Celebrate the Season!

Our first, "Celebrate the Season"! I thought with this Winter being as COLD as it has been, what better project to start out with...but, something made of WOOL!!! Besides, next month we celebrate the "Valentine's Day" holiday, so this is a perfect project for that day. I am going to use Wool Felt for this project because it is easily available in several different shades right at your local JoAnn's Craft Store. This is a very easy project to complete, in just a few hours, while sitting down watching a movie. Let's begin!

Supplies:

*Wool or Wool Felt (Wool felt can be purchase right at Joann's)

*Embrodery Floss (I am using black, red & cream)

*Needle

*Gluestick

*Dinner Plate

*Pattern below... just save to your computer, download & print!

Directions:

First, you are going to need to "prepare" your Wool or "felt" it (as I think that is the term used for this process. I am not a "technical" person, so don't quote me on this one...LOL). What you need to do first, is take your Wool/Wool Felt and place it in a sink of hot water.

Now, let it soak for a minute.

Next, I take and drain the water. Then, I "squish" my Wool/Wool Felt to try and get most of the water out of the material. However, you DO NOT want to "wring" your Wool/Wool Felt as I heard that it damages the material if you do. Don't know if this is true or not, so I just don't wring mine.

Once you got your material to a damp state, take and put it in the Dryer and dry it now til it is completely dry.

Remove from Dryer and I do like to Iron mine now. I do this on my Wool Setting. I don't over iron the material, as I don't want it "shiny". I just want to get most of the wrinkles out.

Now, I am ready to make my design! First, I take my "high tech" device (a large 10" dinner plate) and with a white sewing pencil I trace the pattern directly onto my Black Wool and cut it out.
You will need to cut two of these out! I then have went a step beyond and made "scallops" in mine, but you don't have too! I have made several of them just round and they are just as beautiful!

Next, I am ready to make my "Pennies". I am using the Off-White Wool Felt for these. (pattern for these are in my Freebie Box on the right side column). Again, just trace these onto my Wool with a marker and cut them out, you will need 8 of these. I know alot of you iron some freezer paper and wool with the circle templates and cut out, but I don't usually. I actually use my Sizzix Die Cut machine and cut out the Wool with the Circle Die. I can literally make 100's in an hour with this machine! And it cuts 4 different circles (or pennies) at a time! But, for those of you who don't have this machine, just trace the circle pattern right onto your Wool and cut it out carefully.

Now, time to cut out the cute little hearts! Again, I just took a my template and marked it right onto my Red Wool and cut them out! You will need 8 of these too!

Lastly, I need to cut out my center color. I chose to use my Red Felt for this. I just took another one of my high tech templates (cottage cheese lid!) and traced it onto my Red Wool and cut it out.

HERE COMES THE FUN PART...ASSEMBLING YOUR PENNY MAT!

First, we are going to start with your Heart Cut-outs and your Pennies. You will need to take your glue stick now and place a dab of glue on the back of your Heart and stick it right in the middle of your Off White Penny circle.

Once you have done of them, time to stitch your Hearts! I will be using the "Blanket Stitch" to do this. If you don't know how to do this stitch, you can google it or go to U-Tube and there are many videos that will show you how. It is a VERY easy stitch to learn, so don't be intimidated! I used my Black Floss (3 strands only, so break a strand in half for this as they always have 6 threads in the strand) and stitch my hearts all on.







Now, let's stitch your Heart Pennies to your Candle Mat. I take and lay them out first on my Circle so they are evenly spaced out. Now, with your gluestick adhere them to where you have just placed them. This will hold them their while you are getting ready to stitch each one of them. Now, stitch them all on using your Red Floss, again using the blanket stitch.






We are ready to place your Circle in the middle. With you gluestick adhere it to the center and blanket stitch it all around.




We have now completed the top of your Candlemat!!! Now, we just need to hide all of our stitching underneath! We are going to do this by taking your last scalloped piece and with your gluestick again, adhere it to your top layer. Now, just blanket stitch all the way around, I used black thread (again 3 strands) and stitched it as I didn't want any color to compete of the background.

WE HAVE COMPLETED OUR CANDLEMAT!!! These are great for placing a jar candle in the middle, a vase filled with roses, or a small bowl of candy kisses for your loved ones!!!