Baby Quilt in progress

I'm so excited. My older brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first child in May. I've started a baby quilt as a gift. It's a string quilt set in a diamond pattern. I used all fabrics from my stash. I'm so glad to use up all my brights! I even have enough fabric for the back in my stash. Stash busting, yea! (Although it hardly makes a dent. Still every little bit helps.) I still need to make more blocks and sew the top together - I took a break when my son was home from college over the holidays. I lost my sewing room as it reverted back to his bedroom. Now that he is back at school I can set up my machine and get going again. I thought you might like to see the progress. I've got a March 1 deadline to get the top done as it then gets sent out to be machine quilted. Sounds like enough time, but I'm notorious for 1/2 finishing quilting projects. This is a baby quilt - not a toddler quilt!

Its Craft Time - T-Shirt Tote

I have a quick and easy craft for you today. Oh and cheap, we can't forget cheap. I've been wanting to do this one for several weeks. It took me longer to get out my sewing machine and thread the needled than to make this project.

Anyway, take a t-shirt. Here I used my Team Hope NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health - look them up its a great organization) 2009 5k team walk t-shirt. Cut off the arms, but on the outside of the arm hole stitching - so you leave the seam in place. This just reinforces the hole. I used my pinking shears because I thought it looked cute. You can use regular scissors if you want.

Then you want to cut a larger circle hole through the front and back necklines. Use a mixing bowl and create a template, you want it longer/deeper rather than wider so the handles don't get too thin. The deeper the circle the longer the handles of the tote are. With mine, I did something a little different. I wanted to preserve the lettering so I cut a deeper circle on the front - down to just above the lettering. On the back I cut a shallower hole to keep that lettering intact. You can customize your cutting to fit your t-shirt.

Turn your shirt inside out and stitch a line about an inch from the bottom all the way across, back tacking at both ends. Turn right side in and now you have a fabulous tote!

I'm going to use mine going back and forth to the YMCA. This way I get to use a t-shirt that has a lot of meaning for me, but I'm too stylish (ha) to be wearing it around. I also have a pink t-shirt to make a tote to keep as an extra bag in my car for when I forget to bring along a shopping bag.

I think kids would love having their own tote made from one of their t-shirts! And if you wanted to jazz things up you could freezer paper stencil on it or cut a strip from the bottom of the t-shirt before you sew it and use it to make fabric flowers and decorate the tote.

Stylishly modeled by my son, "This isn't like going to be all over the Internet is it?"
If only my readership were that great.

Silhouette Pillows

For a prior Christmas I made my dachshund owning and loving Brother and Sister-in-law and Father and Step-Mother a set of these pillows. I saw them in a magazine and they were $95 for the set (plus tax and shipping!). I new I could make them way cheaper. I found a picture, enlarged it, and printed it out. I traced it onto fusible web and fused it onto the felt, cut it out and fused it onto pillows I made. I probably spent $15 for the set (mostly for the pillow forms). They were a BIG hit. I trying to come up with an idea for this Christmas that will be so well received.

Felt Tissue Holder

I'm one of those women who cry at just about anything - happy, sad, sentimental, etc. I'm sensitive and feel things deeply. This is not a trait I'm really happy having. The sensitive thing yes - the crying no. I always carry a hanky but it doesn't stand up to my waterworks and is soon useless. So I carry a little package of tissues with me always. But they are boring looking, so I made this little holder for my purse.

I liked it so much I made a second one for my tote bag!

They are just some felt, pinking scissors, a sewing machine (although you could hand stitch it) and a little hot glue to hold the heart on. I think they look really cute! Oh it cost me $1.00 for two new packs of tissues, I had the felt and glue on hand.

Business Card Holder

I have these cute calling cards that I had made up. They come in very handy when meeting new people and giving them my contact information. Or when I'm talking about my blog to someone and they want to go check it out. My problem has been that I just had them shoved into my wallet. When I would dig them out, all my other wallet items were displayed. I knew I could do better.

I saw a couple tutorials on how to make business card holders here and here. I used the tutorials as a jumping off point and added a 3rd fabric for more color and ended up with this:

I was worried that the cards would fall out and spill all over my purse. Or that I would need some velcro to hold it closed. Although a velcro dot might still be useful. But the fit is snug and they aren't going anywhere. The project was simple and quick. It took me longer to get my sewing stuff out and set up on the dining room table then it did to sew the holder! I just love that fabric color combination.

The project was basically free. The fabrics were scraps from my stash and the interfacing from another project. I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

Linking up to some of these great parties!

