What I used:

• Fleece
• Sewing machine & thread
• Snag-Free Velcro
• 3″ Binder rings

Handles: I used 2 strips of fleece for each handle – 2″ x 12″ (estimated). I sewed each handle together (0.5″ seam allowance), right sides facing, leaving one small end open. I turned and pressed it, folding the open end in, then top stitched all around (0.25″ seam allowance).

Main Body: For the body of the case, I took two pieces of fleece that were 29″ x 29″. I sewed them together (0.5″ seam allowance), right sides facing, leaving a 4″ hole open. I turned and pressed it, folding the opening in, then top stitched all around (0.25″ seam allowance). I sewed the handles in place, stitching squares with x’s inside to attach them.

I sewed strips of snag-free Velcro around the edges, making sure the strips matched up when the case is folded closed. The sang-free Velcro is great because it sticks together without snagging and damaging your felt.

Binder Ring Strap: (This works for my method of binding my pages. You may need to modify it.)

To make the strap to hold the binder rings, I took two 11″ x  3″ strips of fleece and sewed them together (0.5″ seam allowance), right sides facing, leaving one small end open. I turned and pressed it, folding the open end in, then top stitched all around (0.25″ seam allowance).

I laid the strap in the center of the top half of the case (on the inside) and stitched the short ends down with double rows of stitching. I then made two lines of stitching that divided the strap into thirds, and attached a 3″ binder rings to the top and bottom thirds.

Put half of your pages on one side of the rings, and the other half on the other side.

When the case is open, you can sit on it like a blanket and play. When it is closed, you can use it as a pillow!

I’ve been a busy bee, so it’s taken a while to get this latest free pattern up for you! Seems fitting that it is a page about a very busy bee!

This page came about because I wanted to do a page about spring flowers and bees, but I also wanted to do something to help Jax with his manual dexterity. A lacing activity was the perfect combination! Since Jax is in to dot-to-dots and mazes, I numbered the flowers so the bee needs to follow the correct path to collect pollen and bring it back to the hive.

This two-page spread is a scrap-buster. All the flowers are made from my scrap felt from American Felt and Craft. Their felt is way to pretty to throw away even the smallest scraps. But my scrap bucket is overflowing! This was a perfect way to use up a bit of it.

What I used:

• The Pattern
• Two 12″ x 9″ felt sheets in jade
• Felt (in gold nugget, cilantro and white)
• Wool-blend felt scraps from American Felt and Craft
• 10 D-rings (3/4″ size)
• Green cord (mine is Wright’s Creative Classics 1/8″)
• Ribbons (Mine were two little dollar bin spools – chevron from this pack and dots from this pack)
• Pony Beads (two black and one yellow)

Starting Leaf: Back stitch a vein on the top leaf piece then sew both layers together. Stitch one end of your cord to the page, then sew the leaf to the page one each end, leaving the center open to hold the extra cord. My cord is sewn to the page under where the leaf is sewn down.

Hive: Stitch the ground piece to the page on the ends. The rest will get sewn down under the hive. Sew the leaves down one at a time by back stitching a center vein.

Cut the center slit in both hive pieces, then sew a running stitches (dashed lines)  to show the layers of the hive. Pin the two layers of the hive together and sew both sides of the slit using a blanket stitch. Pin the hive onto the page and sew it down around the outside edge.

Leaves and D-rings: For each flower, cut about 3.5″ of ribbon and fold it in half through a D-ring. Stitch through the ribbon just below the D-ring to hold the ring in place at the end of the folded ribbon. (Zoom in to the above photo to see!) Place each ribbon and D-ring where it will be on the page, and pin a leaf over the end. Stitch the center vein of the leaf, making sure your stitching goes across the end of the ribbon to secure it to the page.

Flowers: You can definitely get creative with your flowers. I’ll tell you what I did for each, but go for it and make this page your own!

For each flower, I used a stem stitch to embroider the number on (using a thread that matches the petals.) I also made French knots in floss that matched the centers – the number of knots corresponding to the flower number.

Flower 1: I layered the petals evenly under the center and stitched the center on. Then I back stitched the center line of each petal.

Flower 2: The petals on this flower were evenly spaced around the center.

Flower 3: I centered the center on the flower petal piece and stitched it down. I made some straight stitches around the center.

Flower 4: I overlapped the petals under the center so they were evenly spaced.

Flower 5: The center is just sewn down over the middle of the petal piece on this flower.

Flower 6: The two petal pieces are layered with the top one rotated. The center was sewn down on top.

Flower 7: I sewed the center down onto the evenly spaced petals. Then I made long stitches in the center of each petal (but not the page) and pulled tight to ruche the petals up.

Flower 8: The petals on this flower are evenly spaced under the center.

Flower 9: The petals are spaced evenly, each one overlapping the petal to the right.

Flower 10: The four petals on the past flower were evenly spaced.

Bee: I melted the loose end of the cord in a candle flame so it couldn’t unravel. I threaded on a black pony bead, yellow pony bead, the wings (with a tiny hole cut in the center of the base) and a black pony bead. Using black thread, I made stitched through the cord and around the black beads to hold them in place. (Look closely at the above picture to see the black thread.)

Here is a quick overview of how I sewed the two pages together.

Jax is thrilled with this page and started playing with it before it was even finished! He begged me every time I finished a flower to let him lace the bee through. I think this page with be a big hit right now.

Stop by my Instagram or the Facebook page to see updates of my current project. It’s a fun one!

]]> http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/25/bumble-bee-lacing-maze-quiet-book-page/feed/ 3 http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/05/felt-fire-station-cover/ http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/05/felt-fire-station-cover/#comments Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:12:38 +0000 Stephanie http://www.imagineourlife.com/?p=4543

This fire station project is a full stand-alone quiet book, just like the dollhouse book, but using full size 9″ x 12″ sheets of felt for each page. The fire fighters are made from the same pattern as the dollhouse dolls, so they will be interchangeable. To see the other sections of the project, go here: Felt Fire Station – Fire Truck & Dalmatian, Felt Fire Station – Garage & Locker Room, Felt Fire Station – Kitchen and Felt Fire Station – Office & Bedroom.

This tutorial is for the cover and assembly. I had to sew my book together as I went in order to have better pictures for the blog. I’ll do my best to explain!

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in beet [2 full sheet plus extra], leather, banana cream pie, elephant, big apple, doe, sparrow and gray.)
• Additional Felt Scraps (in cilantro, pink tutu, orange juice, chocolate, and pastry.)
• Clear Vinyl
• Snag-Free Velcro (in white)
• Black Sew-On Velcro (I used 1 loop coin)
• Sew-on Snap
• 5/8″ Yellow Ribbon (Or felt strips. I used gold twill ribbon.)
• 1/8″ Wide Ribbon Scrap (in gray)
• Mini Ric Rac (in olive)

To prep your interior pages, sew each set of facing pages together at the middle seam. I just put right sides together and used a blanket stitch. You will have these sets: garage/locker room and the kitchen/office (with the bedroom already sewn to the top of the office.) You then pin the locker room and kitchen together, wrong sides faceing, and sew around 3 sides (leaving the binding edge open for later.) It will look like an accordion of pages at this point.

I started by sewing everything that goes on the front an back cover to the beet (burgundy) felt sheets and the leather (brown) roof.

Front Exterior: I pinned the garage door in place with strips of ribbon tucked under the sides. I sewed the ribbons down, then sewed around the sides and top of the garage. I sewed the door down beside the garage, leaving space to the right for a piece of snag-free Velcro. I sewed the door emblem onto the upper window, then sewed both windows down. I finished the door by sewing down the handle.

I added 4 pieces of snag-free Velcro to the front, as shown in the above picture. Line it up with 3 matching pieces of Velcro on the top of the bedroom (add those now if you didn’t already.) At this point, you can sew the front exterior to the garage (wrong sides facing). Sewed 3 sides, leaving the spine open for later. (I sewed all 4 sides then had to sew on top of my stitches when sewing the binding closed.)

Back Exterior:

Hydrant: I sewed the fire hydrant down on the far right and sewed a black Velcro dot (loop side so the hook on the hose can attach) to it.

Sunflower: For the sunflower, I made a zigzag stitch that went across the ric rac stem, then added some leaves by stitching a line up the centers. I pinned the flower and flower center in place and sewed around the center, leaving the petals loose.

Dog House: I pinned the two layers of the red dog house together and sewed around the door. I pinned the roof in place and sewed them together along the bottom of the roof. I pinned the doghouse in place on the page, and sewed around the sides and top. This makes a nice pocket for the puppy to go into.

Grill: For the grill, I pinned the grilling surface to the grill body then made long stitches for the grill bars. I made tiny stitches at the end of each long stitch to hold everything tight. I pinned the grill to the page, sewed the top down, and laid the clear vinyl pocket in place. I sewed along the bottom of the pocket, then added a sew-on snap just under it. I sewed around the sides of the grill, making sure to catch the sides of the pocket in my stitches.

For the lid, I sewed a matching snap to one side, then sewed the front and back together with a ribbon handle stretched across and tucked between the layers at each end. I pinned the lid to the page with it already open, and sewed it to the page. Sewing it down while it is open helps it stay open on its own while you are playing.

Hotdogs & Hamburgers: (Veggie dogs and Gardenburgers for us!) Fold each hotdog lengthwise and sew around the edges. Place each one in the center of a bun. Wrap the bun up around the hotdogs and make small stitched through all layers along the length of the hotdog to hold them together. For the hamburgers, stitch tiny sesame seeds to the outside of the top of the bun. Place each patty on the inside of the bottom of each bun, fold over the tops, then make a few tiny stitches to hold them closed.

