Button practice peacock

(Goblin is 23 months old)

I have been feeling crafty again recently. A while ago I stumbled on a very cute button turkey on one of my favourite blogs Counting Coconuts. I was going to make one for Goblin but turkeys don't really resonate with me. I think turkeys are much more common place for Americans because of Thanks giving.
The other day I bought some felt squares from the felt fairy. When they arrived the lovely colours inspired me -  instead of a turkey I made a peacock. 

All the felt squares I used are 4 inch squares with the exception of the big green circle. 

I drew a little sketch for the body of the peacock and cut it out in blue. I cut the green circle out using a cake tin lid as a template. 

I used the body shape minus the head to make the tail feathers. I cut out similar tail feathers in green for the backs. I sewed feather patterns onto the tail pieces using embroidery thread. I thought it would add some featheryness. I am not sure that I made the right choice in repeating this around the whole tail feather piece. It might have looked better if I'd just used regular thread and invisible stitches. 

I decided on the colours by throwing different felt squares together until i came to combinations that were pleasing to the eye and looked vaguely peacock feathery. 

The body of the peacock is stuffed with shredded cotton sheet. 

I sewed random buttons round the edges. They are slightly different sizes so Goblin may find some tail feather easier to attach than others. 

Buttoning is quite a complex activity using both hands so I am not expecting Goblin to master it immediately but if he plays with the peacock as a toy for a while I can introduce the attachment of the tail feathers gradually.