Create Your Own Material Labels

I see all of these bloggers with cute little material labels they put on the clothes, quilts, and other items they make.  What a fantastic idea!  I know some of them purchase them through online shops, but I was hoping I could find a way to do it myself at home.  Enter the magic of the internet.  I found this video tutorial created by The Crafty Gemini on youtube.  I'll provide a picture/text tutorial below, but I want to stress this is not my original idea.  I completely believe in giving people credit for their ideas.


Materials:

- freezer paper
- printer paper
- glue stick
- material
- injet printer


Directions:
1. Cut the freezer paper to the size you would like.  You can cut it bigger and print several labels on one pass through the printer.


2. The freezer paper should have a dull side, and a shiny, waxy side.  It's kind of hard to tell the difference in the picture below, but in real life it's obvious.  Glue the dull side to the printer paper.  The shiny, waxy side should be facing up.

3. Position your fabric on the freezer paper and turn it upside down on your ironing board.  

4. Have your iron on a hot setting (I used the cotton setting), and NO steam.  Run the iron over the back of the paper.  Your material will now be temporarily adhered to the freezer paper.

5. Design your label in your choice of computer program.  If I'm making several at once I like to make a variety of sizes.

6. Place your prepared freezer paper/material page in the printer and print!  It worked best for me to use the tray feed on my printer.


7. You can now peel the material off the freezer paper, cut it to size, and sew it onto your project!

Super easy, but it works!  Supposedly some printers do not set the ink in well enough and the ink come out in the wash.  I haven't had that problem with my printer.  Good luck and happy label making!

Emmitt Quilt

So some of you may remember the original post for this quilt.  I posted about it when I finished the top.  The quilt was called "Emma" at the time, because that is the name of the pattern.  As I was finishing it up I realized Emma wasn't the best name for it since it's going to find it's home with a cute little baby boy.  So now I'm calling it Emmitt.  It works.

When  I first finished this quilt top I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  I didn't know if I liked all of the yellows I put in it.  I thought the plaid sashing and borders were a little too busy.  And so on, and so on.  But now that it's done, I LOVE IT!  Again, it's going to be hard to give this one up.

I did the basic meander free-motion quilting on it.  This is only my third time doing free-motion quilting, and only the second time I did the meander pattern. (Such a kind, forgiving pattern.)  The first time I did meander was on this little quilt I made for my sweet girl.  I have to say I like my second attempt at it much better.  I still need to work on consistency with my stitch length and I'm still battling my tension, but overall I love how the quilting looks.  Keep in mind, there were a few times I had someone "helping" me push my sewing pedal, and another time this same someone was dumping water on my leg as I was quilting this. Gotta love little helping hands.

And look!  I'm starting to make my own little tags to add to things.  So much fun!  I found a super easy way to make these tags.  I'll have to take pictures next time I make some and do a little tutorial on it.  I'm sure most of you already have ways to do it, but why not share?!

Next weekend we will probably see the sweet friends this is going to.  They're little one is due mid-March so I'm ahead of the game on this one.  I hope they enjoy lots of time snuggling their little one in this quilt.  Knowing it's going to a good home makes it easier to give it up.


Happy Saturday!

Dandelion Daydream Apron

For some reason I decided I needed (okay, wanted) an apron in December.  I had some fabric from the Dandelion Daydream line that I had been obsessing over and I thought it would be perfect for an apron.  So I perused my local quilt shop (Village Dry Goods) for an apron pattern, grabbed one I thought I'd like, and went to work!

Shortly into the pattern I decided there were some things I didn't like about it so much.  darn it....

So I started to change a few things and venture out on my own.  I'm new enough to sewing that this was a scary thing to do, and while not everything was finished perfectly, it's finished.  (After doing most of it in December, then finally doing the finishing touches yesterday.  Oops!)