Side Strap: Sew some snag-free Velcro on to one side that matches the Velcro by the front door, then sew the two sides together.

Roof: Sew the roof emblem to the center bottom of the roof, as shown above.

Pin the back exterior to the office (wrong sides facing) with the side strap caught in the side (Velcro on the interior side). Briefly pin the roof to the bedroom, aligning it to the top (wrong sides facing) to find where it needs to be sewn to the back exterior. Unpin the roof from the bedroom and sew the bottom edge down to the back exterior. Pin the roof back in place and sew the back exterior and roof to the office/bedroom, taking care not to sew the bedroom floor flap when you go past it on each side.

At this point, the book is all sewn together except the side binding is open. With the roof flap open, Sew through all the layers of the book to close the binding. I used a blanket stitch, and used floss that matched the roof to start with, then switched to floss to match the walls.

I didn’t pin mine, as it was so thick. I just went slowly and pinched the layers close and all lined up as I went. Excuse the phone photos here. Jax was napping on my lap and I used his lap as my sewing table. Shh, don’t tell him!

As you can see, the edges came together nicely. This quiet book actually isn’t as thick as I expected it would be all finished.

This is a view of the bottom edge of the book.

Here is a view of the right side. I matched my threads to the exterior (roof and brick colors) when sewing the pages together. But that is just personal preference. I like the clean look on the outside. Since the interior rooms are already busy, the contrasting floss around the edges isn’t really noticeable.

Stay tuned for an fun add-on pattern to be released soon, because firefighters need to have fires to put out! I hope you had fun visiting our little fire station quiet book! Jax will be bringing this along on our week-long vacation in California. We are renting part of a Spanish bungalow so he won’t have any toys but what I bring him.

Are you making the fire station from my pattern? I’d love to see! Email me photos, or stop by the Facebook page to share!

Come back soon!

]]> http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/05/felt-fire-station-cover/feed/ 3 http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/02/sewing-basics-french-knots/ http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/04/02/sewing-basics-french-knots/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:46:51 +0000 Stephanie http://www.imagineourlife.com/?p=4525

I will be featuring some hand sewing basics here for those of you who are new to it. If you have a special request, please let me know!

Getting Started

I generally stitch with 2 strands of embroidery floss when sewing on felt. I like to take one strand, double my desired length, and fold it in half. I then thread the two loose ends through my needle. To attach the thread to the page, I make a stitch and pass my needle through the loop at the end of my thread before pulling it tight on the back of my work. To see this in detail, go to my embroidery floss tips. For my French knot, I attached my thread with a tiny stitch where the French knot will go.

French Knots

Bring your needle up along side of the tiny stitch you made.

I am right-handed and hold my needle in my right hand. Mirror these directions as needed. With your left hand, take hole of your thread an inch or so above where it comes out of the fabric.

Holding your needle parallel to the fabric, run the thread over the needle and hold it firmly. This makes your first “twist” of the thread. Carefully dipping the tip of needle under the thread, bring up another twist. Repeat until you have your desired number of thread twists. I usually wind my thread around the needle 3 to 4 times when using two strands of floss. I find 5 twists makes a sloppier knot. For larger knots, it’s better to just use more strands of floss.

Make sure you are keeping firm and even pressure with the hand holding the thread. How tight you pull the thread is the key to successful French knots. Too tight and you can’t pull your needle eye through it. Too loose and your knot will unravel. Practice makes perfect here!

Carefully place the tip of your needle down in the same spot you came up through the fabric, without letting the twists of thread slide off. While starting to pass the needle through, slide the twists down to the fabric and gently pull the thread with your left hand so all the twists form a ball around your needle.

I find that if I have to wiggle the eye of the needle a tiny bit to pull it all the way through the twists, then I get a neat French knot. If it feels like my needle is not going to make it through without a fight, I ease up on the thread with my left hand. If it is going through too easy, the knot will be a hot mess.

All done!

Here is an example of a few different French knots. All were done with 2 strands of embroidery floss. From left to right: 3 twists, 4 twists, 5 twists and 4 twists “locked”.

Locking a French Knot

While you could add a drop of Fray Check to your knots it you are sewing something that will be handled and played with a lot, I like to “lock” my knots.

To lock a French knot, I bring my needle up through the fabric just underneath the edge of the knot.

Pass the needle back down through the knot, either through the center hole or just beside it. I usually go just beside it, as it can be tough to fit through the center and it makes the center more noticeable. I repeat on the opposite side of the knot so the knot doesn’t lean.

In this example (far right), I went through the center for the first stitch, then went just beside it for the second. It only slightly changes the look of the knot, but you won’t have trouble with our knots getting loose and wiggly.

Here is a little video of me sewing a French knot to help you see how smooth and quick the process goes after some practice!

This fire station project will be a full stand-alone quiet book, just like the dollhouse book, but using full size 9″ x 12″ sheets of felt for each page. The fire fighters are made from the same pattern as the dollhouse dolls, so they will be interchangeable. To see the other sections of the project, go here: Felt Fire Station – Fire Truck & Dalmatian, Felt Fire Station – Garage & Locker Room and Felt Fire Station – Kitchen.

This tutorial is for the fourth interior page of the fire station – the office – plus the inside of the roof flap – the bedroom! Fire stations simply have to have a fire pole to slide down, so I knew I needed a second level. I realized the inside of the roof flap that closes the book would be perfect!

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in white, ice, sunshine, monkey, chai, pool party, elephant, wild blueberry, black, doe, chocolate, big apple, banana cream pie,)
• Additional Felt Scraps (in cilantro, pink tutu, orange juice, beet, spanish olive, and hot pink.)
• Gray Parachute Cord
• Clear Vinyl
• Snag-Free Velcro (in white)
• 1/8″ Wide Ribbon Scraps (in turquoise)
• Photo fabric
• Mini LED Key Chain Light (optional)
• Pinking Shears
• Velcro (in red) (optional)
• Fray Check

Upper Floor/Hole for Fire Pole: To make the floor of the bedroom, I sewed two 12″ x 2.25″ rectangles together along their sides and bottom. I cut out an oval hole through both layers and sewed around the hole edge. I took the wall felt for each room and placed the bedroom wall above the office wall (as it will be in the book) but overlapping them about .25″. I laid the floor on top of the overlap (so the top of the floor lines up with the top of the office wall) and sewed through all the layers along the top of the floor. I also sewed the top .25″ of the sides of the floor down for strength.

Desk: I pinned the floor of the office in place, then sewed the two desk pieces together along the top. I sewed the desk chair piece to the page so it would stick out from behind the desk. I pinned the desk to the page and placed the clear pocket piece at the top. (Don’t pin vinyl! It leaves holes!) I sewed the sides and bottom of the desk to the page, making a pocket for the dolls to sit in.

Fire Pole: I cut some paracord, left over from the fire truck, long enough to stretch the height of both pages. I ran it through the hole in the bedroom floor, then sewed it to the page with the pole bases over top of each end.

Dog Bed: I sewed the two sides together along the top, then pinned it to the page and sewed around the remaining edges. Where it overlaps the desk, I made sure to only go through the top layer of the desk so I didn’t sew through the pocket.

TV & Plaque: My tv screen is printed on photo fabric, as I had some extra space when I was printing out my Valentines. Because it is fabric instead of paper, I can easily spot-wash the quiet book without worrying about wet paper. If you print yours on paper, You will need to make the tv into a pocket like the picture from in the dollhouse kitchen. To sew mine, I basted the screen image to the page, laid the clear vinyl over it, then sewed the black felt frame on the top. The place was sewn together off of the page, then I sewed it down to the wall.

Beds: I started by sewing the sheets to the gray bunk bed piece. I only sewed the top and left sides of the sheets. I pinned the blankets in place and sewed a diagonal line where I wanted the top corner of each blanket to fold over. This also keeps you from seeing that the sheets don’t go all the way down. I made a stitch in the corner of each blanket to hold the folds down, then I sewed the blankets to the bed along their tops. I sewed the pillows to the page. I pinned the bunks to the page then sewed the bottom of each “mattress” to the page. This makes the bottoms of the two bed pockets. I sewed the two vertical bed posts to the page, then sewed the sides of the blankets down. I left the bottoms of the blankets loose.

Nightstand & Lamp: The nightstand is sewn to the page. (I sewed through the floor flap a bit with both the nightstand and the bed legs, as I sewed the sides of the flap down a bit anyway. You could sew carefully and only sew them to the top layer of the floor.) I added French knots for drawer pulls. I sewed the red lamp base to the page, and added some red hook (soft side) Velcro. The Velcro is optional – I added it so I could have the optional working LED light that detaches from the page. I cut the top and bottom of the lampshade with my pinking shears, and sewed just the sides to the page. If you are not doing the optional LED lamp, you can sew the little flame emblem to the shade before attaching it.

LED Lamp: I sewed a little strip of red Velcro to the bottom insides of the two red felt pieces that make the LED case, and a large piece of hook (hard) Velcro to the outside of one piece. I sewed the sides together, then sewed around the opening at the top – just for added strength.

I sewed the flame emblem to one of the lampshade pieces, then sewed them together along the sides, catching the top-sides of the red LED case in the bottom stitches to attach it. I put my LED keychain light in without the jump ring, making sure the side with the button was on top. My LEDs have a tiny switch you can slide to have the light always on. It is hard to slide through the felt, but gives you another option for having it on when playing with your little one. I don’t plan to keep the LED light in the book when Jax has solo access to it. It is something I will bring out when we play together.

