edeenut

100 th sale

2012-01-26T10:09:00.001-08:00

Will you be the LUCKY one to get my 100th item purchase?? If you are the lucky one I will throw in a little goodie for FREE and also ship it for FREE!!

(Just go ahead and check out like normal and I'll refund your shipping through paypal and ship your free item with the 100th item purchase.)

Check out the shop, It's at #97 now so lets get it to 100.

late night sewing & this and that

2012-01-25T21:58:00.000-08:00

When Mr. E is away I can't sleep. I stay up way too late. I get scared and I hear all sorts of noises. I drag myself out of bed in the morning to drop off kid at school and feel tired the rest of the day.
With two long nights of my husband being away I try to be productive and sew to keep me busy. I also got to read blogs, something I never really do much anymore. When I do get a chance to read my favorite blogs I never have time to comment. So I got to read and comment late into the night :)

I also spend lots of time watching movies and some TV shows on line I've missed as I multi-task. This movie: The Man From Snowy River, has been watched a few times the past couple days since I ordered it in the mail. We love it. Little E especially loves it, I have to find him a toy stick horse now as he is running all over galloping as a horse and singing the music.

Mr E gets home tonight. Yeah to sleeping good tonight!!

I got a few more quilt blocks done for my wonky log cabin car quilt. Only 4. Not a lot but it's progress.

After taking Big E to piano lessons today, I made a quick trip to Joanns. I saw that Denyse Schmidt has a new line Aunt Edna out this month. I love the oranges and grays, and the plaids. I also picked up a few from the other lines that my normal store doesn't have. I couldn't find the gray dots (like the orange dots on the top). All for 50% off because I had an extra 20% off coupon. I already have a few ideas I want to make with them.

I also pulled out some burlap and made a hanging sign/banner for St. Patricks Day.
It matches the green garland I have now in my shop.

brown paper packages with bunting ribbon

2012-01-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

What to do with fabric scraps is always a debate for me.
I love them, but then really don't like them because I have to find a place to keep them. I have so many scraps, in a lot of sizes.
I have a hard time throwing away fabric. Some of the larger pieces I have been able to part with in my etsy shop as a scrap pack and that has made me happy to know it's going to a home for a fresh new start.

With the little garlands I have been making I decided to make something pretty with the scraps. Because they are cut on the bias, I end up with a lot of little triangles.
Perfect use as pretty ribbon for wrapping packages.

The chain stitching them together is pretty fun and I enjoy doing it while watching some Cosby Show with Mr. E.
They can be found in my shop here.

pinterest recipe found: pizza monkey bread bites

2012-01-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

I love new recipes, becaues I tire of the same old ones I make. Pinterest is the best place lately to find all sorts of good recipes. I have made quite a few from there and most are keepers to print out and add too my recipe book.

I have stated before that I try not to collect things to Pinterest unless I have a specific purpose for it and plan to do something with it in the future. As proof, here is the most recent Pinterest success: Bite sized pepperoni pizza monkey bread.
Here is the original recipe on Bloghungry. I pretty much followed it exactly and I would especially say, to make sure you roll your balls small, like it states, because the dough rises a lot.

I'm already thinking of other options to fill the dough with instead of just pepperoni- green peppers, diced tomatoes, ham. Chicken and dipped in white sauce. All would be so good with cheese.

heated rice bag

2012-01-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

Some chilly nights I just can't get my toes warm. They are ice cold and so I need a little help to get them warmed up when I go to bed. I use a rice bag that I made years ago that has four separate sections. The sections keep the rice evenly distributed and the heat throughout.
I recently made one to send to my Dad's wife. She is like me and is cold constantly. I meant to send it for Christmas because I finished sewing it in December, but it's still winter in Utah for a while...

I made this one with three sections and I made a removable cover to go with it for washing. I wish I had a cover for mine but never made one and it's been used too many times so I just forgot about it.

This measures about 10" X 12". I would heat it up in the microwave for about 2 minutes.

valentins day decoratoins: garlands & banners

2012-01-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

Some other Valentine's Day decorations I recently made for my shop were some little fabric garlands and banner pennants.

I started with these burlap and canvas flag pennants with words and hearts on them. They kind of coordinate with my pillows from yesterday.

There are also some burlap and fabric flags that are perfect for home decor for February, or any little girls room.

The biggest hit so far has been these little fabric flag garlands. Each fabric flag has been wrapped and sewn down over the twine. I can't remember how many of these I've made so far. I've also offered some others in custom color schemes and so they can match any little kids bedroom, play room, and they are a perfect prop for any photo setting.

valentines day decorations : pillows

2012-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

It's a little early for me to put out my decorations for Valentine's Day just now. I did however get out stuff to make some decorations a while ago. Here are a few pillows covers that are in my shop now.

This red one has really surprised me with it's popularity. I love how it turned out and it seems a lot of others do to. I love seeing it added to so many treasuries and favorites.

This pink one is an odd rectangle shape so the pillow form is included with it. It has an invisible zipper on the side so the cover can be removed and spot cleaned if needed.

And here's another pink one with X O X O.

yellow chevron curtains / black out for kids room

2012-01-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

I finally have Little E's room clean enough to take pictures of the curtains I made for it. It's been a few months since they have been hung and I love them. It's kind of hard to take pictures with the sun glaring in the window but I tried.

I need to hem the bottom up about 1 more inch. Right now they have a 3" hem but they drag too much on the floor. They are hung just a bit lower from the ceiling than the curtains in my bedroom but this height still keeps out enough of the sun light.

The curtains are hung about 8 inches further out from where the window ends and it is dark. I wanted to go about 12 inches but in order to keep it even on both sides we had to stick with 8".
Daily naps are still taken in this room, with the sun out. This is the room in our house that gets the most sunlight in the afternoon, but you would never know.

The fabric is deco weight and they are lined with black out lining so they are heavy! They also keep out heat and cold :). I wasn't so sure about the curtains rods, as they seem kind of small, but in real life they are good, nice and sturdy and low profile.
This is the corner where the two rods meet.

I had a little helper who couldn't decide if the drum set or horse should be in the photo, sometimes both :)
I would never be able to find these curtains to purchase at the store. I love being able to sew exactly what I want for my house.

This is the little car lamp I found a while ago at Target. It matches the quilt I'm working on for the bed. January is my goal to finish the quilt.

bow tie quilt block swap

2011-12-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I participated in a bow tie quilt block swap. I had never made the block before and thought it was a good time to try it.
I forgot to take pictures of the blocks I made before I sent them out but they were good, believe me :) This is a pretty easy block and one that with just a little switching around the blocks makes a whole new look to the quilt.
Here are a few designs that I really like from the web, click on images for link backs.

I had almost forgotten about doing the swap until this last week. I was cleaning through some fabric piles and came across these blocks that I received.
I think that I would like to do a quilt with my own scraps. I like seeing my scraps in a quilt and remember where the fabric was originally used. Such a fun personal memory. That's why I didn't do another round of the swap.

sew mama sew winner of the sunglasses case

2011-12-21T19:43:00.001-08:00

The new winner of the sunglasses case is lucky #43. And lucky for her she left her email address for me to get in touch with her. Thanks for entering, It's always fun to participate in the sew mama sew giveaway day.



Rebecca said... 43: I got my first pair of glasses when I was 20, and now I mostly wear contact lenses. I would love a case for my sunglasses!

we have a winner

2011-12-18T22:54:00.001-08:00

I am so grateful for all the kind tips and stories from your eye glasses experiences. I am going to use a lot of the pointers and tips you shared in your comments with my 9 year old and am sure he'll feel just fine wearing glasses. And I'll feel fine knowing they make glasses kid proof...

The winner of the sunglasses case giveaway was #27, chosen from random.org, Congratulations and thank you everyone for coming by to enter!

: : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Ebeth said... 27 said

"I've been wearing glasses since I was 9 years old- and a great case is so important! Thanks for the chance.

To this day, I quote the Brady Bunch episode when Jan had to get glasses. "Glasses!! ANYTHING but GLASSES!"
December 12, 2011 12:05 PM

**BUT here's the problem, Ebeth, you are a no reply blogger. I have no way of getting in touch with you as you did not leave your email address and it is not accessible in your profile. So if I don't hear from you this week, I'll say by Wednesday, I'll go ahead and draw another winner. Ebeth, I need you to email me with my contact info above under the "contact me" tab.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : :

I hope everyone has a great week before Christmas. I have a lot of time to spend with my boys and a little bit of gift sewing to finish up so I'll be off until after Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

an earring display frame

2011-12-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Back in October, my sisters and I all got together, for a few days of relaxing without our kids and husbands, in Palm Springs. We had fun just being together, there are 8 of us. Usually we plan to do a craft of some sort but this year was pretty much relaxing by the pool and nothing crafty materialized.

We did talk about making some display frames for our earrings and so I found a bunch of old frames at a thrift store before hand. Most everyone took a frame home with them to complete on their own.
I just now completed mine, two months later. Actually, I'm pretty impressed I even completed it at all and it's not still sitting in the cold garage.
The frame can hang on the wall with the green ribbon or it can sit on the dresser leaning up against the wall.

While there visiting, one sister and I would make earrings. It's easy to do while talking and I never get out my earring supplies so I was happy to have someone to work with. It's been about 2 years since I've gotten my stuff out of the box. I took advantage of my sister's motivation to get a few pairs made for me. I'm such a perfectionist that it takes me forever to get a pair done, but she speeds through a pair so fast and they look good.

Here are a few of the earrings I made for myself.

While I have my supplies out and accessible I thought I would make a few pairs for my etsy shop and use up some beads that I have had for a while.

The earrings are on a really good sale right now. All are hand made by me and all metal and wire I use is sterling silver. I even made the ear wires, they are from 20 gauge sterling silver wire so they are nice and sturdy.

They are all pretty simple and a minimalist style. Most of them are also perfect for the girls who just recently have pierced ears and are still used to smaller dangles or studs. These are just a few that I like best.

more toy bags for Christmas

2011-12-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

If you happen to be interested in the Giveaway I'm participating in with Sew Mama Sew then click HERE to enter (or just scroll down to see the post for it) to win one of my protective cases for your sunglasses/eyeglasses.

::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::

I made a few more custom Show-Off window toy bags recently. One for a little guy's B-day and some for an etsy customer for Christmas. I love the big cars that go on the back. I am running out and only have a few more car panels left.

For the the first bag, I used a zipper with a larger zipper pull, it's longer and easy for little fingers to grasp. I also made the bag considerably larger than my original bags. I think I am going to stick to the larger size as they are much easier to work with and sew inside. The cost will not increase any more than the smaller ones because they are actually easier for me to make, so much easier!!

Here you can see the size difference to the smaller original bags. I still have a few of the smaller bags in my shop for sale. I'm not planning on making any more that size now that I'm going to stick with the larger bags. So if you are interested in grabbing them while they are at a discounted price, in my shop, now is the time to do it.

My son still loves his little blue number bag. He carries it to church with his little books and in the car with things to keep track of.

The other two bags are similar to each other both with cars on the back, but different fabrics and colors. They are the smaller original size, not the bigger size. They are for little twins who will get to carry their wooden blocks around in them from Christmas.

giveaway day with sew mama sew

2011-12-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

Giveaway has ended, thanks for entering.

Are you are still on the lookout for that gift for a good friend, a teacher, an aunt, a mom, a sister, a son or nephew, or even yourself? :)

Well then, this is for you:
For the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day I am giving away a zipper case for your sunglasses. This case is also good for your reading glasses as well. The inner layer of most of the cases offered are made with a soft microfiber fabric to prevent dust and lint getting on your lenses. Some others have cotton fabric as the liner.

The zipper cases are made with a layer of fusible interfacing to add structure and an inner layer of cotton batting for softness and protection to your eye wear. Here are a few examples of the cases.

I decided to offer some in little boy fabrics because my little guy may be getting glasses very soon and I am in such fear as to how we are going to keep them safe... He's an active boy and so maybe something with boy attraction will help keep them safe. (I can hope can't I?)
My husband even requested one for himself in all black. It's not very often he requests me to sew something for him.

The winner of my giveaway will get to look through my shop and see what sunglasses/eyeglasses case you would like to have. I will pack it up and ship it out at the end of the week for you to receive in time for Christmas if you are hoping to give it away as a gift.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment with your NAME and your EMAIL address if you have no other way to get a hold of you from your blog. And for a little fun, tell me if you wear glasses or if any of your children do. How old were you and what kind of interesting stories/tips can you tell me as a mother of a child with glasses?