The main thing I changed was the back.  The back was designed to have crossing straps.  Now I know that this would be adorable, but I didn't think it would be that quick to get in and out of it.  And as my husband says, "he married the milkmaid, not the princess."  Don't worry, it's not an insult.  All he means by it is he married someone that is more interested in things being logical and functional than pretty.  Sorry, it's who I am. :) 

At the end of the photo shoot my husband said, now untie
the apron and spin!"  So what do I do?  Spin first, ask
questions later.  What goofs!

So instead of the crossing straps I did an around the neck strap with two different button positions, and a long, tie-able waist strap.  Now I throw it over my head, tie it up, and I'm good to cook.

I also added a few little gathers where the bodice meets the waist band.  I wish I would have gathered it more.  See, I like some cute things.

Totally didn't know he was getting my head in this
one.  But for blog honesty, I didn't crop it out.

I think the pintucks and contrasting pocket are my favorite parts.  I think the pintucks are especially cute with the diagonal strips.

 I'm happy to say it's a functional and cute (if I might say so) apron.

Blog Button

I'm getting official now!  I've created a blog button for myself and am working on getting it posted in the sidebar with the html code.  Feel free to grab one!

Lovely Photo Letters

After I saw Tatertots & Jello's tutorial on making a decorative ladder, I really wanted one.  So I made one!  Her tutorial is great, but as always I managed to make things more difficult than they needed to be.  So I added my lessons learned to my own post on my ladder making experience.  I used it to display Christmas cards and photos from past Christmases during the holidays.  I loved it!

But then the holidays were over.  What to put on it next?

Then I saw a guest post on Tatertots & Jello by Stacie from The Three Sweet Peas and I knew what I wanted to do.

Her tutorial was on how to make photo wall art using your printer, regular printer paper, tissue paper, a little Mod Podge, and wood letters.  Genius really!

This is what you get...

And this...

This is my favorite

And the whole thing...

So much fun!  I already love decorating with photos, and this was a great change from my everyday photos in a frame.  I think photos could look great printed like this and displayed in different ways too.  I'm playing with a few.

While doing this project I learned two tricks:

1. My printer wouldn't feed the tissue covered paper through the top feed.  I had to put it in the tray.

2. After I drilled my holes to hang my letters, some of them were hanging more skewompous than I wanted.  So rather than drilling a second hole, I used strips of magnets with sticky backs.  I just placed little pieces on the sides that were hanging too high, and ta-daa!  It balanced the letters and fixed my problem!  No one even notices.

Now on to other projects.  I couldn't sleep last night, and in my sleepless tossing and turning I started to come up with plans on how to make your own decorative shelf ladder - something like this...

Photo from hahoy.com

If I can make it work I'll post a tutorial on here.

Funny Family Moments #1

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog.  I guess technically it's my first.  :)  I'm calling it Funny Family Moments.  Between my little girl, my hubby and myself, there are plenty of funny moments around here so I thought I'd start sharing some of them.  They won't necessarily have anything to do with quilting, sewing, crocheting, furniture or any of the other topics I usually blog about, but hopefully they will give you a good laugh.

The other morning I went to change my daughter's morning diaper after getting her out of bed.  She was wearing a one piece sleeper that zips up and has the little button flap at the top.  As I was unzipping it I felt something kind of hard by her diaper.  What the... it was one of her pacis.  She had stuffed it clear down by her diaper. I know she didn't unzip herself, put it there, then zip back up because while she can unzip herself, she doesn't have the zip up part mastered yet.  THEN, as I was pulling her legs out of her pjs, another paci fell out that was by her upper leg.  

TWO PACIS STUFFED WAY DOWN THERE!  

How did she do that?!  And it couldn't have been comfortable.

What's makes this story even funnier is where she picked up this tendency to stuff things down her shirt and pjs (yes, we find pacis in her shirt on a regular basis).  

It's from my mother.  

