It’s been a while, and I’ve been busy.  I have a new embroidery machine, and made tons of cute personalized coin purses at Christmas.  I’m working on aprons.

And then there’s my latest project, pillows.  The pillows were created from an unwanted king sized dust ruffle for a bed. The biggest constraint was the fabric was only 16″ wide, challenging the size of pillows I could make.  I wound up with four 16″x12″ rectangular pillows, two 14″ bolsters, and a cute round sunburst pillow.  I’ll post more later, but here’s pics of the pillows. These are for a friend, and a project I held off doing much too long.

I was blessed to be sent a picture of the pillows on the owner’s bed.

Directions for the round pillow are from Sew4Home, and found here. http://www.sew4home.com/projects/pillows-cushions/round-piped-pillow-gathered-top

Home is home, be it ever so humble

(Proverb)

This past year or so has become the year of the door decoration for me.  It might be because at one point in the not so distant past, I went almost an entire year with the same Christmas wreath on my front door.  As recompense, I’ve resolved to create door designs of my own this year for the important days of our lives.  This is my interpretation of a pin I saw on Pinterest recently, of a door decoration for Valentine’s day.

Materials:

• Four precut balsa letters in the 6” to 7” size.  I chose XOXO.
• One precut wood script.  I chose “Love” for Valentine’s Day.
• Wooden 2” craft sticks.  I don’t know what they call these in the package, but they look like short popsicle sticks.
• 1 package 1” wood heart shapes.
• Two rolls of complimentary ¼” wide ribbon.  I chose a roll of solid deep pink and a roll of pastel polka-dot pink.
• Acrylic project paints.  For this project I used white, red and blue, and mixed the pink and purple myself.  I also had a small tub of red glitter paint that I used on one heart.

Tools:

• Hot glue gun
• Exacto Knife
• Paint brushes
• Small bowls to mix paints

The instructions are pretty simple.  Paint the wooden letters in whatever colors and patterns you choose.  Choose darker or more distinct colors or patterns for these pieces because they form the base of your project on which the script will need to stand out.  Oh, and make sure you get your edges painted!  Then paint your script in white or a very light color, and I also lined the edges of the script with a red glitter paint to give it dimension.  (A toothpick is a handy tool to have here.  It helps clean up your outlines so they look nice and straight.)  Lastly, paint four or five of the heart shapes in varying complimentary colors to embellish with. Try some glitter paint in the same color over your painted hearts to give your project a bit of sparkle.

(I’m envisioning Modge Podge and fabric covered letters for a project as well.  This would really give a project some creative patterns to work with.)

Once the paint is dry, start assembling.  I used the crafts stick to anchor the letters together, by hot gluing them to the back of my project.  Place the sticks so they’re not visible from the front or in an area that will be covered by your embellishments.  You may need to use smaller pieces, so carefully cut those with your Exacto knife.

Once the base made of letters is dry, turn the project over and glue the painted script to the front, along with your painted hearts.  Then embellish with bows made of ribbon.  I found the cutest bow idea on Pinterest, and this is my interpretation of how to do it.  It only takes a couple of bows to dress out your project.

Finally, create your hanger.  I braided three pieces of ribbon together, long enough that after I glued each end to the back of my project, I could still tie a bow at the top.  This would be a good spot to use jute as well.  Make it your own!

Typical 3-bedroom, 2-1/2 bath suburban dweller that I am, space always seems to  be at a premium at my house.  Tonight I tackled a couple of simple girl’s room challenges – scarves and headbands.

Sounds silly, but until you’ve had to sort through a wad of scarves knotted up in a drawer, shoved under a bed, or otherwise situated where they aren’t easily retrieved, it’s a big deal.  Same with headbands and various other hair accessories.

First, the solution for easily accessible scarves (and belts) as it turns out is a hanger and a set of $1 shower curtain rings.  Add another $1 for the optional handy, dandy over the door hook and you’ve also got the beginnings of a cute, decorative element in the room.

