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Wee Folk Art, together with Prairie Point Junction's Wool Felt Central, has a wonderful give away, just in time for your Spring gift giving and decorating!

Our dear friend, Julie, owner of Prairie Point Junction, is giving away 2 FREE kits so you can make your own Spring Bouquet... enough materials to make 18 flowers!

Each kit includes:
1/3 yard EACH of 3 colors of felt (You pick the colors)
12" X 18" Pea Soup for Leaves
8 skeins of floss to match the selected felts  (2 skeins of each color)
1/2 yard of green calico for stems

Note: You will need to provide 12" pipe cleaners and large holed beads

To enter, simply visit Prairie Point Junction's Wool Felt Central, and check out all the dreamy colors. Pick 3 colors you would like to use to make your bouquet. (We used baby blue, pink grapefruit and mellow yellow for the flowers but pick out colors that make you smile :) Then come back here, give a big thank you to Julie, and tell us what 3 colors you would like if you win. Hey, even if you don't think you want to make this bouquet, who wouldn't want more felt to add to their stash?

The contest begins today, Wednesday, April 6, and runs until Sunday, April 10 at 9:00 p.m. EST. Two winners will be drawn at random and their names will be announced and an email will be sent to them. Winners have 1 week to contact us at weefolkart@yahoo.com with their snail address or a new winner will be selected.

So, head on over to Wool Felt Central and start planning! We want to give a heartfelt thank you to Julie for once again giving our readers a chance to win a wonderful kit.

And remember, the directions for making your own Spring Bouquet can be found HERE. Good luck one and all!

If you would like to give someone special a bouquet of flowers this Spring that will last forever, considering making a bunch of these flowers in a array of beautiful colors. Whether you make a single flower or 2 dozen, they are sure to please. But remember... make some for yourself... we all deserve to give ourselves flowers every once in a while :)

MATERIALS

For single flower:
2" x 28" piece of felt for each flower
Green felt for leaf
3/4" x 40" piece of calico for stem, ripped
2 copies of pattern
bead with large hole
4 12" long pipe cleaners
2 copies of pattern

For 18 flowers:
1/3 yard EACH of 3 colors of felt
12" X 18" Pea Soup for Leaves 
8 skeins of floss to match the selected felts (2 skeins of each color)
1/2 yard of green calico for stems
18 beads with large hole
72 12" long pipe cleaners
2 copies of pattern

DIRECTIONS
Preparing pattern pieces:
The pattern piece for the flower will require taping together 3 pieces. Make 2 copies of the pattern. Cut out the 2 end pieces. Cut out 1 center piece.  Tape the 2 end pieces to the center piece, matching the 3 inch sides. You should now have 1 long piece, measuring 3" x 25", with both ends pointy.



Cut the leaf out of the 2nd center piece adding a tab 5/8" x 1". You only need to cut 1 leaf per flower. (Pattern says 2)

Preparing stem:
Using the Ripe and Tear method described HERE, for each flower ripe a strip of fabric 3/4" x 40" from the green woven fabric. Also, cut one square 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" for each flower.

Place a bead on the end of 4 pipe cleaners, and bend the pipe cleaner about 1" down. Twist the end of the pipe cleaners around the long piece of pipe cleaner so the bead is secured. Slightly twist the rest of the length of the pipe cleaners together.





Lay the pipe cleaner on the backside of the square of fabric with the bead in the center.

Wrap the fabric around the bead. Using 2 strands of matching floss, wrap the thread firmly around the bead 2 or 3 times, then tack in place. Holding the remainder of the fabric against the pipe cleaner, tightly wrap the fabric against the pipe cleaner in a spiral fashion. Tack at the bottom of the fabric.


Preparing petal:
Cut out pieces.


Using a running stitch and 3 strands of contrasting floss, blanket stitch the flat edge of the flower.

Mark a 1/4" seam allowance along the curved edge of the flower using a fading or washable marker.

Using 2 strands of floss, sew a close running stitch along the 1/4" line. Leave a long tail.Sew a 2nd running stitch an 1/8" below the first line of stitching. (It will be between the line of stitching and the raw edge.) Leave a long tail.

Holding both tails, gather the flower until it measures 8” - 9". Secure the end so the gathering does not come loose.

Preparing leaf:
Using a running stitch and 2 strands of matching floss, sew around the stem and leaf, gathering SLIGHTLY.

Using a running stitch and 2 strands of matching floss, sew a stem down the middle of the leaf, gathering SLIGHTLY. Note: You just want to give slight contours to the leaf.

Assembly:
Begin rolling the flower around the bead, tacking it with matching thread every 1/2". As you roll and tack, slightly angle the rolled flower down the stem. Continue until the flower piece is completely wrapped around the bead. Secure thread. NOTE: The angling should be slight. Before tacking the petal, practice rolling the flower around the stem, until you find the desired look. Think of a rose.




