Since I’m on the topic of snuggles (as in last week’s post), there are two more I’d like to share. A few weeks before Christmas Sommer and Trey came over to help us decorate the Christmas tree. Once decorated we had some hot cocoa, and it just felt like craft time. I’d purchased a yard of “to be colored in” fabric at a guild rummage sale. So I got out the fabric crayons and pencils and they had a blast.
There wasn’t enough time to color it all in.
I decided to cut out portions of their artwork and make snuggles for the kids. The problem was there weren’t enough colored in portions. As I noodled on it I decided the kids would like fleece snuggles the best and went on a shopping trip. I chose snowflakes for the back and a plain blue front for Sommer. Trey got red for the front and a fun “abominable” print for the back.
I cut their colored portions into squares and placed them right sides against the back of the solid fleece. There was a lot of open space to fill. As I continued to think about it an old project came to mind. Snowpeople faces! (click here for a link to that post).
It would be fun to make snowpeople faces all over their quilts and finish the colored pieces as circles too – sort of like snowballs. I drew circles on the back of the fleece and fabric squares, which were pinned on the background fleece, and stitched them in place with the right color thread in the bobbin.
When I turned to the front and trimmed the fleece away I was pleased (sorry for the change in color – I never know when I’ll feel the urge to snap a photo š):
Because fleece doesn’t fray or ravel, there was no need to finish the edge – what a blessing!
Once all the circles were stitched and removed it was time to make faces! I started a pair of eyes by drawing them on Glad Press and Sealā¢, placing the sticky side against the right side of black fleece, and stitching them in place on the face, along the lines.
I then pulled the Press and Sealā¢ off of the black fleece and trimmed near the stitching.
I marked quilting designs this way too.
I’ve used Press and Sealā¢ to mark lines before and it peels off of cotton fabric well, but I discovered it almost welds itself to fleece and was a bit difficult to remove. So after struggling to remove the plastic for a while, I tried using a sliver of soap to mark eyes, carrot noses, and quilting designs.
Marking this way worked and it was far easier to remove the soap ~ with just a little water š.
After quilting fun head and neckwear onto all the snowpeople, I filled the voids with the kids initials, a message from grandma, and my “label”. The back was turned to the front on each snuggle to make a binding.
Due to a variety of people getting colds, etc., we haven’t held our family gift exchange yet. I’m looking forward to having the kids open their snuggles. They’re a bit wonky and silly, but I think they’ll be a hit!
And… I’d like to share one more story before the Christmas season is over for this year š:
As we were decorating the tree the kids noticed an ornament I’d made from a photo of Hanna and Will when they were small.
I told them I’d made photo heart ornaments of their Dad too ~ and the hunt was on. They found Brad and Heather.
To make these ornaments I resized a “pocket heart” project I’d learned about in a quilting class years ago. I photo transferred the images I liked onto fabric for the “pockets” which finished 2 1/2″.
It was time to revisit that project and we now have all the kids and grandkids on the tree!
And Koda too!
I love ornaments that hold memories. How about you?
Rose says
Chris,
Your grandchild will cherish all the special treats that you shared with them. You are a very thoughtful, caring, and very talented grandma.
Happy New Year,
Rose
Mary Miller says
We often buy ornaments when we go on vacation from the places we visit,, i.e. Harrod’s in London, or Indian design ornament at Grand Canyon, and have learned to always add the year with a permanent marker, if it is absent on the ornament. Have also purchased ones for big events, i.e. year we retired or bought our condo, again adding the year. So much fun to have the memories all over again each year as we decorate for Christmas.
Rhonda says
That is so awesome. What a great memory of that day for them.
MaryAnn says
Just an FYI for everyone. I also make things with grandchildren during the holidays. This year it required fabric crayons. The sad news is they are no longer made. I searched everywhere. I needed to switch to fabric paint. I purchased small bottles and markers. The tips of the markers are still to soft and damage easily in childrenās hand pressure but the paint was bright and dried quickly with easy clean up. If you have fabric crayons save them.
Jackie says
Crayola crayons work really well. After coloring, place paper towels over drawing (to absorb the wax from the crayons) and an ironing cloth or sheet. Set iron on cotton (or temp. suitable for fabric) and press, not iron the area. This will make it color safe and washable.
Cari says
Thanksā¦I needed a reminder to try again Glad Press and Seal for quilting.
Karen Moe says
Great ideas! Do you have a blog on making the photo ornaments?