:: a happy nest ::

stitching together.

One of my favorite things to do - especially at the end of the day - is to busy my hands with an embroidery project. There is something magical about the slow(er) pace of hand sewing: feeling the fabric and thread in my hands, the work of the needle, and seeing the project slowly come to life. 

Since I'm often with a project in hand - Thea has been asking me to teach her to sew. We have fiddled a bit with stitching before, but she seemed to become frustrated that her projects didn't look very much like mine. With mixed results, we tried free stitching, as well as me tracing a shape for her to work on. 

Yet she was determined that she wanted to sew something for her grandmothers' mothers' day presents. The projects turned out beautifully (our gift for her Omie is pictured above) - so I thought I'd share a bit about how we did it.

To start, you'll need some basic materials: fabric; a marker, pencil, or something to create your pattern; and a template to trace (if, like me, freehand drawing is not a strength).

You'll also need an embroidery hoop (I find plastic ones to be sturdier & easier for little hands to work with) and large child-safe needles (the ones pictured are plastic). And of course, thread (not pictured). We usually use regular cotton embroidery thread, all six strands. I find that using a length no more than 18 inches is easiest: it helps prevent thread tangling and wear - and is easier for small hands to pull stitches tight.

Burlap is one of my favorite fabrics for stitching with my wee girl - it's thick weave nicely accomodates the large needles we use, and I do like the look of it. I was lucky to score a huge amount of burlap at the thrift store for just a few dollars - and it has lasted me for several years.

Use your marker to create your pattern using dotted lines. The dots serve as stitch guides. Using dotted lines finally allowed my sweet girl (4 years) to create the pattern she wanted. 

I used a thick mark-b-gone pen, which made for large, visible dots that also bled through to the back of the fabric. 

This was helpful so that my girl could turn the hoop over and see where to make her next stitch.

The ink from this marker fades away when sprayed with water, leaving only your pretty stitches. I do love these pens, but I have had mixed results with burlap.

I have found that on burlap, the ink does not disappear, but instead migrates to the edges of the fabric. With that said, I will still use it for projects with my girl, but I will be sure to factor that into my cutting of the fabric

Be sure to start with a large enough piece of fabric, stitch, and then spray. Once the fabric has dried and the ink migration is complete, you can cut out any additional pattern (I traced a circle using a regular pencil).

To create the template for the word "love" in the middle of the heart, I printed out the words in a size and font that I like. I then positioned it where I wanted it on the back of the fabric, using tape to secure. Then I taped the fabric to a window and traced the letters.

The photo above is the finished gift for her Mema. Thea helped picked the fabric, thread colors, and buttons, and, after she had stitched the hearts (all by herself!) I stitched the remaining elements together.

She is so proud of her work! And I am so proud of her.

halloween fun.

{Thea, our orange flower fairy princess}

We knew she would want to be something orange, it was only a question of what she would settle on. For months, she asked to be an "orange sled," before changing her mind only a few weeks ago. I must say, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I could stop figuring out how I was going to make that costume!

The costume wasn't complicated, and didn't even take that long. For the flower necklace, I used this tutorial from Martha Stewart (though there was no template for the flowers, so I used this one from her pet costume tutorial).

For her dress, I dyed a white cotton jersey sheet orange - though it turned out much more peachy in color than I intended, which actually worked out quite well. I used this super easy pattern, by chicken hill on etsy. To finish off her costume, I dyed some white tights green for her flower stem and made her a wand from felt scraps.

Thea came down with an awful cold a week before Halloween, so she spent the week home with me. We spent our mornings working on things to get ready for her preschool class Halloween party. We stuffed treat bags and mede these little monster treat cups from recycled egg cartons.

{sick, but still silly}

On Halloween day, she was finally well enough to return to school, and it was a good thing: I think she would have been heartbroken if she had missed the festivities.

The kids took part in a parade, and then sang sweet songs for the parents. We finished the morning with a party for her little class.

By the end of the day, I was the one who was sick. I went out for a few minutes to watch Thea start out trick-or-treating, but I didn't last long. I managed to snap a few {blurry} photos of her in her costume before I headed to bed.

John continued on, accompanied by our wonderful neighbor friends and their two sweet daughters.

They made it up one street in our neighborhood before it started to pour. Which was probably just the right amount of trick-or-treating anyway.

All in all, it was a good day. A good day indeed.

celebrating.

Yesterday, our sweet little girl turned THREE!

Last week, we had lots of fun getting ready to celebrate.

I made her a birthday shirt.

And a special birthday crown.

We made cupcakes, and used this fun teplate to make happy flags to top our sweet treats.

And we made our own crayons to give to Thea's friends from her preschool class.

I think I had as much fun (or more) as she did!

What are your favorite ways to celebrate your little ones?

 

marshmallow building.