I feel a fun hanger cover-up coming on …

Now headbands.  I only bought one tonight, but I see a couple more in my future.  The solution?  Expandable hat/coat rack.  Also $1 at the dollar store.

I’ve seen this idea used for jewelry also.

Simple, cheap and effective.

I’ve lived in my house for 25 years.  During most of that time, I have only decorated my front door at Christmas-time — and it’s been the same wreath every single year.  This year, as I pulled out the same old wreath, taking notice of where ornaments had fallen off over time, and gingerly carrying it to the door to avoid spreading dust cleverly disguised as fake snow, I had a moment.  Why exactly was I doing this AGAIN?

So I went out and bought myself a Christmas stocking and a few sparkly decorations, and with 10 minutes, and some tissue paper for bulk, I had a brand new, non-wreath door decoration for Christmas.

A few visits to Pinterest later, I had a plan — some new door art that wasn’t a wreath.  I first came across this site, http://www.completely-coastal.com/2011/06/summer-front-door-decorations.html, and in particular, this sunny little basket.

Inspired, I set out to create my own decoration.  Then I became discouraged.  it’s really tough to find a basket the size I needed, which was no more than 3″ deep, because I have a storm door.

When you can’t find one, then make one.  Right?

Here’s my materials list:

• 1 piece of scrap fabric, preferably corduory or denim — something with some substance to it.  You’ll need to be able to cut two pieces of at least 9″ x 10″, plus three sides, about 4″ wide, and 10″ long each.  Use your floral foam blocks as your pattern.
• 4 strips of complimentary softer fabric, approximately 2 yards long each, cut to about 3″ to 3-1/2″ wide to form the handle
• 1 ball of hardware store jute, braided, or one strip of a second color fabric, so you have a total of five fabric strips for the handle
• 1 package of blocks of dry floral foam
• Silk flowers
• Beads and decorations of your choice

I pretty much made this project up as I went along, so my documentation is a bit sketchy.  I started by braiding some lengths of jute to be used as decoration.  The natural fiber string I used was a $2 ball of jute I found in the hardware section of Wally World.  It is intended to be used as bundling string to bundle branches and other yard waste so that the city will pick it up off your curb.  For the braid I used in the handle of my basket, I cut four strands, 2 yards long each, and did a four strand braid.

You can accomplish a similar look with a crochet hook and a single strand chain.  I just liked the more solid feel of the 4 strand braid.

I then took two blocks of the floral foam and laid them out on my basket fabric and used them for a size pattern.  For this project I chose a leftover scrap of brown corduroy, although any substantial fabric would do nicely.  I cut two pieces of fabric approximately 1″ wider all around than the two foam blocks.  These will be the front and back of your basket.  Then I cut three strips of the same fabric, about 4″ wide and the same length as three sides of the front and back squares.

Stitch together the three side strips into one long strip.   With right sides together and starting at what will be the top edge of your basket, sew your fabric strip to the front side of your basket, leaving the needle in the fabric at the corners and pivoting 90 degrees to create the box.  Repeat to attach the back panel to the now sewn on sides of the front panel.  Use approximately 1/2″ to 5/8″ seams.

Turn your basket right side out.

To make the handle, I took 4 strips of complimentary lightweight cotton fabric, approximately 2 yards long each, and with the right sides together, sewed down the length of the strip, then turned it right side out to form a long tube.  Don’t press your tubes flat after you turn them.

Affix your strips, along with the decorative jute braid, to a steady mount and make a loose, 5 strand braid.  Secure each end of the braid with a decorative macrame bead or other decorative tie off at each end.

Position the handle to the side panel of your box, then fold the top down on all four sides, to form a finished edge.  Topstitch all the way around, catching your handle braid on both sides.  Your handle is attached.   Insert your floral foam, shaving and trimming the foam to ensure a good fit.

