A Turkey Tutorial

If you are visiting from Sew Much Ado, welcome!  Stay a while!

Do you all know the fabulous Abby of Sew Much Ado?  Well...you should :)  Last week she had a Copycat Challenge where readers submitted their copycat work in three categories, accessories, home decor and clothing.  Right now they are voting on the finalists, so you can check out the best and vote for yourself.

Abby asked Heather and I if we would be guest bloggers during this challenge.  Um...YES!  I set out to make a home decor copycat, and here's what I came up with!

First, the inspiration:

these darling headbands from Pottery Barn Kids

...and although I thought for 12 seconds of making these for my boys, I decided on something that would get a little more use...

My interpretation:

I just am loving embroidery hoop art lately

Want to know how to make this also?

Okay.

The tutorial is just below, but I wanted to introduce you to Little Christmas House.

The pattern for this little cutie is available in our shop, you could also purchase a kit!

Embroidery Hoop Turkey Art Tutorial

Materials:

• 9 inch embroidery hoop
• Muslin (enough for a 11" circle)
• Fusible web (like Heat n Bond)
• 10 or so felt varieties
• matching embroidery floss
• needle

Step 1: Using the embroidery hoop as your guide, cut about an 11' circle from your muslin.
*Note: works best with a Dora pencil

Step 2: Using this pattern, trace each piece individually onto the paper side of the fusible web.  (For the feathers make sure to go a little longer "into" the turkey body).  Cut roughly around each piece, lay the shiny side paper onto the back of each felt piece and iron.  TAKE YOUR TIME.  Start out with a low heat and have another fabric in between the iron and the felt.  Some felt could burn and be altered through ironing. **Be wise and refer to the directions on your fusible web packaging**

Step 3: Peel the paper off of the felt.  This should leave a nice shine on the back of the felt.  Using the same method for ironing felt as in step 2, place all of your pieces onto your circle of muslin, and iron into place.

Step 4: You're ready to stitch.  But first we need to separate your embroidery floss.  Embroidery floss has 6 strands of thread in each piece.  I used only 3 strands for stitching everything except I only used 2 strands to stitch the words.

Step 5: Stitch!  I used a back stitch for everything.

Step 6:  I used a little trick for the words.  I tried to use a pencil to trace the words onto the felt but it would not work.  What I ended up doing was traced the words onto wax paper, pinned it into place on the banner and stitched through the wax paper onto the felt/muslin.  It worked fabulously.

Step 7: Pull the muslin on all sides to tighten the fabric.  Once in place, trim sides to about 1". 

Step 8: Hot glue the edge to the inside of the hoop.

TA-DA!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Mommy is the nicest Mommy in the world...

Turns out I (Heather) am a taker not a giver (lets be honest, so is Megan). Several people in my family agreed. So a few months ago I bought canvas, paint, and found a cute photo online. I brought everything to my Mom. Told her in detail what I wanted. What I wanted different from the online print. Then I gave her a 2 week deadline.

Does that make me a taker?

Fortunately for me, my Mother is a giver...here is the canvas she produce for me, ahead of schedule by about a week...

SERIOUSLY! Does it almost make you cry? This is for Weston's nursery.  I LOVE IT! I have a thing for elephants because of Dumbo. All my girls loved dumbo when they were around 2 years old. Plus I really love the Baby Mine song. Alison Kraus has a beautiful version.

That is me and Weston (no fat jokes please)... The grey and aqua are the colors of his nursery. (which will be revealed within 2 weeks..promise!

Our Mother can make or do anything! She is an artist, decorator, sewer, quilter, crafter, plumber, handyman, tiler, wallpaper..er, hardwood floor installer... etc. Seriously everything!

She is the best Mommy and Grandma ever!

I don't want to be sentimental here, but really, people get jealous of just how nice our Mom is.  She is such a compassionate person. When we have babies we are in Heaven because of how she cares for our other children and pampers us like we are at a spa. She cleans out my fridge regularly, and my car. She is a little OCD about cleaning...but that is another post where we will mock her!

Love You MAMA

(She is a loyal blog follower too)