Rag-Rug

So I'm sure you were all eagerly waiting to see what I was going to create with those balls of fabric.  :)  Well wait no more!  I made, as the title says, a rag-rug.  Let me explain for a moment why I decided on this particular project.....

My husband is a history buff.  He has always loved history and I think if he could find a profession that he would like to do with history he would have gotten a degree in it and spent his life in a history career.  Because of this love of history we have ventured out to most of the historical buildings in our area.  While on these tours I have noticed all the old time building have rag-rugs and the tour guide talks about how resourceful they were.  Nothing was ever throw out it was always remade and reused.  After clothing was no longer wearable it was made into either quits or rag-rags. 

My first thought when hearing this is 'how lazy I am and how my ancestors would be ashamed of me'!  I don't feel like a wasteful person but its so easy to just throw things out once they have a hole in it and go get new. My first thought isn't always 'what else could I use this fabric for.' Though I'm trying hard to change that, I have to be realistic I live in a home that's barely over 1000 sq ft and unless I want to be on that show called Hoarders, I just don't have the room to save ever scrap!

So a while back I decided why not I try and make a rag-rug.  It doesn't look that hard. Right? Well I have to be honest here... This has been a project from HELL!!  Every possible thing that could go wrong has gone wrong. I had to pick it apart and start over at least twice, I broke 3 sewing machine needles (still have no idea why that happened).  After finishing plan C and still having it come out off I decided that I can no longer work on it and need a major break from it, possible for forever!   Here is what it looks like now: 

Honestly, I don't think it looks to terrible as it is now. But my rows that started out perfectly straight, ended up curvy and so it just looks off a bit.  In case you want to know, this is what I did.  I bought a couple big sheets at a thrift store, cost me 2 dollars.  This project would be great if you already have old sheets lying around but I currently don't and I didn't see the point in spending 10 plus dollars per sheet just to rip them up. 

Once the sheets were washed I would cut off the hem that is at the top and bottom of sheets.  I didn't do this and it drove me crazy the rest of the project (it adds too much bulk). Then you can rip the sheet up in one long strip if you do it right.  All you have to do is cut a slit about one to two inches from the side then rip all the way down to the bottom stopping about one to two inches to the end then rip all along the bottom of the sheet your same desired width as before once again stopping one to two inches from end then rip up the sheet again. So you're just ripping around and around the sheet in one continuous strip. Doing this over and over till you make it to the center of the sheet and it is all ripped in a long strip. 

 I hope that makes sense. That is a HUGE time saver.  If you don't do it in one long strip then you have to attach each individual strip together either by sewing or making a little knot.  I of course choose the later route and spent a ton of extra time combining all the strips together. Please learn from my mistakes and do not do it that way!!

Now roll your strips into at least 3 balls of fabric.  If the balls are too large and unmanageable you could make 6 or 9 smaller ones.  After that I started braiding.  I anchored my ends under one of the legs of a chair and made the braids as long as was manageable. After I had a lot of fabric braided together I started sewing them together by using my sewing machine and using the zigzag stitch. I sewed until I had the length and width that I wanted. Then as I mentioned before it came out a little curvy and by that time I was so tired of working on it that I was not about to pick it apart again!  So I got my cutting board out and cut across the top and bottom to straighten it and also cut along one of the sides to make it straight as well. I might later add a binding around it or just at the top and bottom. We will have to see after I've had a little break from it.

This picture is to show you my braids sewn together using the zigzag stitch.

I initially made it with my daughters room in mind, but I like that I made it in a neutral color that it could go in any room of the house.  Which is kind of funny because I was going to look for sheets that had color or patterns on them but only found white and cream and was to impatient to wait to find colorful sheets. It all worked out in the end though. :) 

And there you have it.  You are probably smarter than I am and would be able to get this project down quick and easy but I struggled with this one.  Even though it was such a pain I do like the look of rag-rugs and maybe if I thought about it more I could come up with an easy route....I'll letcha know if I do.

Ciao for now,

Chelsea

Sneak Peak

Well it's looking like I'm not going to get this done for today, like I had hoped.  I'm working on a project that I've had in mind for a long time now so I'm excited to finally give it a try.  It is taking a little longer than I expected. I took the long route to getting this project done, but don't worry I've learned from my mistakes and will show you the express way. 

