Save the Scraps: Tissue holder

Tissue holders are great for kids, I made one of these for Amalie to take in her backpack for school. I have noticed that the little plastic pack gets all jacked up in my purse, so I have one for my purse too. This little project is pretty easy and very fast.

First cut your fabric at 7.5in x 6in.

Pin your fabric pieces pretty sides together.

Sew up the two short lines at a 1/4in seam.

Flip right side out and press.

Now top stitch on your sewn seams at 1/8in.

Fold it so that the 2 sewn edges overlap in the middle by about 1/3 inch; it doesn't have to be perfect so don't stress too much. Also make sure that lining is on the outside for this step.

Sew the unfinished sides at a 1/4 seam on both sides.

Clip your threads...

...and flip right side out and put your tissues in.

Here's the finished product!

Save the Scraps: Coaster Tutorial

I love fabric coasters, and I'll tell you why; we have 2 sets of those nice stone coasters and I really do like them but my 1 year old likes to bang them on the table. She has broken 3 of them. So to avoid this I put them away and made some quick fabric ones that can't really get damaged, and they can't cause any damage if they are thrown; plus if you make them yourself, its easier to match them to your decor.

For this project you will need:

 *2 different fabrics cut to 5 in x 5in squares, i made 10 coasters, so i had ten squares of each fabric.

*10 squares of fusible interfacing cut to 5in x 5in.

*a pair of scissors

*an iron

* and a sewing machine

I am using fabric left over from making my sister a huge rag quilt for Christmas, she is a die hard Chiefs fan.(I'm also sending her these coasters) 

First you need to pin your fusible interfacing onto the back side of half of your squares, I pinned mine onto the Chiefs fabric.

 

 Just follow the manufacturers directions on how to apply.

Now pin the squares with the interfacing to the squares without it together, pretty sides facing each other.

Sew around the squares at a 1/4 inch seam.

Make sure you leave a 2.5in to 3in hole to flip your coasters right side out.

Trim your corners before you flip them, I always forget to do this part for some reason. Now flip your coaster inside out. 

Make sure that the fabric at the opening is folded inward so you don't have a frill on one side (I totally forgot to take a picture, sorry)

Now top stitch around the entire square at a 1/8in seam.

And here are the finished coasters!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all those great moms I know! I want to say something nice to a few of the moms I'm closest too; Marina, your patience with Augustine is extraordinary, I've never seen you get flustered and I love seeing you light up even more then usual when you two are having fun. Jessica, you have raised two of Amalie's best friends, and you are a mother I trust with my own kids, you are so down to earth with your children, and I know they will appreciate it when they are older, because I appreciate it now. Sarah, you are very relaxed with your girls, I like that you allow them to enjoy being kids. Lori, my best friends mom, you have given me some of the best advice I have ever received, and your delivery is amazing and low on the BS. My own mom, Uta, thank you for raising me to be able to take care of myself. And to Chris's mom, Jill, thank you for giving me and my girls the best man I have ever met, and for welcoming me in your home and family, and being a second mother to me in many ways. I love you all, thank you for being great moms and giving me the inspiration to be a better mother myself.

So, I try to do something for our mother on mother's day, and this year I got my idea from Pinterest (I spend a considerable amount of time pinning). So we made paintings of flowers using their hands and feet, I used Crayola's washable paint, it washes off with just water, and a heavy sketch paper.

I used a paint brush to paint their feet and hands so the paint won't be as blotchy. I would have had more pictures of Delanie during the painting, but she was squirming around, it was similar to wrestling an octopus; it took both Chris and me just to get her prints on the paper.

Here are the finished paintings, Amalie's is on the left and Delanie's is on the right. I added the sun and grass at the end. It was a very fun project, and I plan on having them do another one to hang in my sewing room.

Update on the Sewing Room

I have made quite a bit of progress in the last few weeks, it is taking longer than I expected what with the kids and all.

I painted the ceiling, and primed the walls.

Then I could start painting, even with the primer it took 3 coats of paint.

But I had a great helper.

This is the room all painted.....

.....and a view from the other side

So this carpet was the next thing to go.

At this point my knife broke.

After I got a new one ripping up the rest of the carpet was easy.

I just rolled it up and tossed it out the window.

Once I ripped up the carpet pad, I got an unexpected surprise and found old, ugly tile under it; I was furious, I thought it would be hard to pull up.

But it turns out that its so old and the glue is so brittle that they just pop right off the floor.

Hopefully I'll have another update soon.

Save the Scraps: Pin Cushion Jar.

I have decided to start posting tutorials on little project you can make with scrap fabric, I always have a lot of scraps and it took a while to figure out what to do with them. Today's project is a pretty quick one; The pin cushion jar (you have probably seen these around). Most of the things I needed were laying around my house.

Things you will need:

*scissors

*a ball jar with band and lid

*scrap fabric

*glue (I wouldn't use hot glue, it's a little thick)

*fiber fill, you could also use steel wool (it keeps your pins sharp)

*thin card board, I used an empty Cheerios box, you can also use scrapbook paper.

*a pencil

First trace the lid on the card board. 

                                      

 Then cut it out.

Lay the lid on your scrap fabric, and free hand a circle about two inches away from the lid on all sides, it doesn't have to be perfect, it's OK if its circle-ish. (If you want your pin cushion bigger then make the fabric circle bigger.)

Now try to center the fabric on the jar band like shown.

Start to stuff your fiberfill into the pocket formed by the opening in the band. Be careful not to push the fabric all the way through.

When you're done stuffing the cushion, place the lid into band with the fabric frills out.

Push the lid all the way in, you may need to tug on the fabric ends to make your cushion is more even and tight.

The cushion should look a little like this

Now glue fabric ends down to the lid.

Make sure you don't have any rogue pieces sticking up.

Glue all over the your cardboard circle...

..and place it over your glued down fabric.

Hold it in place for a minute or so.

Close the jar tight for a few hours to apply pressure to the glued cardboard.

 And here are finished pin cushion jars.

They have great uses, from left to right; ribbon scrap storage, snack jar for your sewing room, and a mini sewing kit for your suitcase. I'm sure there are more, but these were my favorite.