Quick Project, Long Coupla Weeks

It's been a long couple of weeks. Not in a bad way, but in a really busy way. Last week, my dad broke his ankle. Because my mother works, he needed someone to take him to the Orthopedic Surgeon and then help out a little. So last week, we did. Of course, I still had home things to do, so it was busier than normal.

This week, he doesn't need our help (or doesn't want to put us out and won't ask--I can't tell the difference), and so we've been home. We were bombarded with 100+ degree weather yesterday and Monday, so not much has gotten done around the house--it was just too hot to function. Then last night we lost the electric for a few hours, and I couldn't get home (Literally, but that's a story for another day).

So, busy, busy. Tomorrow my daughter has field day at her school, and Friday we have an assembly there--where she will get an award (SHHH!! Big secret, I am told--the principal called me directly to tell me--I wonder what it will be)! It's very exciting.

In the midst of all the busy-ness, I did manage to get back into my studio. It was nice, because I haven't set foot in it for-um-2 months. I've been outside. But as it was 100-odd degrees, I wasn't going outside, so I went to my studio instead. And I did a cute project. Here they are:

They are the pleated tote pattern from Artsy-Crafty Babe. The link for the tutorial is here, you just have to scroll down the page a little. This is a super-quick project that is really like instant gratification, and they come out so well! I really enjoyed making them.

Well, that's it for me. I think I'll go back into my studio today. Have a great one, everybody!

A Thrifting I Did Go!

Yes, I admit it. I am a thrift-shop addict. I keep myself in check by not going near them as much as possible, because as soon as I am near one, I just cannot help myself. In I go and stuff I buy. Like I need more stuff.

This is an obsession that neither my mother nor my husband understands. My mother is strictly of the belief that if someone is getting rid of it, it's garbage and not something to be coveted. "Why would you want something someone has thrown out?", she's asked me many times. The only time I think she's gone against this particular mantra was when she went through an Ebay addiction phase a few years back. The object of her desire at the time was enamelware. She was crazy!! She bought up piece after piece. She owns a number of beauties--and even gave me a piece, which I love. But this was the extent of the thrifting on her part. I haven't ever known her to go into a thrift store, and anytime I've extended the invitation, she politely declines.

My husband is of similar ilk, but less vocal about it. Instead of asking why I'd want something someone threw out, he gets quiet when I mention thrift stores and that I'd been in them. Just really quiet. Which usually means he doesn't agree, but doesn't want to start a fight. He's a smart man.

Me, though, I'm hopeless. I love them. Come on, what's not to love?? Where else can you find stuff that people had kicking around for years that you can't find in stores because it's not being made?? And then get it for not a whole lot of money? A thrift store, that's where!! It's the way to go. And I do like digging through the 70's retro chic stuff to find the treasures. Doesn't bother me in the least. It's like a hunt where nothing gets killed. Win-win all the way.

Anywho, my diatribe is because I caved today and went thrifting. I have been wanting to make sweater pillow covers for the pillows in the family room, and spending a lot of money on sweaters I'm about to chop up makes no sense whatsoever. So, where do I go?? The thrift store, of course!! Woo hoo!! Fun, fun!!
Anyway, I bought a few, as you can see. I needed 4 sweaters for the pillows, and a couple more just followed me home because they had an interesting texture to them. I have to say that the store was chock-full of sweaters. And the colors were just something to see. I resisted quite a few that were colors that would not have worked in the room, but after I got home I thought about possibly going back to get them to make blankets out of. Hmmmm..... I think I may. Some of those colors were just TOO irresistible. A feast for the eyes, no joke.

When I got home, I looked on the net to see if there was some information about making pillows out of sweaters, just in case there was something I didn't know that I needed to. I didn't find much information, but I could buy a video all about it for only $19.95, if I wanted to!! Er....no. So, being the savvy sewing-lady I am, I just did it myself. And I thought I'd share with you how to do it, in case you thought about this yourself. It's super-simple. Here are my instructions. I hope they make sense!

