The Playmat Begins

Been a busy month and not much of that was spent on craft, only a little knitting and some planning of different projects I hope to start before bubs is born. I've begun the baby playmat and yet again think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I've decided on sizing and drafted a design, cut my hoop in half for the overhead toy dangle framework (there's got to be an easier way to say that), and bought what I hope is all the material needed so now comes the interesting part - putting it together. I say interesting because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do all of what I have grand plans to do but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I love projects that make me think, puzzle solve and learn a new technique or two along the way.

I wanted bubs to play in a sensory playground so I've decided that in the 4 corners of the playmat to have different things to touch and play with while overhead there will be other toys to dangle and entice. For the corners I've chosen:

a big worm whose segments are made of different materials such as fur, tule and spotted puff paint

2 flowers with puffed petals

a tree with felt leaves to ruffle little fingers through

butterflies with crinkly wings

Here's a pic of the templates I've drafted for each of the bits I need. (Apologies in advance - these pics aren't the clearest as they were mostly taken at night and the lighting and focus are off - I still need more practice with my camera)

I've started work on the worm and have all the parts ready for assembly. The blue fur was easy, a simple cut, as was the green tule over some green cotton homespun. The next two segments took me two nights to complete as I hand sewed tight rows of hot pink strung sequins and of orange feathers wool onto the segments. Then I spotted yellow puff paint onto the yellow segment which gives it a nice bumpy effect. I've decided not to activate the puff paint and it feels nice as it is.

Each of the material segments ready for embelishing....

...and handsewing in the sequins to make sure none of the little suckers get loose.

Then onto the face which I forgot to buy material for so I've improvised. I wanted a pale pink cotton but the lightest I had was lolly pink then remembered that I had some sheer pale pink organza which I layered over white cotton homespun. Into an embroidery hoop and I sewed the eyes and mouth with some glossy black embroidery floss. So once they're pieced together it should look something like this.

Next step is to cut out the tree parts and the butterflies.