pattern // felt applique thanksgiving turkey

It's the time of year when we think about turkeys much more than any other time of the year. At least here in the United States. Thanksgiving and turkeys go together, even if you don't eat them. And so I made a felt applique pattern that is definitely too cute to eat.

This pattern was originally going to be included in my It Felt Like Fall ornament set, but I decided to use another design instead. But as I had received a request for a turkey AND because I think this was a fun pattern, I kept it and am sharing it here for everyone!

As this was going to be a felt ornament, I kept the turkey in felt. And you can make this as a felt ornament like my other patterns, both free and in my Etsy shop. In fact, the pattern PDF includes the circles you would use for that. But I decided to do something different and stitch the pieces down onto fabric. It may still become an ornament in a hoop like this, or I might use it in another way. But it's stitched and cute like this for now!



If you're familiar with my other felt ornaments, you can just run with this and use the pattern as you like. One thing to note is that there's a lot of thickness at the center of this. It gives the turkey some puff, but you just need to watch where you stitch the belly down. I made the stitches on either side of the overlap with the feathers so that there was room for it to span the thickness.

For those who haven't made a felt applique ornament or other project, here's the basic process:

Cut out the pieces (I recommend using freezer paper for this), and embroider the lines on the feathers and the turkey's eye.

Embroider the legs on whatever backing you're using. Layer the pieces and stitch them down with tiny whip stiches along the edges.

I embroidered the mouth on the beak after finishing the applique.

If you're making this as an ornament, you would stitch everything onto the smaller circle, and then layer and stitch around the two circles. Add some stuffing (it isn't Thanksgiving without stuffing!) and finish it off.

DOWNLOAD THE TURKEY APPLIQUE PATTERN PDF

If you wanted to make this a lot flatter, you could make the applique with fabric instead of felt. You could even use the pieces to cut and layer paper. Wouldn't that make an adorable Thanksgiving card?

However you use this, I wish you happy Thanksgiving turkey stitching!

project // disney churro felt ornament

Who doesn't love a good churro? And it's even better when it comes from Disneyland! So I'm honoring this classic snack in a felt ornament.

Now, I started this by saying that churros at Disneyland. And I stand behind that. Normally when I talk about Disney snacks, I include Walt Disney World in the mix, but this is a time where the Disneyland (and Disney's California Adventure) churros are superior. So many options! So many flavors!

Here are two amazing ones I've had:




The first was peach cobbler and the second was almond cookie flavor. So good!

The only sad thing is that these flavors don't stay around for long so you won't find these at the parks right now. Maybe the almond cookie one will come back for the Lunar New Year's celebrations though!

Of course, the good part is that there are always new flavors to try. It makes me wish I lived closer and could try them all on rotation.



For the felt ornament version, I went for the orginal churro. They are just as tasty as the fancy ones!

The stitching is tiny, but those lines really make the shape stand out.



Like my other Disney snack felt ornaments, I don't have a full tutorial. Just a little overview of the process. They go together pretty much like my other felt ornaments.

The felt is wool blend from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the all the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like.

Cut out the pieces with freezer paper, and embroider the face and lines through the paper before carefully tearing it away.

The pieces are stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss. If you want to add extra toppings for your churro, you could stitch those on too!

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE CHURRO ORNAMENT PATTERN

project // no-sew tiny pumpkin quilt

Have you ever wanted to make a little quilt but you don't know how to sew? Or maybe you just want to have a cute bit of fall decor finished in a hurry? Then you should consider making a no-sew tiny quilt. I also considered calling this a fabric pixel art project, because that's kinda what it is. I see it as a blend of crafts that I love: quilting and cross stitch. But this takes WAY less time.

I started making these tiny quilts this fall when my friend Kristin of Woolly Petals announced her Ghost Party Sew A Long. I love her quilts (and even collaborated with her to make embroidery patterns for one!), but I knew that making a quilt was not gonna happen before Halloween. But I still LOVED those little ghosties made of so many fabrics. And an idea materialized.



What if I made just one ghost and made it tiny? Now, Kristin has an add-on to make her pattern much smaller than usual, but that would still require sewing and I'm not fast at that. So instead of sewing, I fused the tiny squares to felt. No sewing!

