boy's 1st birthday presents

my nephew just turned one! and of course i wanted to make his first birthday present. i went with a trucks theme for the collection of gifts. and alex helped out making her part of the gift, too. i decided to make something out of felt - it's so soothing for me to hand stitch plush things. i came across a cute set of patterns on etsy to make these three trucks: a cement mixer, roller, and dump truck (which lifts.) my friend suggested making traffic cones to go with the set, which i think was a fantastic idea and they turned out super cute. there were a lot of pieces and parts to the trucks, but once they were cut out (which is my least favorite part of any sewing project i do) it was easy to watch t.v. in the evening and sew. i made the patterns for the cones, which are just a simple cone shape attached to a square. i did use thin cardboard in some of the pieces to stiffen them, like the dump truck flap and cone bases. and for alex's part, i got more of those plain wood peg people and let her paint the truck drivers. they're super cute, she even made one of them balding, haha (that's all her idea - silly 6 year old.) the peg people are the perfect size for these trucks. then to round out the gift, i got some washi tape that are decorated to be roads and railroad tracks; a cloth ground map - grass and tree tops; and some truck pajamas short set. my nephew is a little young still for parts of this gift, but he seemed to enjoy chewing on the traffic cones right away :)