Saturday, November 16, 2013

Mug Rug swap!

This will be the second mug rug swap I've participated in.  They are so fun!  This is what I am sending to my pal.  Later I'll post what I receive.

First there's of course the mug rug.  Than I made a little gift card holder - in which I'm placing a couple tea bags of my favorite tea-Constant Comment.  The second picture is a shot of the card holder opened up.


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Tote and wine bags for Chamber Auction

The annual Chamber Auction is approaching.  This tote bag and wine in bags is our donation.  This will be the fourth year we've donated a tote bag, the second year for the wine and wine bags that match the tote.  In past years I've made bags with a race theme, but I decided to go a different direction because I think this material is so beautiful and there's only so many ways you can do checkered flag.  I would like to say it's my bags that garners a bidding war, but we all know, it's the wine!  Without the wine, I think the Chamber got about $20/25 and there were only a few bidders at that.  With the wine the bid was more than double that when we left with still 30 minutes of bidding left.   Of course that's pretty much what the wine cost.....   It's a small town and there's a lot of racing and other sports memorabilia to compete with. 
 
I have used this "Super Simple Wine Bottle Gift Bag" pattern and tutorial several times.  I just love it. It is so easy and good looking.  I put a link to the tutorial in the bar to the right so I can always find it.  

Sunday, October 13, 2013

I made this!

A vinyl table cloth my daughter wanted.  This is the first time I have sewn with something like this-vinyl, that is.  I was quite pleased with the finished product and they seem to like it.


Monday, September 2, 2013

Fun with second hands

I have had on more than one occasion someone give me fabric scraps large and small pretty much just out of the blue. I have fun seeing what I can make with them. Recently I was given quilted pink gingham. Here is the first product produced:

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Another retired teacher bag.


That time of year again. This past Friday hubby attended the annual retired teacher's luncheon where he gave away this bag I made just for the event.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Burp cloth ....there is a better way....

I've changed much of the tutorial instructions for this burp cloth because after making several, I found a much better way.  These end up just too narrow.   But they are still cute, so I'm leaving the pictures up. So, some pictures don't quite coincide with directions. From now on I sew a backing piece of coordinating fabric (usually flannel) to the back of the fully unfolded diaper after adding the embroidery.  This makes for a much nicer  size burp cloth


What you still need:
Cloth diaper
Fabric for the  appliqués and a large enough piece of one coordinating fabric to cover the back.
Matching threads, etc.....

First I pressed the diaper as much as is possible for a pre-folded diaper. 
Lay out the diaper flat and determine the placement of the embroidery or applique design. 

I measured up two inches from the bottom of the cloth to accommodate the trim and a pleasing amount of white space - with a fabric pencil I made a line at that two inch mark to indicate the bottom edge of my applique design.  Hoop the diaper and stabilizer in the machine embroidery hoop and set aside for a few minutes.


If you have selected an applique design, cut a 4x4 square of your selected applique fabric.   If you are experienced with your machine, you may wish to use a smaller piece of scrap material.  However if you are still a beginner in the use of your machine, use the 4x4 square to make it easier to place the fabric later.

Cut 2 strips of your selected trim material Width of Diaper by 2 1/2"


Load the selected design in your embroidery machine and applique or stitch as directed by machine and/or design. For appliqueing, I use a fabric glue stick when it comes time to place the applique fabric on my design.  That way I can put adhesive only on the area of the diaper inside the applique lines and stick the fabric in place so it doesn't move around during stitching.

Here is where it changes the most - re-arranging my pictures and steps - it's time for the trim, if you even want the trim - in the old way I did this the trim helped to finish the egde - in this way, that isn't necessary so the trim would be aesthetic only.

Sewing on the trim is pretty easy - measure up about an inch to an inche and a half - just depends how wide you want the trim.  Place the trim piece wrong side up along the line with the bulk of it above as this will be your sewing line - in the picture it's showing too low on the cloth as this was the original directions where you would turn it over and to the back - you no longer want to turn it over to the back.
  Sew along where your measured the line so that 1/4 inch of the trim fabric is below and the rest above the stitch line - like in the picture only there will be more diaper below.
     Turn the trim down and press.  For ease in the next step, you might want to baste the sides down.


 -  - Embroidered designs, particularly those created on a machine, are rough and bumpy on the back (see picture below).   You would not like this rubbing against your baby's delicate skin.

 Cut the backing piece the size of the diaper cloth - place these to right sides together - sew around the edges leaving a few inches open for turning it.  Turn and press.






**Note about prefolded diapers.  You could probably do this project with a flat fold diaper.  I prefer the prefolded diapers that are already stitched on the folds.  This gives extra padding down the center of the burp cloth.   However, brands vary widely concerning how padded this folded area is.   You will find it much easier to work with lighter diapers.  Our sample was made with Gerber diapers that had a lot of padding in the folded area.  It was extremely hard to hoop all that bulk.   I have previously used a much lighter prefolded diaper that was much easier to hoop.  I found those at "Babies R Us" - they are 3 ply and honestly I would never use them as diapers - too thin.  But they are great for making these burp clothes or as cleaning rags. 


Another example:

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Still lovin the mug rugs!




I recently took part in my first swap (mug rug swap) and received a very beautiful mug rug I'm currently using on my desk at work.  Above is a picture of  one of the rugs I made -I sent my buddy two very similar to this one.

I had fun making these Easter rugs (below).  One of my co-workers gave me a napkin she had just sitting around and asked if I could use it in something somehow.  If you are/were big in Longaberger, you might recognize the jelly bean center of these mug rugs.  After seeing what I had done with that napkin, she has brought me two placemats of the same pattern.  My mind is already churning on that....


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

TJ's curtains

We have a new grandson and my daughter asked if I would make valances and curtains for the two wide windows in the nursery.  I used this how to article for the valances (below) http://www.warehousefabricsinc.com/blog/quick-and-easy-pleated-window-valance/

Sunday, February 3, 2013

From the scrap bag!

Still loving the mug rugs!


Monday, January 21, 2013

Valentine mug rug!

On of the wonderful ladies from work give me an article ( blog post) about making a heart patch work mug rug. That inspired this one.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Playing on a Sunday Afternoon!

I think my husband is wondering why it takes me all afternoon to produce just one or two little mug rugs.  I could finish them a little faster if I went into it with a clear plan of attack, but these a pretty much designed as I went and that includes at least one time of pulling our stitches I didn't like.