For example: I'm Edith and I have a little brother who wore glasses. When he was 6 or 7 he was playing out side and didn't want to break his glasses (he had broken them many times before) so he took them off and put them in a safe place to get later. The safe place just happened to be right behind the rear tire of the family car parked in the driveway. This is the kind of thing I worry about with my son :)

-my giveaway will end Friday, Decemebr16th when I go to bed.
-you can enter if you are international.
-be sure to stop by the sew mama sew blog to participate in many other giveaways. The official linkup starts Monday, December 12th.

-If you want to have a second entry, then feel free to tell me you are a follower of my blog in a separate comment.
-If you want a 3rd entry, then feel free to tell me you are a follower of edeenut on facebook in a separate comment.

twine wrapped Christmas trees

2011-12-10T13:54:00.001-08:00

Last year I made these Christmas trees after Christmas was over so they never got to be displayed. Well this year I added a few more wraps of twine to support the bare holes and they are heavy duty now. They are up on my tall TV armoire.

I get to see them this year and am so glad I made them at the end of last year instead of the busy Holiday time now.

small fabric gift bags

2011-12-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

These tiny treat bags are really tiny. I had to put a bottle of nail polish next to it as a reference.
They are perfect to use a party favors or shower favors. You can give them for Christmas full of fun things like nail polish, handmade soaps, and lotions tubes. My sunglasses fit in the m nicely too.

I made these bags to enter in a contest allpeoplequilt.com was having. I really wanted to enter and have a chance to win a new Bernina sewing machine (my dream machine). But after 2 weeks of emailing and trying to get a hold of someone, ANYONE, with customer service or technical support I came to the realization that they have the worst customer service and not even a phone number to call. I guess wasn't destined to enter I guess.
I would upload my photos to My Share photo album and then they would not show up, it's like the album would disappear into the great cyber unknown. I tried this countless time with the same results... The worst part: while I did this over the 2 weeks period, I could see others entering their albums. Someone will sure be lucky, but it's not me, the deadline to enter was yesterday.

So moving on. I thought I would at least show you that I have been sewing. Maybe I'll use these bags as school, piano, and church teacher gift bags.

car quilt blocks for boy

2011-11-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not betting on this quilt being done before Christmas, but it would sure be nice. Usually we can get away with sleeping with only a sheet at night, but some nights in the winter require a bit more. So for my little guy's new twin bed he's getting a car quilt. I better get crackin' if I want to complete this before it gets cold and then I can cross it off my to do list for 2011.

I think I need a couple more reds, don't you think?

I bought a toddler size sheet set a long time ago, at Target on clearance, with this exact quilt in mind. I also found the matching desk lamp and shade on clearance a couple weeks later. I'll post pictures when I'm all done with his quilt. The pictures will also include the new curtains I finished up for his room.

These are the only blocks I've got done so far...

cyber Holiday sales

2011-11-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I started my cyber Holiday sale. It will last until Wednesday the 30th.
Get 20% off any item/order in my shop. Use code CYBER20 at checkout.

I added a lot of new items perfect for your sister, mom, daughter, even your sons, mother in law, aunt, you know. You could get most your shopping done.

Speaking of shopping, did anyone find any great deals online today?

Christmas trees galore

2011-11-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was our kickoff to Christmas. We decorated our Christmas tree and I put out all the decorations around the house.

We also went to the local Festival of Trees. The trees were decorated by different organizations and staged in a little scene for display. The trees were purchased by local businesses and the money donated to a local hospital.

Many trees were given ribbons for different categories and they were all pretty extravagantly decorated and fun to look at.

When it come to decorating our Christmas tree the kids usually love hanging their collection of ornaments up so we have a great family tree to enjoy, nothing fancy for us or any special theme.

Because we are pretty traditional with our tree it was fun to see all the other trees decorated with themes. Here are a few of the ones I took pictures of and hope you enjoy. You can enlarge most of the photos by clicking them.

This Blue ribbon went to "Best Lighting".

The Cat in the Hat. Can you imagine having this tree in your home? Nope not me. But I can totally see this tree in a Dr. office waiting room or a Library maybe. I can't remember which business bought this cat.

There were a few that had the the Red White an Blue patriotic/American theme. They were all very well done.

This is very colorful. I'm not quite sure about the big yellow pom pom on top, but it goes well with the colorful circus theme.

Very traditional red and silver. I like the pine cones.
There are also red birds all over the branches.

Angry Birds theme. This white ribbon was for "Santa's Favorite".

Super Mario Bros. The kids were excited about this one.

Here, Santa sitting among the branches of this tree.

Another patriotic theme. The fireplace looked cozy with those candles on the mantle.

These little elves and their kitchen scene got a blue ribbon for "Best use of Space".
I love the white little kitchen and the black and white floor is so cool.

Toys galore in this little fenced area.

I really liked this gingerbread themed tree and area. Even though the fireplace is fake, it looks cozy and the rug and table... It even had a cute gingerbread garland on the fence.

But my favorite part about this gingerbread themed tree/area was these two cute trees down on the floor with the red ribbons. I would love to find some of those round stick trees to put on my fireplace.

Here we have the tree that got the blue ribbon for "Best Tree Topper".

This purple tree had the blue ribbon for "Most Elegant". It was fancy, look at the fireplace with the white stockings and all the gifts wrapped up so pretty.

This tree was the largest of all the trees. It was up by the main performance stage. It earned two ribbons, a red one for "Santa's Favorite" and a blue one for "Best Traditional Christmas Tree".

Our tree this year pretty much looks the same as it did last year, you can see pictures of it here.

Show-Off toy draw string bags for kids

2011-11-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

I love to keep kids toys contained. Everything needs a place and toys with small parts especially need to be contained.

I have a new product in the shop and think it is very economical and practical. The cost is less than my other zipper Show-Off bags and these are also larger.

These are made from knit fabrics and still have the special Show-Off window in the front.

My son loves the cord stopper and stashing all his stuff in the bags. He is very able to use the cord stopper on his own and push the bag top open.

This one is my favorite. It is made from some Painting Red Rhinos fabric that I have had forever, over 5 years. On the back I sewed the words "choo-choo" on with a triple stretch stitch instead of a zig-zag satin stitch. They are also reinforced with stabilizer. I think a lot of times that gets over looked as people sew on knit and letters.

a race car driver and hockey player

2011-11-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have a car lover and he was sure excited when I suggested he be a race car driver for Halloween this year.
We had a hockey player as well (that was kind of last minute). He just wore his own jersey and helmet and carried his hockey stick, no sewing involved.

I made the race car jumpsuit by piecing the paper pattern pieces of some pants and a zipper sweatshirt together. It was a mistake that turned out OK, but not my preferred method. At first, I bought McCalls 5952 to use as a base but was unpleasantly surprised when I got home and after cutting out the pieces I realized I bought a size 8+ I needed it to be smaller... Don't ask me how I didn't notice when I was cutting it out that it was huge.
I couldn't return the pattern and I needed to sew it that night so I had no time to run and buy the correct size.

I searched all over the internet because I had no idea how a race car driver dressed. I just figured a Dickie's jumpsuit would do as the base but where do you get those in kids sizes? Then I came across this costume on pinterest and knew it was perfect. I pretty much copied it exactly. Although, mine turned out kind of balloony as I had no pattern to go by. I did add elastic to the waste on each side and added a velcro strap in the front to take in some of the excess and that was about as good as it was going to get.

I found the yellow hat on ebay, it has a pretty cool race car on the front and my fast driver loves it.

karate kid halloween costumes

2011-11-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

I never posted about my costumes last year. It's fun when the kids are small and you can dress them up in anything pretty much. Mine have never really had a big opinion about what they wanted to dress up as so my husband steps in and decides for them figuring I can sew anything up.
We had Johnny and Daniel-son from the Karate Kid.

I didn't use a pattern for the robes or pants but they were pretty easy to figure out. The robes are open in the front and wrap around just like real Karate suit things. I have no idea what the official name for those things are. I used Duck cloth for a nice thick feel and it was a great choice of fabric. The black suit has yellow piping added on the edge just like the real thing. Joanns even had some thick webbing I found to use for the belts.

The images on the back are just downloaded from the internet and re-sized in Photoshop then printed on iron on transfer paper.

They both turned out better than I expected and it was a fun year for dressing up. I'll post about this years costumes soon.

autumn begins & halloween kickoff

2011-09-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Autumn! Did you know yesterday was the first day of Autumn? I love to say Autumn in stead of Fall, I just love the sound of it better, it's my favorite season.

I've gotten a few little things in my shop for Halloween for the kids to use. They are pretty big bags and will hold all their candy loot.

I made these Trick Or-Treat bags from a natural canvas using all french seams. They have pictures appliqued on front from knit fabrics. I decided to sew them on in the triple strait stitch instead of a satin stitch. I like the way it looks on knit fabrics. Of course they are heat fused for stability before sewing on.

This Halloween bag is ruffled and made with girls in mind.

master bedroom curtains

2011-09-17T19:39:00.002-07:00

My bedroom has a big window in it, it's really a sliding glass door but it's pretty much a huge window because we don't use it to go outside.
The glass is single pane in an aluminum frame and it's old. The cold air comes in during the winter and the hot air comes in during the summer, really not energy efficient. We have replaced all the windows in our house within the last 2 years but the sliding door was kind of expensive and hasn't made it to the top yet.

To make it worse, there were some ugly vertical blinds hanging above it that provided privacy but that's it, air flowed right through those slats.

So finally, last summer I made some curtains for our bedroom. I love the fabric, it's a deco weight and it is lined in blackout lining. It's pretty substantial.
I'm finally posting pictures of them now because my sister is in the process of making curtains for her new house and she wanted to see mine.
I also finished another pair of curtains this week and thought I better post about these first before I show the new ones.

Here they are opened to show the window/sliding door.
The curtains are really the first step to fix up our bedroom. It's just kind of blaah. When we moved in, we painted and after a while the walls began to become dark and dreary to me. The bedspread is old and starting to rip. I'm very sad about that because it was a wedding gift, It needs replaced and it'll be the next thing I get to come help this room out.

Our room tends to be the dumping ground for everything. The balloons-those were being hung in here for safety until Big E's Birthday party the next day... The battery pack behind the guitar-sits there to be re-charged every time the power drill needs used... Pillows on the dresser- don't even know why... And this in only one wall of the room. I will not show the rest.

Can you see the curtains closed? There is something about the leaves. I won't tell you if you didn't notice. I hung them up and then realized the problem and decided I can live with it for now... And it's been a year living with it now. Those things are heavy and I didn't want to move them again.

One thing I LOVE about these curtains is the blackout lining. It blocks out all the light. I mean ALL the light. It also helps that they are hung just below the ceiling and about 12" extra out on both sides. I could sleep all day in here with the sun outside shining.

I have seen these curtains every day for over a year and I am still in love with them, and I love looking at them... except for that one thing that will keep getting at me until I fix it.

destashing my sewing patterns and fabric

2011-09-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've decided to clean out a lot of stuff from my sewing stash.
a lot of patterns, and fabric. Not quilting fabric, but some cotton knits, oilcloth, and stuff like that.

You can check out my etsy store in the supplies section if you're interested in some of the recent patterns, some are brand new and never cut! There are even a couple Halloween patterns.

There is a lot I'm not going to add to the shop, and just take it to the thrift store because it would be too much of a headache to go through every thing.

artisan bread in 5 minutes

2011-09-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

School is in full force and we have become homework central. But I have managed to get some house sewing worked on. Will show pictures later.

I have found a lot of fun things on pinterest, I really love that place!
But, like I said in a previous post, I am seriously sticking to my "not pinning random things", I only pin the things I WILL do or use and that is one bulletin board that will not be so cluttered in my life.

As proof, I made this bread for dinner the other night from my pinterest board. I love it and my husband even loved it. He said something along the lines of "this is actually a good homemade bread..." He hates the homemade bread I make because it is usually wheat. I rarely make white bread.

I have another recipe I used before for 5 minute artisan bread and made it a lot, but I find this new recipe a lot easier to make, with no mess, so I'll be sticking to this one.

This is one loaf of mine before going in the over on the pizza stone. It makes three loaves. The other two loaves I plopped on corn meal in round Pyrex bowls and they turned out just as good. I went a little over board on the corn meal but I wasn't sure how sticky the dough would be after cooking and my old recipe always stuck. Next time I'll use much less.

And this is the picture of the bread out of the over from the Make and Takes blog, where I got got the recipe for pinterst. I may try a little wheat flour in my next batch, not a lot though or I'll be sure to hear it from my husband...

large appliance box play house

2011-09-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

We recently got a new dishwasher and it was delivered in a pretty big box. Of course kids can't resist playing in such a big thing. So I helped them and within a few minutes they had a full fledged private house to play in.

I cut some windows out with a utility knife for them to open and peek out or shut and be private. There are three windows, one on each side of the house.

