maya loves toy food. which means neela loves toy food, or rather neela loves to put toy food in her mouth.

so for my first tutorial of the new year I am going to show how i made them some felt strawberries for them.

love aunt maggie | felt strawberry tutorial

materials

red felt
scraps of green felt
gold or cream colored embroidery thread
cotton balls or batting
red thread
green thread

instructions

1. pour yourself a drink, much like the cat bow tie this is one of those projects you don't need to be sober for.

2. cut a whole bunch of circles from the red felt. mine were about 3.5 inches in diameter and I was able to get six out of a single piece of felt that I got for $0.50 cents. this left me a very realistic sized strawberry, not the huge kind you buy out of season at the grocery store, the kind you buy at the farmers market in summer.

3. cut each circle in half. then using the gold or cream embroidery thread do a few dozen prick stitches on one side of each half circle for the seeds.

4. fold the half circle in half with right sides (the one with the seeds) together. with the red thread do a blanket stitch along the cut side, starting at the center and working your way to the diameter. this will leave you with a little cone. don't cut the thread.

5. flip your cone right side out. do a running stitch along the top of the cone, i bet you want to cut the thread now, don't!

6. stuff the cone with the cotton ball or batting.

7. then pull the thread closing the cone. knot and cut the thread.

8. now free hand a leaf for your strawberry. do whatever shape you feel is best. i did a whimsical little star. attach your leaf with green thread.

pretty cute eh?

and the perfect project to do while watching bowl games!

fun fact about this ceramic strawberry case: sammie gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago. after I opened it she handed my mom a card which contained her very first ultrasound of maya. so whenever i look at it i think about maya :)