Uniform: I sewed the little shields to the front chest area, then placed the collar on the shirt. I made a stitch across the center of the collar to attach it, then sewn a line of French knot buttons down the front. I sewed a strip of white snag-free Velcro to a matching white backing, the sewed the two sides together. I sewed each pant cuff to a shoe, then cut out a matching white felt backing, added some white snag-free Velcro to to the top of it, then sewed both sides together around the edges.

Smoothies: Jax requested smoothies while I was working on these pages, so I whipped some up. I cut a little bit of blue ribbon and coated the ends with Fray Check to keep it from unraveling. I layered colored felt and the ribbon (on an angle so one end gets caught in the edge seam) between two pieces of clear vinyl and sewed around the sides and bottom. Jax asked for strawberry and mango, in case you’re curious!

Cacti: I sewed the cactus with arms by sewed all around the edges. For the flowering cactus, I layered the hot pink petal between the two link pink ones and placed that between the tops of the green felt before sewing around the edges. For both pots, I layered the pots and pot edges on either side of each cactus, then sewed around the edges, going through the cacti at the tops.

Laptop: I sewed the screen to the front felt piece, then sewed the two sides together along the sides and top. I made a couple rows of dashed stitches on the front keyboard piece, then sewed the two sides together along the sides and bottom. I laid the screen and keyboard together, and sewed the edges together. This lets the laptop fold open.

Clipboard: I sewed zigzag lines of gray stitching on the white paper piece, then placed it on the top red clipboard piece. I didn’t worry about it laying totally straight. I sewed the gray clip to the top then sewed the red back on all around the edges.

All done! Jax is dying to place with this book, so I’ve let him have a few sessions with it already. He loves helping the fire fighters down the pole and cooking feasts.

My pages are partially sewed together into book form, simply so I have better photos in between. I’ll go over constructing the book in the next post. The next post will also cover everything sewn to the cover. As you can see in these photos, snag-free Velcro will be sewn to the top of the bedroom, as it is the inside of the cover flap.

Stop by the Facebook page if you are sewing along with this project. I’d love to see photos of your progress!

]]> http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/03/26/felt-fire-station-office-bedroom/feed/ 6 http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/03/19/felt-easter-eggs/ http://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/03/19/felt-easter-eggs/#comments Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:19:28 +0000 Stephanie http://www.imagineourlife.com/?p=4466

I started by cutting out the felt and choosing some pretty trims.

I then sewed all my decorations on before constructing the egg. (For my pink egg, I added a flower after sewing the egg, as it landed on the final seam.) Make sure your ribbons line up when you fold the felt into a tube.

When sewing the egg together inside-out, I left the two flat ends open (middle side of the egg) and just sewed the triangle sections closed. I used a very small seam allowance (included in the pattern) of around 1/8″ (4mm) and hand sewed with a back stitch.

Once both ends were sewn shut, I turned it right-side-out.

I filled it full of stuffing.

Using a ladder stitch, I sewed the opening shut.

Ladder stitch is most easily done with a curved needle. I don’t have one, but didn’t have any problems. Make a stitch across the gap you are closing, then run your needle through the felt in a small dash perpendicular to the opening. Repeat on alternating sides as shown. (In the diagram above, the lavender parts of the thread are under the felt.)

I finished my eggs off by stitching a loop of ribbon and a little embellishment to the top so they can be hung up.

There are so many possibilities with how you can decorate these eggs! If you make some, you are welcome to stop by the Facebook page and share a photo of your work. Have fun!

This fire station project will be a full stand-alone quiet book, just like the dollhouse book, but using full size 9″ x 12″ sheets of felt for each page. The fire fighters are made from the same pattern as the dollhouse dolls, so they will be interchangeable. To see the first section of the project, go here: Felt Fire Station – Fire Truck & Dalmatian and Felt Fire Station – Garage & Locker Room.

This tutorial is for the third interior page of the fire station – the kitchen!

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in white, honeydew, chai, banana cream pie, doe, chocolate, gray, gray flannel, favorite jeans, ice, big apple and pastry)
• Additional Felt Scraps (in key lime pie, cilantro, black, pool party, pink tutu, orange juice, monarch butterfly, elephant, butter cream and hot pink.)
• Clear Vinyl
• Snag-Free Velcro (in white)
• Sew-on Snaps
• 1/8″ Wide Ribbon (in silver and yellow)
• 3/8″ Red Gingham Ribbon
• Tiny buttons (in black)

Background: I started with a background sheet of honeydew green felt. I pinned down a 12″ x 2.5″ strip of chai felt for the ground. Don’t sew anything important about 1/4″ from the center edges of the two-page spread to allow for sewing the binding. But having the floor go to the edge is fine!

Fridge: I sewed the white background down, catching clear vinyl pockets in my stitches as I went around. I sewed the bottoms of the pockets closed. (You can add more pockets, but I staggered mine between the doors and interior so that the fridge didn’t get too bulky. I then sewed the gray line down between the freezer and the fridge. This hide the white when the doors are closed. I sewed four small squares of snag-free Velcro on the right edge (as shown above.)

I sewed the doors around the top, right and bottom edges with the gray outside, white inside, and clear pockets layered together, then added matching Velcro squares to the corners. I positioned the doors in place on the fridge and sewed the fourth side while attaching them to the page.

Lower Cabinet/Oven: I started by sewing the dark brown cabinet interior down, followed by the counter. On the counter, I sewed the sink, taps, faucet and burners. I added 3 tiny buttons left over from my Snowman page. I sewed a clear pocket down where the cabinet would be, and added snaps for the cabinet and oven door.

I sewed a silver ribbon handle on to one of the gray oven door pieces and a matching snap half on the other, then sewed the two sides together with clear vinyl sandwiched between. I did a running stitch (dashed line) around the window to keep it from stretching. I sewed it down to the cabinet along the bottom.

For the cabinet door, I sewed the matching snap half to the corner of the inside felt piece, then sewed the two sides together along the top, right and bottom. I sewed the last side while attaching it to the page.

Upper Cabinet: I sewed the cabinet interior down tot he page along with the clear vinyl pocket. I added snaps, then did the cabinet doors the same way as with the lower cabinet.

Table & Chairs: I sewed the chairs in place on the page. Only the tops show from behind the table, so that is all I used. I unpinned the floor and basted the interior of the table in place along the floor. (See above photo showing the inside of the finished table pocket.)

I decorated the table front felt piece with some red gingham ribbon. I pinned the table front to the page, lined up with the table bottom, and sewed it to the page around the sides and the bottom. Sewing only through the two table felt pieces, I sewed along the top.

Window: I sewed the blue glass felt piece down, catching some clear vinyl in the bottom to make a pocket (for potted plants included with the next page.) I sewed the white window sill down over the bottom. I sewed the red curtains in place, leaving the bottoms open, then added some more of the gingham ribbon as tiebacks.

Clothes: This page includes casual clothes for the fire fighters. The dolls are sewn like the one included in the Dollhouse.

Logo T-shirts: I sewed the yellow emblem to the pocket area of the heather gray tees, then sewed them to a white felt backing with a bit of snag-free Velcro sewn to it.

Tee with Apron: I sewed the top of a red apron (only one thickness of felt) down to the white t-shirt, catching two yellow ribbons in my stitching. I sewed only the t-shirt part to a white backing with Velcro, catching the other ends of the straps between the two layers.

Jeans: I decorated the jeans with a yellow dashed line of stitching at the crotch, a gray French knot button, four light indigo stitches as belt loops and 2 slanted long stitches as pockets. I stitched shoes to the bottom cuffs (decorating the white ones with red stripes) and sewed the whole thing to white backing felt with Velcro at the top.

Food: I’ve included a lot of food in this pattern, and will be adding a bit more when I do the back cover with a grill. You can also use food from the Dollhouse Kitchen.

Coffee Mugs: I sewed the two handle pieces together, then layered it and the coffee felt between the two sides of the mug. I sewed it together along the sides and bottom, then trimmed the extra handle inside the mug so it was less visible.

Muffins: I sewed the muffin tops (hah) together, then sandwiched them in place between the muffin liner pieces. I sewed along the sides and bottom of the liners, then made a couple tiny stitches at the top to hold the muffins in.

Fruit Plate: Each little piece of fruit is sewn separately, but stitched to the top of the plate at their bottoms. The exception is the cherries, which are appliqued to the banana. I added stitched brown stems to the cherries and pear, and caught a bit of green felt in the top of the strawberry to make the green leafy top. I sewed the back of the plate on once I finished the fruit.

Pizza: I sewed the cheese to the sauce and the sauce to the top of the crust, then sewed the back of the crust on. Note that I didn’t center the sauce on the crust – I had it closer to the back to created a foreshortened look.

French Bread Loaf: I sewed slanted long stitches in brown to make the slashes in the crust on both sides, then sewed the sides together.

Stock Pot: I sewed the sides and bottom of the pot together, catching folded scraps of gray felt in the sides to make handles. I sewed along the curved top of the lid, catching a folded bit of gray felt in the top center ans a handle.

Donuts: I decorated both sides of the tan “blueberry” donut with periwinkle French knots and sewed the sides together. I decorated both sides of the “strawberry” donut with stitched sprinkles, then sewed the two sides together. I decorated the top of the “chocolate” donut with a curvy white line of stitching, then sewed both sides together.

You could sew the donuts to the platter as with the fruit, but I decided to let Jax have some loose food to “feed” to the dolls. So I sewed the platter separate, added a clear vinyl pocket to hold the food.

Tacos: I sewed scraps of red felt to the lettuce felt, then added brown French knot “taco meat”. I placed the toppings inside the folded taco shell felt and made tiny stitches to hold it closed. Note that the taco shell is folded so the front is a bit shorter than the back.

I did the platter with a pocket the same way as for the donuts.