Sweater Pillows with Envelope Backs

1. Go and buy sweaters. Or go in your closet and find sweaters. It matters not. Just make sure they are big enough to cover your pillow. If they are not, you can seam them together (I had to do this with the yellow one you see below). However, the seam is going to be super-obvious on a plain weave, monochrome sweater. It's not obvious on a sweater with cables and braidy-design thingers on it. So if it's a plain weave monochrome that's too small, put it down and walk away. Or find a smaller pillow to cover. Whatever works for you. I would think that you could seam a plain weave striped sweater and have it be less noticeable, but just be aware that the seam will keep some bulk no matter what, so the seam will stand out a bit. Those cable-braidy things really do help. Plus they look cool too.

2. Go and buy backing material if you're making pillow covers you can remove and wash. If you are just covering the pillows and they can stay covered forever (you have no kids or pets to make them dirty, or you just like to have a lot of pillows), then you wouldn't need this. Also, if you have a small enough pillow, you can probably back it with the rest of the sweater you're using for the front. However, sweaters are bulky. And folding them over to make an envelope back will make a bulky blump on the back of your pillow. So, I don't know if I'd recommend that. I used flannel for the backs of the pillows I made, which is still soft and nice, but doesn't make a blump at the seam. Cotton homespun would be just as soft and also be non-blumping. It's up to you!!

3. Ok, this is where it gets faster. Determine where your pillow needs to be on the sweater so that you have enough to cover it. For example, can you center the pillow on the sweater and have enough for a seam allowance? Does the neck get in the way? If it's a V-neck, you may need to use the back of the sweater instead of the front. Figure that out now.






4. Cut off the arms of the sweater.








5. Cut off the neck of the sweater.







6. Cut along the side seams to separate the sweater halves. Cut off the bottom band as well. Measure your pillow and determine how much more you need to cut off of the sweater to get the correct size piece for your pillow (plus your seam allowance--don't forget to add that in).

For example, if your pillow is 20 inches square, and you want to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance, you would need to cut a 21 inch square to properly cover your pillow. Do that now. Once you've got this, leave it alone and work on the back.




7. Cut two pieces of backing fabric. Their width should be the width of your pillow+seam allowance (so, going back to the example above, it should be 21 inches wide) and the length should be half of your pillow's length+3 inches (again referring to the example, it should be 13 inches--20 divided by 2 plus 3). The three inches are for the fold to finish the edge of the envelope, plus overlap. It's a generous number, but more overlap on the back is better than not enough.






8. Fold over one side of your backing piece 1/2 an inch. Press and then fold it over again another 1/2 inch so that the raw edge is inside the folds.







9. Sew down your folded-over edge, and then press it again.








10. With right sides together (very important), and one of the backing pieces overlapping the other, position the backing on the sweater piece for the front. Get the center seam straight and the overlapping part even. Here I hadn't gotten it straightened out just yet. I had to fiddle with it a bit.






11. Once the backing is straight on the front and overlapping nicely, pin it! Use big pins. I started with silk pins because I like them, but they were just lost in the weave of the sweater. It's better to use a bigger pin with a big head so you can see them.






12. Sew the backing onto the front, using your predetermined seam allowance. After it's sewn together, remove the pins (if you didn't already), and then trim the seam if it's not even all the way around. Cut the corners on the diagonal, if you'd like to make them a little crisper (it will only make them a little crisper--the sweater material is bulky and rounds the corner naturally).






13. Turn the cover right side out and stuff your pillow into it. Viola!! A sweater-covered pillow!!









And the back!











A whole pile of sweater-covered pillows!! So pretty!








I hope that all made sense! If it didn't, please let me know and I'll fix it. Enjoy your thrifted sweaters, everyone!!

Show and Tell

Ok, I had a few minutes and the camera was charged, so I thought I'd share with you pictures of what I've been up to. Are you ready??? On your mark... get set... GO!!

