Felt & Felting

In a blink of an eye, your little fairies can be wearing flowers in their hair. Although these elastic headbands hold just 1 flower, using the same pattern you could easily fill the crown with a bouquet of blooms! Using a purchased elastic headband, scraps of felt, and a few glass seed beads, your wee ones will be ready to dance with the flower fairies :)

Materials:
purchase elastic headbands
felt scraps
glass seed beads
floss to match the felt
copy of the pattern found HERE 

Directions:
Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out 2 large flower petal rings, one small flower petal ring, and 1 leaf. When cutting along the dotted lines make sure you do not cut all the way through.

Using 2 strands of floss, sew the ring shut just at the bottom. Tie off the thread and clip.

Using a running stitch and 2 strands of floss, sew around the inner circle. When you've gone all the way around, gentle pull on the threads closing the opening in the center. Tie off the thread and clip.


Make the other two flower petal rings. Leave the thread attached to the small ring after you have securely tied off the thread. The thread should be attached to the back of the ring.

Poke the needle through the center fronts of the remain 2 large flower rings. Position the petals in a pleasing manner, then tie off securely.


Add several glass seed beads to the center of the flower. Tie off and clip the thread.

From the back of the leaf, sew a running stitch around the leaf.
Place the front of the leaf against the center back of the flower. Sew in place being careful not to go all the way through. 
Sew the back of the flower to the elastic headband where the headband is joing together.
Now, place on your little fairies' heads, and send them out to frolic in flowers. Who knows what adventures wait for them :)

Remember, instead of 1 single flower, you can add as many as you like :)

EDIT: For all you lovely people that are helping us, and for anyone else that hasn't signed up yet, to easily find your assigned months, go to the Archive's Link found in the left column under More Wee Folk Art. Here is the direct link to the Archives: http://weefolkart.com/?q=node/433

It has long been a pipe dream of Michelle's and mine to make our way through our archives to make sure links are working and the proper photos are in place. For all of our good intentions, we are so busy with the here and now, we can't seem to find the time to fix the past! We know there are many mistakes. We switched our hosting server 18 months ago, and many of the old blogs really got messed up, with broken links and mixed up photos. Also, we have tabs across the top of our blog, right under the header, that are direct links to listings of our patterns, applique blocks, recipes, stitch glossary, coloring pages and homeschooling curriculums. Sometimes we get sidetracked and unfortunately, some of our projects have never been put in the galleries, so they seldom get viewed.

It is easy enough to check our past blogs for accuracy, but you can imagine how time consuming it would be for us to do it all ourselves? Then we got a brilliant idea... why not ask our readers for some help? Would you be willing to help us out by taking a month or two of our archives, and just check to make sure all the links work, that the correct photos are in place, and that the projects are included in the appropriate galleries?

We are hoping many of you will be willing to help, making the process fast and simple. If you would like to lend a "helping hand", simple email us at weefolkart@yahoo.com, and let us know if you would help by editing 1 or 2 months, and we will reply assigning the month/s to you. Then simply scroll through that month, read over the blogs, and make sure we included links and that they are working, that the photos are correct, and that they are listed in the appropriate gallery. If you find a problem, record the DATE, BLOG TITLE, and PROBLEM. When you have finished with the month, simply email the data back to us. Remember, many hands make light work. We are hoping to get a great response and lots of readers willing help.

Michelle and I can then focus strictly on making the corrections for problems our readers found! You will be our editors. This will make the whole WEE FOLK ART experience better for everyone. BTW... don't worry about spelling or punctuation. We're not perfect and we can live with that :) We just want to make sure the website is working properly.

So here's your chance to give something back to WFA. Much thanks in advance for your help!

BTW... The pattern for our Helping Hands Applique Block was made to fit a 6" x 6" block. It can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. The pattern can be found HERE.  

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

So... here's the low down on the panda... Michelle, you know Michelle, my lovely, talented daughter and partner in crime here at Wee Folk Art? Well, she comes to me a week ago and said:

"I have a request. Can you make a panda applique? I need to make t-shirts for the kids for camp next week, and the theme is pandas."

I really don't have time. Really I don't. But I make the time, because this is Michelle asking for an applique block. I ask ya, if I can't design an applique block for my own daughter, what kind of mother would I be? So I do. And he's cute as a bug's ear.

So, I'm uber busy this week. My mom had surgery, and the whole week has been spent coming and going with her. As the week wears on, I'm thinking... "Where are these t-shirts that Michelle was suppose to make the kids?" So I ask her, "Uh, where are the t-shirts?" And, she looks me right in the eye and said, "I didn't have time to make them."

Take a deep breath and count to 10, right? Well, I hit 73 in about 4 seconds. "Didn't make them? After asking ME to design a panda when I was so busy, and you didn't even use my applique?" And she replies rather sheepishly, "Well, you can still use them on Wee Folk Art, right?"

