Stitching felt tiaras

My favourite thing to do is sit and stitch running stitch through felt. It is satisfying and soothing. If I am feeling blue and I need a pick me up, this is one of my go to things to do. Of course, I need a plan of what to make. And it helps if it is already cut out. And I have the right colour cottons. And have the concentration skills to sit and do it. Basically, I need everything to line up and it's a great thing to distract me from blueness...

The sense of achievement once I have stitched the pieces together to create a thing is really something though. I like to turn it over and study my stitch length and make sure I have done a good job. My house probably looks like a cyclone has just gone through. And I may not have decided what to make for dinner and it's past six o'clock. But if I have spent time stitching, I am doing okay. 

It's not just felt tiaras that make me feel like this, though these were fun to make. Matching colours for the tiara and the flowers and hearts out of my felt collection is a great way to pass time too. Felt is one of my happy places.

Felt Wreath for Christmas

I have been determined to not let Christmas sneak up on me this year. I know. It shouts it's coming from around September when the decorations start showing up in the shops. My plan has been to start making, buying and preparing for Christmas early this year. Well, earlier.

This wreath was super easy to make. I haven't decided what to embellish it with though, if anything. I really like it like this actually. I followed the tutorial here.

In a fit of decluttering at the start of the year I went through our Christmas decorations and donated a lot of the ones we had because I didn't like them much and was determined to make some. Christmas is almost upon us and I haven't made any. Looks like things will have to get busy in our house in the next month!

Felt toes

My first project for 2013. Some felt toes. Well... they are more like, um... claws. I will share more pictures when I get closer to finished :-) Any guesses who this might belong to?

Owls

Hello. Thought I'd stop by and post something since I haven't for so long. It's been on my mind to do something... but then so have a lot of things! School holidays are drawing closer and my hope is to not have to be going this way and that quite so much. Believe it or not, amongst all the driving kids around, renovating and living, I have managed to do a few things that are just a teeny bit crafty. And true to form, most of them remain in mid-craft condition.

I had in my head before my youngest nephew was born in October last year, that I would like to make something for his arrival. That never did get finished - maybe one day. I started making a hexagon quilt. It was flawed from the beginning though. I made the hexagons too small and so it would take hundreds of the things to make what I had in mind. And sewing it all together by hand is so slow! That will possibly stay in the mid-craft pile forever.

After seeing a picture of a beautiful set of camping owls here, I decided I needed to make my own version for my nephew. I used some of the stack of wool felt I recently purchased off etsy, with great visions of making everything I had on my pintrest felt board.

What do you think of my progress?

I used the pattern from my Fa La La La Felt book and added the gusset piece so the owls would stand up. I think they look a bit blank. I need to stitch their eyes a little I think. Give them some personality. I quite like them. By the time I get them finished, my nephew will be one! (If I get on with the stitching of course!) I am going to make a tree stump house for them. It looks great in my head. Now if I can just translate that into action.

I have a few more things to share. I took a bunch of pictures recently of my mid-craftiness because I was going to write a whole lot for this blog. Still not there yet. And the blog renovation... I am a bit stuck on that too. Seems like it should be a simple enough project, but I can't for the life of me get that figured out. One day you'll stop by and see that I have finally figured it out.

See you another day.

Owl sleep masks

I think I might have mentioned a while ago that I am an Aunty again. Hooray for being an Aunty! I was trying to make a secret sewing project for my new nephew but now that he is a month old, I have pretty much given up on that project. You never know though. Perhaps I will revisit it with fresh eyes at a later date.

Anyway, I wanted to put together a gift for my sister-in-law that would be useful particularly at the hospital but for later as well. Something that is nearly impossible in hospital (and after you go home) is resting. You certainly don't get rest in hospital. I thought some kind of eye mask would be a great idea. It could be worn to block out the light and might give people the hint that rest is needed.

I found a tutorial for making and owl sleep mask. My sister-in-law likes owls so it seemed like a good idea.

I made the grey one for my sister-in-law and the pink on is for another friend who has just had a baby too.

They turned out really pretty. Even if that pink one is only "mostly" done, it still looks good. It felt good to make them. And so quick. I don't know how practical they will be but I like fun things. The way my family has been lately, if I have managed to do any crafting or stitching I have grabbed it with both hands!

Matchbox house and doll

As I mentioned in my post here, I am trying to cut down the mid-craft pile so I can start some new projects. I have actually managed to do some stitching of late. Oh my, it does drag on! I try to do some stitching at night after the kids are in bed but that is not working because I keep falling asleep! I decided I needed to get back to stitching during the day. I do find it hard to be motivated when the kids decide they need to do sewing at the same time. Sigh. Oh well. It is actually what I want. I want them to be interested and learn about sewing. Can't have it both ways I guess.