First, I made two little "holders" for the tools I use next to my sewing machine. One tool is a small pair of embroidery scissors I use as thread snips, and the other is a seam ripper. They are small, and were a pain to pick up from off the table, and if I put them in a container I'd have to feel around for them. Honestly, I don't like to search for my tools, I like to reach and get them and use them when I need to. So, I was, for a while, sticking them into the tops of old, empty thread spools. This works really well, but it's not particularly attractive. So I dressed the spools up a bit. Now they are cute little bits of frou! I used some pieces of felt, little bits of trims and lace, and a couple rhinestones (just because that pink one seemed to need them). The tools are upright and easy to grasp and right within reach whenever I need them. So, if you have little tools that you use, dressing up an empty thread spool will do the trick. Just be sure you make the hole in the top again, if you cover it. Also, I would suggest putting a piece of cardboard under whatever the spool sits on, just for extra stability. These work really well!!

I also pressed that blue silk cross stitch piece I had finished while I was sick back in December.

Oooooh, flat!!

And I finished a second silk piece, this one with a pinkish silk on Dirty linen. The silk is also that Soie de Paris. So pretty!!

I made an apron for Christmas. It's a Butterick pattern, and I really like it. I finished it on the 23rd--right under the "deadline".

Sorry that it's not a picture ON a person. I put it on for my daughter to take a picture of, but she kept taking a picture of my feet--or half the apron--or the picture was completely crooked. Oh well. She's still learning.

I made a pincushion for my ginormous glass head pins that I use only occasionally but still need a pincushion for. I was keeping them in a drawer in a container, but when I did need them, I had to fish for them, and that's a pain (Did I mention I like to have my tools close at hand all the time?? I may have...).


I like it because it looks like an ottoman, and because it's flat, pulling the pins out and putting them back in is a piece of cake. I can do it without looking, because it doesn't roll away or move like the tomato pin cushions sometimes do. Also, it's large enough to accomodate the pins without being too crowded. Plus, it's got cute stacked buttons in the middle. How can you go wrong??

I also finished and then hung the little shelf I've had for over my cutting table. It took me...um... a while (ahem) to get around to it, but it's done (yeay) and now my space is clear. I put my pens and pencils, marking tools, and cutting tools on it. Before that, they were all over the table and always in the way. I used old cache pots to put the things in. The white one is mine, and the green ones were found in the house.

Found? Yep, found. Back when we moved into this house, we found a bunch of things "hidden" in the attic and the basement that I think were left by the original owners (which is interesting, since we are the third owners of this house. What were the people we bought the house from doing?? Not looking in the attic and basement, I guess). They left 4 hubcaps for an Oldsmobile (very helpful if I owned one), a bunch of 70's curtain rods (ugh), and these odd 70's flower pots that were "hidden" in the basement on top of the wall. Being as though I am a staunch recycler/reuser, I couldn't throw them out. I thought about it, because they are SO 70's, but I just couldn't do it. So I thought I'd use them in my studio instead. They've come in very handy, and don't look as 70's as they did (well, mostly--that polka dot one is still screaming 70's retro chic to me). Then when the top of the shelf was full, I thought the pegs looked naked, so I made this little crazy quilted little heart (which I really like)to hang on one of them.

Whew! I think that catches us up a bit. Thanks so much for looking, everyone! Have the greatest day!

Hello again!

How was every one's Thanksgiving and weekend? I hope all was good with everyone!

