Felt Angry Birds

As we rapidly approach Christmas Eve

so do I try to rush and finish my last handmade gifts.

À medida que nos aproximamos da noite de Natal,

também eu tento despachar-me e acabar os meus

últimos presentes feitos à mao.

I had found the tutorial for these sweet crazy angry birds and immediately filed them under my to do list section of my brain.

And so, because I still had

to send a package to my sweet darling (grandson) in Portugal,

I rushed and made these pretties yesterday!

Tinha encontrado este tutorial/passo-a-passo que ensina a fazer estes engraçados e malucos angry birds e imediatamente o arquivei no meu cérebro na secção de coisas para fazer.

Por isso, e como ainda tinha de mandar uma encomenda para o meu fofinho (neto) em Portugal,

ontem apressei-me a fazer estas fofuras!

I hope he's going to like them.

Maybe I'll go ahead and make them all,

so sometime next year he'll have a good surprise!

Espero que ele goste!

Talvez ainda faça a colecção toda,

assim no próximo ano pode ser que ele tenha uma surpresa!

Espero que ele goste!

I'll see you all soon!

Até breve!

Penny Rugs - an essay

A few time ago 

I came upon something totally new to me

called

penny rugs. 

Did it ever happen to you...?,

to fall totally in love with something at first sight...?

It does happen to me since in a while.

An that was the case this time.

I just got fascinated by the possibilities!...

But first thing first: I had to find out more about penny rugs.

The wikipedia is a good source of info, of course,

but I'll tell what I found out anyway.

It seems that around the 1800's and after the Civil War,

some women had the idea of cutting men's old wool suits

into circles of different sizes, using coins, or pennies,

to draw the outlines of the circles

(thus the name penny rug).

Using mostly a blanket stitch,

they would sew together 2 to 4 circles of these wool scraps

and then applique by stitching the circles

(again, using a blanket stitch)

on a bigger piece of wool (circle, oval, rectangle...),

creating a pleasant design.

The pieces created could be for a rug or a mat for the floor,

a table center, a mug rug or a piece for the mantle.

All the pieces would have a wool or burlap backing

to hide all the stitching and give it a clean finishing.

I didn't had wool suiting,

but I did have felt,

a really good substitute for these penny rugs...

I just used basic circular shapes, different sizes and colors,

and kinda just played around with it to create my designs.

These are my creations so far.

I can't really pin point why,

but they kinda remind me of Inca or Maya design motifs...

I've not decided their purpose yet,

 maybe as a table center,

or maybe as part of a wall hanging,

but I do know for sure I'll be making more

and also experimenting with different designs.

I hope I made you curios about penny rugs and willing to try to make some.

I'll see you all shortly!

Some of the stuff I've been working on...

Just before J had to go to the hospital,
I was working on a new post that didn't had the time to publish.
It was about some of things I had been working on for Xmas.
I've decided to publish it now as it was.

Some of the stuff I've been making...

More rageddy totes...

Some needle felting...

I had bought some pre stuffed fabric dolls from a sewing supplies website

and I just loved their cute face.

Before...

... and after I dressed them up!

I've been making more felt felted coasters to give as stocking stuffers.

Red series...

Orange series...

Green series...

Blue series...

... and purple series.

You can check out how they are made by looking in here.

As you can seee, I'm still working on them.

Rag coasters, Felt coasters & Xmas Gifts

I've been working on my Xmas gifts

(only 36 days left...),

finishing some stuff and starting some new projects.

Outside fall is everywhere.

I love the way my gardens look

with the berries and the autumn colors...

Tough the leaves are almost gone on some of the trees and bushes,

my maple tree still looks astonishing.

Inside, and besides caring for J like always,

have been doing some more stuff for gits this Xmas.

Using the same technique as in here,

I made some rag coasters

and tried to play with the colors a little bit

and that's how they came out.

I've also finished the cards

for the gift baskets sets with the crochet slippers

(peek this older post).

Now they are ready to go!

Made some little fabric pouches,

not sure yet what for,

but I suspect it will be for something to add to my grandson gifts;

he used to love treasure boxes filled with all kinds of little precious things.

I think he still does so I'm fixing him one for Xmas... :0)

I've found some leftovers from last Xmas...lol...

The pet rocks!, do you remember those?...

I know, I know... old stuff, but I reckon the kids still enjoy it!

I had made some for last Xmas and I think they're cute.
I've also printed a little wee card, got the sayings from somewhere on the net...sorry.... don't remember where...:0(

which goes in the pouch with the rock

(which as you can see I had previously golden paint sprayed and glued some hair, eyes and mouth).

Another project I've been working on and already finished quite a few is the felt coasters.

For this one I've cut some felt circles,

a little bit larger than some old CD´s,

used some embroidery floss,

cut some felt applications

and needle felted it on the felt circle.

Did some stitching around the motif

(didn't forget to put the old CD inside)

With a blanket stitch, stitched it all around

grabbing the two felt circles together to enclose the CD inside,

et voilà!

Fishes...

and flowers!

What do you think?, I think I really like them! :0)