Contoured Changing Pad Cover

While shopping for necessities for our new little boy Wyatt, I discovered that target only offered one style of contoured changing pad cover. The colors were limited to blue or green and it was made of fleece. I had my heart set on something in terrycloth because it is so much more absorbent and easier to keep clean. Not only was I disappointed, at not getting what I wanted, the fleece cover cost around $10. With all the other necessities, this was more than I wanted to spend. So, I decided to make one instead.

And here’s the result!!!

Not too bad! It was a naptime length project, and very easy.

Here’s How I made it:
I started out with a remnant of tan and green checked homespun* fabric (about 50 cent) and a pre-washed white towel ($2.50 from walmart). I also used 60″ of 1/4″ or 1/2″ elastic to keep the cover in place (use whatever you have on hand).

For the Terry Cloth top:
To use the dimensions of your own changing pad, measure the length of the top of the changing pad, and the width folowing the contours of the top. Add a 1″ to each measurement to allow for the seams. My measurements came out to 18″ x 32″ including the seam allowance. Cut a rectangle with those measurements out of the center of your towel. This will be your terry cloth top.

For the Fabric Sides:
You will need 2 long sides and 2 contoured sides.
For the Long sides use the length measurement from the terry cloth pad (including seam allowance) and measure the height of the changing pad. (Measurements were 4″ x 32″) To the height measurement, add 4″ so that the sides wrap under the changing pad and you have enough room to make a casing for the elastic (see 3rd picture). So, I cut two 8″ x 32″ of my cotton fabric.
For the Contoured sides: I grabbed a roll of wrapping paper (my preferred pattern making paper), stood the changing pad up on one of its contoured ends and traced the outline onto the wrapping paper. I then sketched 1/2″ seam allowance around the height sides and contoured sides and added 4″ to the bottom side as I did for the long side above. Cut out the pattern, and use it to cut out two of the contoured sides from your fabric.
Now you’re ready for Assembly!

There are a couple of ways to do this, so I’ll tell you what I did, but go with what seams easiest for you.
With a long straight stitch and the 1/2″ seam allowance, sew the long fabric sides (right sides facing each other) to the long sides of the terry cloth top.
Next (in the same way), take the contoured sides and sew them to the terry cloth. You can either free hand this adjusting and following the contoured edge as you go, or you can pin the terry cloth to the contoured edge, being careful to follow the curve of the fabric edge. I prefer to free hand it.
All four sides should now be attached to edges of your terry cloth top.

Now, make it square by sewing the fabric height edges together. I started from the terry cloth corner and sewed down. Use your 1/2″ seam allowance and a straight stitch. Do this for all four corners.

You should now have everything sewn together and just need to finish your edges.and make the casing for the elastic.
Set your sewing machine to a zig zag stitch and sew along all your unfinished edges (including the bottom edge where the elastic will go. Overcast the edges of the fabric a bit to make a finished edge or you can use a serger.
To make the casing, fold the bottom edge under (wrong sides together) a 1/2″ if you’re using 1/4″ elastic, or fold it under 3/4″ if you’re using 1/2″ elastic. Using a long straight stitch, sew close to your unfinished edge all the way around the bottom. Do not overlap your stitches when you get to back to your starting spot, but leave a 1″ to 2″ opening to insert your elastic. Insert the elastic through the whole casing then overlap the edges and sew together. Sew the 1″ casing opening closed.

And you’re all done!

Whirly Gig Quilt Finish

Here are the promised grand finale photos of my Whirly Gig Quilt. This was my first quilt made with blocks instead of a piece as you go style, or in rows.

And I really like it.

The back is an old sheet that I cut into and put to good use. I quilted along the angle of the spokes of the whirly gig, but as you can see in the next picture, the angles aren’t all going in the same way because I didn’t follow the directions closely enough. But I’m not a perfectionist, so it doesn’t overly bother me. 

I used what I think is a high loft polyester batting so I wasn’t able to lay another layer of perpendicular quilting on without the fabrics bunching up. Oh well. I wanted to use it up so can now justify buying more batting and clean out the limited space available in my sewing room.