The 4th side of the box had been cut off so the dishwasher could be removed properly. To make a door I used a piece of brown flannel I had and sewed the top into a rod pocket like a curtain. It hangs on a thick piece of cardboard that was was packed in the box with the dishwasher.

I used very little time and effort on this because I know it will not last and I may get sick of having a large box around. Eventually it will end up in the recycle bin, but for now it's getting lots of love and play time.

super hero cape

2011-08-22T20:12:00.001-07:00

I realized right from the beginning that my pinterst board had potential to fill up and get all cluttered. So I made the decision when I started not to stick anything on my "bulletin board" that I do not plan to use for a purpose. I dislike clutter.

I am not just sticking random things on my pinterest because I think they are neat or cool or lovely or inspirational... the things I add there are really things that I plan to sew, or make, or do to my house, mostly my kitchen. We are hopefully going to knock out a wall that connects our kitchen to our dining room soon so I need some ideas. So that is why I add lot of kitchen photos to my board.

But back to super heros capes. My little E has been saying he is a super hero for months now. In the back of my mind I kept thinking I need to make him a cape... Well last week, I came across this super hero cape, I added it to my pinterest board and we had our super hero cape by the next day. I love that kind of sewing.

I used a new XL men's T-shirt that was in my stash for purposes just like this. To the bottom, I added a red matching knit band so it wasn't just plain gray and I fused and sewed a big "S" for "super hero" on the back.

My little super hero had it on all day and enjoyed it until he fell asleep. He even choose to wear it out and about the town when we left home. People got a kick out of it.
The neck is finished in velcro for obvious reasons, the break away velcro may come in handy when the cape gets stuck on flying machines (aka:swings).

yes, it's true

2011-08-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

Summer is really over here. Soon I'll be sending kids back to school and I'll be pulling out my sewing machines after I get my house in order. Spending over two weeks away from home will mess up your routine for sure but boy was it nice.

I'm looking forward to some creating time very soon.
While visiting with my sister in Utah she introduced me to pinterest. I've heard about it and seen it around but avoided it on purpose. When she showed me a few of her things I had to start my own to save them so now I may be regretting it but also a bit more organized on the web.

The beautiful Utah mountains from my vacation.

After being in Utah for a while we headed right to the lovely Colorado River, where it was still 100 degrees after the sun went down. The kids had a blast and it was fun to see my oldest one get up on the knee board his first try and being a daredevil while being pulled on the raft.

I'll be back soon.

facebook giveaway

2011-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

For some feedback and a little PRIZE, If we get 10 comments on this facebook post by Saturday night I'll pick one of them for a winner of a MINI zipper pouch.

Head on over to edeenut on facebook to see what's up and tell me your favorite thing you've done this summer so far.

sewing bean bags with kids

2011-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

My sewing machine has been sitting idle for pretty much a month now. Summer is just so exciting/busy with kids home that I've not had time to sit down to sew. With a lot of our time we have been working on some of Big E's scout goals. One is to make a bean bag. Another one is to play a bean bag toss game. Fun summertime ideas to do anyway plus giving my sewing machine some attention.

He wanted to make some like these I made for Baby E long ago with pictures on the front. I helped him draw the letters on wonder under then iron and sew them on the bean bags.

He then filled them with wheat berries, instead of beans or rice and sewed up the opening. They are made of sturdy natural color denim and stitched securely closed.

He was so curious about the sewing machine. He wanted to know how it worked and what every little button and knob did. He also mentioned making more with other letters to sell so he could earn some money. Haahaa, I guess I would rather him do bean bags then a lemon aid stand. I think I'll let him put a few in my etsy shop and see if he's successful.

Speaking of my etsy shop, The Big Summertime Sale is still going on. Hop on over to see what's still available.

recent sneak peeks

2011-06-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

My Big E loves to look through the Family Fun magazines and get all sorts of ideas to make and do. For Father's Day he thought these lawnmower cupcakes would be a hit for his dad, and for Grandpa's Birthday the same week.

The idea is pretty cute, and they were easy enough to do for kids. The only thing that was not accurate about the instructions was the lawnmower handle. We could not find black licorice pull and peels anywhere so we stuck with red. Also the ropes would not stand up tall so we had to cut them short to keep from falling over.
Overall they were sure good to eat and I'll be happy to recommend them to others. I used cream cheese frosting so they were extra yummy.

I also participated in a recent placemat swap. It was quick and easy. No real time commitement to make a small project. My partner hasn't received it yet so I'm just going to post a sneak peak for her.
It's not that hard to tell what it is here... she said she loves them and I thought it would be fun to do an applique on the front for her. Hope she likes it.

I also recently won this Pattern, that everyone has been making, from Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations.
I think I'll just make a baby size to begin with. Not sure if I want to attempt a larger one for my bed yet.

the biggest sale of the season

2011-06-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

It's summer and I'm having a huge sale in the shop. A little change will be coming soon to some of the designs and a few other styles will be making their way, so current inventory must go!

At checkout, use coupon code: SUMMER to get 35% off every item!

Plus - on top of that discount, every purchase of $45 or more will ship for free to the USA, (sorry international).
At checkout it will charge you for shipping but I will refund every qualifying order's shipping right back to you.

Take advantage of this and share with your friends, Happy SUMMER!

name towels & summer harvest

2011-06-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full swing here, not much creating, but there is a little bit here and there.
When children in our church turn 8 years old they are baptized a member. As primary leaders, we give the children a white towel as a gift. I volunteered to applique the name of the child on it to make it personal for them. This is the most recent towel I've finished.

My cherry tomatoes plants have began producing. I picked the first five red ones today. There are so many green ones and I can't wait.

I've also scored a great price on apricots, so I stocked up and have been drying them in my dehydrator this week. They are so good. I love them.

new flannel board covers

2011-06-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

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I am being featured on Gen X Quilters today. I'm telling all about my sewing/quilting journey and showing my first quilt completed and my most recent quilt completed. Head on over and see what AnnMarie does on her blog. I always find interesting new bloggers from her features.

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It has been I while since I did something new for my flannel board stories. Lately my Baby E has been wanting to get out the stories we have and hear them, and "tell" them to me. I will have to make more stories for us for a larger variety.

I thought I would make a couple new flannel board slip covers to add to the shop for others to enjoy too. These are made to slip over a large piece of cardboard nice and tight. They are a tri-fold style, allowing them to stand on their own. They are a perfect size to tell any story on for children.

weekend sewing, women's clothing

2011-05-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily this weekend, but last weekend, I got some sewing completed for me.

I was excited to finally sew something using my recently finished duct tape dress form. I made the Market Blouse and skirt from the Lisette Pattern, Simplicy 2211.

These were not necessarily made with intentions to be worn together. Although, I guess they don't look that bad together, but I just thought I would take pictures with them this way and save on time.
I love that the dress form is just my size so the clothes look the same on it as they would on me, that way I don't have to try to take a self portrait.

The shirt is made from the pink Lisette shirting. It has no stretch to it. First I made a muslin in a size 10 because that is what the pattern back said my measurements were. It was bigger than I wanted it to be so for the pink shirt I cut out a size 6. I even took in more on the sides than the 5/8" seam allowance so it would fit me better in the waist. Because there is no stretch to the fabric, it is a bit difficult to get off but not terribly impossible and very doable.

I love the sleeves, and the neck and button details. I wasn't so sure about the button placket at first and left it off. Later, after I was all done, I decided it was too plain and I went back to add it. I'm really glad I did. I jokingly asked my husband if it looked like I was going to a picnic. He said "It looks like you are the picnic."

I matched up the plaids on the button placket pretty well, and the collar too, but when I sewed the collar on it didn't really want to match up... Oh well, It's kind of nice to have it off a bit so it's slightly visible.
(haahaa, not really, If I was to do it again I would match it exactly, that's how anal I am.)

The skirt is made from some blue fine wale corduroy I have had for a long time. It was also used in this pouch. The front of the skirt is shown above in the first image, and this is the back. Pretty much the same though.

I used an invisible zipper instead of a regular one. I still need to choose buttons for the four tabs. But I have a hard time committing to buttons.

The skirt pleats kept flipping inside out and hanging funny when I tried on the skirt and walked around in it. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the corduroy rubbing against itself. To solve the problem, I tacked the inside of each pleat down in two places by hand. The tacks are so small and go through to the front of the skirt, but you can't see them. That keeps them hanging flat and not inverting. Wearing a half slip with this will also help keep it draping down nicely. I'm a big advocate of slips, haahaa, they are the best.

duct tape dress form, check!

2011-05-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed I have a 2011 to do list at the top of my blog. It is mostly long term things I want to accomplish. I say long term because a lot of other things come up that I need (or want) to do right away.

On my list of things to do, even before 2011 came, was make a duct tape dress form for myself. I first saw the nifty idea here. Then I did a bit more research and found a few other people who had made one too. Here are a few other places I used for tips: Here, Here, and Here, and one more Here.

I used all their experiences to come up with what I wanted for my own. I used a trash bag instead of a T-shirt because I wanted it to be my exact size with no extra. I used 1 1/2 rolls of duct tape with three layers of wrapping. I'm not petite but I'm not going to deny I'm small.

I saved a floor lamp for a year to use as a stand for this specific purpose. There is a white PVC pipe running from the neck to the bottom of the form inside that is just larger than the lamp pole.

The PVC pipe has the top glued onto it to keep the lamp pole from going all the way through and the form from sliding to the ground.

There is cardboard cut to fit in the neck and hips at the bottom to help it keep it's shape. The duct tape is wrapped over to hold the cardboard in place. I then covered the edges with clear packing tape. Duct tape doesn't hold well in my opinion.

The inside of the form has some cardboard support pieces taped in place that help it hold it's shape from front to back and from side to side. Then I used 1 1/2 bags of stuffing to stuff it and fill in all the little corners. It is really packed in there good and the form will hold it's shape nicely.

In order to keep the dress form from sliding down the PVC pipe, I had my husband drill tiny holes for me, four total. Then I ran wire through the holes and twisted it around and through the cardboard bottom.

It took a couple hours to complete the wrapping while we watched a movie. My husband kept getting distracted to watch the movie and I was tired from standing but he was very detailed and did a perfect job.
I love it! It is really just as cool as I hoped it would be.

I keep it in my closet and it's kind of odd to have it there and I keep a shirt on it because I feel like it's my bareness, ahaahaa, and some times I get spooked by it thinking it's a real person, if I see it out of the corner of my eye.

It is exactly the same measurements as I am and I've even used it to make some clothes. I'll share the clothes soon!

winners announced

2011-05-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally home, kids in bed, relaxing and have a chance to "draw" the two winners in Monday's giveaway.

I want to thank everyone who left comments with summer fun suggestions to do with kids. I have a big list now to refer to. I'm so grateful to all of your suggestions!

On to the winners...
First one gets to choose the pouch or the fabric. the second winner will get the remaining prize. Winners have been emailed already.

First winner was # 264 Lisa, who is going to teach her girls how to sew. How fun for them! I still have memories of when I was learning how to sew, at age 7! That was a long time ago as I'm just over 30 now. I bought some fabric a couple months ago with my son for PJ shorts. He is happy to make them himself.

Second winner was # 74 Kelly, who suggested doing paper crafts with kids. She does some amazing things with paper and she shows it all on her blog.

Can you believe it chose the very last number (264)?! Crazy, and totally random. My comment counter only goes up to 200 before it starts over again on 1, but then it's just like there is a "2" in front of the numbers after that.

Sew Mama Sew giveaway day

2011-05-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

: : : This giveaway has ended : : :

I love browsing through all the listings of sew mama sew giveaway day and discovering many new blogs.

I'm happy to once again be participating in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day.
Today I'm offering a 1/4" yard of the new Denyse Schmidt pink and red polka dots,
that is a 9" X 45" piece of fabric. This will go to one winner.

Plus in addition to that, another winner will get a little zipper pouch.
It's made out of the DS pink and red dotted fabric above. It measures 4" X 6".

It has one layer of cotton batting on the inside. The blue ruffle on the outer may vary but will be similar as the winner will get to choose the color of ruffle and I will make it.

To be entered to win just leave a comment. In your comment please, if you so desire, tell me one of your best creative ideas for summer fun with kids.
You know the school year is almost over and I need some ideas to fill the summer days with. Ideas for preschoolers and Elementary age would be best! I'll share some of my favorites in another post later this week.

Giveaway closes on May 25th, Wednesday night sometime before I go to bed.

The first comment chosen will get to pick if they want the fabric or the little zipper pouch. The second winning comment will get the second item.

