Pond/Ice Play Mat

J, my youngest, has a great affection for animals. While in the states, I bought her several of those "animal tubes" from the toy store such as farm animals and zoo animals. She loves them. When we arrived here, I was searching the Internet for an easy project (as usual) and found a picture of a play mat that another mother made for her children. The idea was so cute and looked easy enough without a pattern. Sorry, I couldn't find the link again so, in respect of the original creator, I won't post the picture but I will share my pictures. I lucked out when shopping for fabric for some Christmas projects last year, I found some felt. I was told by some others living here that felt couldn't be found here so imagine my surprise. The felt can be alittle pricey at about 10 TL a meter but most projects can be made with half meter. I learned how to say "half meter" quickly and came home with several great colors. I drew a simple pattern of the play mat on paper and used to to trace around the brown felt for the pond. I sewed a light brown bank, blue water, and green lily pads. Now, the one way I changed the original idea is that I made it reversible. On the other side, I made an ice play mat for her penguins and polar animals. I also found a simple pattern for a cave and made caves for both sides of the play mat. By making it reversible, the stitches were hidden from view which gave it a clean look. I think it turned out cute and now J has a reversible play mat for her variety of animals. And I still had a good amount of felt left over for other projects which will be posted later. I guess I could have added a picture with the animals but I couldn't get them pried away from J's hands.