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

Reason for no blog posts

 

If you don't want to read about a kitten you may want to skip this 'wordy' post.

In the first picture you'll see Little Bella. She was a tiny 4-week-old stray kitten who took up hiding in our car motors the first of July. This is after we took to the vet for a check-up and treatments for various problems. We tried to give her to an animal shelter but they wouldn't take her due to the large volume of kittens/cats/dogs received after the April tornado's came through our area. 

She fell asleep in my hands on the way back home and my husband and I decided to keep her and we are so glad we did. It's been an exciting journey to say the least. She was so frightened of every sound and of us. I think she loved our big cat, Mr. Whiskers, and clung to him, much to his dismay.

She was pretty sick and had a reaction to one of her shots and I thought she wouldn't make it, but she did as she is tough and strong. She's not scared of us anymore and is so much fun to watch everyday.

 In the second picture you can see she has been well loved and taken care of. She's so full of energy! She has grown like a fertilized weed and has taken to tearing down wallpaper in our bedroom. Geeze... I need to repaint it any way. She finally made it into this crock and she is just about too big for it but she is a determined kitty so she succeeded.
She went from weighing less than one pound in the beginning of July and weighed about 5-1/2 pounds at the beginning of September. She has six toes on each front paw and an extra claw on the side of one back leg. The extra claw doesn't touch the ground and doesn't seem to be hooked to a muscle. The vet said just to leave it if it didn't get hooked onto anything.
The front paws are a different story. Whew! Who knew that paws that look like little baseball gloves could do so much work. She uses her paws like hands and will stand up like a monkey and pick something up she is after. Very strong feet I must say.

In the last picture you'll see the kitties taking a nap together after a bathing session. They were so cute I had to grab my camera. They play together a lot until Mr. Whiskers (the big cat) gets tired of Little Bella and shoves her away.
What's this got to do with blogging? Well.... it may sound crazy to you but I didn't want to leave Little Bella alone when I got home from work to go outside to my Strawberry Studio that's in my backyard. I felt like I needed to spend time with her so we could 'bond". She was so frightened and sick and little I just couldn't leave her. I also didn't want to take her into my studio which would have been a whole new place for her to get used to. Silly  huh? I couldn't help myself. I fell in love with this kitty and she needed a lot of love and attention.
She's used to us now and follows us everywhere we go. To the bathroom, to make the bed, to do laundry to the ice dispenser on the fridge. She even comes running when we clean out the litter box. She must approve what we do and makes sure to 'mark' her spot when we get it clean. We should have named her "Tazmo" because she has been a Tasmanian devil of the wild kind. We enjoy her though and my husband and I call the furry friends "the children" now.
Little Bella will have an extended stay at the Vet's office this week as she is getting spayed. She won't be too pleased with that I'm sure and I'm worried she will think we abandoned her. We are sending a toy and her tuna treats with her, hopefully to remind her of her home.
Okay... now you know why I stayed away from my Strawberry Studio.
If you made it this far I hope you enjoyed my little Snippet of what I've been up to.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I really appreciate the time everyone takes to visit my little lazy blog.

Have a great day!
Debbie

Conversation Blocks

I made these cute blocks a couple of months ago. I used Stampin'Up Newsprint DSP and the Broadsheet alphabet stamps. Love-love-love them so much. The wooden blocks were made by my Uncle David many years ago. I painted the blocks black and then cut the squares using my paper cutter. I used a varnish on each side after I finished adding all my stamped letters.
I started out with 14 blocks and had to figure out the words I wanted to spell out and any other holiday sayings I wanted to spell also. Then I stamped multiple letters and added the letters to different sides. That part took forever I must say.
It was an interesting project. I felt like I was creating a puzzle of sorts to try and come up with a lot of words. It's cute and I am able to spell Stampin'Up! and bzstampr to name a few.

I hope you like my block project. I think about my uncle, and the many talents he shared before he passed away, every time I look at them.

Well... it looks like we have a storm popping up. I better get off the 'ol computer and maybe read. Whoops... I hear thunder. geeze... better git!

Thanks again for taking the time to visit with me today.

Take care,
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