It's Craft Time - Burlap and Freezer Paper Stencil Coasters

This is another project I made weeks ago when my friend Alison was visiting. She did the sewing and I did the stenciling.

First make sure when you purchase burlap that it is cut on the straight of grain. With mine, the lady at Joanns just cut it and I wasn't paying attention. When I brought it home and trued it up I lost almost a 1/3 yard of fabric.

Cut a burlap square for each coaster you want to make. Mine are 5" square. Cut one square of craft felt 1/4" smaller than the burlap square.  Use pinking sheers and cut the edges so they have a nicer appearance. Center a piece of felt on a burlap square. Stitch 1/8"  in  from the edge of the felt all the way around the coaster. Hand sew a running stitch using colored floss on your sewn line. I lightly frayed the edges of my coaster by pulling out a burlap thread or two on each side.

For the stencil, find an image you like. My experiment piece was a retro starburst flower type of design. It looked great but took me longer to cut out with an exacto knife than I was willing to spend. Once I had the freezer paper stencil process down I used an image of a bird that was much quicker to cut out with a pair of scissors. Use your computer software to size your picture to what you need. I used Photoshop, but you can use whatever drawing / painting program you have and are comfortable with. Print the picture and hold it up to the coaster to double check your size.

Transfer the picture to the dull side of your freezer paper. I found it easiest to tape my picture to my window put up a piece of freezer paper with the shiny side toward the window and trace on the dull side. Trace as many images as you have coasters. Each stencil can only be used once. Make sure you leave plenty of room around each image as you will be cutting out the image and need the "frame" around it left intact.

Iron the cut out stencil (shiny side down) onto the coaster. It only takes a second or two to adhere with a hot iron. You can also eye ball and iron on any pieces which were not attached to your stencil. I had the piece between the birds legs and the branch to iron down. Paint within the stencil with your choice of regular craft paint. Paint with a pouncing motion instead of a sweeping motion. Let the paint dry for 5 minutes or so and peel off the freezer paper stencil. Let the paint dry completely before using the coaster.

With the bird coasters, I stenciled first and Alison sewed when they were done. With my second set of coasters, Alison had already sewn the coaster and then I stenciled. Both sequences worked fine.

Linking up to these wonderful parties!

It's Craft Time - Kitchen Erase Board

I've been wanting either a chalkboard or a white erase board in my kitchen. I thought the chalkboard would be dusty and worried about grease and I thought standard white erase boards are ugly. What to do, what to do. Why I made my own dry erase board, of course! It was easy peasy and pretty thrifty.

I started with a beautiful picture in a gorgeous frame that for some unexplained reason was drastically clearanced at Joann Fabrics to the princely sum of $9.99 (and of course I then used my 40% off coupon). It was very pretty with multiple levels of mat adding a lot of depth and a fantastic gold and silver with a little black flecked wide frame. For my purposes I only cared about the frame, and it was nice and big and just the perfect size for my 24 inches of  free wall space in my kitchen. I was a little worried. I had seen similar projects in blogland and they always use frames with glass and mine was plastic. Turned out my dry erase markers work just fine on plastic. (Yes, you just write on the glass/plastic. Like magic - it's a dry erase board!)

I picked out some great fabric at a quilt store. I wanted something with a subtle pattern but was still neutral enough to fit into my kitchen. Most importantly it had to be easy to read what was written on the front. I thought about burlap, but wanted something different. I bought more fabric than I needed for the project (hmmm.... Freudian slip?) and don't remember what the fabric cost - but lets just call it $4 for the fabric. It's in the ballpark. Oh! Don't forget to iron your fabric.

So now the easy part. I took the paper on the back of the frame off and pried up the little tabs that held the one piece picture and mat in. I then wrapped the cardboard back of the picture with fabric. Except like a dork I first wrapped the picture side and couldn't figure out how I would stop the pictures from showing through the fabric. Just a little brain fog. I flipped the picture over and wrapped the BACK cardboard side with fabric and taped it on the FRONT of the picture. Much better. I used just regular packing tape, but duct tape would also work if it was handy. You just need it to hold until you get the frame reassembled.

We're now on the kitchen floor. I move around a lot when crafting since space is limited. Wash the plastic (or glass) and put the picture back together.

Ta-da! The fabric print is really subtle in these pictures. It shows up a bit more in person. It looks beautiful with my milk chocolate walls, stainless steel appliances and cherry and black cabinets. Too bad I can't get that into the picture. My kitchen is small and my back was up against the opposite wall as I took this picture.

Total cost $10-ish (I'm getting better at remembering to take pictures. Now I need to remember to save my receipts). Except for the fabric shopping (which was really fun) I think it took me longer to iron the fabric the it did to make the project -- 15 minutes tops even with my little taping mix-up.

