And digital!

So, remember the paintings I did yesterday? I decided to play with the rough draft a little today on PSE. I still think I like the original better, but this is fun, too.

Gotta Love Conference

So, besides loving the fact that I get to be uplifted and edified, General Conference is one of my favorite times. While hearing the things that bring peace and comfort in these troubled times, I also get to sit on my tooshy and crochet for two days!!!!

Alrighty, first I want to post the things I finished PREVIOUS to conference

ok, so I don't know where this idea originated. Kristin was showing me some of her inspiration and one was a set of mismatched frames that said FALL on beautiful paper. They were black letters, but I LOVED the idea and went my way with it! Eventually I'd like to upgrade the frames, but this'll work for now.

THIS is one of the reasons I was so ecstatic about One Pretty Thing. She has a Halloween section and there are some amazing links. This link was to Hostess with the Mostess. GORGEOUS (IMO anyway). I think I'll keep this idea and use the vase, change the candy and flowers w/ the holidays. how cute will conversation hearts look in there come V-day?

Yes, I'm aware that this isn't a craft, but isn't he adorable? I'll be making one of my kids soon.

Alright. So conference, me and my hooks stayed happilly attached. I finished Xander's Halloween treat bag, pictured here:
 
It was my first time felting. The teeth look wierd, yes I'm aware. It's because the gray is all 2 stranded and the white is not. Xander doesn't care.

Next, I made a couple more cookies for Juliana's bday set:

The vanilla one is horrendous. The insides are way bigger than the outsides. Oh well. It's a pretend cookie for a three year old. If I were doing it for a gift (or, maybe one day, commission), I would make sure it was perfect.

These are Hershey Kisses, or giant chocolate chips, whichever you prefer. I made up the pattern  all by myself. Here it is:
Rd 1: ch 1, make loop. sc 6 into hold of loop
Rd 2: 2sc in each sc
rd 3: 2 sc in each sc
rd 4: sc in each sc
rd 5: sc in each sc
rd 6: dec next 2 sc, sc in next 3 sc's , repeat all the way around
rd 7: sc in each sc
rd 8: dec next 2 sc, sc in next sc, repeat all the way around
rd 9: keep dec until closed. Close w/ sl st at the top.

Let me know if there are any problems in the pattern so I can fix. Don't hesitate to call me out!!

I also did two other things, but one is going to be for the Ravelry Mystery Crochet, so I won't post the pic till I'm done. The other is a pattern being tested right now, so we'll see!

Tutorial Friday: Shirt Pillows

Ok, so I'm so excited about this tut! Today we have Jeanette from over at Keep Me In Stitches doing our tutorial. She has also posted this in her blog so you can get it either place!

Have you ever had an article of clothing that you loved, but for some
reason could no longer wear, and you just couldn’t bring yourself to
get rid of it?

That is exactly how I felt about this pair of
pajamas. They were given to me by one of B’s co-workers when I was on
bed rest with the twins. She wrote a sweet little note saying that they
were the perfect pajamas because they were cotton, so I could be cool,
and they had buttons which would allow easy access for nursing.

I fell in love with the sweet print and I did indeed wear these pajamas
to nurse my twins, and then again a year later when their little
brother was born. I nursed all three of my babies in these jammies.
They have been spit up on, slobbered on, had snotty noses and dirty
little hands wiped on them. And they hold a lot of happy memories.

These
pajamas are so old and worn out that they are literally falling to
pieces, I have had to stitch them back together and now nine years
later, they are beyond their usefulness, but they have been in my
drawer, unused for the last year because I loved them so much, I
couldn’t bear to throw them away.

Then I had an idea…they would
make such a darling little pillow to go on my bed. That way every time
I looked at the little pillow, it would bring back all those happy
memories.

I started by blind stitching along the edge of the button front, we don’t want any stuffing squishing out between button holes.

I then lay the top out on my sewing table and checked for any holes
that I would have to work around. There was a hole at the end of each
pleat, so I had to make my pillow shape end just before the end of the
pleats.

Flip your top inside out so that your right sides are together, then
simply measure and cut a rectangle out of the useable parts of the top.

If you have ever had any doubts about how sharp these rotary cutters
are... I cut the petals right off of this poor sweet little flower
button darn it. The rest are all salvaged and resting comfortably in my
little botton jar. (Insert by Robyn: They're also sharp enough to cut a little boy's finger 1/4 of the way through his fingernail)

Pin your pieces together and head for the sewing machine. Because of
the delicacy of my poor worn out fabric, I did a slightly larger than
1/4 “ seam allowance, then also zig zagged the edges for added strength.

Don’t
forget to leave a hole for turning right side out! Because I thought it
would be difficult to sew through some of the thicker pleats, I made my
hole over toward a corner; I normally don’t like to do that.

Clip your corners, and then flip your little pillow shape inside out. We are almost done!

Iron
your pillow form so that it isn’t all wrinkly when you get it done. Pay
special attention to the open areas to iron your seam allowance, it
makes it much easier to have a straight seam when you blind stitch the
opening closed.

