different colors of DMC floss. You want a light, solid color for the kitty body so that your pretty embroidery will show. Then I embroider on the face, and do a loopy flower on each foot. The back side is embroidered with a little tail and some free embroidery. I blanket stitch around with wrong sides facing, and for some kitties I add a ribbon loop to the top of the head, then finish blanket stitching, leaving an opening to stuff before finishing all the way around.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch a cute kitty.