D is for Dock

Materials:

• Royal blue background (duck canvas 10.5"x12")
• Gray or brown felt - for dock
• Felt scraps of various colors
• Various colors of embroidery thread
• Velcro
• Iron-on letter "D"
• Black embroidery thread

The original design

 This page will be focusing on matching shapes.  The child will be able to move the various shapes around the page and velcro them down to the correct spot to complete the picture of the dock.  The shapes will be stored along the top of the page where the "sidewalk" is.  There will be outlines of the shapes in embroidery thread throughout the picture of the dock.  When the shapes are placed in the correct spot, they will complete the object that was missing (for example, the circle will go on the lamppost to be the light at the top).

 This time I decided to start this page by ironing on the letter "D" and stitching "ock" using black embroidery thread and the chain stitch.  I wanted to add the word first to see how much space I had left for the sidewalk and dock.

Once I had the word at the top I sized the sidewalk and dock, created patterns, cut them both out and sewed them on.

Next I created the shapes and pieces that make up the details on the dock including the boat, lamppost, bench, tube and tackle box.  (I made sure that all of the shapes fit together across the sidewalk since that's where they'll be stored.)  I sewed down the bench, boat and lamppost pieces as a part of the background.

After that, I made duplicates of all of the shapes to attach the velcro to (so the seam doesn't show on the front).  I sewed the velcro on and then sewed the matching shape pieces together. 

I also sewed the velcro pieces to the background - five across the sidewalk (one for each shape to be stored) and one in each of the places the shapes belong in the picture.

 Last I embroidered around where the shapes are supposed to go in the same color of each, and added a few details here and there.  Finished!

C is for Campfire

Materials:

• Black background (duck canvas 10.5"x12")
• Red, orange, yellow, brown, and white felt scraps
• Green felt
• 2 Popsicle sticks
• White embroidery thread
• Iron-on letter "C"

The original design

 This page is a "use your imagination" page.  The child pretends to cook his/her marshmallow over the campfire using the (popsicle) stick, and then can use the "graham crackers" and "chocolate" to create their own s'mores to "eat."  The green grass doubles as a pocket to store the pieces.

I first created a pattern for the flames of the fire.  I cut out the red felt, cut the pattern to the orange size, cut out the orange felt, cut the pattern to the yellow size, and cut out the yellow felt.

 I then created a quick pattern for a couple of logs to go under the fire and cut that out of the brown felt.

I sewed on the logs, followed by the red fire, orange fire, and last yellow fire.  **Note, I probably would have sewn on the green grass background first had it been in the original plans, but that came later since I decided to add it after seeing that the fire looked like it was floating in the night air.

The fun part was sewing the pieces for the s'mores.  I made two marshmallows.  I originally was going to make button holes in the marshmallows to fit the stick through, but decided to sew two marshmallow-shaped pieces together and leave an opening for the stick to slide into.  I think it turned out pretty well!

The crackers and chocolate were simply two squares sewn together all the way around, and then I added a seam down the middle for decoration or added authenticity.  I made 4 crackers and 2 chocolates.

I added the background grass, and then another layer of grass to be the pocket that holds all of the pieces.  I thought things would stay in better if I created a few separate pockets, so I stitched a few seams down to make three pockets.

 Last, as always, I added the iron-on letter "C" and hand stitched "ampfire" with white embroidery thread using the chain stitch.  To finish, I stitched around the C, just for good measure.

Here is the finished product:  C is for Campfire.  Bon Appetit!

B is for Boat

Materials:

• Royal Blue Background (duck cloth10.5"x12")
• Small sew-on snaps
• Red and white felt
• Scraps of black felt
• Scraps of clear vinyl
• Fabric for boat cover (I used cream-colored, window blackout fabric I had leftover)
• Small black button (optional)
• Iron-on letter "B"
• Black embroidery thread

The original design

 On this page the child will be able to snap the boat cover over the boat, unsnap it and roll it up to be stored at the back of the boat.  To start I made a boat-shaped pattern on regular paper and cut it out.  I used it to cut out a piece of red felt for the base of the boat.  I then used the pattern to cut out a piece of the blackout fabric, but I cut about 1/4" larger all the way around so that I could sew the edges to make a nice finished look.  I trimmed the pattern 1/4" smaller all the way around and used it to cut out the shape for the inside of the boat in white.

 After that I got a little lazy about pattern making and pretty much just cut-to-fit the boat details including the steering wheel, seats, ski platform, window (clear vinyl), and window frame.  I made the steering wheel moveable by attaching it with a button.  The middle window also lifts up on one side so you can "walk" into the front of the boat.  I used black embroidery thread to hand-stitch around the seats to help them stand out a little more.

Once the details for the boat were completed, it was time to attach it to the background.  I "stitched in the ditch" around the white part of the boat, and then switched to red thread and stitched around the red part of the boat as well to reinforce the fabric where the snaps will be pulling.

 As I stitched around the red, I pinned in the boat cover and the two "cover ties" to the back of the boat so that they were stitched in under the back of the boat.  Notice that the cover ties are actually on the inside of the cover.

The snaps came next.  I started with the two for the cover ties.  I sewed one side of the snaps to the ties, and the other sides to the edge of the ski platform in the back (so that, when the cover is rolled up, it will fit nicely in the snapped-down ties).

  Then I sewed the snaps to the boat, and finally the cover.

Last steps: iron on the letter "B" (I always sew around it too, just to reinforce it) and hand stitch "oat" using black embroidery thread and the chain stitch.  Ta-da!