Felt Fun

During the winter, being cooped up with none of the usual outdoor projects to do, I start to go a little stir crazy if I don't find ways to let my creative energy out. Last year I took up painting gourds, which I did a bit more of this year. The main projects I have been working on, however, has been sewing with felt.

I love working with felt! It is so forgiving. It started with a Bucilla stocking I made for Liam. I had made Keegan one when he was little so when Liam was born I started on one. Of course, getting much done when he was tiny proved impossible. I finished it this year, around midnight on Christmas Eve. Talk about cutting it close... For the record, I LOVE these stocking kits! Anyone can do them. The step by step instructions and marked patterns make it possible for a child to follow but are fun for anyone and vary in amount of detail depending on how challenging you want it to be. Keegan's has much less detail but was one of the first sewing projects I ever undertook.
 

With that project out of the way I scanned the internet for more felt things to create. Quiet books caught my eye. What a neat idea! I found an amazing blog called Imagine Our Life written by an incredibly creative woman who shares her patterns for free! My first quiet book page was a tooth brushing bathroom scene. It turned out fairly well. Again, with detailed instructions and a pattern how can you do too badly? Then I had to apply the family motto. Well, one of them. The main one is "If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough". This one is "If you're going to do it, you may as well do it BIG!". They are actually my husband's family mottoes, but it is fairly often that Brad and his father ask me if I am sure we aren't actually related because I fit in so well.

Anyway, I decided to make some quite book pages for my two nieces and my nephew along with Liam. These were "Let's Cook Breakfast" kitchen scenes complete with little felt food. The pattern is from the same blog. Since I wasn't sure I would make them more quiet book pages to finish the book out I decided to make them like little tote bags that open out. My favorite thing about sewing these little felt things is that it seems like one little project at a time. Not like a giant sewing project. Each little piece of food is its own project. Not too daunting and a quick gratification of a finished project. I need that. I have ADHD and it is difficult for me to stay on a project for a long time with no end result in sight.


This one is Liam's. I finished them in a couple of weeks. I added some strawberries and a tea bag complete with cover it can be wrapped in and filled with real mint tea which smells great. I left the top of the cup open so it can slip inside. Liam's favorite is the banana that really comes out of the skin.





I loved making the little food so much that now I am working on felt sandwich kits (from same blog). So far I have the spinach, avocado, eggs, swiss cheese, white bread, most of the bacon, and am partially through with the tomatoes. In true Roger's fashion I am doing it bigger. Making 7 sets. Hopefully I don't burn out before they are done and can finish by Easter when I plan to give them out along with the breakfast sets. Now that I can do more stuff outside sewing is being done less and less frequently.  The race is on.