By the way, when I say tiny, I mean the squares on my finished project are 5/8". Because I'm fusing them, there's no seam allowance, so you cut the squares the actual size you want them. You could make them smaller. You could make them bigger. Also because I wasn't sewing, I decided to add some curves to my tiny qhost, which wasn't part of the Ghost Party pattern. They are a little wonky, but that's part of how this how thing goes.

When I made the ghost, I captured the process on video, but really just for fun. Not a whole tutorial. But people asked me more about how I did it, and so I thought I'd make a coordinating pumpkin and show the process better.



For this one, I didn't add curves, but kept the shapes more like traditional quilting. So half-square triangles. But I think it still absolutely works. You'll also notice that the backing and way I added a hanger is different from the ghost. That's mostly for variety!

These are hanging out together at my house, and having them not look exactly the same works well. But I also think that having different ways to make, essentially, the same thing is good. But now let's dive in and make a tiny quilt!



You will need:

Fabric scraps in orange, pink (or another background color), and a tiny bit of brown
Wool or wool blend felt - at least 4-1/2" for the tiny quilt and 5-1/2 x 6" for the backing
Heavy Duty Wonder Under or paper-backed fusible web - 4-1/2" square
Embroidery floss
Wood or bamboo skewer
Perle cotton
Rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat
Iron
Tracing paper
Needle
Scissors
Craft glue

Note: When choosing a color for the felt you'll fuse the fabric to, be mindful that some felt may show through a bit. I used white felt, but pink would blend well with all my colors.



Cut the fabric scraps into 5/8" squares. You will need one brown square, 18 orange squares, and 30 pink squares. Cut two pink and two orange squares in half from corner to corner.



Iron the Wonder Under to the felt you're using for the tiny quilt. Once it's cool, peel off the paper.



Arrange the fabric squares on the area of the felt with the fusible web. Follow the grid pattern below:

Try to keep the pieces all straight and lined up with each other. But also know that it's almost impossible to have them be perfect. That's par of the charm of this.



When you're satisfied with the placement of the pieces, gently lay a piece of tracing paper (or the paper backing from the Wonder Under) over the pieces. This is important so you don't end up with adhesive on your iron.

Iron to fuse the fabric to the felt.



Trim the edges with a rotary cutter so there's no extra felt showing on the sides. This is also when you can make your tiny quilt more square.



If you want a face on your pumpkin (and why wouldn't you? it's super cute!), embroider the face with six strands of embroidery floss. Use French knots for the eyes and a scallop stitch for the mouth.



Next, cut the backing felt to 5-1/2 x 6" if you haven't already done so. Cut the skewer to the same width as the tiny quilt. Utility scissors are helpful for this.



Stitch the skewer piece to the top of the felt backing. Use perle cotton and whip stitch to make two sets of stitches at each end as shown.



Slide your needle under the skewer between the sets of stitches to create a hanger. Make a loop and tie the ends together.



Glue the tiny quilt to the backing with a thin layer of craft glue.



Once the glue is dry (which doesn't take long!), you can hang your tiny quilt and enjoy pumpkin spice season! This is truly a quilt project you can make in an hour or two. No sewing machine needed.



For spooky season, these two tiny quilts are ready to hang out together. And ideas for more fall or Halloween designs are in the works, along with more tiny quilts for other holidays and cute stuff.



I think these would look especially adorable on a wall full of embroidery hoops and other artwork. Right? Pull out your scrap bins and start sewing...er...ironing!

project // crystal ball felt ornament (with benzie deep-etch dies)

This post contains affiliate links. 

The future looks bright thanks to this adorable felt crystal ball! You might not have known that you needed a kawaii crystal ball ornament, but I'm telling you, you do. It's sparkly and cute, and we all need more of that in our lives.

I created this with deep-etch dies I designed for Benzie Design, but I'm using them in different ways. This uses two sets: first, my Circles and Scallops set, which I made to go along with the felt ornament pattern sets I make, and then a new Snow Globe Base, designed to go along with the first set and make snow globes.

