Archive for the ‘Crafts’ Category

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Gifts, Painting and Puzzle Organizing

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Here’s a blanket I made for my cousin’s baby shower. I’ll be making more of these for all the babies happening in the coming months – they’re super easy and so soft (not the babies, the blankets…well babies are soft…I digress). I just sandwiched a piece of fleece between pieces of printed flannel and solid cotton. After sewing them all together, turning out and stitching again all around, I randomly stitched through the layers with yarn to hold everything in place. (Of course, this is a photo of it all folded and tied up with yarn for wrapping.)

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…and here’s the Nikki McClure print I’m giving Kyle for doing all the manual labor around the house while you’re gone (Dave)… I think he’s really going to like it.

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Here the girls are, painting. They look great when they paint, don’t you think?

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And now the girls are out of bed trying to convince me they’re suddenly scared of the dark and it’s not even dark outside yet…barely 9:00pm – geez. Olive’s telling me she’s scared of bumble bees. …convincing…

And finally…the most exciting thing of all. In preparation for the big cross county move, I’m streamlining some things around the house. Puzzles. I love them, but those stupid boxes take up so much space. It’s like a bag of chips – mostly air. Here’s what I did with the kids’ puzzles:

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I cut the picture out of the box lid and put that and the pieces all in a zip lock. Now they take up like a millionth of the space. Nice.

Posted in Crafts, Gifts, Kids, Miscellaneous, Organizing | 2 Comments »

Sewing Calendar, Part VII

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

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So I am way behind with the sewing calendar, but I have not given up, no sir. I made the March 1 project (Recycled Bath Mat by Kristen Couse of cakehousedesign.com) before my trip and was finally able to get some photos today in the sunshine. I put it on the bathroom floor today for the girls so it hasn’t actually been used yet…we’ll see how it does.

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This was pretty easy and I think it’s cute. I just used two old hand towels. I didn’t sew the individual strips, so I may do that after the first wash if necessary; again, we’ll see…

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…and I love this Alexander Henry fish print.

I’m back in the swing of the calendar I think. This is the only project I skipped between this one and the last.

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Posted in Crafts, Sewing Calendar Projects | 3 Comments »

Pillows for the girls…

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

I made the girls new pillow cases. Ramona loves hers. Olive hates hers.

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I finally had a good use for the tiny pompom trim I got when we went to Portland and I figured the girls would be all over them…I was only half right.

Here’s Ramona loving hers…

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Here’s Olive’s on a shelf in the closet where it lives. It’s not even allowed to be in her room…

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…she hates it that much.

Posted in Crafts, Kids | No Comments »

Here’s the gift we gave Amber…

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

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So, this is mostly for Dave since he’s all the way on the other coast and was not able to experience in person the gift giving preparatory ritual we are both used to me putting him through that involves a lot of him looking and watching and nodding and smiling and approving and praising and complimenting me on my creativity and gift giving talent.

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It was kind of hard for me to part with this one because I really liked everything in it (even the Vegan cookbook because it looked like there were some things in there that might actually taste good); and only like three things in the basket were things I already have. And I REALLY want that orange basket (it was the last one Amber, so you have to know by now that I really do love you (if you didn’t already)).

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Two things in there I made myself. I crocheted this market bag. And, these everyday cotton napkins. Some very awesome Kaffe Fasset prints in there and possibly even an Alexander Henry…not sure. One even matches a skirt I just made myself so now I can eat at their house and my napkin will be completely camouflaged in my outfit. Rad.

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Posted in Crafts, Gifts | 2 Comments »

2010 Sewing Calendar, Part VI

Monday, April 19th, 2010

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I took a HUGE break from the 2010 Sewing Calendar, but here is the latest (I’m way behind)… I decided to make an ice pack cozy instead of a pacifier pouch (since we don’t use those anymore) for this project:

February 22: Pacifier Pouch by Jana P. Nielson at lolaagain.blogspot.com

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I simply made a rectangle about 7 inches by I forgot…should really write these things down (12 or 13 inches maybe); with two fabrics, right sides together and then turned out and topstitched all the way around. I folded one end up to form a pouch and sewed the sides; adhered some velcro with the iron and ta-da!