Here is a closeup of the fabrics I used. This photo does them justice. They looked so dainty and vintage style to me. I’ve always wanted to have a rose themed cottage style room, so while that won’t be happening anytime soon, I couldn’t resist these fabrics in the store.
The blocks all lined up exactly perfectly and that makes me quite giddy.

 And in other news…

Here is how the stain came out on my mirror. It was supposed to by ebony. Unfortunately, it just didn’t take evenly. Alan suspects the previous varnish soaked in more than we thought, so we should have sanded the wood more deeply. In some spots it took quite well, but overall it has a tiger striped look to it. That would look good in the right room, but it’s just not the look I was going for.

 So, If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. I’m gonna paint it black and sand it a bit till I get the look I want.

Scrappy Love

I have had so much fun over the last few months dreaming up and creating Scrappy Projects with the Festival of Scrappiness going on over at Stitched in Color. There have been so many cool and original projects and tutorials posted that are sure to inspire you. I have always wanted to try string piecing, so, for my first project I used blue and purple and pink and green scraps to build this log cabin style mini quilt. I started making it as a mug rug, but was having so much fun that I just kept building.

I quilted it in continuous wonky square starting at the center and working my way out. The back of the mini is more scrappy pieces and my polka dot bias binding.

This is my first mug rug. Ever. It was so much fun! So I made two more. This one was fairly random in my color choices. I built it in a wonky half log cabin style and pieced some of my smaller scraps just for fun.

I quilted it in the half log cabin shape starting at the opposite corner and working out. It looks pretty cool. 

I used some pink flower yardage to make .5″ double fold straight grain binding that I zig zagged in place. Here is how I made those kickin mitered corners.

I am still lovin the Tutti Frutti collection that I’ve collected and all these scraps that came together for my second mug rug. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any plan when I started making this other than spreading the colors out.

I checker board quilted the mug rug with 1″ squares and have decided that my walking foot is one of the best things ever. The fabric didn’t pucker or bunch up like it has before whenever I’ve tried to quilt in overlapping patterns.

 

 This is my third mug rug that I whipped up using wonky tiny strips that I’d originally cut up to make little rag wreaths. But this was more fun. I quilted .5″ diagonal lines and bound it with more pink flower tape and a scrap of white fabric for the back.

I redoing my bedroom right now with robin’s egg blue, brown and tan. Above my bed I have two cute blue candle stick things with a framed generic picture between them. Since taking Curves class, I’ve had a hankerin to make some of these adorable mini wonky stars that were in one of our projects. I thought I would make several and then just fill in a background behind them using more neutral-ish scraps. But it just didn’t want to come together. So, I called in my husband for back-up because he has a great eye for color, art, and design. After playing with my stars and fabric scraps, he decided that I should make my stars into flowers using some vine patterned fabric. I looked at my stars and thought, but they’re stars! Never would I have thought of them as flowers. But he was right. He left the room to my huffing and “gosh darnit’s” because once he threw me the idea, I just knew it would be awesome as most of his ideas are, but it would be more time consuming, as usual. But the things that take longer are the things that are usually worth doing.

So! Here is my Starbright Flower Garden! It’s not quite finished yet, but I wanted to take a picture and send it in before the end of the contest and we were allowed to submit quilt tops. I’m going to do some applique style stitching that I’ve seen around blogdom lately and will post a little tut when it’s all done. 

Loving the Primaries

This Little Lovely is a Yellow Honey Dew Melon. I was in the produce section at Wal-Mart and this guy just spoke to me in keeping with the bright Primary colors trend of late. I couldn’t help myself. And he was only $1.50. That was also cool. Boy, oh, Boy was it tasty! I threw it in the fridge when I got home and the hubby and I enjoyed it as a late night snack later. It had the consistency of  pear. A little crunchy and oh so sweet with a random tart bite here and there. Melons truly are my favorite fruit. Watermelons being the very tippy top of my list by a wide margin. Nothing, and I mean, nothing compares to a icy cool watermelon on a hot July afternoon. Common Watermelon Season!!!