Truth be told, I really wasn't angry... actually found it more amusing. My craft closet is full of supplies I bought to make a specific project that never got made... like the bear costume for a 3 year old Drew or a quilt I was making for a wedding gift. It happens. But I must admit I was feeling a little deflated. Then, I received this request from one of our readers:

IS THERE ANY WAY POSSIBLE....
Submitted by Amanda on Tue, 08/02/2011 - 22:26.
I absolutely love all your applique blocks! I have spent the better part of the day printing them and pinning them on pinterest so that I can find them in a jiffy. I love the butterfly, and was wondering if there was any way you could make a ladybug applique block and/or a panda bear applique block if/when you have a chance? My sister has cerebral palsy and loves ladybugs and pandas...her room is filled with everything my mom, my little sister, and I can find. She changes her ladybugs and panda bears out daily. I would love to be able to make her something for her room with one of your blocks. Thank you so much for sharing your talent! It is truly inspirational!

How serendipitous is that? So, I'm doing a little dance, feeling oh so thrilled that Michelle asked me to design a panda. I was able to tell Amanda to check my post on Friday. BTW... I have 3 ladybug designs that have been sitting in journal for 2 years. If I get a chance in the next couple of weeks, I'll share 1 or more of them, too.

As always... the block was designed to fit a 6" x 6" block. It can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. The pattern for the Panda can be found HERE.

And, Amanda... hope your sister loves the design. Let us know what you wind up making. Love to see pics :)

BTW... panda's have dark eyes, which you wouldn't be able to see... I'm not sure I love the "twinkle", but I also didn't want to make them white. I didn't have enough time to try something different. Anyone have any better ideas or do you like the twinkles?

A few days ago I shared a little Black Eyed Susan flower that I made with felt and a wooden peg. When you pushed the petals down, you discovered a little flower fairy. I began thinking about other flowers, focusing on the petal shapes. I came up with 4 different shapes, keeping the necks the same size on all of them. I'll share some of the flowers I made, but the sky is the limit! Look at your favorite flowers, pick the petal that comes the closest, and before you know it, you'll have a bed of your "bestest" favorites :) Or, throw caution to the wind, get wild and crazy, and mix and match petals and colors, to create unique fantasy flowers. The choice is yours. For now, let's get started and learn the basics.

Materials:
wooden pegs - 7/8"x 2 3/8"

Make a copy of the pattern found HERE.

Begin by painting the body of the peg green. MAKE SURE TO USE CHILD SAFE PAINTS.

Paint the heads the color to match the flower you are making.

Pick your petal shape and cut out 8 petals in the desired color. You can make the petals all the same colors, or multiple colors for variations. You can even cut out 1 or 2 petals in green to represent leaves.

Many flowers have ridges or scallops on the outer edge of their petals. You can cut saw teeth or scallops at the edge of the petals.

Using quilting thread or 2 strands of matching floss, starting at the edge of the first petal, sew a running stitch to the middle of the neck.

Take the next petal, and overlap the first, and continue the running stitch sewing the two together. Stop at the middle of the second neck.

Continue adding petals in this overlapping fashion until all 8 petals have been adding, stopping in the middle of the 8th petal. IMPORTANT: when making your running stitch, make sure you do not overlap the stitches. You will need to pull the thread to gather around the wooden peg's neck.


To join the petals to the wooden peg, wrap your petals around the neck of the peg, overlapping the 1st petal over the 8th. Sew a couple more running stitches connecting the petals.

Pull firmly on the thread until it is tight around the neck. Tie off.

Work the thread in and out of the petals a couple of times to hide the end of the thread, and clip the thread close to the petals.

Using a fine tipped, permanent marker, add a face and some "seeding looking" designs to represent both hair and seeds. Using paint, add a touch of pink for checks.

Here are the flowers I made... loosely based on real flowers :)

Petal A - Black Eyed Susan. Might also be used for dahlias, cone flowers, chrysanthemums, leaves etc.

Petal B - Poinsettia. Might also be used for irises, ruffled tulips, leaves, etc.

Petal C - Poppy. Might also be used for tulips, peonies, violets (scallop the edge), etc.

Petal D - Chicory - Might also be used for daisies, asters, coreopsis, etc.

Where can your imagination take these flowers? Have fun creating your own flower bed.

When I was a little girl, I fell in love with Black Eyed Susans. They weren't flowers in my mother's garden, but rather they grew wild in the park by our house. I was intrigued by how alike and how different they were from daisies, another favorite. Once I had a garden of my own, I filled it with Black Eyed Susans. Who knew I would spend the next 3 decades in a love/hate relationship with the flower! I still love them, but I'm always battling them to keep them under control (They can be so pushy :)

Anyway... this year, like all of my plants, my poor Black Eyed Susans are looking a bit frumpy from the heat. It got me to thinking, and before long, I decided to make some playful Black Eyed Susans for inside. I have visions of surrounding the gnome house with flowers!
Of course, who wants flowers around your gnome house unless they have personality? So, you simply push the petals down and...

tah dah... meet our newest little flower fairy. We will be sharing the pattern later in the week, hopefully with some variations to chose from!

What flower is a "must have" in your garden?