i recently realized i’ve never blogged about the finished knitted blanket. it took almost exactly a year to finish.
i ended up just making two panels of the same stitch and seaming them together–it’s not perfect, but it actually didn’t turn out too obvious and the happy toddler love love loves this blankie. i love it too. luckily, i think it keeps growing bigger the longer we use it, so it should last us awhile yet.
let’s start this sew-along off with an original design and free pattern, shall we? i first saw the idea for a marble maze here and thought it was brilliant. i couldn’t wait to try it out and as soon as i had a few moments to myself in the sewing room, i put together three felt mazes, experimenting with different maze patterns and shapes. excitedly, i showed them to the happy toddler when he woke up and he … didn’t get it. (“take-a out, mama! take-a out!”) he wanted to play with the marble and did not understand the subtleties of pushing this invisible marble around inside a felt pouch. so, first modification–make the marble visible. i considered plastic, but thought it might stick to the marble too much and make it hard to push through the maze, so instead i dug through my stash for some sheer fabric. one of the shapes i’d experimented with had been a circle and i liked the way it turned out, so i played around with that shape and it began looking like a snail and thus this pattern idea was born. here are the instructions to make this page:
you will need:
9×9 blue felt
9×12 background felt (will also be the color of the snail’s shell)
scraps of green and brown felt (for snail and “grass”)
8x8ish sheer fabric (you might want to trace the circle and stitchlines from the pattern onto the sheer fabric before you begin, but then you’ll have to more carefully match up the circle on the sheer fabric and the circle on the blue felt .)
a marble
how to make this page:
1. draw the circle on your blue fabric with a washable pen (oops! i forgot to wash mine out in the photo above!) or a sliver of soap. the circle should be towards the top left corner, with plenty of margin so you don’t have to worry about the security of the stitching once the page is complete. stack the blue felt on top of your sheer fabric and background felt in the order shown in the photo. you might want to consider cutting your 9×9 and 9×12 pieces of felt slightly larger and then trimming them back down to size after your whole page is constructed. the felt tends to shift a bit during sewing.
2. sew the circle and sew around the entire perimeter of the 9×9 square leaving a gap to push your marble through (between the sheer fabric and the background felt!), then sewing up the gap after the marble is inside.
3. sew on your brown snail pieces.
4. measure the distance between the bottom edge of your snail and the bottom of the 9×9 sheet. cut a strip of green that is that tall by 9″ wide. piece two pieces together if you need to. sew that strip across the bottom of the page (or just let your snail float and leave this step off).
5. very carefully, make a slit through your blue felt that does not go through the sheer fabric. once you’ve made that slit, slide a pair of sharp scissors in and cut close to your stitchline all the way around the circle. this is the most nerve-wracking step, but if you go slowly you’ll be fine. if you’re really concerned about accidentally slicing the sheer fabric, do this step before sewing on the snail or the grass so that if you mess up, it’s easier to rip out and try again.
6. for very young quiet book recipients, you can stop sewing at this point. just moving the marble under the sheer fabric will be an interesting tactile experience and the marble will move more easily than it will once a “maze” has been sewn in.
7. if you’ve already traced the stitchlines from the pattern, great! sew them in, making sure to backstitch both ends of the open circles. if you haven’t traced the lines, you can either a) eyeball it, b) find circular objects that are close in size to the circles on the pattern (the inner circle is a large thread spool) or c) use a sewing machine attachment that will indicate up to 1.5″ away. be sure to check that your marble will fit through that size channel. i’m not certain what size my marble is (normal to smallish?) but it could squeeze through a 1″ channel, and slide fairly easily through 1.25″ or 1.5″ channels.
8. trim loose threads and play with the maze to make sure your marble moves freely through the entire thing.
and that’s it! i hope you’ve enjoyed my tutorial. if you make a snail marble maze, i’d love to see your pictures in the flickr group!
another little video from our recent trip to visit family.
this morning at breakfast, i got these two cards. one was made by mr. happy stuff, the other by the happy toddler, both using the templates found here. the happy toddler insisted that his picture needed a moon and he described it to me as being a picture of two “hoo-hoo’s.” i love it! i also love this little dude.
i’m such a lucky mama.
hooray! five people have signed on to my busy book sew-along, so there will be free patterns for everyone! but first, some basic details about this project.
1. the pages for my book will be largely constructed of felt (wool felt when i have it in my stash, acrylic sometimes) and will have an image size of 9×9″ and a full page size of 9×12″ (the extra 3″ will accommodate the grommets for binding purposes). i’m basing these details and dimensions on this quiet book’s tutorial. follow this link to learn how to construct the pages for this book. (she’s got amazing pages!)
2. whenever possible, i will avoid hand-sewing. too time-consuming! i’m trying to build pages for three different books here (don’t ask why i’m crazy enough to sign up for three books. maybe someday i’ll explain.) and don’t have time to hand-sew every single detail.
3. whenever possible, i will avoid purchasing any new supplies to make these pages. i really need to use up my stash. if you do not have a stash of felt, i’d recommend getting a stack of wool felt if you can afford it (much higher quality than acrylic and if you’re going to be putting this much work into the pages you want them to last!).
4. the recipients of my busy books are all little boys (ages 1.5-2.5 years-ish) so i’m going to focus my efforts on pages that will appeal to that age range. at times, i may be able to offer variations for different age groups.