Moving on…

 This is my Scalloped Curves Class quilt. Me and the boys had fun picking out the colors at the quilt shop. It is a baby size quilt, but I didn’t need a quilt of that size at the moment (I know, blasphemy), but I did need a skirt around the vanity in my guest bathroom that’s getting a facelift right now. Why am I redoing the bathroom that is actually painted and halfway decent when there is another bathroom in need of TLC, my boys bedroom that needs painting and decorating, AND finishing up the organizing in my Craft room all waiting for my attention??? I don’t know. No Idea. Well, maybe this had something to do with it…

I had a gift certificate to the local quilt shop (!!!!) and after picking out all the prints for the quilt in my master bedroom, I had money leftover. So I snagged up some Animal Party Too that I have always loved and decided since the plumbing is now fixed (yay!!!) in my master bath, I could officially turn the guest bath into a fun place for the boys. Now that Wyatt is old enough to sit in the bathtub and play with Redding, the boys have spent MANY an hour splashing in the bubbles lately. And while I was sitting in there with them, the urge to fix it up overtook me. I was powerless to resist the call.

Just like I was powerless to not come home with 3yds of this fun flower print from Ikea on my birthday.

I can’t wait to show you the full photos of what i used it for. It makes me happy. It’s not a print I would have normally grabbed of the rack, but seeing it hanging in panels with the tree print (I’m kicking myself for not buying some of that) all over the store made me want to buy it. It looks so much better hanging than folded on a bolt.

And finally…

After making this for Wyatt, I just had to make one for Redding too with the leftover fabrics from his quilt. Tre Scrappy No? I used the para-cord that Alan bought for me at the army-navy surplus as the drawstring and some goofy red sparkly ancient Christmas fabric for the lining.

And because I got to this step of creating much too late at night, I was taken by the idea to do FMQ on the two panels of the bag thereby needing to sew it together with French seams. I don’t know. I just don’t know. In the end it worked out ok, and I squared of the bottom corners of the bag like a tote with a bitty 1″ seam and tacked the resulting triangle excess down to the bottom of the bag.

I’ll give it to Redding with a little something inside on Wyatt’s birthday in April when I give Wyatt his bag. Why on Wyatt’s birthday? Well, when we were little, Mom always got each of us a little present on our sister’s (sisters’? sister’s’s? I have two sisters) birthday. It was nice to not feel forgotten while still enjoying celebrating a sister’s birthday. I think I’ll continue the tradition with our boys while they’re young like Mom did for us. So, for a first, I already have some of the birthday presents ready A WHOLE MONTH in advance. I also got all the stuff for Easter baskets at the store yesterday. Mwhahahaha! I’m so on top of things right now!!! Don’t worry. It won’t last long. Those statements/thoughts tend to jinx me.

Funny story: While leaving the house yesterday, I was walking down my hall and turned to go into the kitchen. I wear glasses so I don’t have a full range of vision. Case and Point. I turn to go into the kitchen and from beneath my glasses I see something large and black charge my feet. I know what this thing is even though I can’t see it. It’s another $)&%#$ &^$%&*( ROACH. As previously stated, I don’t have little Roaches in my House. No. They are all BIG OLE 3″ suckers. Tonight I saw a little one at about 2″, but that’s not the norm. So the thing charges me and I have been trying to wrangle children out the door and am already fit to be tied, I’ve got Wyatt on my hip and I start dancing because as you know, I’ve had these suckers run across my feet before, and It’s just not pleasant. Redding starts laughing at me and telling me “mommom’s so silly! It’s a big ole (which sounds like bagel when he says it) bug!!!” Then I realize I have to kill it, so I start stomping around like made trying to see where it went, and I thought I got it, but because I was looking underneath the bottom rim of my glasses the floor is blurry, and I must’ve missed it. A furious search ensues, but the bugger escaped. I throw the kids in the car listening to Redding asking me “Mommom get the dead bug?” Bugs are referred to as dead in my house even if they’re still alive, because it’s only a matter of time before they’re exterminated with a shoe.
Just like that 3″ roach found out when he was waiting on the wall of my shower for me in Round 2. But my big strong shoe wielding Man was home then. HA HA! Dead Bug.

Perfectly Mitered Corners the Easy Way!

This is a little mug rug I made for the Scrap Attack Quilt Along. I used only scraps for it and some .5″ double fold bias tape that I’ll probably be using from now till eternity because I made a yard of fabric’s worth of it. If anyone wants some, just let me know.

