Sunday, June 9, 2013

Becoming addicted to sewing doll clothes

I've gotten hooked lately on sewing doll clothes for my daughter's 18 inch doll.  It's great to cut out a pattern and have it finished in usually less than an hour for a basic top or a pair of shorts.
 
 
I made this tank from an older t shirt with a stain on the front.  It's a Liberty Jane pattern (free on their website!).  I thought it was a little plain, so I added a ruffle to the bottom and a button flower to the top. I loved making it, and my daughter loves putting it on her doll.  Win, win!
 
 
The jeans are also a Liberty Jane pattern, and were so fun to sew!  The topstitching detailing make them so realistic.  There are real pockets in the front, and darling pockets on the back, where I hand embroidered a daisy.  Rachel wanted one on the front too.  I have another pair cut out of red denim that I can't wait to sew this week.
 


Zakka bell pepper pot holder

I'm participating in a sew along!  I've always wanted to, but haven't made the time to do it.  One project down, several more to go, and looking forward to it!


This was a really fun project, easy and quick to put together.  Fun to have a project done in less than an hour :)  The pattern was for a coaster, but I enlarged it like many others did for a pot holder.  Fun!

Friday, June 29, 2012

It's finished!!  This quilt is for a family reunion auction this weekend.  I had many hours of help completing this beauty.  I love the crazy colors of a scrappy quilt.  I think it has around 100 "wo" man hours put into it.  My Sisters-in-law and I spent two sewing days sewing all the strips together, making the sandwiches and putting them into rows.  It was a fun time with lots of girl chatter.

Linking to
While he was napping

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

W.I.P (Work in Progress) Wednesday

It seems like I have a dozen unfinished projects (I probably do) but the one I had to share today is out and ready for a photo since I was working on it last night.
 This is my first adventure in English Paper Piecing (EPP).  I chose one inch hexagons with scraps, and I'm pleased with how it's turning out.  Hexagons are measured from one angle point to the next, not across the shape, so one inch sounds smaller than it actually is.  I usually work on it at night after the kiddos are in bed, while watching/listening to a show with the Hubs.  I like how portable EPP is, and I'll often take a baggie of the pieces and my scraps on car rides.  I try to keep a few in my purse so anytime I have to wait for awhile I have something to pass the time.  I work up a bunch of the flowers and when I have a stack I'll sew them to the body of the quilt.  I originally wanted it about 60 by 72 inches, but since it's a work in progress with no starting pattern, we'll see how it comes along.  It's fun to watch it come together.  I'm considering doing another project with half inch hexagons, probably a pillow top or a very small wall miniature.  We'll see how batty I am after finishing this one :)


Other projects in progress:
New York Beauty quilt (four blocks done five to go)
I Spy (top finished, waiting quilting)
Graduation quilt (tied and waiting finishing)
Christmas table runner (pieced, waiting for quilting)



linking up with  Freshly Pieced  
                          Blissful and Domestic
                           While He Was Napping 
                          Nap Time Crafters 
                            There and back 
                            Positively Splendid 
                            Sumo's Sweet Stuff 

Dollar Store Cupcake Display

 My Oldest child graduated from High School last week *sniff!*  We had a graduation party for him and I wanted a cupcake display for the table.  Here's what I came up with.

Recipe:
Two large glass plates
One small glass plate
One bowl
Two martini glasses
Hot glue or e6000
Children to help frost cupcakes :)


The dollar store is great for finding glass shapes to do this.  Pull several off the shelves and stack different possibilities right there on the floor in the store.  I considered ice cream dishes before I settled on the martini glasses.  They were taller and made more room on the plate for the cupcakes.

I used hot glue because I waited until an hour before the party to put it together.  As it is, the hot glue has worked really well and I just might leave it that way.  I really like how it turned out!

