March UFO Progress and Goals

Well first of all, let me share how happy I am that I got myself outside and working in my garden today!  It's in kinda sad shape, but I have hope :)  I am thinking of putting in grape tomatoes, jalepenos, and bell peppers this year, keeping it fairly simple.  I've had good luck with peppers, and the grape tomatoes do well taking care of themselves.  Here's pictures from my previous gardening endeavors:

A pepper, we like to start our seeds inside to give them a head start.

 

John helping me plant.

 

This crop included beans, which was a first for me and very exciting to watch grow!  And now I know not to worry about spacing them out, they need to be next to each other for support!

 

And we had some butternut squash that never did turn yellow/white like it was supposed too... but it was a prolific plant!

 

Our little plot.

 

Bell peppers

 

And a trio of tomatoes.  These pictures are from two years ago, we missed planting anything last year.  But like I said, we'll try and take it slow this time around and see if we can't get ourselves some fresh produce.

 

 

And now!  I have had the opportunity to finish only one project this month, and it was a long overdue one.  When I made my first quilt a year and a half ago I had scraps that I started turning into a pillow case to match the quilt, and I finished it on Saturday the 15th, National Quilting Day!

 

It has an invisible zipper on the bottom, which turned out pretty well I thought.  And you can see the quilting in this picture.

 

Isn't it funny how you puff something up and suddenly it looks rounded?

 

Now I just need to purchase a pillow form that actually fills it haha, it's an 18 inch size, all I had on hand was a 16 inch.

 

As for my piece I plan on completing next or at least moving to the stage of a "top":

 

This is the backing from my mom's car quilt.

 

I did not know the "white" squares were actually striped!

 

And so I'm working on finishing the top, and reassembling it for her.  To be quite honest, I took it from her possession about 8 months ago and got the center of the top done then, then promptly forgot about it until recently when John reminded me.  Yay for my husband!

 

Good luck to you all in your endeavors for the rest of this month, I'm looking forward to some relaxing sewing from here on out!

 

~Brandy



Pacifier Keeper - QUICK baby gift

Here's one of my favorite things to make for my friends who are having babies, a pacifier keeper.  They are useful, they save money because you (or your friends) won't have to keep replacing pacifiers that baby tosses away, are inexpensive to create, and as the title says, quick to make!

 

 

 You will need:

 -1 pack suspender/mitten clips (comes with two, shown a couple

     pictures below)

 -either 12 inch pieces of jelly roll strips or enough fabric to cut a

     2.5 inch by 12 inch piece

 -Velcro by the yard (you use less than 1 inch per keeper)

 

 This picture shows the length of a keeper fully laid out, they are closer to 9 inches when shut.  You can see I used two fabrics to make this one long enough to wrap around the pacifier ring and still be able to clip to the babies clothing.

 

Cutting my 2.5x12 inch piece of snuggle flannel.

 

I don't usually care for directional fabric, but it worked out well in this case.

 

Here's the clips I have been using.

 

First you want to fold the piece in half right sides together.

Then you'll want to make sure the strip will be able to fit through the clip.

 

And the openings on these clips are about 1 inch wide.

 

I also cut my Velcro a little less than one inch long.

 

I am sewing my strip a bit wider than 1/4 inch to be sure the finished size will be less than 1 inch across.

 

Then turn it inside out in whatever manner works best for you.

 

On this one I used one of my crochet hooks.  I was able to get the hook to grab onto the fabric I had turned under with my fingers, and pull it the rest of the way through lickety-split!

 

This particular hook is size "H".

 

Then press your fabric flat.

 

Next sew 1/8 inch away from each edge for a nice, finished look.

 

Like this!

 

Next you thread the end through the clip, and fold it over about 1/2 inch.  I only pinned at this point to take this picture :)

 

I chose not to turn the end under here, instead I just used a zig-zag stitch to hold it together and keep all the loose end threads from unraveling.  And just so you know, I personally went over this part 3 times, because I know how babies will pull on things and I don't want this to come apart.  You could also baste it in place first, and then run a zig-zag over the top.

 

Here is how that end looks when you're done.

 

On this other end you will first sew the end of the fabric closed, either by folding in under or just run a zig-zag over it.  Then cut the rough side of the Velcro shorter than the soft side to allow for a bit of adjustment around the pacifier ring.  Next sew the rough side all around the edges, placing it about 1/4 inch from the end of the fabric strip.

 

Now place your soft side about 4 inches from the edge of your rough side and sew all around the edges, feel free to back stitch on the sides for extra security.

 

Here you can see where I sewed around the Velcro.

 

And here is the finished product!  I hope you make someone's life easier with one or two of these, I've even got a couple that are holiday themed, just because!

 

Cowboy boot

I was so inspired by Carla's cowboy boot doorstop from the Don't let the Door Stop You blog hop that I had to make one myself!  Plus, I work for the national office for college rodeo, so I'm suddenly inspired by a lot of cowboy themed items.  One of the ladies I work with had her birthday last week, and I thought she could use a little something pretty in her office.  I used the pattern/tutorial from Riley Blake's site and it was quite a bit larger than I was expecting!  My boot ended up almost a foot tall!  Learning experience: there's a reason copy machines give you the option to reduce/enlarge.

Here's my boot next to the cheese doorstop I made.

 

The lady I made the boot for gave me this shirt (her husband tore a 4 inch rip right in the belly of it) and I thought it fitting to use in the boot-making.


Here's something great I learned: when you're turning corners inside out, use pinking shears to help ease the fabric into the correct shape.  Here's what it looks like when you don't:

 

And here's what happens when you pink the fabric:



 

Isn't that amazing?  By the way, this is one of those parts I altered for my personal taste, this book has a 4 inch space down from the top to hold pens, so I stiffened up the fabric and gave it a lining.

 

I am proud of how the trimming turned out, I just zig zag stitched over the top of it with Aurifil #2021 (white) and it blended nicely and held the trim in place well, especially considering the abuse I put that piece thru turning in inside out and such.

 

This was before I filled the boot with the crushed walnut shells, and hand stitched the "base" of the pen holder, which was a piece of the black fabric cut a little larger than the opening.

 

 

And this is it!  Sitting outside in the freezing rain, woohoo!

 

My co-worker thought it was a kick in the pants, especially when she realized I'd used her husbands shirt, and immediately loaded highlighters and pens into it.  I suggested we look for a plastic container we could cut down and set inside to provide a bit more support, if I make it again I will put my "base" another inch lower so the sides of the boot will hold the pens up.

 

Thank you for visiting!  I need to have a food post here soon, Pampered Chef just started their new catalog which means new recipes, yay!  Oh, better get some dishes washed then, :)

 

~Brandy