When she's working around the house she keeps her cell phone stuffed in her bra.  My little one has seen her pull it from it's hiding place on several occasions.  So now she's taken to trying to put things down her shirt for safe keeping. 

Oh, and it doesn't stop there.  Sometimes she'll try to put things down my shirt.  Like the remote control.

Oh, my mother. :)  I'm sure this is just the first of funny things she'll be teaching my little one.

Emma Quilt Top

**Update: This quilt has now been finished!  Check it out at this post.**

Here's a quilt top for a baby quilt I've been working on.  I gave a sneak peak of the beginning of this quilt in this post.  It's another pattern from the adorable book 3 Times the Charm!  (I promise I'm not biased because of it's name.) This quilt is for a little boy so I didn't want anything to feminine and I thought this pattern fit the bill.


Some of the prints are from the Farm Yard Friends line that I ADORE!  I found some at at Craft Town Fabrics and ordered some of the prints my local shop didn't have.  I figure it's always good to have boy friendly prints on hand, right?  I wish I could find more of the green nursery rhyme print, and the grey "Crawl, Slow, Slide" print, but so far I haven't had any luck.

This top has been done for a few weeks, but I didn't have any batting to finish it.  But thanks to my hubby I was able to have a day this weekend to run errands without our little one.  It's amazing how much more I can accomplish and in less time when I'm not carting her around!


I was able to get it basted today, and even started to quilt it.  I was probably about 1/6th of the way done with the quilting when I realized something was wrong with my tension - ARGH!  Over half of what I did needs to be unpicked.  I didn't have the heart to do it right then, and my little one needed some attention so it's left to be fixed and finished another day!

My First Chair Refinish

Featured at Saturday is Crafty Day #60 @ Along for the Ride

This chair has been mentioned in my exploding eggs post.  Which was actually my first post ever.  And more recently here.  Well it's finally done!  After 2 1/2 years of sitting in my garage, bouncing back and forth between my house and my mom's, and causing a little mayhem, this chair can be marked as a completed project.

First I have to say anything I know about refinishing furniture I learned from my mom.  She showed me how to recover the seat, talked to me about pretreating the wood, and the best way to apply stain.  She's amazing.  What's even more amazing is she is self-taught in all of these things, and much of her learning happened before the wonderful world of the internet.  She's somewhat of a Jill of all trades, and she taught herself most of those trades before google searches and youtube invaded our homes.

One day I went over her house to borrow her staple gun and hear her tips on how to recover the seat.  I was excited with how simple of a process it was for this chair.  I should have known better, and realized that this feeling of ease was misplaced.  When I got back home and placed the seat on the chair I realized something.  We had recovered the wrong chair base.  The one we did was too big!  I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but look for the space between the chair and the seat.  It should be nestled in the sides, not sitting on top like that.  :)

I had to apply the polyurethane in one of my bathrooms.  The garage was too cold!

Well, I got the correct chair base recovered and set about staining the chair.  I would highly suggest pretreating the wood.  It does help!  I mixed a walnut and golden pecan stain to get the color I wanted.  I'm happy to say I love the color the wood turned out.  If you've never stained wood before, I suggest giving it a try.  It so beautiful to watch how the stain accents the wood grains as you apply it and wipe it off.  There is truly something gratifying about the process.  I was even a good girl and waiting the appropriate amount of time between coats and the polyurethane.  I'm not very patient, so this was a big accomplishment for me!

This chair will find a new home in my sewing room  I'm so excited to use it!

Cranberry Cloche

After crocheting for about a year I finally made myself a hat.  Novel idea, huh? :)  I gave a sneak peek of this one last week at this post.

Cranberry Cloche

The pattern is from the book Hooked on Crochet! Hats.  It's a simple enough pattern, mostly made of double half crochet stitches and double crochet scallops.  It was pretty quick and easy to put together, but I think it's a cute design.

I don't really like how I photograph, so you won't see many pictures of me on here.  But just this once...

