FALL Door Decor

Just finished this a little bit ago; then we had the missionaries over for dinner and friends over to play games.  I will post a tutorial later.

 You can even make the leaves "fall"  after it starts to get cold, especially in an old drafty building like ours.

Little hands get to help a lot along the way on a project like this, which is always good.

Tulle Tutu

I got this idea from a Disney Family Fun magazine and ran with it.  (My tutorial is basically the same, just more detailed, with more pictures and my measurements were different.)

Materials:

6 yd tulle

1" elastic cut to waist 

Step One: Cut your strips of tulle.  I measured mine to be 3 inches in width.  (Too thin and you will have to do a lot of ties; too thick and lots of elastic will show between knots.)

Step Two: Since the tulle I bought comes in 52" I cut each strip in half.  That gave me a finished piece of 3"x26".  I wanted mine to drape down pretty far.  You could also cut it in thirds or fourths easily...fourths wouldn't drape much though.

Step Three: Sew elastic closed.  I used a zigzag stitch to do this, more give.  I cut my elastic to 19" (My daughter's estimated waist since she was sleeping at the time.)  I then overlapped about 3/4".  You do NOT need to add extra for the overlap, if you do the tutu could end up being too loose.

Step Four: Stretch the elastic across a binder or book to use as a base while tying.  The more you stretch it, the more knots you will need, which will make it more full.

Step Five: Start tying knots.

Make a cute pattern.  Keep going until you get the finished product...

...cuteness in a tutu!

She is finally learning to pose and smile for my pictures.

She'll even dance in some instances.  (You should have seen her getting down in Old Navy the other day.  So funny.)

As you can tell I couldn't pick a favorite of her dancing.

Thought of putting the tutu on my son for about 0.2 seconds before I realized my husband would kill me.

Umm...WWF Smackdown?!?

Gathered Headband

LOOK AT THIS CUTE HEADBAND.

I saw a cute gathered headband on someone's blog a while back but didn't save the link.  GRRR...Well, It has popped into my head a couple of times and I decided that I could come up with a pattern myself.

Here is the close-up.

I took awesome pictures of the whole process...more than I remember to usually take.  THEN MY CAMERA FLIPPED OUT AND I HAD TO REFORMAT THE MEMORY CARD AND LOST ALL OF THE PICTURES.

So, I guess the actual tutorial will have to wait until the next time I make one.  

If you are an experienced sewer, you can use the same basic concepts for making a crayon roll to make this but do two things different:

1. Make sure you attach a piece of ribbon to BOTH end of the headband so they will tie together at the base of your head.

2. Obviously don't add the pocket for the crayons.  Basically double the length of the top piece of fabric to allow for the extra fabric needed for gathering.

Sorry about the pictures.  I suspect I'll have the actual tutorial in the next two weeks because I really want to make another one already...

Gathered Clutch from Noodlehead

I have been L.O.V.I.N.G. this since I made it a could of weeks ago.  The beauty is it was made from scrap I already had and a zipper I had to purchase. 

So easy to throw the license and debit card into along with my phone and shopping list.  If I need a big diaper bag I take this instead of a purse so I have one less thing to carry because I can throw this in the diaper bag.  The fabric doesn't really allow you to see it, but the flowered fabric is gathered, my new favorite technique.  You can find the tutorial here at Noodlehead.  Good Job with this one Anna, and thank you to Dana at MADE for featuring her about a month ago.

Shirt to Dress Repurpose

I found this repurpose project on makeit-loveit.com and fell so swiftly and deeply in L.O.V.E. with it that I actually cheated.  I went out and bought Avery a new shirt so that I could do a repurposing project.  (Is that really so wrong of me?)

And just because the pictures came out good (and boy did I work to get them) here are about 20 more.

Gotta love that smile!

Look at that big bow!!!

She looks like an old arthritic grandma here. 

 I don't even know how to caption this one.

Take this Tyra.

What?  Is she Whistler's Grandma here or something?

After a hard photo shoot a girl ALWAYS needs a hot dog.

Levi Apron

I saw this CUTE apron on a crafting blog I love to check out and decided to make one.  You can find the tutorial here.  I LOVE it.  

I love that I made it so cheap.  The jeans were originally purchased at a thrift store for maybe 4 bucks; the fabric for the binding was also purchased at a thrift store for about 50 cents.  The only thing I would have done different was I would have made the crescent shape I cut out smaller than I did.  My waist ended up being lower than I would have liked, I'll have to fix it all by cutting the part that goes around my neck and adding velcro; didn't feel like tackling it right after finishing though.

New Projects

Since I have finally finished the quilt I am dying to sew up some projects that have been on my mind.  My machine is still in the shop though!  I have started cutting stuff so I can take off running when I get it back.  What do I do first though?