As promised, I am back, and I brought pictures! Thanksgiving was very nice here, and my daughter's birthday was a big success. I really think she had a good time. I think my son enjoyed it too, because though he didn't get to open the presents, he did get to hand them to my daughter to open, and that seemed to make him happy. So, a good time was had all around. She had asked for two things for her birthday: roller skates and My Little Pony. She has loved My Little Pony for 3 years now. I think she has 80 some-odd of them, though I haven't counted. All I know is that they are all in a BIG plastic tubby, which is pretty much full. Plus, of course, she has all the accessories. (Well, maybe not ALL the accessories, but quite a lot.) Unfortunately, though, Ponies have pretty much run their course in the US and are pretty hard to find anymore. So I think that it will be a fairly pony-less Christmas and definitely this was the last Pony birthday. I am surprised it lasted as long as it did, though. She started to love them when she was 3 and still loves them at 6. It's not often a little kid will stick with something that long. I know my kids are quick to grow in and out of "phases". This one stuck. Ah, Ponies, you are too good. Thank you for the three Pony birthdays in a row and all the pony "stuff" I trip over in her room. Thank you for all the mind-numbing Pony movies with shrieky pony singers and the nearly mind-numbing Pony books I've read over and over and over. We love you, Ponies. You are good clean fun for a child with a fabulous imagination.

As for the roller skates, I don't know why she wanted them, except that Curious George had them on one of the shows (yes, we are PBS kids here) and she thought they looked cool. I guess they must have made more of an impression than I thought. So she got roller skates and a helmet and knee and elbow pads (thanks Mema and Papa) and spent quite a while outside with Daddy and me skating and falling down. She loved it. It was great. And today was nice and mild, so it was a great day for skating. Maybe she'll get another couple days that are just as nice before Winter settles in completely. I've got my fingers crossed!

On the other front, I finished a present for the daughter of a friend of mine. She is 11, and I was worried what I made would not be "cool enough". Kids can be so hard to impress, especially at that age. However, I learned from my friend that her daughter is very into sewing right now, so I thought maybe I'd be safe. Turns out she loves it. It's --yeah--another kitty. This one is a patchwork kitty made of Amy Butler fabrics. It was a charm pack I had bought last year to see if any of it would work in my family room--none of it did. So I made it into a table runner top and left it at that. I pulled it back out and decided I really didn't want another table runner, and thought that this might be the best way to use the fabrics. I think she's adorable. She was plenty "busy" with all the fabrics alone, but I "blinged" her up a bit, because with kids that age, more is more and less is not enough. And actually, I think she's just right. And it was kind of hard to give her away. But I did. Brave woman, I am. :)

I also finished a present for my daughter, which I gave to her yesterday. She was less than impressed. The Ponies were really the thing she was looking for. I am not upset, though. She's only 6, and I know one day she will appreciate it. Plus, I really like the way it turned out. You might remember it from when I finished it, back in October. Man, that's been sitting around a while. Oops. Well, now it is done and in her hands. It's another thing I can cross off my list.

And one more picture for you--the apron. I am VERY happy with it. I have to see if I can reproduce it, so that's going to be a bit tricky ('cause I didn't write anything down), but I think it came out great.

It takes not too much fabric, and is fairly easy to sew. The double ruffle is cute, I think. I used the leftover ruffle to make the flower. In the back, I left a long tail because I like a big bow made out of a lot of fabric. It really looks like a dress bottom to me, which is what I like about it. I had made a pocket for it, but it kind of interrupted the "flow" of the front, so I took it off. It's always a learning process. The other thing I learned about this is that I need a dressmaker dummy. I ran back and forth from my studio to my bedroom mirror 10,000 times playing with those pleats up top. I had to change the number of them I don't even know how many times, and the direction of them nearly as many times again. What a pain. If I had a dummy, I could have just worked on it then and there. Of course, how to justify that purchase when I don't really make clothing is tricky...... hmmm...... I dunno. Maybe I could just say I want to make aprons, and this will make it easier? I DO really like aprons. Yeah, we'll see if that goes over with my husband. Maybe. :)

Oh, and you may have noticed I've removed the little "doll" from the side of my blog. I'm trying to add a picture of ME there. Not that I can't figure it out, but I'm trying to find a picture that makes me look nice and not either A) annoyed or B) insane and still has my hair looking pretty good (difficult to do with curls) and me having makeup on. Seems silly, right? But being a stay at home mom, I'm all about the "putting my hair in a pony tail and no makeup because who cares it's me and two kids in a house" kind of thing. And then when I get dressed up, it's for a party, and generally, I'm manning the camera. It's just not working out right now. I will get it, though.

