Ruffle Curtains

This cold has really been getting to me lately, and so I have spent more time sewing than on the computer, but today I have something super cute and girly to share with you! Pink ruffle curtains!!

My sweet neighbor is having a baby girl in a couple of months and is going all out on making the perfect nursery. I get to help her out. I made the curtains, some sheets, and changing table cover and a few other little things. But today I am sharing the curtains with you. Those of you on instagram have seen these already, but now I will tell you a little bit more about them!

I did a simple pocket rod top because then she could stick a curtain rod through it or use curtain clips to hang them. (and sorry for the bloated curtain look, it was so cold the day I took pictures and it seemed like my heater did not turn off!!)

For the bottom I did two larger ruffles and then one that was slightly smaller. They were super simple and easy! And then just folded over my hem and sewed them onto the curtain.

The hardest part was sewing the blackout liner into them! But I got it and they are done. But because she used regular fabric and not drapery fabric they are smaller than she wanted. So now she is trying to figure out how to have me make them bigger! We tried a ruffle on the side, but it just looks like an after thought! (which is what it was!) I am trying to convince her that a seam off to the side will not be that bad and will give the curtains the width that they need. We will see what I end up doing!

And here is the crib with the bedding that she got off Etsy, before she knew I could sew! Which is probably a good thing, because I do not like sewing bumper pads! I did them once for one of my kids and used those until my last one because I never wanted to do them again!! Ha!

I just love how girly and fun this room is! She has some turquoise accents throughout as well. As she finishes it up I will post the 'done' pictures!

On another note, I got my ombre quilt all cut out and most of it sewn together. I am starting to sew the rows together now! And I hope to start cutting for another quilt this weekend! I'll be sure to share pictures!

Enjoy and stay warm everyone!!

Patriotic Table Runner - Done!

This year I am trying to give the gift of handmade for Christmas. I already posted about the Happy Birthday banners that I gave most of my siblings. (I already gave it to them and some of their kids opened it - so it will not be a surprise!) Today I have a table runner that I am giving to my military neighbors. I have shared the top before, but now it is all done and fabulous!!

I have been practicing my free motion quilting - in hopes that someday I will have saved enough to buy a long arm! Here is is:

I made up the pattern off of something I saw on Pinterest. I didn't get my measurements quite right, but it still looks great I think! Here is a close of up one of the smaller stars. I did kind of a echoing star pattern on them.

I did the figure 8 motion on the stripes and kind of a wave pattern on the cream border.

On the back it looks a little crazy! But when will you see the back!?

Here is one of the two big navy squares. This is where the echoing star pattern looks really good. I started this and had to unpick half of it before I figured it out - not the funnest thing I did!

And then the pinwheel. I did a zig-zag kind of thing in the navy and then pebbles in the white and red parts. I really like the pebbles. They look great, but take a little while!!

And then one last view of this beautiful quilt before I wrap it all up to give to my neighbors!

Off to do some more sewing and crafting before the kids are on their Thanksgiving break!

Enjoy!

Give Thanks Banner

For some reason I do not decorate very much for fall. I am not sure why, but this year I tried to do something! I am loving pennant banners at the moment and thought a simple fall one would be great!

I decided to have it say GIVE THANKS. Don't mind the lack of curtains, my kids bent the rod and so they are down until we get it fixed - hopefully soon!

I finished cutting out the pennants with my die cut machine and the letters with my cricut a while ago, but then  I reached a road block as I was looking for the prefect ribbon to use to sew it together. I never found anything that I liked, until I was either on pinterest or looking through a magazine and saw one sewn together with twine. I knew that would be prefect for this. I sewed it on with a zig zag stitch, easy peasy!

I used some canvas for the pennants and then a rust color for my letters. (the rust was leftover from a quilt back)

I actually used a cartridge to cut these letters instead of my SCAL. I like the easy to read letters for my banners.

The only thing I am still trying to decide is if I should add something to it. Maybe in between the words, or at either end. I saw one that had leaves on it, but not sure if I would like that. I am open to ideas or if I should just leave it as is.

There you have it my only fall decoration, well I did fill up my apothecary jar (I am down to one now cause we broke one in the last move) with some kisses wrapped in fall colors, but that is it. But Christmas will be here soon and my lack of decoration will change!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Banner

I have had this project done for a while, but have had a hard time getting a picture that was good. I finally decided to just use what I had and post this!

Here is my Happy Birthday banner! This banner is the perfect decoration for a birthday - simple and classy!

I really love this, a lot! So much so that I decided to make some for my sisters for Christmas (if you are reading this act surprised). The ones on instagram were the ones I just finished making for them.

This is really an easy project, the only thing I sewed on was the ribbon! The rest I used my cricut and by stampin up die cuts.

Here we have a close up of some of the pennants, this was taken before I changed out the ribbon on the top.