Cake: I first stitched a curving running stitch (dashed line) on the frosting pieces, then stitched them each to a cake piece. I stitched together the candle pieces with the flame caught in the top. I placed the candle between the two sides of the cake and sewed around the edges.

Dog Kibble: Puppy needs to eat too! I sewed brown French knots on both sides of the kibble felt,, then sewed the sides together along the top. I layered it between the bowl pieces and sewed along the sides and bottom. I added a couple small stitches along the top to hold the kibble in the bowl.

I’d almost say this is Jax’s favorite in the fire house so far – he’s always been a fan of play food. But, He’s been so excited about the whole thing that it is too close to call. I’ll be hiding this book away once it is done so it is new and fun during out California trip in May.

Have you been sewing along with me on this Fire Station book? I’d love to see your progress! Stop by the Facebook page and post a photo!

The next two pages in this series will be the office and bunk room. So close to finishing! Happy sewing!

This fire station project will be a full stand-alone quiet book, just like the dollhouse book, but using full size 9″ x 12″ sheets of felt for each page. The fire fighters are made from the same pattern as the dollhouse dolls, so they will be interchangeable. To see the first section of the project, go here: Felt Fire Station – Fire Truck & Dalmatian.

This tutorial is for the first two interior pages of the fire station: the garage for the fire truck and the locker room.

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in chai (x2), white, black, gray, elephant, banana cream pie, orange juice, big apple, bisque, sparrow, spanish olive & doe.)
• Clear Vinyl (12″ x 5″ for pocket, plus what is on the pattern)
• Small Star Sequins (3 gold)
• Craft Mirror Sheet (cut to 2″ x 4.5″)
• Thin Yellow Ribbon, 1/8-Inch Wide
• Brown Ribbon
• Sew-On Snaps (I used the small ones for the equipment, larger ones for the lockers.)
• Black Satin Rattail Cord (just a scrap)
• Ribbon/ Ric Rac Scraps (in aquas)
• White Snag-Free Velcro

Background: I started with two background sheets of chai felt. I sewed down 12″ x 2.5″ strips of elephant gray for the ground.Don’t sew anything important about 1/4″ – 1/2″ from the center edges of the two-page spread to allow for sewing the binding. But having the floor go to the edge is fine!

Bench & Towel: The bench is simple sewn down to the page with the seat overlapping the legs. To make the towel bar, I folded the towel felt around the strip of gray towel bar felt. I sewed a line of stitching through just the towel, making a channel that holds it on the “bar”. I attached the bar to the page with a small criss-cross of stitches on each side, topped with French knots.

Lockers: To sew the lockers, I started by embellishing the yellow door piece. I sewed down two strips of yellow ribbon to make it look like three lockers. Long stitches made the vents, and the gray panels made the handle/lock area. On the light gray felt that backs the door, I sewed down the bottoms of the clear vinyl pockets. I then pinned the door front and back together and sewed around the edges, being sure to catch the sides of the vinyl pockets as I went.

I sewed down the interior felt to the page, catching the sides of the two curved pockets in the edges. I sewed the bottoms of the pockets closed, then sewed the left side of the door down to the page. To finish, I added sew-on snaps to the open corners of the locker to hold it closed.

Mirror: I cut the 2″ x 4.5″ mirror out of a sheet of craft mirror. I also cut some clear vinyl slightly larger. I layered the mirror under the vinyl, and sewed the vinyl down to the page so that it held the mirror in place. I then covered the edges with folded brown ribbon. You could use strips of felt or even some bias tape.

Shower: The shower was one of the rare times I went up to my sewing machine. In 5 minutes, I was able to sew a grid of squares of the shower background that look just like little tiles. Love! I sewed it down to the page, adding the bottom pocket as I went around that edge.

Hi, puppy.

I made the shower head by folding some scraps of aqua blue ric-rac and ribbon and stitching them together at the fold. Then I layered the fold between the two shower head felt pieces and sewed around the edges. I sewed it to the center top of the shower and sewed the shower curtain on along the top.

Garage: The garage side of the spread is very simple. I sewed the sides of the clear vinyl pocket onto the wall, then sewed the shelf down along the bottom. The shelf holds any  equipment that isn’t being used. Each piece of equipment has a snap on the back so you can mix and match what is on the fire engine.

Equipment: For the instructions on how to sew the safety cone and the axe, see the Fire Engine tutorial.

Fire Extinguisher: I started by sewing a snap to the back of the extinguisher body (making sure I used the side that would fit into the fire truck.) I sewed the front and back together. I took a scrap of black satin cord and sewed through one end of it to attach my thread. I layered the funnel piece over the end and sewed it securely to the cord before sewed the sides closed. I left the mouth of the funnel open. I repeated that with the other side of the cord and the handle of the extiguisher, attaching it to the top of the body.

First Aid Kit: I sewed a snap to the back and the cross to the front, then sewed both sides together.

Dolls: For the instructions on how to sew the dolls, see the Dollhouse tutorial. I didn’t include a pattern for the undies. For those, I just cut little V’s or U’s out of a piece of Velcro to make the necks of their shirts, then cut the sides of the shorts to fit their hips.

Protective Uniform: I started the uniform pieces by stitching the yellow ribbon on as the safety stripes (see above photo for placement.) I sewed a line of brown back stitch to make the front opening, then sewed the collar on with a few stitches on the right and a French knot on the left. I stitched the gloves and boots in place with more back stitch, then laid the tops and bottoms down on white felt and cut out backing pieces. Before I sewed the backings on, I added some of the snag-free Velcro to hold them onto the dolls.

Fire Helmets: I started by sewed the yellow felt emblem onto the front of the hat with a gold sequin star on top. I then sewed the back on along the top edge of the hat.

Ventilation Mask/Breathing Apparatus: I started by sewing a scrap of clear vinyl to the back of the face mask opening. I then sewed the gray circle onto the bottom of the front and added crisscrossed stitches to make it look like mesh. I sewed the back on along the outer/top curve of the mask so the dolls’ head can slip through the strap in the back.

That’s it! Now your little fire fighters are ready to go fight some fires!

Stay tuned for to upcoming parts of this series: the kitchen, the office, the bunk room, the building exterior/cover and a bonus building on fire!

Stop by the Facebook page to say hi and follow along as I post my progress pictures! I’ll be working on another MLP plush for my niece, then finishing up the kitchen and office pages.

My sweet little man is 3! Yesterday we celebrated with friends and family at his bug-themed third birthday party. It was so much fun. Seeing your child SO happy just makes your heart want to burst!

My budget for the party was very small. I don’t have a lot of serveware for parties, so I hit up the dollar store for inspiration. They had some great bowls in spring colors – I grabbed some in green. I didn’t find anything to feature the stars of my food table – the mini cupcakes!

I’d seen plenty of Pinterest pins with candlesticks and plates turned into cake stands. I decided to put my own spin of the idea! I got three green plates, three glass votives and some Super Glue Bond-All, all from the dollar store. I had already ordered plastic bugs and found a bag of decorative grass at the thrift store for $1, but saw both of those things at the dollar store as well.

Pin me!

My supplies:

• dinner plates
• glass votives
• super glue
• plastic bugs
• decorator grass
• cardstock
• hot glue & hot glue gun

I started by applying super glue to the bottoms of both the plates and the votives and letting it sit for a few minutes. Then I placed the votives on the plates and weighed them down with soup cans. They slide a little while the glue was still a little wet, so I made sure to recenter them after a few minutes. After drying for an hour, I flipped the stands right-side-up and weighed them down overnight.

The finishing touch was a butterfly hot glued to the edge of each cake stand!

To customize them for the party (something that can be undone, as hot glue peels off of glass), I hot glued some cute bugs to the insides of the votives, placing them so their backs showed well. I then stuffed the grass inside. I had traced and cut some circles of green card stock to fit the openings. I hot glued the those on as bases.

I’m so happy with how the cake stands turned out! they worked perfectly for the mini cupcakes and the rest of the party decor!

For more details about Jax’s party, visit my personal blog, Stvlive.com.

This is a month of love for me – my sweet guy was born on February 5th! Valentine’s Day swoops in right after that.

I’d been thinking of doing a little giveaway when the Facebook page gets to 2,000 likes. We’re almost there! But, I have so many sweet ribbons left over from my Valentine play set that I wanted to share them with you now that it is February.

Interested?

The winner of this giveaway will receive 11 assorted bits of ribbon, 7″ – 8″ long each.

Just leave a comment here on this post. I’d love to hear your favorite thing about Valentine’s Day – a special tradition, special memory… Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win. I’ll pick one random winner on Monday 02/04/13 at 1pm. Entries will be accepted up until then.

The winner (chosen via Random.org) is Amy C. who said:

I love Valentine’s Day because I love chocolate and candy hearts! I also love thinking about and doing things for the people I love. I am almost done making my third quiet book and have recently discovered your website so I now know what patterns I will use for my next project! My son was also born on February 5th and so was my baby brother (who is no longer a baby, of course!) I would love to make your cute Valentine set for a group of toddlers that I know and love!

Thanks for playing!

I can hardly believe that my little Jackson will be turning 3 on February 5^th! It feels like yesterday we were bringing him home. He is finally able to understand our party planning and birthdays in general. When I ask what to add to his wishlist, he tells me, “a teddy bear, a car, chomping teeth and a lollipop.” Chomping teeth?? Where does he get these ideas?

Over the Christmas holidays, I suggested many party themes to him, and we ended up on bugs. I made an inspiration board with Photoshop, and even planned out his cupcakes. (He is SO excited for those!) Since Jax is not in school yet, he doesn’t have many friends his own age to invite. He loves his grown up friends, and I wanted to have a handmade favor for them beyond the treat bags full of candy. And so I designed these little felt caterpillar coin purses!

