Ottomans Part Three!

Remember these beauties Candace recovered a few years ago?

Well 4 boys later.....she was ready to toss them in her house purge she did over Christmas.
Of course I was more than happy to be her charitable recipient.

I found some really cute and super thick quality upholstrey material at Home Fabrics for about $20.  It's a gorgeous houndstooth pattern that is almost a taupe/dark grey color on a creamy white.  An hour later I now have these!

I didn't try to make a pattern from her old material~I just measured each of the sides so every thing would be a crisp square.

One thing I did do was seam around a square piece to cover the bottom.  I hate that black cloth that most furniture pieces have on the bottom~besides where do you find that stuff and why does it rip so easy?

This was super easy and makes the ottomans look even more finished.

What do you think?

Phoebe

Callie

Now if they survive these two kittens.....that's another story.  

Yes, I'm feeling like an animal hoarder.  This is what happens when your daughter baby sits the neighbors cat who also happens to be pregnant....and then she baby sits the kittens......it was bound to happen.  They were her birthday present and I told her "these are the last pets we will ever have while she lives under our roof."  And yes, those are Build A Bear outfits~they fit little real kitties too!

Halloween Afterglow

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
We wanted to share a couple of glimpses of our fun day with you!
I finally got my daughter's costume done~with an enormous amount of help from my dear Mother.
My Dad asked on Tuesday night (the second night of an all day sewing marathon) if it was all worth it.....

When we came back to Trick or Treat and he could see the deliriously happy daughter of mine prancing around like a diva in her Cleopatra costume...oh yes, it was sooooo worth it!  I barely finished gluing on over 500 jewels before having to race to pick up pizza for her school party since I ran out of time to do all the cute ideas I found on Pinterest.  Oh well, for not even having time to shower yesterday~I was quite popular at the school when I walked in with those pizza boxes!

Candace's boys had fun again at Zurchers putting together fun costumes but they were in such a hurry to run off to trick or treat in the warm weather that she didn't get any great pictures to share!

***Great product tip***
Candace told me to try Beacon's 3-1 Advance Craft Glue to glue on all the jewels for Cleo's costume.  All I can say is it's AWESOME!!!!  Quick grab like a hot glue gun but with less mess and great adhesion for all the rhinestones.  It is a must have from now on for all craft projects!  You'll love it!

Best highlight of the day was peeking through Facebook last night to see all my friends post pictures or their cute kids.  I love seeing what everyone dresses up as but even more I enjoy seeing how much fun my friends have with their kids.  Hope your Halloween was great!

Quilting with Birch Fabrics

Birch Fabrics was kind enough to send us some very cute 100% organic cotton fabric to play around with!

I take absolutely NO credit for making this quilt.  I roped my mother-in-law, Kathleen, who is a master quilter- to create a wall hanging quilt with the Birch fabrics. She was too kind to give in! The original plan was for her to teach me how to make a simple quilt, but when she saw the adorable whimsical printed fabric, she was excited to create her own with her own unique style.  I was happy to let her take the lead, she is so very talented. We couldn't wait to see what she would come up with.

Kathleen is an incredible creative quilter, she loves to go beyond the traditional. She has been involved in an art quilt group for years that encourages the members to be expressive with fabric and not use patterns. I love taking a peek in her sewing room to see what she is up to. Our family has been blessed to receive so many of her beautiful quilts.

Kathleen used the Commute and Mod Basics fabric line 

from Birch Fabrics to create the quilt. 

"Birch Fabrics was created in an effort to provide an environmentally friendly cotton alternative to the quilting and crafting community. Is produced from 100% organic cotton, and printed with low impact dyes. Birch fabrics, mixes retro style with whimsical juvenile accents that lend themselves perfectly to nursery bedding, while still being sophisticated enough for pillows on your sofa, or curtains in your craft room."

What a great idea to use organic fabrics, especially if you are sewing for a baby's room, or children.

Kathleen used a free form rotary cutting method to piece the quilt. The Commute fabric is filled with bicycles, airplanes and buildings. She envisioned curves similar to roads, rivers and  trails that one would travel on. The free form method is the perfect way to quilt the curves.  

When you free form cut with a rotary tool, there's no pattern, just whatever your imagination and free hand can come up with.  As seen in the picture below, you first place BOTH right sides up, overlapping about 1/2 inch.  Then you cut to create the curves. She then used the first piece as a pattern to create the next piece, and so on...building as you go. Then you just stand back and see what you need next. The more contrast you have- the more interesting it is.  Add contrast with color and pattern.  Kathleen encourages you to do it the way you want to, and not follow the traditional rules. Be expressive! 

