artsy-crafty babe

family project

Last week Lily brought home a project that was to be completed by then entire family.  My first thought was "ugh" (bad mom, I know).  We (I) put it off for a few days. 

I finally got over myself and we attempted the project.  The goal was to decorate a turkey however we wanted, using whatever we wanted.  I asked Lily what she thought we should use.  She wanted to use fabric (I wonder where she got that from?).  So, we went through my scrap pile for appropriate colored fabrics.  I'm glad I save everything because those itty bitty scraps were perfect for this.

There was lots of cutting and gluing involved.  Alex had a ball cutting all the little bits of fabric, that was right up his alley.  Lily and I, with a bit of help from Dad carefully placed all the little bits of fabric on the turkey.  I think it turned out quite nice, but the best part was that we all did it together - and it was FUN!

Dishtowel Potholder Tutorial

For this project, I usually use 100% woven cotton dishtowels from the dollar store. It’s best to use something that isn’t too bulky.

1.Start with a standard sized dishtowel, preferably one that is not terrycloth.

   

2. Cut off the hems and any tags from the back of the dishtowel.

3. With the wrong side of the dishtowel facing up, fold over one long side towards the center about 1/3 of the width.

4. Fold the other long side towards the center about 1/3 of the width, leaving raw edge about ½” from the folded edge.

5. Fold end pieces of the folded dishtowel towards the center.

6. Fold over the dishtowel again, enclosing the raw end pieces at the center. You should now have a somewhat square (or rectangular) shaped folded dishtowel with no exposed raw edges.

7. Pin the folded edges in place and insert a loop of ribbon (or a piece of the hem that you previously cut off) at either a corner or at the center of the potholder.

8. Stitch all around the 4 sides of the potholder. That’s it!

At this point you can leave the potholder as is, which is nice if you have a pretty printed dishtowel, but if you’d like to jazz up a plain dishtowel/potholder, the possibilities are endless. Some suggestions are to add appliqué, a strip of patchwork, embroidery, or stamp a design. A great gift idea is to embellish a dishtowel to match the potholder for a complete set. This could be given in conjunction with your favorite cookie recipe or a cooking utensil. Have fun!

Be sure to check out more great ideas at Cotton Spice!

this-n-that

First off, thank goodness it's Friday!  And not just any Friday, but the Friday before a 3 day weekend.  And not just any 3 day weekend, but one only I have.  The Mr. and the kiddos don't have the day off.  I suppose I could keep the 2 littlest ones home with me, but I'd rather not.  I have things to do!  I will pick them up early, and will hopefully already have dinner prepared so that we can enjoy an uneventful afternoon together.  If they stayed home with me it wouldn't be so, I know it.

With my day off, I plan to work on some items for the shop.  It was a goal of mine to have it stocked for the holiday season, but life has gotten in the way.  I plan to include some more bags like this, more like this, and some new designs.

In other news, my kids are no longer Lego virgins.  While out in CA, I got the chance to visit a Lego store.  Oh my, it's hard to resist those things, isn't it?  My kids were thrilled with them.  With a little guidance, Lily made that house complete with a fence, benches in the front and a palm tree.  It's so nice to find something that more than one kid will play with.  I think I know something that Santa is bringing this year...

Do you know what this is?  It's a picture of a ginormous Lego giraffe butt.  See, there's the tail on the upper right...Judi dared me to take a picture of it, so I did, which brings me to my next random bit of info.  Sweet little Ava, who barely says 5 words (she's more of a screamer than a talker) can now say "poop poop".  When she says this, she pokes out her little diapered bottom out then proceeds to make fart noises.  What a little lady I have.  I'm sure I can blame Alex for this newly acquired skill.  Let's hope she doesn't do it in the church nursery!

Y'all have a great weekend!! 

**Be sure to check out my quick, easy gift tutorial on Sunday Nov. 11th - it'll be posted here and at Cotton Spice blog.

thrifty thursday

Nothing special, just the usual: sheets & pillow cases.  (gosh, I've been boring lately!)  I'm not complaining, I rather like them.  One of these days I'll think of something to do with all these linens. Until then, I'll take pleasure in looking at my beautiful stacks full of possibility.

it's that time of year

Can you believe that Christmas is so near?  How did that happen?  I am determined not to wait until the last minute to make Christmas gifts this year.  Lucky for us, Sew Mama Sew has put together a whole list of tutorials this entire month.  There's some good stuff over there, seriously!  I'm not sure which day, but my fluffy flower tutorial will be included at some point.

Another resourse for gift making ideas is Cotton Spice's Last Minute Gift Countdown.  I was extremely honored to be asked to contribute to this project.  Cotton Spice blog will have gift ideas featured from Nov. 5-17.  I'm not gonna tell you now, but I've come up with something to share, which will be featured here as well as on Cotton Spice blog on Nov. 11.

Okay y'all, it's time to get busy!  Christmas will be here before you know it!!!

howdy!

Sorry about the little unexpected break.  My overworked husband has been hogging the computer with all his assignments and school stuff, so I haven't had the chance to upload photos and blog.  Doesn't he realize my need for blogging?  Oh well, hopefully I can sneak in a little blog time when he's taking a break.

Last week I received this lovely package from meg for the patchwork swap.  Isn't is great?  I think her picture of the scraps look better mine because I had already rummaged through them by the time I got around to taking a pic.  I love how she used scraps to contain the scraps - so clever!  She sent me scraps of every color of the rainbow.

But that wasn't all - she also included this patchwork needlebook and this super fabulous knitting book from the 60's.  Wowzer!!  I love those sweaters!  I can't wait for my knitting skills to improve enough to make one of these babies.  Until then, I'll just look at the book and drool.

Silly me didn't think to take pictures of what I sent to my partner, Julia of minecreations blog, but thankfully, she did.

Because I'm a total dufus, I haven't gotten around to showing you these adorable button brooches made by Lori.  Aren't they cute?  A while back Lori commented that she liked some fabric I had, so I sent her some.  In return as a thank you (which she totally didn't have to do) she sent me these along with some trims.  Wasn't that nice?  It was kind of ironic that she sent me these because at the time I was totally into buttons, ordering oodles of them off ebay and etsy.  Now I know what to do with all those buttons - I'm sure you'll be seeing some button brooches on some upcoming bags.

Yay for good mail!

sewing room friday

Dare to play along?  Robyn at Wee Bit Wonky started sewing room friday as a way for us sewing gals to show the "real" us, our sewing rooms as is.  I'll admit it, when I show pictures of my sewing room it's usually staged in some way.  Rarely is my sewing room neat and clean, there are usually piles all over the place.  Yep, piles of stuff everywhere.  I'm lucky if I can see the floor or a table top, seriously.  So, here are my piles:

pile on the floor

pile around the shelves

pile in the chair

pile in my sewing corner

Gah, I'm such a slob!  It's amazing I find anything in all those piles.