This project would work really great with a Very Hungry Caterpillar party as well! Check out the felt board set I made for a friend’s son here.

What I Used:

• Green felt from American Felt and Craft (For 12 pouches, I used 6 sheets. I used both jungle vine and jade.)
• 1cm felted wool balls (I got mine from US Etsy shop TaDaaStudioFelt. There is a European seller of that size ball here. I didn’t want to risk slow international delivery.)
• Green hook & loop tape (Sew-on. Sold at Joann’s Fabrics.)
• Brown ribbon (.5″ wide grosgrain from AC Moore Crafts.)
• Leaf Pattern

I started by cutting out my leaf shapes – 2 for the outside and two for the inside. I stitched the center vein of the leaf on the two outer pieces using a running stitch. The second photo above is a backside view.

I then cut strips of hook & loop tape and sewed them onto the inner leaf pieces. My hook & loop was nice and wide, so it made nice, thin strips.

I still had a lot of thread on my needle after sewing on the hook & loop, so I ran the needle through the felt to get it in position to sew the inner and out leaf pieces together along the top purse opening. I ran the needle from the back of inner leaf piece through both layers,  then back the other way in the exact same spot. Before pulling it tight, I ran my needle through the loop to start my blanket stitch.

I sewed the inner and outer leaf pieces together along the tops, catching a loop of ribbon for a handle in between the layers on one side. I made sure the stitching lined up on both sides.

I sewed the caterpillar next – attaching him to the outer layer of the the side of the purse without the handle.

To start sewing his features, I attached my thread to the bottom of the head (using this thread technique.) I then ran my needle up to one eye and made a French knot, coming out at the bottom of his head. I repeated that for the other side.

To make his mouth, I came up at one corner and down at the other, coming out at the bottom of his head. Before pulling the thread tight, I came up at the the bottom center of where I wanted the curve of his smile to be. I went through the loop of thread and made a tiny stitch to lock the smile in place. I ended up at the bottom of his head, ready to attach him to the leaf.

I attached the head to the leaf with several strong stitches through the base, sewing him to only the outer layer of the leaf. I came up diagonally through the base of his head and out the center back. Running my needle through about 1/3 of another felt ball, I sewed it down behind his head with several strong stitch. I continued this way for a total of 4 balls.

I then reinforced them by stitching up, through and down two balls at a time. So on this example, I sewed red and blue, blue and green, then green and orange.

I ended up under his head again, and came straight up through it to where I wanted the first antennae. I tied a knot in the thread flush against his head, then tied another knot where I wanted the end of the antennae to be. I trimmed the extra and restarted a thread under his head to repeat it for the other side.

I then pinned the two sides of the purse together. Starting where the top blanket stitching ended, I sewed around the ends to the other side.

All done!

These are coming out so cute, and only taking about 30 minutes each to sew (with Jax distractions!) once all the pieces were pre-cut. I’ve been letting Jax chose the colors for the felt balls – he loves helping out!

I have 5 of these cuties sewn so far, with 7 to go before his party in early February. I better get stitching this weekend!

I’d love to see your finished project if you make one of these coin purses! Stop by our Facebook page and post a photo.

I really wanted to make something cute for Jax to play with this Valentine’s day. He loves checking the mail with me (and our post box!), and he loves putting things into other things. Simple pleasures, I guess! While I’ve already made him a mail box quiet book page, I wanted to make him something 3 dimensional that he can have for his playroom. As a bonus, it will help him learn about the process of writing and sending letters.

Big, big thank-yous to reader Jill, who gifted us with a roll of photo fabric. Thanks to her generosity, this project is so much more personal and special.

The full set.

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Wool blend felt from American Felt & Craft (in elephant [2 sheets], black, lipstick, white, fresh linen [you can use more white], pomegranate, bubble gum, purple haze, sparrow, pastry and pool party.)
• Plastic canvas (size 7ct)
• Photo fabric
• Colored hook & loop (in red, light blue, pink and lavender.)
• Red button
• Felt heart trim (mine was from Target’s dollar aisle)
• Daisy lace trim (used on a stamp)
• Assorted ribbon (mine was from Target’s dollar aisle)
• White mini ric rac
• Pinking Shears

Mailbox: I started but stitching the MAIL letters down to the outer layer of the mailbox top piece. I cut a piece of plastic canvas 1/4″ smaller all around than the felt, and sandwiched it between the two layers. I pinned it well, then sewed along the long edge by the L, pausing halfway to insert a folded piece of red hook (soft) Velcro.

I cut some plastic canvas 1/4″ smaller all around for the mailbox base, and layered it in between the felt pieces, pining them in place. I pinned the mailbox top on top of the mailbox base with a long edge of the base matched up to the MAIL edge of the top, and I sewed them together. I bent the top up to form a tunnel and sewed its short edge to the other long edge of the base. You may need to trim the inside layer of the mailbox top after pinning it, as it is the inside curve and is slightly smaller.

I cut two pieces of plastic canvas 1/4″ smaller around than the mailbox door/back pieces. I pinned them between the two sets of felt and sewed around the curved edges of one, catching a folded loop of red hook (hard) Velcro in the middle of one. I sewed the one without Velcro to the back of the mailbox all around. I sewed the door with Velcro to the front, laying inside the mailbox and sewing it along the bottom before pulling it out.

I cut some plastic canvas to go inside the mailbox flag, but you might be able to get away without it. I didn’t have the canvas go all the way down the post – I left room at the base so I could cut a small hole through the whole flag after sewing the layers together. I stitched around my tiny hole with a buttonhole stitch. You could perhaps use a tiny eyelet, but you really only want the hole big enough to sew a button though it. If it is too large, the flag will just flop down. After I sewed the edge of the hole, I very carefully sewed a button to the side of the mailbox, running the stitched through the hole in the flag to attach it. I took some red scrap ribbon and wound it between the mailbox and the button until the flag stopped flopping but could still move, then tied the ribbon in a tight knot and trimmed it to hide it.

Envelopes: I cut one piece of felt for each envelope. With the wrong side up, I folded the top part down and the bottom part up, and pinned to find the positions of my Velcro. With them unpinned, I stitched Velcro in place to close the envelopes and some loop Velcro on the front corners to hold stamps.

I used my machine to sew scraps of ribbon and ric rac on as the address, then refolded then and sewed along the sides and the edge where the top is folded down. I finished them with a little felt heart (cut from a trim I got at Target) to the envelope flap.

Heart Envelope: I decorated the front with ribbons and ric rac the same as the envelopes, and I added some Velcro for the stamp. I sewed on a little felt heart to look like a sticker. Then I sewed around the edge, leaving the top open.

Sugar Cookie: I sewed the pink icing down to the top cookie piece, the added a felt heart and some long stitches as sprinkles. Then I sewed the front and back together.

Letters: I did some prep work before creating the letters. Using my hand-me-down iPad 1 and the app iFontmaker, Jax and I made handwriting fonts. I used those to type out small Valentine messages in Photoshop (you could even use Word). I just chose a font I had for my husband’s letter. I asked Jax questions to figure out what to write on his letters, as he doesn’t understand Valentines yet. Then I had him draw me a picture (rainbows are the only thing he draws besides squiggles) in our Drawing Pad app, and I added that and some little photos.

I cut my photo fabric down to fit my 4×6 printer – the only one in the house that currently prints black ink (I’ve been printing pattern is pale gray for months!) It worked great, but I did get smudges of ink on the rainbows both times I tried printing it.

I cut out the printed fabric after peeling off the paper backing. I didn’t worry about the size except to make sure they fit in the envelopes. I zigzag stitched them to pieces of white felt.

Stamps: I didn’t follow a pattern for the stamps. I just sewed bits of felt and ribbon onto off-white felt (you could use white) then trimmed around the white edges with my pinking shears.

On the back sides, I sewed hook Velcro on. I sewed all the Velcro by hand in this project and it was the lamest part! My thumb was bruised the next day.

The set was a hit with Jax, though he is rather fond of pulling everything apart and just shoving all the pieces into the mailbox. We’ll play with it together so he can learn that letters go in the envelopes, stamps on the outside, then they get put in the mailbox.

And he is SO proud to see his name and the rainbow he drew!

I hope you enjoy making this set for your little one! It has a lot of options for really customizing it and making it your own. If you make one, I’d love to see it! Email me photos or post them to our Facebook page. As always, I’ll be posting updates every day or two to the FB page with photos of my current projects. Next up: a bug themed party favor before returning to the fire station project!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jax enjoys the little toy fire station he received from our friend when he was little. I’ve even caught him playing with it wearing his fire fighter hat! After getting many requests for a fire fighter quiet book page, I decided to start designing.

My project will be a full stand-alone quiet book, just like the dollhouse book, but using full size 9″ x 12″ sheets of felt for each page. The fire fighters will be made from the same pattern as the dollhouse dolls, so they will be interchangeable.

Because the dolls needed to set the scale of the page, the fire truck is quite large. I wanted them to be able to ride in the truck, so I couldn’t have a tiny truck. If you plan to use the fire truck pattern on a page that is the size I normally sew, you may need to shrink it a slight bit if you don’t want it sticking out. My fire station will be sewn differently, and I’ll post all about the construction when I get to that point.

This tutorial is for the first two parts of the fire station book – the fire truck and the dalmatian!

