cozy kindle

or is it “kindle cozy”? 

my words are getting so mixed up what with all the FREEZING weather we have been having.  today it is supposed to reach 19.  that is warm considering the other day our high was 3.

don’t believe me?

take a gander at my porch:

there is NOT A THING I can do about this situation.

not a single thing.

ice melt..

pffft.  three times a day.

I have even tried a hammer and a garden hoe.  that method helped the top step and the walkway, but not the bottom guy there.  merrill already has a home improvement project lined up for when there isn’t so much snow outside. 

two words: heat cable.

we already have it on the roof, but he’s going to put it in the rain gutter and the downspout.  this is where the problem lies frozen..

yes, my porch is a death trap, but that is not what I am really here to blog about.

onto the kindle cozy!!

lynnie-lou got a kindle fire for christmas (I am dropping hints like crazy as to what someone can get my for my birthday…) and the girl LOVES it.  she is our bookworm.  we also got her a case, which is awesome, but darn pinterest!  I saw the most darling kindle/tablet/nook/iPad cozys there and I HAD to make one.

I used amy tangerine digital papers from AC digitals, printing them off on inkjet fabric sheets.  I did the same thing for the embellishments I used, adding some heat and bond to the back making it just a smidge easier sewing those babies in place. 

I took the cute little corduroy button with the silhouette that looks amazingly like lynn, and using a button cover kit, covered a button to use as a fastener.

the construction was fairly easy.

first, I assembled the front pocket piece by ironing on my embellishments, and sewing where I wanted them sewn as well.  I stenciled the “L” using fabric tempered acrylic paint.  then I cut my pieces.  I cut 4 pieces of fabric, and one of thin batting, at 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches wide (big outer pocket pieces) and 2 pieces of fabric, and one of thing batting, at 7 1/2 x 8 3/4 (smaller outer pocket). 

I matched up my fabrics into the big pocket pieces and the outer pocket piece.  (I used the yellow chevron, green and white polka dot, blue sky with clouds, and the little paper dolls on grey.)  I then sewed, with the right sides of my fabric together, and a piece of batting on the bottom, just the top edge.  I pressed the seam open, and then flipped it right side out and pressed and then top stitched along the top edge so it would look pretty.  I stacked them with the outer pocket sitting the way I want it to, but had the main big pockets right sides together.  it is easier said than done, sewing down the sides and along the bottom, I had to adjust my tension and change my needle to a denim needle.

after they were all straight stitched, I overcast stitched the edges.  I kinda love an overcast stitch.

I marked the middle inside of the back piece and the middle front of the outer pocket.

I took a 2 and a half inch piece of elastic, looped it, and attached it to the inside of the back piece, letting the loop stick above the top of the piece.

I sewed a good few stitches to attach the button to the outside of the front pocket.

lynn loves it, and well, so do i!

if you love these patterns and embellishments as much as I do, click on the pictures to take you to the AC digitals store.

my sewing solution.

I love to sew.

I love to sew fun stuff for my girls.

I like to surprise them, sometimes.

it helps to know measurements in order to keep certain projects a surprise.

it helps if one doesn’t lose those important measurements, so as not to spoil the surprise.

I thought I was a genius (!!!) to write down the girls measurements, updating from time to time, on a little post-it note pad that was supposed to stay near my sewing stuff.

not so.

there is a pile of post-its somewhere, that have measurements of my three girls jotted on them. 

somewhere.

but nowhere I can locate them.

so my solution:

make a cute book, sewing themed, to keep track of these and measurements that are surely to come, because despite my pleadings, threatenings, and crying, these kids are still growing.

enter cosmo cricket:

for this here little book, I used:

- 1 small black & white composition notebook (3 3/4 x 4 3/4 )

- papers from cosmo cricket “material girl”

- elements from cosmo cricket “material girl – candy, candy” and cosmo cricket “material girl – elements”

- paper for the spine from cosmo cricket “togetherness”

- glue

- a paper trimmer and score-er

- plain white cardstock

- bits of ribbon

- staples

- rub-ons

- corner rounder

 

first, I started by designing the way I wanted the front cover of my little book to look in photoshop, and printed it off on presentation paper.

I cut it to the size of my notebook, rounded the corners, and scored it to fit nicely over the binding.