Thanks for stopping by.
Feel free to check out my face book page for updates and also my etsy shop.
Be Sure To Leave A Comment Here on This Post First and then see below for another giveaway to head on over to to win.

Want to win another giveaway?
I want to give a shout out to the talented Heather, from a neat little blog, Dance 2 Create, who went on vacation and forgot to put her Giveaway post up for Sew Mama Sew's big day. So you will not see it on the large master list. But for those lucky enough to see this then you'll have another chance to win from her giveaway tha many won't so you have an advantage of winning.
Go HERE to enter to win her cool little snack bag.

blog upkeep & weekend sewing

2011-05-20T17:56:00.001-07:00

I've decided I need a little blog change. Not a big change but just a few subtle changes that have been bugging me. I'm sure no one else can tell a difference but to me it seems so much cleaner. I love organization. So I pulled off my left side bar. All the buttons and links I had there are now under the page above titled "recommended reading". To me that is organizing all the places I like to read in one place.

Removing the left side bar allowed me to put larger images into my posts. I love to see larger images without having to click on them to enlarge them. No more unnecessary clicks of the mouse. But most images will still enlarge if you click them, I just like to type in my own sizes for my images when I add them, not allowing blogger to decide for me.

So again, not like this matters to anyone, but to me it's like I just cleaned my house, vacuumed my floor and did the dishes, much cleaner and now my eyes can enjoy.

I have a date with my sewing machine this evening and maybe tomorrow as well. I even pulled out my serger to join in. I have not used it for ages.

I found these nice Lisette fabrics at Joann's a couple weeks ago for some garments I had in mind for me.
Most of the fabrics in the line are a bit too bright and bold for my clothing style. But if I had a little girl I would have to buy most all of them.

The blue above is a nice chambray and the pink checked is a shirting.
I also picked up some natural Linen. It has little texture lines going down the fabric that I like.

I'll pop in later to hopefully show some progress another day.

What I use my pouches for

2011-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Some people may think, what would you do with more than one little zipper pouch?
Then others may say, you can never have too many!
I for one can never have too many.
They come in many different sizes making them perfect for storing all sorts of things. Plus they can be made into Any custom size to fit your needs.

I thought I would show you a few of the Many ways I use my little zipper pouches. These are the basic sizes I like to use. Other sizes are available in my shop and many others by request.

First a Mini Sized pouch:

Next a Little sized pouch:

And also the Medium sized pouch:

Be sure to stop by next Week when I'll be joining in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day and see the goodies I have to give away.

pretty { little } pouch swap

2011-05-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

I am ready to send off my little zipper pouch to my partner. This Pretty { Little } Pouch Swap was right up my alley and so I couldn't resist joining.

My partner was wonderful with her requests, so easy going. She was interested in bright colors and grays with corduroy and linen. I decided against using linen as I see so many pouches with linen that they are a bit over done. I love this blue small-wale corduroy, I've had it for years and bought a lot of it at the time.

It's a larger size for holding all sorts of sewing supplies, as she hoped to use it for.
9" tall, 6" wide at bottom and 7 1/2" wide at top, with a 2" bottom gusset. There is a layer of cotton batting and interfacing on the front and back.

finished up friday - sewing

2011-04-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

I finished a larger order of these fun little pouches this week. Every single one is different. I love all the color. It's nice to have something to show that is completed instead of all my Works in Progress.

My favorite out of the bunch is this one.

I'm joining up a little late with Tyra and her party. It's a good motivation to get things finished up around my sewing table. I can't even count the number of my sewing projects in the works.

Marimekko

2011-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

I have drooled over large bold prints of Marimekko for some time now.
Tyra recently headed over to Finland and brought back a nice piece to giveaway. If you want to enter then go Here to leave a comment.

If I win I'm using this for a new kitchen window panel. We may be doing some new things with our kitchen this summer when Mr. E has lots of time off!
I love the blue and black of this fabric, it's perfect for my kitchen.

some spring sewing

2011-04-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's that time again on Made By Rae. All sorts of Spring tops are being sewn as I type. Is yours in process? Because last year I was a runner up, I get to be a judge this year. If it's anything like lasts year's entries, I'm going to have a hard time judging the great tops.

Be sure to head on over to the Spring top pool on flickr to see all the entries so far. More are being added every day. If you want o enter one of your tops you've made then head on over to Rae's post on her blog about the details and how to enter.

Denyse Schmidt fabric collection

2011-04-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

I picked it up from my local Joanns today. When I was there a couple days ago it wasn't out yet, so I was hoping it was out on the shelves today.
I had 4 coupons to use and was so glad to find 10 of the 21 bolts from the collection out.
I also found out that Joanns accepts competitors coupons, so a 50% off coupon from Michael's will work.

The fabric is so nice, it's so soft and silky. Very nice quilt shop quality. Of course you wouldn't expect anything less from Denyse Schmidt's fabric. The person who cut my fabric for me said it would be something they would have in stock regularly.

I'm excited to sew it up into lots of lovelies.

new code for the side link...woops

2011-04-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all those who have contacted me about my side bar link not working.
If you have had it on your blog and it stopped working I realize now that if I delete an image in my photobucket account it deletes all the links associated with it. Woops.

It's all fixed now and the new one is up and working. The codes on the right side are correct and should work. Feel free to change them if you had the link on your blog and if you didn't have it on, then by all means go ahead and add it. It'd make my day!

a change in the weather

2011-04-09T10:15:00.001-07:00

Honestly, I have not sewn on my machine for 2 weeks, that has to be a record. I did cut out some projects though when the kids were in bed some nights. But it has been so nice to just do nothing but play with the kids and relax.

I got some cherry tomatoes ready for planting and then last night we had a crazy change in the weather, it hailed, here in the desert. Good thing I held off on the other vegetables I still need to plant.

Luckily I remembered these tomatoes are still fragile and brought them inside to sleep.

My rose bushes in front were fine. The sun hasn't quite hit them yet, and the back yard has melted quite a bit. Crazy weather for Spring Break.

Last week we had what we call general conference, we watch our church leaders on the TV for 4 hours (in 2 hour increments), 8 if you watch on Saturday as well. I like to listen to it on Saturday. But Sunday we all sit down and watch as a family. I am always so tired and years ago I realized in order to stay awake and gain knowledge and learn, I need to be doing something mindless with my hands so my mind is able to focus on the amazing messages. Binding a quilt has been my usual go to, but I didn't have a quilt this time. So before it started, I grabbed a few fabric scrap bags and scissors and sewed up some hexagons.

No theme going on with them, just scraps in all sorts of colors. I have no plans for them yet, but there are so many things to do with the little things. They became very addictive after I had a realization that I don't have to sew them all together to make a quilt. Too much hand sewing for me. But I'm excited of the other options for them.

some progress & half-square triangles

2011-03-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show you what I am working on since last week's WIP Wednesday. Some half-square triangle blocks out of charm squares the easy way. It's been posted before many times on many quilting blogs how to do this, so this isn't a tutorial really, just some images in order on making the triangles. A couple readers asked and wondered how they do it and you can pretty much figure it out by my images.

Charm squares are 5" square. Draw a line down the top square from corner to corner on the wrong side of the fabric (shown in purple below). Sew on each side of line 1/4" inch away. then cut down the drawn line. Open up and press seem towards dark fabric. Trim off little corner thingies and arrange in any order desired.
You can also do this in any size block to begin with and not just charm squares.

I have a lot more of these to make but they are pretty fast moving, just chain stitch them all at once, and then press them all at once.
There are so many options for arranging these triangle blocks together that your biggest problem will be trying to decide how!

Here are a few ideas for arranging them:
Sew Mama Sew-

Cabbage Quilts-

Squares and Triangles-

little ones with scissors & a winner

2011-03-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

The winner of my little zipper pouch giveaway is commenter #53, Lesli, she said she likes the orange kiss zipper pouch and likes it light in the evening. I'm going to email you Lesli, Congratulations! And thank you for everyone who entered.

I LOVE it light in the evening too. I LOVE it, I LOVE it light in the evening. I really get so sad when October comes and we go back to darkness. For my kids rooms, I added the black out drapery liners to their curtains. Plus they have vertical blinds so at bedtime they have darkness in their rooms.

Last week I read this post from Tyra, and I couldn't help but laugh. Her son got a hold of her sewing scissors and got a bit creative himself... A lot of hard work ruined, but still funny. She was a good sport about it.

I thought I would show you what my little one has done with my sewing scissors. I learned really quick after this incident to never leave them out. This is a basic plastic cover I use sometimes to keep dust off my old machine. This is the back of it.

and this is what it looks like on the front now.

I'm just lucky that I didn't have some project under the needle at the time of the cutting. If I am in the middle of sewing something, I have been known to leave the needle down in the spot I am sewing and get up to do something else and then come back to sew more later. Another thing that I thought about was those scissors are sharp. I have cut myself with them, thankfully this plastic cover was the only thing harmed.

wip wednesday

2011-03-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I participated in WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. I always have things in progress, I just don't always have the desire to come blog about it. Blogging sometimes takes a long time... taking the pictures, editing them and uploading them. I also like to re-size my images larger than allowed by blogger so I have to do that manually in the codes. Then the writing... I think the photos take the longest but worth it. I am a fan of pictures when I read blogs and I admit sometimes skip reading the text unless the pictures catch my eye.

So here we go my WIP Wednesday:

I pulled this Autopia panel out of my cabinet the other day and decided to cut into it. I've had plans to make a quilt with it. I'm planning on using the little images for centers of log cabins blocks and then using the scenery panel for the backing. It'll be a baby quilt.

I thought the little cars were pretty cute so I used one in the making of a Show-Off toy zipper pouch. I added some thick red rick rack and love how it looks poking out. It's not done yet but here's the progress. I may just have to add the rick rack to the quilt I make as well.

Next: I have a lot of charm squares left over from my Simple Abundance line. I used all the blues and reds and creams in this quilt. All the pinks, oranges and browns and yellows that are left, are going to be something else. I think just simple half square triangles for a quick quilt.

edeenut give away day

2011-03-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

It's kind of been a busy week here in real life, but I haven't forgotten about the giveaway I had planned. I have added a lot to my etsy store and I wanted to get the word out to everyone with your help, of course through the giveaway.

So the winner of my giveaway will get to choose one little zipper pouch from my etsy shop.

This includes all sizes, the mini, little, medium, large, AND the kids Show Off zipper pouch bags. Take a look around and see what items catch your eye over in My Etsy Shop, edeenut then come back here to win (see below for entries).

Here are a few items that I especially like:

Please leave a comment for each entry, and your email address if you want me to be able to get back to you if you win.
There will be a lot of ways to enter just like I mentioned earlier so feel free to pick and choose what ever way(s) is easier for you to enter.
Giveaway ends Friday evening 3/25.

Entry #1 - Become a follower of my blog here and tell me in a comment you are, and for some interesting reading tell me your thoughts of daylight savings time. Do you like it dark or light in the evening?

Entry #2 - Look around my etsy shop and tell me what little zipper pouch you would choose if you are the winner.

Entry #3 - "Like" edeenut's fan page on Facebook HERE, yep, I decided to facebook it. Say "Hi" on the wall if you would like and then come back here and leave a comment telling me you "like" edeenut on facebook.

Entry #4 - Blog about this giveaway on your blog, if you don't blog, then share the link to this post on facebook or tweet about it. Come back here to leave the link for me in a comment.

Entry #5 - Grab my button for my blog and post it on yours. You can find the code over there on the right hand side. Leave your blog link in your comment for me.

COMMENTS CLOSED

orange kiss burlap purse

2011-03-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why this fabric stood out to me so much when I bought it. Maybe because it is so bright and bold. But I really liked it when I bought it. I originally got it years ago to make my first stacked coin quilt Here. And then I had a lot left over just sitting in my stash. It is Alexander Henry, Bolero.

I found it the other day in my stash and paired it with some orange burlap to make a purse. It's a tote bag style purse. Also some more little zipper pouches to match it.
I really love how burlap adds a nice interesting texture.

This purse has two nice inner slip pockets on one side, the other side has my favorite, a private zipper pocket. I don't know about you but I like a place to keep things from mixing with my whole purse contents.
More images of the purse and matching zipper pouches can be seen Here, in my shop.

#1 slipcover on csi project

2011-03-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

My sister showed me the CSI blog earlier this week and said they were having a slipcover/upholstery challenge, telling me I should enter my couch slipcover. So I did.
I found out today that it was chosen as #1. It was a pleasant surprise, as there were so many lovely projects in the challenge that I really didn't have my hopes up.

Also, my slipcover is being featured over on Honey Bear Lane today in her slipcover reveal week. She was so kind to be the first to email me and congratulate me on winning. I had no idea until I read her email. I enjoy seeing a slipcovers and can't wait to see when she reveals her's this coming week.

