Peanut, My Wee Torment

I decided to try to make a gift for Raf's cousin, Marcos. His first birthday party was today....and guess what? I'm nowhere near finished! Shocker, right? Lol. I'm such a sad little crafter.

I started last weekend. I had found the toy I wanted to make, Peanut the Wee Elephant, an adorable stuffed animal from the book, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I picked out adorable fabric, that (I hope) even works for a little boy, spent an hour in the stuffing aisle reading the back of every package, and started cutting from the very first pattern I've ever used. So far, so good.

Then, it all went south. First, I sewed the 4 legs together (into a little 2 leg pocket). I was SO confused. So I got out of bed at midnight (cause the confusion wouldn't allow me to sleep) and googled my question to see if anyone else had the issue. Turns out they had. There's a whole forum of confusion from other novice sewers (thank goodness!) So, I ripped the seams to give Peanut 4 legs, then went on to the next step. Which I also couldn't figure out. So I went back to the forum--this was my last chance with them though, it was the final step they discussed. Then I threw a temper tantrum because I'd never sewn curves and had no idea how to do it on a machine. Then I figured it out. And now I've had the pieces sitting on my desk all pinned together (like the picture above), but am too mortified to take it to the machine! I've never sewn anything three-dimensional before (clearly) and I absolutely cannot conceptualize how the machine's presser foot (the purpose of which is to press the two pieces flat) is going to allow me to sew together one flat piece, and one piece that's all bunched up?!?!

So here I sit. Still. Blogging instead of sewing. I'm hoping to work up the courage to have Peanut finished by Christmas. Btw, here's what it's supposed to look like. Doesn't it look so adorable and simple?!