[completed] scented sachets, take two

Remember these scented sachets? Well, today I made more! This time, I made them for a care package, for my sister. I used brightly colored felt in fushia, two shades of green and royal blue, and stuffed each sachet with rose-scented potpourri.

ready to be sewn up

I made a total of six sachets, which took me about the length of one (1) Twilight movie. Each sachet has machine-stitched petals and is backed with a cotton print from my stash. One of the sachets was machine-stitched around the edges, but the rest I hand-stitched with either a whipstitch or a blanket stitch. I actually kind of enjoyed the hand-stitching part of the process, which is unusual for me.

pretty scraps

 These will be in a care package with some other goodies, and will hopefully will be well-used!

[completed] scented sachets

scented sachets

Over the past few nights, in between furious paper-writing, I made six scented sachets following this Purl Bee pattern. I love them! I used three colors of felt - pale pink, hot pink and a pink-and-white polka dot. The sachets are backed in a scrap of some pink cotton fabric, and are filled with flaxseeds and either dried lavender or peppermint. They smell divine!

In the process of making these, I finally mastered the invisible ladder stitch. Huzzah!

I've stashed these sachets in all my drawers of fabric to make everything smell extra-nice!

so pretty!

[completed] minecraft cake

Today is Adam's birthday!

Say happy birthday to Adam!

To celebrate, I made him a plushie Minecraft cake, 

complete with a happy birthday card!

Francois, Fred, Frank, Felix the Gremlin

Last September I made a gremlin for Adam for his birthday, and sent it off to him in his far-away training facility. Today the gremlin gets renamed a new "f" name daily. He's made of felt and fleece with smiling fangs and button eyes. He's got one eyebrow permanently cocked in a quizzical expression. He's stuffed with fiberfill and weighted with plastic pellets to give him the ability to sit up properly.

He's been attacked by Assassin the cat (who just loves pellet-filled toys), and stitched up again, so he's a seasoned war veteran as well as a cross-country traveler!

Old Felt Tree Project

As I was going through my beloved phone today, I stumbled across this picture of a felt tree critter that I made for my friend on February 27th of this year (well, let's be honest, I finished it then, but it was a work in progress for a long time!). Since I haven't been crafting the last few days, I thought now was a good time to post about this project. It's a tree with apples, a flower, and googly eyes. I blanket-stitched around the outside of the tree and trunk and stuffed the whole thing with fiberfill, so it's like a tree pillow!

Felt Frame How-to

Today I'm going to show you (with pictures!) how to make a felt frame for a cross-stitch piece. It's super fast and easy, and a good way to display your cross-stitch pieces that don't fit nicely in frames.

Materials:

• Cross-stitch piece all pressed and ready to go
• 2x pieces of felt (one for the front and one for the back of the frame)
• Embroidery floss
• Scissors
• Needle
• Embroidery hoops (or other traceable object) - I used 6" and 4" hoops
• Pen
• Ribbon for hanging (cut to desirable length)
• Pins (optional)
• Ruler (optional)

Step one:

• Trace the 6" hoop (using the inner ring so you don't run into the clasp) on the piece of felt you want for the top of the frame (I used pink felt). Cut out carefully.
  

Step two:

• Place the 4" hoop inside the circle you just cut and measure if you want it to be placed perfectly. I eyeballed it and then measured to confirm. Trace the circle.
  

Step three:

• Fold the 6" circle in half and make a cut inside the 4" circle you just traced. Then cut out the 4" circle carefully. Discard.
  
  
  

Step four:

• Place the pink 6" circle on the white felt (or whatever color you chose for the backing) and cut out a matching back piece.
  
  
  

Step five:

• Place pink 6" circle on the cross-stitch piece and cut the cross-stitch to fit.
  
  
  

Step six:

• Pin all three layers together. You're now ready to start stitching!

Step seven:

• Use a whip-stitch or blanket-stitch (as I did) to attach the three layers together. Make sure to tuck your ribbon inside the three layers and securely stitch in place.

Step eight:

• Admire!
  

Additional options:

• You can also stitch around the 4" cut-out, as I did.
  

• You can decorate the frame with felt cut-outs (I used green hearts).
  

