Saving the universe one project at a time!
Welcome to the first day of our 14 Day Walk with Christ. I hope you and your family enjoy these lessons and take time to Come unto Christ as we anticipate the wonderful celebration of Easter.
I guess there is no stopping the bunny projects! Meet my newest bunny creation – Bunny Love pillow! This is a fast and easy project that will add a Folk Art Easter feel to your home.
Supplies:
Backing fabric, 3/4 yard
Scraps of fabric for appliqué – I used Anna Griffin’s Grace line
Pom Pom trim
22″ zipper
Pillow form or fiber fill
Heat n Bond lite
Begin by cutting the pillow front 20″ x 12″
Iron the Heat n Bond lite to the back of your appliqué fabric. I used the Sizzix bunny die for the bunnies. The folk art tulip pattern can be downloaded here.
Once you have cut out your appliqué pieces, center them on the pillow front. Iron to set in place and stitch around each piece twice with black thread.
Cut the pom poms the width of the pillow and baste them into place.
The bunnies keep multiplying! I knew they would make a darling skirt (what’s next, throw pillows & tote bags??) This is a simple tutorial for a girls skirt size 6/7 that sews up in no time! The tutorial is being featured over at the Therm o Web blog. Click HERE to check it out!!
Cut into 2.5″ strips – it doesn’t matter how long they are, just get a nice assortment.
Cut the strips into random lengths – using your scissors, gasp!! You can use a rotary cutter – I am all about speed when I sew and the scissors seemed faster!
I went pretty random and did not pay attention to the pattern – I like how it’s scrappy.
Sew using a straight stitch in black thread twice around the letters and the shamrock.
Cut a piece of fusible fleece 19″ square and iron it to the wrong side of the lucky pillow top.
Prepare the pillow back….
From your backing fabric cut (1) 4.5″ x 19″ and (1)16″ x 19″
Cut a 4.5″x 19″ strip from a green fabric
Lay the pieces out like this with the zipper. Press the green piece in half lengthwise.
Turn the zipper over, align with the top of the large back piece and sew using a zipper foot along the edge:
Sew the opposite side of the zipper adding the green strip, layer like this:
My backing fabric was a heavy woven fabric, I choose to zigzag my seams because they were already starting to fray. Press the seams away from the zipper. Put the zipper pull in the center of the pillow and cut the excess zipper off both edges.
Place the pillow front on the pillow back with right sides together. Pin all the way around. Make sure the zipper is open so you can turn it after it’s sewn. Sew all the way around the pillow using a generous 1/4″ seam.
Sally has been begging me for a half-apron for quite some time. I fell in love with the Remember fabric line designed by Carina Gardner, who I had the privilege of meeting at Sewing Summit! Her Riley Blake Fabrics are so beautiful. I love the vintage feel of this fabric line – it’s perfect to go in my vintage-inspired kitchen. The aprons are pretty simple to make. Here’s what you need:
Supplies:
3/4 yard main fabric
1 yard stripe fabric
1/4 yard pink fabric
1/4 yard pocket fabric
2 yards wide lace
2 yards medium lace
2 yards small lace
Sew the strip sets together using 1/4″ seams in this order. Zig zag each seam to prevent fraying.
Press seams in one direction.
Fold pink raw edge (hem) under 1/4″ and sew.
Lay the wide lace with right sides together along the hem. Sew along the edge of the lace about 1/4″ depending on the lace pattern.
Fold under and press. Top stitch in place.
Next place the medium and small lace along the seams of the fabric strips. Top stitch in place.
Press sides in 1/4″ and bottom 1/4″. Fold the top down about 2.5″ or to your liking.
It should look like this:
Adult apron cut (2) 5″ x WOF and (1) 5″ x 21″
Child apron cut (2) 4″ x 38″ and (1) 4″ x 18″ – you can adjust the length depending on how long you want the ties.
The idea is to have a waistband portion (the shorter piece) in the center and two ties (the longer pieces) on each side.
Sew the waist band pieces end to end with the shortest piece in the center. Press seams open.
Sew a 1/4″ gathering stitch along the top of the aprons. Pull up threads to gather.
Lay the gathered piece along the waistband piece like this – making sure to align centers. Notice right sides are together.