For my birthday Alan gave me this book, among many many other things (he’s lavish with me <3). It is an excellent compendium for technique and quilt blocks. You just have to get past the pictures that were taken in the early 90's. The colors and fabrics were, well, very 90's. But I learned so much from the book that I highly recommend it for beginner level quilters. Or self taught quilters that may want some instruction in traditional and proper quilting methods.

In this book, I learned how to miter corners perfectly! And it’s so easy. There’s pretty much only one difference from other instructions, but I’ve found that it gives me a perfect amount of fabric and keeps things oh so nice and even on both sides. This method works with straight grain trim, or bias tape.

Step 1: Stop sewing 1/4″ away from edge of corner with needle down (if you are using a 3/8″ seam, stop 3/8″ away, etc.).  

Step 2: Lift your presser foot and Rotate your fabric so that you are now on a 45 degree angle with the line you have just sewn. You should now be able to sew a line bisecting the corner. You don’t have to backstitch, just sew right through the corner, and off your fabric.

Lift your work, and pull it loose. You can clip your threads now, or leave them. I just leave them. It should look like this.

Step 3: Turn your work so that you are now read to sew the next side. Lift your trim, and using the angled line you have just sewn, lift your trim up and away, perpendicular to the side of your fabric where you just attached the trim.

Step 4: Fold your trim back down making the fold line set at the top edge of your fabric. Keep the trim lined up with itself and the edges of your fabric.

 Step 5: Begin sewing on your new side keeping with your seam allowances, and backstitch near the edge.

Your trim should be double layered like so. Repeat for all four sides.

Step 6: Turn your edges to begin attaching trim to the right side of the fabric.

Step 7: As you come up to a corner, stop with your needle down about an 1.5″ or 2″ from the edge. Pull your trim tight and straight with your finger.

Step 8: I like to use a straight pin as a guide to hold the fabric in place (don’t pin it into the fabric, just use it to create a firm edge.) Fold your Fabric up…

Step 9: And pin in place. Sew up to the crease in the fabric (about where my pin is for me), with your needle down, lift your presser foot, and turn your fabric to begin sewing on the new side. No need to backstitch or anything.

And There You Are! A super easy Perfectly Mitered Corner! Step 2 is pretty much the only thing I’ve found different from other tutorials on mitering, but for me, it makes a HUGE difference. I’ve struggled to make my corners nice up until I used this method. The back always looked nice, but the front had too much fabric and just didn’t look very crisp and the miter was usually crooked. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

On this rug I used Straight grain double fold .5″ tape and used a zig zag instead of a straight stitch. And it still looks mighty nice!

Happy Mitering!

Making a Stuffed Animal Stuffed with Animals

Redding was given this big fun pillow pal animal lion dude for Christmas. A friend and I have been throwing around the idea of making bean bags stuffed with stuffed animals for a while, and I decided this was a perfect way to try out the idea without buying fabric. 

Start by marking with safety pins where you want your zipper to go based on how long your zip is.

 
 Begin ripping open your seam between the pins. My animal had this bias tape inside to support the seam. Work around it when ripping the seam and cut it out.

 Decide if you want to take the stuffing out of the feet or not. If so, cut out the middle bias tape and take out the stuffing. Leave the bias tape around the outer circle where the feet attach to the body. If you want the feet to stay stuffed, you’ll need to sew in a scrap piece of fabric by attaching it to the bias tape.

Pin your zipper in place. It’s a bit tricky because the seam is a curve, so be generous with your pinning. You may even need to adjust the placement as you sew.

Mark the end of your zipper and don’t sew past your pins. Sew down the other side of your zipper.

I had this extra fabric from at the end of my zipper and the seam was loose on the animal from where I ripped it open to install the zip. So, You can either whipstitch this closed, or you can zig zag it.

I chose to zig zag at the top and bottom of my zipper going through the fabric and zipper to help support the seams. The dude needs all the help he can get. My boys are rough on their toys 🙂

And there ya are! I drew some new eyes on with a sharpie for this well loved dude.

And there he is stuffed full of all the smaller animals I could fit. He holds a surprising amount. I guess I should note that I didn’t take the stuffing out of his head. The head was an entirely separately stuffed piece and attached with more bias tape, so I just left it alone.