Tutorial! Crocheted Long Stocking Cap

**A tutorial for a newborn version with two brim options is now up!  Check it out here!**

Crocheted Long Stocking Cap Tutorial

**If you use this pattern in a blog post or sell any hats from this pattern, please give me credit and link back to this tutorial.  Thanks!**

Hat Dimensions

Approximate Length – 36 inches

Fits head approximately 20-22 inches.

**This is the first time I have ever written a crocheting tutorial.  It has not been tested and I am sure there are mistakes.  Please just have fun with it, and feel free to notify me if you feel you’ve found a mistake.**

Pattern Notes

I used an H hook and medium weight yarn.

Chain at the beginning of each round counts as the first stitch.

The number in parenthesis is the number of stitches in that round.

Most people chain 3 when beginning a double crochet round.  I tend to have really tight double crochets so I chained 2 instead and will write the pattern as I did it.

Join each round with a slip stitch.

The length of this hat can be easily adjusted by reducing the number of rounds of a particular stitch count (especially at the beginning), or increasing the number of rounds of a particular stitch count.

Abbreviations

R – Round

ch – Chain

dc – Double Crochet

st - Stitch

dec – decrease

ss – Slip Stitch

R1: ch 5, join in first chain

R2: ch 2, dc in each chain, join (5)

R3: ch 2, dc in each st, join (5)

R4: ch 2, dc in each st, join (5)

R5: ch 2, dc in same st, dc in each st, join (6)

R6: ch 2, dc in each st, join (6)

R7: ch 2, dc in each st, join (6)

R8: ch 2, dc in each st, join (6)

R9: ch 2, dc in each st, join (6)

R10: ch 2, dc in each st, join (6)

R11: ch 2, dc in same st, dc in next st, *2 dc, dc,* repeat * section round, join (9)

R12: ch 2, dc in each st, join (9)

R13: ch 2, dc in each st, join (9)

R14: ch 2, dc in each st, join (9)

R15: ch 2, dc in each st, join (9)

R16: ch 2, dc in each st, join (9)

R17: ch 2, dc in same st, dc in next st, dc in next st, *2 dc, dc, dc* repeat * section round, join (12)

R18: ch 2, dc in each st, join (12)           

R19: ch 2, dc in each st, join (12)

R20: ch 2, dc in each st, join (12)

R21: ch 2, dc in each st, join (12)

R22: ch 2, dc in each st, join (12)

R23: ch 2, dc in same st, dc, dc, dc, *2dc, dc, dc, dc* repeat * section round, join (15)

R24: ch 2, dc in each st, join (15)

R25: ch 2, dc in each st, join (15)

R26: ch 2, dc in each st, join (15)

R27: ch 2, dc in each st, join (15)

R28: ch 2, dc in each st, join (15)

R29: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 4 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 4 st* repeat * section round, join (18)

R30: ch 2, dc in each st, join (18)

R31: ch 2, dc in each st, join (18)

R32: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 5 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 5 st* repeat * section round, join (21)

R33: ch 2, dc in each st, join (21)

R34: ch 2, dc in each st, join (21)

R35: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 6 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 6 st* repeat * section round, join (24)

R36: ch 2, dc in each st, join (24)

R37: ch 2, dc in each st, join (24)

R38: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 7 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 7 st* repeat * section round, join (27)

R39: ch 2, dc in each st, join (27)

R40: ch 2, dc in each st, join (27)

R41: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 8 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 8 st* repeat * section round, join (30)

R42: ch 2, dc in each st, join (30)

R43: ch 2, dc in each st, join (30)

R44: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 9 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 9 st* repeat * section round, join (33)

R45: ch 2, dc in each st, join (33)

R46: ch 2, dc in each st, join (33)

R47: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 10 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 10 st* repeat * section round, join (36)

R48: ch 2, dc in each st, join (36)

R49: ch 2, dc in each st, join (36)

R50: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 11 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 11 st* repeat * section round, join (39)

