A farewell octopus - a felt applique card

Yesterday, my manager of four years left the charity where I work. He's looked after a team of seven for a long time now, and I wanted to make him a card to recognise that.

The octopus probably needs some explanation. He's our mascot, much appreciated by the young people in our community, given out as prizes (until recently when we sent out the last one!) and photographed all over the world.  It's Octi who I hope to dress up as when running the London Marathon next year. On his legs are all the members of our team.

Team Engagement and Support

I did realise that actually it has turned out looking like a felt version of those cards (or teatowels) we all make in primary school where everyone draws a very simple face on a circle! And in addition, I got my own parting the wrong way round. But at least Octi is recognisable.

And it was fun to make.

A cut out Octi ready to be appliqued. 

Appliqued felt, with the faces glued on and then stitched through the eyes to hold them in place.

Autumnal coloured craftings..

Dad's birthday is in October, and he loves autumnal colours. For a long time he's been hinting after a cushion for room he rents when he is away for work. I used a mixture of coloured felt in browns, oranges, reds and yellows and some printed cotton pieces - the first time I've mixed felt and cotton.

Here's one side;

And here's the other;

I also had another go at using the embroidered letters setting on my machine - this time using the smallest, fanciest stitch. It worked quite well  - except for the 'from' - I don't think I was pulling the material through the machine fast enough.

After I'd sent it, I remembered that last year I made an autumnally coloured gift for Dad too - a card of leaves in pastels;

Wedding date cushion - with applique and embroidered letters

Tom and Jess only wanted handmade presents or donations. So, of course, it was an excellent opportunity for me to make a huge cushion! I used lots of the left over bunting scraps to create the letters, which I appliquéd on using what my machine calles 'patchwork stitch'. It turns out some of the bunting material, and the yellow backing was perhaps a bit thin, so I had to do some hand touching up afterwards.

I printed out letter templates, cut them out and pinned them to material, ready to cut round. A fiddly job with some of the smaller letters, but here they are ready for sewing.

I should have realised at this point that the base material was perhaps a bit thin - you can see how easily it's creasing.

Sewing the letters - you can just see our adopted black cat Blur, who likes to help. For this cushion, I wanted to have a go using the fancier of the letter stitching options on my machine. Here's the practice run.

And here's the real thing - only a wee bit wonky!

Almost done- adding the zip using the zip foot on my machine.  Most places suggest you tack round zips to hold them in place as you sew, but I usually find that as long as the hems are well ironed, you can just hold it in place as you sew it in.

And finally, a couple of green heart shaped buttons I couldn't resist - these are from Our Patterned Hand on Broadway Market.

Threaded letters - a peekaboo card

For the first time, I had a go using the embroidery settings on my machine to write these birthday messages for little Leo - on a simple felt card.  Lots of his favourite animals including owls and 'lilydirbs'.

And if you look under the flaps... you can tell Leo is Alex's nephew - silly faces and fluffy blonde hair all round!

And, while Leo was 2, Rich was 21, and I made him some felt numbers, with wooden buttons and secret dinosaurs peeking out too - you're never too old for hiding dinosaurs...