Winter Wreath

Here is the winter yarn wreath I finished last night. I used dark gray yarn on a styrofoam wreath form and several different wintery accents that I bought at Michael's for 60% off. I love the little cardinal. The lace was some that Mom had given me a few months ago. I really like how it turned out! I wanted to do something that was more versatile than just Christmas, so this will last until at least February. I know the photo isn't the best (it was on my phone at around 10 PM last night).

#craftingfail

Here is my latest creation that I was so proud of. I think it turned out beautifully. My son had taken an extremely long nap one day and I had time to roll up all the rosettes and pin them on (I had previously wrapped the wreath and it took me three nights to do it because I double-wrapped it) and get it hung up. Isn't it lovely? Yeah, I'm pretty humble. :-/

I hung it on our front door temporarily with a shower suction-cup hook thingie. I don't have a real wreath hanger and just wanted to see what it looked like for the time-being. I kept it up and called my mom and dad to come over to look at it and play with LMW.

We were playing outside and Dad said, "Something just fell in the house and broke." I thought, "Oh, the wreath fell but it couldn't have broken. It's styrofoam protected by yarn." I looked inside and sure enough, it was in the floor broken in three places.

Talk about heart-broken. I haven't had the gumption to tape it up/glue it back together and re-wrap it. I don't know if my heart can take it.

Jewelry Holder

I've seen neat little home made jewelry holders all over the blog world, and wanted to make one for myself. I just didn't know how I wanted to go about it.

Low and behold, my mother-in-law gave me two drawers from an old sewing maching cabinet.

I didn't know I wanted to make jewelry holders out of them for several days. Then a bolt of lightening hit me out of the clear blue sky I had an idea. They would make great necklace holders hanging beside my dresser. And I could get rid of the huge ugly jewelry box I've been using.

Soo, I got busy with scrapbook paper and modge podge.....
I cut the paper to fit the inside of the drawer, then painted a coat of the modge podge on the bottom of the drawer. I laid the paper inside, then gave it a coat of modge podge as well.

I intended to use cup hooks for the hangers, but the bottom/backs of the drawers were too thin and flimsy. I purchased instead, some small peel and stick hangers. They worked great and were only $.97 for 9.  I will need to buy another package, so I can add a few more to the second box, but all in all, this project will cost me all of $2.00.

Tummy Time Mat

Doctors these days suggest laying infants on their back while sleeping, to prevent SIDS. When I was raising my children, the norm was to lay them on their stomach, to keep them from choking if they spit up. Times change. But, doctors also want little ones to spend waking time on their tummy, to strengthen their neck muscles, and this is very important to Little Man with his torticollis.

                                    

There are cute little Tummy Time Mats at the local Walmart and such and LeLe purchased one for our W. I looked at it and figured I could make one for Nanna’s house and got to work.

Step 1: Making the patterns

I used my trusty leftover wrapping paper to create two patterns. One for the mat itself and one for the little pillow that raises LMW up. The mat is shaped like a very fat hot dog and is approximately 25 x 35. In this photo, the pattern is halved, and you cut on the fold.

The pillow is shaped more like a thin kidney bean. It is approximately 21 x 8.
(I have food on my mind….)

Step 2: Cutting out

I used one yard of printed flannel for the top and one yard of coordinating fabric for the bottom of the mat. I intended using the same fabric, but miscalculated and just used something I already had in my stash for the bottom. I cut one each out of the two fabrics.
I used two layers of batting, because I wanted it to be cushy. You could use one and it would probably be fine and probably easier to deal with as well. One of the packages of crib sized batting was the perfect size for two layers. I also used the pattern to cut that to size.

Taking a solid color coordinating fabric, different than the bottom fabric, I cut two pillow shapes out. It will be stuffed with fiberfill.

Step 3: Assembling the mat

I layered first the bottom fabric right side down, the batting, then the top fabric right side up and pinned them all together, smoothing everything as much as possible and making sure there were no folds or wrinkles.

