Little Bunny

As promised, I would like you to meet the little bunny who is now named Flopsy. Flopsy has spent most of his life as a pile of folded fabric, and a Velveteen Rabbit-loving 4-year old's first doll pattern.

Unfortunately, he was forgotten for the last four years at the bottom of the basket. The velveteen chenille type fabric was a horror to sew. It massively shifted & unravelled even after heavy pinning and using the walking foot.

The huge smile on my daughter's face as I started sewing her long lost friend kept me from giving up. My Janome 7700 decidedly did not like trying to sew through many layers of thick fabric so I switched to my Elna 6005. It sewed through the layers like butter and layers shifted less even without the walking foot.

After many reinforcing stitches, Flopsy still had time to spend the day with me at the studio. He helped me out with some pattern booklet layout but quickly became bored.

I based his shape loosely on these bears I used to make from a Japanese quilting magazine. I enlarged the pattern and changed the shapes of the parts but put him together using the same method. I added quilting fabric because my daughter loves bright colours and patterns. She was thrilled to receive this little bunny on Valentine's Day!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Felted Hats & Snow Boots

In my last post I talked about my adventures in making my first felted hat. Well, here it is finally finished with my first Button Flower pin. I ironed the fabric to the felt with fusible webbing and then cut out the shape. I really like how it turned out. I mentioned in my last post how I prefered the hat BEFORE felting but I have totally changed my mind! I have been wearing it outside every day and have fallen in love with it! It is very warm and keeps my ears nice and toasty... I also get lots of compliments :o)

It has been snowing again for a full 24 hours! Craziness in Vancouver where no one is ever prepared for SNOW! Today we braved the snow to search for much-needed winter boots. We were luckier than most because our Honda CRV has four wheel drive however we still managed to slide a few times turning corners. We didn't get stuck and wore our new boots safely home.

Todays roads were bad and I'm certain the highways are worse. I don't think we will be driving the 8-9 hour trip to my parents' for Christmas this year...

I really like how the colours in my hat are the same as in the snow photos!

I made these tomatoes last week to add to Claire's Grocery basket... I'm afraid that she may only get one carrot and two tomatoes for Christmas because all this snow is making me want to crochet and felt more warm hats! These beautiful colours were calling out to me from my yarn bowl!

However she will be getting this ball that she asked me to make for her. She even chose the fabrics all by herself... not bad for a 4 year old! :o)

Have a safe & happy Christmas!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)