Saturday, December 22, 2012

Gifts Slowly Getting Made/Wrapped

Why do I always procrastinate? Seems like I just can't get anything done unless it's down to the wire! So here are a couple of things I've made and/or wrapped in the last few days...

For a friend: I made a scarf using the Heather Ross Nursery Versery Itsy Bitsy Spider. I think this is just way too cute. I combined it with lots of black, grey, and yellow from my stash. Here's a closeup of the verse we all know and love from our childhoods.

Here's the scarf, backed with Sew Comfy in yellow. There was a 50% off sale on Sew Comfy at JoAnne's, so I stocked up on colors I didn't already have. I also made a Shoop-Shoop bag to match.
To wrap it all up, I made a small matching tote.
And dressed it up with a ribbon/fabric/bead doo-dad. See the little spider buttons I added to the tote? I got them on sale at JoAnn's in a huge bag with various sizes of spiders, skulls, and bats and there were so many, I even shared some with Aunt Pitty Pat! I sure hope the recipient isn't afraid of spiders!

A close-up of the doo-dad.

Now, how many gifts do I have left to wrap????

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

"Down Under" Stocking Goodness

Oh my...lookie-see what I got from my most wonderful partner, Heather, from Australia! I joined Aunt Pitty Pat's stocking swap, and most certainly lucked out by being paired with Heather :-) A huge box arrived last week...and here's what it looked like when I opened it! (I swiped this pic from Heather's blog.)

I was exhausted after opening all these packages, LOL! Here's what it looked like when all those cute little parcels were unwrapped - oh my goodness!

I love this stocking so  much! I had never seen these fabrics and they are soooo pretty - I love the aqua Christmas. Notice the beaded goodie at the top - love it!

Here's the back of the stocking.

All sorts of sewing goodies...Look at the cute fat quarter she sent!

Edibles...can you believe that cookie made it all the way from Australia to Olympia, Washington in one piece?

Cute holiday earrings :-)

Plus, all kinds of other little goodies - some cute little mini-tape dispensers, lotion, stocking coin purse, ornies...  Thank you so much, Heather! I hope you get YOUR package from me soon!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Mug Rug Love...and a bit of remorse...

A couple of mug rugs I whipped up yesterday to gift to girlfriends. I think they turned out pretty cute. I have six more cut and ready to sew...


Now, here's the question...I got this idea from a blog/shop...they were selling the pattern, or pattern/kit, but I just eyeballed it, and made my own. And let me do tell you that I have BOUGHT patterns before, for items that I knew I could make without buying the pattern, because I do believe that people should be paid for their ideas. But honestly, this was ridiculously easy to copy just by looking at the photo.

Yet...I feel bad for swiping it...

How about you? Do you swipe ideas (I'm sure most of you do, to some extent)? Do you feel bad when you do? Honestly, if it had been a PDF e-pattern, I probably would have purchased it...just to acknowledge the creativity...especially since it was cheap...but it was a hardcopy-in-the-mail pattern, and I wanted and needed to make it right now!

Does it make it any better that I HAVE purchased patterns from this shop before?

Friday, December 14, 2012

I'm The Super Mom!!!

Apparently, my kids think I can DO...ANYTHING... Well, and, truth-be-told, I guess I can. Number 2 son, Adam, texted me at exactly 4:03 p.m.TONIGHT! And...he attached a pic and said "Can you make me this shirt by 6:00 p.m.?" 

Now, what was I going to say? No? Mom never says no! Madly, I scrambled...do I have something suitable? What? Felt? Yes! Fusible stuff? Yes! I can do it!

I had the picture to go by, so what's not to do? While Adam shopped for a sweatshirt, I grabbed felt in off-white (dirty snowman!), red, black, orange, and green. Fusible web. Stuffing (for the snowman balls - did I say balls?). A bit o' ribbon. Plates! 3 sizes! Plus a spice jar lid, and a lemon juice lid...basically I just ran around the house like a mad woman, grabbing things to trace and fuse.

I fused and cut the head and two body pieces, mouth, eyes, hat. Conjured up a nose. Forget about the hands and feet! This snowman doesn't have hands and feet! Sorry!

