Burlap Wreath

My wall was bare. I took down family photos, in anticipation of putting our house on the market. I hated it. It needed something…

So I made this:

It’s not exactly the best thing to go on the wall (family  pictures are always way better…) but I like it.

It was easy to make. I had seen a few pictures like it, but figured it out myself. I didn’t even go to any other blog, or tutorial to make it.

Cut the burlap into strips. Unwind a wire hanger (make sure it’s a flimsy one, that works much easier.) Poke the burlap through the hanger, and fold it back and forth…

I glued some little dots of hot glue in between the burlap in some different spots, so that the burlap wouldn’t all fall to the bottom of the wreath.

The flower is just a rectangle of fabric (green burlap in my case.) Fold it over onto itself and do a basic stitch by hand, then pull the thread tight. Sew it closed when it’s how you like it.

I think I like it better on the door…

Breast Cancer Quilt

I never posted this! I can’t believe it! I made this quilt last year… finishing in December, for my mom! She celebrated 10 years cancer free at the end of November, and we had a Pink Party at Christmas time, to celebrate!

I found this cute quilt, and decided to go along these lines… however, it quickly got twisted, and became my own design! I was very happy with it, and Mom loved it!

I especially loved the extra flowers that I added- that I learned how to make at a Relief Society activity. For the party, I made a bunch of these, and put them on pins and hair clips for everybody to have one.

For the party, my sister used iron on paper to make t-shirts for all the boys, and my mom, and herself. (I just bought a cheap pink shirt from Wal-Mart…) She also made a movie with pictures from the past decade of my mom’s life- things she didn’t miss because she beat cancer!

Something I learned from doing the quilt- check front and back often when machine quilting! :) I made a nice big pucker! Oh well… the front is cute enough that nobody will ever see that part!

Maternity Jeans!!!

I only have 2 pairs of pants that fit me right now- for the next 7 weeks! So, I did a bit of googling and found this website:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Maternity-Jeans-Using-Regular-Jeans-an/

Why not try it out? I decided to use some jeans that have holes, that I won’t wear after baby is born anyway, because I never wore them before… I didn’t want to waste any of my good “non-pregnant” clothes.

I followed the instructions and came up with this:

I think I cut the back too short, because it feels like they’re always falling down… but when I tried the pants on they were rather tight, and I wanted to make sure I could pull them up.

I’m rather pleased with the results!

Do you like the cute goofy kid in the mirror? He wouldn’t move for the picture. Oh well…

Now I have 3 pairs of pants to last me 7 weeks… or maybe less… hopefully less. :)

Valentine’s Rag Wreath

I decided it was time to take the Christmas wreath down. Only problem: I didn’t have anything to replace it. Unless I wanted to use the pumpkin… which I didn’t!

So, I made a Valentine’s rag wreath!

It was rather easy. I took an old coat hanger, cut it, bent it like a heart and tied rags around it! My friend came over and we made one together while our kids fought played.

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. And it was tons of fun making it with a friend, as opposed to by myself!

Also, the other day, the boys and I did some painting!

They painted blocks of wood… while I painted this:

It’s an old rack thing that I got at a yard sale, or from my mom, a while ago. It hangs in the boys’ room (they share a room now…) and they put their coats and jackets on it.

I was grappling for something to do, and figured adding some color would be a fun, quick project.

And, of course, the boys’ art:

Christopher managed to cover every single inch of his block. Caleb, managed to cover his clothes and some of the table!

And, the finished product:

Next on my list of projects: sweater boots… from these:

Baby doll night gowns

It’s been a while… I’ve been busy, with other things.

I got a new sewing room for Christmas- pictures to come. Plus, the new darling curtains I’m making for the window!

My birthday is on Christmas day, so I got some new fabric to go along with my Christmas present! Christopher, who has been helping me make the curtains, keeps asking me when I’m going to use the strawberry fabric. I asked him what I could make with it- he said, “My baby needs some clothes!”

So- here goes…

Start with: One very ugly, very dirty baby doll:

And, some very cute strawberry fabric:

  Lay the baby out, and measure the body:

I cut the pattern out, sewed it together very crudely and came up with this:

It’s ok, you can laugh! I did! Really hard!

Don’t worry, I still had enough fabric to try again, for Caleb’s baby doll:

This time, I remembered to put the two ride sides of the fabric together as I cut the pattern, and I made the back piece wider than the front…

No worries, though, it turned out just as bad, if not worse!

Oh well, my boys didn’t care. See?

That’s his smiley face, I promise!!!!

Totally worth the ten minutes they took! I won’t be advertising them publicly, but if you’re interested in a crudely made, not-hemmed, way-too-tight night gown for your baby dolls… I’m your gal!

It will make for a happy child or two!

Until next time…    

Beaded watch bands

This weekend my mom decided it was time to do something I’ve been trying to do for a while. Every time I venture into a craft store I look at the beads and contemplate making a beaded watch band. I even bought a sale price watch face, but still haven’t been successful at finishing a band.

So, Monday- with hubby and Dad gone to St. George- Mom and I took the little guys and headed out to find some beads. We hit three different stores and finally found a little package of beads we were happy with (price being most important here…) at Sierra’s. We later discovered that we should’ve tried Scrappin’ Essentials because they have a large selection for very cheap. (We were in Pocatello.)

Nevertheless…. we found some cute beads. Here are my various attempts at combinating beads into a band that I liked.

I took pictures as I went, so I could choose and go back to a certain combination if I wanted. I ended up going with the last one… almost exactly.

My mom’s turned out really awesome!

My cousin Megan, who made them recently for her Mom and Mother-in-Law for Mother’s day, was there and kind of showed us how to do it. We still had to experiment with tying the string off and various parts… but it really wasn’t that hard.

I think I’ll definitely be making more! Especially if I can find more cheap faces to use as gifts!

Here’s my finished product! I had left my watch face home (since I didn’t know we would be doing this!) and was bummed because I thought the battery was dead. But when I got it out this morning and attached it, I realized it was working like a charm!