Until next time, everyone take care. Have a great night!

Update

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since my last post. I have been so busy! This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. So, without further ado, this is what I've been up to....

Nahnah nah nahnah nah nahnah....

Nahnah nah nahnah nah nahnah....

CAT BED!!!

CAT BED!!!!

(If that whole intro didn't work for you, try putting it to the Batman theme song in your head. It works and makes the whole thing so much more exciting!) The cats had taken to lying on anything they could find on the floor--the kids' coats, a quilt, whatever. I have no idea why, because we have 3 perfectly good couches, but no, they were on the floor. So I took pity and made them a bed. They sort of use it. I still found Sam on my son's pajamas this morning, and the bed was otherwise unoccupied, so who knows what cats are thinking?? I made it big enough for both of them to sleep on, but I have only seen them sleep on it one at a time. They seem to like it. It matches nothing in the house, but I don't care because I really like it! I LOVE toile! I LOVE black and white! And what goes so well with black and white?? RED! And do I have any black, white and red anywhere in the house?? NO! But I still like it. If anything, it matches the cats themselves. Oh, they are SO fashionable!

I also finished requilting my boo-boo quilt. I am very pleased with it now, though it may be an oops. Percy is modeling it for me here. He's so helpful. The echo quilting gave it the most delightful nubbly texture. It is a delight to feel. I will have to remember the technique for another quilt that I don't mess up. Only downside I can see is that it takes a lot of time, and it leaves a trillion thread-ends. Don't like those thread-ends. Blech. Not at all. Oh well. Now that it's done, I need to give it a name. I was thinking "Dammit", but then I figure that will be awkward when my daughter learns to read (which she almost can already). How do you tell her not to say the word then it's written on a quilt? Yeah, exactly. So I've settled for "It's a Mistake", after the Men at Work song. Great song, that one. I think that's what I'll go with.

That quilt broke my rule about not using the same fabric line for one quilt. I usually like to mix and match lines, because if you just pull one line, it's kind of like cheating. You KNOW the fabrics are going to go together, where's the challenge? But I loved the fabric, so I couldn't help it. It's the Fall Back in Time line from Moda and Sandy Gervais. It is so cool and funky, I couldn't help myself. I've only broken this rule three times now, and I think---yes--each time it's been for a Moda line. Damn you Moda!! Ah, just kidding. Keep coming up with the beautiful fabbies. I will try to resist the easy way out.

Let's see, what else? I puttered in my studio yesterday and cleaned/reorganized it. I am so proud of myself. I re-did my categories of fabrics, hopefully for the last time. I can't guarantee it, though. I am a real stickler for categories. And then I'll get a fabric or two that doesn't fit the categories I have, and I'll have to make a new one, and then rethink all the old ones, and so on. Anyway, I cleaned it up, rearranged, reorganized, and so on, and then pulled fabrics for two new quilts. Aren't they pretty?? I think so.

I am TOTALLY wanting to dive into one of these two piles, roll around in them for a little while, and then get serious and make a quilt out of them. But I can't. I have 4 quilt tops ready to be quilted and I'm sick of looking at them. So my deal with myself is no new quilts until one of the waiting tops is done and off my ladder (where I hang the pending projects). Yeah, good luck with that. I don't think I can resist long. I don't mind the quilting, but I LOVE the piecing. Something about fondling fabrics. I don't know. It's probably an illness or something treatable. Fabric rehab, anyone? Not me. I don't ever want to be cured.

And in final news, it's snowing. I'm not really used to the weather up here just yet. On LI, it took forever for fall to come, but then it lasted a while. But here, it goes from summer to WINTER like that. It seems like fall is sort of 3 weeks in between. And it smells different. I don't know how, maybe it's the type of trees. On LI, there are a lot of Oaks. Here there are a lot of Maples. The leaves on the Maples are so much prettier than the Oaks, but they smell different. It takes getting used to, at least for me.