Wyatt thinks lion is pretty cool now. 

An excellent floor cushion 🙂 Project Stuffed Animal Stuffed Lion was a success.

Too…Many…Projects…

Well. Ideas I suppose. Or partial projects.
Ever feel like you have so many Ideas and supplies for things that you just don’t know what to start or finish next? I’m there. Prioritizing is not my strong suit. But I do enjoy having the ability to make a variety of things at any given moment. Right now I have picture frames from Goodwill to upcyle and paint, pictures to go in albums, about a gagillion Christmas gifts to make, holiday baking, a Christmas quilt to make, a Stocking for Wyatt, mending and alterations to our clothes, decorating projects, and, uh, oh yeah, yard work and house cleaning. Good grief. I also am itching to make t-shirt yarn. Not that I need it for anything right now. I just want to make it.

Last night I made 21yds of 1″ single fold bias tape. I’ll turn it into half inch double fold once I finish my Christmas gifts I’m using it for. I couldn’t stop myself. This cute lime, coral, and orange polka-dot fabric wanted to be bias tape. So that’s what I turned to whole yard into.

Today I went to check out a playset I found on Craigslist for the boys Christmas present from us and the grandparents. I can wait to get it! It was as good as I hoped! It’s a step 2 climber and swingset and Redding is going to freak out to have a slide in the backyard. We need to finish cleaning up the yard and cut out the grass and mulch where the playground will go. Hope to work on that this week.

I’m also in the process of sanding and painting this patio furniture I found on Craigslist. I was so excited to find it! I have always wanted a black iron patio set, but haven’t found one for the right price. A couple weeks ago I did: a four chair and table number that is cute as can be! The guy was even nice enough to drop it off at my house. It’s going to look great when it’s finished. My parents gave me a table umbrella in a nice grey and tan damask scroll print that will go great with the set. I also need to pressure wash the back patio and get the paint off it as you can see. I’m hoping it all comes off. I want to make cushions for the chairs too, though probably not right away. It’s been so hot outside that we don’t like being out there in the middle of the day, well, I don’t mind, but Redding’s a wimp about heat. Hopefully it’s cool enough this weekend.

Time to go make sugar cookies and do laundry. Then maybe a project or two 🙂

LTTSA: Cozy Hood

Fabrics:
I used a slightly stretchy, lightweight, super soft, white fur for my outer layer. My lining was a navy blue soft knit for my boys hats, and a thin kinda shiny bright pink knit for little girls Christmas present.
This would be a great project to recycle old jersey shirts for linings and sweaters or fleece hoodies for the outer layer. If you do use a knit, be sure to check the tension settings and stitch width on your machine. The slippery knits like my pink one, are a pain to work with and may not feed pefectly. Be sure not to pull on the fabrics while you’re sewing with them.

Cut Your Pieces:
If you do use a fur, pay attention to the grain of the fur, which may not be the same as the grain of the fabric. Decide how you want your fur to lay as a finished product before you start cutting.

Step 1:
Pin and sew your ears. I went ahead and pinned my linings too and worked my hats assembly line style. Don’t forget to leave a 2-3″ opening in the seam of your lining for turning (I forgot on all 3 hats).

 

Step 4: Sew side panels to the center hood piece. I found it helpful to pin with the side panel facing me, then flip it over and sew with the center hood piece facing up. It kept my pieces from wrinkling.

 

Step 5: Pin and sew your lining to your hood with right sides together. Flip right side out.

Step 6: Blind stitch the turning hole in your lining closed.

 

Step 7: Fold your ears forward along the seam, and Bartac them in place. I did this on my machine and changed my bobbin thread to match the lining. The further up the ear you tack, the more your ear will stand up: 1/2″ worked well for me. 

 

Then admire your work! I chose to leave off the ribbons, because I know they would cause my children nothing but fuss. The pink hat is a size small and the blue is an extra small. The hats run a tad large, but still stay on just fine. With a thicker fabric, it probably wouldn’t be noticeable.

 Redding wanted to try on brother’s hood 🙂

Too Cute!

Celebrate Fall Color!