And to answer all the other questions I have received about my slipcover and the method I used to made it and the fabric I used, I did a post HERE telling about it a bit that may be helpful to you.

Show Off toy bags

2011-03-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

I have good news, I've finally listed my great new invention in my shop, ahaahaa.
But seriously, I have had this idea for a while now and was finally able to get some made for my shop this week. I call them the Show Off Bag. They are the perfect thing for kids.
If you have kids you know what I'm talking about when I say they have to take their toys with them eeevry.where.

My little E has a bunch of toy cars, and when I say a bunch, I mean a whole bunch. He likes to play with them all, not just one or two, but a whole bunch at one time. He carries them with him from room to room and in the car when we drive places and to church. He needed something to keep them contained for on the go.

When I first showed him his very own Show Off bag, he knew exactly what to do with it.
His cars came right out of his old hard case and into the travel Show Off bag. It's also been used for books, a little magna-doodle, and soft loveys.

After some trial runs and working the kinks out, I have the pattern down to where it looks good and is functional. It is to a point that I'm happy to offer it to others and am confident that it will show my quality workmanship.
I am happy to say that it is fully lined and no seems are visible, even the show off window is cleanly concealed with no edges showing.

Anyway, there are a few in the shop now and some with custom fabric choices to choose from.

I won a blue ribbon at the fair

2011-03-08T14:02:00.001-08:00

I just received my quilted items back from the County Fair and was pleasantly surprised with my ribbons.

Here's a look at what I entered and the places they took. You can click them all for a larger image to see a closer view. Plus they all have the rod pocket on the top for display still, I have yet to remove them. The rod pockets had to be basted on by hand and they took forever to do.

In the large quilts category I entered 2 and this one took 3rd place. I have not shown this completed quilt here before on my blog so this is brand new. It hasn't been washed yest so it is not all scrunched up and soft. But I was kind of afraid the red backing would bleed before the fair so I didn't want to wash it first.

The second quilt entered in the large category was one you've all seen, my Round circle twin quilt. It got an honorable mention.

In each category there are about 6 sub areas to enter. These quilts were all entered in the "pieced by machine and quilted by machine".
This quilt was entered in the smaller quilts category. The Monkey Stacks baby quilt took first place. I love the organic line quilting on it.

In the mini quilt category I took first place too with my Home Sweet Home quilt.

My wonky star pillow took second.

And lastly, my blue variegated tote bag, in the quilted bags and purses category, took first place.

I really enjoyed entering items in the county fair. It's such a different kind of contest than entering in some here in blog land. I think my quilts at the fair were original and not so much like the others entered. I live in a small corner of the world and it's nice to have contests that the whole world is not entering. I like how they have judges to vote and not the random luck of a voting system.
It's nice to be able to enter them for fun and still get a bit of satisfaction from seeing your talent displayed. I think there is a bit of pride that everyone feels when they are creative and complete a project. It's nice to just stand back and admire it. Even if winning or judging wasn't involved it's a satisfying thing. The cash prizes are nice, but they are not enough to make you rich at all, but I can buy more fabric with mine at least.

a few pretty things

2011-03-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

I was featured over at One Pretty Thing a few days ago. Rachel is the best and I love the many things from around blog land she shares with us. My rose wreath was on the Daily DIY Wednesday.

And some more pretty things making their way into the shop later this weekend.
I may have gone crazy, these are only a few of the many I've done.

Remember to become a follower of my blog so you'll be able to enter into my giveaway coming here soon.

I'm in love with zippers

2011-02-25T16:54:00.000-08:00

I love making these little zipper pouches. So many different possibilities and color combination's. I'm loving this red and aqua right now.

Some with a waterproof lining for cosmetics and hair product mini bottles.

Also some non waterproof ones for anything.

I have many more in my head to create and add to my shop.
Also look for some other type bags making their way within the next couple weeks. I'm planning for a full shop.

I plan to do a giveaway within that time too, so be sure to become a follower of my blog so you'll know when that will be and also because the winner will be one of my followers. You will get to choose your own pouch if you are the winner.

a few nifty things around etsy

2011-02-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

But first, you can also find me over at Dandy Giveaway & More today guest posting.
I have some easy instructions for some really cool party decorations I found at hostessblog.com How to make these Polyhedron balls in any color.

Now back to the original title, I love etsy. I can browse around there for quite a while. After a while I notice that time is not standing still and I've spent way too much time browsing. People are so creative and talented. I love that everyone can have their own style and make such random things on etsy.
I've started to make a few more things for my etsy shop and am trying to lean more towards a theme for my shop. I will post random things there every now and then that I make but for the most part I want to focus more on bag, purses, and pouch type items.
I do have a few that will be hitting my shop next week that I'm excited for, plus I changed my banner there to match my blog one here so they are more connected.

So for now I thought I would share a few items and sellers I've come across in my browsing and added to my favorites.

A little Frayed has these cool dish drying mats that are so handy. I know because I have one. I was lucky enough to receive mine recently and I put it under my metal folding dish dryer I got from Pier One. The mat is absorbent so my counter doesn't get soaking wet from drips.

Anzfer has these really cool desk lights made from drift wood. This one caught my eye because it also has a stand up pencil holder. I think it would be perfect for my husband's desk. Right now he has this silly little trinket type pen holder that I've been secretly been trying to get rid of. He caught on to my plans a while ago and now will never let that silly little thing go.

I love earrings, and every few months I get the desire for new ones. jNicDesigns is my all time favorite jewelry shop. Here are new earrings in her shop I love.

Then here is another pair of earrings I like from leedledeedledesigns

Coconut Pie has a large selection of vintage sewing patterns, this is just one of the many I like. I have my eye on many, so be careful not to snag them before I do.

My sister, dance2create, makes these lunch sacks that are fashionable. I shared them here once before, but I really like her newest product the reusable snack and sandwich bags. They are not clear like Ziploc so you can hide snacks and candy in them from your kids. That is what I need. You can also put a sandwich in them too if you are trying to be healthy.

So do you browse Etsy? Are you usually looking for something specific, or do you just browse for random things? What kind of cool things have you come across lately?

crepe paper rose wreath

2011-02-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

With the rest of my roses from this post I decided to make a wreath to hang up for Next Valentine's Day. It was fairly easy because I already had all the roses rolled and ready. Gluing them on was a bit time consuming but they went on simple.

This doesn't have to be just for V-day, you could make roses in any color to hang up any time of year. Remember the crepe paper rolls are usually a $1 a roll. Or if you look at the Dollar Store you can get a two pack for $1. I would plan for at least three rolls to cover this 14" Styrofoam wreath.

This is what my roses looked like on the back. There is a flat place where my fingers held the rose as I twisted it up. After every 2 or so twists, I would dab a dot of Elmer's White school glue to hold it from unwrapping. Remember, this is where I found the rose twisting instructions. Adding the dot of glue really helps hold the rose together because when I hot glue it on the Styrofoam, I want it to lay flat against the surface so I trim it with scissors. This is where the Elmer's glue comes in handy.

I added the hot glue to the edge on the back and held it in place on the wreath for a few moments. Then continued to add roses right up next to each other so were no white holes peaking through. I think a light coat of red spray paint would have helped the white from peaking through.

I continued gluing roses down the outer sides and inner side until the whole white area was covered.

Keeping the back empty because it will not be seen and then it will lay flat up against the door or wall where it will hang.

I even added three white roses to form a small heart on the wreath. Is it obvious what they are doing there? Or not so, as my oldest E asked me what they were for.

Hang it with a strip of fabric or some thick ribbon.

rose topiary decoration

2011-02-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day may be over but it's still February. It is such a short month so I only have a few V-day decorations and I leave them out all month. Until last year, I had no decorations at all. I made this Love sign to hang in a red frame, but that was it. This year I decided to attempt another red decoration so the Love frame wouldn't be alone.

Using a 4" round Styrofoam ball, a stick from the back yard, and a dollar store ugly brown ceramic pot I painted red, I made a lovely red rosette topiary with a bit of green floral moss.

I got the idea when I saw these hanging balls on House of Smith's. She even gave the tutorial how to make the small little roses out of crepe paper rolls. It took me forever to figure out how to do the twist as I rolled the crepe paper, I was about to give up and finally it just twisted and it worked and I was amazed. So I didn't give up, I kept right on going and made a bunch. A whole bunch of red roses actually. After hot gluing some on the ball I had one complete rose topiary.

I still have a big bag of extra roses. They were kind of a no brainer to make after I finally figured out the twist part. So during a couple movies I kept on twisting. Enough to fill this bag. I used one roll of red crepe paper for my 4" ball topiary and I think I recall doing two-three more crepe paper rolls before I stopped. At the dollar store you can get a pack of two crepe papers for $1. I think I will glue them onto a Styrofoam wreath to save for next V-day.

sitting pretty

2011-02-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

My poor back needs some comfort. I consider myself to have pretty good posture when I sit, but some times it gets really sore. I would love to sit at my sewing machine or the computer in one of these beauties.

Office supplies have always been a favorite of mine, and of course that means office furniture to supply my office, or sewing space, or, you know, where ever I work and sit.

I love the colors offered, red, green... there is even blue and white.

wonky star pillow

2011-02-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

I really like the way this quilt block came out and how it is so quick and easy. It has now become a pillow.

For this pillow I quilted the front and the back so it's reversible and added an invisible zipper of course. One thing that makes me sad is not adding piping. I have a simple tutorial here how to make your own piping but I didn't get around to making some for this pillow.

This pillow ended up being about 13" X 13" and fits a 14" pillow form to make it nice and puffy. You can actually lay your head on it. It's a throw pillow to add to the others on our bed. I like to use an extra pillow when we watch movies in bed and so I can see the screen better.

Thought I would add it to the February pillow pool over at Stitched In Color.

I also entered the pillow in the county fair and it won second place.

home sweet home, the mini quilt saga

2011-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

I finished the mini quilt that I made this house block for.

When my husband first saw me making this block, he asked if I had nothing else to do. Wondering why I was bothering making it. I guess he doesn't understand creativity huh? Oh well, I did laugh with him though because really I didn't have a reason to make it except that I can. I have no intentions of hanging this up on my wall or displaying it anywhere in my house, because that is just not my style and he knows that because we are similar like that.

But really, I had the County Fair in mind when I started this. There is a mini quilt category to enter for display so that is what got me thinking of even making a mini quilt. What really is the reason behind a mini quilt? Unless you have a little girl who can use it for her baby doll, what would I ever do with a mini quilt?

It was a fun challenge to try to piece this large house and scene together, and I really enjoy seeing the final product with the creative quilting adding the details. So there really is reason behind a mini quilt if you think about it. It's all creativity.

I wanted to do a creative quilt block for the block party at Quilt Story and this House was the perfect creative block. I think a larger quilt with many mini house blocks are so cute, I really love the ones I've seen.

I dropped the mini quilt off yesterday with a few other items for display at the County Fair. It's not quite a first for me, but in the quilting category it is a first. When I was younger I entered a decorated cake in our County Fair, it was quite funny. My Mother was the best wedding cake decorator around and she taught me and a few friends how to do a few techniques. So She had us enter as our little 4-H group. The cake earned me a blue ribbon.

I have been learning a little more about my new camera. I like the idea of being able to adjust the settings and take the picture you want and not the picture the camera wants.
So this little mushroom was my focus while trying to blur the house in the background. Success.

update:
Entered in the county fair and it received 1st place.

fun sewing

2011-02-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

I tried a new method for my zippered pouches working on adjusting where the zipper meets at the ends. I really like it. These are fun because you can do all sorts of different designs on the front. These three were fun to play around with. They will be added to my shop soon. It's looking a little sparse.

Boxed bottoms.

Little ducks.

Green with black inset ruffle out of Michael Miller dots.

Blue flowers with pink plaid inset ruffles.

completed

2011-02-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

I received a final image of the commissioned patio chair covers I did recently. I think they look lovely on their front porch. The sun looks warm too.

Also, there is some voting going on over at

sewing trouble & WIP

2011-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

Today's my Birthday, I'm not even sure how old I am, maybe 32. I will have to ask my husband when he gets home how old he is and then subtract a year. That is how I have remembered how old I am since I was about 26. The years seam to just blend in.

My recent Work In Progress is for me. Which is fitting for my Birthday I suppose. It is a quilt I had planned at least a year ago to make. I wanted a quilt just for me to cuddle in and watch a movie or to take a nap with.
This quilt has given me the most trouble though.

When Simple Abundance came out I loved it right away. The fabric colors were just what I liked and went with my home. I ordered what I thought I would use and then it sat for a year. When I finally started work on the quilt I wanted more red picnic dot for the back and had a hard time finding one yard of it for a price I was willing to pay.
Then it came time to quilt it, I used my Mother in laws machine and did an all over roaming stipple.