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I’m pretty sure that’s my head in all the pictures, but I couldn’t get rid of it with the amount of effort I was willing to put in at the time.

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I made four matching ones for daycare and now I think we need two for our house…and probably every kid needs one.

On a related note, I stopped buying those gel ice packs for the kids because someone (I won’t name names) always bites it and makes it leak that weird blue ooze. Now, I just keep the girls’ old teething rings in the freezer and they use those. Or we make our own in a zip lock bag with rubbing alcohol and water (equal parts). That’s kind of fun because they can draw on the bags first with sharpies. Of course, those don’t last long at our house and eventually we’re back to the teething rings. Daycare uses hard lunch box ice packs like the one above. Either way, it’s always nice to have something just the right size to put it in.

Posted in Crafts, Kids, Sewing Calendar Projects | No Comments »

Little bags, crocheted Easter baskets, and moving

Friday, April 16th, 2010

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I nearly forgot how to post, it’s been so long… Right around my last post, Dave accepted a new job and we had about three weeks or so to get him moved to D.C. That’s right, D.C…as in Washington D.C. Well, the D.C. area anyway. My east coast geography is general at best, so that’s how I’m referring to it for now. So, needless to say, we were very busy in that time and immediately following his departure, the girls and I headed to Ellensburg for some Easter r & r. Of course, eventually, the three of us will be moving out there too, but we’re taking our time. I may even document the whole move process since it will be so drawn out…

Anyway, if you’re wondering what the photo is above, it’s some super cute Alexander Henry fabric (Alexander Henry is by far my favorite, just so you know) that I made a little bag out of the other night. The girls needed to have some “just in case” clothes at school, so they each got a new little bag, specifically for that purpose. Here are some pictures of the process.

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Unfortunately that neat green fabric that I wanted to use for the lining of the black bag turned out not to be large enough. Darn. I went with light blue with white dots instead. I used some ticking just for fun and lined both bags. I love using twill tape for bag handles on small, light bags. It’s quick and easy. I think I’m finally mastering the correct method of lining bags from the inside out, which is a nice change from the way I used to do it (a really stupid way).

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I messed up a little on that one. See, on the upper left corner…oops

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My favorite. Of course this is a perfect example of me rushing through a project instead of doing careful planning. I totally would have run the ticking stripes vertically if I’d been thinking about it. That’s part of doing a project the night before I want to use it – not smart.

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On another note, here are way too many pictures of the tiny Easter baskets I crocheted…I was really just LOVING my camera here. And I dyed some wooden eggs with food coloring (thanks to a fellow garage saler) which was an interesting experience. Again, not well planned.

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Posted in Crafts, Gifts, Holiday | 2 Comments »

Easter (Trick-or-Treat) Basket How-To

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

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These are the trick-or-treat baskets that I was going to recover for Halloween, but never got around to it. I decided I’d do one for Easter instead. These are really crappy instructions, mostly because I made it up as I went along at my normal, break-neck, instant gratification speed, but it’s pretty easy and a nice way to reuse those cheapo Halloween baskets. I’m planning to do two more for the girls for trick-or-treating this year. I also took about half the number photos I really needed to. My bad.

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Here’s what I started with

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First, I removed the cover from the basket, without ruining it.

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Then, I opened up all the darts on the cover so it would lay flat, but I left the side seems in tact and laid it out on my Easter fabric to use as the pattern

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Then I cut a double layer of fabric just a little bigger all around the pattern and sewed the two layers right sides together, up each side, leaving the top and bottom open.

I pinned the pattern to the fabric to get an idea of where to sew the darts.

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Then, I sewed a bunch of darts around the bottom like this.