It's Craft Time - Architectural Letter Name

My friend was talking about her friend and how she received her last name in framed architectural letters as a gift. Both friends just loved it and thought it was the neatest thing. I told friend 1 (OK, It's Alison. Again. My Creative Cohort.) that I could easily make one for her. You see, she was going to spend big $$ and order one from where the other friend had received hers. I can create that project in under $10 dollars, Bob. And off I went. (In case you can't tell, the letters spell out BOWMAN).

I first started at my store of choice, Dollar Tree. There I picked up 6 carved bronze-ish 4"x6" frames for yes, you guessed it $6. The bronze-ish color coordinates beautifully with other accents in Alison's bedroom where these are to be hung. No need to even paint them! And unless you look really hard, you can't tell these are cheap plastic frames. Nobody will be looking that closely at the frames, they will be awestruck by the architectural letters inside.

Next I scoured the interweb for architectural letters. They were easy to find, but watch for copyrights. Larger file sizes were better for increasing in size to 4"x6" than small images which became out of focus and blurry. So in Photoshop I cropped and enlarged the letter to 4"x6".

At first I had them in black and white. I thought the graphic nature of the letter would look good that way. It was also a way to make them all look more cohesive. They looked awful in the bronze-ish frame. I was crushed. What to do, what to do. After a little Google action I had the answer. Change the letter from black and white to a sepia tone. I had no idea how to do this (I was please I managed to get them black and white). This is where my friend Google came in with this awesome tutorial here. Well "here" should be a clickable link to the wonderful, simple tutorial I used. But I can no longer find my link so you will also have to Google it.

Here you can see the difference. The black and white is on the left and the sepia toned one is on the right. The difference is kind of subtle but made a world of difference in the frames.

So the project was easy and fairly quick. Find the letter (took the longest - I couldn't find an "N" that I liked), open the file in Photoshop (I'm sure you could use some other software, this is just what I had) and size and crop to 4"x6". Why 4"x6"? Because that is the size of the large stash of photo paper I had on hand. (Watch Staples for wonderful deals. I think I paid $1 (after rebate) for each package of 100 sheets). Change to sepia tone, print, insert in frame. I think it probably took 2 hours total, including my Google time.

Project cost was $6.60 for the frames and $.06 for the paper. So for $6.66 I was able to create a personalized gift for a dear friend and save her big $$. If any of my other dear friends (Valerie) wants one just let me know.

Linking up to these great party's.

It's Craft Time - Twine and PVC Pipe Napkin Ring

Ah, the twinification of things continue. I made these handsome napkin rings out of jute twine, a 1.25" x 2.25" piece of PVC pipe (it was some sort of connector so I didn't have to cut anything), hot glue, a button frame, and a scrap of fabric. They are the same diameter as toilet paper tubes but mine are longer and thicker than other napkin rings I've seen. I wanted a beefier ring for a more modern appearance. I figure they cost about $1 each to make.

jute twine cost $2.24 a ball (will only need one)
PVC connectors were $.55 each
hot glue on hand
button cover frames on clearance down to $.25 for 3
small scrap of fabric on hand

I could have made them even cheaper if I used a toilet paper roll instead of the PVC pipe. I think I've spoken about how my china cabinet is crammed packed with linens. I was afraid the TP tube would get smushed. And these aren't hard to make, but I wasn't going to make them twice because one was squashed. It took about 15 minutes to make one. And another 15 minutes to figure out the best way to get a scrap of fabric in the glued on frame and looking nice (make a template of the frame ... ah ha!)

Directions are simple. Put a dollop of hot glue on the inside of the ring. Wrap the twine around a couple times in the glue so it sticks. I found it helpful if I had a long tail sticking outside of the tube and held it tightly so that the twine stuck into the glue without me having to touch it and burn my fingers. I then cut the tail off inside the tube when the glue cooled. Continue wrapping and wrapping, keeping the twine in neat lines and from overlapping. Push the twine together every so often so it's tightly wrapped. I also found it helpful to not have an extremely long piece of twine to wrap with. It was quicker to wrap a shorter length and glue it every so often then continue to pull through a long piece. When the tube was completely wrapped I glued down the end and left a tail again to pull the twine tight. I cut the tail off inside the tube when the glue was cool.

I then glued the small frame to the tube. I made a template of the frame and cut a small piece of fabric and put it in from the front. This way the fabric can be changed out as I like. I can even put a small paper monogram inside.

