Felt Cactus

Today the sewing machine was out so I could do some mending and while it was set up I made this quick cactus hoop art.

The inspiration for this came from a little plant that was a gift from Little L. I don't know who thought it was a great idea to glue things on to a plant but when I tried to remove the hat I snapped the top of the plant. I've squashed it back together hoping that it will heal its self and not die on me.

The felt pieces were all machine sewn on

then the embroidery and wobbly eyes were added.

These are the pattern pieces that I made to make it.

Felt Heart Cushion

Today I made another heart themed item, a cushion which is going to be a Valentines Day gift for Little L. The only cushion pad I had at hand measures 12in x12in so it's not very big.

After my fabric pieces were cut out I pinned the felt hearts in to position and drew on heart shapes in between. The hearts are spaced about an inch apart.

The felt hearts were sewn on using my sewing machine then the hearts that I had drawn on were outlined in chain stitch with embroidery thread.

The cushion has a simple envelope closing back. I inserted some pom pom edging when I joined the front and back pieces together.

Crafty Catch Up

Today I'm sharing a few things that I have recently finished making. 

I began to crochet this blanket quite a while ago and after a quick look through my old posts I saw it was July 2013 (I didn't realise it was that long ago). I did start with the intention of it being a large blanket but it seems I got bored.

The blanket is made from 95 hexagons and measures approximately 31in x 42in.

I sewed some black fleece on to the back to tidy it up abit and for extra warmth.

The wool arrived to make the zig zag Hilda mitts from the Pretty Knitted Hands book.

The pattern was very easy to read and I'd finished them in a couple of days. I've been wearing them out ever since as it is still quite chilly here.

At the moment Little L loves to play on the tsum tsum game app so I made these Chip N Dale coasters inspired by the game.

For the pattern I used some free Disney colouring pages which I resized in Photoshop.

At the moment I'm in the process of dismantling some jute gift bags but I'm not sure what to use the fabric for yet.

Making For Dolls

I thought I'd share what I've been making for the past couple of days. A small crocheted blanket and toy for Little L's doll pram.

The zigzag blanket was made using a SIRDAR pattern (no. 3174) which I sized down to fit. This was made in no time as I only made it big enough to place as a top cover. It measures approximately 13in x14in.

I was going to make a pram toy by knitting or crocheting some animals then stringing them across but I ended up using felt as it is quicker for me to sew. Anders commented that he quite liked the stripy ribbon and was surprised when I told him that I'd kept it from the ends of last years Christmas crackers. Little scraps of ribbon always come in handy for dolls things. The blue flowers and leaves were sewn on to the elastic with a button but the weight caused them to tilt forward when I first strung it across the pram. I glued some buttons to the back of the flowers to try and balance the weight out. It worked to some extent but I think if I made Little L another one I'd be better off making whatever is strung across double sided. 

Felt Penguin

A quick Valentine's Day gift that I made this afternoon for Little L.

Scrap Felt Garland

Feeling fidgety the other day I saw a felt garland on Pinterest which would be ideal for using up some of my scraps.

The garland measures about 95in long which I made in two lengths then joined them together. I cut roughly 800 pieces of felt then sewed through the pieces using a fine crochet crochet. Little L even helped with the sewing.

I'm not too sure about keeping it up though because it reminds me of a Christmas decoration. 

A tutorial to make one of these garlands can be found here.

Everything Back To Normal

After all the time I spent trying to fix the blog posts I was told how to sort it out very quickly. If the photos had been deleted in the last 60 days (mine were), go in to the account where the photos are stored, retrieve them from the trash and they all go back on to the relevant posts. Sounds really obvious now. 

This week I finished knitting a new outfit for Little L's doll. The pattern I used for this was a Daisy May pattern (No.287) which I purchased from Ebay. The outfit below, also a Daisy May design (No.279) is one that I completed just before Christmas and didn't get around to posting.

These are a few small speedy items that I have made using some free patterns which I found.

This crocheted fox key ring for Little L's school bag,

a felt guinea pig ornament for my Mum

and a little monster ready to give to Little L on Valentines Day.

Retro Rabbits

These week I wanted to make something that I would actually finish quite quickly and not be added to my wip collection. After a look though a couple of books I settled on these retro bunnies because I still have a vast amount of the floral fabric left over from some sheets that my Gran gave to me. The pattern which I used is from the book  All Sewn Up by Chloe Owens. The patterns needed enlarged and I did that the old fashioned way by drawing a grid and copying square by square.

All the pieces were sewn on by hand and just used my sewing machine to sew the body pieces together. I used glittery buttons for eyes

and made some pom poms for tails.