So I'll just give you a little sneak peak for now.

HA ha ...I know you are just impatiently waiting to see what I'm going to create with these balls of fabric. Aren't you? (j/k) If turns out as cute as it does in my head it will be worth the wait.  And if it doesn't....I'll frantically come up with something else :)

Happy Weekend!!

Knitting!

OK so this year I made a resolution to learn new things.  One of those things was to learn how to knit. 

Unfortunately, my first thought when I think of knitting is of an little old lady sitting in a rocking chair knitting hot pads.  Sorry that maybe sounds terrible, but I just felt like it was an old womens hobby.  UNTIL, I kept seeing all of these extremely cute things people have knitted.  Here's a few things that inspired me to learn and trust me this is only a very very small sample:

(next few pictures found from pinterest.com)

I think the picture of the baby hat would have been enough to convince me.  I have seen dozens of super cute hats for either newborns or kids of all ages.  Then you throw in all the cute projects that can be made for your home (which I didnt show in the pictures above)! Seriously, it a no brainer.  I have to learn how to knit!

So I got online to find tutorials on how to knit.  I watched a few youtube videos that I felt were not that helpful. Then found a few different websites that still left me confused and overwhelmed.  Then I remembered one of the craft blogs that I follow had a series on knitting a long time ago and was able to find it.  This tutorial was the winner! Easy to follow, clear instructions, amazing pictures to illistrate directions.  Left me feeling like knitting was a do able thing to learn.  This blog is called Make it Love it.  Here is a link to her knitting series: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/03/learn-to-knit-mini-series-with-rebecca.html If you have ever wanted to learn how to knit check this out and learn with me!



I have learned the knit stitch and am practicing the pearl stitch.  The very top picture and this picture below is of what I have made so far.  Please ignore the hideous orange one.  I only intended to practice with the orange and not actually make anything but with that tutorial it has you make wash rags using the different stitches so you have lots of practice and and can get it down.

I know my stitches aren't perfect but I on my way to learning how to make some fun things for my family!

I'm so excited! Happy Knitting!

P.s I am working on a craft that I'd like to share with you hopefully in a few days.  If it turns out as cute as what I'm envisioning it will be worth checking back to see :)

Spring Table Runner

I'm still not ready to take down my Valentines decor, maybe after this weekend. I have really enjoyed having it up though and will be sad to put it away.

However, now that we are all focused on Spring I wanted to share this table runner I made.  I needed something to replace my snowflake table runner and bring some color to my living room.

I was lucky enough a few months ago to have access to my Grandma's big stash of fabric and came home with this awesome blueish, green, retro fabric.   I loved not only the color but the feel of the fabric gave it some texture.  Isn't it awesome?!  Oh and the white fabric is from a curtain that I ended up altering and was left with a bunch left over.  I knew it would eventually come in handy.  I also made the Be Mine pillow out of it.  I love when I can reuse the things I have around my house. Makes me happy. 

Once again I, for now, didn't want anything to overly complex. Just simple squares.  What can I say I'm just a simple gal :)   I cut my square about 6 in x 6 in. and honestly if I had it to do over I would have made them bigger maybe 9 in x 9 in.  but I liked it enough to just leave it the way it was.  I'd suggest measuring the table or space you want it to cover and decide how big you want your squares from there.

Slapped on a back and stitched around the edge to finish.  Once again, I really like projects that come together quick and easy and this was just how this turned out.



Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Have a Sublime weekend!

Learning to teach

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day!  I had a great day with my family.  My husband was sweet and did little acts of kindness for me through out the day. Though, I have to say he does this on a regular basis and not just for holidays and special occasions.  I married a wonderful man :)

By the way, I had to mention that I need to complain about not getting any rain more often.  So far we have received two days of rain and today is looking promising for more.  I love it! We need the rain here so bad, everything has been so dry. Also, I planted (for the first time) some bulbs in the fall and they are all starting to come up now.  It's very exciting!

So my daughter, for a while now, has been asking me to let her sew something. For whatever reason I would tell her "yes, but that we would do it later".  I kept putting her off.  Until I realized I was being completely ridiculous! Why would I keep putting her off?  I have always thought how fun it would be to have my kids old enough that I could do little projects with them or teach them to sew.  Granted I do not feel the most qualified for this job.  I LOVE to learn new things and make things for my kids or home but I still feel like I'm learning and do not have all the answers or correct techniques. 