I used my tombow mono glue, and glued the paper only to the patterned part of the black and white cover of the notebook.  leave the spine glueless. 

I distressed it with an emery board, cause I roll that way..

then I cut and scored a smaller piece of coordinating paper to help reinforce the spine, and to look cute too.

I used the white cardstock to reinforce my separator pages.  I cut them down, and rounded the corners, and glued them with the tombow as well.  (I divided my pages into three somewhat equal sections so there would be plenty of room for updates.  again, that growing factor..)

I took bits of ribbon, in my girls colors (because we have a color-coded system to life at our house..  trust me, it works.), folded them in half so each side of the ribbon straddles the page (so to speak) and stapled it to the page.

then I added rub-on letters for each of their names…

and then, I got to peyton and had a little bit of a problem..

merrill almost got himself punched in the throat for trying to give a suggestion and purposefully spelling her name “p-A-y-t-o-n”.

it is a long-standing disagreement between he an i.

he threatened to spell her name in her blessing, so it would be stuck with the A.

punk.

but I digress.

I love the way the book turned out.  hopefully I won’t be losing anyone’s measurements soon so the surprises can start to flow in their fabric-y abundance.

fun fact:

while measuring the girls, I discovered that lynn and ash have the same waist measurement, and that the distance from peyton’s waist to her ankle is the same distance from lynn’s waist to her knee.

*just a side note, as I wrote down my first entry for measurements on each girl, I wrote the season and the year at the top of the page, just to help me keep straight which is most current.**

In the genes.

Quilting, the love of it, the ability to do it, is in my genes..  I am sure.

I grew up helping and watching (mostly) my mom and grandma, my great aunts even, while they quilted.  Laying underneath the quilt on the frames, watching how fast they would work, learning how to roll it, and get a good, tight roll.  From that point on, I have loved doing it. 

I made my first quilt when I was twelve years old.  I used a pile of scraps that my grandma gave me.  They consisted of everything from polyester knits to 100% cottons.  Quite the mix for a pieced quilt.

I pieced it together using a re-furbished old Singer that had issues with it’s tension.  I didn’t use it much after, out of frustration mostly.  I think it’s still in my parents crawl space, but I really want to conquer it.  Like, bad.

I bound my funky little pieced quilt by hand as I sat with my grandma, and as my mom and brothers shoveled snow off of her roof.  It was an exciting winter.  I am sure, if I tried, I could find that picture..

If I really wanted to, I could dig in my cedar chest, waaay down to the bottom and un-earth that first little quilt of mine.  Then you could see just how far I have come.

I have made many quilt since then.  I like to think of it as our storage of warmth in case we lose power for an extended period of time.  I have no blanket shortage here.

Here’s the latest:

   

I have to admit, I have had this material for more than two years.  I bought it when I heard that my sister-in-law was having a girl.  I saw it, and fell in love with it, thought it would make a darling quilt for a baby girl.  Then, she posted her nursery on her blog, and there was the same fabric.  Needless to say, since she is also an amazing quilter, I gave up on that.  So it has sat.  Then I decided to do something about it and just do it!

(Maybe if I have another baby girl..  someday.)

(Or maybe I will just hold on to it for a grandbaby..)

(Do you know my husband?)

I got really giddy about making my own bias tape.  Grandma left behind her own little pattern for making the fun stuff, but I also found helps on the internet.  There are great resources out there.  My favorite one for pictorial help is here and the technical one is here.

(I am not so proficient in math, but that technical one is awesome, I found the most help there.)

It was fun making it.  I am not going to lie, I got a bit geeked-out about it.  But it matches my quilt perfectly and I love it!

I already have another one in the works, ready and waiting..  if the weather stays the way it has, slightly warm, rainy, snowy, warmer, windy, snowy..  it will be perfect weather to be snuggled-up inside working on another one. 

New developments.

Just trying to come up with a super-exciting post title, and I have nothing, really.

But I have been doing some fun stuff these past few days!

You have no idea how exciting it is for me to be playing with paper and my sewing machine again..  I’ve been in the mood to sew and I have been buying up fabric when it so strikes my fancy.

I even bought some traditional scrapbooking supplies today!

(Gasp!!)

