resolutions?

So tomorrow is a new year. My only resolutions this year are to keep making progress in my life and with dealing with my disorder, which means continuing to simplify our lives, de-clutter and organize our home while still maintaining my coupon-ing and my hobbies, and to get better about weekly blog posts!


 I've really be being inspired by all of the Menu boards, and meal planning systems out there in Blogland and of course Pinterest

I've started working on my own, and can't wait to share it with you all!

We also implemented a merit/demerit system in our house about 6 months ago..So far it has been working..as long as I remember to switch out the lists and have the merits/demerits redeemed. That will be becoming a major priority in the new year.
Merits are always in Red ink, as you can see, minion 2 is off to a great start this week.
Basically, they get demerits for having to be told to do or not do things they know better about..like, leaving their laundry on the bathroom floor, not putting their shoes in the closet, not putting their dishes in the sink..the normal teenage boy thing.

I will be sharing that with you in more detail in the next week or so as well.

In the meantime, Have a Happy, and Safe New Year!!

A little preview..

Just a quick little fabric pull, with a teeny, tiny, bit of shopping thrown in...I won't go into many details, I'm not sure if the recipient is a reader or not, but something pretty is in the works!

Cleocatra

As my friends online have heard, lat weekend we lost our pretty kitty Cleocatra, Cleo for short.

She was my kitty through and through. she loved to be in the same room as I, and as her Human, I was treated as her bed and her perch..It's weird not to leave my sewing room and find her at my door..

Or to tell her to get down when she would stand and claw at the screen to get my attention...all I have now are the pictures and the holes in my screen, and my memories. I can't really express how much I miss her, to put it simply, I want my kitty back.

Pillowcases....A tutorial

Ok, I know what you're thinking, there are already a lot of pillowcase tutorials out there in Blog-land. It seems that everyone has their own version of the 15 minute pillow case tutorials, which are great, and I have recently made some that way myself, but what about that great fabric that has a directional print..going the wrong way?

Yes, you could just cut the fabric 44" in length and then trim 8" off the sides, but what a waste of fabric!!

For years I've been making pillowcases this way..and they turn out just as cute, and still have completely enclosed seams, but uses LESS fabric than the 15 minute pillow case..

Before we get started, an explanation of terms and additional information for purchasing the right directional fabric for this tutorial.

1. Main fabric ~
         This will be the directional print fabric you will be using for the body of your pillow case. You
         should look for a fabric that is printed so that when you are holding the bolt horizontally, the
         print is facing the correct direction, like so:

 2. Contrast fabric ~
        This will be a solid or print that contrasts, but still ties in to the main fabric, for example, were I to
        use the flannel in the picture above, I would choose a Pink, or one of the darker purples to
         coordinate. If you were to choose a print for the cuff, it should be printed in the opposite manner
         of the Main body fabric.

3. French seam ~
        A french seam is a technique used in high end fashion that encloses the raw edges of your fabric.
        No need to worry, I show you how to do those in the instructions!

4. Top stitching ~

A sometimes decorative, sometimes functional stitch that is usually 1/4" from the edge of a seam. It is visible because it is done on the top of the item.This can be done in same or contrasting thread, depending on the decorative effect one wishes to achieve.

5. Cutting ~
      If you are new to a cutting mat and Rotary cutter, there are a lot of tutorials out there, but I think this
      is one of the best: http://www.sewingweb.com/Projects/RotaryCutting/
   
     If you will be using scissors, measure out 22 inches on the fold edge, mark with a pin, and measure
     again to confirm. It's just like you learned in shop class, measure twice, cut once. Repeat on the
     selvage side. Now laying your fabric flat, carefully cut straight across the fabric from 1 pin to the other.


What you will need:
22" by WoF of  your Main fabric
12.5" by Wof of your contrast for the cuff

General supplies:
Thread to match
Sewing machine
Rotary cutter and mat or other measuring/cutting combo
Pins
Iron and ironing surface


First we are going to make the body of the pillowcase using a french seam.
Trim off your selvage,

 and then with a 1/8" seam allowance sew down the long sides wrong sides together.

