Free pattern: Curious George!

Calling all curious monkeys!

My little man’s birthday is coming up, and we are doing it up in a Curious George theme.  I even ordered just the banana Runts (who eats the other ones, anyway?) as part of his birthday favors.  Now, my little guy has autism, and when he loves something, he loves it as fiercely as it has ever been loved.  George has been one of his favorites (and a HORRIBLE influence on him, I must say!) since the beginning.  This mom is always good for something homemade on special occasions, and I have wanted to make him a Curious George pillow for his three stuffed Georges to hang out with for a while now.  But I have been waiting and hoping and adding my name to request lists, and so far I haven’t seen a pattern for one.  I could be wrong, but in case I’m not, I finally got around to designing it myself.

Here he is, in all his yellow and brown glory!

The computer-generated image.

The real deal!

I would consider this block to be at about an advanced beginner level.  It really comes together quite easily and is pretty forgiving.  This comes out to be a 10” square block (without the seam allowance), and it is a paper-piecing pattern.  Once again, I was unable to put in section letters or colors.  I realize that is very frustrating, but hopefully these blocks are simple enough that you can add that information yourself to the patterns.  I will update my patterns once I have the capability to add all that.

I don't normally embroider on my blocks, but look at that face!

 

The mouth and nose are embroidered with a simple backstitch.  All I did was take the computer-generated image that you can find on the cover sheet of the pattern and blew that up to 10” square, which is the size of the block.  I then cropped out what I didn’t need and converted it to black and white to save my colored ink, and held it up to the window to trace it lightly so I would have my embroidery pattern.  Very high-tech.  :)  This would be easy to free-hand, however.  You could also appliqué something on, or even use a fabric pen to add it.  Of course, George is pretty recognizable even without the mouth, so you could leave it off entirely and be just fine.

George tested and approves of this pillow.



I turned mine into a simple throw pillow for my son’s bed by adding about 2” of sashing on each side.

This would be great blown up to a larger size for a little wall quilt.  You could add some blocks with bananas, or find a cowboy hat pattern and do it all in yellow to make the famous yellow hat.  I would love to see what you come up with!

You can download the pattern here or on Craftsy.

I hope your little monkeys enjoy.  :)