pattern // jelly bean mandala applique

While I may not love the taste and texture of jelly beans, I do love their shape and the fact that they come in so many wonderful colors. And that's why I had to make some colorful, stitchable jelly beans as Easter wall art.

The idea for this free pattern started as something that would be made entirely with felt. You can still do that. It's also a pattern that could be all embroidery...or all applique with quilting cotton! I decided to blend a few techniques and textures, resulting in crazy patterned beans and slightly fuzzy carrots.

And if you use fusible applique for parts, there's not tons of stitching, which means it's also a fast, finish it well before Easter, sort of project.



You will need:

Fabric scraps
Paper-backing fusible web (such as Wonder Under)
Freezer paper
Orange and pink felt
6in embroidery hoop
Embroidery floss or perle cotton (orange, pink, green, and black)
Pencil
Scissors
Iron
Needle

Jelly Bean Mandala Pattern PDF



Cut the fabric scraps down to about 1-3/8in x 2in. Cut pieces of fusible web to match and iron them to the back of the fabric.



Trace the jelly beans onto pieces of freezer paper and iron them to the fronts of the fabric pieces.

Peel away the paper from the fusible web, and cut out the jelly bean shapes. Now, peel away the freezer paper.



Trace the carrots and the heart onto freezer paper and iron them onto the appropriate colored felt. Cut out the shapes and then peel off the paper.



Lay the pieces out on the backing fabric. The spacing doesn't need to match the pattern page, but do try to have them even.

Tip: I discovered, via happy accident, that if you place your backing fabric in your embroidery hoop and then remove the hoop, you'll be left with a crease that acts as a guide. Working within that circle is helpful for spacing the beans!

Pull the carrots and heart off of the fabric and iron the jelly beans in place.



Stitch the jelly bean faces with french knots and scallop stitches. I did this freehand, giving each face a slightly different bit of character.



Stitch the carrots between the jelly beans, and the heart in the center, using two strands of matching thread for each.



Add the carrot tops with green thread and straight stitches.



Frame up your finished stitching in a painted hoop and you have some fun wall decor for Easter!

Although I'm showing this with instructions for the method I used, I hope you also see the possibilities for using this pattern in other ways. Use other techniques, add more rounds of Easter objects or stitching details, enlarge it to become a pillow, or more. Let it be a springboard for creativity!



Happy stitching!

project // holy week convertable felt garland

Are you ready for Holy week coming up? The week between Palm Sunday and Easter is special, and since I like to celebrate and observe special things with craft projects and making, I've created a felt garland with some symbols and icons for the season.

Every so often, I'll get an idea for something that just really excites me. Almost from the moment it comes to mind, I'm ready to call it a favorite project ever. And sometimes the ideas feel like a gift. As though the idea wasn't really mine, but rather, a whisper from God. This garland is both of those things.

Now, I don't know picture God designing craft projects, although why not? Creativity comes from Him! I'm also not sure how He feels about me making a cross and a tomb with faces, but I've seen the cuteness He has made in this world!

I say this because I want to make it clear that this garland is made with the utmost respect for the God I serve. And if the faces are not your thing or they make you uncomfortable on this, just don't stitch them. The garland still works with plain felt shapes.

If you aren't quite sure what this garland is about, scroll to the end to read more.

Now, let's make a garland!



You will need:

Felt (I recommend Benzie felt!) in green, brown, gray, dark gray, and a few colors
Green perle cotton
Black embroidery floss or perle cotton
Mini clothespins
Craft glue
Scissors
Needle

DOWNLOAD THE HOLY WEEK GARLAND PDF



There are two parts to this garland: the palm branch base and the clip-on elements. Let's start with the palm branches.

Use the template to cut out a bunch of palm branch shapes from green felt. I found it easier to cut out the main shape first, and then snip out the little bits.

Make as many of these as you need to make your garland the length you want. Mine has 16 or 17 leaves and it ended up about five feet long.



Cut off a piece of green perle cotton that is about 10" longer than you want the garland. Sew the palm branches together with a few large running stitches down the middle. Slide the leaves along so they nearly touch. I used a doll needle, which is extra long and made it easy to stitch the whole branch shape at once.



Fill up the entire length of garland. At each end, fold over the perle cotton and tie a knot to make a hanging loop.



Now we'll make the clip-on pieces.

From the bright colors of felt, cut out as many coats as you want. Cut out three crosses from brown felt. Cut out the entire tomb shape from dark gray felt and cut out the front tomb shape (with the door cut out) from light gray felt. And cut the stone from light gray felt.



This part is totally optional, but if you're up for it, embroider the faces on the coats, crosses, and stone. I used no. 8 perle cotton in black. As usual, the faces are made with french knot eyes and scallop stitch mouths.



Glue the front of the tomb to the back piece and then glue to stone rolled away off to the side.