1. Star Wars cloak/cape/whatever you want to call it (Sam's birthday is tomorrow I think...and it needs to be mailed.)

2. Gathered Clutch at Noodlehead...already cut the fabric for this one!

3. Simple tote bag to function as a extra diaper/entertainment bag for the kiddos

4. I am DEFINITELY going to make this repurposed t-shirt dress for Avery found here at Makeit-Loveit...pleating is my new favorite thing that I haven't tried yet.

With so many options which comes first? 

Probably Sam's cloak so it won't be TOO incredibly late!  Maybe I'll make a dark side cloak too so Hannah can duel with him.

VT Quilt

It is finally finished!  

For those of you that don't know, Virginia Tech Hokie fans are CRAZY DEDICATED to their cause...promoting and cheering on the Hokies.  I have NEVER IN MY LIFE seen a town so decked out in its local university's colors...even the TCBY (yum!) here is painted maroon and orange on the inside.  I have seen multiple maroon cars that have orange accent stripes along the sides, some even with a hokie bird somewhere along the line.  So I was not surprised to find someone that wanted a Hokie quilt.

About 2 months ago I saw this ad on craigslist from a girl that was looking for someone to make a Virginia Tech  themed quilt for her.  I decided to tackle the project.  2 months later...and a lot of tears shed (over my broken machine...sad)...I am D.O.N.E!!!

Here is the back for those quilters in the house that might be interested.  (Framing the square in the center was actually my husband's idea...kinda embarassed I didn't think of it myself.)

The client is a HUGE hokie fan; she also likes hearts a lot, so we combined the two into the design...not exactly what I would go for, but if it works for her that is all that matters.

Here is the center of the quilt detailing.

Here is one of the hearts that run along the top and bottom of the quilt.  I had never done too much machine applique...only like the second time I had ever used a satin stitch, but love the look of it.  I used coffee filters that I had ironed out to help keep the fabrics from shifting.  (Sorry, I can't remember what site I got that idea from.)

Here it is all folded up ready to go to its new home!

Quilted Notecards

I saw this QUILTED NOTECARDS tutorial on MADE and couldn't resist...I MADE some (hahaha, I am so funny) immediately.

Here are some of mine...

I thought it would be fun to cut around the flower on the fabric to add a little character to this card.  So many possibilities...

I absolutely LOVE ruffles AND polka dots!

Can you tell this one was my favorite?  I made three of this one.

Now I just need a reason to send out some cards.

Ribbon Dancer...Totally having flashbacks...

Avery, my 2 year old daughter, is very much into swinging and banging things lately.  She likes to swing beads; she especially likes to swing them around her defenseless brother.  I decided to remedy the situation by making her a RIBBON DANCER, a toy she is allowed to swing around, that will hurt Carter less if she happens to get too close.

Materials:

12-14 inches of 3/8 wooden dowel

handsaw

small piece of sandpaper, a scrap even

painters tape

acrylic paint

sponge brush

spray acrylic sealer

thumb tack

8 inches yarn or string

about 3 feet ribbon (I think I used 1.5 or 2 inch, sorry I don't remember)

How to:

Step 1: Use the handsaw to cut off the length of dowel rod you need.  I think they usually come in 36 lengths if I remember....that seemed a little too dangerous for Avery's arm to me.  Sand the end or ends you saw because they will be a little rough.  (We don't want splinters, that'll turn playtime into a painful screaming fest quickly.)

Step 2: Paint your dowel rod your chosen color.  (I did pink because I already had some pink ribbon...orange or some bright turquoise would look GREAT.)  I applied to layers of paint.  Allow to dry in between.  If you want a solid colored rod you can skip the next step.

Step 3: Apply painter's tape to the areas that you do NOT want to be your secondary color.  (If you look close you can see the white spots where my 2 year old "helped" me with some painting while I wasn't looking.)  Paint secondary color on.  I did 2 or 3 layers here because my secondary color was lighter than my primary.  If I was thinking straight I would have switched the order of application of my colors.

Step 4: Fold over and sew down the edges of the ribbon.  I allowed a larger hem on one end for slipping a piece of yarn through for attaching to the stick.

Step 5: Slip yarn through slot and tie a knot at the end of the yarn, tying the two edges of yarn into the same knot that is.  Attach the yarn/ribbon to the dowel rod by putting a tack through the knot into the dowel rod.

VOILA!!!  RIBBON DANCER...tons of fun.

And, for some live action shots...

 PS - As a side note, I remember one specific Christmas when my cousins got ribbon dancers and I was a totally jealous 7 or 8 year old.