Trouble first started when I sewed through my finger, pretty deep into the skin on the tip. It bled plenty and left me with a crippled finger to finish sewing with. Trouble still found it's way when the machine quilting foot broke along with the needle. It came crashing down on a white part of the quilt. The lever in back holding the foot in place must have loosened and slid off (Has this ever happened to anyone before with their Bernina??). Luckily the broken needle didn't jab a hole in the fabric or snag it or leave a mark. This happened late afternoon on a Saturday. I felt relieved that the Bernina dealer was still open giving me just enough time to run down and buy a new foot for the machine.

Sewing was going just fine when I felt a horrible jab in my left finger. Trouble, I tell you, this quilt. I realized the needle sewed right through the center of my fingernail and out the other side. The needle didn't break and it even sewed a few more stitches on the quilt before I realized what happened. The thread broke away from my finger when I pulled it away, but otherwise the sewing machine would have kept on going, that is power. The needle was brand new so it was sharp. Luckily it didn't sew through the bone or the needle would have broken for sure. I just sat there for a moment trying not to look to closely to the cracked nail and bit of blood. Surprisingly it didn't bleed a whole lot but the sight of it about made me throw up or pass out. That is my response to any injury on myself that I see. I could feel the blackness overcoming me and I had to fight to not pass out.

One time I cut my finger on a metal green bean can lid after opening it. I instantly felt lightheaded and had to sit down. When I was sitting I passed out for a few seconds. Yep, I get queasy only when I see me injured. My kids have severely been bleeding before and I don't feel the same with them.

So now the quilt is safe and sound at home waiting for the blue plaid binding to be sewn on. That's always by hand and so I'm sure there will be some needle pokes but nothing too severe.

Now I'm curious, What is the worst sewing related injury you have every received?
I know there are many, so lets hear them.

I spared you an image of my cracked finger nail. I think it's a bit gross to see an injury up close and personal of others, so consider yourself lucky.

quilt blocks

2011-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

For the block party I decided to enter two blocks I've finished this last week.
The first one is a more traditional style with traditional fabrics so that's the category I choose for it. But still it has a bit of wonky too it and the border is mismatched. I love the wonky star pattern and decided to make a block for a pillow for my bed.

And closer. It measures about 16" X 16".

For the second entry, I did a creative block. It's a bit more than I usually do but I like the way it turned out. It measures about 17" X 17".
The sun and tree ideas came from Stitched in Color blog. The mushroom is pretty cute and I added a brown strip below it to resemble a patch of dirt for a flower bed.

It kind of seems simple here unfinished and unquilted, so I did a bit of drawing on it in Photoshop with sketches of planned quilting and red flowered border I'll use. The word Home Sweet Home will be printed on a fabric piece of linen and sewn onto the border.

Completed Home Sweet Home Mini Quilt HERE

Love nest quilt

2011-02-02T09:53:00.001-08:00

I originally started this quilt for Valentines Day last year. But I did mention that it wouldn't be completed for last V-day but for this 2011 Valentines day. I was right, it's done for 2011, and now I get to enter it into the love nest bed sized quilts over at

It fits a twin size bed perfectly.
It took me a year to complete from start to finish. I did all the round piecing in tiny increments. After I had all the round parts cut out I would sit down for a few free minutes here and there to sew up one or two. The whole top was completed within a month.

This was a new way to do circles for me as I did them before with another method. I really like this way a lot and will have to try a few other color schemes with this block and different sizes. I did realize that you need to sew with a smaller stitch length than normal around those curves. The round seems have lots of stress on them after they are ironed so much.

I did a larger round about quilting design on this quilt.

The back of the quilt has two circles at the top and the pink plaid is pieced to match up all the lines. It was also a new method of piecing patterns I tried that I love and have used so many other times since then.

I was inspired by seeing the round quilt design on

pillow party

2011-01-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

I'm entering my more feminine string quilted pillow that I made to go along with the Christmas LA Lakers pillow, into the pillow party pool at stitchedincolor.

I love the way string blocks can end up looking so nicely done even if all the fabrics used are not necessarily the perfect match.

My Mother in-law asked me to make another matching pillow cover for her so I'll add that to my List of things to do. But most likely it will be moved to the top because I enjoy making this block and it will look good to have two on the couch.

The pillow front is lined inside with white muslin and layered with cotton batting, I then quilted it in 1/4" spacing.

The pillow for the string block and the LA Lakers pillow (also shown in the images) are about 16 1/2" square and fit an 18" pillow form from Joanns perfectly.

To make the covers washable, I added invisible zippers to the bottom sides. I really love the way invisible zippers look (or don't look) after they are put in and don't detract from the pillow design at all. Plus, to me, they are quicker to sew into the pillow cover and nicer looking than the envelope style.

really, I do complete things...

2011-01-19T12:50:00.001-08:00

...but I just have too many WIP (work in progresses) at the moment.
This week I have one sewing project that is not for me to keep.

It's a commissioned project, and it's something I enjoy doing. You see, if I want to keep sewing things for me I need to spend a bit of my time sewing for others too.

This Waverly fabric is from Fabric.com on another steal of a deal, it went right on sale as I was about to purchase it. It's outdoor fabric as well and it's going to cover some patio chair cushions, including zippers and piping.
They will ship within the week, so by next Wednesday I can move a new WIP on the table.

w.i.p. on vacation

2011-01-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

I may or may not have taken a WIP on my 10th anniversary cruise.
I folded it up small to fit it in my suitcase.

It was just a twin size quilt to hand bind, and you know that can be done while sitting around and watching a movie or talking. I promise that it didn't leave my room though, not once. It sat right there nicely on that chair.

When I get to this point in a quilt I have a strong desire to finish it Fast. Binding is my favorite part. Maybe because I can multi-task while hand sewing and it's a no-thought process.

I don't want to show too much of the quilt, because it's not finished yet. I guess I don't want to ruin it, I feel a quilt is totally complete after it's been pre-washed.

But don't worry, I didn't stay in my room sewing all the time, in fact I didn't even finish the quilt. I was out seeing the sites of Mexico, and riding around the sandy beach on a 4-wheeler.

taking it down & moving on

2011-01-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

Looking back on my 2010 To Do List I am a bit disappointed that I didn't quite get everything done. I am still going to do everything but now it will move to my 2011 To Do List. I'll be updating my list soon with new years resolutions in the craft area. I find it helpful to post it right up there on my header for me to see regularly and be reminded of what I really want to do.

Lots of crafty things came up that distracted me from my list that I did accomplish. I'm so happy to have finished all I did in 2010 even if it wasn't on my list so I can't be too disappointed.

This whirlygig quilt is one that was on the list and I have the top done. It is ready to quilt as it is now sandwiched together.

Now on to taking down and moving on. Those Christmas decorations are ready to come down. School starts back up next week and I've got some fun plans coming this weekend so I need to be cleaned up before then.

I did make these Christmas trees also. I'm happy to have crossed them off the list. I thought I would post about them before they go into storage.

They really were quick to make and fit nicely on top of my TV armoire. I did a few things different than the girl I got the original idea from. Instead of using styrofoam cones as the shape, I used poster board so I could make the shapes wider and larger than the styrofoam came in at the store. I rolled it up and taped it in the size I wanted. I then covered it with parchment paper just like she did so the stiffy twine when dried would come loose easily.

As I'm putting the trees away, I stuck them right back on the poster board shapes I saved. This will help support them so they won't break and I can use them again next year.

To decorate the trees I used red and green raffia, red berries, bells and metal star and snowflake toppers. They all went on with hot glue. The smallest tree's decorations are my favorite with red berries and small twigs of evergreen.

The smallest tree measures about 12" tall to give you an idea of how large they are.

little boys room after

2011-01-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

Another major project completed at our house last year was my son's bedroom.
I talked about it here in this post and you can see more before pictures in that link as well.

I am just now getting around to taking pictures to share. With Christmas out of the way and new toys put in proper places the room was clean so I decided to take the opportunity to get a few photos before the mess returns. (which wasn't long...)

First, here is some Before shots. The green paint is not for small bedrooms with tiny little windows. It was like living in a cave.

Below is the closet. It had the tall sliding doors that went all the way up to the ceiling on it. They were old and ugly and plus they wouldn't stay on the track or work properly. It was not easy talking my husband into removing them completely and not buying new ones to replace them. He really wanted the closet to close and I really wanted it to open up and give easy access to the things inside.

The closet originally had one long shelf and one long clothes rod. We gutted it all, then painted and my husband built the shelves the way I designed them so the storage bins would fit. Having two long shelves above give so much more storage space.

With the doors off now it is so easy to keep it clean, and with some nice storage bins it is easy to keep organized. I also think it makes the room look larger.
There are still a few odds and ends on the top shelf, like Big E's ice skates and a keep sake box and an extra pillow, but not too much clutter.

The bed is one my husband built with plans from Knock Off Wood. It is The Simple Bed from Land of Nod. The supplies cost about $100 for it. Our plans are to paint the bed navy blue to match the bins in the closet. We will eventually paint it but the head and foot board toppers still need to be added so we will paint after that. Plus all the screw holes need to be filled in. We were in a hurry to get it inside because my husband was busy at his day job, so we didn't get all the finishing touches completed.
He built it back in July when we did the rest of the room blue, so I am a bit slow at posting photos.

The dark brown toy bench is so nice to have. My husband's grandpa built it for him when he was little. It's great to hide some toys and also have a seat on. My husband was thinking he may want it painted or re-stained. and have me redo the seat cover and add more padding to it, but it is just a project in the talking phase right now.

The large wall where Santa is hanging is bare now and I have a large project half way done to go there.

Right now we have the bed up against the window, there is a small 6" gap or so there. I don't really like the bed positioned that way, but Big E was being a bit persistent so he got his way. It's hard to open the blinds and the left curtain side because you have to lean and reach over the bed.

Above his window resting on his trim are the white wooden letters to Big E's name. They have small nails holding them to the wall and so they don't lean against the curtain rod. I bought them years ago on ebay, they are a custom font.

The quilt I made fits perfectly on his new bed.

Here is a close up of the window trim and casing all finished.

His book shelf is overflowing, I don't think it can hold another book.
The brown desk is an old one my husband had when he was a little boy. It will be replaced eventually with something else smaller.

We have a white toy train table that has two large rolling drawers under it. The table is in our garage now and the drawers fit perfectly underneath the bed for storage.
Big E loves his legos, he always has some large creation on his desk that is too big to put away in the big bin in his closet. There are also things that he refuses to put away in his drawers so they are always on his desk. It looks very organized now compared to usual.

Here is a close up of the three pictures above the desk. It is a train yard scene from the early 1900's in NY. I found them at Shorpy. There are so many hi-res photographs to look at. Maybe I'm weird but I love to see the photography from back in the day. I can browse that site for a long time.

When I saw this scene from the train yard I knew it would be perfect as Big E is a train lover. I saved the hi-res images to my computer and then ordered the blown up prints from wink flash. The 3 frames used to be tan and I sprayed them white.

These are the magazine holders I mod-podged with scrapbook paper to match the room. The boxes are from priority mail boxes cut to fit. They are perfect to hold the magazines he gets and loves to save.

blue cricket design show and share day.
Show off your cottage

2010 project review

2011-01-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

It's nice to go back and see that I actually did accomplish some things in 2010.
A lot of sewing, some quilts, and some things for home and for kids to enjoy. A nice mixture of everything. Plus I left off so many pictures of projects in my collage, that means I was extra productive.

daily planning for a year

2011-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I kept thinking of what I wanted for my new calendar. For many years I have just purchased a large one from Target or some other place inexpensively. Then last year I didn't have to buy one because the school class project for parents was a self-made calendar. I hung it up and loved looking at the little drawings from Big E and got a chuckle out of them every month.

Here is December from that calendar, the kid is up stairs banging on the door and trying to get out of his room so he can see Santa.

Knowing my year was almost up, I finally thought of the perfect calendar system for me. I have to keep track of everything on my calendar, if it's not written down I will forget it. So I needed an easy way to write on the calendar. It was troublesome before having a calendar on the wall, I had to lean over and reach up to write on it from my computer chair.

I decided to just print off each month from my computer and use a clip board to hang them up on the wall. That way I would be able to remove it to write then hang it back up. If I needed to carry it to another room I would be able to do that with no trouble either.

I hadn't had time to search for a calendar template I wanted and then I stumbled across this nifty little printable plus it was on a clip board all finished just like I wanted. All I had to do was print off the page 12 times and label the days and months.

Simple, easy, and basic, perfect for me! I love my new calendar system.

