New Friends

awhile back i signed up for an online handmade ornament swap.  after i got my partners' info, i knew i wanted to make ornaments using wool felt, ideally some sort of forest animal.  at some point last year, i'd ordered a whole box of wool felt in various colors, but had never used any. then, in october at the International Quilt Festival, i bought some more, and discovered that i'm really allergic!  yeah, coughing, wheezing, inability to breathe, the whole shebang!

nonetheless, i was determined to make wool felt ornaments!  i searched for patterns to suit my partners' interests, and finally settled on a few.

i made birds first:



i think they're super cute!  i made two of these for the swap, and two extras, one for myself and one for a friend.

i made a hedgehog:



and i made a penguin:



for the penguin, i used my Sizzix BigShot to cut the tag shape and the white body portion.  he's not stuffed, but the felt tag is glued to a chipboard tag for support.

by the time i got these four guys done, i was on a roll and hooked!   i was itchy and coughing and snuffling, but i love how the ornaments turned out, so it was worth it in my opinion!  i did switch over to acrylic felt and tucked the wool stuff away for now.  i made the penguin and hedgie in the first photo above, and cut out pieces for three more penguins to stitch up tonight.

i may end up with a tiny penguin army by the time i'm done!