Stuff with the stuffing of choice, I like
polyester fiber fill for pillows. Remember to smooth it out as you go
so your little pillow isn’t lumpy and deformed when you are done. (Fig
7)

Last but not lease, blind stitch your opening closed. Take your time
and do it neatly. A sloppy “blind” seam can totally ruin an otherwise
beautiful pillow. Take small stitches and make sure that you aren’t
leaving any puckers behind.

A little tip, I always leave the
space where I am blind stitching a little under stuffed, then when I
get down to where I only have about ¾’ left I take a pencil and use the
eraser end to gently push a little more filling through the hole and
into the under stuffed space. Leaving understuffed until the blind
stitching is nearly done makes it much easier to blind stitch and makes
my seam much easier to disguise. It also makes it a lot easier on your
hands; you don’t get such a bad cramp trying to hold that seam closed
while you sew.

And that’s it, you are all done. You have taken something treasured and turned it into a keepsake.

Ps, look at the left side of my pillow, half on one pleat is completely
gone, I had to sew one big tear back together and this is how it had to
be. I am weird though I don't think this detracts from my pillow at
all, I think it just adds that much more character =0)

There are so many things you can convert into pillows.
Your daughter’s darling little infant dresses
Your son’s overalls with a gingham button down shirt sewn inside (I would love to try this).
Your old pajamas obviously LOL
Wool Sweaters

Give it a try and please send me pictures if you try it, I would love to see your darling pillows!

A little bit about Jeanette: She and I have been friends for.... about 2 1/2 years now. We met on an old message board forEVER ago, that I have since left, but she is so cool! She has 3 kids, 2 of which are twins. She is an AWESOME quilter and scrapbooker (even if the scrap supplies have sat on the shelf for the last 4 yrs).

I can't wait to try this tut. I have the PERFECT shirts and a PERFECT place for them! Hopefully I'll get a chance today, but if not, you'll see a shirt pillow from me soon!

PICTURES

Ok, can I tell you HOW happy I am to have my camera right now? WHEW!
So First up: Here are some cans I recovered (peach cans, to be exacts) w/ some fabric, ribbon, and  trim. Cute, eh?












Next: My big project yesterday and the day before: FILE FOLDER GAMES. I found a free website called www.preschoolprintables.com and they have a ton of free printable folder games. I just wish I had called my sister RIGHT when I found them instead of coloring 20 shamrocks, 20 butterflies, 20 pirate ships, 20 scarecrows and more, cutting them all out and laminating half of them BEFORE she suggested laminating them w/ the magnets INSIDE. The ones after that worked great. The ones before that... I can't get the magnets to stay on the laminate. I feel like i wasted so much work! I tried the fact that the magnets are

sticky- no go. I tried rubber cement- no go. I tried hot glue- absolute no go. Yeah, so I just don't even know what to do.











Next picture is of some clothespin dolls that my 10 yr old niece made. She saw mine and got really excited, so she made some today













This last picture is what happens when one WANTS to put a shelf up (and has started on it) but can do nothing else until her hubby gets home. Hehehehehe

Binder Goodness and Happy Birthday

Ok, I decided to organize my life into binders. Here are some pictures of them.



My binders















Gifts to make














Housecleaning/Organization


You can't see it, but this one has tabs to separate it into separate rooms. The cleaning section is all on it's own.















This is the holiday binder. I've been very picky what I've actually put in there. I have files and files of ideas, but I just put my fav's in here for now. And so far, only Christmas, but there soon will be a tab for each holiday










This picture is not from any of my binder's. It's a photo of most of Kristin's birthday package I sent out today. MWAHAHA. ANd NO photoshop cheating.

Valentine's Wreath

So I got the inspiration for this from http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/11/recycled_wool_scrap_wreath.html
and decided to try it myself. It was all in guessing (I did it during virus time, so I wasn't on the comp at all), so I decided to take a few pics as I went along
First, materials:


I bought the wreath at DI (the big thrift store here in Utah) for $.50
Fabric scraps: most were scraps, 2 of the patterns were old shirts
Hot glue gun
Paper hearts
Prima Flowers
Broken pieces of Jewelry
Buttons


First, I cut the strips of fabric (ok, I kind of did this as I went along because I didn't know how many I'd need). I decided to do 6 different fabrics: 2 pink, 2 purple, 2 red.


I did no measuring, no ironing, no straight cutting, lol. If you want yours to look a little more chic maybe that would be a good idea, but you'll learn that I am NOT a patient crafter.


Anyway, so I took the first strip and just hot glued it to the back of the wreath. Then I took strip #2 and overlapped it a tad and did the same thing.... all the way around.









This is what the back looked like. Isn't it funny how that button is on there? It's because it was the cuff of one of the shirts I used. So the back is not pretty at ALL, but hey, who's going to see it?


I just repeated my pattern all the way around. The wreath was WAY wider on one side than the other so I was a little bit worried about that, but once I put decorations on it, I liked it.










This was what it looked like when all the fabric was put on, but before the embellishments















This is the final product

















Close up (albeit sideways) view of the main detail











Now, can I see yours?!