5. whenever possible, i’d like to avoid having loose parts that can get lost in this book.
i’m keeping a pinterest board of inspiration here and i’ve started a flickr group here where participants can post photos of their own pages. anyone is welcome to join at anytime. i’d love to have even more sewists play along!
look for the first page and free pattern to be posted sometime this week.
i mentioned a few days ago that i’m going to try to create some “quiet book” pages for my nephews and for the happy toddler over the next month or three, and i extended an invitation to anyone who might want to join me in a “sew-along.” what does that mean, exactly?
it means that once a week (or once every two weeks, or whenever i get around to it) i’ll write up a post describing a page i’ve made for the book. if i got the pattern from a source that i can link to online, i’ll post the link plus photos of my own version of the page. if it is an original design that i created myself, and if i have at least three people willing to participate, i will draw up a pattern and post that on my blog for free.
if you sign up for the sew-along, not only will you get these free patterns from me, but you’ll also end up with an awesome “quiet book” that you made yourself which is going to be perfect for some kid in your life. you do not have to use the same page designs as i do, but i’d love to see what you’re making–let’s inspire each other! when you sign up, let me know if you’d prefer to share your own pages on your own blog (if you have one) or on pinterest or on flickr (or some other sharing tool). as an extra bonus, the first three people to actually create a “complete” quiet book (yes, they are always a work in progress, but i’ll accept whatever you define for your own book as “complete.” although i think i’ll ask that it contains at least 5 single pages or 3 two-page spreads…) will receive a customized gift pack of handmade crafty goodness from me!
i’ve already had one person respond to say that they’d like to join me–anyone else? as some added incentive, i’ve created a “button” that you could post on your own blog that includes a sneak peek of my first original page design. (the sneak peek is the incentive, not the button, per se.)
**update: i changed the icon a bit, so if, by any long shot, anyone has already put the button on their blog, please update it? thanks!**
if you’re still not sure what a quiet book is (they’re also sometimes called “busy books”) here are some links i found on pinterest.
okay, that was lots of scattered info. the short version is this:
1. if you want to try making a quiet book, leave a comment below and include your preferred method of photo/story sharing (blog, pinterest, flickr, e-mail, etc.). you can also post the “button” above on your own blog to spread the word and get more people to join us.
2. this “sew-along” will not happen unless at least three people sign up. so if you’re person #2 and no one else joins, sorry, charlie. i’ll still sew my own pages and show you pictures of them, but i won’t take the time to create free online patterns.
3. first three to complete a quiet book will receive a prize pack from me.
i’m a bit behind on blogging things other than movies, so i should probably admit that i actually sewed this “rollie pollie” last october. the pattern is well-written and fairly simple to construct. i made the larger size and it is h.u.g.e.! i also stuffed it with bean bag styrofoam pellets making it considerably more firm than the ones dana made on her site (where the original pattern is from). i’d found the pellets on sale at hancock fabrics and ended up special ordering more at that price because (a) it took three (or was it four?) full bags of the stuff to fill this bag and (b) the price of four bags was exorbitant enough at 50% off and (c) it’s ridiculously difficult to find. amazon doesn’t sell it. jo-ann doesn’t sell it. if i hadn’t already committed to using that product by purchasing the first two bags, i probably would have found another stuffing material. that being said, i love the structure this has now! although mr. happy stuff still thinks it’s too full, it makes great extra seating (even for adults) at parties, will probably pack down over time, and is heavy enough that (at least for now) the happy toddler isn’t flinging it around the room. he likes to lean against it, drinking milk when he’s getting sleepy.
oh, and the fabric was from the clearance upholstery section at jo-ann and was also on sale (making it about $4.50 a yard–i bought enough to also reupholster my chair that the cats have shredded) and is reversible (note contrasting panel on top).
i’m experimenting again with my photo format and discovered a new automatic way to add “watermarks” to my photos. what do you think? obnoxious or unobtrusive?
friday started out rough. i won’t go into details, but it had to do with our household sleeping arrangements and the little happy dude spent the morning wearing his ornery pants. the day took a turn for the better as soon as we spotted the diggers.
the happy little dude has only one great grandpa still living. i am so glad they have such a good time together each time we visit.
p.s. while we were visiting, i got asked several times what crafty projects i’d been working on lately, and my lack of answer was a wake-up call. then, i checked the blog and.. yup, i’ve had a small handful here and there this spring, but it is high time i find my way back into the craft room. i’m toying with the idea of doing a quiet book* sew-along**. anyone interested in joining me?
*quiet book/busy book: handmade of felt, with detailed pages that include activities for kids to do, usually in the car, or in church
**sew-along: in this case, i haven’t yet decided my frequency of completion goal (one page a week, maybe?), but the idea is that i’ll post the pattern that i’m planning to make, along with links to plenty of inspiration and you can feel free to join me by sewing your own page-a-week (or whatever rate i/we choose. not more frequent that that, though!) if we support each other, at the end of a few… months(?) we’ll have a fantastic keepsake to keep or to gift. even if sewing a bunch of itty-bitty pieces of felt sounds like torture to you, i’d love to hear back from readers who would be interested to follow this journey should i choose to be this crazy. your comments on my posts are the best incentive to not wimp out!
abcb’s, take two from carissaabc on Vimeo.
a guest film-maker, mr. happy stuff recorded this with his phone during a lazy weekend breakfast. the first 9.6 seconds are super quiet, but then he remembers to uncover the microphone. i left them in anyway because it gives good context for the rest of the film. happy little dude got stuck in a holding pattern and had been singing this song for awhile before we even started filming.