One Thimble Tour: Enchanting Woodland Meadow Playscape

I’m excited to show you the felt playmat I’ve sewn up. It’s called the Enchanting Woodland Meadow Playscape and it’s designed by Alicia of Felt with Love Designs. It’s a project that’s part of the One Thimble Issue 14. I cannot resist the felt projects!

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One Thimble Issue 13: Felt Kawaii Ornaments

So I absolutely positively LOVE working with felt. I also LOVE ornaments and little cute things.

So when I saw the cute Kawaii ornaments in the newest issue of One Thimble magazine (affiliate link), I couldn’t resist.

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Unfortunately, I’ve been working tons and I’m never home when the light is good so my photos are horrible. But they really are super cute.

There are 8 designs: popsicle, ice cream cone, cupcake, watermelon, rainbow, planet, star and sun. Originally I was going to make the 4 non-food ones but couldn’t resist the ice cream cone and watermelon so plans changed.

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I changed things up a little bit. The instructions recommend using brads for the eyes and cutting out felt mouths, but as you can see I decided to embroider the mouth and eyes on. I didn’t have any brads and no time to get to the craft store and decided I would just embroider the whole face. It takes a little bit longer but not much. I traced the shape of the eyes and the bottom edge of the mouth onto Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer (affiliate link) and placed it on the top shape where I wanted the face. Then followed manufacturer’s

ornaments

I forgot to get a picture of the back of the ice cream cone, but I turned that one into a hair clip. It’s actually clipped to the Christmas tree for the picture. I cut two little slits in the back piece of the cone and slid an alligator clip in. See the how to do it in my tutorial for a kitty cat hairclip here. Edited to add: The pattern has instructions for making hairclips as well but using a different method than what I did. I sewed up the medium size shapes and the smaller size would probably suit hairclips better, but for the cone it’s not bad. I wish I was able to get a picture of it worn as well, but unfortunately as I said earlier it’s dark when I get home from work so pictures don’t look great.

There are also instructions on sewing the felt shapes as bookmarks, pencil toppers, hairclips, or brooches too. My girls want a bunch of Kawaii shapes for hanging in their room but first I want to try out the pencil toppers. I think they’d be cute little gifts. Can’t use them as stocking stuffers because my daughters would know I sewed them but maybe for party gifts.

 

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11/10 Pattern Revolution, Beri Bee Designs, The Sew and Tell Project, SewSophieLynn
11/11 Create 3.5, GAAFMACHINE
11/12 Tales of a Tester, Little Cumquat, Call Ajaire
11/13 Happy Okapi, Sunflower Seams, Stitches by Laura
11/14 Made by Sara, Candice Ayala, Filles a Maman
11/15 House of Estrela, Snickerdoodle Stew, Swoodson Says
11/16 The Lady and the Gents, Lulu & Celeste, Pear Berry Lane
11/17 Finn’s Door, Blue Wren Handmade, Once Upon a Sewing Machine, Just Add Fabric

One Thimble Issue 12 tour

One Thimble Tour Issue 12: Flutterby Kite, Darling Daisy bag and more

Flutterby Kite and Issue 12 of One Thimble review by Lulu & Celeste
I seem to have an addiction to sewing blog tours… But they’re so fun!
Today is my stop on the One Thimble Issue 12 blog tour! I’ve done quite a few of the One Thimble tours already so I’m happy to be back for another one.
I like sewing up the ‘different’ patterns they offer; it’s a nice change from always sewing clothing. This time I chose the Flutterby Kite and the Darling Daisy bag, both patterns from Molly and Mama.
(Molly and Mama has some super cute tutorials and patterns on her website btw, you should really go check them out!)
Anyway, back to today’s tour.

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One Thimble Issue 11 Blog Tour

One Thimble Issue 11 preview

The theme for the newest issue of One Thimble magazine is ‘Urban Jungle’. There are 12 PDF patterns included in the issue as well as 26 articles, all for $25 AUD (so if you’re in the US it will be much less!) The articles range from regular features such as a gift guide featuring items handmade in Australia (while keeping them related to the theme) to articles on sewing techniques and tutorials. As a bonus there are also exclusive discount codes included!

{This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking one of my links I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. All affiliate links are marked with an *. I received a copy of the issue for free for the purpose of the review. Opinions are my own of course! Thank you for supporting this blog!!}

Each of the patterns included in the issue* have beautiful photos showcasing the pattern using the Urban Jungle theme.

Issue 11 contents

What caught my eye most about this issue was how well so many of the patterns seem to complement one another. The toys and accessories are all animal related (baby shoes, baby quilt, cross-stitch wall art, FMA, and the two toy patterns). 

One of the articles that interested me was one on sewing with laminated cotton. Laminated cotton is similar but not the same as oilcloth which I’ve used before. I haven’t tried laminated cotton yet and have been interested in trying it out however from what I’ve seen it’s not as inexpensive as oilcloth. There are lots of good tips for sewing with it as well as links to tutorials that I need to try.

The Hood Creature free motion appliqué (or FMA) pattern included in this issue is super cute and is a perfect match with the hoodie pattern. I’ve used one of the designer’s (StitchART by Jeanine) other FMA patterns in a pair of PJ’s I sewed up for my oldest daughter recently. You can check it out >>HERE<<, it’s really cute. Free motion appliqué is super fun and fairly easy to do, I will be for sure stitching up one of the hood creatures soon.