No store in town (or on the far-lying outskirts) had what I wanted, so I had to order it, which means I have to wait to get it.

(Blah.)

Anyway, it will eventually be fun.

So on to some of the latest..

I had one of my famous blonde moments the other day.

I had a cute birthday gift all wrapped up cute like (to match the inside of the box, obviously) ready to give to my friend, and last minute, realized I had no card!!

So I got over the stupidity, got giddy, and had too much fun making a card.

I am however, kicking myself in the bum, repeatedly, for not taking a picture of her gift.  I was quite pleased with how it turned out..

(Kick, kick, kick.)

Then there’s my three “Whos”.

Today was Dr. Suess’ birthday at the girls school.  Lynn’s class was having a read-a-thon in honor of the occasion.  They could bring treats, books, pillows, and blankets to school.  They were also encouraged to wear their pajamas.

So this crazy mom went to a local quilt shop, where I saw Michael Kaufman fabrics in Dr. Suess themes, to buy some up, and make some pajama pants for all three of my girls.

I spaced the shirts, which were brainstormed and visioned to be darling and witty.  But at 1:18 am, with no plain white tees…

I let that go.  That’s right, I said it..  my perfectionist self, let that go.

This weekend, spending most of it with a three year old in my lap who felt lousy most of the time, I decided to occupy my hands and make some rolled fabric rosettes.

 

They really aren’t that hard, and these will match all of that delicious fabric that I made Peyton’s birthday skirt with.

(More to come on that fabric.  I bought more!!  No, I never ran out, really, but I love it so..  I dream about it.)

And then there’s today.

My dear mom, brought me some of my most favorite treats…

(And this pic isn’t necessarily here to brag to you, rub it in your face, if you will, just how awesome my mommy is, it was just that the light was so delicious in my craft room..)

Entirely too much fun is being had around here.

I have a banner in the works, not to mention all of my classes.

(Speaking of which, I’m really behind!)

But I guess that just means there will be more great stuff in store to share.

American Girl Doll PJs.

It’s been a while, like nearly a year, since I said I would post the pattern to the doll PJs.  Better late than never, right? ;)
For this project you will need:
- fabric, 13 1/2 x 24 inches
- elastic, 11 1/2 inches(I like to use 1/4 inch baby elastic).
- thread, scissors, straight pins, sewing machine, iron, all that good stuff.
- and the pattern (download here).
To start, you’ll first need to download the pattern, extract the files, and print them out.
 
You should have two pages, one labeled “top” and one labeled “bottom”.  You’ll want to overlap these by one inch (there is a noticeable gap on the top piece where you can match the lines on the pattern up).  Tape them across the seams on both front and back sides of the papers.  Cut this out.
Next, fold your fabric.  Lay it out, pretty side down, so your fabric is long, not wide.  Fold it in half, and then fold it in half again.
You should end up with a fold like this:

Next, lay your pattern on your fabric, making sure that the fold on your pattern is also on the fold of your fabric.

Cut this out. 
I used a rotary cutter, it helped to use my straight edge guide for the sides and the top slant.  If you are using scissors, you’ll want to pin this pattern to your fabric.
You should end up with two pieces like this:

The next thing you’ll want to do is to overcast stitch, or serge, the edges of the top and bottom (narrowest parts on the fabric).  It isn’t a “must” but makes for a prettier edge (that is how my grandma taught my mom and how my mom taught me..  one of the first places she would look on any finished project, were the insides to see if the work was neat).  It also helps so your fabric won’t fray and unravel after many wearings and washings.
An “overcast stitch” is when you zig-zag stitch right on the edge of you fabric, casting the stitch over the edge, just a little, and by doing that, it folds and tucks the very edge of the raw edge underneath itself.  I looked in my machine’s user manual and found the settings I needed to be able to do this.
If you have chosen to do this, the next step is simple: fold over the bottom edge 1/2 inch (this is the cuff of the pant leg), press it, pin it and straight stitch it 1/4 inch in.

(This is much easier to do right now, before the two sides are joined.)
Next, put both pieces, pretty sides together, and pin just the top sides.