I am not sure if you can tell but I ruffled my ribbon that connects the pennants. I had originally just sewn fabric on like bias tape, but then I saw something on pinterest and it just stuck with me and gave me the idea that I should ruffle it. Or course I cannot find it again, but I like the result I came up with. You can see it here where I ruffled one for my sister.

And here are some of the letters I used. I used a different fabric for each letter. I used the remnants from my birthday quilt so they are kind of tied together! I cut the letters with my cricut - pretty much the only thing my cricut cuts now days!

I was really on a roll when I started making these and wanted to make a banner for everything! Luckily I didn't, but I did make a congratulations banner for baby showers.

I did blue letters on one side and pink on the other with a yellow ribbon connecting them. These pennants are a little bit smaller, which is good because congratulations is a long word!

Here is a close up of the congratulations one, you can sort of tell the difference in the sizes here - these are about 4" where as the birthday ones are almost 10".

And because I took so many pictures of my banner I am going to share some more with you - they are not the best but they can give you a better idea of what it looks like.

This will tell you how long I have had this, here I have it hanging in my old house - and I moved just over a year ago!

I tried to take this one with the curtains open - that did not work!

 This picture is not that great, but it does give you a glimpse of my birthday quilt! I am going to try and get some pictures taken of that and post for you next week!

If you are interested in one of your own, I would love to make one for you. Just send me an email of what colors you want and I will let you know the prices (roughly $1 per pennant).

Enjoy!

Cub Scout Patches

Scouting is a big deal in my house. My dad is a big scouter and my kids love sharing their scouting stuff with him.

My oldest boy is out of cub scouts now and I have kept his shirt with all his patches and awards - I just didn't know what to do with them.

Then my next boy turned 8 and started cub scouts. I am frugal and did not want to go and buy another cub scout shirt when I had one sitting in my boys closet. So I removed all of the patches and fixed it up for my next boy.

I saw a pennant on pinterest of patches and decided that I would do something similar. Here is my take on the Cub Scout Memory Pennant.

I used the arrow from the Arrow of Light award to hang it from(except in the move we lost the tip - still trying to figure out how to fix that). It gives it that extra boy touch!

I kind of like how it turned out - and he LOVES it, which makes this project a success!

Here is some of the info on how I did it. I just eyeballed how big I wanted the pennant and cut it out. I used kona solids from Joann's for both the navy back and the yellow binding. I sewed all of the patches on then then used an heat'n'bond and sewed a piece on the back. I did not want to have a ugly back full of strings, so now my back looks like this:

It is not perfect, there are still strings on it, but my son wanted it hung up and I obliged him!

Enjoy!

White Quilt

I took advantage of the beautiful snow we had this last weekend to take a few pictures of my last quilt I made before I moved to the middle of nowhere. This quilt has been sitting around forever - it was my first quilt - E.V.E.R.

I started this 5 years ago and I was really worried about my seams not matching and it looking crappy and this that and the other. I wanted it to be perfect! Which is why I chose white for this quilt. I picked a bunch of different white on white prints for this one. If you look really closely you can see the difference. And you can see which way my seams were pressed because I did not know the difference between quality fabric and walmart fabric. Can you guess which one I used here? :)

I am beyond all the perfection now. I just enjoy the process - well everything except the cutting, I really hate cutting. But I am trying to finish projects up and use what I have - and so my pile of UFO's is slowly getting smaller and smaller

I got it all quilted with a simple all over pattern before I sold my quilting frame to my sister - my place now is considerably smaller and I have no room for it. Which I have to say I am a little bit sad about right now, but Conan has promised me a real long arm - soon, we just need to finish this assignment here.

Doesn't it look just stunning with all the snow? It kind of blends in, maybe it would look better in the summer? oh well.

For the binding I chose a turquoise color because I was going to put this in my room and the colors in there are turquoise and yellow. I love how the color really pops.

This quilt is nothing fancy, but for me it was a huge step just to get it done. I love the simpleness of it, and it really goes well in my bedroom, which I might have to take some pictures of just to show off how great it looks in there.

Monster High

Here is the finished version of my skull blanket that I made for a friend. Her daughter loves Monster High and is getting a room makeover for her birthday. I was lucky enough to be able to make the blanket!

It was not that hard, until I started to sew with the backing fabric. It stretched and moved around everywhere! It was not the easiest thing to work with.

On the back I had a little bit of extra fabric and so I put a small little skull.

My daughter loved this quilt. She really wants me to make one like this for her! What girl would not want something like this?!

I should have some more quilts to show you - if I get pics taken - I just finished up two here today!

Guessing Game

I have a fun game for you to play today. Someone asked me to make a quilt for their daughter. This will be in the center.

Can you guess where this skull came from?

Stay tuned to find out and see the finished product!

Autumn Table Runner

 I have to say that I have the best sisters E.V.E.R. I know that everyone probably thinks that about their sisters, but really mine are great. This runner is a gift for one of them - late Christmas to be precise!

