The Brussel Sprout And The Pea's In A Pod

 You know I thought I had already posted these, but with one thing and another, I completely forgot. There is nothing like getting behind and absentminded to remind a person that time waits for no one, and age is a thing. So to make up for my neglect and forgetfulness, I came up with a bit of a ditty to go along with this post. I hope if nothing else it cheers you up a bit, and inspires you to try silly things.

First I made a parsnip, then a brussel sprout.

I never knew such Veggie's, I couldn't live without.

So next I made some pea's, inside their little pod.

And hung them on a cord together, with a happy nod.

I don't know what I will make next, but it will be such fun.

To see what else I come up with, before my brain is done!

 

 

Here's the old parsnip, which I am pretty sure I already blogged back in December. It was inspired by a dear lady by the name of Marion, who has a Youtube channel called Marion's World. She did a parsnip tutorial first, which led us both to the brussel sprout's and its hilarity. I highly recommend going and checking her out, you will not be disappointed.

You'll want to rough sketch up some funky leaves first. This was my attempt. All I can say, since I forgot to take pictures of the first part, which is taking a 4" x 4" scrap of rag, from an old white t-shirt. Make a small ball of pillow stuffing or batting and put it in the center. Wrap the cloth around it and stitch it down around the base, rolling the bulk at the base to make a stem shape. Stitch it securely around the base so it retains its shape.

 

I happened to have this scrap of old fabric, taken off another project. I cut out my leaf shapes from it by drawing around my paper pattern with a tailors chalk pencil. I also drew in the stems of the leaf and stitched them with white embroidery thread, before I cut them out. An important thing to remember is the size of your sprout will determine the size and amount of leaves you need. Your big leaves need to cover the sprout and meet at the top, covering up the white T-shirt. I didn't pay attention to that as I ought to have and it made things more difficult, as I had to use more leaves underneath and draw up some larger ones to stitch on. I know I am the worst for not putting in all the steps! I always get caught up in doing a thing and forget the doggone pictures. Which is one reason I could never do Youtube tutorials. It is way harder than you think.

 

I also wanted to be sure and share with you this product, because it has taken my art fun to a whole different level. I was getting really annoyed that I couldn't find fabric in my stash that was the exact color I wanted to use for this silly brussel sprout. Marion introduced us to Inktense on her channel and it has opened up whole new vista's. They are amazing they can be used like paint but are permanent like ink. Colorfast in fabrics and easy to use.

I tested it on my fabric and it worked like Flinn, so I got right down to it, painting over the darker green print, that I didn't like, and didn't care about. Old 100% cotton quilt fabric is so paintable. You can iron this stuff in to fabric, to make it even more permanent, as it can bleed a bit at first. So don't just go for it without testing how it will do first. I don't want to be the one responsible for ruining a favorite item. With all new things, proceed with caution.

 

Here is my finished brussel sprout just waiting to go up on the Christmas garland. Isn't it about the silliest thing you've ever seen? I think so, but then my taste's are naturally odd! As for the real thing I couldn't eat it even if I wanted to, because sadly my system just shouts reject, reject, reject!

Here it hangs, with its friend the parsnip, amongst the other ornaments and winter scenes. It hung in the doorway to our kitchen, and it made me grin every time I caught sight of it.

 

That brussel sprout got me to wondering what else I could whip up? So I went digging through my stash for things to make a pea pod and pea's with. I cut out what I thought would make a pea pod shape, out of wool felt, figuring I could trim it with the scissors as I went.

I was in luck, because I had these small wool felt balls, at least three in a similar color. I began by just stitching them down the center of the pea pod to hold them in place, with a matching color of embroidery thread. I must say this was far less fiddly than the brussel sprout, and I should have started off with them, to get used to the idea of soft sculpture. lol

 

As you can see it doesn't matter if you stitch clear through the back, because that is the natural line in a pea pod anyway. I just hid my knot on the inside.

Here is a picture of the bag of little felt balls. I had bought them for another project I did years ago and didn't use them all, so was very glad to have them. The trouble was finding three that matched.

 

As I was finishing I found I needed one more pea that was smaller, but I didn't have the right color. I used this one anyway as it wasn't going to show after I stitched it up. That's a thing to keep in mind, because I could have actually padded it at the ends with stuffing instead of pea's and it probably would have been fine.

Here is the silly pea pod full of pea's hanging on my garland. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. it was so much simpler and took me far less time. 

It joined my veggie group on the garland and added just another bit of whimsy, which I am always game for.

I hope you enjoyed this, "Veggie Patch Ramble", and hope it brings a smile. I'll try to keep up with this blog, 'cause I know it's been awhile.

May you have a God blessed day!