Next, she took the matching seams and sewed them together.

Sew right sides together with a 1/8th inch seam.  

When she was finished piecing the top, she squared it up on the sides.
For batting, Kathleen used 80 percent cotton / 20 percent polyester Hobb's heirloom batting.
She then machine quilted each fabric section with curved lines, circles, and squares.  Again, no rules, just being expressive.

For the binding, she used left over scraps to make a 2 1/2 inch strip, folded in half.  Kathleen calls it a "scrappy binding." I love the mix of colors!

Isn't it great?  I love the non-traditional look! Thank you to my sweet Mother-in-law! 

The quilt is now on it's way to Quilt Market for Birch Fabrics.

If any of want to learn basic piecing and quilting, I will be back soon (with Kathleen's help), to share a simple beginner's quilt with the adorable Birch fabrics.  I have a bicycle loving son that is saving a spot on his wall for the quilt. 

(To purchase Birch Fabrics online, you can go to fabricworm.com)

Nicole is busy working on Teacher Door decorations this week and tomorrow she will be back to share some of the great ideas from her school!

Music Apron with Pockets

Hi there!

Last week I had an opportunity to participate in a class that shared ideas for teaching nursery age children. I made an apron to share with the other people in the class, filled with objects that go along with songs. 

I was inspired by my friend Monique's apron, that she made several years ago for our church nursery.  She made her apron out of oil cloth with large pockets.  I have wanted to make one ever since, and the class gave me the perfect opportunity. 

I had my 5 year old son model the apron for the pictures, he was willing for about 5 seconds to sit still! He did not like wearing a "girly" apron!

We filled our pockets with star wands, rubber frogs, farm animals, flower petals, and monkey erasers.  The options are endless! If you are using this for church music, you can add pictures of Jesus, for example.  Anything little that the kids can hold will work.  I had a hard time finding finger puppets, but those would be cute too.  

Here are a couple of our song choices to go along with the objects:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Old Mac Donald Had a Farm

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

The fabric and the pre-made apron came from Craft Warehouse.

Using a pre-made apron made this project really simple and it was a bonus that the apron was long and could hold several large pockets. I also used several different pocket sizes ranging from 8x10 inches to 4x8 inches, they just need to be big enough to hold your supplies.  To make the pockets easier to sew on the apron, I first ironed the edges over by 1/4 inch, then I lightly glued (with fabric glue) the pockets to the apron.  After the glue set, I sewed each pocket on with my sewing machine.

I love the bold color and pattern and I think the kids do too! The apron is a hit with small children, they love holding things as they sing.



Love Notes

This week I had my Sunday school girls Activity Day

and my teaching partner and I decided to help them put

together some Valentine envelopes so that they could 

exchange anonymous admiration notes to each other

for our upcoming Valentine party.

My teaching partner Jill is one of the most creative people I know~

she is seriously amazing and we'll have to show off her crazy talent here soon!

She came up with these cute envelopes that we let the girls,

who are 8-11 years of age then decorate and sew buttons on.

Of course I had to come home and make some up for me!

Candace has a houseful of sick kids this week and is under the weather too

so we have stayed clear except for the quick~Purell soaked hands~exchange

in my driveway for the pinking shears.:)  So this week I am missing my sis and her camera 

with the great pics she takes!

I love the elongated size of these envelopes and they were the perfect fit

for all those goodies we love to grab in the dollar bin at Target!

I made a couple to take to some of my friends

and even did a smaller version to hold some cute note cards I found too.
Here is the pattern I made up with the measurements~

We used primarily felt but I had to try one with some of the cute Valentine fabric
for the liner that I found at Hobby Lobby.
Some of the fabric was so cute I actually got some to make a dress for my daughter....
we'll see if that ever happens.  Probably by the time I get around to it, it'll have
to be a mini-skirt or something.:)

Pretty easy and pretty inexpensive to make

and it's for sure something you and others will love to get!

Fabric is here!

The bed skirt fabric for the Master Bedroom Makeover arrived in the mail and I couldn't be happier.  Autumn sure has an eye for picking and coordinating fabrics. The fabric choices are Robert Allen Pontoise ( Mimosa), and Moda Maisonde Garance (Silky Stripe Brown). The room is going to be all in earth tones...lots of green, blues, and browns.

 Autumn has opened my eyes about purchasing fabric online.  It beats a stressful trip to the local fabric stores with my kids. They know when I'm about to enter a fabric or craft store, because the spazzing out immediately starts!  I was able to order all the fabric for the room while sitting in the comfort of my own home. Yes!