Felt Frame

Remember that tree I made? I decided to make a felt frame for it, since it wouldn't fit nicely in any regularly sized frame.I decided on bright yellow to complement the yellow thread. I used a 4 inch embroidery hoop to trace out a circle for the tree, and cut a 6 inch square frame out of felt around it. I then blanket-stitched the pieces together with dark blue floss. All that's needed to complete it is a cute ribbon to hang it with!

felt cross paperweight

Adorable, yes? This is another felt creation that was inspired by an item in one of my 'pattern' books, but was not actually cut from a pattern. The cross is full of little plastic pellets, which I also used to fill the gremlins featured in my banner, so it has some weight to it. While more useful than one of my little felt critters, this paperweight still won't really contribute to your household. But it's so fuzzy and pretty that it doesn't much matter.
The back and front are different, as you can see. I haven't decided which is the front, but I definitely prefer the brown side. You can tell which side I did first - one was so much more planned than the other. All the shapes were cut freehand with the exception of the flower, which I'd previously cut out of paper. I'm really pleased with the way this project turned out - it looks handmade, but in an adorable craft-y way rather than in an amateur way. I do wish that the running stitch I used to close the cross looked nicer on the blue side. I'm not sure why those stitches look so much smaller and more uneven.
Making this paperweight was very enjoyable - I've been working on it for a few nights now, but finally had a chance to finish it tonight. It was lovely! We watched the Red Sox play while a giant vat of beef bourguignon simmered in the kitchen, filling the entire apartment with delicious aromas.
That's definitely the way to craft!

Tom & Mini-Tom

One of my recent comments reminded me that I have been meaning to post a picture of the mini-Tom (don't worry, I took some photos before I gave him as a gift!). Continuing in my trend of having less-than-stellar pictures, here's Tom and mini-Tom! See the resemblance?
The mini version was designed to be a little moving-away gift to his parents. He's not as good as the real thing, but he is pretty fuzzy. And he eats a lot less.
The mini-Tom project was my first attempt at making creatures out of felt, and you can probably see that I've improved since then. Practice makes perfect etc. This tiny-Tom was actually the third that I made. The first was based on a design of a "kidnapper", who wore a black jumpsuit, and so Tom was dressed all in black. This was all together unacceptable, so I decided to modify the "pattern" (I use this term lightly because my inspiration book doesn't really have patterns, just basic shapes and instructions, so mini-Tom was cut freehand) to make a shirt and pants outfit. The second mini-Tom was ok, but when I looked at it again, I decided it didn't really capture the spirit of the person, so I made a third and final mini-Tom at the very last minute. You may recognize the color scheme - my felt collection hasn't changed much since July. I chose the red felt for his shirt because he has a fair number of red shirts (and let's be honest, I also had matching thread). And the blue pants are supposed to look like jeans. His legs are designed to look super long (to better reflect the Tom himself), and he has little sewn glasses.
Looking back on it now, I think I could make a better mini-Tom today, but he was well-received, and that's what matters. As far as I know, he is now gracing a refrigerator, probably longing to consume all the cheese inside.

Black Bear

In honor of my sister being chased out of an internship by black bears (literally!), I made this little guy. Initially he was going to be a little girl with a red dress, but Tom liked the head so much that I had to switch it up and make the bear a boy with a red shirt and little blue shorts.
The little yellow sign was added later, to add a comforting touch to a bad day.
Unfortunately, our little Assassincat also loves the bear, and seeks to play with it whenever possible. We found him missing the other day, and eventually discovered him under a bookcase. He's a little worse for wear after her enthusiastic attention, but still cute!
I finally got thread that matches most of my felt colors, so I will be able to make such critters with different colored outfits.
My apologies for the poor photos - it's hard to find the right lighting in this apartment! I need to get up earlier and catch the morning light.

I scream, you scream

For ice cream! Here are my two latest creations. The chocolate ice cream bar was made yesterday, and the strawberry was just completed during the end of tonight's Top Design episode.These were not made from any pattern - I cut the shapes freehand. I was inspired to do these little guys when I went to the Strange Folk festival two weekends ago. I saw some stuffed ice cream softies there, and decided I had to try it myself.
I think these could definitely be improved - I'm still a bit new at working with felt (I've made three other felt creatures, a bunny you will never see because it's in Taiwan now, a mini-Tom and a bear). I like the embroidered eyes better than the felt versions.
Tom rather loves these ice cream creatures (better than I do, actually), and sees himself as the chocolate bar and me as the strawberry. This amuses me because Tom's favorite flavor is strawberry, so he ought to be that flavor. But the pink just needed to be a girl. I will be doing a french vanilla version shortly.
If you click on the picture, you can see an enlarged version that will show you all my uneven stitching.