Linking to the following:
Sew much ado     
 Tea Rose Home

Friday, May 18, 2012

Bottle Cap Trivets

Welcome to In Between the Chores!  This is my very first post here at this blog and I'm so excited!  If you're joining me here from linky parties, hope you enjoy what I have to share with you!
 I have been in love with hand stitching since I was a little girl.  My Mom taught me to cross stitch when I was about eight years old and I was hooked.  Since then I've done lots of cross stitch, learned a bit of embroidery, then moved on to garment sewing in high school and quilting about ten years ago.  Hand stitched items have such great character, and as an added bonus are greatly stress relieving to my disorganized brain that's always in a whirl.

Another thing my Mom taught me to make are bottle cap trivets.  I was about 10 or 11 years old when she taught me how to make these handmade gems.  It's actually very simple, and you're only limited to the size and shape of your trivet by the number of bottle caps you have :)
The first thing you'll need of course are bottle caps.  There are many sources for collecting bottle caps.  First are from soda or beer bottles.  If you don't drink either of these, maybe you know someone who would save them for you.  I live in a very small town, so it wasn't a problem to call a local bar to ask if they would save some for me.  They collected about a hundred caps in a week or so.  This is by far the cheapest and easiest way to get caps for your collection.  I didn't want my trivets smelling like alcohol, so when I brought the caps home I soaked them  for a day in a bucket with a dish soap, baking soda and bleach solution.

Second source would be to purchase your caps on the internet or at a local brewery or winery.  We don't live near any places where I could purchase clean, unused caps, so I found mine on E Bay.  They are available in many quantities and are not expensive, with some sellers even offering free shipping.  I'm sure that there are more internet sources available as well.

The second thing you will need is fabric.  If you're a hopeless fabric hoarder/addict like I am, finding fabric isn't a problem. This is a great scrap buster project too.   How much fabric will you need?  Again  that depends on how large you want your trivet to be.  A fat quarter of fabric measures 18 inches by 22 inches.  You could get approximately 20 circles to cover the bottle caps out of one fat quarter.

Third thing is needle and thread.  Smaller needles work better for this project, and a small spool of thread is more than enough.

Fourth thing would be a regular mouth canning ring
The ring on the left is a regular mouth ring.  The one on the right is a wide mouth ring.   If you are fortunate to have an Accuquilt Go Cutter, you could use the three inch die to cut out your circles. Or, if you don't have a regular mouth canning ring, make a template of a three inch circle from a cracker or cereal box to trace around.

Step 1:  Trace around the canning ring or your template right on the fabric.  You can place the rings as close together as you like.  I often trace one ring and fold the fabric so that I cut out four or more circles at the same time.


Step 2:  Cut out your circle(s) and thread a needle with a double length of thread.  Knot the bottom.
Step 3:  Fold over the edge of the circle about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch and sew a running stitch all around the outside.  For those of you familiar with a quilt yo yo, this is just like making one of those.

 Step 4:  This one is optional, but I love how the batting makes the finished trivet puffier.  You can use batting, a couple layers of felt, or scraps of quilted fabric like I used above.  I just traced around them with a quarter or you could eyeball how big and cut it out.  Take a glue stick and put a bit on the top of the bottle cap to keep the batting from sliding around while you do the next step.  You could use hot glue and do a bunch at once, but I like to sit and relax, so I just glue them as I go.

Step 5:  place the bottle cap upside down in the middle of the circle and gently pull the thread until the circle closes over the top of the bottle cap.
 Take a few stitches through the layers over the hole so that it holds the hole closed.  If you want the back of your trivet to be neater, thread your needle under the fabric and come out on one end like the cap on the right. (Below.  Sorry it's a little blurry)
Take a tiny stitch through the side of another finished bottle cap
Take three or four stitches through both caps until they are snug.  Continue adding caps this way until the shape you want is finished.  Here's a view of the back of my square one:
I taught a class recently at a monthly quilters meeting I go to.  Following the class, my neighbor made a trivet that was large enough for her 9X13 casserole/cake panto sit on.  Be creative!  Mix colors and have fun!  Be sure to come back and visit!  :-)

linking up to:  Skip to my Lou  Positively Splendid   
                        Sugar Bee Crafts