Festive Felt

I was very excited when I won the giveaway on the long thread for Fa la la la felt, a book full of holiday decorations made from felt.  I was initially excited just to have won something, but I was even more excited when the book came in the mail and I saw all the cute ideas for felt projects.  I especially liked the ideas for ornaments, since we don't have a ton of ornaments for our tree yet and have been enjoying building our collection.  Last year we got a number of different bird ornaments so we have a bit of a bird theme going... so I was especially excited to see a number of bird related patterns in the book.

When the book came in the mail, I ordered a sampler of felt squares on etsy, and then I was raring to go... despite not having the right kinds of embroidery thread, or having made enlarged copies of the patterns in the book.  So I made a few things with the materials I had on hand (and sketching out the patterns) and ended up with the adorable baby owl on the left above.  I didn't realize until I made the enlarged copies how much smaller it would be than the actual intended design, but I actually think it is super cute to have a big one and a baby one to go with it.

These birds were a great chance to use up some william morris fabric that I have had for quite a while - I love how the leafy patterns look like feathers on the wings.

These ornaments are super adorable, they were one of my favorite designs when I first looked through the book and I am thrilled that they turned out looking so much like the design!

I liked the snowflake ornaments in the book, but decided to make something simpler (this shows the two sides).  Snowflakes are one of my favorite holiday motifs so I have a few more ideas of snowflake ornaments I'd like to make.

And here are ones that I made up myself.  I thought it would be fun to do a pointsettia... my first attempt is on the right, my second attempt on the left.  I like how the petals of the second one are separate, I think it looks much more like a pointsettia, but I like the shape/outlining on the first.  So maybe I will do a third attempt to try to perfect the design.

I hope to make several more projects out of the book, and am also inspired with more ideas for my own designs.  In keeping with the bird theme, I was thinking I should possibly make a penguin ornament.  Or maybe I should get the backyard birds kit and learn how to needle felt?