Now we will turn our pillowcase inside out and press those seams to one side or the other.., then fold the case so that the sewn seams are on the long edges, and press flat.

Now, sewing with a 3/8 seam allowance, sew the long sides of the case Right sides together, this seam will encase the raw edges of the fabric for the body of our case.

Take a little break to cook lunch for the family, and nab a cute kitty pic..start editing the picture only to then realize just how dusty the TV stand (where said kitty knows she isn't allowed) is and decide NOT to post it on the blog..and assign dusting to a minion ASAP..and move on to the cuff portion of our tutorial.

First you'll want to press your 12.5" x width of fabric piece open. Then you are going to fold the long edge down to 1/2' above the bottom long edge, and press the fold,  like so:

When you open the fold back up, the side with the crease tented up will serve as our right side when we sew our cuff loop.

So,   Now we will take our short ends and match them up, right sides together. You should have a 5-8" seam allowance, but since fabric widths vary, Lay out your case body, and, matching your short fold to one side, use a pin or a pen to mark on your cuff piece, where the case opening ends..For the visual learners out there:

This will mark your seam allowance for your cuff. Sew the short sides together, press seam open.

Next, pin your cuff to the case body,  making sure that you are pinning the short side of the creased fabric, wrong sides together.

Sew cuff on using a 3/8" seam allowance. Pull cuff fabric out, then turn the entire case inside out and press the seam towards the cuff like so:

This is where I notice a trend, My machine could use a good cleaning too..Didn't I *just* do this?!?!

This is where the crease we made at the beginning of working with the cuff will come in handy.
USing the crease as a guide, fold your cuff down and over the seam allowance, turn edge under 1/2" and press, being sure the the original fold line stays true.

Now, using a 1/8-1/4" seam, top stitch your cuff down along the crease that you just created.

Put a pillow in and marvel at your pillowcase..with the fabric going the right direction ;)

These make a great Gift, or, I've been known to make one to use as a gift bag, it just doesn't get much greener!
'til next time,

a bit of stitching..

Last night while we watched some Dexter, I got out some osnaburg and started stitching. These will become either banners or ornaments in the near future, I haven't decided for sure as of yet.

A bit more thrifting..

While out and about yesterday, Minion 2 and I stopped in at another area thrift shop. We didn't buy much, as we're trying to pace ourselves..and we have a antique show we want to go to tomorrow, but what we did buy was at a good price, and perfect for our booth.

This set of coffee mugs are just lovely..

They are more mustard in color that the picture shows

This boxed set of stainless steel knives from Japan

and lastly this little vase. Normally I wouldn't have bought this as these type of vases are a dime a dozen at thrift stores, but this one is a Hoosier glass milk glass, so we snagged it.

I hopefully will get these listed over the weekend..and maybe find a few more treasures tomorrow to add to them ;)

Thrifting goodies and a little something new!

Minion 2 and I went thrifting yesterday, and what started out as a clothing trip for him became that and so much more!

He's always been my child who loves yard sales, antique stores and thrifting, and of all the boys, he's always been my biggest cheerleader when it comes to my sewing and my biz before I stepped back. So, it really wasn't much of a surprise that he suggested we turn our fun into something more.

We had a stellar thrifting day yesterday, even with not getting going until late by 50% day standards!

Here are some of the goodies we managed to grab up..

Some Fireking, linens, and a couple of books for my library.

 I live the Pfaltzgraff winter berry, it's so delicate and elegant. This candle plate was only $0.45!

A Nora Roberts I didn't have, and while I don't read many Historical romances any more, I have the 2 companion books by Arnette Lamb, and for $0.45 a book, why not complete the set right?

 Probably one of my favorite finds of the day, 2 vintage pillowcases and matching flat sheet..$1.50 for all 3!