I stitched all three layers about ¾ of an inch from the edge, all the way around. I then took the pattern and using a water soluble pencil (watercolor) I traced another line about 2 ½ inches or more inside the original stitching line. I stitched that all the way around as well, to secure the batting a bit more. You could quilt it, if you wanted, but I wanted to leave it as soft and cushy as possible.

I trimmed the excess batting from the edge to the stitch line, and then made cuts all the way around the edge for fraying. This is much much easier than trying to bind it and it looks great.

I wanted to be able to roll it up to go, so I decided to use more of the bottom fabric to create ties. I created them by cutting a long strip of fabric about 3 inches wide, folded it wrong side out, and stitching down the open side creating a tube.

I turned the tube right side out by attaching a safety pin to the end, and running it back through on the inside. I pressed it, then cut it in the middle making two ties.

I placed them together, right side down onto the second stitching line, on the bottom of the mat, and sewed across, then folded them back over and stitched again hiding the raw edge.

I finished the edges by turning the raw edge inside and stitching across. Now your mat is finished.

Step 4: Assembling the pillow

Lay the two kidney shaped pieces right sides together and pin. Starting on the outside edge, stitch around the edge with a normal seam allowance. Leave a 4 inch opening to turn it right side out. After turning, press, and stuff with fiberfill. Don’t overstuff, as you want it soft and comfortable for baby. Turn the raw edges inside, pin and sew a small seam close to the edge to close the pillow up.

The store purchased pillows have rattles and teething rings attached to them, but I didn’t have any available for this first endeavor. Still I believe it turned out great and I’m happy with it. I can roll the pillow up inside the mat, tied it and put it away when LMW is not here.

Finished:

All ready for Tummy Time!

Rolled up to put away for his next visit to Nanna's.

I hope I've explained everything clearly. If you have any questions, please post them and I'll edit the tutorial as much as possible to clear things up.

Purse Organizer

I couldn't stand it. I had to make something to go inside my purse that would keep all the clutter from settling at the bottom. I admit it--I'm addicted. When I'm not sewing, I'm planning my next project. *sigh*

Anyway, I found this tutorial today and just had to do it. Was really easy. I love it. Yes, those are tampons.

I've had so many people ask me if I'm taking orders yet. I don't know when I'm going to start because I still feel like I'm not as good as I should be. And I have no idea what to charge for stuff.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Per Your Request

I made this bag last night. Several of you knew I was doing it and asked me to post pictures. So, here they are. The pattern is from Simplicity New Look (#6574) and is the bag in the bottom left corner.


I have the hardest time reading patterns. The instructions seem to me as if they don't match the diagrams. And what they call the different sides always sound the same. I couldn't figure out which side was the bag front, the front facing, the bag back, and bag back facing. It all sounds the same to me!!! And what seems to take the longest with me is cutting, pinning, and figuring out the instructions. I spent FIVE hours on this bag last night. It should have taken maybe an hour and a half but I kept having to read Step 4 over and over and over.

The material I used is from a Waverly Home top sheet that I no longer have use for. I have always loved the pretty pattern of the material and decided that I wouldn't be wasting it if I created some "practice" projects. I had some white fabric that I used for the liner. The pattern said to use the same material inside and out, but I like contrasting liner fabric and therefore used the white. The thread I have is kind of crappy. I don't know why but it seemed very fragile. I did have to use the seam ripper more times than I care to admit and it made it easy to take the thread out, but I don't know how well it will hold up.

Finished bag

I had a problem with the stitching on the handle because I had to sew it together on the inside and by the time I turned the bag right side out, I realized there was a problem but didn't feel like going back because I had already had enough problems. Does anyone know of a way to fix this?

The inside lining.

I think it's so cute! I just wish the handle was stitched better. Oh, and for some reason the front side of one of the handles and the back side of the same handle didn't end up the same width; so, they don't exactly match up. Oh, well. I guess it gives it character.