Again, thanks for visiting me! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Houston, we have cats...

Oh, ok, these are not the cats I meant. But, aren't they cute anyway?? The black and white is Samwise (Sam), and the black one is Percival (Percy). They are our fairly newly adopted kitties from the local animal shelter. They are brothers and love/hate each other. Here, you see the love part. When they "hate" each other, they are a very fast moving blur of black/black/white I can't take a picture of because they are just playing too hard. But they are always around one another. They are almost never found apart. They are too funny.

But I digress. These are the cats I was talking about.

Are they not cute as well? I think they are HILARIOUS. If you'll remember, I bought the pattern a little while ago. It was just for the cats themselves and I think a little Christmas something or other getup. Well, it's not Christmas, so I -um- improvised a bit. And opened up a Pandora's Box, I have to say. Not only do I have a TRILLION ideas for these little guys, but anyone who's seen one, wants one. It's insane. I think I have 10 requests for them right now. It's crazy. I think they are great. And I can't stop myself from wanting to make more of all different types, different holidays, different situations and such. It's wild, really it is. I guess I'm going to give in and just make more. I have too many ideas for them not to be made. So, stay tuned. There will be others. That is a promise.

Thank you all for your kind comments on the pumpkins. I truly appreciate it. And thank you also for visiting my blog! It's great to see you all here!

Pumpkins and Comments

So, still plugging away at Three for Tea for my daugher. It's been slow going, so there's nothing more to post--for now. Just more pink. I am hoping to make AMAZING progress on it all of a sudden and then put something up to show all of you. That hasn't happened yet, but I'm working on it. That's the truth. There will be progress pictures in the future, I promise!

I have been sewing again. This cold weather makes me want to go up into my studio and stay there all day. Come to think of it, that's what I did yesterday. I stayed there all--day--long (pauses are in between for dramatic emphasis). Yes, I enjoyed it. A whole lot, as a matter of fact. And I was pretty productive, too. I pumpkined in a big way. I went pumpkin crazy, as a matter of fact. Here's the proof!!

Ok, why so many pumpkins, you may ask? Well, if you'll recall I had a bit of bad stashing a little while back, when my $10 presser foot turned into $60 of fabric and presser foot. Very evil. I felt very bad about it, and I was determined not to hoard my fabric like I normally would, putting it on my shelves and just fondling it from time to time. So, I guess to work off my guilt, I decided to be productive about it and use it for what it was intended for--pumpkins. I could not find a suitable pattern for these things, let me tell you. I looked on the internet, in pattern books, etc, but none were making me happy. So I made the pattern up. First I made the small pumpkin pattern (which I posted the other day all by its lonesome self), and I was happy with it. It actually looked quite large-until I put it in place. And then it was too small. So, back to the drawing board. I made a larger one-better, but still, maybe it could be bigger?? So I made a bigger one, which was definitely big enough (I know this because my 3 year old son used it as a soccer ball before throwing it at his sister. Very helpful.). So, three sizes. And I had enough fabric to make a couple of the mediums and a few of the smalls, so I did. And I still have a little fabric left over to fondle. I am a happy girl!

I also worked on those cats from that McCalls pattern I bought at the JoAnn's when I was supposed to be buying costume fabric for my daughter. I got two of them worked up, but they're not totally done. I will post them soon, though. They are very cute!

About comments on this blog: Here I am thinking, gosh, this blog is so quiet, am I writing to myself? But Cheryl let me know that my comments weren't turned on. And I was wondering why I never got any! Geez, go me! Aren't I clever? Anway, I have (hopefully) turned them on at this point, so comment away! I'd love to hear what you have to say. And thank you very much Cheryl. I appreciate your letting me know. I had not figured out why it wasn't working. I am also very glad you are feeling better. Colds are no fun at all. Thank you also for your words. You are too kind!

I hope you all have a great day! Thank you for stopping to read my blog. I always appreciate it!