So finally one day I told her, "yes and lets do it right now"! I asked her what it was she wanted to make.  She said a bag to put her Polly pocket clothes in. Then I had her go through my fabric and pick out what she wanted for the bag. And we started sewing. I tried to explain and talk her through each step.  But I quickly discovered a problem!

Okay okay I've known it's been a problem for a long time but I've been in denial. 

 I can not just let her go and do it all by herself!  I'm so controlling of everything! It's terrible.  I'm constantly telling myself that it's ridiculous to be this way.  Honestly, I really don't care if she has each stitch straight and perfect.  That this is how she is going to learn by trial and error.  Yet every time I could see that her stitch was veering off in no mans land I had to stick my hand in and guide her back.  

Grrr it's annoying not only to me but I'm sure to her too.  Does anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions?

Anyways,  That is my goal this year to take a chill pill and allow my kids to experiment and learn by doing and messing up and having to start over.  Or by falling in love with there finished project (perfect or not) because they did it all by themselves. 

With all that said I do think she had fun sewing her bag and I had fun doing it with her.  I think I just need to do things like this with her more then I will learn to stand back and wait for her to come to me with questions.

I can't believe how big my sweet girl is getting! 

Happy sewing!

P.s I do have a project to share so I will have that up tomorrow.

Be Mine

Okay, last Valentines project for the year. 

I have always been a sucker for applique.  I'm not quite sure why, but I feel like I'm cheating somehow.  Instead of sewing little pieces of fabric together (which I may or may not have the talent or patience for) all I have to do is get the iron and a pair of scissors. Maybe someday I tackle piecing but for now I'm very content with applique. 

For the letters I just used a pattern book that I've had for a long time that has the letters ready to trace for applique.  But if you don't have one and would like to do it too.  All you'd need to do is open a word document find the right font and size, probably bold it to make it wide enough.  Then print. 

 Only thing to remember for applique is when you are tracing the letters onto your heat bond paper it has to be backwards.  That way when you iron it on to the fabric and cut it out it will be facing the correct way.  So all you'd need to do is turn paper (with your printed letters) front side down then trace onto heat bond paper.  I was going to check and see if there was a way in word document to print them backwards.  Sorry I haven't gotten there yet so still not sure? 

After you iron on letters to fabric.  Either using your sewing machine or by hand, sew the blanket stitch around letters.  I have done it by hand and by sewing machine and even though the machine is faster sometimes i like the way hand sewn looks better.

Hopefully you can see my hand sewn stitches in the picture on the left.  Also, just in case you've never used this stitch on your sewing machine, it is #13 on mine. So you know what it looks like, in picture on right.

Even though I didn't make it weather proof I thought it looked cute with my heart pillow.  So either I'll be bringing my heart pillow in or I'll just keep my eye on the sky for storms but like I mentioned in the last post we very rarely get rain around here.

Enjoy!

Heart Pillow

Hello!  Hope everyone is having a good day so far!  I'm amazed with myself for getting this post up before noon, so I can tell its gonna be a good one for me :)

Anyways,  I hope its not getting too redundant but I thought of yet another stencil project.  I honestly started out with only one stencil project but then more and more seem to pop in my head. So I figure why not, I might as well make them. 

I wanted to make a valentines pillow for my bench I have by my front door.  I had some left over burlap from the valentines garland, and figured burlap would be a great fabric to use for outdoors. 

It was a quick project, easily finished in one afternoon(just the way I like it).  Just like the other stencil projects I've talked about I cut out a big heart using freezer paper. Ironed it on the burlap, dabbed pink paint on and let dry for a few minutes. Then I cut out the arrow and ironed on, then dabbed white paint.  Let dry.  Then putting right sides together sew all the way around the edges, leaving a gap big enough for your hand to get through.  Since its burlap I had to use a pretty big seem allowance probably around 1/2 inch to an inch.  

After that turn inside out.  Then this is my favorite part.  I stuffed the pillow using grocery bags.  If you're anything like me you have a million grocery bags under your sink.  I always have good intentions of recycling them but always seem to forget to take them with me when I go out.  So they pile up and drive me nuts!!Plus, since this is supposed to be an outdoor pillow I didn't want to have to worry about it getting wet. Not that it ever rains in my neck of the woods...but still!