I have one down and 9 more to go. This is definitely an in front of the TV project. My only problem is that I don't really watch TV (or own a TV for that matter). So maybe it will be an in the morning sipping my coffee in my bathrobe type of project.

Oh, one last thing. Don't use hot glue on your brand new, very cute, vinyl tablecloth. Bad things happen. Why do I always use newspaper after the fact instead of before?!

What have you wrapped in twine?

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It's Craft Time - Bath Mat Pillow

So I had this white shaggy bath mat that I purchased for our bathroom. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was way too small. As I was folding it to put it in the bag to return it, I noticed how cute it looked, almost the size of a pillow. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.... Why not make it into a pillow? I loved the fluffy texture (I have this thing about texture). And I have been wanting some "summer" looking pillows. A match made in heaven.

But what to use as a pillow form? I didn't have any spare ones laying around, especially a rectangle. And then I remembered this guy, shoved into the back of the linen closet. My taste had changed and it no longer worked for me. I unzipped the cover and wrapped the bath mat around it to see if it would fit. It was a little snug, but I thought I could make it work.

This project had to be easy. I wasn't going to cut the mat to fit a special pillow form. If needed, I would have purchased some of that craft filling stuff and used that.

It was easy enough to whip stitch the ends right sides together. Then I turned it right side out and shoved the pillow form in. Oh oh, the length was OK, but the width was tight, very tight. I had to pull the edges of the pillow closed and shove the form in as I stitched. My hands cramped up and I had to stop every few inches and rest them.

My super bright son was watching me struggle and suggested I use a binder clip to hold the pillow edges together while sewed. It worked like a charm and made the rest of the end go so much easier. A binder clip - who would have thunk it?

I was crafting at night again and had to use a flash so the pictures aren't stellar. My project cost $6.99 for the bath mat and I had the pillow form already. I know, kind of expensive for my craft projects, isn't it? I'm usually well under $3. I think it was worth the splurge.

I like my pillow. It's very plump and shaggy and very summery looking. It makes me wonder what else I can make out of a bath mat? Wouldn't a stuffed bunny rabbit look cute or a cat or lamb? I think some catnip mice for my cat Starbuck would be much appreciated. I couldn't keep her away from the pillow as I stitched.

Have you used a bath mat for something other than as a mat? What else do you think can be done with one?

Linking up to these fabulous parties.

Easy Curtains and Bedskirt

As part of my ongoing makeover of my friends Bruce and Alison's master  bedroom, we updated their window valences and bedskirt. Read more about the makeover here.

The old window treatments were made by Alison and were quite pretty. They matched one of Alison's quilts and were very effective at blocking light. Part of the makeover goal was to lighten up the room and make it more neutral so that her quilts could be switched out and still coordinate with the other fabrics in the room.

The new window treatments are made from burlap and have a brown velvet ribbon woven through the bottom. They let in a lot more light but still provide privacy. Aren't they pretty?!

The treatments were easy to make. Create a rod pocket on top wide enough for your curtain rod. Hem all the edges. Or if you cut the burlap right, you can use the salvage edge for the bottom and forgo the hem. For the ribbon treatment, Alison measured up from the bottom and pulled the horizontal threads out of the burlap until it was the width of the ribbon. Then she put a safety pin on the end and wove the brown ribbon through the remaining vertical threads.

I thought we would have to count the vertical threads to ensure the weave was even. Alison gave it a go and eyeballed it and it turned out great. She is much looser in her decorating than I am. I would have counted and tripled the time to make it! If you need more detailed instructions on how to make the window valance, let me know.

Now I don't have a before picture of the bedskirt. It was a sage green, coordinated with the handmade quilt and had split corners for a footboard. Very basic.

To make the new skirt take the old bedskirt apart. You want to remove the ruffle part and keep the decking part (the part that sits over the box springs). We reused the decking and sewed the new skirt to it. If you wanted to save the removal part, you could just use an old fitted sheet.

The new bedskirt is a simple strip of burlap the length of the decking to the floor. Alison cut it so that the salvaged edges are the bottom of the skirt, so she didn't have to hem it. Sew burlap strips together to fit the width around the bed minus where the headboard. Sew this long strip to the decking. Alison's came out great and fit perfectly the first time around. If you need more detailed instructions on how to make a bedskirt just let me know.

We spent $8 for 4 yards of burlap (with a 40% off coupon) and $8 for two spools of velvet ribbon. The existing bedskirt was free.

For under $20 and a little time at the sewing machine, you can update your windows and bedskirt. Quick, easy and cheap - how I like all my projects. Alison is a great seamstress, but anybody who can sew a semi-straight line can make these.

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