:: 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.

merry making.

We've been busy little elves preparing our home for the holidays. I always forget how much I love crafting decorations for the season. It really seems to get me in the holiday spirit.

My most favorite creation so far is our winter snowflake wreath, which hangs on the front door. Ours was inspired by Annalea's - once I saw hers, I had to make one of my own.

I love the combination of colorful yarn, vintage lace, happy jingle bells, and my mother's doileys. I didn't have one quite large enough to span the entire center of the wreath, so, to fill the space, I ended up knotting it together with another piece of vintage lace.

I also made one to hang on my studio wall.

Thea and John collected some greenery from the yard to decorate our window boxes. I made these bows from red and white ribbon, and I love the cheer they bring to the front of the house.

And the snowglobes! I've seen these mason jar snow globes lots of places around the web, and, since Thea has been begging for a snowglobe of her own, I knew we had to make a few. They're so simple! And lovely too.

We also made several of these felt snowmen (made from felt beads and felt scraps), and we thought a few would be fun in the snowglobes.

This mama and baby deer is Thea's favorite one.

We have all of the snowglobes clustered on our mantle.

And speaking of the mantle, I strung a colorful garland of felt balls to brighten things up. I'm really loving decorating with lots of bright colors this year.

And tonight, I finished new stockings for me and my mister. Photos of those to come soon!

And now I'm off for a bit of rest so that I can {try to} keep up with my girl tomorrow.

teacher love.

Over the past month, I've twice put together gifts for Thea's teachers. Pictured above are our holiday gifts. I made ornaments from polymer clay, stamping words onto each one and adding texture with fabric and notions.

I'm still not sure how I feel about polymer clay, as I'm not convinced of it's safety, but I do love the result.

(Silly me, in my rush of holiday crafting, I didn't thoroughly research this product and any potential risks or side effects before hand. That's the last time I'll just assume that a craft supply that is "safe for kids" is non-toxic without doing my own research first!)

In the photo above, I stamped the clay with ink and used a corner of one of my mother's vintage doileys to create texture. I first saw this idea on pinterest, and I just love it so much!

For several of the ornaments, I used a vintage button to imprint a pretty design into the clay.

I also created texture with fabric (burlap looks fantastic!). On the ornament above, I pressed a scrap of lace fabric into the clay.

The ornaments hung outside to embellish the bags, which we filled with homemade vanilla cookies. I love that with the recipe we used, the dough did not need to be refrigerated before rolling.

For her two regular teachers, I also made a grouping of paper stars.

I used this tutorial, which I originally saw on Maya's blog.

In November, I made the teachers appreciation gifts for all of the hard work they do taking care of and teaching all of the littles. I made rolled felt flower pins, which hung on the outside of a bag filled with local chocolates.

The flowers are so easy and fun to make! To create the pins, I grouped three different sized flowers together.

What are your favorite teacher gifts?

chevron felt wreath tutorial.

We started decorating for the holidays today, and after seeing Rebekah's sweet wreath, I was inspired to make a little something of my own. I've been very into chevron lately, and I thought it would be fun to try this on a wreath.

Here's how I made it:

supplies:

straw or styrofoam wreath (mine is covered in burlap, left over from an unfinished project)

felt (I used wool-blend scraps left over from another project a total of about 78" x 9" for this 12 inch wreath)

scissors

ruler

pencil

cardstock for making template

fabric or ribbon for hanging your wreath

 

First measure around your wreath so you know the width of your felt strips. My wreath measured 8 inches around, so I made my strips 9 inches wide to allow for some overlap.

Next, make your template.

 I cut a piece of cardstock to 9 inches in width.

Use your ruler to make 2 parallel lines. Mine were 3/4 inch apart.

Make marks to create the diagonal lines for the chevron pattern. Mine are 3/4 inch apart from each other (so the dots on each line are 1 1/2 inches apart - does that make sense?)

Use your ruler to connect the dots to make the zig zag/chevron pattern.

Use your template to create your pattern on your felt.

Measure all the way around your wreath to make sure that you have enough strips of felt to cover the whole wreath.

I laid out all of my strips to confirm I had cut enough strips and to make sure that I liked the color pattern. I lined up the points in the diagonal to creat the chevron pattern.

