Owl Needlebook and Chickadee needlebook

So I participated in a needlebook swap and I had so many fun ideas I feel like there are still more I want to make!  Now I'm not a huge owl fan - in fact I am not a bird fan at all.  I can appreciate the cuteness of some of the fabrics out there - but in person I would prefer not to be too close to birds.  (My husband thinks I had some traumatic avian incident the memory of which I have blocked from my childhood)  At any rate this really caught my eye while I was seeking inspiration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowjar/408474686/in/photostream/

So I made one based on it - very similar.  I figure you need a needlebook for quilting and sewing and then a different one for embroidery, right?  And possibly some more for...pins?  and...other stuff??  

And closed:

This chickadee needlebook was made for a swap:


My first attempt at embroidery.  I've been messing around lately trying some stitches but this would be my first project from pattern to product!


The pattern can be found here


And these are the little clay pins I made to keep the inside cheery!


Forgot to take a pic of the pieced back - it was a slightly wonky log cabin sort of thing.  I was hoping for very wonky but I cut too straight!  

Purse for a present

I made this for my husband's stepfather's daughter.  (Step-sister in law?) for Christmas.  She loved it and wore it the whole evening!   I used this great tutorial http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/06/basic-messenger-bag.html.


Inside pocket:


Front of bag:


Back of bag and pocket:


It was my first purse and I pretty much made it out of desperation that she wouldn't like the cowl and wrist-warmers I had crocheted (but she did!) 

Inexpensive, personalized Christmas presents for the masses!

Our daughter is the first grandchild on both sides.  Both my husband and I have parents who are divorced and remarried.  Thus my daughter has four SETS of grandparents and two sets of great-grandparents, and three aunts.

So for Christmas every year I have made ornaments with her photo on them in one way or another.  This year I was hoping for something different but still easy enough to be mass produced!  We decided to make photo coasters since it seemed relatively simple and would make a great gift.  It also met the most important criteria - CHEAP!    

There are loads of tutorials out there for this but it's pretty self explanatory once you have the materials.  We bought a box of 100 white 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 bathroom tiles from home depot for $16 (we only used 60 and could return the rest if we were so motivated), some Satin finish polyurethane (the small container was more than enough) $6, 60 photos (10 sets of 6) from King Soopers @ $.10 a print $6.  We had Mod Podge, paint brushes, a paper cutter, and plastic for the table.  I bought baskets from the dollar store for each set ($10).  The cost of the tiles was $.47 each so for a set of six with a $1 basket it was under $4.00 each set.  The look on their faces when they opened it?  Priceless.  

Enough talk - on to the pics!

You've got to love a craft that a three year old can help with!






Husband asked, "This stuff dries clear, right?"


Yup.


And ready for wrapping:

Emergent Sewing Curriculum

I've been working a lot on Christmas gifts around here and some of them involve hand sewing.  My 3 year old daughter, Ariel, has been watching with interest.  Yesterday she found my secret stash of buttons and claimed a handful for herself.  I think she was wondering if she could get away with it when I asked her if she wanted to sew those buttons onto something.  She was really excited and sat with the project until we discussed that some of those buttons would make excellent plates for her dollhouse!

I didn't take any in process photos because I didn't want to spoil the moment, and by the time she was done she was way too involved in the doll house to look proud and kept giving me "cheesy grins."  Anyways I wanted to share it with my crafty's! 



And they made pretty good plates but they fell off the table so easily that she became frustrated quickly.  



It was a lot of fun!  I look forward to years of sharing craftiness together!!!

As it turns out...

I'm not that great at sewing.  I've made a few quilts but it seems that putting other things together is beyond me!  At any rate I made a nook cover using these two tutorials:

For putting the squares together:
http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=1398

For the nook cover itself:
http://wherethewildthingscraft.blogspot.com/2010/03/nook-cover-tutorial.html

SO rather than tell you all of the many things that I did wrong, fixed, did wrong in a new and different way, sort of fixed...well you get the idea - I'm going to just show you the pics of the finished product.  I'm pretty happy with it but it would be hard not to be happy with something made from that fabric line!!!


Closed:



Open:



Outside:



Inside:



So thanks for looking my crafty friends!
Emily

Free plant labels!

I had an idea that I thought was pretty clever (this happens all the time) and this one turned out to actually work (extremely rare occurrence). I planted lots of seedlings but didn't want to spend any money on plant labels because I am a very "thrifty" person. I've been saving these juice containers for ages and we have filled them with markers, played with them in the tub, and used them to collect dust on the kitchen counter. When I saw them sitting there I thought those would make the perfect free plant labels!

Materials needed:
Plastic juice container
Scissors
Fine tipped permanent marker




First you cut a line down the plastic juice container from the top to the circle bottom.




Continue cutting along the bottom until you have cut the circle out. What you have left will look like this:




Some people would cut the strips a specific width but I am not those people:




Label your stick in writing legible only to you and a few select pharmacists:




Since my seedlings are still growing (and yes, it's awfully late in the year for starting seeds but the first round failed miserably) I'm using these alongside them until it's time to pot or plant:





And there you have it! Free plant labels.

Triangle border for pinwheel quilt

I'm working on a quilt for my almost three-year-old daughter. I've been taking precut triangles with me as I travel for work and sewing away on airplanes and during meetings. I'm finishing putting it together with my machine.

I wanted to create a border, and as I was going I thought of a quick way to put it together which I will share right here!

Using a white Bella solid I cut 6 inch strips which I then cut into 6 inch squares. I sliced each square in half to create the triangles I needed. We'll call this the "background fabric."

I chose how I wanted the patterned fabrics to come together and laid them out in order as seen here:

Now choose your first patterned triangle and grab one background piece and put them together so you know which way to sew like this:

Put your right sides together (if you have them - the white one doesn't) and sew along the edge shown next to the scissors:

Like this:

OK - Here comes the tricky bit so get ready! Once you get to the corner don't pick up your presser foot.

Now slip another patterned piece under the top triangle right side up. Lift your presser foot up and try to match the bottom corner first and then ease it up to match at the top corner. You might have to lift your needle to get it just right. That's no problem, you're a renegade quilter after all!

This little tip is worth noting - when you turn the corner anchor your stitch by sewing forward two stitches and then back two stitches. If you don't anchor then you end up with corners like this:

Then go ahead and start sewing down the side like this:

Now when you get to the corner grab another background triangle from your stack and match it to the corner to make a square, anchor your corner, and sew on down the side.

As you go it will look like this:

And spread out a bit:

Once you have sewn your row you can start on the next one or head over to the iron. We're going to go ahead and iron so you can peek at how it goes.

First set your seams by pressing the hot iron on them for just a second. I laid mine out like this:

Then go ahead and trim those pointy corners now - it's going to make ironing them much easier!

Now I typically iron my seams to the dark side (join me in the dark side...) ahem. These are much less bulky and come together nicely ironing the seams each back to their own side.

Once you've finished go ahead and put them on your quilt (I'll post another tutorial on that later).