This no~sew project, well you can sew a little if you want, is quick and easy to cook up.  It’s inspiration came from a friend as we were brainstorming fun creative toys that could also be educational.

The instruction kit comes with detailed directions, the ’soup can’ fabric panel and either an alphabet fabric panel or small foam letters.

Just like any good soup you will need to add some more ingredients.  It  takes a small amount of cotton batting, a small cardboard lidded container, a button and the best ‘binder’ to use is a good tacky glue.

The letters & numbers are ironed onto felt with some double~sided fusing and then cut out.  If you want to zig-zag around the edges you can.  I used several different colors of felt to make it as colorful as I could.   It takes about an hour to make and should dry for several hours before playing with it.

Note:  The fabric panels were printed by spoonflower.   Enjoy!

This toy flower garden is soft as a pillow and a great way to bring spring and summer inside, especially with 2 feet of snow outside. The four flowers pop out when pulled and can be replanted over and over.  It takes some time to put together so its a great rainy day or group project.  The instruction sheet is clearly written and working with stretchy fleece is so easy; especially when sculpting the ‘flower’.   Here’s the garden with one of the flowers pulled out.

The flowers each have 5 petals but you could add as many as you want.  One pattern piece is used so cut as many as you want your flowers to have.

Hand stitching the flowers into the stem and then the bulb is free form and takes some practice but working with fleece makes it easy.  If you’ve ever done any soft sculpture work you’ll use those skills here.  Be creative.

Check out the Toy page for more information.

Check out my Animal Crackers Box on the my Toys page.  It’s so much fun to make and only takes about 2 hours once you have your fabric panel, lining and selected an animal fabric.  (The actual animals that fill the box take longer, but I made them while watching TV one night.)

Enjoy the time making them and then matching the child play with it.  A good friend and I ‘craft’ on Tuesday evenings and we were both able to get one completed, except for the crackers -  but we did get them started.

The fabric panel comes without the ‘animals’ so you can pick an animal fabric then cut them out and iron them on with double adhesive. This way every box is personalized.

See some of the ‘crackers’ I’ve made.  If you make two or more of each a matching game can be played.  I also cut them to the animal shape but a more cracker shape works also.

Note:  I had the fabric panel printed by Spoonflower. Please check them out by clicking on the link on the left.

When shopping with friends we usually end up in a fabric or craft store.  On Veteran’s Day we were shopping in Intercourse, PA and came across Zook’s Fabric Store.  (Some say the best in Pennsylvania, but I really can’t say as I haven’t visited all the fabric stores in PA ~ yet.)

They had a selection of fabric panels for kids and one was Thomas the Tank Engine ~ a favorite of my grandson.  (He’s 2.)  I found a backing fabric, in blue, of various train engines and quickly put together the quilt,  stitching wherever I wanted around the various ‘Thomas’ images.

It took about an hour and a half from start to finish.  I clipped the edges after trimming back the batting and a quick play quilt was made for a very active little boy.

It’s not meant to be kept ’safe’ but to be played with.  I bought 2 panels, thinking I’d make pillows from one, but I changed my mind and made one for Ethan’s cousin who also loves ‘Thomas’, but the backing fabric is yellow, with apples and bumble bees.  They’ll have a great time playing together with them.

Some time this year buy a panel or two and make a play quilt for a child in your life, then make one to give or donate.