Despite my best attempts at cajoling the children to help me finish the project for them they just were not interested! So I finished it last night and they've spent the morning admiring and playing with it.

This isn't a full tutorial but I give an idea of my process and how it was constructed.

Here is our list of house rules before and we have had various homemade sticker charts but they never last long and the children lose interest:


Although I love the sentiment, this just was not that pleasing to look at! And since I now know how to sew, it only made sense to make something prettier:


It is a reward chart and rule reminder in one. I decided just to call it 'Good' - after all that's what I'd like my kids to be!


It was made of really simple elements and the stitching took the most time. I did some embroidery on a long length of plain fabric, to which I added a pocket, a felt panel with their names on and our list of house rules (with the new addition of 'always try your best', thanks to school!). The rules were printed from the computer onto some fabric especially designed for printers - this was a first for me and really fun to do.



Once I'd sewn the front bits together how I wanted them (leaving space for the felt panel) I sewed it to some wadding and added some hanging tabs. Then I put the backing fabric and the front panel right sides together, sewed around the edges (leaving a space for turning), turned it inside out and stitched around the edges. Then I added the felt panel by stitching it on with perle thread and I also hand stitched around the rules.

For the backing I used the lightweight numbers and letters fabric and you can see where I've hand quilted the panels:


The 'rewards' are these little embroideries I made, all the patterns are from 'Sublime Stitching' by Jenny Hart (as are the lanterns at the top). The inspiration to make them into these little circles came from Wild Olive and Mollie's fabulous tutorial for school merit badges. I didn't use pins but just stuck some velcro on the back so the kids could easily stick them on themselves.


The really fun bit for me is, as the kids get fed up looking at the same pictures, I can easily stitch up some different ones. Win - win!




You could incorporate whatever you wanted into a chart like this for kids, maybe using the embroidered badges as reminders of chores or routines in the household. I would love to see if anyone makes one and please let me know if you do!

This is another check off my finish-a-long list with Quilter in the Gap.

We might have very well behaved children this weekend, what with the novelty of the chart and the joy of Advent calenders.

I'm also planning on going to the Portable North Pole again this year so I can make a couple of free videos for them both from Santa. If you have young children you really have to take a look at this, it's just brilliant! Oh and don't be afraid to say they've been naughty, Santa is very kind and tells them there's still time to behave. It is really well made and so nice that it is free (obviously you can buy them or buy other merchandise but you don't have to!). Off to decide whether mine have been good or bad!

Linking up:


at the wonderfully creative Making Rebecca Lynne this week
(go see her gorgeous Liberty scarf and I personally love that wallpaper!)

and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts


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