Something Special Sunday--pin cushion

I love this little pin cushion one of my sister-in-laws made for me.  She gave it to me a few years ago for Christmas, but it was sitting begging me to take its picture the other day while I was sewing.  I love well thought out gifts and I use this one all the time.

With Love to Mom--place mats

Here is a little sneak peak to part of my mom's birthday gift.  I haven't mailed the gift yet so hopefully she doesn't come on here, but she knows I can't keep a secret so she will understand. :)
When I was in college I decided I was going to make a quilt.  I bought all the cloth and slowly started cutting squares.  Well, 6 years later, my fabric container had 3 finished squares and a bunch of uncut fabric from that quilt.  I decided that I was never going to finish the quilt and tried to think about how I could use the fabric.   The colors of the fabric are a perfect match to my mom's dining room and style so I decided to make her a table runner using the finished squares and extra cloth. Then I made 4 place mats to match the runner.

Today I am only sharing the place mats. I am hoping to have a post with the whole set in a few days.  It is just so hard to photograph!

These are very simple to make.
1. Cut 2 pieces 20" x 14.5"  (I used 2 different colors, but you don't have to)
2. Cut piece of batting also 20" x 14.5"
3. Pin the layers--batting on the bottom, fabric #1 facing right side up, and fabric #2 facing right side down.
4. Sew with 3/8" seam.  Be sure to leave a few inches not sewn so you can turn the fabric right side out.
5. Turn the place mats right side out.
6.  Iron
7.  Topstitch around at about 1/8" (this closes the few inches you left open before).
8.  I also topstitched a second line about an inch in.

Click HERE to see great blog parties I link to.

No pattern brown shirt

A few weeks ago I tried out making my own shirt (not upcycling) from knit fabric.  I didn't take pictures along the way, because I was experimenting and ended up doing a bunch of seam ripping along the way.   I didn't use a pattern, I just took a shirt that fits me well and laid it on the fabric and used it as a pattern.   Most of the shirt went smoothly, but the neck was supposed to be gathered and that caused a little bit of trouble.  I think I ripped the seams out of the neckline 2 times if not 3.   But now I am very happy with it and proud of myself for sticking with it!

This picture makes the shirt look pretty plain, but I really like how it turned out.

Trying to get a shot of the little bit of gathering (it has separate gathering at the front, on both sleeves, and the back)

Click HERE to see blog parties I link to.

Halfway with nothing to show

I have been working on a bunch of projects all at the same time, but I have nothing to show for it yet.  A few of the things I finished are gifts and will have to wait for sharing and the others are all half finished :)   I can show you one of the projects I am in the middle of...

A friend gave me this table with 4 chairs saying she had seen my office chair makeover and knew I could give the table and chairs the little bit of love they needed to fix them up.  The white on the table is the backing of a table cloth.  The table was stored in a garage and I think the heat made the varnish sticky (very sticky, let me tell you!) and the table cloth stuck to it.  I spent most of yesterday trying to get the varnish off the top.

I will share more later when I am finished--the plan is to leave the top looking like wood and paint the legs black.  I have seen this look more and more recently and I love it.

After working on the table all day I treated myself to an Italian Beef Sandwhich from Portillos--Yum!   This is a Chicago based chain, but I heard that the owner vacationed to CA, and loved it here so he built a Portillo's out here too.  I don't know if that is true, but I am so glad I can get my fill of Italian beef without having to fly to Chicago every time. :)

A look back at my very first tutorial

I was perusing blogs this weekend when I came across this blog.  The blog first of all caught my eye because the blog is having a giveaway (check it out!), but I also really like that the blogger has a feature called "Sunday Favorites," where every Sunday she posts an old blog post of her own that she likes.  What a fun idea!  I have so many posts that I look back and laugh at or have forgotten I even wrote.   I decided to join in and share this blog post from November of 2008--my very first tutorial.  I know you can hardly call it a tutorial, but I was so proud of myself when I wrote it. :)


Cowgirl Carrie and a Tutorial
A few weekends ago I went out with a group of friends and did some country line dancing...well I attempted to anyways. I think that the only dance I am good at is the electric slide, which actually goes well with quite a few country songs! I don't know what part of the brain makes a person able to pick up dance moves, but mine is underdeveloped whatever it is. I can follow along if I watch long enough, but if I am next to a person who is dancing fancy moves it messes me up for the whole song--so I spent quite a few songs on the sidelines trying to figure out the moves. It was a blast though!

When looking through the Rubber Romance stamps at eP I saw a great cowgirl named "Carrie" that I knew would be perfect for cards for my country loving friends. So here is what I came up with.

This card was pretty easy to make, but took quite a bit of time. I know the picture really doesn't show it, but the shirt, arm, cowboy hat, and boots are all paper pieced on. To make the wall I masked Carrie,sponged So Saffron and stamped Weathered. I sponged the floor and drew in hard wood flooring.

The photo corners are a fun little addition and very easy to make. Since I am borrowing a friend's camera for the day I thought I would do my first tutorial to show you how to make them. (click on any "how to" picture to enlarge)

Photo Corner Tutorial

Step 1: Cut a piece of cardstock 2" x 2"

Step 2: Cut the square piece in half from corner to corner. This gives you the two pieces that will be your two photo corners.

Step 3: Take corner A and fold it to meet corner C.

Step 4: Take corner B and fold it to meet corner C.

Step 5: Take your scissors to cut across from corner to corner (you will cut off corners A, B, and C by doing this)

Step 6: Flip pieces over and wrap around any corner.



Linking to Sunday Favorites at Happy to Design

Snuggly Baby Blanket

     It seems to be baby season again so I have been making many baby shower gifts.  Here is a simple baby blanket 36 x 36 (well mine is 34 x 36 because of a stubborn corner that wouldn't lay right, long, frustrating story :) ).  I wanted the blanket to be 2 layers, but I thought that living in CA two layers of flannel might be too much, so I went with flannel and cotton.   The animal side is flannel and the blue polka dots side is cotton.  A couple of burp rags to match will be coming soon. :)

     To make this blanket all you need to do is measure out 2 pieces of cloth 36" x 36"   Lay them RIGHT sides together and sew around the outside with a 5/8 in seam.  Sew all but about 4" so that you can flip the blanket right side out.  After you flip the blanket you sew the 4" gap and keep going all around the outside and about 3/8".  

My problem came in because the flannel was stretchy and the cotton wasn't--so if you use 2 different fabrics be sure they match up perfectly and use a lot of pins to hold it. :)

Click here to see blog parties I link to.