 And another great find..These ones might just live at my house for a bit, 2 vintage pillow cases with hand crocheted trim..see that 59 on that tag? that was a piece, AND since it was half price day I got them both for that..yeah, I love 50% off day hehe.

 a couple of fire king bowls for our new Etsy shop. 1962-66 Peach Lustre Fire King

 Wheat Cake Pan...also in our Etsy shop

 I picked up this wooden plaque for a quarter, I have plans for it :)

 Another fire King bowl (lid isn't original) This is the Federal Sunflower print. I'm not sure of the date, I have to wait for my book to research it.

 I loved this little pitcher, it was priced at $0.99, this was at the salvation Army, which wasn't on 50% off, but the price was right ;)

 This baking dish cradle came in at $0.99 after the discount, I have a project in mind for this one too.

 Another great find, this is like BRAND new!

 This was a bargain at $2.99, There are a couple of holes, so it goes into the project pile, I can't wait for the chance to work my magic on it!
Tomorrow minion 2 has to get his weekly allergy shot, we are going to hit a couple of places on that side of town to see if we can score some more stock..and this weekend there is an antique and craft show at a local high school..Let the hunt begin!!

More last minute Halloween crafting!

So I've been working on some Halloween decorations over the past couple of weeks and realized that if I didn't share them soon I likely wasn't going to be able to before Halloween!!

 Some Skull art using an image from Graphicsfairy.com, and the burnished image transfer method.

I made this skull garland using Embroidery floss and some Target $1 bin erasers. I just threaded a long sharp needle and went through the soft eraser. (as a side note, I had plans to do the entire bag of these, but this is as far as a I got before my embroidery floss started breaking down. I highly recommend something that can withstand the friction better.)

 This was a fun project, I just drew the letters and exclamation point out on thin cardboard, painted the letters green and hot glued the dollar tree eyes all over. For the web, I painted a bit of lace black and dusted it with glitter, then glued it to the back side of the cardboard frame I left for just this purpose. The spider's body got the same paint and glitter treatment and then using my scissors, I just poked 4 holes on each side, and threaded 4 half pipe cleaners through from the back, hot glued the eyes on and called it done :)

I made these candles I saw on Polish the Stars blog yesterday. I need to redo the inserts as they aren't deep enough for my dollar store tea lights.

And that is it from me for now my friends, If I can fit more in before the big day I'll try my best to share!

Mummy pillow tutorial..ish?

I started out with the best of intentions on this project, taking lots of pictures, then I got caught up in it and the camera sat idle. Fortunately it's a fairly easy project so I am sure you all can follow along even if there aren't as many visuals!

Supplies:
1 yard 45" unbleached muslin
1 fat quart backing fabric
green and black scraps
black embroidery floss (optional)
poly-fil (or equivalent)
sewing machine, thread, scissors, hand sewing needle

Since I was making an actual pillow and not a pillow cover, I started with a 16" square of the muslin for my base. Then, using my scissors I made random snips in the folded edge of the remainder of the muslin and then tore the stips apart.

 Then lay out your first strip

Pin in place

 and sew it down, Then snip the remainder of the strip off at the edge of the pillow foundation (I was able to get 2 pieces on the pillow front from each strip, plus a little left over for on the corners)

 repeat in varying angles until you have covered your foundation

 and here is where I stopped taking pictures LOL!

Once I had my foundation covered, I cut out some ovals for eye out of my green, then smaller circles for pupils out of black, and sewed them on using my machine's blanket stitch. you can also use a straight stitch or even a zig zag.

When your front is finished, press, then trim down to a 15" square and set aside.

Cut your fat quarter into a 15" square for your back. Pint the two sides together, right sides facing and sew around leaving a 3" space on the bottom edge for turning and stuffing.

Clip your corners, and turn. Then using poly fill as directed, stuff your pillow. you will want to stuff it firmly as after some use the poly fill will condense and you don't want a flat pillow! Hand stitch your opening closed.

Now, due to my hubby and youngest son's insistence that my mummy needed a mouth. I threaded up some black embroidery thread and stitched one on. I think it actually made it look like a friendly mummy, which is just fine with me ;)