Felt Easter Eggs Tutorial

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my crochet blanket, just 3 more ripples to go and then I can begin the edging :-)

I have been sharing activities I have done with my children on my facebook page for a while now and love it when people message me to say they have had fun trying things out, it really does make me happy.  As Easter is coming up I thought I would share this activity with you all, we did this last year but I never got round to sharing it.

To make these cute felt eggs you will need:

A pair of old tights
A plastic egg
Some roving wool
A towel or two
A washing machine
Scissors

Now I did take photos of us making these but can I find my base units lead to get the photos off , no of course I can't!  Right here we go, use your imagination for me :-)

Get your roving wool and pull it into quite long strips.  It is best to tear it rather than cut it as that way you won't see any joints.

Selotape any joins in your egg, e.g. if your egg opens so you have two halves tape round the middle.

Wrap these strips of wool round your egg in all different directions until you get a nice thick covering.  You can needle felt it a bit into place if you like.

Cut the toe off off your old tights and pop your wrapped egg snuggly in the toe area.  Tie the tights tightly (ooh that is a tongue twister if ever I heard one) so that your felted egg is locked in there nicely.

Now pop a couple of towels in your washing machine (preferably ones that need cleaning anyway so you can get two jobs done at once :-)).  Then pop your tied up eggs in there too.

Put your usual soap in the machine and wash on a high heat with a fast spin.

Wait ...........wait ........ wait ........ (this is the hard part of kids - and for me really :-)).

When the washing is finished pull your egg out and untie your tights.  Gently tease the wool away from the tights and you will have a nice egg shaped ball of felt.  If it looks a bit fluffy roll in your hands as fast as you can to felt it into a less fluffy ball.

Now get your scissors and cut open your felt ball to release the plastic egg.

You will be left with a really cute, fluffy, felted easter egg.  Fill with a little chick or some chocolate eggs ... done :-)

We did try to wet felt these by hand to start with but doing them in the washing machine was a lot easier and a bit less messy.

PS only a couple of chocolate eggs were hurt in the writing of this blog, I must confess to eating them ..... it is surprisingly hard to photograph them without eating them you know!  PPS don't forget to hang those towels out to dry :-)

Rippling away ....... Crochet

 

You may remember a couple of years back I taught myself to crochet  (along with the help of a couple of lovely friends :-)).  I have made lots of lovely crochet hearts and roses since then but have always wanted to make us a blanket.

I ordered the wool about a year ago and finally made a start on it in December!  I used the Attic 24's neat ripple pattern and started with around 210 chain stitches but then had to pull them back and redo them with a bigger crochet hook as it went curly (thanks Kathryn for the tip :-)).  The blanket was meant to be big enough to cover little Sweetpeas bed but as you can see it is turning out a lot larger than that lol.

Excuse the lump under the blanket..... it is an escapee ball of wool :-)

I wasn't sure of the colours I had chosen at first as they were slightly different from what I had expected (it is hard to tell the exact colours on your pc screen) but the more ripples I completed the more I loved them.  I have tried to do at least one ripple a day, I would have liked to have done more but the pain I experience in my arms puts a stop to that.

It has slowly grown as the rain, snow, wind and hail have battered against the windows..........

This blanket has been taken everywhere, over to my parents for Christmas, to work for break times (where my workmate tried to have a nap under it :-)), it has been popped over the children if they have been at home ill whilst I have been hooking away whilst cuddling them, I have enjoyed every minute of it and found it very relaxing so we have named it our Comfort Blanket.

Soon, very soon I will be on my last ripple :-(  I will miss creating this blanket.  I do however need to create the edging for it before it is complete, do any of you know of any good edging patterns?

Thanks so much for popping by and taking the time to read my ramblings (I do know I can ramble on , why use 1 word when you can use 10 :-)) and for your sweet comments. xxx

Wow I love this creative community!

A few weeks back you may remember I told you I was in the process of organising an auction to raise money for the Little Princess Trust.  Well the event became bigger than I had ever expected, in the end 47 artists joined the fun !  I must say I was blown away by the response and by how many people wanted to help.

So last Saturday after lots of organisation and promoting I sat here, in front of my little laptop screen, biting my nails and sipping wine wondering if anyone would come along to my page to bid.  I was worried no one would, that the lovely artists who were so lovely to offer up their gorgeous creations would feel let down if their items didn't make any money for the cause, that I had blown the event up too much in my head and heart .......

Well I am very very happy and rather proud to say the event was amazing and did SO much better than I had anticipated!  I had hoped we would get around £350 in donations to buy one child a wig but do you know how much we made??   We raised, and I mean WE, raised £1092, I kid you not one thousand and ninety two pounds!

My little bunny for the auction raised £100 alone!  She is now on her journey to her new loving home :-)  Her name is Joy as that is what her new owner has bought to a very happy little one.  That fantastic total means that we have raised enough for 3 wigs to make 3 children a lot happier!  Now all I have to do is have my hair chopped off to donate to the cause too ..... eeekk!

It makes me so happy to be part of such a lovely, creative community that can use their talent to bring a positive change to someones life :-)    It was a lot of hard work but so so worth it.

On a completely different note, little Sweetpea is now sleeping through nearly every night - you will not believe how wonderful that feels!  It has meant I beginning to feel like the old Zoe, the real me :-)  After 4 + years of broken sleep it feels wonderful going to bed knowing I will probably not wake until the morning.  This in turn has meant  I have been able to go out with friends down the pub a few times ....... happy times have been had when I have been out out :-)

After jesting with friends about being out out a few weeks back (aka Micky Flanagan stylee) I took a pint of milk and a cut loaf to my last session of being out out.  I was going to wear my carpet slippers but it was raining :-(  Happy Days :-)