Burlap ruffled tree skirt

I made this burlap and cotton ruffled tree skirt for my daughter-in-law for a special  "before"  Christmas gift.
I used my serger to hem each strip and to ruffle the red fabric. I tried to ruffle the burlap on four different sewing machines. It just wasn't going to happen. I did it the old fashioned way using my fingers to fold the fabric right before it went under the pressure foot. Believe me when I say after doing all those strips I had a system going. I think it turned out pretty good for my first try.

The strips started out at 3 inches x WOF. The red fabric was easy to cut through four layers. Burlap was a different story. It was cut in a single layer. I drew lines on it every 3 inches and cut on those lines using a 24" ruler and my rotary cutter. I also used my sad iron trick to hold the ruler steady. (I use two sad irons to weigh it down.)

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Happy New Year.

Debbie

Pillow talk

I know it's been a year since I posted something on my blog. Total. Neglect. I have had fun sewing and a little bit of stamping most of the year though.

I made this pillow, 18"x21", yesterday for someone special. I put a zipper in the back panel so the pillow can be removed for washing.

The appliqué is a drawing I made on paper, then cut out and used it as a template to cut the fusible fabric. I didn't have a cartridge for my Cricut for this word or I would have used it. It took a little time to cut my word out with an Exacto knife. I could have designed an SVG file on my computer but I think I am faster with hand- drawing and cutting. I used Heat-N-Bond lite on my brown fabric before I placed my template on it for hand cutting. I'm sure this is clear as mud, so let me know if you have questions about the process.

After I ironed the word onto the main fabric, I used a small zigzag stitch to appliqué around the word with a contrasting thread. It was very fun. I even left my walking foot on my machine because I was too lazy to take it off. I wasn't shooting for perfection, just having fun with it.

I was bummed after I sewed my own handmade binding around the edge of the pillow to discover my thread tension was a little loose. I'm not about to pick it out since it's black on black and on the back. Phew, say that three times real fast. Sounds like a cheer to me. Okay, all together now, "black on black and on the back." I just had to do that. Yeah, I was a cheerleader one year only. Discovered I was a clutz and shy too. Just sayin'.

Maybe I will post more than one time this year. We'll see. I DO have some cool project ideas in me ol' head.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my dusty, lonely blog.

Have a crafty.good.day.

Debbie

Just a snippet, a tote and a kitten

 

This is a cute tote bag I made recently from a kit, Totes on Bolts. The pattern is by Penny Sturges. I really didn't know what I was buying when I got it. I just thought it was a pattern with the fabric included. It was really neat in that the panels of fabric included little dots and dashed to indicate where you should cut with scissors or a rotary cutter. It also included optional fabric choices which I thought was neat. I'm not going to say it was easy because I found myself not too good at following the instructions. In hindsight though, it was spelled out clearly. I just wasn't used to following instructions. I'm glad I did because I love the bag. It has about 8 pockets on the inside that I customized to fit my phone, security key for work, and other items I love to carry with me.

 

Someone else likes my tote because Little Bella discovered it was cozy for a nap. I laughed when I went to put my phone in my bag and found her nesting. I made a lot of pictures of her before she decided to get up because of me. I just had to share this and I hope it makes you smile.

Little Belle has been with us about five months now and we're crazy about her. She is polydactyle and acts more like a dog sometimes than a cat. She finds things and hides them under a rug to bring out later for playing with. Funny kitty. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend. It's just beautiful here in Alabama and I'm planning on painting a ceramic Holly Christmas tree today.

Happy crafting!

Debbie

First Baby Quilt

 This is my first baby quilt made for Sophia, my first great-grandbaby. She is due Oct. 12 and I hope and pray she makes a safe arrival into the world.
The front of the quilt is made with a cream colored flannel, with flannel for the tree trunk and the monkey. The butterfly and palm fronds are made from scrap fabric I had on hand. The monkey does have ears that flopped over after I washed the quilt. I think I'm going to tack them down.

 The monkey is from Simplicity pattern #2428. The tree was my own design. I cut the butterfly using my Cricut Expression using the Storybook cartridge.

 The backing fabric is Urban Zoologie by Robert Kaufman. I purchased it on Ebay from  nauvooquiltcompany. 
She was a terrific seller and I love the soft fabric.

I don't know if you can see my "leaf shape" quilting but I wanted to do something unique and I'm fairly happy with it. What I don't like if how the flannel got all nubby when I washed it. I washed it alone and it already looks old. I hope it will look okay after more washings.

I hope you like my first baby quilt. I did finally understand how to make my mitered corners. It took me to about the third corner, but it finally clicked as to what to do.
Let me know what you think of my first baby quilt.


Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Debbie

Mug rugs

This was my first attempt at making mug rugs. I took the quick way and didn't use traditional quilt binding. I used fusible fleece on the front and sewed right sides together and left an opening so I could turn it out. Then, I top stitched around outer edges and did a wonky stitch vertically and horizontally for my quilting. I cut the yellow stars on my Cricut Expression. I had to put Heat N Bond on the wrong side before I could cut them out. After fusing the star to the front piece of the mug rug, I zigzag stitched around it.
It was a quick project. They measure about 8"x10". I can't wait to make more because it was easy and fun. I even washed them to see how they would hold up. I wanted them to get "wrinkly" like an old quilt but they came out rather smooth.

I hope you like them.

Thanks again for taking the time to visit my blog.