Pin into place. Sew just this portion sewing over the gathering stitch.
Fold the waistband over so folded edges align.
Pin into place. I leave my pins in and turn the apron over and sew using the front of the waistband as my guide. That way the front of the apron looks perfect. The seam catches the back of the waistband just fine. Continue sewing the entire way around the waistband with a 1/8″ seam.
Done!!
I am sooooo excited to share this tutorial with you! It’s on the Therm O Web blog today!! I have been working like crazy to get it done! We are ocean lovers at my house. In fact the octopus is my daughter’s favorite animal! This tote bag is made with heavy canvas and accents of Blend quilting cottons. The blue fabrics have the feel of water. This project uses Therm O Web’s Spray n Bond, Fusible Fleece and Heat n Bond Lite.
I am so in love with these fabrics from Blend. Being a California girl who loves the beach, when I saw these beautiful shades of blue I immediately thought of the ocean! This is the perfect tote bag for a day at the beach – it’s made with sturdy canvas so it will really hold up! Let’s get started!
Supplies:
1/8 yards 5 assorted prints (can use jelly roll cuts 2.5″)
1/2 yard for octopus applique
1 yard canvas or duck cloth – mine was 60″ wide
HeatnBond® Lite Fusible Applique
SpraynBond® Fusible Adhesive Spray
Download the octopus pattern HERE
Instructions:
Cut 5 strips 2.5″ x WOF from the assorted prints
Sew them together lengthwise and press to one side, using 1/4″ seams
Cut the strip set in half resulting in 2 identical pieces. Align the strip sets and sew together forming a larger strip set of 10 strips. Press seam. Trim the sides (lengthwise) about 1/4″ off each side so the strip set measures 20″ across.
Cut strip set the following increments – cut carefully there is no excess!
Cut (2) 2″ strips and (2) 8.5″ strips.
Cut the canvas accent piece (2) 9.5″ x 20″
Complete the bag front and back…..
Lay the strip sets out like this – you will need to make 2
Sew the pieces together using 1/4″ seams and press away from the canvas.
Cut the Fusible Fleece (2) 19″x 20″ and fuse to the WRONG side of both the bag pieces.
You can add quilting or topstitching to your liking. I sewed 1/8″ straight lines next to each seam.
Time to appliqué the octopus!
Download the octopus pattern HERE. Since it is larger than a piece of printer paper, you will have to print off all the pieces and then tape them together. Draw the octopus image on the Heat n Bond® Lite.
Iron it to the wrong side of the octopus fabric. Cut on the lines of the octopus pattern – it’s a little tricky and takes some time. I wanted some of the tentacles to wrap around to the back of the bag. To accomplish this, position the octopus as shown and heat set the appliqué leaving about 2″ from the side seam. We will come back to this later. To reduce bulk, I stitched around most of the octopus leaving the last 2 tentacles for later.
Pin the floating tentacles out of the way like this:
Place the bag front and bag back right sides together and sew only the one seam where the octopus wraps around. Use 1/2 seams on this part. Press the seam open.
With the side seam now sewn, you can finish the appliqué process. I like to straight stitch around my image at least 2 times. This balances out any imperfections in the stitching and looks “sketchy”. I think 3 times would have been best, but I didn’t have it in me to sew another round!
When the appliqué is complete, put right sides together and sew the opposite side and the bottom seams (1/2 inch seams again), making sure to keep the top open. I also found the walking foot to be very helpful.
Cut a 3.5″ square out of paper or scrap fabric to use as a pattern. Cut 3.5″ “notches” out of both sides of the bag bottom
Open the notched area and match the seams and sew 1/4″ seam along raw edges.
For the bag lining, you will use the same technique.
Cut the canvas (2) 20″ x 19″ . Sew the sides and bottom leaving the top open. Make sure to use 1/2 seams (I use a slightly larger seam just so my lining isn’t larger than my outer bag). Use the same “notch” technique as with the outer bag. Finish the bag bottom the same way also. Now you should have 2 exact shape bags – and outer bag and a lining bag.
Make the handles
Cut canvas (2) 4″ x 28″
Fold right sides together and sew a 1/4″ seam lengthwise to both pieces. Turn right side out and press. Press the seams in the center, they will be covered by the accent fabric next.