All in all, I think it came together well. Although when he finally showed up with the sweatshirt, he wanted black tummy buttons...no problem, I cut-and-fused some quick-as-a-wink! He made me promise not to post the end result on Facebook until HE had posted some...but he didn't say anything about my blog ;-)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Stocking Love

Made this stocking for a friend. This may just be The Year of the Stocking, since I've already made two (the other one is on its way around the world, so no peeking yet!).
This stocking pattern is adapted from the Quilt in a Day Stockings & Small Quilts by Judy Knoechel. I used the stocking pattern and the instructions for putting the front, back, and lining together with the cuff because I think it's the perfect stocking shape and the way it's put together turns out really nice every time. I did my own thing for the patchwork part, though.
Of course, I had to add a doo-dad up in the corner to pretty it up :-) I used sheer ribbon and three coordinating fabrics in various widths, plus the big, white button for trim.
Making the doo-dad gave me inspiration to make a matching ornie!
The other side.
It's fluffy! Note: these are not yo-yos - I used 4 1/2", 3 1/2", and 2 1/2" wide strips, cut 20", 18", and 16" long, seamed at the short ends, and then folded WST and hand-gathered tightly. Stack and use a doll needle to baste together and add the buttons.
And...a yarn angel.
I also filled it with a couple stacks of my Sinfully Soft Molasses Cookies, which she loves :-)
Sinfully Soft Molasses Cookies
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup shortening (I use Butter-Flavor Crisco)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Additional sugar

Cream butter, shorteneing, and sugar til light and fluffy. Add molasses and eggs. Stir or sift together flour, salt, soda, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet. The secret to good cookies is to NOT OVERMIX after the dry ingredients have been added. Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls. Roll balls in sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 1/2" apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes - do not over bake if you want them to remain soft! Store in a tightly-closing container to maintain softness. Flavor enhances over time and they freeze wonderfully. I decorated mine with Wilton Vanilla Candy Melts (melt in microwave and pipe onto cookies in a zig-zag pattern).
 


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

It's A Wedding Gift Wrap


 

I attended a fabulous wedding last weekend - my friend, Kelly, got married - it was beautiful and she looked gorgeous! My other friend, Robin, and I went together on a gift for her from her registery - a rather large, long-handled pan (forgot to take a pic of that). Robin picked the gift up and I offered to wrap it for us. Well, ok...I BEGGED to wrap it...I love to wrap gifts! And the size of the box - oh my! It was huge! It's fun to decide how to wrap different sizes of gifts/boxes and this one screamed "TABLE RUNNER!" Yup, instead of (well, in addition to) ribbon, I like to wrap a table runner around a gift box - two gifts in one that way.

Now here comes the most INCREDIBLE aspect of this sewing adventure for me...are you ready?...I made it completely from my stash on hand! Yep! Not sure that's ever happened before :-) I always seem to "find" a reason to sneak to an LQS on the pretext of needing some little bit of fabric...but this time, I bit the bullet and shopped my basement fabric store. I chose In the Beginning's September Light, which I had already used to make a completely different table runner last year for a swap. So I was using up leftovers - even better!

I didn't use a pattern - just made my own up as I was sewing...surprised it turned out so well - I love it - so I'm going to write down exactly how I did it so I can make it again...
 
So...done with the table runner...next up, add bits to a purchased dishtowel, and make a matching potholder...
 

Now I do have to fess up that I DID zip to JoAnn's for some natural/wood flowers for a bouquet to further decorate the package, but that doesn't count because it's not fabric, right? Are ya with me on that? All right!
Of course, I also love to bead, so I incorporated beads and gold wire into the bouquet...the beads and wire were already in my stash! Score again!

I used safety pins, wire, and ribbon to assemble everything onto the box...I would liked to have been a mouse in the bride's pocket when she attempted to unwrap it . Sorry, Kelly ;-)

Best wishes to Kelly and Joe - may they have many happy years of love :-) And thanks for getting married so I could wrap a present :-)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Ribbon Gift Tags Tutorial - Start Now for Your Christmas Gifts!

Want a new, elegant way to tag your gifts this year? I've been making these "ribbon gift tags" for years. I use them as a fancy-pants way to identify who-gets-what...for Christmas as well as other gift-giving occasions.


Here's my tutorial, and in the days to come, I'll also show you how to make variations, including envelopes and bags.

Supplies you'll need:


  • Nylon organza ribbon - my favorite width is 2 3/4" (but you can use 2" or 2 1/2" ribbon if that's what you have). I'll show you  how to use much narrower ribbon in a future post. I have a stash of this 2 3/4" ribbon which I found at a holiday expo show, but I've run out of the red (used the last of it for this tute), and I found this vendor that carries the same ribbon, which is a bit heftier (and cheaper!) than the nylon organza ribbon that JoAnn's sells: 2 3/4" Shimmer Sheer Ribbon.
  • Beads - "E" beads and/or seed beads work well, and I also use tri-beads to jazz up the hanging  loop
  • Needles - beading or milliners, or any small needle what will pass through your chosen beads, and also embrodery/tapestry to thread the tri-beads on the hanging loop (optional)
  • Thread
  • Scissors
  • Cardstock or heavy paper
  • Helpful: Rotary cutter, ruler, mat. Rubber-stamping supplies. Sewing machine.

