Another Fabric house

I love UK Lass's little fabric house. I especially love browsing her flickr group and seeing all the wonderful houses others have made. There is one that is made of felt and everything about it makes me happy. So, when I got a 4 year old girl in our Secret Santa exchange, I knew exactly what I was going to make her. This is inspired greatly by Jenn White's felt house in the UK Lass's flickr group.

The little girl received the Calico Critters Buttercup Kitten Twins to go in this little nursery. Here I used our Calico Critters Elwood Elephant Twins just to give you an idea of scale.

I loved this construction process so much more then the other houses. This time I pre-embellished all the house parts, and then assembled. The blanket stitch assembly was a little tricky, but would be easier to do the next time I go around, now that I have done it once.

Ultimately, I think I just really like embroidery. It is very satisfying to me to hold something dainty in my hands and make something that looks so charming.

I can't decide what part I like the best, the stone path, the bunting, or the bluebirds on the fence. It was difficult giving this one away.

Advent Calendar

Inspired by Homemade by Jill's advent calendar, I decided that I needed to make one for our family. I also kinda decided this the day before we left to visit family for Thanksgiving (I needed a project for the road, etc), which meant that the calendar didn't actually get done until 8 days after the beginning of the month, but no worries, we got all caught up.

The tree waiting it's decorations

All the ornaments on the tree

Close up of the ornaments

* You can find Jill's calendar here

Crafty Christmas Pt. 2

Phew! I have lost count on how many things I have made, but I have made it to my first deadline. Wrapping and shipping happens tomorrow. I did have to cut a few things from my original list, but I figured I would have too. They were more along the lines of being bonus gifts.

Little chocolate pops to put on top of gifts. To be fair, I made the little snowman and the others were made by friends. I did make 6 snowmen though.

Hackey sacks for Luke. Just one more to make and then they can be juggling balls as well.
http://dorfmunder.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/hackey-sack-pattern-crochet/

3 sets of the fishing game for Max, Greyson, and my secret santa. Each kiddo will get one pole and twelve fish.
http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/07/felt-fishing-set.html

Dinosaur hat for Jaden

http://crazysockscrochet.blogspot.com/2010/09/crochet-pattern-dinosaur-spikes.html

Owl hats for Ben and Nate.

pattern by Inner Hooker on Etsy.

Owl hats for Noe and Ellie

Memory game for Jaden

http://theadventuresofroryandjess.blogspot.com/2009/09/memory-game-tutorial.html

Memory game for Ben

Messy Masterpiece for my mom, painted by Ella. The intent is for it to be a family tree, and I will also give them an archival pen to write in names and birthdates. Or they can leave it as is. :)

Messy Masterpiece for Jen and Ben, painted by their daughter, Noe. They don't know about it though, so shhhhh!

Messy Masterpiece for Mike and Zina, painted by Ella.

How many days until Christmas?

Easter Bonnet

There was a local Easter parade that had an Easter bonnet competition. Ever the one to jump on board with the opportunity to put something ridiculous on my childs head, I was pretty excited! :)



I had never made a bonnet before, and I was trying to stick with what I had on hand. This bonnet is made from white felt. I embellished it with 2 coffee filter roses, some little white silk flowers, embroidery and ribbon.

I should have taken a picture of of the bonnet not on her head, so I could show the detail better, but oh well. I used my Making Memories hole punch/eyelet setter to punch holes in the scallop edges of the bonnet. I layed pink ribbon underneath to show through the holes. I also trimmed the scallop edges with pink floss, in a blanket stitch. I was trying to make it so the detail showed up better then white on white.


You can't really see the little white silk flowers, but I put them on to help hide the stems on the roses.
Watching the parade with her big brother.

And with Grandma. :)

Unfortunately, we only got an honorable mention, but based on the number of people who stopped to comment on her bonnet before/during and after the parade - I would say that it was a winner!

Quiet Book

Last Christmas I made Ella and the boys a quiet book. I need to do more pages for them now, but here is what I did get done. :)

Ella opening her book Christmas morning and playing with it

The dolls have clothes to dress them. Ella likes putting the clothes on and then taking them off to find the belly button.

Each shirt has the first initial of the kiddo the book was for.

The first page of the book. Obviously, the boys had their names, not Ella's. ;)

The "E" could be buttoned on her name.

The clothes for the doll can also be hung on the clothesline or stored in teh basket. This basket was wonky, so that one became Ella's.

Ella's doll.
To make the doll, I used a gingerbread man cookie cutter and traced.

It's difficult to tell, but there is a little french knot in the middle for a belly button.

Her doll dressed.

And the last page is a lace up shoe.

Tutorial/inspiration found here...

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/06/finished-quiet-book.html

Several of her pages are ones that I will follow to add to the books.

Felt Fish

I love this felt fishing set! I made 2 sets as gifts and then another 3 sets for friends who wanted to buy them. I am not officially selling them - it is not my pattern/idea.

Some things about making this - I would use half the dowel (which I did on the last 3), it's much easier for little ones to handle. Even if you go with the whole dowel, I would use half the amount of yarn suggested. With the velcro eyes, I bought sticky backed velcro which made it much easier to sew that little circle (which I only sewed a straight line through it, not around). My friend adjusted this pattern (after talking to me) by putting a magnet in the hook (it adds some needed weight to the end as well) and then sewing little washers for the eyes. I think, for a toddler, that the magnet option will lead to more fishing success. :)

Tutorial found here...
http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/07/felt-fishing-set.html

Felt Stockings

I wanted to make the kids stockings and given my current obsession with all things felt, it seemed like the perfect fabric for this. I looked at lots of images online (thank you Google!) and then sat down and drew these out. Now I need to make one for Thea. :)

Black Apple Doll

I made this doll for a last minute addition to Ella's stocking last Christmas. I didn't print the pattern, and drew my own, similar version. The dolls head, arms and legs are made from an old sheet. I painted her eyes and mouth on with acrylic paint mixed with a medium that turns it into washable fabric paint. I also added a felt butterfly broach. I didn't bother pinning the arms and legs before sewing and that was a mistake. But, hey, she is waving at you!

Tutorial found here...

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/black-apple-doll

Steiner Dolls

I made these little Steiner dolls on a whim. It's difficult to tell from the picture (and you will notice my lack of camera skills in all the photo's on this blog - mostly because I use my cell phone, instead of the camera) but the dolls head is a flesh color. I didn't have flesh colored knit, so, I used an old white t-shirt that I dyed with tea. Didn't have regular tea, so I used chai. Now the dolls smell all delicious. :)



Bonus that the dolls are the perfect size for the dollhouse made in the post below!

Tutorial found here...

http://soozs.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-make-steiner-doll.html