Category Archives: Sewing

Making Felted Wool Hand Puppets!

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These turned out so cute. The first one took about 4 hours because I’m inept at sewing, really inept is giving it a positive spin. The second one only took about an hour because I had figured it out and knew what I was doing! I can’t wait to make more. I hunted for pink wool to felt at Goodwill today so that I could make the pink mouths like in the book Warm Fuzzies by Betz White which can be purchased from Amazon here. The boys have loved these and now I’m in love with felted wool projects. NO finished edges – I can handle that! We named the first one, Gus – he’s got the red nose. The second one is named Lucy. They’re coming to church with us tomorrow.

Quilt Museum at UNL (aka quiltstudy.org)

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Fabulous Saturday morning outing to Lincoln to see a quilt museum. It is fantastic! Thank goodness they had a soft voice recording repeating “Please, do not touch the quilts!” because you could hardly stand to not touch them. Especially when we got to the Korean quilts that were silky and thin (why can’t those words describe me?) and with a rolled French hem. There was a Korean display of Pojagi – the art of wrapping gifts in fabric. Very interesting! Must. Google. Pojagi. Now. Gorgeous!

Amigurumi Love

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I am officially in love with amigurumi. It’s probably not an eternal love but definitely infatuation. Let’s hope it lasts awhile! My elephant turned out pretty darn good – the stitches aren’t super tight but he’s a cutie and my kids were fighting over him in record time (always a good sign). Ben gave him a good go around with a squish, kiss, tickle and hug (all captured in the pics above). We haven’t come up with an official name yet but we’ll figure that out.

Star Wars & Indiana Jones Amigurumi

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The above pictures deserved a post of their own! The Star Wars amigurumi can be seen here and the Indiana Jones amigurumi can be seen here.

Adorable Site – Pimp Stitch

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Gaga over talent (and time) that I do not have. Love, love, love this site. Check out their free patterns and tutorials here and here. Happy browsing!

Two New Mags: STITCH & Women’s Running

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Hooray! Two new magazines being published and I like the looks of both of them. Let’s hope the STITCH magazine from Quilting Arts can stay fresh (the other magazines looked a bit old fashioned to me but this Stitch one has potential – I’m definitely going to check it out!). 10% discount on this subscription if you order soon.

Another new magazine: Women’s Running. Can’t wait to check this one out, too! I just love to flip through magazines – snippets of info you can keep one in the car without getting the least bit upset when it’s crumpled and smashed by kids and/or dogs. FREE (actually cute) t-shirt when you subscribe.

Quilting Blog – The Jolly Jabber

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PhotobucketGreat blog. Great sales. Great vintage style fabric collections. What’s not to love? I enjoy buying the fabric, apparently, even more than quilting. Just build the stash, right? The quilt doesn’t magically appear?!?

Grosgrain: Girl’s Giveaway Blog! (sew cute!)

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I don’t have any girls but I would remiss if I didn’t pass along the latest find I have seen recently: a blog where the creator gives away the things she makes. And it’s all good. Check it out here and have fun! Hope one of my friends wins something…and if I ever do have a girl (not that one is in the works), I will expect hand-me-downs from these same friends that are going to click there. Yes, that means you.

Slipcovers 101 (or Adventures in Slipcovering)

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Just getting started. I will probably end up posting the instructions so everyone can learn from my mistakes – which there are bound to be several.

Today I was able to cut the linen blend fabric into the appropriate sizes for each portion of the slipcover and started T-pinning it to the chair, wrong side out. I had one packet of T-pins and had to stop at 3 p.m. and go buy several more. I got the fabric on clearance (enough for 2 chairs) for about $15 at JoAnn’s and the T-pins are costing more than the fabric…hmmm…can’t complain. I love the fabric. I am going to try a scalloped edge on the bottom.

I love the original chairs – they are from a designer who designed during the Eames era for Tiffany’s by the name of Ward Bennett. There are little plaques on the bottom of these chairs that say designed by Ward Bennett and the year (another Goodwill find – paid $12 each and they’re worth at least $250 apiece). I don’t want to mess with the actual upholstery – even if it is Martha Stewart blue it doesn’t go well with our current decor so I envisioned white slipcovers. We’ll see how it goes…this is scarier to me than birthing children!!!

The World’s Worst Seamstress Creates Giant 24″ Pillows (aka Recycling the Couch)

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We have an old plaid sleeper couch ripped and wouldn’t sell in garage sale or on Craigslist. I read somewhere online about an industrious woman who utilized every part of her aged couch instead of throwing it out. (We’ve come a long way from using all the parts of a buffalo, haven’t we?) In my guilt ridden state, I figured that the LEAST I could do was reuse the stuffing. So…I found some Liz Claiborne Home yellow scalloped shams at Goodwill (my favorite eco-conscious store) and made pillows to fit them for our master bed. They match perfectly! Here are pictures of the pillows – I encased them with a Lowe’s clearance drapery panel that I purchased for $4. It’s a soft, velour swirly sheer thing but it didn’t look good on our window so I used it instead of muslin. The pillows could stand on their own but I prefer them in the scalloped sham. Yeah for me! I’m so proud of myself, I might just be able to conquer these slipcovers for my furniture after all. Granted, it’s only two pillows and two hours’ work but for me this is huge! I used my sewing machine and didn’t croak or inflict any drama on anyone nearby. The foam is going to be made into a denim dog bed but what to do with the springs…

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The drapery fabric takes shape!

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Getting stuffed with recycled couch batting!

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In the yellow scalloped sham – Yeah!