Rockin' Around the Zippered Pouch...

We are giving our teachers gift cards this year and I thought it might be nice to have a little pouch to put them in. So I grabbed my infinite pile of felted sweaters and got busy.

After I added a needle felted design, I used some iron on adhesive to iron the fabric to the felted wool. It's paper backed so you iron one side to the fabric, peel the paper off and then iron the fabric to the felt. It's pretty and it keeps the wool from stretching as you sew.

 

Then I added zippers! Which was hard!

But they're cute, right?!

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...

Feliz Felt!

Getting in the crafting mood!

Also, I offered to put together an ornament kit for a school raffle. You could win this:

Now I just need to write the instructions...that's gonna be interesting...

 Skip to my Lou!

H is for Heart

Hartwell's birthday is Valentine's Day. And this year, he asked that his party's theme be "hearts. Because I'm Hartwell and my birthday is Valentine's Day." Fair enough. I have about two years left of that.
His preschool class has a Valentine's party and they hand out valentine's. I thought Hartwell would like these little felt hearts for his friends. The ones who have morning drink with him, (drinking out of the bathroom sinks), and the ones who play bikes with him and even the ones who taught him to open bags of chips by pounding the air out of them.

 

For the note, I used a sort of french knot. I need to improve my H's. Their simplicity is misleading.

Recycled Love

And my husband says I don't do anything all day...

I made these out of recycled felted sweaters.That's a lot of words.

Snow many snowmen!

My snowmen are back! I decided to Shanghai my friend's table at our local underground farmers' market and sell some ornaments. I lured her into it by promising my sparkling personality. She doesn't know what she's in for...

I'm gonna sell some birds and hearts and owls and snowmen!

When it hit me that I could make a few for sale, I went in search of the original pattern I made thinking that I would've kept it. I looked all over my "mama room" and it was lost. Until I found it in a file marked "patterns." Which was the last place I would've thought to find it.

Framed, I tell ya.

I'm having my craft group next week. We will be embroidering and I needed to create a practice pattern with a bunch of stitches. This little guy has the blanket stitch, the split stitch, the backstitch and some french knots.

Then, because our projects are gifts, I popped it in an old dirty frame to give the ladies an idea about how their finished product will look. I really should've ironed the muslin first.

I stretched the fabric over the glass and topped it with the mat.

Close-up of the flower:

I used a piece of a felted sweater for the flower.

I look up to the little bird...

I thought it might be fun to start a craft club within my MOMS Club. Get together with a few like minded ladies and share ideas and techniques to make a less expensive holiday season.

So last night I set about researching, designing and stitching some little ornaments that teach some basic stitches and look good on a tree. The two on the left were made with wool felt. The one on the right, not so much. And I can tell.

The good stuff is so expensive. Like boots and vodka.

Boots and Vodka playing the side stage at the weenie roast.

Eye'm your biggest fan...

I went to my sister-in-law's blog to see if she had anything new, (NO! Get on the stick!) and thought I could maybe do a kick-ass eyeball for her.

It's only okay.

But I bet she doesn't have one...

Keep the change, ya filthy animal.

 

What did I do last night? I made mustaches! Last friday the boys and I stopped by a KFC for lunch. Their kids meals don't come with a toy, but they happen to have a bunch of gumball machines full of cheesy toys. They both took their quarters and popped them in the mustache machine. And got little mustaches with sticky on the back. Bee called his a "granpa." (Wahr my granpa?")

I googled "felt mustache tutorial" and used this one, because they had the best patterns. Also? Is there anything I could google that wouldn't get me hits anymore?

Just another manic craftday

Office Set.
Felted thrift store sweaters on felted thrift store sweaters. 100% wool.
Collection of the Artist...not for long.

Was a heart of felt...

Hartwell gets a heart ornament. In green. Because as of Thursday, at 9:32 am, that's his favorite color.

And you can dance, for inspiration. Come on. I'm waiting...

 Trying to get back into the groove of making Christmas presents. My two rascally boys don't make it very easy.  We spent some time in the basement, with Bee somehow making it messier. And Hartwell demanding I help him with his video game.

I decided to make a little felt box out of my huge stash of recycled thrift store sweaters. It'll probably end up as a gift for someone. Mostly it was a test of my skills.

I think it would make a great vase with a glass tucked inside. The tutorial presented it as an office supply box. Full of pens and pencils.

It was driving me crazy, I was staring at it and went back and added one more flower.

Much Better.

Pattern is from "A Greener Christmas" by Sheherazade Goldsmith.

Under the Cherry Purse

One of my good friends has three girls. Two of the three are pretty close in age to my two. Therefore, we get to go to their birthday parties and I get to make presents. The oldest girl, Maggie, is turning 6 and wants an all girl, super girly party. No boys allowed!

So Maggie sort of gets a bum deal. No cute bag, no sandwich, not even an egg. So I decided to remedy the situation and make her a pretty little thing.

She's super cute and she even chats with me sometimes! I emailed her mom and asked for her favorite color: Red! Second place? Orange! How sophisticated!

I used this tutorial. Which worked okay, but I think it needed more details. Or maybe I'm just not terribly good.

So, Happy almost Birthday, Maggie! Check your porch for details soon!

I Look Up to the Little Bird...

I've been working furiously, between learning every solitaire game on my ipod, to finish this Christmas gift for my friend. I second guessed myself through every step in the process. And I had never attempted a zipper installation of this sort before. Zippers are a fickle mistress. 

But I forced myself to cut out the wool/angora felt, then a few days later I decided what the backing would be. Which was a brown pinstripe italian wool suit, pocket included. And so on...

And so it only took a month and a half to finish my first couture pillow.

It began while visiting the zoo. My friend and I were looking at a bird and she remarked, "I would love to have a living room in those colors." Well. My mind picked that information up, and filed under "Eventual Gift." Then I stared at that bird, a superb starling,  until his colors were burned into my mind. Like a peacock but with more brown and black.

After I finally came up with the idea, a pillow, then I had to figure out what to put on the pillow. And once I figured that out, how does it go on the pillow. So I created a layout with coins. And printed it out to use as a guide.

Anyway, after all of this, I gave it to her. And she said, "You called my bluff." Because, we decided, what looks amazing in your head is a little intimidating in your living room. 

The pillow is simply inspiration to guide her toward that living room. We all need something a little glamourous(?) especially when our living room is full of toys. Loud plastic toys. With tinny songs and flashing lights. Good luck, Autumn!

P.S. She liked it. I think it was the sudden realization of the task of painting her living room. Something she had pushed to the back of her mind due to her new baby. And now, I accidentally got her thinking about it. Merry Christmas!