Red, white, blue and orange

A friend and his family are going to live in Austria for at least three years. It's a pity they're moving. Yesterday my brother and I went to their goodbye party.  I threaded a bunch of felt strips into a garland for their new home. The tints are hinting to our national colours, just a little bit. Hans & co, we wish you all good in your new homeland.

Petit project

Making felt ornaments is the perfect 'in-between' activity. In between other things (cooking, waiting during violin-lessons of child, etc) you need to do. Easy to put aside, quickly picked up again. For this birdy I used this tutorial (many other patterns) and this picture for decoration-inpiration. It's in my parents christmas tree for a few days more. Not only for christmas though.

Off into the wide world

Not without tears from the girls, our kitties went to their new home yesterday. A good home, I think, with a 3-year-old boy. We gave them a small good bye present: felt toy fish to play with. Scraps of felt, filled with cat nip, embroidered by hand. We will miss Beau and Charly (they will get to keep their names).

Flourishing felt

Every year in spring we get these wonderful magnolia branches from my parents in law. From the tree in their garden. They almost cease blossoming. I was thinking to replace the real flowers then by fake felt ones. And of course someone thought of this before, because when I googled for felt magnolias, I found this tutorial. I made some changes though: coloured the outside of the leafs with pencil, used orange and pink for the heart and reduced the size by 50%. They look almost real when applied to the branch.

For Frencky

A basket, filled with craft supplies, for another birthday girl. At a recent play date she made pixies like these with J and enjoyed it a lot. In the basket is everything, including the instructions, to make felt dolls at home. For the basket I used my own tutorial and the size converter, made by Saskia from Zazozip. A fantastic tool! Note: I moved my tutorials from Scribd to Google a while ago. Easier to download for most of you.

Felt feast

This colourful garland is for a friend of N. She celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday. N picked the colours to match the ones in her friends bedroom. N had a really good time at the party. Congratulations F!

Frida's flowers

Ha, finally an occasion to make a flower tiara. Our eldest has a tropical-themed party tomorrow. I'm not sure she's going to wear it, but I don't mind when she would choose not to. I had fun making it anyway. And love how it turned out. Maybe I'll wear it myself, as Frida Kahlo, at the carnival. This tutorial (follow links to separate flowers) helped to make the felt flowers.
update: she wore the tiara and got a prize for best outfit!

Pixy paradise

Where I still haven't got the time to craft, my daughter fills in the gap. She made her own felt family. And collected branches to make a pixy world in her room. Aren't they lovely? The patterns are from a booklet I have, but they look a bit like these.

Something to do when you have a mild headache

The girls were complaining that the house looks so empty now that the christmas tree is gone. And I agree, I don't like to see it go either. To fill some of that emptyness I made this felt garland. Like I've made them before, but in different colours. Made from felt strips, scraps from a firm where they produce felt. My felt comes from Holland Felt in Delft.

Tree of love

Today we're going to bring our christmas tree inside. It has been waiting outside for some days. But our busy schedules prevented us from decorating it till now. Last night I whipped up these felt hearts. Very simple. A new addition to our, already not so small, collection of tree decorations.

Wee felt folk

Felt dolls are so easy to make. For everyone. Really, just start from the beginning (a good way to handle any complex project ;-D). I think even my kids could make these dolls. The only thing you need is specific material: wool felt, (felting) wool, pip cleaners, wooden beads. You can find them on Etsy fe or in special shops (see left column here). And then you have to know the blanket stitch, which is not difficult to learn. I found the tutorial for the wee felt folk via Pinterest. I very much like her choice of colours and use of natural materials. And I think it's so cute that there's a pattern for trousers and for leggings. Differently than in the example, the daughters thought the little people should have eyes, so we did.

Uiltje

Our autumn pixy has a new friend. Don't know how you could call this figure. 'Owly' is the name our girls gave to her. It is definitely a girl, because she has a skirt, according to our ladies. Again I used the same doll to start with (check out the other tutorials on this site). And from there on developed into Owly.

Little red riding hood

And here's my daughters felt doll. She turned out really cute don't you think? She used the same basic doll pattern and then let her own imagination do the rest of the work. J is already working on her next project.

The wind is back

It's getting chillier. And I kind of like it. After a long and warm summer I'm ready for some coziness inside. Warm cups of tea, candle light and crafting on the couch. Actually that couch hardly ever feels my butt, because I'm always doing something and prefer high chairs and a table. But you get the idea. J. and spent some quality time while making felt dolls. Hers still needs some work but in the meantime I'll show you my pixy. I used this tutorial for the basic doll and was inspired by these gnomes. For the hazel-collecting-net I used this tutorial again.

Pink piggy

Normally I don't like to give money as a present. It lacks any personal touch. But there are exceptions. Friends are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this weekend and they asked for a donation for the last fase of the restoration of their monumental farmhouse. A project that has started around the time they got married. I saw this felt piggy bank and made one right away. Wrapped in piggy paper (from a story book), the money gift even looks quite nice.

Have a nice easter weekend!

This morning our own easter bunny's will hang the paper pouches everywhere in the neighbourhood. Attached to the treats, there's a note to invite the finders to pay-it-forward. The bunny ears were made with a headband and some felt scraps, Didn't use any tutorial. Want to make some last minute bunny ears too? Found some lovely pieces here (fabric), here (felt) and here (paper).

Still getting used to the image

Ever since her sister got her ears pierced for her eight birthday, it was in N's agenda too. Last thursday was the day. She was a bit nervous, but without any hesitation she let the jeweller do her job. She keeps admiring herself in the mirror ever since. We also gave her a re-vamped thrifted jewellery box for her earrings. And of course her first set of real earrings.

Patience

Although she looks rather fragile, our youngest is pretty strong. Almost never ill. But now she has the flu, like many of her classmates. She likes her mother to stay close (always, but extra when she's feeling miserable) and I sat beside her, making felt sheep for our easter table (while keeping an eye on her temperature, which was 40C+). The sheep brought me back almost 8 years ago. I made the same set in between contractions when this little girl was going to be born. The pattern can be found in this simple but lovely book. Couldn't find the pattern online, but searching I came across some other cute sheep here (also for the kids), here (needle felted) and here (felt and knitting).

For her room

This felt garland is on its way to Bejing. Friends just got their third child over there. A little girl, with the beautiful name Emmelijn. Leftover felt strips were zigzagged on a thread for this garland. The cute attached card is cut out of a children's book.

Crochet egg warmer tutorial

We had a lot of traffic jams on our way to and from Italy. Luckily I had a crochet hook and some cotton in my handbag. Time enough to make a lot of these egg warmers: make magic ring and chain two, crochet 12 dc in ring, pull the ring together and close with slst in second chain. Chain 2 and make 2 dc in each dc of the first round, close with slst in second chain. Round 3, 4 and 5: Chain 2 and 1 dc in each dc of the last round. Close with slst in second chain. Chain 1, sc in each dc of last round and close with slst in chain. Make a fork-pompon and attach it to the egg warmer. Is crochet not your thing? Try my felt egg warmers.