One of my colleagues went to Portugal to get married, and to celebrate the occasion, gifts were in order! The only thing I really knew was that I wanted to make something. I just initially didn’t have a clue what the something would be. So I stared considering the options. Since I really like words, I thought about recreating some sort of pun.
I first thought making a set of stuffed peas for ‘two peas in a pod’ but apparently that saying means something different than I thought. It’s about people being alike and not about people liking each other, so even though there is a similar saying in Portuguese, it was out. Since my brain was letting me down, I went the google route to look for sayings that meant to ‘have fun’. I settled on two: ‘Let the good times roll’ and ‘Have a whale of a time’.
The first one was easy, just make a ball and embroider the saying on it. Google translate indicated that it is ‘deixe os bons tempos rolarem’ in Portuguese (no guarantees whether that’s valid though..), which is also five words. Happy coincidences! I settled on a 6 panel ball and to celebrate the union added the word ‘together’ (juntos) to the end of the saying. I chose some of my 10×10 pre-cut quilting squares and added some interfacing to the back. All but one seam were completely sewn and then made extra neat at the joins. For fun, I added a bell in with the stuffing before closing it up. I think it’s very cute!
The second one made me trawl through what felt like the entirety of Pinterest to find a cute whale pouch. The full idea was to make an object that could hold suggestions to have a whale of a time. Basically ideas for dates within the local area. In the end, I settled on using the pattern from this pin, but enlarging it slightly. I chose three coordinating quilting fabrics and fluffy interfacing for the outside and some whale patterned fabric for the lining.
I found a coordinating zipper and sewed it all together. The lining was mostly attached on a train journey because I had a hard time manouvering under the sewing machine. I left a hole in the lining so I could stitch one some cute felt eyes. I also added a felt heart to the tail. I really like how this one turned out. I asked some of my other colleagues for date suggestions, printed those on paper, added some of the discount cards from tourist destinations and put it all in the whale.
In any case, I’ve heard that the wedding was a great time!