Here are a few other printable calendar templates to choose from at One Pretty Thing,
if you are interested in printing your own calendar for 2011.

Big E's gift to us this year? A hand made calendar. It's a cute one too. His teacher loves art and I love that it is incorporated so much in the classroom.
The calendar was made with a long sheet of construction paper for each month. We'll hang it up in a special place to see all the art work every month and it will be saved without all the daily writings on it.

Here are a few of my favorite months from the calendar.
January, little finger print snowflakes.

March, these are some strong wind clouds. I could do without those in real life.

August, a day under the sea. Love the snail monster.

and November. It's fun to see the hand prints of little kids.

quilted throw pillows

2010-12-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

I finished up one last Christmas gift but I couldn't show pictures of it because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone.
It's hard to get gifts for people who have everything or could easily get anything they needed or wanted. So for my in-laws I thought I would make a couch pillow with purple and yellow for them because they are big LA Lakers' fans.
I pieced the LA in the front and it went together pretty well actually, with no mess-ups and it was just as I sketched out before hand. The back is a large wonky log cabin block.

I also made a more feminine string quilted pillow to go along with it for my mother in-law to enjoy. It doesn't really match the purple and yellow one but I still like it a lot. The back is just a mustard colored print I picked up a while ago.

I love the way string blocks can end up looking so nicely done even if all the fabrics used are not necessarily the perfect match.
The pillow front is lined inside with white muslin and layered with cotton batting then I quilted it every 1/4".

Both pillow covers are about 16 1/2" square and fit an 18" pillow form from Joanns perfectly. To make the covers washable, I added invisible zippers to the bottom sides. I really love the way invisible zippers look (or don't look) after they are put in and don't detract from the pillow design at all. Plus, to me, they are quicker to sew into the pillow cover and nicer looking than the envelope style.

Christmas little boys's ties

2010-12-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

For the Sunday before Christmas I wanted my boys to have matching ties for church.
I made them Christmas tree ties for their white shirts using this tutorial from the Purl Bee.
The tutorial has an easy to print pattern and easy step by step directions to follow. A sewing machine is not even needed. A iron is a must though. I did use my sewing machine to sew the long parts together. The rest is all by hand.

Because they were easy to make, I will be making a few others for my boys. Although, I will be making a few changes to the pattern. With help from my husband, the master of ties, we figured out what needed to be done for them to fit my boys better. Now all boys are different and this is just what I feel I needed to change for my own particular boys' ties.

The knot around the neck is too big for them when it's tied. The tie is also too wide to fit completely hidden under the back collar of my boys' shirts. To make it smaller, the thickness of the tie needs to narrow sooner in the front. So I will be cutting about 1/2" off each side of the entire tie pattern. The tie also needs to be a bit longer for one of my boys. So I will be adding about 6" to the skinny back part. That is about it, it will make my tie master husband happy and he will allow his boys to wear them, you know he cares about how his boys look dressed up.

These pictures are before the alterations I made. I did end up removing the stitching after taking them and cut some off the tie sides. I then re-ironed and sewed them back up. The ties fit better and they didn't show in the back under the collar. The front knot was also able to be tied smaller in proportion to my boys.

I really like this tutorial on making ties and found it very simple to follow so the red square fabric above is for my next tie. My husband said he would even wear one if I made his out of a silky fabric that would hold it's shape when tied. This is where the interfacing is a must, do not skimp on that.

Now I have a gripe, I did iron this shirt... I'm not a fan of these white shirts from The Children's Place. They are not wrinkle free. I recently bought some white dress shirts from Khols and they seem to be easier to iron and more wrinkle free. But why don't they make little boys shirts out of wrinkle free fabric like men's shirts?

shared on the girl creative
and keeping it simple

announcing winners and a new tote bag

2010-12-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

We have some winners. Using random.org the first number chosen was #100-Mands who will get the pillow cover, and the second number was #29-Sarcastsic Quilter, who will get the Quilt-It kit. Congratulations, winners have been emailed.

In other news, Rachel at One Pretty thing is featuring my Happiness canvas art. I really love browsing that blog and getting great ideas.
I also finished a new tote bag. Keeping with the tradition, it was for a school teacher gift. The fabric is some I've had in my stash for a couple years now from Joanns. It's home deco weight.
I made one little mistake and took too much in off the box corners and so it is only about 8" wide when I meant for it to be 11-12" wide. I hate when I do stuff like that that can't be fixed. The bag won't be able to fit any large papers or books inside it, which kind of defeats the purpose for a teacher bag doesn't it? It's about 12" tall though. Good size for a purse? or lunch maybe?

There is one inner pocket with a velcro closure. The tan on the straps is a thicker linen. It shows some of the natural fibers up close and I love it.

After making bags for years I've stuck with what works good to help them stand and keep their form when they are empty. It's helpful to have some nice quality batting, and stabilizer for the inside.
I quilted this bag hidden in the ditch, where the fabric seems meet.

happiness canvas wall art

2010-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

To find my Sew, Mama, Sew give away post please click the image below to be directed to the post to enter. This is not the giveaway post, you need to click the link to go to it. Thanks!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ever since I saw this canvas print a long time ago I loved it. I wanted one of my own. I figured it was a Target special and they were not available anymore to purchase anywhere. Then I saw it on one of my favorite blogs Here.

I did a little bit of searching and found the artist, Rodney White. I loved browsing around at his other prints, which were just as attractive. Check out this one and even this one. But I still came back to the red cherries and love the Happiness thought it had on it. I could see it in my house.

I wanted the canvas look but not have to pay the canvas price of $200+

I searched every price on the internet for the paper print and found the best deal from an ebay seller walls need art for about $25. I bought the 24" X 24" back in the spring and had an idea in my head what I wanted to do with it exactly. I was going to mount it myself on the canvas.

It could easily be put in a frame, like this one, and matted but I was particular that the print edges be right up to the edge like they would be on a canvas.

So last month I was in Aaron Brothers to pick up a large stretch canvas, 24" X 24".
I also needed a large frame for another project, the one I mentioned here, and the glass broke... I still need to replace that.

Anyway, I was talking to their professional framer who came out to help me. I was telling him about my idea to use spray glue to adhere the print to the canvas and how I was worried about doing a bad job and getting all the air bubbles out.
He recommended some good glue and then told me a good way to squeegee out the air as I go. He also told me that he could glue the print on a thin press board for me with their machine so it wouldn't get air bubbles in it. Then all I had to do was glue the board to the front of the canvas. I was sold on that idea and he did it in less than 10 minutes while I waited.
It was perfect. It was so worth the $20 to have him do it for me. I then took my canvas and glued print board home with the recommended spray glue.

Here is how I made the final canvas for way less than a canvas would be, only about $50 total. I ended up not using the canvas from Aaron Brothers and got one at Joanns for way cheaper.

First, I painted two coats of black on all four edges of the canvas. Also, I went a bit over the edge to the front so it would cover all the white in case cracks showed after all the gluing.
Then I painted the back of the canvas around the edges a bit. But I still need to go back and paint the back side more because right now I have it sitting up against a mirror and reflects some white behind with sloppy paint marks. (see above photos)

Then I slowly painted the edges of the poster. It is so thin I had to be careful to not get paint on the front. I had a paper towel handy and no paint got on the front.

Next, I flipped the poster over and painted the back a bit, just to get rid of any white that may show after all the final gluing.

After all the panting was dry. I don't have photos of this step, but it's pretty self explanatory. I took it outside, laid down some large paper to cover my patio table and laid the canvas down, right side up. I sprayed glue all over the canvas, following the label directions, and positioned my large poster down. All edges and corners matched up perfectly.

This gluing step made me pretty nervous because I was told my the framer who told me about this 3M Super 77 glue that there is no leeway for repositioning like some other spray glues. One chance it all you get. But the glue is stronger overtime than other leading glues so it will last. This longer lasting is what I wanted.

All complete and I love how it looks.

See the stacked pottery, the cool blue and green ones? My dad made those, with one hand, thrown on the wheel. I love the height they give when stacked up together. The bottom two have their lids upside down so they can have the other sit on top of them.

I think my dad is pretty talented. I took a ceramics class from him when I was in High School. I was horrible at it but I love his ceramics.

shared on today's creative blog, and skip to my Lou, and the creative girl
and

wonky pinwheel quilt top

2010-12-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

To find my Sew, Mama, Sew give away post please click the image below to be directed to the post to enter. This is not the giveaway post you need to click the link to go to it. Thanks!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was finally able to get some pictures of my wonky pinwheel quilt this weekend. I was going for a certain size so I added the 5" white border and red outer border. I'm not a fan of white on quilts, but I really like the way this turned out with the other colors I used. I used the reds, blues, and creams from the Simple Abundance line. Looking at the top all done I realized I only used a few blues, I'm not sure how I missed that one. You can tell I really like red though.

this season is for giving with sew mama Sew!

2010-12-13T07:19:00.000-08:00

COMMENTS CLOSED WINNER ANNOUNCED SOON

For my next giveaway this week, I present you with an 11" X 11" pillow cover.
It is made of yellow and turquoise fabrics and made using Denyse Schmidt's wonky style.
The front is quilted with cotton batting and lined with muslin on the inside. The back of the pillow is solid turquoise and has an envelope closure. You will need to provide your own pillow form insert. I suggest using a form that is 12" X12" so that it fills out to the corners and adds lots of fluff.

For a second winner, I am offering this Quilt-It Kit by Denyse Schmidt. You can make your own wonky pillow in your own choice of fabrics along with 14 other patchwork projects including some quilt patterns. This box kit is like new but I did use it to make the above yellow pillow and even blew up the pattern pieces for you for the pillow, so they are included inside.

*If you would like a chance to win one of the above items then go ahead and leave a comment on this post. Let me know what other colors would look good together in this pillow pattern.

**If you would like a second entry, just leave another comment and let me know you're a follower ------> right over there, or by google reader or another way...

Be sure to leave your email in the comments if I can't get back to you by your profile or blog. Winners will be drawn by random, first drawn will get the pillow cover and the 2nd drawn will get the kit.
Good luck! the giveaway is open all week long, winner announced Saturday.

Christmas stockings

2010-12-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

I made our stockings a few years ago to replace the older ones I made when we were first married so they would all be matching.

I have been meaning to add our names or initials on the cuffs for so long but I have a hard time bringing myself to cover up those lovely red crinkled cuffs. Maybe if I just add our initials it won't be so bad for me and it will still show off plenty of the red cuffs.

The green fabric is Mirror Ball Dot by Michael Miller. I love how the dots are a bit shiny, making the stockings seem a bit important for the special Christmas occasion. Plus I love hanging them up for decoration during the whole month. They make our ugly fire place and mantle seem somewhat pretty for 1 out of 12 months.
The green dot also makes an appearance on our Christmas tree skirt I showed in this post.

The cuffs are a red and green shiny fabric that is naturally crinkled. Depending on the angle you look at the cuff, and the light reflecting on them the cuffs can seem red or green. Above photo shows more green and below image there is more red.

Here they are in their natural habitat, hanging from the fireplace mantle. This angle shows the inner muslin I used to line them with.

sharing at DIY showoff

vintage holiday handmade gift tags

2010-12-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

For a more personal touch to your gift giving this Christmas you could whip up a few handmade custom gift tags. My sister and sister in-law made the ones below.. I made some last year and hope to get the time to make more this year because they look so cute hanging from the gifts.

The vintage holiday images are easily printable from your own home printer. Then you can glue them on your own cut-to-fit cardstock, hole punch it or attach a scrapbook eyelet for attaching the ribbon, twine or raffia. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with to make your own custom gift tags this year and many years to come.

To make it easy for you, Very vintage Images is offering a CD with all the tag templates ready to print from your own home printer.

Click the image for more thumbnails of the tags included
and to get your own CD.

it's not Christmas without the tree

2010-12-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

We put up our Christmas tree two days after Thanksgiving this year so we could get the most out of the season. We have always had an artificial tree and I have no desire for a real one. Growing up though my family would hike through the wilderness to find our two Christmas trees with the designated permits. Not some tree farm, but real, knee deep snow, wilderness. And yes, my dad would cut down two- a family tree and a Mom's beautiful decorated tree.
Last year we bought a new tree during the after Christmas sales that is pretty tall. The ceiling is vaulted in the place I like the tree to be so it fills in some of the big area.
It is pre-lit tree, which we love, and it also has these pine cones all over it. I wasn't so sure about the pine cones last year when we bought it and I had plans to remove them when we took it out of the garage this year. But after we set the tree up, I decided I really like the pine cones and they are going to stay. They are subtle and add a nice touch.