After inserting flowers, my final basket looked pretty good, albeit fairly blank.  It needed something.  I had envisioned a “welcome” applique, and I searched Hobby Lobby high and low for what I wanted, but came up empty.  As I was leaving the store though, I ran across some really cute clear, colored acrylic message ornaments.  I picked “peace” from the selection of “love”, “peace” and “hope”.

My ornament didn’t show up well against brown fabric, so I created an applique of my own.  I used the bottom of a serving bowl in my cabinet for the oval shape, then I zigzaged the outer edge of the oval to limit fraying.  Then, to tie the applique to the basket, I crocheted a single strand of jute into a chain long enough to go around the outside edge of the oval and whip stitched the jute chain in place, adding a finishing bead to anchor it.  I used fabric glue to affix the “peace” to the center of the oval (which I’ll reinforce later with some invisible nylon thread) and allowed the decoration to dry.  Once dried, I whip stitched the applique to the basket to complete the project.  Total time was about two hours from start to finish and the cost was less than $20.

I got a bee in my bonnet to sew this weekend, and settled on making a new dog bed for Mibbit, our female Bichon.  I was feeling bad for her because it’s been really cold for the first time this winter and  our wood floors make for some chilly napping.  Bibbits likes to crawl into my laundry basket and make a nest on the dirty clothes to keep warm.  We used to have a dog pillow she was particularly fond of, but after she had her first litter of puppies on it, it had definitely seen better days.

It’s not all that hard to make a big, square pillow that’s sewn on all four sides, so instructions are kind of unnecessary.  I will share the basics though.  The fill is shredded foam and cedar chips.  The cedar chips are a natural flea and tick repellent that you can buy at any farm or pet store for less than $10.  They smell good and absorb odors.  The remainder of the filling was a bag of shredded foam from JoAnn’s, which I got an amazing deal on today, paying less than $2 a bag.

I chose to use scrap fabric for this project.  For the shell of the pillow, I had one large piece of white cotton eyelet that was the perfect size, about 23.5″ x 28.5″. when folded in half.  I left the fold and serged two other sides, leaving one of the short ends open, yielding a 23″ x 28″ finished size when turned right side out.  I used about a third of the brick of compressed cedar I bought, mixed with one full bag of shredded foam, to loosely stuff the shell.  Then I stitched the remaining side closed on the sewing machine.

I made a pillow cover from a remnant of fabric that I don’t remember actually acquiring.  It’s always been here, and I’m not sure where it came from.  Considering we actually built this house, it could not have been left by a prior resident.  It reminds me of kitchen curtains, and ugly ones at that, but it’s fairly heavy weight and should stand up to a bit of use.  It wasn’t quite wide enough, so I grabbed a ridiculously small scrap brown corduroy that I’ve been saving for the last 25 years and made a border for the top of the cover.  I could see I had cut a garment pattern of some sort out of the corduroy, but I can’t think of what it was, and whatever it was, it was many years and many sizes ago.  The cover is about a half an inch overall bigger than the pillow when finished.

If you want to get really fancy, you can sew a zipper into one of the seams of your cover, or overlap the back like a pillow sham, both to make the cover easy to remove and launder.  For this cover, after I inserted the pillow, I just sewed the opening closed on my sewing machine and called it a day.

Mibbit doesn’t have to be shown twice.  I put her on her new pillow and she hasn’t gotten off it yet.  Last I looked, our other Bichon, Marley, was also firmly planted on it.  Priceless.

Peeps

Boat Sock with Peep Lace Project

I work in a cube farm.  There is no dress code that I’m aware of, although it seems for the most part to be dress casual.  For me, I feel most professional, and comfortable, in slacks, reasonable heels, and a nice shirt.

