Not So Pretty Potholders and Pretty Ironing Board Cover

     I made some not so pretty potholders to match my blue and yellow kitchen curtains this weekend.  I used scraps of different fabrics for the first set because I thought it would be pretty, but they didn't turn out as cute as I wanted them to.  I made the round set after the square set because I thought they would turn out better.  Not.  All of these potholders are, however, very functional, since I used a layer of 100% cotton batting and a layer of Insulbrite in each one.  The binding is a tad messy on the scrappy potholders and the round ones just curled up after I applied the bias binding.  Crazy potholders.  I also had a chance to crochet a new dishcloth, using up some of the tons of white cotton yarn I accumulated for some project or another that I now be using for new dishcloths for my kitchen.

 

    I made a new cover for my new small ironing board this weekend.  This ironing board came with a very thin muslin cover and a super thin layer of batting under the cover.  The muslin started to stain after two uses.  I sometimes spray my fabric with water to get out the tough wrinkles and the water stained the light beige muslin and that's when I knew I had to re-cover it.  I made a quick cover for the ironing board and I beefed up the inside with one layer of cotton batting and one layer of Insulbrite.  I left the old cover on it and used the ironing board as my pattern (I love this trick, learned on the Internets).  I put my fabric on the floor and turned the ironing board upside down on it and cut around the board giving myself about 4 inches for side coverage and  my elastic casing.  I cut the batting and Insulbrite the exact size of the top of the ironing board with no overhang for a neater look.  I made a casing for my 1/2 inch elastic and threaded the elastic in it.  I put the new cover on the board over the old cover along with the new insulating layers and tightened the elastic, knotting it really well.  That cover is on there to stay, I can't get it off without cutting the elastic.  I love the blue and I love the thickness of it.  It's perfect.

  I  washed some of fabric for my new quilt project.  I'm ironing today.  These are the pinks and greens, the patterns are for the top and the solid pink is the backing fabric.  The white fabric that also goes on the top will be washed today.  I'll start cutting soon.

Patriotic Door Decoration Finish

I finished my red, white, and blue star.  I love it.  It will be perfect for a summer front door decoration.

Tonight I will be piecing squares for my new potholders.  I need new potholders to go with the curtains I made earlier in the summer.

Tomorrow night I will start washing the fabrics for my rosey irish chain quilt I am making for myself.  I picked a variety of Tanya Whelan rose fabrics in pink and green with a pretty white on white rose pattern fabric for the background.  I can't wait to get started.

Cat Pillow Done and Another Project Started

I finished the cat pillow today.  I had to dog sit my granddog at my home this weekend.  He is an American Bulldog and he always scares my kitties, so I have to stay with him the entire time he is in my home.  Yesterday I spent my day  setting up my new computer and today I finished one sewing project and started a new one.

This is the fabric before I turned it into a pillow cover.

And this is the front of the finished pillow.  I made the pillow envelope style.  It was really easy once I got the fabric made.  I put a muslin back on the fabric and I sewed the fabric to the muslin for stability.  The muslin also gave the fabric a lot of body.

I started my patriotic door decoration for next summer.  It's a simple star, 10" squares made into half square triangles that is super easy to make.

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I have the rows put together now and the backing is sewn to it.  I didn't put any batting in it, but I am going to bind it with top with the back and I'm using the blue fabric to bind it.

I should have the binding done in a couple of days and I'll share the finish with you.

Making a Pillow Cover with Laurel Burch Kitty Fabrics

I love, love, love Laurel Burch Cats.  I have a few bags, earrings, and socks with her colorful cats on them.

I also collected a few different Laurel Burch fabrics over the last few months that I have been wanting to use to cover an 18" pillow form.

Here is one strip of the fabric I'm creating to cover my pillow.  I have to make one more strip like this, then I can sew the two together to have enough fabric to cover my pillow.

Honoring Veterans on Veteran's Day!