Another thing which I made this week was this sleep mask for Little L. She had been looking through craft books with me, seen a mask and told me that she really wanted one for bed. I don't know why though considering she is scared of the dark. I found the pattern for this one here on Cut Out And Keep. 

Last Week

Little L caught something different than her usual coughs and colds last week. She came home with chicken pox. For the first couple of days she had a sore throat along with the spots but now besides being extremely irritated with the itchiness, she is very bored. We've been watching lots of films and she made these Christmas ornaments with air drying clay which are just waiting for a coat of varnish. We'll be doing something Christmassy with paper this afternoon. Little L loves cutting things out.

Coco, our rabbit is in the house for the Winter. Considering she is meant to be a miniature Rex she doesn't look far off a full sized one to me .... I think we've been had.

Craft wise, I've not been up to a great deal. I made these felt cats, a key ring for Little L's book bag and two magnets

and this pocket bunny for Little L from a Gingermelon pattern. 

Christmas Rocking Horse

Last Christmas when my decorations were out Little L seemed particularly fond of my rocking horses. I would find them moved from where they had been originally placed to being clustered together in a little herd. None are valuable or would easily break so I didn't mind Little L playing with them. Before they were stored away I took some photos of them with the idea of making some felt ones for our Christmas tree. This is the first one which I have made.

MATERIALS

Felt - grey, green, red and white

Embroidery thread in colours to match the felt plus small amounts in light grey, yellow and black

Ribbon

All the patterns pieces were cut from felt, cutting 2 pieces for the body, rocker and tail. The parts were placed and sewn on to one of the body shapes with small straight stitches using two strands of embroidery thread.

The details on the saddle, harness and rocker were added using french knots and chain stitch in yellow thread and light grey on the mane and tail. The eye, nostril and ear were added using black thread.

The two tail pieces were sewn together then the two body pieces, inserting the ribbon for hanging and the tail as I went along. The two pieces for the rocker were sewn together inserting the feet.

Small circles of white felt were glued on for the spots.

New Craft Books

I'd not bought any craft books for a while so when I saw the Mollie Makes Feathered Friends was due to come out I hopped over to Amazon and popped it in my basket as I knew that Little L would love some of the projects in it. It arrived last week and the first thing Little L was drawn to was some colourful hanging parrots which are designed by Laura Howard from Bugs And Fishes

I made two of the smallest size, one for Little L and the other for one of her friends.

Little L's is currently tied to the handle on her wardrobe door.

The next thing that Little L loved from the book was a crocheted penguin pillow. This was really quick to made and I just need a pillow to fill it and to sew the bottom up.

The other book which I was working from last week was folk art needlecraft which I was lucky enough to win in a give away from Cut Out And Keep.

The only thing I have made from the book so far is this small sewing case but there are plenty of projects in this book that I want to get around to making.

I especially like these tiny dolls

and this hedgehog bag. A free tutorial for the hedgehog bag can be found here

Felt Animal Brooches

This week I finally got around to finishing off these felt animal brooches. I cut them out and made a start on them a while ago but due to the tiny stitches used on them I only do the sewing in daylight. The patterns for these were purchased from Gingermelon's Etsy shop.

There is a similar free pattern for the cats and rabbits available from the Gingermelon Dolls blog.

A Quick Catch Up

I thought that I'd pop on for a quick catch up. I didn't realise that the last post was so long ago. 

Little L joined in with her first Easter bonnet parade this morning at school. She is a bit poorly at the moment with a cold and nasty cough which is doing the rounds in our house. She had a terrible night last night and I would have normally kept her home but she'd been looking forward to joining in so I let her go but I'm keeping my ear open for a call to go and collect her.

I just bought a plain 99p hat and used a bit of cardboard and felt and lots of glue to decorate it. There were some great hats there, you could see some of the parents had been busy. One had a large partly opened Easter egg on the top and I still can't make my mind up whether it was a real one or not. I'll have to sit closer next time with my failing eyesight.

Craftwise things have been moving slowly as I've been reading more books through my tablet and I've been watching more telly. I'm not much of a TV watcher but I've been glued to some of the dramas which have been shown lately. We've been watching Mayday, Light Fields, Broad Church and In The Flesh. Anyway they have almost all finished so I'll be back to my usual fidgety self and will have to find something to do.

These are a couple of things which I have finished since my last post. Three pairs of fingerless mitts made using this pattern from Hand Knitted Things. Two pairs of these have already found a home.

The gingerbread man is completed and has gone to live with my mum.