This is the first matchbox house that I have almost, just about, nearly completely finished. This one is just about the same as the one I found on the this post here. Oops! I didn't mean to do that. I tried to change things a bit for the next two I made. Which I don't have photos of yet because - not finished yet.

I created a tiny felt doll to go inside the little house too. So that means I have to make 3 tiny felt dolls to go with the 3 tiny houses. I have also now made 3 tiny quilts and have prepared 3 tiny pillows. The tiny possibilities!

Esther, Ellamay and Amelia all seem to think these are pretty cool. So do I actually. Wish I could get away with wearing one. Soon I will have to find some ribbon to tie them with. And get some photos of the kids with them too. I really like matchbox crafts (remember the camera for Esther and Ellamay's birthday un-party) I will have to find some more crafty ideas. I was excited to find you can buy blank matchboxes from the craft shop back when we made the cameras and now I have restocked the supply so bring on the matchbox ideas.

Penguin foot cozy

This is what a foot cozy might look like if the world was ruled by me. Actually, it's a cheap black beanie that I got with visions of turning it into something ridiculous to cheer up my sister-in-law. She had broken her toes in a quilting accident (it happened at the time of quilting and was quite unrelated, but it makes a good tale). She had to sit with her foot up and couldn't do too much. So I made her a foot cozy to keep her foot warm and to give her a giggle.

I used some felt and buttons and the penguin foot cozy was created. Hopefully, that foot is well and truly on the mend. How's it feeling, Rachel? Now the foot cozy will just be another silly thing I made because it's fun to be silly and bring smiles.

Scraps of a birthday project

Craftiness! Hooray! I do still have a little bit of craft left in me. I know it's been lacking around here. I hope I have got my groove back now. Esther and Ellamay are turning 7 next month. My wee little babies aren't babies anymore. I have been trying to come up with suitable presents for them but have had a hard time this year. They are getting so grown up apparently.

I have been working on sewing kits for them. It was a great idea because I have such a huge stack of acrylic felt to use up and it is perfect for them to learn to sew with. And I can whittle away the stack. Everybody wins! :-)

My next project is to take photos and post them here so you can look at all the pretties.

Hopefully, I can steal a bit more time on the big computer to do that. :-)

Bunny ears

I like to stitch things. Especially felt. There is something very satisfying about it. Probably that for the most part the projects I make with felt should in theory be quick turn around projects so I should feel like I have achieved. This is the latest of these kinds of projects. The kids have, in the past, had the big bunny ears on head bands that seem to flood all the shops in time for Easter. I decided to make them some that were a little more understated.

I had in my mind what I wanted to make and hoped it would work out. I printed off a bunny outline from a kids colouring page and cut it out. I folded up the face of the bunny and used it as a pattern for all the felt. After I stitched it all together, I sewed the ears onto hair combs. It was fiddly but satisfying :-) I think maybe they might have worked better if I had sewn them on the other way around. I'll know that for next time I decide to make this kind of thing.

The kids have been wearing them around in the lead up to Easter. I have been tempted to make some for me. Maybe not. I will just stick with last year's hair accessories. I will have to try to get a photo of those up. Have a great day.

Tea party anyone?

Thanks to Aunty Sarah and Uncle Steve, the girls have shiny new tea sets. They are pretty and came in little cases. The kids have been having a grand time using the felt food with them to have picnics on the lounge room floor. When I see it all spread out it makes me want to make some more felt food. I have such a list of things to do though... Oh well.

I thought I should be over the busyness that has been going on in our neck of the woods by now but I think it may still be a little longer before I am back to regular posting (not that I am regular much). Some of the problem has been me being slack. Seems like I am always fighting for my share of time on the computer these days. It was easier when the kids weren't computer literate!

The next two weeks are going to be wonderful. Tim has time off work and we are going to enjoy having him around the place. We (as in 'he' by the way) are going to work on the garden and get our house looking spiffy outside. It has been neglected for a long time and Tim is getting things lovely out there again. I am also hoping for a lunch date at some stage. (Hint hint Tim) What extravagance! We don't get to go out without the kids too much. Especially for a whole lunch with grown up food. You know the kind of food that doesn't come with fries :-)

Have a great week :-)

Needle books

How do you store your needles? I have a pin cushion that use to take care of them but I was having trouble with little people pushing the needles right down into it. Frustrating, but again one of those things that I remember doing to my mothers pin cushion so it makes it hard to be too cross about that. :-) (Sorry Mum). This felt cloud is what I have been using lately. Although it looks kind of cute (to me anyway) it wasn't really doing the job. I have wanted to make some kind of needle book for a while now and even had a couple in the mid-craft pile (recently culled).

