fortunate to have a sewing machine

In case you're wondering what I've been doing for the past few days, I have proof of craftiness for you right here.

With Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year's falling on the same day this year, who could resist the lure of the felt fortune cookie? Certainly not me or Rebecca. So with the help of my trusty Ellison machine (I have the now retired XL LetterMachine, similar to this) and a 4.5" circle die, I cut out 57 of these babies in no time flat, out of wool blend felt that I had in my stash. I bought one roll of cute conversation heart satin ribbon from the craft store (99 cents), and in the back of a desk drawer had (for whatever reason I don't know) two boxes of steel ring key tags which I cannibalized, removing the split rings to use in this project. Of course, me being me, I grabbed my needlebook, perle cotton and favorite scissors, settled in front of the television after my babes were in bed, and started sewing them by hand.

About 21 fortune cookies later, as Wednesday evening rolled around, I realized this might not be feasible. Hence, the title of my post. There are at least half a dozen wonderful tutorials for felt fortune cookies out there on the internet, so I'm not even going to get into the construction here, but I do have a few tips. When stuffing, I divided the filler into two small clumps, to make it easier to make a nice definition in the middle when you bend the cookie into place. Also, it looks more realistic if the cookie is joined together more towards the middle, rather than too close to the tips.

By one o'clock Friday morning, tagged cookies for Rebecca's classmates, teachers, administrators and librarian and Jessie's classmates and preschool teachers were all present and accounted for.

Tonight we're going out for dinner with my in-laws for Chinese New Year's Eve. I'm looking forward to it, lots of good food that I don't have to cook, and the girls in fancy dresses. I wonder if we'll be seeing any of these for dessert...

September 2014