Here are my 5 November Entries for the November Celebrate Color Contest/Extravaganza! It has been so much fun designing new projects and creating with fellow crafters of various specialties this Fall and I’m sad that this is the last month. But, I am so excited that the end of Fall, means the Beginning of Winter and Christmas Holidays!

Needlepoint Entry: Happy Country Felt Garland

This is a pattern I adapted from Thimbleberries’ designer Lynette Jenson’s Book Classic Country Christmas. I love her work! Everything is so comfy and cozy and it all has her special handmade touch. Country style is nice to me because it makes you feel welcome and allowed to kick-back and relax. This Design is made with Brown and Deep Red Felt hearts stacked and Buttonhole stitched together with brown and gold thread. Each heart has a little Happy White Snowman outlined also with buttonhole stitches and detailed with French knots and outline stitching in Gold for the arms. The other Hearts have Gold Country stars buttonhole stitched in Brown thread to Brown outlining stars and fixed with contrasting Gold buttonhole stitches to the Heats. I used a spray adhesive and straight pins to hold things in place while I stitched it all together and whip-stitched the hearts to one another. Jenson designed this to be a round centerpiece base for a pot or candle, but I haven’t found anything quite large enough yet to center it around. But I hope to soon. In the meantime the design makes me Smile 🙂

Yarn Entries: 1. First Snow Crochet Ornaments

This was the first time I used a itty-bitty size 4 hook for a little project. I have honestly been scared of the little stitches 🙂 But this Pattern from BH&G for Decorative Ornament Snowflakes was just perfect and so easy!

2. Open Weave Crochet Scarf

This cutie is made with TLC variegated yarn. It’s 86″ long x 3″ wide and is has a space between every stitch. Here in Florida, it doesn’t get cold. It was 83 degrees outside today, so that makes scarves more of an accent than necessity. But we like to get in the spirit with fun fall accessories here anyways 🙂 I can wear this folded in half loosely or wrapped tight for warmth or as a fun belt. It’s super comfy and with various shades of Fuchsia, Cream, Tan, and Espresso, It goes with most anything!

Home Decor Entry: 1. Makeup Brush Roll

I am very proud of this original designed Makeup Brush Roll. I made it as a gift for my dear friend who is a Make-up Junkie and has a multitude of brushes that like to run astray. The outer layer is a Microfiber Polyester Suede with a Bright Pink Satin Lining and Brush pocket with Matching Pink Satin Ribbon Ties. I backed the thin satin with Fusible stabilizer to make it a bit sturdier. The brush space is 16″ x 18″ with 16 little brush pockets and 5 big pockets for foundation brushes or little make-up palates. I made a little flap on the side where the ribbons attach to help keep things together. I was so happy with how it turned out I even sewed on one of my satin stamp labels 🙂 (My pictures on the other hand were taken at 1:30am and I’m not so proud of). My Friend loved it and can’t wait to try it out.

2. Green and Blue Plaid Chenille Baby Blanket

This Blanket gave me a bit of a fit, but it all worked out in the end. I used Dana’s tutorial from MADE to make this soft and cuddly Chenille blanket. The outer layer is a homespun plaid, and the Chenille is made with a layer of white broadcloth cotton sandwiched between two layers of blue flannel. I made the Bias tape binding from the same homespun plaid and love how the bias angles contrast against the pattern. This is going to be a Christmas gift for my youngest son who doesn’t yet have a quilt from me 🙂 The quilt measures about 32″x 38″.

Thanks for Checking out my little projects and Thanks to all the Folks who have made the Celebrate Fall Color Event such a Success!!!

Fisticuffs and Other Shenanigans

 I Started making a layered Chenille Blanket for a baby shower gift because it looked easy (ha ha), and oh yeah, the baby shower was less than 24hrs away so I had one night to trow it together. But it was just sewing straight lines and cutting and washing it to make it fuzzy, so I decided to go for it.  Here is where you shake your head and laugh because you know (and by now I should know too) that you never make something “new” for a gift on a deadline. But I did. Needless to say, this was not the gift that I gave at the baby shower (that was 2 weeks ago). I made her a cute disposable-diaper cake around an empty tall formula can and whipped up a fleece contoured changing pad cover (I’ve made those before and even saved my pattern) that I stuffed into the formula can. Cute bow on top, and wha-lah.

