I can't say enough how I love Tomomi Maeda's book Stitched Safari. It has super clear directions and the pieces fit together like puzzle pieces. One of my bucket list items was to make little gifts for all of my relatives in Canada. I used her book to make 2 bears, 2 cows, 5 goats, 3 sheep, 5 pigs, and 5 bunnies. These went to my aunt/uncle and cousins, plus my mom and 2 of her close friends. Since it was Christmas, they all got jingle bells to spruce them up. They were individually wrapped and my mom had everyone pick for their family and be surprised with what they got. Each animal took a few hours to make. They aren't difficult to make but you do need to be precise. I had a great time making them and my son had a great time playing with them before I shipped them all out.
When my cousin's daughter saw the pig her dad got, she asked my mom if I could make a pug and what do you know? Stitched Safari happened to have a pug pattern in it. So a few days latter, there's one for her, one for my neighbor's pug Charles, and one for me. Again, the pattern pieces were perfect.