Being no fashionista, little things throw me, like what to wear on my feet with my shoes.  Summer is easy when you’re wearing nice open shoes that don’t require socks or stockings.  Wintertime has always been a mystery to me.  “Socks, Stupid.  You wear socks,” would seem to be the obvious answer, but again, being no fashionista, sometimes socks with heels just doesn’t look right, and I don’t like bare feet in closed shoes.  If anyone thinks for one second that I might consider wearing hose or tights — oh, good lord no.  Just wrap me in rubber bands.  Several years ago I discovered trouser socks, which I really liked.  My husband, however, really didn’t, nor did my toenails, which regularly shreds anything hose-like.  There is also, of course, the footie, but I’m not 98 years old and I think footies look positively orthopedic.

I’m a new fan of Pinterest and have many projects pinned. I also get the proverbial bee in my bonnet.  A couple of days ago I ran across this single picture that went nowhere.  Absolutely no link whatsoever to where you might buy these adorable “boat” socks with the lace peep.  The solution to my winter shoe dilemma was before me and I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I want THESE.

Operating under the “If you can’t find it, make it” rule of life, brought me to today’s bee in the bonnet.

I did a lot of searching and I found a tutorial with a pattern for making your own standard lace boat socks.  Unfortunately after cutting out the first pair, it was obvious the pattern, although sized for women’s 8-9 US, was much, much too small.  Even with 20% stretch lace, there was no way this pattern was going to fit my size 7-1/2  (US) foot.  I also noticed that the shape was far too square for my liking and created corners that I thought would bunch up under my foot.  I’m certainly no princess, but I was having visions of rocks in my shoes.  With some scaling and redesign, I came up with my own PeepsPattern that I’m sharing here.

So here’s how you do it.

	Download the pattern above, and buy your materials.  You’ll need some stretch lace, that has at least 20% stretch one way.  It needs to have a fairly distinct pattern to it so that your sewing machine will have something to grab on to.
	You’ll need some decorative 1-1/2” lace edging for the peep, cut in 6″ segments for each sock.  You’ll also need 14″ of lightweight elastic, or lingerie elastic, for each sock.  I used 1/4″ width.  Some every day gift wrapping tissue paper would be very helpful too.
	Cut two squares of fabric, 9”x9”.  Fold in half with the stretch going lengthwise.  Pin your pattern to the fabric, matching the fold.  Cut two of these pieces.
	With the fabric pieces still folded, sew the heel and toe seams close to the edge using a zigzag stitch.  I used a 2.5 stitch length and here’s where the tissue comes in — my machine wanted to eat the very thin fabric, so reinforce it with some tissue to help it feed through properly as you sew.  The tissue will come right off after you’re done, but will leave some bits in the stitching.  Don’t worry about those bits, they’ll come out in the first wash.
Whoops!  A picture is coming!	Mark the center of your 14” piece of elastic.  Turn the footie right side out, start your elastic at the heel and pin the center mark at the toe seam on the right side (outside) of the footie.  Zigzag the elastic on, stretching the elastic, but not the fabric, as needed so that the elastic fits around the entire footie.  You may need to do a quick seam at the heel where the elastic ends meet, just to finish it off and make it neat.  Don’t worry about your thread showing on your elastic, because if your thread color matches, it won’t show.
	Pin right side of lace edging to wrong side of center front, matching centers.  What you want to do is pin the bottom of the lace edging to the center seam and elastic, and then the slide the edging down into the footie so that by the time you get to each end, you’re pinning the top edge to the elastic.  That way your peep has a nice rounded effect to it.
	Sew the lace edging on from the outside.  Sew along the elastic, then trim corners of lace off inside.  You’ll have to see the pics on this one, I don’t know how else to describe it.  (I’ll get a better picture for this step.)

Wash and you’re done!

Adjust the pattern for your foot size, and to raise or lower the location of the peep on your foot.  Don’t forget to adjust the elastic as well as you make changes.  Have fun!

Props to my hubby who helped redraw my crude hand drawn pattern using Adobe Illustrator (I’m a Corel person, I don’t have a clue howto work Illustrator).  He helped critique, and is absolutely mortified I resorted to using HTML tables to organize the instructions.  Sorry Sweetie, it’s been too long.

And next time I’ll let him take the pictures.