Making Another Quilt Ladder

I bought the materials I need to make another quilt ladder.  I bought two 1 x 2 x 6 pine boards and three 3/4 inch 48 inch long dowel rods.

I have a 3/4 inch wood boring drill bit to make the holes for the dowels.  All I need to do is file a curve in the end of each board, drill the holes for the dowels, cut the dowels to about 20 inches long, glue them in and stain it.

Here is the cost of the wood I bought.

(2) 1 x 2 x 6 pine boards $3.94 each
(3) 3/4 inch by 48 inch dowel rods at $3.18 each.

I have the rasp, drill, drill bit, glue and stain.

The instructions I used to make my first quilt ladder said to make the ends of the boards curved so the ladder sits nice against the wall.  I can't find the instructions I used on the internet anymore so I can't link them here.  Here is the end of the boards with the curve filed.  It took about 30 minutes to file the four ends.   I don't have a fancy saw to cut the curve into the wood so I just use a rasp and elbow grease.

After making the curves, I drilled 5 - 3/4" holes in each board.  I sanded the curved ends and the holes in each board.  Then I cut  5 - 20" pieces from the 3 dowel rods.  I filed the ends of the rods and sanded them, then I glued them into each of the boards.

The ladder took me about 3 hours to put together.  It's an economical and easy project to do.

Here is the ladder put together before I stain it.

Christmas Has Come And Gone But I'm Not Done Making Decorations

I can't believe how many cute ideas I found to distract me this year.  I'm still working on several projects that are Christmas related.  I'm afraid that I will be Christmas crafting into the New Year.

I did manage to finish dear daughter's table runner, some small  tree ornaments, and her star garland, but I'm still working on the decoupaged cookie plates, my table runner, some fabric covered Christmas tree forms,  and a star garland for me.  My star garland may go up after I finish it and stay up all year.   Here is a picture of dear daughter's garland on her China cabinet.  She added fairy lights and it looks pretty.  I love the way this turned out and the stars are so easy to make. 

Other things I want to make are felt tree ornaments.   I found this picture on the internet and thought these felt ornaments were adorable.

I saw this picture a bunch of times for different ads.  The day I took this picture they were advertising Hobby Lobby craft store.  I have not been able to find this picture on Pinterest with a link to instructions or patterns, so dear daughter I made our own ornaments with green felt in the shape of a Christmas tree and we beaded them for her co-workers.

I also want to make some string art.  I found a string art star with instructions here.

As usual, I spent too much time watching YouTube videos showing items made from thrift store finds and I saw some interesting wood burning ornaments being made by using 4" wood rounds that you can get at Amazon.

One person was walking through a Antique store or 2nd hand shop and I also saw something I have to make.  It's a paper garland made from hymnal pages.  It's super simple, fan folding the pages and gluing a bunch together to make a long piece that you wind around a piece of twine.  I don't have a good picture of it but I took this screen shot from the video where I saw it.

I have looked on Pinterest and all over the Internet for a better picture or even instructions but could not find anything similar.  I fell in love with this garland, so much so that I bought a Baptist hymnal on Christmas day for this project.  I have the glue and twine.

I don't know when I'll finish Christmas decorations, I just hope I finish before next Christmas.

Paint, Modge Podge, Fabric and A Christmas Card

    I got this odd size free piece of wood a couple of years ago from Lowes or Home Depot when I was shopping one day.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with it since I got it.  I found this card a couple of weeks ago and I started getting the idea of using it on this piece of wood.  I painted the board, decoupaged a piece of pretty light blue polka fabric on the front and then I decoupaged the card on top of that.  It was fun to make, but I don't enjoy painting because it takes so long to dry.

I Found A Use For Some Old Scrap Wood And A Broken Bird Bath

   Last week I was cleaning my old iron bird bath and the base kind of fell apart.  The screws had rusted and pieces had fallen off the base so I couldn't keep the bowl fastened to it anymore.  I replaced it with a bird bath from the front yard and bought a new bird bath for the front flower bed.

    I was going to take the broken bird bath to the iron scrap place and get a few dollars just so it wouldn't be left in the yard with no purpose.  While I was trying to decide whether I wanted to scrap the entire bird bath or use it as yard art, I saw a pile of scrap wood left over from a fence support project done a while back.  

   These pieces of wood are fat and no piece is the same length so I had fun putting them together to make a base for my old bird bath bowl.  I was going to use some adhesive to put it together, but I realized the base would too heavy for me to move and it works great with the pieces just stacked together on a level place under the trees.  I hope the birds like it.

 

Fall Sunflower Door Decoration

    I finally finished a sunflower door decoration for use during the fall season.  The flower is made from 100% felt.  I made a petal pattern in 3 sizes for the petals and the center was cut freehand from a 6 inch circle.  I sewed the flower to cotton backing material.  I made the center with points which is different from the normal plain circle.  I also added some dark purple seeds in the center for texture and color.  I was thinking of the Van Gogh sunflowers when I decided on the blue background.

    I enjoyed making this project.  The felt was really easy to sew.  I did a straight stitch around all the edges of the petals.  I used a few pins when I placed the petals and I was really surprised that I didn't have any problem with the felt shifting during sewing.

Quilt Ladder Project

   I bought the supplies to make this quilt ladder a couple of weeks ago.  Using the instructions from this  A Beautiful Mess, I made it to store the quilts that I made.

My supplies:

  2 -  1" x 2" x 6' pine boards ($3.25 each)

  3 - 3/4" x 48" round dowels I'm making five rungs 20" long so I only needed 2 1/2 of these ($8.94)

  1 - 3/4" Forstner drill bit ($9.97)

  1 bottle of Elmer's Carpenter glue ($1.98)

Total  $27.39 (without state sales tax)

       I had a little trouble getting my drill to work.  I called in my dear daughter for help and we finished drilling the holes yesterday.  I sanded and set it up this morning for this picture.  I still have to stain it and I'm calling it done.  I have plans to make a couple of more for myself and dear daughter wants one or two.

Pretty Tools Make Me Happy !

     I love a good, sharp seam ripper.  Today I found and bought a beautiful wood handled seam ripper at this etsy shop.  These hand carved colored wood handles are super cool.  I have one seam ripper with a hand carved handle that my daughter bought for me a couple of years ago that is the sharpest seam ripper I have ever had.  I try not to use it too much because I want it to last forever.  This seller carves the handles and injects them with color resin for a pretty look.  His shop is full of pretty tools and accessories.  I love that he also carves beautiful handles for awls and crochet hooks as well as carving the entire crochet hook.  I wish I could buy them all.