Felted Coin Purse

Remember how I learned to crochet during my recent vacation to visit my family? Well I finally finished the felted crochet coin purse that I had started.



It turned out really cute and was so easy I wish I'd finished it sooner! (Ok, ok, I've been a little busy making a T-shirt quilt and Dinosaur Crowns so I'll cut myself some slack!).

I used this pattern and it was a great way to practice felting. Now I want to felt everything! For those of you that aren't familiar with felting, this is a pretty comprehensive set of instructions.

Here's what it looked like before I felted it:


And after (I ended up running it through my washing machine 3 times):

(sorry for the color change, it's the "flash vs. no flash" difference in my camera, but I promise it's the same project.)


Notice that it's not a perfect rectangle so I trimmed it. I was really nervous about doing it but it actually worked!


Next I folded it into place and safety pinned it (regular straight pins weren't long enough), leaving about 2" for the flap. Then I sewed my toggle button into place.


I finished by sewing the sides together.


You could really customize this to any size since it's just a simple rectangle. It would be really cute as a glasses' case, business card holder, camera case, even a small clutch. The possibilities are endless! I guess I'd better get to crocheting!

Dinosaur Crown

In keeping with my plan to make every gift I give this year, I have included party favors in the same category as "gifts." My son is turning 3 soon and I have been trying to figure out what to make for all of the kids he'll be inviting to his party (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 20!).

I began searching blogland to get some ideas. I kept seeing birthday crowns made out of felt. They were really cute, but they would only be appropriate for the actual birthday boy to wear. Check out these great ideas from Skip to My Lou and One Crafty Place.

Somehow I came up with the idea to make "Dinosaur Crowns" for everyone (in keeping with our dinosaur theme for the birthday party).



It's a great project because it's easy and cheap (25 cents for 1 sheet of craft felt which yields 2 crowns; $1.29 for 1 yard of elastic which yields 3 crowns; fusible webbing-I had some left over from my T-shirt Quilt project, but it's sold by the yard and very inexpensive). It's great too, because felt comes in so many different colors, I can make one to suit every kid at the party (boy or girl). Felt is quickly becoming one of my favorite fabrics to work with!

So here's how I did it. First of all, find an image that you want to use. I actually went to PBS Kids and found a picture of a Stegosaurus that I just simplified. Cut out your "pattern".

Next, cut out your fusible webbing to the size of your felt and iron it on (again, I was using leftover webbing so I had to piece 2 pieces together to cover my felt). Iron according to the directions on your webbing (I ironed on the webbing side, on the "cotton" setting). I used lightweight webbing because I had it leftover, but it seems like most people recommend a heavier webbing. I think the lightweight one was fine because the "crown" doesn't stand up too high.



Now trace your pattern on to the webbing.



And cut it out.



Cut a 10"-12" piece of elastic (I used 3/4") and pin about 1" onto either side of your dinosaur.


Finally, using your sewing machine, stitch around the crown, making sure the elastic gets stitched to the dinosaur. I used contrasting thread in a straight stitch. You could get creative and use a different stitch, or play with the thread colors. Since I'm probably going to have to make 20 of these, I decided to keep it simple.



My son's birthday party is not for a few weeks, but I asked him to try on the crown this morning just to check the size of it. He loved it so much, he insisted on wearing it the zoo!


Now I just hope all the other kids at the birthday party love it as much!



Linked to:

T-Shirt Quilt

Ok friends, I know I've been behind in my posting lately, but I promise I have a good excuse. I've been working on a SECRET PROJECT. I've been making my husband a quilt out of all of his old T-shirts. Today is his birthday so I am finally able to share this project with you all. It's not done yet, but I wrapped up what I had and gave it to him anyway. It's been nearly impossible to find time to work on it when 1) my husband wasn't home and 2) the kids were both asleep. Now I'll be able to work on it freely so hopefully I'll have it done in no time. Here's what my husband opened for his birthday this morning:



Once I have it completed, I'll post the tutorial so you can make your very own T-shirt quilt. It's a great way to recycle all those old shirts that don't fit anymore or have been ruined by stains, holes, bleach, etc...This would also be a really cute thing to make out of your kid's clothes that they've outgrown but that have such wonderful memories, you can't bear to part with them.

Crochet Scarf

First of all, let me start by apologizing for my lack of posts for the last couple of weeks. I was out of town visiting my family in Arizona. The kids and I had a great time and it was wonderful to get to visit with my parents, grandma and sister for so long.

Remember the travel games I made? They were a big hit! And boy am I glad I was smart enough to make 2 of each (if one had it, the other one wanted it!). The I Spy books were the biggest hit. I'm keeping them in the car for just running errands. And I plan to keep adding pictures to it (my son told me we needed to add more to fill up the book).

Although I was on vacation, I did not take a vacation from crafting. I learned to crochet! My grandma had taught my sister and I how to crochet when we were young, but I did not keep up with it so I didn't remember anything about it other than you use yarn and a hook. Luckily, my sister had relearned a few years ago and was happy to teach it to me. Here we are during my first lesson.


The impetus for wanting to relearn to crochet was this adorable scarf tutorial I had seen over at Prudent Baby.

I used Sensations Sumptuous yarn in "Sumptuous Purple". The pattern was really easy, especially for a beginner. It turned out really cute and I'm thinking that these will make great Christmas gifts (I better get started now since I'm planning to make EVERYTHING this year!).



I'm just bummed that I won't get to show off my new scarf until this winter since I think Spring is finally here (not that I'm complaining).



(Sorry for the cheesy pictures...it's really hard to get a picture of yourself using a timer!).


I'm already working on my next crochet project. This cute little coin purse! I'm really excited about the felting process. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Here's a sneak peek ;)