I was hesitant about purchasing fabric online because I couldn't see and feel the fabric. Thanks goodness I have total trust in Autumn's talent and  for only a dollar a swatch, most stores will send a sample in the mail.  Surprisingly, the shipping is pretty cheap. The shipping was free on one of my orders because I spent over thirty dollars.  You can't beat that!  An added bonus, the sites Autumn referred to me are mostly discounted.  She did try and keep all fabric around ten dollars and under-yes, she's catering to my "frugalness".

If you are interested, here are a few of the sites Autumn gave me for the fabric and trim-

Fabric Guru

Fabric.com

Trim Fabric.com

Beacon Fabric.com

And now it's off to the seamstress!

Oh crud...that's me.

Wish me luck!

:)

E-Design Services available by Autumn Clemons

Shaggy Quilted Hearts

 This is my kind of quilting.....sloppy!  No need for detail sewing. These hearts have a raw edge that you top stitch.

A few years ago, my mother in law (her name is Kathy) helped me make a sunflower wall hanging using this method.  I thought it would be fun to try with hearts. 

I didn't intend to make pillows, but as I was piecing them together the idea came to me.

  I had a ton of pink dyed and coffee stained filters left from my last project, so I used them with the fabric.  I love their texture! 

My topstitching was NOT 100% accurate, but that's alright!  Don't cringe Kathy! One day I'm going to spotlight her quilts.  They are AMAZING!   

I added a little tulle. Is that how you spell it?  Why oh why does blogger not have spellcheck?

Here's how you do it...if you want to try.

Sew them back together.

 I sewed and stuffed this pillow and sewed the extra two onto linen and put them into an old frame. 

Good sewing skills are not required! :)

I Had to Try it!

I just shouldn't turn my computer on.  Everytime that I do I see something I want to make.  It's like feeding craft drugs to a craft addict! Does anyone else have this problem? There's too much information and too many ideas!

Jen from Tatertots and Jello made the cutest coffee filter garland the other day and I had to make one.  I believe she found the original idea from Pam Garrison and Heather Bullard. All of theirs are fun and I hope it's alright with them that I tried it.

Tatertots and Jello gives great instructions on how to make these if your interested.  I gave mine a little pinch to pucker them as I wove the needle with the string.

Linking up with
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

Valentine heart pillows...or ornies?

Ornies..funny word, I think that's what these are called.  Ornaments without strings that you gather into a bowl or basket?  Anyway, Nicole and I were in a little "ornie" phase a couple of years ago and we made tons of these little heart pillows.  We use to make everything grubby and distressed, I still love a little grubby, I just have to be careful, because I get carried away and then it looks like it belongs in the garbage! :)

These are pretty simple and self-explanatory to make.

Find a heart shape and size you prefer......

Trace onto fabric and cut (you can tea dye the fabric to give it a grubby look)

Sew right sides together

 and leave a section to stuff,

turn inside out and stuff,

hand-stitch the heart closed,

and then we tied some burlap strips around them.

....I love the fabrics, they are so fun to pull out each year.


  

Happy Halloween!

We thought we would give you a little tour of past Halloween Costumes. Nicole dreams up some great ones each year and manages to get her husband involved too! I'm still laughing over him dressing as Norman Bate's mother.
Nicole is awesome at sewing these and at times ropes our mother (excellent seamstress) into helping. She "assisted" with the sleeping beauty outfit. Isn't it beautiful!?

This puppy costume is too cute! Nicole even made a personalized collar! I think she had strands of black fur all over her house for weeks! That black fur is so messy to work with!


This is my first attempt at sewing a costume. My son was obsessed with the Lego Knight series. I can't seem to remember the name of this particular knight.
Nicole put a lot of hours into this beauty. Her hubby even has the face down! What a hunk of burning love!
This one is particularly interesting.....hmmmmmm? Yes..she's a PREGNANT belly dancer!
Norman Bate's mother....I love it!!! So clever! Nicole's husband did not want his identity to be known?!

This is some type of Jedi? Is it Obi-Wan, Luke...don't know? The cape was the best, but I do wish I had a picture of all the costume work underneath. It was a big job, but worth it. I had used my serger for the very first time. It's sooooooo much easier!

This one takes the cake. The fabric was absolutely gorgeous on this one. Mom helped quite a bit on this too! The wig and make-up are great......and no she's not a Geisha, people kept asking that. According to her daughter.... "I'm a China Girl!"