Christmas In July? [Part 1 of My 25 Part, Felt Ornament Sew-Along]

Last Christmas was my first Christmas since I discovered Pinterest. Of all the unrealistic holiday crafting ideas that entered my head THIS was the king. 

Oh, yes, a harmless felt advent calendar. I think it was October when I decided to take this on. I made the tree, equipped with super strong magnets to hold my (non-existant) 25 intricately stitched ornaments, in about an hour. That is all I accomplished last year. Naked tree. 

This poor thing has been hanging around my craft area for 8 months. Last week, I made a giant leap forward and stitched around my circles. I decided that it was time to start thinking about maybe working on this again.... soon. "I'll just make an ornament a week!" No pressure, I can totally manage this. Well, I took a looksie at the calendar... I don't just need this to be done by Christmas, It needs to e done before 1 December... That leaves me with 20 1/2 weeks. Yes, friends, That's all there is between now and December. Better get my butt in gear! 

I decided this is a good way to keep me on track, and it's fun for all! Felt ornament sew-along! I'm doing all of mine with magnets, but a string or velcro can be used just as easily. This week I did an in depth, step-by-step, but the techniques will be the same, just different shapes from here on out. 

Here is a wonderful resource for embroidery stitches:

Embroidery Stitches

AND

A refresher on the joys of working with Eco-Felt:

Working with Eco-Felt

Cupcake Pattern

^First, Print out your pattern^

You will need:

Felt

embroidery floss

 fusible interfacing

needle

magnet/velcro/thread loop hanger/buttons/whatever

Now gather your felt...

...Yes, I have a problem.

I cut out my pattern, but it would be a lot smarter to just trace the pattern onto your fusible interfacing. Brain fart, I guess. You only need one of each piece cut out of the interfacing.Adorable face is optional •_•

Iron the fusible interfacing to your felt. Parchment paper is a good idea here. Use some pressure, and only keep the iron over the piece for a few seconds at a time until the interfacing appears to be stuck. 

See, stuck. 

Double your felt piece and cut. This way you'll have perfect matches (pattern is asymmetrical), and it saves some time. Leave about a millimeter of felt around the edge of the interfacing. 

Repeat the process with the frosting. Now you can decorate your frosting piece (stitch on the side with interfacing,it has more stability and if you're using a light color of felt the thread will not show through) however you like. I decided on Christmas-y French Knot sprinkles. 

Use any stitch you like to attach the front and back pieces together. For the cake, I used a running stitch, then just added a few big lines for decoration. When starting to stitch the frosting, lay the cake piece over the top to get an idea where you will need to start and stop stitching. 

I used a blanket stitch along the top of the frosting, now I have gotten to the point where I need to stuff (i Just chop up some of the scrap felt) and insert the magnet and cake piece. 

Once everything is in place, continue stitching, but rather than going all the way through the layers, only pick up the front layer of the cake and frosting...

...Like so. Then continue this process around to the back. 

Tie off your thread, and you're done! 

Woo! One down,  24 to go!

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Felt Bow Tie Pasta

My child finds mysterious ways to inspire me. Example: One of my friends needed their daughter's Halloween costume shortened, in the midst of measuring and pinning and whatnot, she left her plastic pearl necklace here. Dom found it, and has been trying to feed it to me as Spaghetti for the past few days. 

So I was thinking

I need to make more stuff with many small parts so I can go crazy trying to round them all up constantly! This kid needs play pasta! 

It's an easy one, trust me. It's exactly like making real pasta shapes, except felt is less floppy and tear-able...So it's way less frustrating.  

You will need:

1 sheet of felt (mine's antique white)

Floss or thread to match

Pinking shears (zig zag edge scissors)

First, cut 2" wide strips with pinking shears. 

Cut the strips into 2x2" squares with regular straight scissors. 

Take one square and accordion fold it, so it looks like a "W" ... or "M" depending on where you're standing.   

If you get confused, you can just check out a piece of bow tie pasta, but here's what you should be looking at. 

Thread up your needle with 1/2 thickness of the floss (3 strands) Start in the middle crease...

... thread to the outside, then back all the way through to the other side...

...and through to the middle again. 

Like this. 

Knot the two ends together, pull tight and double knot. 

Taadaa!

One sheet of felt will make 20 pieces. Which is the perfect amount for a bowl of pasta. 

--CJ

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Baby Felt Pumpkin

A lot happened over the weekend! Well, A lot for me anyhow. 

Friday morning, bright and early, my husband participated in the Army Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) Honey Badger Challenge. 