Since the three girls are now sewing with real needles, we are going to start working towards making up a sewing set for them while improving their sewing along the way. Good idea, don't you think? I searched flickr looking at all kinds of needle books that might be easy for kids. There were lots of great ideas and this one isn't exactly kids beginners level but the girls had an idea for what they wanted. Mostly, it had to be quick. I had seen this tutorial for a child's sewing kit a while ago, which includes a pattern for a needle book and pin cushion and thought it would do the job.

Mine is the pale blue, Amelia's is green, Ellamay's is purple and Esther's is the pink ballerina. Sticking with our regular favourite colours. Everyone got to sew the line in the middle of their needle book. I know that's not much but when there is three little girls all wanting to do theirs at the same time, you have to go with what works easiest.

They all did a pretty good job with the sewing machine. I am hoping to get Esther and Ellamay back on there some time soon to make some little bags. We have been dreaming up all the other things we need to make or buy for their sewing set. We aren't going to make the sewing box that goes with the tutorial at the moment, though I would like to try it some time.

This is the inside of my needle book. By the time we got to sewing my needle book, some one had fiddled with the sewing machine and the tension was wrong (again!). True to form, I didn't stop to try to fix it. Waste of time. It takes me forever to get it sorted out. I am an impatient sewer (sewist? Sewing type person? Whatever the word is).

I will have to get some photo's of the latest stitching the girls have done. They are pretty proud of it. Little felt hearts that turned into cushions for their Barbie's and little felt rectangles which have become mattresses for the Pony house. They want to start doing things that are more advanced. I might set them up with an embroidery hoop next and have them just do lines of stitching and perhaps learn some new stitches. They think using a hoop for stitching is a very exciting idea.

Chipmunk pencil tubes

How do you like our new pencil holders? We made them after I saw this post over on One Crafty Mumma. It is actually a tutorial on making silts out of tin cans but I didn't have any cans on hand. I decided to use a cardboard postage tube which is a very handy crafting item! (Remember the barbie chairs?) Anyway, I used a disc of photo mat board and hot glued it onto the base. I cut up the felt from the pattern and the girls picked the colours for the background. All in their own colours of course! Green for Amelia, pink for Esther and purple for Ellamay. I went with yellow. I was really excited to make this because I have quite a huge pile of craft felt to conquer before I can justify going and buying anymore - I want a stash of quality wool felt. I had to help Amelia with hers but Esther and Ellamay put there's together by themselves. We just used a marker to do the eyelashes.

After we were done the girls did some more crafting with the left over felt. It was a hot day so we spent it out working on the outdoor setting. Today it's been raining and the kids have been working out there again. It is really a good spot for them to work.

Head over to One Crafty Mumma to see the Hip Hip Hooray for Holidays series and get some great ideas to keep the kids entertained.

Rolled felt candles

The kids put these candles together while Amelia was on the pump the other night. They turned out really well. It's a great Christmas craft but really why not do it for a birthday too? That would be fun.

Find the instructions for this craft here. We just used double sided tape to stick them together. And we didn't put the loop on ours to hang them obviously. Esther started making a candle holder for hers but was working on it at bed time so it didn't get finished. Try these candles out. There are lots of possibilities with this craft.

 :-)

I hope to get lots of posts up in the next couple of days before Christmas. Hope your last preparations for Christmas are going well.

Simple Christmas tree

I made this in a fit of creativity one night lately. There has been so much time spent worrying and taking care of Amelia and life that I just needed to achieve something pretty to distract me. I love making things in these embroidery hoops. And this is a spare felt tree that was half done with my felt decorations that I have already posted about. Very satisfying to finish something in one sitting.

Felt Christmas decorations

I have got Christmas on the brain lately. I really want to get making Christmas stuff and feel like I am organised this year. I say that every year. Oh well, I can dream. I am a bit earlier than usual but how can I help it when the shops have had their Christmas stuff out since the end of September or something ridiculous like that.

These are some decorations I started making last year. I never quite got to finish them. Such a surprise to not be finished something! Maybe I will get them done this year. I was thinking about getting the sewing machine out and just stitching them onto cards. Might be a quicker way to finish them. Plus, that would be cute don't you think?

I have been digging around the hard drive and found some photos from the last couple of years of Christmas things so I will share those in the next few weeks.

Lady bug hair clip

Yes. I am still here. Been under the weather again. So have the kids. I thought I would just pop in to the neglected Crisis and show you something that I actually managed to make last month. Are you impressed? I love to make hair stuff because (in theory) it should be quick to see a result. Do you recognise my inspiration? I used Amelia's 3rd birthday cake inspiration for the hair clip too.