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in white, black, gray, elephant, banana cream pie, orange juice, big apple & doe.)
• Plastic Canvas
• Clear Vinyl
• Small Star Sequins (7 red, 1 gold)
• Thin Yellow Ribbon Scrap
• 4 Sew-On Snaps (I used the small ones.)
• 2 Large Yellow Buttons (1″ from this pack)
• 2 Large Shank-Back Buttons (7/8″) (Mine are 1028 here from A.C. Moore.)
• Gray Parachute Cord
• 2 Eyelets
• Black Sew-On Velcro (I used 1 hook coin and 1 hook square cut in half)
• Red Sew-on Velcro (I used a small piece of hook)

I started by stitching tiny red star sequins to the siren area on the red truck piece. Then I laid the window and siren vinyl between the red truck piece and the white cab piece before sewing them together.

I sewed the side mirror piece over top. I sewed down the yellow stripe pieces, then sewed the dark gray tool panel crossing it. I sewed the gray running board/bumper down along the bottom (but I didn’t sew the outside edge of it down until I was sewing the white backing onto the finished truck.)

I sewed the yellow emblem onto the truck door then sewed the black 2 on top of it. Using my pattern as a guide, I stitched 911 onto the yellow stripe with a back stitch. (I actually pinned the paper to the felt and stitched right through it, following the lines. Then I carefully ripped the paper away.)

I sewed the wheel wells down where I wanted the wheels to be, the sewed two black felt circles together for each wheel. I added a large eyelet to the center of each wheel, then chose 1″ buttons as my hubcaps. I positioned the wheels where I wanted then to end up, then sewed the button to the truck through the eyelet hole. This lets the wheels spin.

To make the ladder, I cut out plastic canvas and sewed it between two pieces of white felt. I also added snaps to the center of the top and bottom rungs to hold it on the fire truck. See the photo above to know how large to cut your plastic canvas.

Once I had the ladder snapped to the side of the truck, I sewed on two large shank-back buttons. These are used to wrap the fire hose around when not in use. I sewed a small square of red loop (soft) Velcro beside one of the buttons so the hose can be secured.

On the center of the tool panel, I sewed down a circle of loop Velcro. This can be used to hook one end of the hose up to the truck. (There will be a fire hydrant on the fire station cover with Velcro as well.)

Axe: I sewed the two handle side together, then sewed a snap to the back piece of the axe blade. I sandwiched the top of the handle between the axe blade pieces and sewed them together. I positioned the axe on the tool panel and sewed the other half of the snap down to hold it in place.

Traffic Cone: I sewed a snap to the back piece of the traffic cone then sewed the two sides together. I wrapped a scrap of yellow ribbon around the base and stitched it on with a dashed running stitch. I positioned the cone on the tool panel and sewed the other half of the snap down to hold it in place.

Hose: I wrapped some parachute cord around the buttons on my truck and cut it so I had enough for both ends to finish right at the red Velcro. I melted the cut ends with a flame, the stitched some hook Velcro around the ends in a tube. That isn’t easy – a sharp needle and a thimble might help.

Dalmatian: I started by decorating the face piece with his ears and nose. His eyes are French knots with a stitch for eyelashes. His mouth is just two little stitches in an upside down V. I stitched the red collar onto the body front the stitched the finished face on as well.

To make the larger spots, I cut random tiny scraps of black felt and sewed them down. Wool felt works well for such tiny pieces because it fuzzes less. You’ll still need to clean black lint off the dog when you are done, though. The small spots are just groups of black stitches in random shapes. I made spots on the hind leg and sewed it down to the body front.

I stitched a tiny gold star sequin on the the collar as a dog tag, then sewed the front of the dog to his backing. I plan to make an extra fire hat for him in the next phase of the fire station book project, so stay tuned!

On the back of the fire truck, I sewed on the white backing piece, leaving it open at the cab and the top back to form pockets for the dog and dolls. I added a scrap of white felt to make the truck back pocket more shallow.

I am very pleased with how the truck (and the puppy!) turned out! I wasn’t sure what I was going to use for the hose until I found the parachute cord and got it for $1 with a coupon. I’m excited to move on to the two fire fighter dolls – one boy and one girl! They will have different clothes they can put on.

To see photo updates of this project as I work on it, follow my Instagram or join the Facebook page. I’l also taking suggestions for Valentine’s day projects now. Is there anything you’ve been wanting to make?

Happy new year! 2012 was a busy year of sewing for me! I made about 24 quiet book spreads, two of which were little books on their own, one was on a felt board with a carrying case. I also sewed many fun projects that weren’t quiet books, like ornaments, baby toys and even a stuffed pony!

With a new year beginning, it’s fun to look back on the pages I made and shared with you, as I did last year.

The sock matching page has been the top page for 2 years!

Current Top 5

1. Sock Matching Quiet Book Page – 32,292 views | 9,000+ pins
2. Five Little Monkeys Quiet Book Page – 481 view | 310 pins
3. Circus Train Quiet Book Page – 18,349 views | 1,000+ pins
4. Forest Quiet Book Page – 17,829 views | 816 pins
5. Let’s Cook Breakfast Quiet Book Page – 12,710 views | 2,000+ pins

10 Most Popular Ever

1. Sock Matching Quiet Book Page – 32,292 views | 9,000+ pins
2. Circus Train Quiet Book Page – 18,349 views | 1,000+ pins
3. Forest Quiet Book Page – 17,829 views | 816 pins
4. Sandcastle Quiet Book Page – 15,000 views | 3,000+ pins
5. Mailbox & Letters Quiet Book Page – 12,740 views | 1,000+ pins
6. Let’s Cook Breakfast Quiet Book Page – 12,710 views | 2,000+ pins
7. Treasure Quiet Book Page – 12,411 views | 1,000+ pins
8. Cookie Shapes & Colors Quiet Book Page – 12,362 views | 1,000+ pins
9. Astronaut Quiet Book Page – 11,690 views | 772 pins
10. Starbucks Quiet Book Page – 11,641 views | 854 pins

The ice cream parlor page is one of Jax’s favorites.

10 Most Popular from 2012

1. Sandcastle Quiet Book Page – 15,000 views | 3,000+ pins
2. Treasure Quiet Book Page – 12,411 views | 1,000+ pins
3. Ice Cream Parlor Quiet Book Page – 10,273 views | 2,000+ pins
4. Camping Quiet Book Page – 9,352 views | 1,000+ pins
5. Itsy Bitsy Spider Quiet Book Page – 9,123 views | 1,000+ pins
6. Airport Quiet Book Page – 8,497 views | 1,000+ pins
7. Baking Cupcakes Quiet Book Page – 7,634 views | 840 pins
8. LED Robot Quiet Book Page – 7,634 views | 825 pins
9. Very Hungry Caterpillar Felt Board – 6,797 views | 1,000+ pins
10. Beach Bag & Flip-Flop Matching Quiet Book Page – 6,619 views | 717 pins

Overall, I’ve shared 43 quiet book patterns with you since I started sewing them in September of 2011. Wow! You can check them all out here.

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I’m always taking suggestions for new page ideas. Join our Facebook page, or leave a comment here! Big thank yous to American Felt and Craft for supplying felt for many of my recent creations! Their wool blend felt is just so nice to work with.

Jax is growing up (he’ll be 3 in February!) but he hasn’t outgrown quiet books. I definitely see myself designing more on more advanced topics, though. He really loves the solar system I completed recently. Regardless, I’ve developed a passion for sewing and designing in felt, so I won’t be stopping any time soon!

(By the way, the font used here is one I created. Grab it free here!)

When I asked my brother if there was anything I could make for my niece this Christmas, I was a little overwhelmed when he suggested a My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic plushie of “Pinkie Pie”. I’d never sewn a stuffed animal before, and I’d be a pony newbie creating something to give to a pony expert!

I let the idea brew in the back of my mind for a while, as I tend to do for all sewing projects, when one day a box full of gorgeous recycled felt arrived from a friend. Two shades of pink? Check! The project was on! I planned an entire weekend of sewing, but ended up adding 2 evenings so I could add pony clothing to the gift.

The felt was purchased from FeltForLess on Etsy, who is unfortunately closed over the holidays as I am writing this, so I do not have prices for you. I will say that the thickness is similar to the wool blend felt I get from American Felt and Craft. It seemed to stretch a bit easier than the wool, and didn’t have the subtle color variations that make wool felt so rich. But the colors were bright and it cut like dream. I had no trouble working with it. I did lack that subtle “wool sweater feel” love so much about wool felt, but I’d use it again! (FYI – when sewing the pony construction (anything getting turn right-side-out afterwards) I preferred to use two strands of machine thread instead of my normal 2 strands of floss. It seemed stronger.)

As I had never made a stuffed animal, my first stop was to find a pattern for the pony’s body. There are many free patterns online for MLP. While there are people out there that make and sell these plush ponies, I think it is risky due to copyrights. All the patterns I saw were free. I did a quick search, but chose the most complex pattern I found. I liked that it was more accurate thanks to details like darts by the legs. Thank you Voodoo-tiki for the great pattern and tutorial!

I enlarged the pattern a bit. I didn’t want to deal with turning it right-side-out with tiny parts made of felt. Even enlarged, I still ran into that with the main and tail. If you want to make a pony of similar size to mine, resize the pattern so the height of the “body side” piece is 11.25″. I had to break up the two largest pattern pieces over multiple pages to print them.

For the main and tail, I used the same technique mentioned in this tutorial to create a pattern. Thank you Meowplease! When I sewed the swirl patterns of her hair onto the felt pieces, I added a layer of batting to the back to add dimension. It would have worked better with more batting and thinner fabric. My results were subtle. I ran into trouble while trying to turn the sewn piece right-side-out. The little flippy curls were too small. I ended up ripping out the stitches for all the tiny curled bits, then sewed them while the piece was right-side-out using a ladder stitch. I used this technique to attach the main and tail. Thank you MLPPlushies!