Find all the deep-etch Benzie dies here.

As I was making some snow globes (scroll down to see them!), I noticed that they kind of looked a bit like a crystal ball too. And just like that, I could see into the future.



My fortune was that I got to make this super cute ornament that just makes me smile every time I look at it. Plus, I love adding sparkles and this was just a whole new way to do that.

So get your manual die cutter out, grab these dies from Benzie, and let's get stitching!



You will need:

Clear Vinyl
Wool Blend Felt (I used white and pink)
Embroidery floss
Circles and Scallops Deep-Etch Die
Snow Globe Base Deep-Etch Die
Manual Cutting Machine
Sequins and/or Themed Confetti
Iridescent Shred
Scissors
Needle

You will need to cut out one white plain circle and one vinyl scalloped circle. You also need to cut out two pink snow globe base pieces. For mine, I used the largest set of circles and the largest base, but you can also do this with the next size down for each set.

In fact, the smallest base also works with one of the smaller circles in the set, but you probably want to only use the plain circle for that.



Embroider a little face on one of the base pieces. You can use a pencil to mark the placement, but it's fine to just stitch this freehand. Here's my quick video tutorial on these faces!



Layer to felt and vinyl circles and stitch around them with running stitch. Use three strands of embroidery floss and follow the stitch markings on the vinyl piece.

Stop about two-thirds of the way around.



Add some sparkly filling to your crystal ball. Depending on what you're adding to yours, you may need to layer the filling or arrange it a bit before you close up the opening.



Finish stitching the circle and then go back opposite direction and fill in the gaps with running stitch.



Sandwich the circle between the two base pieces so it looks like the ball is resting on the base. Stitch around the base with running stitch, then go back in the opposite direction just as you did to sew around the circle.



To make the hanger, slide your threaded needle under two stitches at the top center of the crystal ball.



Tie the ends of the embroidery floss together with an overhand knot and trim the thread.



Now, let's look into the crystal ball and see what your future holds...I see...cute crafting ahead!



This crystal ball is a fun way to use the dies that I designed, but if you want to put them to work more in their intended way, head over to the Benzie blog where you'll find my tutorial for making Spooky Snow Globes! There's even a ghost pattern for you to work with, but you can make snow globes like this with almost all of my round felt ornament patterns.

There will be more of these snow globes popping up in my crafting for the foreseeable future...I know because it was in the crystal ball!

pattern // autumn cuties cross stitch

We are officially in the season of autumn here, and I couldn't resist making a new mini cross stitch pattern! This really is a small pattern, but it's a fun way to celebrate my favorite season of the year in a big way. Best of all, it's free!

The chart itself is technically 33x33, but each block with a design is just 15x15 stitches. They are baby charts! This is designed to stitch all together as one mini pattern, but you could very easily stitch each section just on its own. Because they would make ADORABLE pins or magnets.

You can also easily adapt the colors. For example, if you wanted to make the pumpkin on its own, you could use black in the background for more of a Halloween look. Love yellow apples? Swap the yellow and red in that block, and maybe do the same in the leaf block!

Because the design is square, it would be so cute in a tiny frame, but you could also make it into a little ornament like this tutorial from Caterpillar Cross Stitch.

DOWNLOAD THE AUTUMN CUTIES PATTERN

I can't wait to see how YOU make your Autumn Cuties cross stitch!

project // mickey caramel apple ornament

It's the autumn season, and that means caramel apples! But of course, this isn't just any caramel apple. This is the kind you get on a trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. The kind that looks like Mickey Mouse.

In fact, you can get lots of styles of caramel apples, including the Grogu/Baby Yoda version. I've watched them make those and it's so amazing!

But Mickey is a classic and I specifically remember my aunt buying several on a trip to Disney Springs. One for eating right away and a few to take home. It might be the only time I've eaten one of these!



If you've never had one of these, it's caramel apple like most. Apple on a stick and dipped in caramel. But then we get to the fun part. The ears are made of marshmallow, stuck to the caramel, and then the whole thing gets dipped in milk chocolate. To finish it off, they dip the bottom in melting chocolate, add candy buttons (or polka dots for Minnie!) and then cover the melting chocolate with colored sugar. And that sugar sparkles!