Debbie

Coffee bean bag pillow

I'm still here....
I was afraid Blogger wasn't going to let me post something. It was giving me error messages. hum... what's up with that? Can't a lazy blogger be 'lazy'?

Look at this giant pillow. It has a 24"x24" pillow form inside. The front is an actual burlap coffee bag with the graphics on front. How cool is that? I thought it would be hard to sew but it wasn't as bad as a fuzzy shirt I made for my granddaughter one time. The back of the pillow is made from canvas. I bought a 6'x9' painter's canvas for about $10 and it's strong and I see a bunch of tote bags in its future.

The coffee bean bag was so smelly when I received it that I had to leave it outside for a week. Then I had to wash it with water and leave it outside a couple more days. That did it and it smelled like sunshine.

I had read some horror stories online about sewing the burlap but I had no trouble at all. I cut the burlap pieces with pinking shears and that was a little tough but not too bad. It really went together in less than an hour.

I like it ... how 'bout you?

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll have more projects to post in just a little bit.

Have a great day!

Debbie

Hot Apron

 

I made this apron Saturday for a dear friend. It has red with white pin dots fabric for the pockets and ties. The sides of the apron curve around to the back. I fussy cut some of the peppers out of the background fabric and appliqued them onto the pockets for a little different touch. Red bias tape goes along all the outside edges of the apron.

I used my iPhone 4 to make the picture so it's not as good as what my Canon camera could do. I just wanted to share something with you today.

Hope you like it and I so appreciate you stopping by today.

Debbie

More Blessings My Way Come

I've lived through pain and hard times in my life, but I must say I've had a very blessed life through it all.
This is just another blessing in my book. Someone was going to throw this sewing machine away because they didn't want it anymore. I was asked if I wanted it. I went to see it before making a decision and just jumped up and down when I saw it was a Pfaff. (A wonderful brand for decades.) I definitely wanted this to go home with me.
We don't own a truck so my husband has a friend with a truck and they went in the cold, misty rain last Saturday (Jan. 30, 2010) and picked it up. It was a real nasty day for weather. A wonderful day for me.
My husband goes along with anything I want, but his friend wanted to know what tha heck was I going to do with this machine. I said, "I don't know, but I'm sure there's a reason it fell in my lap." Another of our friends came over and put a new cord on it. I spent last Sunday cleaning it up, oiling, and playing with it. Bonding with it ya know....
I was able to download a copy of the original manual and it helped me find all the spots to oil. (It's a German made machine, and some of the oil spots are marked with "Oel.") Cute huh? There are about 25-30 "Oel" spots and I was careful to only use 2-3 drops like the manual said. Well... after I put everything back together, the machine just wouldn't sew very well. The manual stated not to over-oil. After spending an hour or two trying to figure out what was wrong, I gave up and went in the house. I told my husband I'd messed it up, and he reminded me if was free and not to worry about it.
Before I went to bed, I had to just check it one more time. I went over everything I did and had forgotten my new machine does everything automatically (nearly) and on this machine, you have to dis-engage the motor (turn dial) to wind a bobbin. Geeze.... I tightened that dial up and popped in some fabric. The G-Force pushed me away from the machine. Un-believable! It's so powerful and sews so fast. It does zig-zag and other stitches that I haven't played with much. It sews perfect.
I am one lucky chick-a-dee. I'll tell ya. I know God has a plan for me. I just have to figure out what it is. So I have a perfect little spot in front of the window for the machine. I'll just have to sew myself a seat-belt so I can sew without rolling away. It's too funny...but true.
I wanted to buy an industrial machine about four years ago to use in my tote-bag business. I just never found one and I had stopped making the bags after I went to work. Now...I'm getting in the mood to give that a try again. We'll see.
I'm always flip-flopping between sewing and stamping. Now that I finished the mini-quilt, I'm ready to get back to stamping for a little while. Whoo-hoo!

If you read this far... I sure do thank you for putting up with me.

Thanks for stopping by.

Debbie

Valentine's Mini-Quilt Wall Hanging

This post is for my 'blog cheerleaders", Jo and Trena. I hope you get to see this. I know...I'm a terrible blogger. I stay busy in my little "strawberry cottage" crafting away. I just don't make a lot of pictures of what I make.
I found the free pattern on the AccuQuilt Web site. I didn't have the heart dies from AccuQuilt, but I used my Cricut Expression to cut out the different sizes of hearts required. I ironed the Heat n Bond Lite (Sewable) onto my fabric before cutting. I left the backing paper on the fabric, but I think I should have removed it before cutting. I'll try that next time. There were a few little spots that I had to cut with a craft knife, but it didn't take too long.
I didn't want to buy any more red fabric to use around the outer edges of the quilt, so I just used one of the scallop stitches on my machine to stitch around the outer edges.
I also cut the square too small and had to add a 2" strip around all four edges. Geeze... I know the rule about measure twice-cut once, but no one mentioned the 'memory' part. I forgot from the time I started measuring and cutting, what size I was making. Any hoooo... I added the strips then stitched right next to the stitch line. It turned out kinda cute.
My quilting is a little crooked...I was just 'eye-balling it' and should have marked the fabric with something. I used another cool "stipple" stitch on my sewing machine for the quilting lines. Love...love my Brother SE-350. (Jo.... are you sewing up a storm on your SE-350 yet?) hum? I wanna see projects too!
I have plans to sew more thingies... not sure what they'll be just yet.
Take care my blog cheerleaders! Maybe I'll get better at blogging this year.

Leave the love here.

Thanks for being you!

Debbie