Last week, Brad and I drove to South Carolina for Katie and Jimmy’s wedding. The day of our arrival was also Katie’s birthday, a day I named The Most Anticlimactic Birthday of Katie’s Life. Because, really, when you’re getting married in 3 days, how significant does the anniversary of your birth feel? Not very.

But I was determined to do my part to keep Katie’s birthday on the radar, however small that blip may be. She had visited my apartment a week or so earlier, and she had noticed my original party turtle for the first time. She loved it. Birthday gift conundrum: solved.

Katie loves orange, like I do, and I couldn’t resist making a party turtle in a much brighter colorway than my original. When Brad saw the picture, he said, “your party turtle looks like an old soul.” And I think that’s pretty perfect for Katie and me: she’s the energetic one in this friendship.

Every once in awhile, my party turtle parties too hard and falls over. Katie’s party turtle, when I first stitched him up, wouldn’t stay upright even for a second! Don’t party so hard, Party Turtle! To help her (Katie declared the turtle a “her”) stay upright, I re-opened the stitches in her belly and slipped 3 nickels into the shell. Now she’s well balanced.

Katie had a good birthday (helped, of course, by Party Turtle), and Katie and Jimmy had a great wedding.

The party turtle isn’t my pattern; the adorable, incredibly silly pattern was made by Jodie, whose blog, Ric-Rac, features some really amazing and perfectly executed plush, including the tiny turtles with party hats. Everyone needs a party turtle: they make any occasion that much more festive.

Here are some previous posts about Katie’s wedding… more to come!

• Bridesmaid T-shirts made with Silhouette Iron-On
• Veil and Garter in progress – tutorials in the next few weeks!