Baby Shower Gifts Part 2 of 2

This project was a collaboration with my dad.  I crocheted the animals (from Crochet a Little with size 3 thread and my trust 2.2mm hook), my Dad made the frames, and together we figured out how to use our new mat cutter!  What follows are some close up pictures of the animals and links to their patterns.  However, I was a dummy and didn't take pictures of the animals before they were put in the frames, so I'm sorry about the photo quality...  It was tricky getting pictures of them through the glass!



Goldfish Pattern (Ravelry page)  (8x8 frame [all measurements in inches])





Cat Pattern (Ravelry page)  (8x8 frame)





Sea Turtle Pattern (Ravelry page)  (8x10 frame)





Penguin Pattern (Ravelry page)  (8x10 frame)





Giraffe Pattern (Ravelry page)  (12x12 frame)





Owl Pattern (Ravelry page)  (8x8 frame)





Elephant Pattern (Ravelry page)  (9x12 frame)

(The elephant has a really cool 3D ear that got squished a little in the frame...)

All of these crochet patterns are charted, and can be a little difficult if you're not used to following charts.  With the help of a very nice Ravelry user, I was pointed to THIS stitch guide which helped me with a couple of the stitches that I didn't know!

Once all the animals were crocheted, they definitely needed to be blocked out to give them their shapes!  I just pinned them to shape, sprayed them with water and let them dry overnight.  I used Aleen's tacky glue to attach some fabric to a piece of foam board, and then used the glue to tack down the animals onto the fabric.  Then we cut the white and black mat board for each picture to 1.5 inches.  (This step included me being totally amazed with the inner bevel cut [which you can see better on the picture of the cat frame] "It looks so professional!!"  I didn't want to stop cutting mat board.  "What else can we frame?!")

We were really happy with the final products!  It was one of those projects you plan out in your head, hope you picked the right colors to go with each other, do the measurements on paper, and hope everything works out right!  And it did!

(I'm happy to report that they are already hanging up in the nursery!)