And then I started glueing:

You could also glue down the points in the chevron, though I got lazy and didn't do this all the way around.

Glue all the way around your wreath, making sure the diagonal points in the chevron pattern line up.

My strips were out of alignment on the back side, but I just kept going.

It may look a bit messy and out of alignment when you get back around to the top of the wreath, but don't worry, as this will be covered up by your hanging ribbon.

I took a 3 inch piece of fabric, torn selvedge to selvedge and wrapped it around my wreath to cover the place where I started and stopped gluing the strips, tied a knot and hung it on the wall.

I'm now wishing the strips were a bit closer together, but oh well. I think it just needs a little embellishment - maybe some jingle bells - and then it will be holly jolly.

Happy creating!

 

 

an autumn wreath.

I know most everyone is moving onto anticipation of the winter holidays, but I'm holding onto autumn for just a bit longer. I was late in making my autumn wreath for the door, just getting it up a couple weeks ago. It makes me happy whenever I look at it, so I'll keep it up for at least a few days more.

Thea and I made the main part of the wreath together. She helped me tear strips of fabric and wrap them around the wreath, and picked which colors would go where. We used a mix of modern and vintage fabrics, including one of my favorite vintage prints featuring sweet little flowers and mushrooms. Bits of yarn and lace finished it off. She proudly hung it on the door.

I loved it, but felt like it was missing something, so I decided to try making a few rolled felt flowers. They ended up being super easy and were just what this little wreath needed. I'll be sad to take it down.

And now I'm a bit addicted to making these sweet flowers!

I hope you're having a lovely week!

in progress: thea's new room

For the past couple weeks, I've been working hard on transforming Thea's room into a sweet space for our curious and playful three (and a half!) year-old.

Here's a little peek at what I've been up to:

deciding

 

painting

stitching

crafting

and some new {old} furniture too.

There's still a lot to do, but I'm excited about how it is coming along. I'll be sharing more details soon!

 

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?

 

the 65 roses project : take 2.

As many of you know, in October 2009, my niece Caroline was born with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic disease that primarily impacts the lungs and pancreas - leading to severe lung infections and reduced ability to absorb fats (and more importantly fat soluble vitamins) that, taken together, substantially reduce life expectancy.

Caroline has the Delta F508 gene mutation. This mutation is considered the most severe CF mutation because it affects BOTH the respiratory and digestive systems. We are so grateful that at 18 months, Caroline has remained incredibly healthy, and is a thriving little girl.

Last year, to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, my brother and his friend Matt hiked 30+ miles through the mountains of North Carolina. In support of his fundraising efforts, I made and sold 65 fabric roses - raising $1000. Last year, my brother and Matt raised over $30,000 for the the CFF.

When my brother told me the significance of the phrase "65 roses," I knew that this would be the theme of my fundraising efforts. "Sixty-five roses" is what some children with CF call their disease, because those words are easier for them to pronounce. You can read the story about how this phrase was adopted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation here.

This year, my brother is a hike leader and the group of participants has grown from 30 last year to over 80 this year. Last year, the group raised $160,000. This year, they're almost at $300,000!

 

I was so happy to learn that $.90 of every dollar donated to the CFF goes to RESEARCH to FIND a CURE for CF.

 

This year, in support of my brother's fundraising efforts, I am making several types of roses - sewn fabric roses (two styles in various colors), earrings, hair clips, and sewn t-shirts. Those pictured in this post are a few examples of what I will be offering for sale.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing more about Caroline's daily life as a kid with cystic fibrosis, as well as a bit about the good that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is doing  - including how they recently advocated for my brother's family when Caroline lost coverage for her care at UNC.

 

 

I hope you will check back for updates. Thanks in advance for your support of my family, and of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

repurposing fabric.

In clearing and recreating my studio, one of the projects I'm working on is sorting through and reducing my fabric stash. I'm giving some of it away, listing some in my etsy shop, and finding ways to repurpose a good bit of it.

One of the big projects I've started is making rugs for the new studio space and for Thea's bedroom - using the instructions in Amanda Soule's Handmade Home. Mostly, I'm using the vintage and reclaimed linens I've been collecting. Thea and I have been having fun tearing fabric into long strips and sorting it by color.

I expect this project to take a bit of time. So far, I'm enjoying the process. More to come on this one...

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.