Have a Heart

One of the gals in one of my craft swaps added a simple request at the end of her wishlist. She wants a wall of hearts in square frames. You could make the heart artwork using whatever medium as long as the frame was square.

How could I pass up this opportunity? (Are you noticing a trend with this?? ;) )

I decided to stitch up a sampler heart using up some of my bits of embroidery floss that have been lingering in my box. The frame caused me a tiny amount of angst. I knew that I wanted to paint it but which color? Pink and red would be too cutesy, can't have that! Black could be morbid so I just went with my favorite color, green!

You are beautiful.

Who doesn't need to hear these words every day? I stitched this hoop for my shop in hopes that it will make someone else smile.

Doing What I Do...

I love doing what I do. I love to create so I decided to stitch a hoop that said just that.

I listed this in my Etsy shop this morning.

I left to run errands around 3 pm. When I came home, it had sold! My first real sale of my needlework.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Why yes, I am excited. Is it obvious? ;)

Dragon in Flight

This is my latest bit of stenciling. I have to say that this particular stencil was fiddly with lots of small parts that could have ripped easily. I just took it slow while cutting and ironing. I think my patience paid off!

For those of you who have been following my crafty stenciling, I have yet to start on my son's t-shirts. This shirt actually went over the pond to a gal in England! My son definitely liked this pattern which is what led to our possible pattern discussion on FB. I'll be making his shirt within the next week or so, definitely before my school year starts back up!

Simply Scrapbustin' - Fabric Bookmarks

I've been working on reducing my collection of fabric bits and decided that I'm going to share my creations with you!

In the Holiday swap that I've been in, there have been several requests for small, simple gifts that can be given to people in our community who make our day to day life so much easier. This was what I came up with!


Fabric Bookmarks!

Items Needed:

• bits of fabric, at least 4"x6" in size (I used a large index card as my pattern.)
• coordinating thread
• coordinating ribbon 5"-6" in length, I prefer gros grain but you can use what you have.
• fusible interfacing, I had the heavyweight on hand for this but medium weight would work as well.
• sewing machine
• pinking shears
• steam iron

Step One
Cut out your fabric piece and a piece of interfacing of the same size. Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric following the manufacturer's instructions.

** DO NOT be afraid of the interfacing! It is your friend! :)

 Step Two
Using your iron, press the piece in half lengthwise.

Step Three
Fold your length of ribbon in half. I actually prefer not to have it it perfectly folded for this project.

Step Four
Use your pinking shears to trim up one of the short ends of the fabric.

Step Five
Pin the folded ribbon between the two layers of fabric.

Step Six
Using your machine's foot as a guide, sew around the edges of the fabric. I started sewing at one of the corners opposite of the ribbon end.

**Make sure that you catch the fold of the ribbon underneath your stitching!

After stitching, your bookmark will look like this.

Step Seven
Trim around the remaining 3 sides with the pinking shears.

DONE!

These are easy to do in assembly line fashion. I can easily make 6-8 in an hour with no problem. I used the same fabric on both sides, but you could easily do 2 different ones if you wish.

Sewing Organizer/Thread Catcher

I created this for on the gals in the Holiday swap. Her mom has just recently started sewing and she wanted something to help encourage her creativity.

I actually tried my hand at edging this organizer/catcher with a complementary color which was fun. The top half of the organizer is backed with non-slip liner. The idea is that your machine will not slide or shift on your craft table while in use. The left pocket is the thread catcher and the right is for scissors. (Am I the only person who constantly misplaces her scissors while sewing? ;) ) I also had a bit of fabric left over so I made the little pin cushion to finish out the package. It looks like it's attached in this picture but it's not.

TroubleT's Jam Jar Bonnet

I've done it! All by myself, I did! I created my very first crochet pattern. GO ME!!! It's not super fancy nor difficult but I like it and I hope you do too.

First, some of you might ask "What is a Jam Jar Bonnet?". It is a decorative cover for the tops of canned goods, not necessarily just jams, that can be given away as gifts. You could change up the color of your thread for any occasion or just use your favorite color because it makes YOU happy. What makes me happy about this quick project is that it's a great use of those little balls of leftover yarn that I have lying around.

The bonnet shown in the picture above was made to meet a swapper's color preferences. I think I'm going to make some up in red or green for the Holidays for gift giving. I'll update this post with more pictures when I do.

And now, the PATTERN! (Yes, I am entirely too excited about this!!!)

You are welcome to use this pattern for personal use. You may link to this pattern but you may not post it nor sell it. COPYRIGHT 2012: TroubleT

Jam Jar Bonnet

Needle size: H or 5.00

Thread size: medium weight worsted (I used Loops & Threads Cotton Club in the one pictured.)

Finished Dimension:  fits a regular or wide mouth half pint jar or a regular mouth pint jar

Start with a magic circle

ROW  1: (worked into the magic circle) Chain 4, DC + 1 CH seven times, slip st into chain 3 of first DC (total of 16 stitches)

ROW 2: CH 3, *2 DC in next stitch, 1 DC in next stitch*, repeat * around, slip st into top of CH 3, (24)

ROW 3: CH 3, DC in next st, *2 DC in next, DC in next 2 stitches*, repeat * around, slip st into top of CH 3, (32)

ROW 4: CH 3, DC in each st around, slip st into top of CH 3 (32)

ROW 5: CH 4, skip st, *DC in next stitch, CH 1, skip st*,  repeat * around (32) , slip st into third chain of CH 4

Row 6: (edging) CH 3, *slip st into next stitch, DC in next stitch*, repeat * around, slip st into base of CH 3

Weave ends

Run a length of ribbon or raffia through the spaces left by Row 5 and tie in a bow.

Another foray into a new craft!

I've never made a fabric bucket before now. I, personally, don't have need of them but a gal in the Ongoing Holiday swap put up a request for one with an LSU theme. I decided to give it a go.

Like normal, I searched the Net for a tutorial to help me figure out the process. Well, the one I chose made me more than a bit frustrated. I had major problems with finishing the bottom of the bucket.

Therefore, I decided to go my way! I finished it like I do many of my tote bags with a "box" bottom which worked out fine. Yay for thinking on the fly!

Here's the finished bucket...

I had just a bit of the LSU fabric left over so I turned it into these little extras, coasters and bookmarks for stocking stuffers!

The bookmarks were so unbelievably easy that I'm going to write a tutorial for those this week. They became almost instant gratification!

Snug as Bug

One of my favorite things to do as a child (and even now!) was to wrap up in a warm towel or blanket the moment I came out of the shower, all warm and snuggly. It guaranteed that I would fall asleep withing seconds of hitting a pillow if given the chance. For me, this works better than a glass of warm milk any day. Now, I will only do this if I'm not feeling well and find myself in need of a bit of self-applied TLC.

One of the gals in the Ongoing Holiday swap on Craftster had a request for hooded towels for her nieces and nephews. I decided to give this project a try using the tutorial that I found on The Cottage Home.

I made a hooded towel for her nephew first specifically following the tutorial.

I found that the directions on the tutorial made the bulkiness of the hood almost too thick for my sewing machine to deal with. (Broke 4 needles in this process!) I reworked the hood on my second towel for her niece. Rather than lining the hood with the towel material, I lined it with more of the decorative fabric since it's cotton and will wick away the water just as well.

With the way that I reworked the hood, the second towel went together in easily half the time for the first.

I might have to find some bath sheets and make one of these hooded towels for myself. ;)