Illini Teddy Bear

This week's project was made as a gift for a fellow Illini's baby shower.  I thought a teddy bear with a Block I t-shirt was a great idea since my 12th Fan teddy bear went over really well as a birthday present a few years ago.  I wasn't super happy with the pattern I used for the last bear, so I dug around on Ravelry for a different one and came up with the Cross Your Heart Teddy by Anne Shuler of Crochet Between Worlds.

This pattern is fantastic!  I love that it's almost no sew and it was really easy to follow (though I did have to do some fiddling because of my own mess ups... oops).  The only thing I had trouble with was creating a Block I applique for the shirt (you can find all my notes in my Ravelry project here).  Overall, this pattern made me really happy and I will definitely use it for any and all teddy bear needs in the future!