The eyes were my own creation. I do not have an embroidery machine (that’s called “my hands”!), which seems to be the preferred way to sew pony eyes and “cutie marks” (butt tattoos!) I layered felt ovals to make all the main parts, added a wedge of lighter blue at the side of the iris for shading and stitched a satin stitch wedge of white for a highlight. The eyelashes were a combination of back stitch and satin stitch. In my quest to do well, the eyes took 3 hours!

The “cutie mark” was done in felt. I started out with the balloon strings done in back stitch. I decided I wanted something more solid, and wove my needle right-to-left through every stitch to fill it in. The result was similar to stem stitch, which I used for the mouth. The “cutie marks” took me an hour each.

The clothing was all my own ideas. While I searched a bit through images online, thanks to my brother’s information, I decided to do my own thing. I didn’t have the materials needed to do anything “show accurate” so I went with colors that matched Pinkie and my niece liked.

The cape was made with the darker pink eco felt on the inside and peacock wool felt on the outside. I cut a bib shape with a slight concave curve at the bottom to allow for her tail. I used snag-free Velcro to close it and decorated the front with a vintage button of my mother’s. I also sewed on a collar of faux fur.

I wanted some boots for her, despite the fact I’d have to make 4 of them. I used some of the eco felt in white, and cut circles slightly larger than her finished feet. The boot bodies were strips of felt with a subtle curve. I wrapped the first one around a leg and trimmed it to make a template for the others. I had it long enough to overlap the seam.

I kept the seams flat by stitching little stitches across both overlapping edges in each boot. Then I turned them inside out, sewed on the bases and flipped them back right-side-out. I stitched pompons onto the backs and stitched crisscrossed ribbon onto the fronts as laces.

The tutu was added into the mix because the ponies had “gala dresses” that seemed to be a big deal. While I couldn’t make Pinkie Pie’s actual dress without candy corn ribbon, I decided to make a quick skirt to turn the cape into a dress. I took a bit of elastic and strips of leftover tulle from my sewing stash, looping the halved strip through themselves to attach them. (A quick search just now brought up the same technique here.)

This little chair was $3.75 at the thrift store. Perfect school chair!

I didn’t make the elastic go all the way around her waist like I’d originally planned. Instead, I sewed the elastic and the tops of each tulle strip to a long piece of the darker pink felt. I added a length of cupcake ribbon (Dollar Tree!), sewed another piece of felt to the back as lining, and added more snag-free Velcro to close it. It looks more finished that way.

My niece got to open her gift this morning, while my brother’s family was on their way out of town for the holidays (and my grandmother’s funeral).

She seemed to really love it. Mission accomplished!

Jackson’s current favorite song, besides the ABC’s, is “No More Monkeys!” He loves all versions of the song, and he is terribly cute singing along. I *had* to design this page, even though I dreaded sewing 7 monkeys. It was worth it! It turned out very cute and has the added bonus of being a counting page.

I made this page using leftovers from my stash of wool blend felt from American Felt and Craft. I pretty much used whichever colors I had enough of to cut the large floor and bed pieces. But, their felt colors are so rich and pretty and it came out great, scraps or not!

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt and Craft (in ice, chocolate, gingerbread, leather, doe, bisque, rubber duckie, white, pink tutu, red and black)
• Brown Velcro (in fudge cake)
• Snag-Free Velcro (white)
• Stuffing or Batting
• 2 Sew-on Snaps
• Pipe Cleaners
• 1 Silver Sequin
• 1 Mini Button
• Ribbon Scraps (silver and yellow)

 I started by stitching back stitched numbers onto the 5 pillows and 5 monkey bellies. I used rainbow colors of threads and stitched them freehand. I did the bellies while doing the pillows since I already had the right colors threaded on my needle. I set the bellies aside and stitched the pillows onto the headboard in a random arrangement. I pinned the floor on the page then sewed down the headboard.

Next I sewed the yellow and white bed spread pieces together along the sides and top. I pinned them behind the foot board on the page, then sewed around the foot board. I went back with yellow thread and stitched the sides of the bed spread down to the page. This made a nice big pocket for the little monkeys to sleep in. I added some snaps to the foot board that are used to hold mama and the doctor to the page.

Monkey Assembly Line: I did all 5 monkeys at once, repeating each step 5 times. First I embroidered their faces: French knot eyes, slanted stitches for nostrils and long stitches for mouths. I then sewed the faces and (already numbered) bellies onto the front body pieces.

The monkeys all have brown hook (rough) Velcro on the front of their left paws (on the right in the above photo) and loop (soft) Velcro on the back of their right paws (on the right in the photo below). This lets them link hands and jump on the bed all together. They can also clasp their own hands over their bellies. I sewed my Velcro on while sewed the front and backs together, but you could do it beforehand. I added a little stuffing to their bellies for dimension.

For the tails, I cut lengths of pipe cleaner and folded over the ends to hide the sharp bits. I sewed tubed of felt around them then stitched them onto their monkey bottoms.

Phones: I went with smart phones! It was just so much easier to make them super cute. Sorry to all of you who would prefer a land line. I sewed tiny portraits of mama and the doctor onto the black screen pieces. There are pink or white semi circle for the torsos, brown ovals for the heads and a peach heart (without the point) for the face. The only detail I added was a red + for the doctor. I made some thick red and green stitches to act as call buttons. I then sewed the black screen on to the white front phone piece.

Instead of sewing felt onto the back, I cut the phone case out of snag-free Velcro and sewed that on as the backing. This lets the phones stick to the monkey paws but not the snag the page.

Mama: For mama, I sewed her facial features first. She still have French knot eyes, but I added little stitches for lashes. I made her mouth frowning because mama isn’t down with her babies bumping their heads! I stitched her face on and sewed a little ribbon bow on her head.

When sewing her two sides together (with stuffing in her head and belly), I added loop (soft) Velcro to the front of her left paw. You could probably make the nightie a separate piece that comes off. I sewed mine right onto her body, then stuffed her and sewed her limbs up. Her tail is the same as the little monkeys, just longer and sewn to her dress. I added a decorative button the the front and the other half of one of the snaps to her back.

The Doctor: The doctor was done just like mama, but I decorated the front of his scrubs before sewing him together. I stitched his stethoscope on and added a scrap of gray for the bottom part. I also sewed on his red cross. When he was all done, I stitched some silver ribbon around his head and added a silver sequin.

Over all the page was very simple, but having so many monkeys and so little sewing time over the past tow weeks stretched it out a bit. But I love it as much as Jackson does!

Jax’s favorite thing to do with the page is to place the monkeys in bed in the right order, then make calls to the doctor on the phone. And he has “No More Monkeys!” permanently in my head right now. I think we need a Christmas music intervention tomorrow!

I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to get a Christmas tree, though it is only one week into December. Maybe because I started sewing felt ornaments in October? Last night we finally picked out a tree. An hour of living room tree surgery later, Jax and I hung our decorations.

For his first two Christmases, I only used unbreakable ornaments – mostly colorful balls and stars and plastic snowflakes. This year, we skipped the boring balls and mixed handmade ornaments with special family heirlooms. (Though I did keep the fragile glass and crystal ones in the box for another couple of year!)

I adore how the tree turned out! It is full of love and handmade touches. Jax told me it is his “favorite Christmas tree!” and that he loves it. Here are three little tutorials for some of what I created.

DIY Origami Crane Garland

Supplies:
Origami Paper
Beading Needle
Beading Cord

I originally made these origami crane garlands back in January for Jax’s sushi-themed birthday party. A friend had the great idea of reusing them on our Christmas tree. I’d been looking forward to pulling them back out all year!

Start by folding your cranes. I can do this in my sleep, as I used to make hundreds of teeny tiny cranes when I was little. I used three sizes of origami paper, the medium and large were purchase in the craft store, then I bought this 3″ paper for the tiny ones. Using strong thread (I used this) cut to your desired length and a needle, poke your need through the tail and neck of the first bird (for a horizontal garland) or up through the body (for a vertical garland). Tie a knot after each bird and repeat until your garland is the desired length. To make my knots, I made a slip knot, then ran my needle through the loop and pulled it tight.

I made three 6 foot lengths of garland which made them much easier to manage. Those birdies love to tangle up when not in use!

Crochet Candy Cane Garland

Supplies:
Mosaic Yarn in Psychedelic
H Crochet Hook
Pattern
Tacky Glue
Wax Paper
Ironing Board
Pins (rust proof)
Old Paintbrush

I hadn’t crocheted since having Jax, but after pulling out an old crochet hook to try to get a hairball out of the vacuum tube (I know, yuck!) I was itching to get back to it. I’d already had Jax pick out a ball of yarn to make pompoms ornaments with, but decided to do a garland instead. After washing the hook (hah!), I took a look online for easy garland patterns and fell in love with this candy cane one.

You could certainly got with yarn in more traditional Christmas colors, but Jax likes rainbows. Our yarn was Bernat Mosaic Yarn in Psychedelic. I followed the pattern, except that I did 18 chains where it asks for 14. I wanted an extra inch of space between the candy canes. After doing two repetitions I had the pattern memorized, and no longer bothered with the stitch marker. I used the full ball of yarn and the garland was the perfect length for our 6 ft tree.

I worked on crocheting it for 3 evenings, and every night before bed I’d lay out wax paper on my ironing board and wet the completed candy canes with water. I pinned them down flat in their proper shape and then brushed on a 50/50 mixture of white tacky glue and water with an old paint brush. I left them to dry overnight. I liked doing this in batches, as they wouldn’t have all fit on my ironing board at once.

Painting the glue mixture onto one side of the candy canes gave them enough stiffness to hold their shape while still being soft to the touch on the other side. If you really want them sturdy, dunk the whole thing in the mixture.