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Felt 3D Animal Puzzle by Felt With Love Designs

No surprise to those that know me, but I really wanted to sew these up. I love felt and I have a fairly good size stash of wool felt on hand, although my colour choices are somewhat limited at the moment.

Included in the pattern are templates for a giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros, octopus, unicorn, turtle, lion and alligator. Since I didn’t want to use the same colour felt for more than one animal (to make it possibly easier for my 2.5 year old, although maybe she’d have been fine), I made just the elephant, octopus, unicorn, turtle and alligator.

felt animals

As expected the 6-year-old, Silly Bean, claimed the unicorn for herself, which was fine because the octopus was Miss V’s favourite. They liked them so much in fact that they actually slept with them the first night!

unicorn felt puzzle

These were fun to make and not too difficult. There are three layers of felt and in between Heat’n Bond* to help them stay together. I used a lightweight Heat N Bond because that is what I had on hand but I think a heavier weight would work better as it took a lot of heat and pressing to get the second and third layers to adhere as the felt was thick.

Interested in seeing more from Felt With Love Designs? You can see the other patterns of theirs that I have sewn up HERE and HERE.

The Felt 3D Animal Puzzle was Felt With Love Designs’ contribution to the magazine. You can purchase this pattern separately for $3 AUD >>HERE*<< or it is included with the purchase of the magazine.

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Roly Poly Sloth sewn by Lulu & Celeste

Roly Poly Critters by Swoodson Says

These are just soooo cute, I couldn’t resist making one. The sloth is adorable so that was the first one I wanted to sew. The fabric suggestions for Roly Poly Critters are to use felt or fleece but I’ve seen some versions using different fabrics that are super cute too. For mine I decided to stick with the fabric suggestions and made it out of felt.

I didn’t have any safety eyes or noses on hand and didn’t know where to buy them locally and with no time to wait for an order to arrive I decided to cut out eye and nose shapes from felt and sew those on. I need to work a little more on sewing around the small curves to make the stitching neater but otherwise it was a pretty quick sew. About 1.5 hours from cut to finish including interruptions from Miss V.

Roly Poly Sloth sewn by Lulu & Celeste

SO SO cute. These will make fun baby gifts. My only wish is that there had been overlap with the animals between these and the baby quilts*. But I guess I could try hacking one of the critters into a bunny! They would make a cute set to give at a baby shower.

I have made many of Swoodson Says’ patterns before. You can see the ones I’ve blogged HERE and HERE, and read an interview with Stephanie of Swoodson Says HERE.

The Roly Poly Critters can be purchased separately for $7 AUD >>HERE*<< or get it with the purchase of the magazine.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPY OF ISSUE 11 NOW*

For more One Thimble inspiration, check out the rest of the tour stops below:

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Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day: Win a cupcake ornament!

I love making ornaments, especially with felt. I had a few left over from my craft sale this past weekend and have started listing some in my Etsy shop but I thought I would give one away as part of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day!

Up for grabs is this cute cupcake ornament! Giveaway is now over but pattern details are below if you would like to make one yourself, or contact me through my Etsy shop if you’d like to purchase one. 🙂
Felt cupcake ornament front

Disclaimer: This post includes a few affiliate links. All affiliate links are marked with an *. See my Disclaimer-Legal Info tab for more info on affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions are my own of course!

 

It was completely hand-stitched using wool blend felt that I purchased from Prairie Point Junction. The pattern I used is the cupcake ornament from the Festive Felties* set contributed to the latest One Thimble Magazine* by Lauren of Molly and Mama. I actually tested the Festive Felties set so I had received the pattern originally for free. It measures about 3 1/2″ high.

Felt cupcake ornament back

If you’re interested in making one yourself, you should definitely pick up the pattern. The set also includes a mouse and a reindeer. They’re so cute, and if you love making felt ornaments as much as I do you’ll enjoy making them. Or you could always purchase one of the other two cupcake ornaments I have leftover in my shop 😛 OR better yet, you can win the one pictured above by commenting on this post. Be sure to click to enter through Rafflecopter as well, that way I’m sure to have an email address that I can contact you at.

The giveaway is open until Sunday, December 13th at midnight EST. I will contact the winner by email Monday. Since as per the Sew Mama Sew rules this needs to be mailed out by Friday, December 18th if I don’t hear back from the winner within 24 hours, I will redraw for a new winner. Giveaway is open internationally.

Don’t forget to check all the other giveaways happening for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day!

Let me know in the comments who you’ll be giving the cupcake ornament to (or if you’ll be keeping it for yourself!)

UPDATE DECEMBER 16, 2015: The winner of the cupcake is Libby J. Thank you all for participating! I wish I was able to give you all a cupcake ornament but the shipping fees alone would bankrupt me! I loved reading your responses. I especially loved the ones from people saying they’d be selfish and keep the ornament for themself! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and have a great 2016!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

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P.S. If you’re purchasing on Etsy (for anything really) don’t forget to use Ebates. You can get cash back on all purchases on Etsy, usually 1% but sometimes they run specials and it’s more. If you don’t already have an account you can sign up here if you’re in the US: Ebates.com* or here if you’re in Canada: Ebates.ca*. (Or do both like me) In the past year I’ve earned back roughly $50, and it probably would have been more but I have a bad habit of forgetting to click my links first, lol. Don’t be like me!