Cut a (2) 2″ x 28″ pieces for the accent piece on the handle. Press each side under 1/4″ lengthwise.
Use Spray n Bond® to hold the accent piece to the canvas handle. Top stitch about 1/8″ from the fabric.
Position the handles 5″ in from the side seam of the bag. Tack the handles on by sewing a seam 1/8″ from the top. Make sure the fabric part is facing toward the bag.
Turn the lining inside out and place the outer bag inside the lining. Match up the side seams and pin all around the top edge. It should be right sides together. Sew 1/4″ around the entire bag.
Unstitch about 4″ in one of the side seams. Turn the bag right side out. Top stitch the opening closed with matching thread.
After you turn the bag right side out, you will need to press the top edge to get the lining to lay flat. Press and pin in place. Top stitch 1/8″ seam around the entire top of the bag. In this photo you can see closer stitching detail:
I love the back – it’s cute even plain!
I love our Elf on the Shelf, Ritchie! We look forward to when Richie arrivies and we cry when he leaves! Here are a few of our Ritchie’s antics! Follow my Elf on the Shelf Pinterest Board HERE
We found Richie and his reindeer in a roll of TP
Richie is somewhat of a card shark, sporting a full house in this game of Tripoley.
Richie gathered all the stuffed cats in the house an placed them on the stairs. He was found reading my “Think Like A Cat” book.
Sugar Angles
Hanging in the bathroom
This one was a little questionable 🙂
Bows all over the kitchen and stuck to any solid surface!
Hot Hot cocoa date with Anna
A little mischief with Snowflake Sally’s non-magical girl elf
Helping out with St. Nicholas Day
Chillin’ in the freezer with some North Pole Fat Boys!
Setting the table and serving everyone gingerbread men for breakfast.
Peppermint cotton candy for breakfast
On Christmas Eve Ritchie has extra magic so the children can hug him good bye….pass the kleenex!
Of course the toilet papering of the Christmas Tree!
The M&M bath
Crusin’ around with Merida in the back of the truck
Chillin’ in the freezer
Sleeping in
The underwear display
Epic game of Battleship with Rudolph
Dry erase marker on the school pictures
Crape paper barricade
Elf-size tea party
Red marker Rudolph Noses on the children
Again – hangin’ with Rapunzel
Popcorn party gone out of control
Good advice
Jokes are a hit with the 9 year old crowd!
Lego mini figures feeling neglected
Just fishin’
Richie loves his princesses!
Hanging by a stocking
Hiding in the wreath
Playing with the Vinylmation collection
Buckled up in the car
The day before Richie had to go back to the North Pole (December 24th) Richie was granted extra magic which meant we were able to hold him – but only that day. This was such a thrill to my little girl – this was the most special day ever.
The goal is to gather along the heart so that it can be tied in a single line. The gathers should form a straight line. Keep gathering all the way around the heart. Tie with rubber bands. You will need another set of hands – one to hold the design in place and one to tie it.
Once you get the heart tied, you can decide what to do on the back – you can scrunch and bunch, add nubs, bullseye, swirl, etc. Tie that all up with rubber bands.
To die the heart – choose your center heart color. The heart will look like a little gathered ball. Dye the heart. Then do a thin accent line along the center heart color, then dye your surrounding shirt color. It should look something like this when it’s done:
Deep “V”
For the deep “V” fold the entire shirt in half and draw your V line like this:
Make small folds along the line until the entire shirt is gathered along the line.
Tie rubber bands along the line, we used string because the rubber bands were hard to get under the center of the shirt. Tie lines going out keeping the folds. In this picture you can see the yellow line, and the folds going out. We scrunched the edges.
This is the Deep V after it’s died. The yellow marker line is dyed dark blue and different colors going out (below).
Megan dyed this scary face for my nephew. Same thing, fold the shirt in half, draw half a scull shape and stitch. To make the eyes, pull little “nubs” out and rubber band them. Same with the nose and mouth. We weren’t sure how this one was going to turn out. It kind of looks like a werewolf scull face.
This is Ella’s cat – supposed to look like her Bangle cat. Maybe we will paint eyes on it or something.
Megan’s black cat turned out the best. It is totally purrrrfect!!