Educate yourself about the honey badger:

*WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE* 

(in case you're offended by stuff like that) 

So he ran this cool obstacle course, annddd I didn't get any great pictures because trying to keep a 3 year old in tow with a bunch of slip&slides that he isn't allowed to play on all around... was... tough. A challenge unto me as well. 

After that, errands were ran, and we got back home in time to jump on a bus to go paint ceramics. Dom made a messy coaster that I somehow managed to keep him from making into a splotchy brown mess. I'm excited to see how it comes out. 

AFTER THAT, we went to the fall carnival at the local elementary school. Where I spent the entire time on various lines to purchase food. 

Long bus ride home, night night. 

Saturday I spent the whole day with a headache, cleaned the house, and was gifted some super-awesome fabric from my neighbor! 

Sunday: Football. So, up until about 3AM. 

Woke up this morning at 9. 

Am I tired? Sure, but I feel like I haven't done anything over the past few days... craft-related. So I think I might go on a crafty tear today. 

My neighbor has the most incredible decorations for Halloween that I have ever seen. I have...nothing. : / So I HAD TO make something to bring the festiveness to our place. Pumpkins are the easy answer. What's better than regular pumpkins? Cute teensie tiny baby pumpkins, of course! Pumpkins made of felt, that will never rot into a stinky puddle of mush on your doorstep! Ew, right?!  

Awwwwwwww.

You will need:

A sheet of felt (to make 4 pumpkins,  an 8x3 piece if you want to make one) 

Embroidery floss (a piece at least 18" long per pumpkin)

Poly Fill

Glue

A stick (or other stem-like device)

Fold your felt piece (along the long edge) so that the folded portion measures 4". Trim off the excess, and sew along the open edge. I used the sewing machine for this. Measure and mark four, three inch sections on your felt tube. Cut along the lines. 

Take one of the pieces, and turn it right side out.

Starting at the seam edge, running stitch all the way around the circle. Use small, even stitches. 

Pull the thread tight, like a drawstring, and knot off the end. Without cutting your thread, pull the needle through the center hole of your gathers. 

On the second side, running stitch the edge like the first side, but make alternating long-short-long stitches. 

You can see a little better what I mean here. Once you get all the way around, fill with poly fill, pull it tight, and knot.

Still without cutting the thread, start making loops from the top hole to the bottom hole. These will be the creases in the pumpkin. 

Go all the way around. The number of loops you will make depends on how many large stitches you made while gathering the top portion. mine had eight. Once you make all of your creases, knot off the end. 

You will have to fluff and shape it up a bit. I use my needle to pull out the dents in the top so they look smooth. 

For the stem, snap off a 1-1.5 inch piece of twig, luckily I had one lying around the house that Dom dragged in the other day, put a drop of glue in the top hole...

...and stick and twist your stem stick on in there. 

All done! Aren't they cute? I think they would make great place card holders for Thanksgiving dinner or a fall wedding! 

--CJ 

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Seasons change

If there's one thing I truly enjoy about Germany, it is seasons. They change!

I lived in Florida for the overwhelming majority of my life. I thought Florida had four seasons. That's what my kindergarten teacher said at least! In the spring there's flowers... ok, well there are flowers all rear round, but they're there for spring. Then there's summer, check, Florida has summer, no doubt. Fall... when the leaves change color... and... um we had a combination of pine trees and palmetto... they only change colors when there's a brush fire. AND winter! I wore sweaters every year, when the thermometer hit 60°. That was winter. 

Enter Germany, with the most magnificent dramatic season changing magic act I've ever seen. Winter is the most grueling, freezing, dark five months you could imagine.  Then everything comes back to life, overnight! Spring is flowery! Flowers that I would buy at a garden center of Lowes just spring up on the side of the road. Summer is largely the same as summer in Florida, except it lasts about a week. Then comes fall. I experienced my first REAL fall last year. Leaves rain down from the trees. Everything is colorful, the weather is nice, and there is a pumpkin fest!

So here we are, over a week from the official beginning of fall, and I'm already getting pumpkin crazy. This begins the slippery slope to getting Christmas crazy... 

Deep Breath 

To keep myself in the fall spirit, so I can squeeze every bit of joy out of it before I hibernate until April, I am testing bat and pumpkin patterns. Since it's hard to make a tutorial for something you haven't made before, that is still to come. I was pretty happy with my first-off though. I introduce to you, Baby Bat. Sorry, I don't have a cooler name. 

He's teeny tiny, about 4" wide, and wired up so you can flex and fold him. Here you can see how I just start with a sketch, and figure it out from there. 

I've also been toying with tiny pumpkins, they are super easy to make, so I'll have the pattern and tutorial up for those really soon! 

---CJ 

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