R51: ch 2, dc in each st, join (39)

R52: ch 2, dc in each st, join (39)

R53: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 12 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 12 st* repeat * section round, join (42)

R54: ch 2, dc in each st, join (42)

R55: ch 2, dc in each st, join (42)

R56: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 13 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 13 st* repeat * section round, join (45)

R57: ch 2, dc in each st, join (45)

R58: ch 2, dc in each st, join (45)

R59: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 14 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 14 st* repeat * section round, join (48)

R60: ch 2, dc in each st, join (48)

R61: ch 2, dc in each st, join (48)

R62: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 15 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 15 st* repeat * section round, join (51)

R63: ch 2, dc in each st, join (51)

R64: ch 2, dc in each st, join (51)

R65: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 16 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 16 st* repeat * section round, join (54)

R66: ch 2, dc in each st, join (54)

R67: ch 2, dc in each st, join (54)

R68: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 17 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 17 st* repeat * section round, join (57)

R69: ch 2, dc in each st, join (57)

R70: ch 2, dc in each st, join (57)

R71: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 18 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 18 st* repeat * section round, join (60)

R72: ch 2, dc in each st, join (60)

R73: ch 2, dc in each st, join (60)

R74: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 19 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 19 st* repeat * section round, join (63)

R75: ch 2, dc in each st, join (63)

R76: ch 2, dc in each st, join (63)

R77: ch 2, dc in same st, one dc in the next 20 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 20 st* repeat * section round, join (66)

R78: ch 2, dc in each st, join (66)

R79: ch 2, dc in each st, join (66)

R80: dc in same st, one dc in the next 21 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 21 st* repeat * section round, join (69)

R81: ch 2, dc in each st, join (69)

R82: ch 2, dc in each st, join (69)

R83: dc in same st, one dc in the next 22 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 22 st* repeat * section round, join (72)

R84: ch 2, dc in each st, join (72)

R85: ch 2, dc in each st, join (72)

R86: dc in same st, one dc in the next 23 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 23 st* repeat * section round, join (75)

R87: ch 2, dc in each st, join (75)

R88: ch 2, dc in each st, join (75)

R89: dc in same st, one dc in the next 24 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 24 st* repeat * section round, join (78)

R90: ch 2, dc in each st, join (78)

R91: ch 2, dc in each st, join (78)

R92: dc in same st, one dc in the next 25 st, *2 dc, one dc in the next 25 st* repeat * section round, join (81)

R93: ch 2, dc in each st, join (81)

R94: ch 2, dc in each st, join (81)

R95: ch 2, *dec over two stitches, dc in next 11 stitches* finish round with dc in last 13 stitches, join (75)

R96: ch 2, *dec over two stitches, dc in next 10 stitches* finish round with dc in last 12 stitches, join (69)

*R97-R102: ch 2, dc in each st, join (69)

R103: ch1, *ss in next st, ch1, ss in same st* round, join

*sometimes I will do more of the last round to make the hat longer or to complete a color pattern.

Finish off the hat by weaving in ends and with a yarn pom pom and enjoy!!

A Trifecta Weekend

It's a drill weekend (my husband's in the National Guard) which means it's mostly me and my little one for the next few days.  I've been making the best of it by working on projects!

There's been some of this...

This hats actually for me!  This is the first hat I have actually crocheted for myself.  I need to buy a little more yarn before it's done.  I'm excited though.

And this...

Quilt piecing.  I'm working on another baby quilt for a friend that is due in the Spring.  I'm ahead of the game on this one.  They're having a little boy, and it was challenging finding material that I liked for a little boy, but I'm loving what I found.  Some of it is Farm Yard Friends by Studio e.  I bought what little of the line was left at my local shop, but I might have to order more for myself.

And a little of this...