Wrap the green strip around the base of the flower. Make sure the top of the strip covers the gathering line. Stitch around the flower every 1/4" - 1/2". After the first round is complete, angle the strip so it overlaps the strip above it by half.



After you have gone around the stem a second time, add your leaf. To do this, lay the leaf against the flower, and pin the leaf tab against the pipe cleaners.

Continue wrapping the stem, catching the leaf tab as you go.

Tack about every 1/2", going through the pipe cleaner on an angle downward. At the end, leave a 1" tail that you wrap around the bottom edge and tack in place.

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It seems like in the Spring there are so many occasions when a lovely bouquet of flowers is the perfect gift. Whether it's Easter, Passover, Mother's Day, Graduation or a Dance Recital, the perfect gift is often flowers. The only problem with flowers is that their beauty is fleeting. This year, consider spending the time, making a bouquet that will last forever!

This week we are excited to share our Spring Bouquet. Although they are easy to make, I must admit it is rather time consuming to make a full bouquet, but the end results are so beautiful, trust me... it IS worth the time.

So, here is a peek at our Spring Bouquet. Tomorrow, we will post the directions on how to make your own, AND Wednesday, we will be hosting a very special give away with one of our awesome sponsors!

So come back all week, and think about the person in your life most deserving of this beautiful bouquet. (And, yes, it is perfectly permissible to make them for yourself!)

Whether you want a fistful of poppies to bring a bit of sunshine indoors or to hand out for Memorial Day and Remembrance Day, these sweet little flowers are easy to make and delightful when done :)

Note: The original post, Poppies A Plenty, can be found HERE.

Materials:
wool or wool blend felt
green woven fabric
3/8" plastic beads
6" pipe cleaners
embroidery floss

Directions:
Using a Mason jar lid (2 3/4" circle) draw a circle on felt using a disappearing marker and cut out.

Fold the circle into quarters and make a small snip in the middle of the circle. Do it both directions so there is a small cut "x". This needs to be just large enough to pass a covered bead through.)

Place a bead on the end of pipe cleaner, and bend the pipe cleaner about 1" down. Twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the long piece of pipe cleaner so the bead is secured.


Using the Ripe and Tear method described HERE, for each flower ripe a strip of fabric 3/4" x 15" from the green woven fabric. Also, cut one square 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" for each flower.

Lay the pipe cleaner on the backside of the square of fabric with the bead in the center.

Wrap the fabric around the bead. Using 2 strands of matching floss, wrap the thread firmly around the bead 2 or 3 times, then tack in place. Holding the remainder of the fabric against the pipe cleaner, tightly wrap the fabric against the pipe cleaner in a spiral fashion. Tack at the bottom of the fabric.


Using a running stitch and 2 strands of matching floss, sew around the "X" in the middle of the felt. Do not tie off and leave the needle attached.


From the backside, push the fabric covered bead through the "X". Make sure the four tabs made by cutting the "x" remain on the backside.

Gently pull on your running stitch, gathering the circle to the pipe cleaner directly below the bead. Keeping the running stitch gathered, tack in place. Sew the flower to the pipe cleaner, making sure your stitching stays between the tabs and the gathering stitch.

Wrap the green strip around the base of the flower. Make sure the top of the strip covers the gathering line. Stitch around the flower every 1/4" - 1/2". After the first round is complete, angle the strip so it overlaps the strip above it by half. Tack about every 1/2", going through the pipe cleaner on an angle downward. At the end, leave a 1" tail that you wrap around the bottom edge and tack in place.

If you would like, you can leave your flower looking like this.


However, if you would like to give your poppy a more traditional crinkled look, dip the flower in water, making sure the felt is thoroughly soaked.

Remove from water and squeeze out all the extra water. The petals will be wrinkled and stuck together.


Hang the wet poppies upside down, allowing to completely dry.

Once dry, "fluff" the flowers, relaxing some of the wrinkles. If there is a real funky bend to one, simply re-wet, squeeze and dry again. Your poppies are now ready to use how ever you like.

Note: If you'd like to make your poppies bigger, simply cut your circle bigger and use 2 pipe cleans, and use longer pipe cleaners.

If you can believe it, I'm still sick. I've been watching this flu/cold change directions so many times I'm dizzy. Seems this week I've settled in to a nice case of laryngitis! Can't complain, though, I am feeling lots better than I did last week at this time! Having said all that, it has put me behind on many of my normal routines, including preparing the Gnome Home for the Spring. So, over the next few days, I will be helping Britta do a bit of Spring Cleaning, and decking the house for the coming months.

I was thinking that it was time to introduce some new flowers into our decorating. Today, I was playing around and happened upon some poppies. Actually, they turned out so pretty I can't wait to incorporate them into the Gnome Home. Here is a peak at the poppies. I'll have directions up before the end of the week! Maybe if I start thinking Spring, it will start warming up around here and my cold will finally go away!  In the meantime, Brrr!