I finished the table runner I talked about last week here. I was done on Jan 2. Not to bad for a late Christmas present.

I just love how it turned out. Ignore the glare from my table. Conan and I thought that a thick glaze would be great for our table - especially with the kids that we have. And it is great! But that is beside the point. This is the free pattern that came with my new curved ruler . It was easy to read and understand. I have to say that I have been quilting for so long, that it doesn't take much explanation for me to figure it out. (Now don't I sound a little bit cocky?)

 It was a little bit tricky to sew because I am used to straight lines, but after a couple I got the hang of it, and there were just a few seams that did not match up perfectly. I did a simple line quilting. I followed the edges of the curves on the colored pieces about 1/4-1/2 inch apart and then did one line of stitching on the cream just outside the curved. If that makes any sense! You might be able to tell looking at the picture.

 I also have been doing something new on my quilts this year. I have been putting my name on the back of my quilts. Now that I have done it on a couple, I am thinking I should add the year too. But this way if someone likes what they see they know where to find me!

Again, I am loving how this looks on my dark table! I think that I might have to make one of these for myself. (especially since they are super quick!)

I have been sewing like crazy and I have another quilt almost done for another one of my fabulous sisters! I will try to post is later in the week.

Christmas Clearance

I know you are probably not expecting a Christmas decoration post, but I found something great on clearance this year. I did not go out and look for any good Christmas clearance this year. But when I saw these I just had to get some!

I was at Ace looking for something and I found these huge red jingle bells. I just love them, and knew that a few of them needed to make it into my home. 

My friend has this super cute jingle bell on her door and I love it. I decided that I was going to make one of those.

I got two new scarfs for Christmas and one still had that little round thing on it and it was the prefect size for what I was wanting to do.

I attached the scarf circle to the bell and then took my twine and wrapped it all the way around. I glued the ends so that they would not unravel. Easy peasy.

I then added a little ribbon bow just for good measure and because it looked really plain and boring without it.

And then I hung it on my door - for like a day before I put all the Christmas decorations away. But I will sure be enjoying this next year!

Our weather here has been super and we have loved being able to play outside and not freeze for the last few days before winter break was over! But now the kids are back in school and I am trying to regain my house!

Tulle Halloween Wreath

I have been so busy with just life that I have had to put this blog on the back burner and re-align my priorities. In doing so I have not done much crafting lately. I have taken a lot of pictures and am working on this great picture which I will try to share when I finish - hopefully this next week.

Thing #2 had surgery two weeks ago and in her down time of not being able to run and play or to talk for that matter, she really needed something to do.

I found this super easy wreath off of the fabulous Pinterest. It seemed easy enough for her. It only took her about 1/2 a day and was a great way to keep her occupied without doing too much.

It is easy enough to make, you need:
Black tulle - I bought two rolls of it from Walmart
Orange ribbon
wreath form
I added a skeleton and banner to jazz it up

All you do is cut your tulle to the length you desire and tie it around your wreath form. Add as much as you need until it is the desired fullness. Add your ribbon and hang it up and you are done.

I saw these skeleton necklaces at the dollar store so I bought them and cut the skeleton off and added him to the wreath.

Also somewhere I saw once that someone had a wreath that said "we are dying to greet you". I thought that was pretty cute so I copied them. It was a while ago that I saw this, so I apologize for not giving proper credit.

That is about all that I have done for Halloween decor this year. We'll have to see if anything else gets done - I at least have to do costumes, right?! ;)

Antiqued Bed

Do you ever have those projects that seem to never get done. Or I guess that just take forever to get that last step completed? I sure do. And this bed is a great example of that. (sorry for the washed out look - the sun was super bright through the window!)

I had it all done about 3 months ago, and then it just sat in Thing #2's room. Waiting to be put together.

This weekend it finally happened and she could not be happier. She is now off her mattress on the floor and on a real bed.

If you remember the bed started out just wood color with a slight varnish. I sanded it and then painted it. I really do not have space to do this, so I was at the mercy of one of my friends. After a few weeks I got it done and brought it home.

By this time it was summer and so I had it on the back patio and there I sanded it and applied a light varnish to give it that 'old' look as my kids like to call it.

I really love how it turned out. When we put it together we decided to flip the headboard and foot board so that she would have lots of space underneath to store things. Now to find some cute little boxes to use under there.

One end of the bed I painted with chalkboard paint and she loves that she can draw on it whenever. I think I am going to get one of those little tin pails for her to keep chalk and eraser in. Then I can just hang it on the corner.

And here it is all made - probably the only time it will look this nice unless I make her bed for her! But she was so excited that she finally got her bed together and can sleep on it!

And for those of you who care this project only cost me $15! Not too shabby right?
bed $5
paint $5
extra wood for support $5
Other supplies borrowed from friends, or had on hand.