Circlie Garland: Holiday In

I've had a bunch of felt circles sitting around my house for five years. I remember them being expensive which meant that I was waiting for the perfect craft idea. I couldn't just stick a needle in them! Do you know how much they cost?! So silly.

I originally wanted to blanket stitch around the outside and connect them to make a garland. I think I put that project off because it was a LOT of work.

So I decided to just sew them together.

First I had to figure out what order they were sewn in.
It actually took me a while...Then I got Hartwell to make little piles for me while I sewed them.
The sewing is the easiest part! The machine just sucks the circles under!

Here they are on the tree:
Full tree:
I would've loved a shot of the whole garland when it was finished. But this morning I was awakened by a bouncy four year old who asked, "Can we decorated the tree now?" So as soon as it was finished, it took about 30 minutes, it was wrapped around the tree. And then covered in ornaments.

Flowers of Felt

Yay!! Another felt ornament! Just something to do while I watch nonsense at night...

These petals are about 1-1/2" tall. (If you're wondering about the red line around the pattern, just remember, it's not too smart to use white paper on white felt).
First, cut an odd number of petals, I used 9, but 7 also works, (and 8 looks good, too, for some reason). I used wool felt but felted sweaters work, or anything else...
Now we just pinch the base in half and pull a knotted, matching bit of embroidery floss through all nine petals.
To finish, pull the needle through the middle of the floss by the first knot. Pull it tight and knot the thread but don't trim it. You can keep the needle threaded and use it for the next few steps.
You're left with a floppy little flower.
I fanned out the petals a bit, left side:over, right side:under:
Now you have a cute little flower! You could stop here and make a brooch or a headband or some pasties! But we're gonna sew it to felt circle. The circle I traced using a glass, the glass a former jar of Bonne Maman Jam.
Once the flower is stitched on, I just attached the flower at the center of the circle, you can attach buttons! Or felt balls! Or whatever!
Finally, I blanket stitched around the circle starting and ending with the bit of ric rac felt I used for a hanger. Then I leave my last knot showing because it's handmade! And we should be proud of our handiwork!

Just think of the excellent color combinations! The possibilities are endless!
That just makes me want to buy shoes. Mmmmm...shoes...

Can't Catch Them...

That's Hartwell after eating the gingerbread man he painstakingly decorated. Turns out, that's all they want to do.
Hartwell worked really hard and created his guy all by himself!
Bee got help from a higher power, his dad.
Guess which gingerbread man belongs to which kid...

(The gingerbread men are from Trader Joe's)

Sigh...Sickenin' Eyes...

 Still a work in progress, but I'm calling her Katrina after a friend I have with the same art deco palette colored eyes. 

From the Sublime Stitching Roaring 20's pattern.

Dolly Carton: All is Calm

Another container!This one with more pills!

It's in my etsy shop right now!

Valley of the Matryoshka Dolls

Another embroidered gift box! This one bigger and more complicated! Just like me!

You can find it in my etsy shop:

www.etsy.com/shop/musebootsi

Also? I am now a licensed Sublime Stitcher! So excited! We so excited! Look for more of Jenny Hart's designs in my shop!

Soul Survivor on the River

I just realized it kind of looks like a campfire. It's not, it's a lotus. So, nam myo ho renge kumbayah, I guess...
It's another embroidered box. This one a molded paper that was much easier to punch.
 Skip to my Lou!

Thanks, Meatcat!

You know how sometimes you're going along thinking you're doing a great job at that mom thing and then you're late to something and you lose the directions to the school project?  I hope not. It does not feel very good.

First, I was late to the Halloween parade which meant Hartwell was the only one in the whole class without his costume. If you know me at all you know I am never late, ever, this was a miscommunication in scheduling. They send home about 8 pieces of paper with the exact same info and maybe one of them tells you something new. And that's the page I didn't read.

Then, I realize Hartwell's Dias de los Muertos diorama box is due in two days. And I didn't have the coloring pages that Hartwell is supposed to color and cut out. I put them in his homework folder for safe keeping and they were removed when he turned the folder in! Not wanting to pull a second FAIL! in a row, we went to Michael's in search of leftover Halloween stuff to make our box.  Did you know Michael's no longer carries any crafting supplies? It's like a room full of floral centerpieces and Christmas villages. The superstore and its "stock what sells" mentality is driving us all back to the local, independent craft stores. Just like I planned! Ah-hahahahahahaha!

So, after buying a whole lot of NOTHING at Michael's, we went to the 99 Cents Only store. Don't be fooled, it's actually the .9999999 cent store, which is a dollar! I am not stupid! But they, at least, had some skulls and skeletons. 

Down the street form the Just Call it a Dollar Store is an awesome fabric shoppe that I knew would have dias de los muertos fabric. Hartwell picked out two fabrics and we drove home all pumped full of righteous indignation and shouting anti-corporate sentiments! "Why you such a bitch, Michael's!" exclaimed Beckett*.

Back to dead day box, Hartwell and I tried to think of someone to make the altarpiece for. First, he suggested "Maggie and Audrey's grandpa." Which I thought was adorable, and a little creepy, but mostly adorable. We don't have a ton of relatives who have passed away/our extended family lives far away.  So he doesn't know anybody who has died. I suggested my Grandma Lylia. Bee was really upset to hear my grandma had died. 

Grandma Lylia was my vintage/antique/fabric/embroidery shopping companion. Most of what I know about that stuff came from her. For the "picture" above the altar, it was explained we could do something that represented the person. So Hartwell learned to embroider and made an "L" for Lylia.
It turned out pretty cute, for a dead person memorial. It was much harder than it looks as everything I bought had to be spray painted or somehow fixed.

After I finished the project, which was a couple of hours with red paint and spray glue covered fingers, I got an email that explained that the Dias de los Muertos boxes will be due on Friday. As in I now had three more days to finish the project.

Blergh. I need a Cheesy Blaster.

*not really.