Let's get started. Cut a piece of ribbon about 13-14" long.
At the sewing machine, fold the ribbon in half lengthwise and sew a 1/4 or 3/8" seam along one narrow end. (You could also hand-sew this, or possibly use a product such as Steam-A-Seam.) 
Trim the corner at the fold, to reduce bulk. Heh, heh, heh...that's an empty Cesar dog food tray holding some empty bobbins in the picture...I use those little trays for EVERYthing! 
Turn the ribbon at the point, and flatten, centering the seam.
Turn the ribbon over, and fold the bottom end of the ribbon up about 3" or so, depending on how long you cut the ribbon, how deep you want the pocket, and how much room you want for the card to stick up above the pocket . Fold up one more time. And pin in place. This makes a very nice "pocket" without a visible hem - it seems to "float." If you wish, press the ribbon to flatten and crease - use low heat, though, or your ribbon may melt!
Using either seed beads, or "E" beads, and a needle (check to make sure your beads will fit on the needle!) and thread, hand-sew the sides of the ribbon where the triple-thickness of ribbon forms the "pocket," sewing the beads to the right side of the tag. Space the beads about 1/4" apart, or as desired to achieve the look you want. Sometimes I alternate a seed bead with an "E" bead.
Sew/bead both sides of the pocket.
Both sides are sewn/beaded. Does it look like a tag now?

For the hanger, take about 12-14" of a narrower matching or coordinating ribbon and trim both ends on the diagonal, to make it easier to thread the ribbon onto an embroidery/tapestry needle (or you may just be able to poke the diagonal ends right through the tri-beads). Thread 3 tri-beads onto the doubled ribbon. I like to alternate colors, such as red/clear/red...green/light green/green, etc.
 
Tie an overhand knot at the cut ends.
Sew the knotted end to the point of the ribbon tag, then push the tri-beads down to the point.
Make a nice bow out of more of the narrow ribbon, or wider ribbon - whatever you have and want to use to make it pretty - this is where you can get creative! Make more than one bow...make a rosette...make a ribbon rose! Sew the bow to the tag, over the knotted hanger ribbon.
To make the card, use a piece of white or colored cardstock. Using the ribbon tag, mark the width and length for the card, allowing for an inch or so to stick up out of the pocket. Make sure you don't make the fit too loose or too tight - you want the card to slide in easily, but not so small that it falls out! Use a rotary cutter/ruler/mat to cut to the desired size, or a paper trimmer, or scissors, and then check the fit.
 
 
Decorate your card, slip into the ribbon tag pocket, and tie onto your package! Many people who receive these ribbon gift tags replace the cards with small gifts or candy and hang them on their Christmas trees for years to come, or they can make a new card and recycle them for their own gift-giving!
  
If you don't want to decorate your own cards, you can find lots of printables for free. I just found these cute ones on Nest of Posies' site, via the Sew, Mama, Sew November 3 - Gifts for Travel post.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and it inspires you to get creative with your gift-tagging endeavors!






Monday, October 29, 2012

Halloween Mug Rug Sets (Updated to add cookie recipe)

A friend asked me to make some "door prizes" for a party Saturday night. Of course, that was jut a good reason to go buy some more fabric, heh heh heh... I decided to make mug rug sets...a mug rug and little matching napkin. Then I found some cheap black, ceramic mugs at a discount store, so I bought six. I added a cello bag of assorted cocoa, coffee, and tea packets stuffed into the mug, and made some Sinfully Soft Molasses Cookies (see recipe below), which I decorated with a zig-zag of Wilton Vanilla Candy Melts. Here's a complete set, with a cute tag I made:
"Spook-A-Licious Halloween Mug Rug. Mug Rug: Bigger than a Coaster, smaller than a Placement. Just the right size for a Cuppa and a Cookie"

And here are the six individual rugs/napkins, which are all different:




All together now! They were a hit at the party, I'm told - other issues prevented me from going to the party, but I ran the goodies over there in the afternoon. I'd been so busy making these, I hadn't had time to come up with a costume anyways ;-)

 
Sinfully Soft Molasses Cookies
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup shortening (I use Butter-Flavor Crisco)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Additional sugar

Cream butter, shorteneing, and sugar til light and fluffy. Add molasses and eggs. Stir or sift together flour, salt, soda, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet. The secret to good cookies is to NOT OVERMIX after the dry ingredients have been added. Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls. Roll balls in sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 1/2" apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes - do not over bake if you want them to remain soft! Store in a tightly-closing container to maintain softness. Flavor enhances over time and they freeze wonderfully. I decorated mine with Wilton Vanilla Candy Melts (melt in microwave and pipe onto cookies in a zig-zag pattern).