I have been writing lists of things that I want to make for Christmas and things that I need to finish off so hopefully things will start looking a bit busier here soon. Now if I can just get rid of this rotten headache.

Has anybody started getting Christmas on the brain yet?

Felt heart garland

Do you remember the felt heart stitching project that I was working on? It was while I was under the weather last month. Well, I finally took a picture. (I am gradually catching up on my photo taking.) Here it is hanging above our bed. Clever picture. Can't see the unmade bed underneath :-)

Tim decided while I was sick that we needed to do a full scale attack on our bedroom and moved the furniture all around. Our bed use to be right in front of the window and the cold winter air always found a way to creep in. I don't know why we didn't change it years ago! It makes our room so much bigger. We have new curtains now and we hope to change the photos on the wall around.

I made this felt heart garland because it was a quick, pretty thing. I already had the felt and it was so easy to whip this up. I just hope the kids leave it alone. I guess I can just make a new one if it gets wrecked or starts to look a bit worn out. Considering it only cost about $2 to make and only a few hours to stitch, it wouldn't be hard to replace.

And now, our bedroom has lost a considerable amount of weight. (Love that!) We started our spring cleaning a little bit early but it is so good. Now if we could just conquer the rest of the house!

Under the weather

I have been to the doctors again this week. I have been there so much in the last month I need some sort of rewards card! I have spent the last few days resting as much as possible in hopes of knocking this rotten virus. I tried the 'think you are better and make yourself get on with things' trick which failed miserably. It feels very indulgent to lie in bed for a couple of hours here and there. I just don't do that. I have been coughing so much I really haven't slept. But the staying still thing has been nice.

While sitting up in bed I have been stitching. Something I haven't done in a while. Ruby red acrylic felt hearts. It is so satisfying to stitch up felt. I will post a photo of the finished product soon.

Amelia has come down with something in the last few days too. High temp and miserable. She has been snuggled up in bed beside me while I have been resting. She doesn't usually have day time sleeps anymore, but she has been this week. I am hoping that the temperature has finally left her today. She has been asking if she can go shopping with me so that must be a good sign. :-)

Cloud Mobile

Cloud mobiles seem to be quite a popular thing at the moment. I have seen them around the internet for quite a while. They look great. And there are so many different interpretations of them. I decided to have a go at making one. I wanted to embroider onto it though.

After a trying writing onto the felt with a water soluble pen, free hand stitching and sewing Aida cloth to the back, I used baking paper that I wrote the quote onto and then stitched it onto the felt. It worked okay. Though if I am ever crazy enough to do such a small font on acrylic felt again, I will do tighter stitches. The text lost a little bit the form when I tore off the paper.

The quote is one that Tim found on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website (a US site) not long after we found out about Amelia's diagnosis. It reads "life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about getting out there and dancing in the rain."

I love how the raindrops and heart have turned out. I love the whole thing actually. Except maybe the size of the quote. But then I didn't want it to be huge.

Here it is hanging in Amelia's bedroom. See the flower garland is finished and hanging up from this post. Love the way it turned out. Still have to make some more for Esther and Ellamay. And that is Amelia's name canvas. Painted by her artist Aunty.

Birthday crowns

Esther and Ellamay are turning 6 next month. I thought I would post about the birthday crowns I made for their last birthday. So super easy and last so much better than any of those cheap plastic tiaras that hardly even last for the car trip home. The crown tutorial is found here. The tutorial calls for wool felt but as with all my felt projects so far, I just used acrylic. I followed the suggestions made here to make less elastic part and more felt.

I did a couple of things differently. Firstly, instead of using the fusible webbing in between the felt, I used some cheap craft foam. It worked perfectly as it gives the crown strength to stand up properly and it can still bend without any worry of breaking. The first ones I used self-adhesive foam but it gummed up my scissors so much that I just used plain foam for the rest and stuck the foam and felt together with a swipe of glue stick glue. Just enough stick there to keep it in place while sewing. Secondly, by the time I got to finishing off the elastic part, I didn't bother with the casing. The kids didn't care - so I won't either.

I made about 6 of them for party favours last June for Esther and Ellamay's 5th birthday party. They loved them. The one in the picture below was one I made for a birthday present for one of their kinder friends. Big hit! I paired the crowns for the party (and this present) with a $2 sparkly scarf from The Reject Shop and some other bits and pieces and we were in business.

Now looking at the great dress up things on ikatbag, I might have to have a look at making some more of those for this birthday. Especially those masks...