      I want to sincerely thank all veterans for their service to our country.  I am an Air Force veteran and I am very proud to have served.  I served during peace time but I learned a lot about how to be a better person in our great country from my training in the Air Force.  

God Bless Veterans from all branches of service and God Bless the United States of America.

Dog Harness Finished.

I made a few modifications to this pattern, but all in all it works well for my little dachshund boy.  Dachshunds are notoriously hard to fit with harnesses, coats or sweaters.  I made this one with some brown fabric I had and it's kind of hard to see in these pictures, but the next one will be blue.  I bought the pattern from PupPanache.com on etsy.com.

My Hand Crank Singer

       I have been wanting a hand crank for a few months now.  I finally found one I could afford on ebay a couple of months ago.  I had to repair the wood base because the seller shipped the base with the machine in it and the back joints were showing signs of stress.  I put some liquid nails on it and nails it back.  Good as new.  Now that it's fixed, I'm ready to play with my Singer Model 15 hand crank.  I dated it to 1947 with the serial number.  It has a beautiful scroll plate on the side and the hand crank has Chinese characters with the words "Made In The Peoples Republic Of China" which is kind of fun.  I'll give it a little oil and wind a bobbin or two and start playing real soon.

 

Another Project To Add To My List

I bought a kit from connecting threads to make this mini table mat.  I'm thinking sewing it to a larger square of fabric to hang.  Fun.

A Handmade Birthday Present

Today is my DD's 38th birthday.  Wow, is she old.   hehehehe

Earlier in the summer I decided to try my hand at embroidery and I made up this embroidery to give to her.  It's her first initial secured with buttonhole stitch in black and red, some french knots, some lazy daisies, her date of birth, and a primitive little bee I drew free hand to represent the first initial of her last name (not to mention, she loves bugs).  I wrapped the embroidery hoop with gray ribbon (silver is her favorite metal) and I mounted the embroidery by hand sewing a backing onto the embroidery to secure it in the hoop.  This was a fun freehand project.  Sorry the pictures aren't clearer, I took these with my cell phone.  My camera was being re-charged.

The front.

The back.

I can't wait to do more embroidery.

Got My New Embroidery Fanny Frame

I bought this at Needle In A Haystack on line and it's called the Hardwicke Manor Fanny Frame.  You sit on the paddle so your hands are free to work.  I've been waiting for this for 3 weeks because they were out of stock and I had to wait for them to get more.   I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this gadget.

Past Projects - Quilt and Crocheted Afghan

I made this simple quilt for my brother in January this year.  I actually emailed him last year and asked him about colors and patterns so that he and his wife could have a say in the end result but they never made a decision.  So I made him this one.  This quilt is similar to the very first quilt that I made in 2012.  The quilt I made in 2012 was given away at a family reunion.  My brother really liked that quilt, so that's what I decided he would get.  He loves his quilt.  The back is solid dark blue with a few of the pinwheels in the center of the back to give it interest.  I did the binding in the same dark blue and the quilting is all stitch in the ditch.

You can see my quilt inspectors, Taffy on the table and Merlin on the floor doing their quality control inspection.

Since my brother does not let his wife use the quilt, I crocheted her an afghan and sent that up to her in August.  It's a one color afghan made up of 80 - 8" granny squares.  I made it with Red Heart Super Saver Solid Yarn (acrylic).  It's big and very warm.  She loves her afghan.  This is a picture of it spread out over my sofa.  

  I'm currently working on making a new harness for my dog, Wolfgang.  It's cut out but I have not done any stitching on it.  Once I finish the harness, I will be working on a pillow cover using some Laurel Burch fabrics I have been collecting for it..  I bought an 18" pillow form at Walmart last weekend for that project.  I have fabric for a quilt, I have fabric for a patriotic door decoration, I have supplies to make potholders to match my new kitchen curtains, and I also have some fabric to cover the new table top ironing board that I bought a couple of months ago.  That's a short list of things I want to do.  I also have one embroidery and two cross stitch projects ready to be started.