Frayed Edge Rag Throw Quilt Tutorial

Some months ago I found some blue, purple and teal fabric that just floored me. It was perfect. I snagged up half a yard with the idea that I wanted to make a rag quilt with similar fabric. I had little swatches of everything I had in my purse and when I went to a new place I'd add to the quilt stash.

Now as it turned out, not all of them worked out together. That is a disappointing aspect of carrying little swatches when your patterns are mostly huge florals but that's okay. Fabric always gets used around here. I decided that this would be a good project to test out my new Brother sewing machine. 

My Mimmie (grandmother) was a seamstress and managed a dry cleaners for most of her life. She knows sewing and she knows machines. My Singer started acting up and she would have me do this or that while she listened OVER THE PHONE. (she is crazy talented) Turns out that my machine went off time and it was going to cost $90 to have it looked at, or I could buy a new tricked out Brother for $130. Now I have 90 stitches I can use, yeah! Even though I've only used 2, yeah!

Now, I've never machine quilted before and so my quilt is less than perfect. Plus my Mimmie sort of explained what all I'd need to do and showed me some of it at my parents' house. But when I called her to aska question she informed me that she doesn't know what I'm talking about and that she can't tell me how to make something she's never even heard of. Great. But it worked out in the end as imperfect as it may be.

Click to read more ...

Yo Yo Wassup? Learn to Make Yo Yos at Mom Spark!

Do you love little projects you can toss in a little bag and carry around for you? Seems I find myself sitting in an awful lot of waiting rooms, sitting with my phone on speaker and doing my best to participate (code for not get so distracted I forget about the phone and walk off) in conference calls, and then sit on the phone while Mimmie chews the fat about the topic of the day.

In these times I desperately need something to keep my hands busy. It's not that I don't love speaking to Mimmie, in fact her calls tend to be quite entertaining, it's just that darn attention span I rock, seems the tank is always on little to none. So I love having a project of granny squares or yoyos to work on whenever the mood or need arises.

This is actually a project I started way back in the 90s when I was in highschool. Now that I'm in my 30s and the pieces recently came to surface, I dusted the freezer bags I found them in off and made a DIY that's hanging out over at Mom Spark. Check it out! 

And just because I want to share with you what I've been going through the past week, I'd like you to check out the song that has been stuck in my head for at least 7 days. Bunny and Tigre circa 1988 are some catchie chickies... Enjoy and Happy Hump Day people!

---

Hugs and Kisses Garland - XOXO!

It would seem for every holiday I have a favorite saying to accompany the times. For me and Valentine's Day it is, without a doubt, XOXO. It's short, sweet and cute which I think is absolutely perfect. 

This garland will soon be used to adorn my mantle. But seeing as how it is currently the only lovey dovey decor, I'll leave a reveal until a bit more has been accomplished!

So yesterday, you may have seen my How to Cut Perfect Felt tutorial. If you didn't you may want to check it out before proceeding. Ready to move on? Cool, let's hit it...

Click to read more ...

Sequin Pocket Top Tutorial

***Somehow this post disappeared on me. The tutorial is a rewrite.

Wanna put a little bling on that thing? Of course you do! Turn a plain ol' sweatshirt into something fabulous with this sequin pocket top tutorial !

Click to read more ...

Word to Your Pillow Tutorial

One of the things that I often get teased about is whenever anybody says simply "Word" or ends a sentence with "word" I have to add "...to your mother". What makes it worse than just an obviously dorky thing to say is that i have been informed that my voice while saying it is the wasp-iest voice ever. In fact, it absolutely irritates Russell, but while at first I had said it to give him a hard time, now it is a compulsion. I. Cannot. Help. Myself. Word to your mother.

Wanting a pillow in a chichi shop but not wanting to pay $50 for it I decided to make my own. Now, unfortunately I lost quite a few pictures from point A to point B so I'll pictorial this business as best I can. 

While it is not also included in this post, the red chair that my homemade chichi-ness sits on actually started out life as a plain old oak kitchen chair. Left behind by a neighbor that kind of pulled a move in the night thing, I watched this chair sit in their front yard for weeks. There was also a nice outdoor bench that I watched a neighbor walk off with which steeled my nerves. Finally, under the cover of darkness I convinced someone, who will remain anonymous, to snatch it for me.

Click to read more ...

Distressed Gingerbread Man Cat Toys

I love, love, love the whole gingerbread with a bite missing thing (which is why I made a Christmas stocking with the theme). It's funny because they always looks surprised and I, like the rest of the females in my line, think that pain (when occurring to someone else) is hysterical.

Here is an example: My sister falls out of Momma's Bronco when we are kids. But she doesn't just fall... she gets wrapped up in the seatbelt at the same time and is lying on the driveway. She's all sorts of tangled in a seatbelt that appears to be 100 feet long. My mother and I laugh our faces off. Then we all proceed to the emergency room where my sister was fitted with a cast for a broken arm. 

Click to read more ...