This is the infamous chair from my exploding eggs post.  I'm finally getting around to staining it!  Tomorrow I'll put the last coat of polyurethane on it.  Then all I'll have to do is cover the seat.  That's another story though.  I've already recovered the seat once, but it needs to be redone.  I'll save that story for another post.  :)

My daughter and I have also spent plenty of time playing outside and reading books.  In fact while I was staining the chair I lost her for a minute only to discover that she had climbed ALL the way to the top of our play thing (it's two stories and she's only 18 months old).  Which meant she had to climb up a ladder to get there.  Scary!  Darn little dare devil.

What a FANTASTIC way to spend the weekend.

An Addiction…A Fabric Addiction

I have an addiction.  Not to a harmful substance or a dangerous habit.  Well, I guess this addiction could wreak havoc on the bank account.  It’s an addiction to fabric.  I can’t stop buying it and accumulating it.   When I receive a JoAnns coupon in the mail it burns a hole in my pocket like a kid with $10.  It’s even worse when I get a double dose of coupons through mail AND email.  My local quilt shop, Village Dry Goods, is constantly beckoning to me.

It started innocent enough.   Nine months ago when I decided to do my first quilt I purchased the required amount of fabric.  Then here and there I would attempt other projects – a skirt for me, a reversible bag, a dress for my little one – and I would hit the fabric store again.  But slowly through the months I found myself picking up a fat quarter here, a remnant there.  They were small amounts, so it was no big deal.  But the desire to buy those small amounts grew.  I found myself buying quarter cuts of a whole line at quilt shops.  I didn’t have any particular projects in mind, I just knew that I loved the material and that I wanted to do SOMETHING with it.

About a month ago I was in my sewing room organizing my material.  I was folding it ever so nicely, putting into drawers, and arranging it by color.  As I was doing this I was praying that my husband wouldn’t come find me, but of course he did.  As he watched me fold some of the material I said, “You weren’t supposed to see this.”  “See what?”  “I think I have a problem, I keep buying material.” He looked around then said, “Don’t worry, it can’t compete with my bullets.  You don’t have a problem, yet.”  Then he smiled and left the room.

I should mention.  My husband isn’t some crazed person hiding from the government in the mountains with his weapons.  He grew up participating in recreational shooting with his dad and brothers.  He is now in the Army and still enjoys shooting.  For him a day shooting targets in the desert is like a day on the golf course to other men.  So his comment about bullets, was an affirmation that he is okay with my addiction.  He gets it.  Kind of.

I love my hubby.  And my fabric.

Amy Butler's Reversible Everyday Shopper

Earlier this year as I began to get braver about sewing I decided I wanted to make myself a church bag.  I had come to the conclusion that I needed something BIG.  Not  your everyday big, but B.I.G!  I wanted it to be able to hold toys, snacks, diapers, wipes, a changing mat, piano music (I play the piano for our kids classes at church), and crochet projects (I have some down time while playing the piano).  My friend pointed me in the direction of Amy Butler's Reversible Everyday Shopper pattern.

Amy Butler Bag

When I went fabric shopping for it I couldn't decide between two different fabric combos.  So what did I do?  I bought both.  And what does that mean?  Several yards of unused fabric were added to my stash because I didn't make two bags. :)  Oh well!  I was so new to sewing when I sewed this.  When I saw that it required interfacing I wasn't sure what to even look for in the store.  Thank heavens for helpful ladies in quilt shops!

The pattern was fairly simple, and I became so focused on it I didn't want to stop until it was finished.  Of course I had to stop every now and then since my daughter did need some diaper changes and to be fed.  She also enjoyed rolling around on the fabric as I was trying to cut it.

Here it is in all of it's glory.  Right now it is holding a changing mat, several diapers, wipes, a check book, a box of crayons, a board book, a binder full of piano music, a beanie baby bear, a magazine, a little bag full of toys, a freezer bag for a sippy cup, and much more!  And look, the contents aren't even spilling over the top. :)  I'd say it fits the bill as a BIG bag.