Now we’ll straight stitch first, from the top corner to the little point near the middle.
(This is the straight edge, not the curved one.)
After you’ve straight stitched both sides, over cast stitch if desired.
After you’ve done that, you need to lay them out, opened, so the seam that you just stitched is facing you.  Join the two seams in the middle, and start pinning there.  Pin down each leg.
  
Sew from the bottom of one leg to the crotch and stop.  Do the same thing to the other side.  This ensures that your seams line up in the middle.  I like to overcast stitch the edges after this too.
Don’t they look like pants now? :)
We are almost done! 
Fold down the top of your pants, 1 inch.  Press and pin.  You’ll straight stitch this 3/4 of an inch from your folded edge.  Make sure to leave a gap open.  This is the casing for your elastic for the waist.

Since we already overcast stitched (or serged) that edge in the beginning, you shouldn’t have any  raw, feathery edges bugging you right now.  Feed your elastic through (I like to put a safety pin in one end of my elastic, and feed that through the casing, a good friend taught me that trick).  Pin your ends together and sew them with a few stitches.  Stretch out the waistband, and straight stitch your casing shut.
Turn them right-side out, and you did it!

Isn’t your doll so happy?

Your little girl will be too. ;)

Costuming.

(Is that even a word?  Well, it is now!)

This year for Halloween, I had two little girls who wanted to be something that was going to stretch the creativity that lives in this house.

Peyton said over and over that she wanted to be “Bo”.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about.  At first, I thought she was saying, “Boo” because she had been watching Monsters Inc., but that wasn’t it.

It wasn’t until I put Toy Story 2 on for the bazillionth time that it clicked.

She wanted to be “Bo-Peep”.  In the movie, Woody calls her “Bo”.

I based my sketch of this off of pics of her online, but couldn’t find the exact anything as far as material went.

 

I made everything totally on my own.

If I had to do it all over again, I would most definitely find a pattern.

(That and a more cooperative model.)

I even made her staff.

(It was impossible to find one of those, let alone a blue one.)

I made her bloomers out of blue flannel (can you say warm?) and also lined the top with it.

She loved it, and she did look cute!

Lynn was having trouble with deciding on something fun to be.  I showed her a book that my mom gave me, one that I used to look through when I was little, dreaming of the day I would be a mom, and she fell in love with the jar of jelly beans.

I knew that if I were going to make this, it was gonna have to be good.  It would also have to be reusable.  So I started off with a sketch.  I was pretty happy with just the sketch!

And here’s the finished product.

The details are my favorite part!

 

I created labels in Photoshop using Crystal Wilkerson’s Playful Font, and editing that just a bit (I had to erase the centers of the letters “a” and “e”).  I also used her Artisan label templates No. 1 and lobster font on the “Pitcher Brand” label.  I mirrored them, printed them out on iron-on transfer paper, and ironed that onto my fabric.  The “a fat free treat” got cut down into a circle and put through the Xyron and stuck to the vinyl “package”.

 

I even created a “Nutrition Facts” label, and ingredient list in Photoshop for the back.

  

For the “jelly beans” letters, I used the same font, “Playful”, and didn’t mirror it, printed it out, ironed it on the wrong side of my fabric, peeled off the backing, then ironed on my heat and bond.  I peeled off the paper backing from that, and then cut out my letters and ironed them on.

 

We spent one evening, watching scary movies and blowing up a bunch of water balloons. 

(Okay, Merrill inflated, I mostly tied.)

It was all worth it!  A fun, unique costume that we can use over and over again!

(She just wished the kids at school hadn’t chased her and popped her “jellybeans”.)

For the birds.

 

I made a bird shirt for my friend Emily to wear while running the St. George marathon (good luck Em!!) and loved it so much, I had to make one for Peyton too…

Wanting to make more for the other girlies!

Sew easy!

I know..  been said before, but hey, I am not trying to coin the phrase, just re-cycling it.

It just is too easy..  and too cute.

I found this tutorial a while ago and had to make it.  (I will be making more.)  I just needed to find some time.

The only thing harder than sewing this darling reversible summer top was getting the model to, well, model.

While I bribed (and threatened I must admit), our dinner of hot dogs on the grill, cooked to a very inedible state. 

(Thank heavens that hot dogs come in a never-ending supply.)

But the top sure is cute!

(And the hot dogs were a good enough sacrifice for the cute pics I did manage to get..)