Every year, as I mentioned here, we get a new ornament to hang up, as a tradition. Big E and little E got bright red trains this year. I don't think a better ornament could have been chosen, in their eyes.

Here are a couple others on our tree. I mentioned this one here as well, and we have already watched A Charlie Brown Christmas-like ever day so far this month.

Here is a closer view of the tree skirt. I sewed it up a few years ago. I got the red fabric around the edge after Halloween, it was a devil type costume fabric. I thought it was perfect for Christmas though with the red swirls in it, even though they are hard to see in the picture. The main green fabric is a soft microfiber type cloth and all the trees are appliqued on. Some have little silver star buttons on the top of them.
Those green little trees in front with the dot fabric coordinate with our stockings. I'll show you our stockings tomorrow.

Linking up to Thrift Deco Chick for the huge Christmas tree show.

and That Girl's Christmas Parade

wonky pinwheels and...

2010-12-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to work on my wonky pinwheel, or whirligig quilt. The top is about finished and tomorrow I'll have the last border attached.
You can see the beginning progress here.

It's not so easy lately to get things done with a toddler who is refusing to nap.
I am not excited to get rid of the crib and move up to a big boy bed because I know naps will be gone for good. With the crib I can at least hope for a nap. Usually we get 3-4 days with good naps.
But the little one must wonder why take a nap when jumping around in the bed is more fun than sleeping in the bed? To make jumping even funner he thinks the pants, and diaper must be removed. I'm not sure how much more the crib and mattress (and me) can hold out.

Oh, and the carpet, cleaning that wet stuff up was much better than having to clean up the other stuff.

another giveaway day coming soon!

2010-12-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

I was excited to see that Sew Mama Sew is hosting another
give away day!

It's a day where bloggers/handcrafters can sign up to give something away.
Also everyone can go and check the lists of giveaways to enter to win themselves.

Click the image to find out more info if you want to giveaway
or get ready to win stuff.

Here are the categories you can give away in and win in:
Handcrafted Item(s), Handcrafted Item(s)+Supplies/Materials, Sewing Supplies/Materials, Knitting Supplies/Materials

What a nice time of year to giveaway. So I'll be having another giveaway starting Dec 13th. That's Monday! Come back then and see and enter and browse around the other giveawys.

the lucky winner is

2010-12-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for entering the CSN online stores giveaway.

From the comments, it sounds like we all try to be early shoppers,
but there are always a few last minute gifts for people on our
list that stump us.
Good luck on your final shopping this Christmas time.

Our winning commenter is # 25.

Congratulations!

Debbie said...I always want to shop early but there are those people that I'm always stumped about and they seem to take me until the last minute!

Some good news is that is is Only December 8th so if you are quick Debbie,
you may just be able to get one last gift in with your winnings.

Christmas giveaway time a csn $35 gift certificate

2010-12-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Do you have a Christmas shopping list that just keeps on growing?

The past couple years I have been able to shop with no rush because I have my list and I get on it early. I love having the shopping out of the way so I can have the rest of the month to relax and enjoy all the Holiday traditions.

If you are not an early shopper then I have just the thing for you.

I have a $35 gift certificate to give away to one lucky winner and reader of my blog. It can be spent on anything you want at any of the online stores owned by the CSN guys. There are over 200 of them to shop from.

I recently purchased from one csn store,where you can get luggage sets, a nice leather zippered portfolio for my husband. I love the smell of real leather.

Be sure to check all the 200 sites when shopping because there is something for every one on your list- even yourself! For me I've bought some nice patio chair covers and a kitchen aid blender- Love it!- and I've been very happy with my purchases and shipping times.

Now to enter, I'll give you two chances to enter: leave your email address in each comment so I can get a hold of the winner.
#1 -- leave a comment on this post. Go ahead and tell me what kind of Christmas
shopper you are, are you an early bird or do you shop up until the last minute?

#2 --Become a follower of this blog over there -------------------------------------->>
Let me know in the 2nd comment you are a follower.

I'll choose a winner on the evening of Tuesday, December 7th and announce on the 8th. Good luck!

**Note: There is no guarantee that the winner of this E-gift certificate will receive items purchased by Christmas. You know how shipping goes this time of year. I'm hoping that the winner will get a quick order and shipment, but if that's not the case you still get to spend the $35 any way you want.
The gift card can't be used toward shipping charges but most items have free shipping anyway. Everything I have purchased myself have had the free shipping option.

wonky pinwheels or whirligigs quilt block

2010-12-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit of a slacker on the project completion front lately. I have some unfinished projects to finish up and I have slowly been moving from one to the other.
All are so close to being done but they all seem to have unplanned delays. One involves broken glass for a 20 X 24 picture frame just tonight.

Here is my latest project that is incomplete as well. A few pictures taken last week show the progress and hopefully next week when my camera returns I will have a completed quilt top to photograph.
The Wonky Pinwheels or Whirligig quilt block has been on my list of things to do. I'm using the red, green and blue fabrics from the Simple Abundance line. I have loved it since it came out and have had it sitting for over a year now in my stash. Has it been that long since it came out?

update:
Here is another post about this quilt,
and Here is one more post about this quilt showing the final quilt top.
and Here is the completed quilt front and back. It also won a ribbon at the county fair.

fall quilt festival

2010-11-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

I decided to enter my most recently finished quilt in Amy's fall Quilt Festival.
It's one I recently posted about here. My Monkey Stacks quilt.
The organic line quilting was my favorite thing to do. It was very simple and I love the look of it when it is washed, it just adds a neat texture with all the uneven lines.

I had a few fat quarters of the sock monkey fabric and wanted to make a baby quilt that showed the larger prints off so I went with these larger cut rectangles.

update:
This quilt won a blue ribbon at the county fair.

play kitchen

2010-11-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

My play kitchen, I mentioned here, still needs a few things to be complete, but for the most part it is finished and playable and has been used well these last few days.
I started out with the big cardboard box from Huggies Diapers, two of the boxes actually. It's the huge box from the warehouse store. We seem to have them flowing in on a regular basis.

By using some thick clear packing tape, I was able to secure the top part of the kitchen to the bottom. I taped every last piece of the kitchen together. The top flaps are now on the bottom and taped together on the sides.
The tape is surprisingly secure and sturdy. It does help that I reinforced all the corners and the center of the oven and fridge with added cardboard.

I also added a large white marker board on the back to keep the top part of the kitchen from slipping around if the tape does fail. So the white board gives it stability and keeps the back flush with the kitchen counter part. It is the same width as the kitchen and about 4 feet tall so it was a perfect fit.
If I didn't happen to have the large white board from a broken easel laying around I would have just used a large flat piece of cardboard for the supporter.
But this way the kitchen is playing double duty and being used as the new easel for us so the board can still be written on.

Here is the after so far. It's the perfect height for toddlers to stand by and make something good to eat.

I covered the whole kitchen with decorative paper by using mod podge. I decided to do it this way instead of just painting it because I thought the cute papers would be funner. It did take more time than just painting, but I am happy with the paper and loved having the choice of using different designs for each side.
Each side took three 12" X 12" papers with a few scraps left over.
I did leave the brown cardboard showing on the kitchen back splash insides, and also the upper shelf.

The back of the kitchen has a metal sheet glued on for magnets to stick onto. I taped the metal in place while the glue dried and then mod podged some cute black paper over the metal. We had a vegetable board puzzle with pieces that were perfect for making into magnets.

The sink is a square disposable baking pan I had on hand. A Square was cut in the cardboard counter and the sink fit right in place. It is held secure with glue.

This is the glue I've used quite a bit, I found it at Michael's years ago and it's always been reliable for any project I need it for. You need to use it outside in a well ventilated area though because the fumes are harsh.

For the oven and fridge I added more cardboard inside so there are sides and a bottom to the compartments and not just empty holes with carpet showing through. The long silver handles are round dowels that were in the toy block bin so they were already cut to the size I needed. I spray painted them silver then they were screwed on from the back with a drill. The sink faucet (above) is a triangle block spray painted silver and attached in the same fashion.

The back splash doesn't really fit with the color scheme of the paper I used but oh well. It is made from the foam shapes for making patterns with. We have a ton of them and they provided many pattern options for the back splash. I finally decided on a simple pattern.
They didn't even need to be glued down first, I just used the mod podge and they stayed in place.
I used quite a few layers of mod podge for this kitchen. Every inch of it was covered about 3 times, and some more than 3. After the first layer dried I did another one and so on. It is pretty strong and solid because of the additional layers.

Just as I envisioned from my first planning post. It's small and doesn't take up a lot of room. Not expensive at all. I didn't spend any money on this project. Everything I used was from around the house and garage. So if it does get ruined after a while then I am out nothing and of course if my toddler loses interest in it then no loss.
But it does still look cute to me and it's quite functionable.

Here's a break down of things still needing done:
*The kitchen sink needs knobs as well as the stove top knob need added. I have the round knobs and they just need to be painted silver and attached with a screw from the back and bottom for the stove.
*I am going to add a couple screw-in hooks to the kitchen side to hang our little toy broom from and maybe a small hand towel.
*and of course make some cute felt food.

sewing project: 500 Zihuatanejo Bags

2010-10-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of left over fabric from my patio chair covers and decided to donate a little bit of time and sew some bags up for this a service project organized through Project Million Amigos.

The bags are used for all sorts of purposes by the recipients including holding school supplies, clothing, toys, hygiene items, and used for shopping. They are taken down to Zihuatanejo, Mexico by members of a local Spanish immersion US school where one of the Creative Chicks children attend. While there, they have also helped build classrooms and bathrooms for the community.

Read more about the bag information HERE
and simple sewing instructions HERE

If you have a few minutes to spare then whip up a bag and send it on. Seriously, I made 6 bags in less than an hour, that easy.

The orange flower fabric is from the chair pad covers I made earlier, and the tan fabric is from the bed pillows I bought just for the filling to stuff the back pillows with. It is a very heavier than usual cotton that I had no use for and was perfect for these bags.

quilted pot holders

2010-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Making all those pot holders was a fun little change. It's so nice to finish a "quilt" in a day. They are so mini and perfect. I made two for my own kitchen in reds and blues. Each measures approximately 7" square. They shrunk about 3/4" in the wash.

give me something good to eat

2010-10-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to make a play kitchen for the longest time for my little boy. I know he's a boy but he loves to cook with me and I see nothing wrong with a boy and a play kitchen. He already has some play food and really enjoys serving me something good to eat on his plates. It would also give me an excuse to make some of the cute felt food I've seen.

peelable banana anyone?

Waffles and kiwi from Craftiness is not optional.

Orange slices and eggs from One Crafy Mumma

Plus so many more food ideas just at your fingertips with Google, here are some from Ohdeedoh.

For at least a year now I've been saving some kitchen inspiration ideas hoping I could get Mr. E to help with the wood cutting and nailing because that is not my thing. But I don't know who I was kidding, he has no time what-so-ever.

These are some really cute wooden kitchens I have been saving.

flickr play kitchen pool

flickr user

Homemade by Jill

It finally hit me that I can do it myself. All by myself. I don't even need to make it out of wood. After all, we don't have a whole lot of room to keep it and we won't be needing it after a few years when it gets grown out of. So I don't need to spend more time or money than needed with it.

Here are the next options I came across without using wood. They are both practical and cost efficient for me and my son who will most likely get a year or slightly more out of it.

This one is out of cardboard. How mazing, and super easy. I like the idea that it can be disassembled and stored when needed. But where would I get big cardboard pieces that are needed? I get most of my cardboard from Sams club but it's not always reliable.

forty-two roads toy kitchen blog
toy kitchen plans to buy on etsy

This next play kitchen is perfect too for being able to be taken down and stored when needed. It's small and easy to make all by my self because it's sewing, which is my thing. I would only need a folding TV dinner tray. I thought I would find a tray at a yard sale some day, but that some day will never come because I have no desire to search for one or buy a new one.

travel play kitchen from frugal family fun blog

So after all this, I finally made up my mind once and for all. I started the play kitchen all by myself and didn't have to wait for anyone to help me. It's coming along quite nicely and I'll post photos when I'm all done in a day or so.

monkey stacks quilt completed

2010-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

The binding is finally sewn on and the baby sized monkey quilt is finished.
It was dreary outdoors today and I had to dry the water droplets from the clothes line before I pinned up the quilt.
I did end up chopping off a bit off the bottom, including a big red block that was on the bottom right. See before here.

The back is a little hard on the eyes with all those red white and blue stripes so close together. But when you get a little closer they are easily separated.

See, nice clean stripes...

The binding was tricky to choose, and I'm still not sure I choose the best, but I thought blue would do and this dotted blue was just asking to be used, so I used it.

Previous monkey quilt posts: pieced top, quilting in lines