Here is one more picture of it close up.  I think it turned out pretty cute. 



If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! 

Happy Wednesday!

Cookies and Milk Baby Shower

 Over the weekend I got to throw a good friend her first ever baby shower! Soo fun...and maybe a little stressful.  Sorry family for the short temper any maybe slight neglect.  But hey I think it turned out pretty dang cute! We went with a cookies and milk theme. Although this wasn't made quite on a dime, it sure was sublime!

 I found the labels and banner from a party kit on etsy. LOVE her!! I need to check if i can put her on here but lets just say go to etsy and search milk and cookies party and you can't miss her. Very talented girl!  My friend and I baked away for a day to make the scrumptious cookies. Well, except the oreos of course.

 I also found these fabulous straws on etsy. Although not the cheapest way to go, I can't say they were too bad. 7.50 for 40 straws and it came with a pdf file of every event for a straw flag you could ever need. The glasses are Starbucks frappuccino bottles. Costco sells flats of these, at least mine does in the good ol' STG. I suggest trying there before buying each one individually.

 Lovely milk jug borrowed from my step.mom. Throwing a fabulous party on a dime must always include checking your sources, or as my MIL says, your personal Wal-mart.

 I pretty much was a label junkie. Aren't they so cute though!!

I loved this sign!! I put it on the mirror behind the cookies.  I must say, I LOVE Steamroller Copies. I won't name names, but the first place I went to for invites was majorly overpriced. I was pleasantly surprised what it cost to get prints done at Steamroller. Give me a fair price and I am a life long fan.

 And on to the games. We decorated onesies. I had fabric, iron on material, iron on patches, and stencils for the girls to have fun and use their creativity with.  I think everyone did a great job. The T Rex won. I will show the prizes further down.

 Another borrowed awesome addition to the party. Milk buckets to put fabric and tools used for onesie decorating. I also had a celebrity baby name game.

 And of course the banner. What is a party without a banner?

 Roberts craft store sure will be missed but they went out at just the right time for me. I was able to pick the C (initial of baby's last name) picture for a lovely 50 cents instead of the original 5.
In the middle is the prize I had for the Diaper Raffle winner. Yes diaper raffle.  I bought a candle warmer (best known as a Scentsy these days) and a yummy brick of Orange Vanilla from Tai Pan and raffled it off. How this works is for every big box someone brought they got 3 tickets, large pack was 2 tickets and 1 small pack was 1 ticket.  It really encouraged people to bring more diapers and added some fun too.

 The take home treat bags filled with cookies of course!

 This was a prize given for the celebrity baby name game winner. I absolutely love target and their dollar section. I got the box, notepad, and cards all for a lovely $3! My friend donated the VS lotion.  Again, when on a budget, check your sources before you go shopping.

 The prize for the onesie game winner.

 For the wipe raffle I made this movie gift basket. I included all the movie essentials. Popcorn, Milk Duds, Swedish fish, Raisinets, and Red Vines. And of course the every so funny family friendly movie Fantastic Mr Fox. If you haven't seen this I HIGHLY recommend watching it. So many hilarious moments and one liners. In fact I think I will watch this tonight while I eat my leftover cookies. Girls, you really needed to eat more cookies!

Hanging Hearts

I apologize, I wanted to have this up at least by yesterday.  I have a good excuse though.  Without going into any gory detailed, I'll just say a pipe burst below my house and me and my husband have spent the last few days in the crawl space under our house trying to fix the problem and get things cleaned up. Please tell me we are not the only ones to have that happen to?  It was not a pleasant experience and I hope to never experience it again!

Okay with that said...On to the Valentine craft....

I made these cute little hanging hearts to go on my shelf in my living room.  I think it added a nice touch and looks cute with my block LOVE letters below.

Here is what you will need if you want to make them too:



 Mod podge

brush

scrapbook paper 

wooden hearts (I found these ace hardware. I'm sure Michael's will have them too though)

 string or twine (not in picture, sorry)

hot glue gun 

I just traces around the hearts onto the paper then cut them out with scissors. Mod podge to wooden hearts. Once dried, hot glue string to back.  I also used a ink pad and rubbed the edges around into it.

Hang and enjoy!