Run a line of glue down one side of a mini clothespin...




...and attach it to the back of one of the pieces with the clippy grippy part at the top. These will hang down on the bottom of the garland, and not attach from the top. Make sense?

Add a clip to each of the clip-on elements. Attach two clips to the back of the tomb.




Hang the palm branch garland and clip the coats along the way to make a path that is perfect for a king to pass by. We have our garland set up like this and will leave it through Palm Sunday and right up until Good Friday.




On Good Friday, the coats will come down and the three crosses will go up. They represent such a gift that Jesus gave us, but they're still sad. Because it is sad. Thankfully, they don't have to stay on the garland for long!



Because on Easter Sunday the crosses are replaced by the empty tomb and the celebration that Jesus is alive...forever!



May your Holy week be filled with the beauty of grace. A gift given for you. And maybe some slightly cute symbols of that grace too!

If you want the scoop on what this garland symbolizes, read on...

On Palm Sunday, we celebrate a very glad day. Jesus came into town riding a lowly donkey and the people celebrated. They placed palm branches on the ground, spread out their coats for him to ride over, and called out "Hosanna!" They welcomed Jesus as king.

Less than a week later, everything changed to a very sad day. Instead of crying out hosanna, the crowds turned and were calling "crucify him!" Though he had done nothing wrong, he was condemned and hung on a cross to die. Why? Because Jesus is God's Son, and He was sent to take on the punishment for every wrong thing you and I do. Because He wants us to know we are loved and forgiven.

But so what? Jesus died. We call that day Good Friday, but that's not the end.

On the third day, it was back to being a very glad day. In fact, the gladdest, best day ever. The tomb where Jesus was placed after He died was found empty. With the giant stone rolled away and angels announcing that He is risen, just as He promised. Easter!

Jesus, alive again, proved that He is more powerful than death and He visited with many people so they could share this incredible news and the gift of grace that only He gives.

This news and this gift are the most important things in my life. And I can't help but share them with you. Even in a felt banner with little faces. If you ever have questions about what it means to follow Jesus, or why I've made this choice, please send me an email (molliejohanson at gmail).

printable: tiny easter egg dominoes

Yesterday I shared some tiny Easter egg embroidery patterns, and today I have some even tinier eggs on printable dominoes!

This is a full set of double sixes, so it makes for a fairly short game. I'm usually okay with that, because my favorite way to play dominoes is in a domino rally. (The printable ones just don't work as well for that though.) After that, I like playing train dominoes. Can you play that with double sixes? I'll have to try.





I recommend printing these on card stock, and maybe even laminating them if you expect to play with them a lot. You can also add scrapbook paper to the back before you trim them out. It makes them more opaque...and they look pretty!

Download the Printable Dominoes PDF

Do you like playing dominoes? Do you have another favorite game?

pattern: tiny easter eggs (and a polka dot stitch!)

I love stitching at a small size, something you've seen here before, and will definitely see again. (In a big way soon...but that's still a secret!) For Easter, I thought it would be fun to stitch some tiny Easter eggs. Somewhere I have some not quite finished counted cross-stitch eggs that are similar, but I don't think I've seen that work in progress for, oh, 15 years or more!

These new eggs, on the other hand, were quick to stitch, and they are already done! At least, the three that I chose are done. Because in the PDF pattern that I have to share with you has a total of NINE egg designs, and each is just 1.5 inches tall.

One of the eggs has polka dots, and I did that to use a new stitch that I learned and thought you'd like to try! I found this stitch in an old book, and it was listed as a variation on the lazy daisy. Hmm...It sort of is, but it's not a stitch that I've seen anywhere else. And the diagram made it confusing, so I'm going to revise it with photos and call it the Polka Dot Stitch!

Here's how to do it:



1. Bring your needle up from the back, just inside the bottom of the circle.



2. In one stitch, go down just outside the bottom of the circle, then back up just inside the top of the circle. Don't pull it through yet. (The original diagram numbered it in such a way that you would need to make a loop like this. It's just too difficult!)

3. Loop the thread around the needle point that is poking out at the top. Make two loops that are circular, then pull the needle through gently so as not to pull the circles.



4. Go back down just outside the top of the circle. This small stitch holds the top of the circle in place.

5. Bring the needle back up just outside the bottom of the circle, then go down just inside the bottom of the circle. This small stitch holds the bottom of the circle in place.




It take a few practice tries, but then they go fairly quickly. They make good tiny flowers, or polka dots for eggs!

If you know more about this stitch or what it's really called, please let me know!




Now, how about stitching up these eggs? On their own they'd make lovely little pins or patches, or you could stitch a whole row of them for the edge of a towel or table runner!

Download the Tiny Easter Eggs PDF Pattern

Come back tomorrow for a printable with some tiny Easter eggs!