I didn't manage a photo of an actual Mickey caramel apple with my felt ornament version, but I did find a sipper from the Disney Eats line of merch! I think I captured the look quite well. And this way my ornament didn't get sticky either. Ha!

But now let's talk about how to make this. For all of these Disney snack felt ornaments, I don't have a full tutorial, but rather, a little overview of the process. They go together pretty much like my other felt ornaments.

The felt is wool blend from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the all the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like.

I cut out all the pieces with freezer paper, and embroidered the face and sugar sparkles through the paper before carefully tearing it away. And yes, those buttons are tiny, but you can absolutely cut them out. This is where the freezer paper really makes the difference.

The pieces are layered and stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss.

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE MICKEY CARAMEL APPLE ORNAMENT PATTERN

Tell me your favorite Disney Parks snack that you'd like to see come to life in felt!

sewing the msq fancy zip travel tote (with an add-on!)

How do you feel about sewing zippers? They honestly make me so nervous that I don't think I've ever (until now) sewn one on a machine. I've hand sewn them, but that's different. But Missouri Star Quilt Co. sells Fancy Zips that have cute little designs and they go on the outside, and that felt less intimidating to me.

Now, let me start by saying that I'm an MSQ Partner, which means they send me things and I have an affiliate link, and sometimes I get to offer special discounts or giveaways from them. So this project is fully thanks to them, even though I chose all the materials and the pattern.



I got a pack of Fancy Zips first, then I found their Fancy Zip Travel Tote. I think they have a video for making this too, but I got the printed pattern. I prefer written instructions with photos or illustrations because that's how I learn and process things.

Then I found this SUPER cute cheater print with hexagons. This is from Riley Blake's Bloomberry line by Minki Kim. I love it. And the lining is from the Spring Gardens line (which I got much earlier this year).



One of the things I read about this pattern is that zipping and unzipping was a little harder because you need to hold the bag in some way while you do that. So I had an idea!

Since the outside would be all hexagons, what if there was a little hexagon tab at each end? And what if I added a face to make it very much "me"? Never mind that I was already sewing a zipper like this for the first time. I wanted to make the project my own! And I did.

Just to be clear, I had to sew the zipper twice. And it's still a little funky. First I sewed too close to the edge and then I sewed not close enough. Or maybe the sewing was in the right spot, but the fabric edge wasn't.

At any rate, I made the thing and I love it and I'm so glad to have the little hexagon tabs. So I'm sharing them with you here so you can add them too!



First, thread-baste four 1-inch EPP hexagons.

These linen hexagons were actually prepped like this on my Happy Hexagons templates and just sitting in my EPP box. Yay, past me!



Remove the paper templates, and if you want, stitch a face on one or two of the hexagons. I used my classic little smiley.



Next, stitch two hexagons together, back to back. Do this again with the remaining two hexagons. I used three strands of embroidery floss and running stitch.

Set aside the hexagons and start making the travel tote, following the pattern instructions.



After sewing in the zipper, but before you sew the ends together, place a hexagon between the layers at each end of the zipper. The front (face side) should face the zipper, with the top of the hexagon aligned with the raw fabric edges.

Finish sewing the bag, following the instructions as written.




And now you have a Fancy Zip Travel Tote with happy little tabs to hold while you open and close it! There are still times when I end up grabbing the bag a bit to finish zipping, but that's mostly due to my sewing issues. Seriously. Why is machine sewing still so hard for me? Ha!

It's okay. I also still love it. Especially when I can make a cute bag like this!



And for me, the real test of a pattern (sewing or otherwise!) is "would I make it again?" The answer is yes. I absolutely would make this again. I'd make this for gifts and I'd try modifying it in other ways too. Not to mention, I have more of these zippers to use!

If you'd like to make one, head to Missouri Star Quilt Co. (affiliate link), where you'll find all the materials you'll need. Search for "Fancy Zip Travel Tote" and you can choose between the printed and digital versions, and check out the video showing it coming together!

What would you carry in your super cute tote?