Eye Experimentation

Last week I decided to try and complete all those little half-finished creatures there were sat in a bag in the back of a cupboard.   I am very fickle sometimes with projects -  I get an idea, design the pattern,  knit/ make up all the parts until I am happy with the outcome and that's usually as far as it goes!   I often find half sewn/ stuffed parts that need putting together but by that time I'm halfway through designing the next piece.   But the thing I struggle with most are the faces.   The pile I was working through last week were all  little faceless creatures.   The majority actually got finished and some even listed on Etsy but one still remains faceless.   I was having terrible trouble embroidering on the stuffed face.   I started experimenting with embroidering on other fabrics first but couldn't cut close enough to my stitches to loose sight of the underlying fabric (fraying edges everywhere!) or without cutting into my stitches and this also caused a problem with actually attaching the embroidery to the face.   But after some trial and error (and plenty of research on the internet) I think I may have stumbled upon a solution:

These eyes were supposed to be for a cat but when I made a pair and put them together I wasn't quite sure - what do you think?   Do these look like cats' eyes?

I also tried putting the eyelids on the other way round:

I think they look more like owl eyes now:  maybe there's an owl toy on the way.....

But the experimentation will also continue as I am still not completely satisfied with the outcome.  I want to achieve a more bulbous effect under the iris and pupil, at the moment any stuffing I put behind there is popping out the back because the embroidery causes too much stiffness.   I'd also like to try and add some eyelashes.  :o)

Next to figure out is the nose!!!