I almost forgot

The reason I make all of my own patterns is first, so I can say I completely handmade the item, and came up with it myself.
Second, because I don't have a darn clue how to use book patterns. I'm sure it's just a mental block due to some form of trauma (paper cut? pattern came out wonky? who knows) that occurred when I was young or something. I just, for some reason, cannot follow book patterns.

 you can buy it on amazon!

Well, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I attempted to do a book pattern last night. The book is lovely, it's an old stuffed animal book, that I once read cover to cover before giving up and deciding to do my own thing. It even has "Easy to make" right in the title, but still, I was confused. Still am, actually.
I'm not sure why I decided that last night would be the night I learned how to make a book pattern. I blame fatigue. I picked out a sweet little standing cow, from the "For the kid in us all" section, glanced at the materials, and promptly ordered the wrong size safety eyes. -_-

 The cow in question

Then, after tracing over all 11 pages of pattern pieces, which took almost two hours, I realize that I don't think I have enough fur. So I go back to the materials list. I need 1/4 yard white, and...1/2 yard black/brown? Why do I need more of the accent color? I'm still confused at that one.
Well, I went through all the work of tracing the pattern, today I'll cut it out and lay it flat to see just how much furry fabric I need to buy. Something tells me it's not going to look good in fleece...and that faux fur is EXPENSIVE. It was last time I tried it, when I was 12. However, I didn't grow up with an allowance, so that might have had something to do with it. I could patch together something with my current fabric, but hubby already has a black and red cow.
And of course, this brings up the big question, will my machine even sew this? I kind of doubt it, it has issues sewing fleece most times. The last two times I handsewed everything, which took long enough, and I made a simple pattern then, this is pretty complex looking.

Not a normal looking cow, the first one I made him

I kind of think I'll attempt it anyways, just because that cow looks amazing and I want to give hubby a normal looking cow for his birthday. I guess after I get paid, I'll tell him I want to try sewing with faux fur and he should take me to the store to buy some.
Or I have three colors of velour, white, light blue, and dark blue. I already gave hubby a cow made with those though, and it's not super-snuggly like faux fur is.
I guess, in other words, have a nice weekend! I'll be driving myself insane!
--Jenn--

EDIT--
Screw it, I'm making it with flannel. I sewed a practice head and it looks good. Flannely cow for the win!