A little while back, I saw a blog post about building with marshmallows and toothpicks (though I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it!). When cleaning out our cabinent last weekend, I found a half-empty bag of stale marshmallows. So, we decided to have a little fun.

Thea immediately began building all sorts of fun animals.

And of course, we needed something for the animals to run around in. We started out with a little fenced in area, but as she built more animals, we needed something bigger. Thea suggested a barn (see first photo above).

But of course, her favorite part was eating the marshmallows. She didn't care one bit that they were stale.

Such fun!

snowman felt play board & tutorial.

 
I have a little girl who loves snowmen. So, when I saw how much she loved the felt play board she received for Christmas, I got the idea to make her one with her favorite snowy friends.

I sewed a pocket on the back to keep all of the felt pieces with the board.

Here's how to make your own. It's easy!

supplies needed:

-rectangle of cardboard
felt large enough to cover cardboard, plus 1 inch on each side (I used eco-felt for the background and a mix of eco-felt and wool-blend felt for the rest of the pieces)
-felt scraps in various colors
-fabric large enough to cover the back of your board (heavier weight works best)
-fabric for back pocket
-scissors
-hot glue gun
-iron/ironing board
-sewing machine (optional)
-coordinating thread (if sewing)

Cut your cardboard into a rectangle. Since I didn't want to buy anything for this project, I cut mine to a size that was slightly smaller than the felt I had on hand.

Cut the corners off of your cardboard. This makes it easier to wrap the felt around the edges.

Before covering the board with the felt, I covered it with a piece white paper. I did this so that the brown of the cardboard wouldn't show through the eco-felt I used (eco-felt tends to be quite a bit thinner than wool or wool-blend felt).

Cut the paper so that it is 1 inch larger on all sides than your cardboard. Fold the paper around the edges of the cardboard, pulling it tightly as you go. I folded all the way around before I started gluing. (I was experimenting with making cuts in the paper and possibly the felt to see if that reduced bulk around the corners, but in the end, I decided that it wasn't necessary. So just ignore all those cuts in my paper!)

Hot glue around all of the edges of the paper and press firmly to the cardboard.  Glue down any loose edges. This is what mine looked like when I was done:

 

Now to cover the cardboard with the felt.

If you want to do a two-toned background, now is the time to cut the shape of the bottom. I wanted the look of a rolling hill, so I cut a template from regular paper first and then traced it on the felt, but you could also just free-cut this part. And I think just one color for the background would work wonderfully too.

Place your sheets of felt over the cardboard, and adjust them to how you want them to look on your finished board. My white felt slightly overlaps the blue felt.

Flip the whole thing over so that the top of your board is face down. You should have about 1 inch of felt on each side of the board.

Begin to glue the felt, being certain to pull the felt very tightly as you go. Remember to work quickly with the hot glue because it dries rather fast. I glued the entire blue sheet down before I started on the white.

After I had glued the blue felt on, I flipped my board over to make sure the white felt was positioned how I wanted it.

Remember to pull the felt tightly as you glue.

Once you are finished gluing the back, flip your board over. If you used two pieces of felt, lift the overlapping layer and use a small amount of glue along the edges to secure this piece to the bottom piece of felt.

Now to cover the back.

Cut your fabric into a rectangle the same size as your cardboard. Cut the corners, just like you did with the cardboard.

Fold the edges of the fabric over about 1/2" towards the wrong side of the fabric. Do this all the way around the rectangle, ironing the edges down as you go.

For the back, I made a simple lined pocket. To do this, cut two rectangles slightly smaller than the back of the fabric.

(if you don't want to sew, you can still make the pocket, just iron down the edges as described below, gluing the edges down. Once all the edges are secure, glue the pocket to the backing fabric.)

Pin them right sides together.

Sew together three sides of the rectangle (be sure to leave one side open to turn the pocket right-side out), back-stitching at the start and end of your stitching.

I left one of the long edges open.

Turn the pocket right-sides out, using a turning tool (I use a chop stick) to push out the corners.

Iron the pocket flat.

On the open side, turn the edges about 1/2 inch inwards (toward the wrong side of the fabric) and iron.

Center the pocket onto your backing fabric and pin to secure. I placed the pocket the open/unstitched side is on the BOTTOM so that it was sewn shut when I stitched the pocket to the backing.

Stitch around the sides and bottom of the pocket, leaving the top open.

 

 

Center the fabric backing on the cardboard.

Glue all the way around the edges, working quickly and pressing the fabric firmly to the cardboard.

Now cut the shapes you want to use on the front. I was going for a snowman theme, so I cut different size circles from ivory felt, and then hats, carrot noses, eyes, scarves, pipes, and a big yellow sunshine. I used a template for the circles, but I just free-cut all the rest.

And you're done!

I hope your little one enjoys this as much as mine does.