Back to my Chenille blanket…
I used Dana’s Tutorial from MADE, which really is excellent, and I would consider making one of these things again doing it her way with the right fabrics. And Alan even made me a nifty tool to cut the fabric using a razor blade letter opener, but the flannel was too thick to use it.
So…
Remember the Plaid Fabric from Redding’s Bias Trimmed Smock? Here it is again, and here is 2yds light blue flannel, and 1yd plain thin white cotton broadcloth. I Layered and sprayed my fabrics with the white sandwiched between the 2yds of blue that I have beef with because it wasn’t 45″ or even a full 2yds as the pre-packaged fabric label claimed (You Suck Walmart!) so my blanket finished at about 30″ x 36″ instead of the 36″x45″ it should have been. Whatever.

 

Ok, Here you can see I have started quilting my fabric to find out that, yes, I should buy a walking foot for my sewing machine. Lots of wavy lines and unevenness on both sides, but it’s only noticeable on the front. I even tried to do it the right way by starting in the middle and working my way out, but alas, well… you see it.

And here’s where the crap REALLY hit the fan. I started cutting my lines in the fabric to make the chenille, and I was only supposed to cut through the 2 blue layers and the white layer leaving this back piece whole. But no. A dozen rows in, I whacked through all 4 layers in a serious way. Dana over at MADE, shows how to fix a super small hole that she cut into her fabric with fusible web. I began this method also, because, well what else was there to do. I was too many hours deep into this project to chuck it. So I got things all lined up-or so I thought- and then realized my stripes would not line up no matter how I turned the fabric patch. About 30min after staring at the stripes going “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!” I realized that the homespun fabric doesn’t have a right or wrong side, and that I had fused the fusible web to the opposite side of the fabric than I should have, and I was trying to match a mirror image patch of the plaid to my blanket. I re-cut the fabric and matched it up as best I could because my fabric was stretched and katty-whompus from my wavy stitches.

 

Moving on… If you decide to make this project, I suggest you follow Dana’s directions exactly and use only quilting cottons for the front and broadcloths for the chenille layers. I ran into massive amounts of trouble trying to cut through the layers of flannel and ended up buying new little Fiskars-looking kid craft scissors to use. That made things much easier. I also recommend washing and drying your blanket BEFORE you start cutting the layers. It is easier to let the wash take the spray adhesive out instead of trying to separate it from the back fabric and layers you want to cut with your scissors. It was a nightmare. I washed it twice before all my adhesive came out. 

But Here It Is! All Soft and Lovely and Innocent looking. I used the bias binding I already had made from my last project on the blanket. I like it with the bias-plaid stripes anyways. This will be one of Wyatt’s Christmas presents. Redding has 2 quilts already, and little Wyatt needs one of his own.

Here is the infamous cut and patch in the fabric.I had to patch over about 3 rows to completely cover the cut and then sew over top of it. It’s not too bad.

I really do like the blanket now that it’s finished and cute. I’m still in love with the plaid even after all that and am using the rest of the binding to make placemats and napkin rings for my table.

On to cute projects that turn out right the 1st time. I’m entered in an ornament swap with my Etsy Street Team, the Fabulous Artistic Moms and started looking for some ideas. I love the look of crocheted snow flakes, but have always been a tad scared of them because of their using doily size thread. Super fine and it intimidates me. But I want to carry on the tradition of my Great Grandmother -Mama Bea- who taught me to crochet when I was eleven, and learn to make beautiful doilies like her. 
I found this pattern on BH&G website and after looking at some completed projects of these on Flicker, decided to whip out my doily thread and hook. It turned out perfect. And the directions were great. And all I need to do now is grab some fabric stiffener to finish this puppy up. And maybe some sparkley spray paint. I dunno just yet. My question is…. Would this be cute for my ornament swap and something everyone would like, or should I go with something else? I do have a back-up plan that is more trendy. Last year I bought all the stuff to make little hanging air plant ornaments similar to this but in glass ornaments instead. That is also an option. I am just not sure what to send. What do you think?

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(By the way, if you zoomed in on this picture you will notice the brown stains in the thread. I have no idea how the thread got stained, but this was the only thread I had to work with. I will be replacing it or painting it with silvery glittery paint. Or bleaching it.)