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I just eyeballed it and did one centered between each side seem and then one each centered between each seem and dart, so there were eight seems/darts total.

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I put the wire frame of the basket inside the new cover to see if I was close

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Then, I hand-stitched a small circle of fabric to the bottom of the new cover to fill the hole.

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After that, I put the frame back in and folded the top edge down a couple of times until it met up fairly close to the top of the frame, but still stuck up a little higher and pinned the top edge in place.

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I folded another long piece of fabric into a handle and sewed that onto the top edge in two places

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Then I put the frame back inside and stitched the frame to the cover in four or five places around the top and I was finished.

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Posted in Crafts, Holiday, How-To's | 2 Comments »

New Bag, New Book

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Some funny things the girls said recently:

Olive was “making her letters” the other day; scribbling in her notebook and asking me what’s what’s…
Me: That’s a double you, Olive.
Olive: Yeah, double me!

Mona asked me where her “sweaty pants” were. (I think she meant sweat pants. She also wears her “cracky” pants with her school polo for field trips.)

Oh yeah, and apparently there is a witch with horns in their bedroom on a regular basis around bedtime……shadow of a wiener dog with sort of perky (well, half perky, half my spirit’s been killed by two toddlers over time, perky) ears, perhaps?

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Got some new stuff…

I had a certain gift card to a certain store and got this. I’m a little hooked on Vera.

I just received this new book in the mail and LOVE it.

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Check it out.

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The photos are GREAT.

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The instructions seem clear.

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The projects are practical.

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And the materials are neat.

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I am totally going to make everything in it. Maybe. Probably not. I’ll keep you posted.

Posted in Crafts, Kids, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Kid Cape How-To

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

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This is my third kid cape. I made these two for the girls for this last Christmas. Kid capes are super easy and fast to make. Here goes…

First, you’ll need a half yard of fabric, about two yards of ric rac, a scrap of felt, thread, and Velcro.

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Take your fabric

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Fold it in half so the fold is on the short side

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Cut it in half along the fold

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Place the two pieces right sides together

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Fold both pieces in half so the fold is on the long side

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Cut a piece out of all layers, like this

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Unfold the fabric so that you have two pieces, right sides together again. The curved notch you cut is for the neck of the kid.

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Cut out the kid’s first initial from a piece of felt (I cut two because I didn’t know what case to do – I decided on the big one)

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Then, pin the letter to the right side of one of the fabric pieces. It should be fairly centered.

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Sew the letter onto the fabric

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Now’s the time to adhere the fastener to the cape, according to the package directions (I got the iron-on kind).

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be sure to place a hook fastener piece on the corner of the top fabric piece,

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and a loop fastener piece on the opposite corner of the bottom fabric piece

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Place both of the fabric pieces together, with right sides facing and begin to pin the ric rac around three sides of the cape (not the notch side) by slipping the ric rac between the two pieces of fabric, along the edge

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Begin and end the ric rac on each upper corner of the cape like this, so the ric rac sticks out of the cape a little

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Sew the two fabric pieces together around all sides to form the cape, but leave a gap a few inches long at the center of the neck part of the notched area (this is where you’ll turn the whole thing right side out after sewing – the photo shows it already turned right side out)

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And there it is – a kid cape

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Posted in Crafts, Gifts, How-To's, Kids | No Comments »

Sewing Expo Goodies…

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

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Hayla and I went to this and it was awesome. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from the event…

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But, I did take some photos as I was fondling all my stuff when I made it back home.

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So much fabric, oil cloth, trim, beads, buttons and more…

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And it was my first all-day walking event that I wore my new boots. They are surprisingly comfortable; however, I’d never worn them more than a couple of hours, or just at work all day. They were fabulous and real attention getters. If my feet weren’t twice the size of Hayla’s, she would have pushed me down and taken them. I know because she told me so.

BTW, Olive used 18 napkins to cover her “baby”. Awesome.

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Then she assisted me with some ribbon…

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Posted in Crafts, Kids | No Comments »

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