DIY Cinnamon Ornaments

Supplies:
Cookie Cutters
Cinnamon Powder (4 cups)
Apple Sauce (4 cups)
Drinking Straw
White Glue (half bottle)
Parchment Paper
Baker’s Twine
Puffy Paint

There are many tutorials and recipes for cinnamon ornaments online, but I just did my own thing. They turned out perfect and the house smells great! I ordered my cinnamon in bulk from Amazon. I have a full bag left. My cookie cutters are similar to the ones linked above, but it is a 30 piece set I found at the thrift store. My twine and parchment were ordered from Zulily (some good deals there, but they deliver via donkey – i.e. SO SLOW!)

Pre-heat your oven to 200° F. Mix together the cinnamon and applesauce in a big bowl. Stir in white glue until the dough is a good cookie dough consistency. I used half a 7-ish oz bottle.

Sprinkle cinnamon on your work surface and roll out batches of dough, using cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes. I did an assortment of holiday shapes, then a bunch of dog bones for my friend who is a pet sitter. Using a drinking straw, punch holes for hanging. (The dough goes up into the straw and you end up with a perfect hole. Place your shapes onto parchment lined cookie sheets. I was able to stuff my oven with two large cookie sheets and two mini ones (meant for our toaster oven). If you have more than two racks in your oven, you could do more than that at once.

Jax’s Star

Place the ornaments in the oven and enjoy the smell over the next 3 hours. Flip the ornaments after 1.5 hours so they dry out on both sides. Pull them out and allow them to cool before decorating. I decorated mine with a glittery puffy paint (meant for fabric). We also tested a white puffy paint, but felt it looked too harsh. A mixture of the two was nice, but two much work going over things twice. You could also use actual royal icing, but the ornaments may end up more delicate. Jax enjoyed squeezing out multicolored paints onto his ornaments. When I was decorating, I ended up liking best the ornaments I painted simplistically with delicate lines.

We let our paint dry for a couple hours while we ate dinner, then tied loops of bakers twine for hanging. If you use ribbon, you might need larger holes. The holes shrink a bit as the ornaments bake.

Have you made any of the ornaments featured on Imagine Our Life? Post a photo of your tree to our Facebook page! Jax would love to see it!

Jax and I made some decorations this week. We don’t have our tree yet, but we’ve enjoyed bringing out some of our Christmas items early. Jax asked to do some painting, so I put together a little project for him.

We started with a roll of craft paper from the dollar store. I rolled out some and used paper tape to mark off a bunch of triangle shapes. I set Jax up with paint brushes and crafts paints in red, green and silver. He had a lot of fun painting all the triangles!

At the end, I helped him do some drip painting to add some silver dots. We set our paintings aside to dry, and I let him paint some $1 wooden ornaments he’d picked out at the craft store. We also used a dollar store foam ABC puzzle as stamps and stamped out “peace”, “love” and “joy”. Jax found the letters we needed and helped press them onto the paper.

Decorating Ornaments

Today after breakfast, I pulled off the tape and cut out all the triangles. I set us up at Jax’s school table with baker’s twine, green and red paper and a glue stick.

I cut out red and green triangles to match our little trees, as well as shapes to match the backs of the words. Jax helped me put glue all over the backing papers then we pressed them together with the twine sandwiched between.

We did a pattern of three trees followed by a word. I have a nice pile of trees leftover that will become gift tags on gifts going under the tree.

I wasn’t sure where to hang it at first. I wanted it on the stairs, but Jax thought it would be great to tug on there. So, it ended up hung on the wall in the foyer.

Too Tempting…

Jax was very proud of himself! He keeps reading the letters to me and and asking what the words mean. Well done, little man!

I’ve had this page started for quite a while, but other projects needed to be completed for me to stay on schedule with my sewing. I know a lot of you were waiting on this one – thanks for being patient!

My inspiration for this page came when I was contacted by Lots of Buttons and offered a $10 code to try their service. As soon as I saw some of their buttons I thought of planets! It took a lot of searching to find buttons that would work for each planet and were all about the same size. I was disappointed to find out may favorite button was sold out after placing my order, but their customer service was very helpful and offered a substitute. I ended up not using the replacement button, as it was a lot muddier looking in person, but I was very happy with the others.

This page is mainly a learning page for Jax and I to use with our school studies, but it is also a little matching game with colors and numbers. The buttons that hold the planets in place match their colors. I also stitched numbers on the page and the planets. My planets are two layers with a button hole in the back layer. If you want to have the page be a buttoning exercise for your child, you could make the button holes go through both layers. You’ll lose some of the look of the planets and might need to use smaller buttons on some of them, though. (My cookie matching page is an example of this.)

For those with little ones who like to put things in their mouths – I did use beads. Jax is really good about things like that at this point. I always stitch through every bead two times for strength, but you can use some alternatives if they make you wary. Try cutting tiny felt scraps to sew on as the asteroids in the belt. Little * stitches would make cute stars.

I was able to use up a lot my scraps of felt from American Felt and Craft. The earthiness of the wool blend felt works so well for the planets.

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt & Craft (in black, buttercream, rubber duckie, banana nut muffin, toffee, doe, wine, beet, leather, gray flannel, cilantro, rainy day, ice, slushie and peacock.
• Silver-lined seed beads
• Stone chip beads
• Stuffing, Batting or white roving scraps
• 8 buttons from Lots of Buttons (Mercury: Bettie, Venus: Alona, Earth: Matthew, Mars: Ema, Jupiter: maybe Lida? [Sabina was sold out when I ordered; I used my own button], Saturn: Laci, Uranus: Tama and Neptune: Judith)

I started on the left hand side of the spread by sewing down the sun. I stitched the orbit lines one at a time while sewing the corresponding planet, so I could be sure there was enough space between each one. The orbit lines are gray thread in a dashed running stitch. The buttons were each sewn down with matching thread, and I used the leftover thread to stitch the number along side. I did them freehand in back stitch.

In between the orbit lines, I stitched on seed bead stars. I actually just did a vertical zigzag between each and that gave me a random-looking, but evenly spread star scape. After Mars, I stitched the asteroid belt using the same stone chip beads I used as nuts on my sundae page.

For each planet, I stitched all the details and a number on to the front piece. On the back piece, I cut a slit large enough for the button. I then did a blanket stitch around the slit to fortify the edges.

Planets: For Mercury, Venus, Mars and Uranus, I only stitched the number on the front before  making the button hole and sewing the fronts and backs together.

Sorry, Pluto… You were demoted and I’m out of room!

Earth: I started by sewing down the land mass shape. Then I took a very thin layer of batting that I had peeled apart, and ripped it into cloud shapes. I used white thread and stitched it down, then added a number 3 in blue thread. I added a button hole to the back, then stitched the front and back together.

Jupiter: Jupiter has various stripes sewn on, as well as the red spot. I sewed a 5 on it in brown thread. I added a button hole to the back and sewed the two sides together.

Saturn: I started by stitching the two yellow stripes onto the planet front. Then I stitched some lines on to the front ring piece using back stitch in pale blue, pale pink and brown. I layered the front planet piece in between the front and back ring pieces and sewed all the way around the ring. I sewed the number 6 on in tan. I then added the button hole to the back and stitched it to the front. The back ring piece is mostly hidden inside the planet and adds stability.

Neptune: Neptune was simple with some swirls and a number 8 decorating the front before I added the button hole and sewed the two sides together.

Like our new white “school table”? $7 thrift store coffee table!

I think this is the page that Jax has asked “Is it ready yet??” the most of all the ones he’s seen me sewing. He keeps calling the planets “moons” so his interest is a good opportunity to introduce him to astronomy. I’m going to look into some handouts and worksheets we can do together to start going over the planet names. Perhaps a nice book?

I hope you enjoy this free pattern! I’d love to see your finish version. Email me a photo or post it to our Facebook page.

]]> http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/11/24/solar-system-quiet-book-page/feed/ 2 http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/11/19/felt-bird-nest-ornament/ http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/11/19/felt-bird-nest-ornament/#comments Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:47:24 +0000 Stephanie http://www.imagineourlife.com/?p=4082

This little bird is an ornament I wanted to make once I saw the sparrow felt from American Felt & Craft. I just could resist! This ornament is two sided, but still sews up very quickly.

I’m trying to decide if I will design any more ornaments this season. Do you have any requests?

What I Used:

• The Pattern
• Felt from American Felt and Craft in (sparrow, buttercream, doe, pink tutu, wild blueberry and cilantro)
• Pin Ribbon
• 6 Small Red Buttons
• Stuffing or Batting

To start the ornament, I threaded 4 strands of a darker brown embroidery floss on my needle and made long stitches to look like the twigs in the nest. Then I threaded 3 strands of medium brown and repeated. I repeated one last time with 2 strands of light brown.

I sewed the belly pieces to each side of the bird’s body. I also sewed on the rosy cheeks. To make the eyes, I used a French knot and two little stitches for eyelashes. I pinned the wings in place, but only stitched around the shoulder (see photos.)

I sewed the two beak pieces together so it would be ready when I stitched around the bird.

I pinned each side of the bird on to a side of the nest, then sewed it down along the outer edge of the belly. I sewed three vintage red buttons onto the nest with the holly leaves layered underneath. I chose all different buttons on purpose.

I cut batting to fit inside the whole ornament (I twisted a thin strip to fit inside the tail) then pinned it between the two sides of the ornament. I sewed all the way around the ornament, using colors that matched each part. I made sure to add a loop of pink ribbon at the top and the beak on his face.

I think I’ll be making a new bird every Christmas – just choosing different colors each time! I hope you enjoy using the pattern.

{ This pattern is free for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a $25 license to sell the finished project in your shop, please email me. }