It’s a Cinch!

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I’ve got a problem with buying fabric remnants. You know, those leftover bits at the end of the bolt that fabric stores conveniently wrap up and put on deep discount to clear up shelf space. I really shouldn’t let myself go near those racks. Or let my mother go near them either. I think it’s a hereditary thing.

Anyway, this has led to us having quite the stash of fabrics that are less than a yard long. I wanted to trim this down, so I came up with the perfect solution: drawstring bags.

I had followed a Craftsy tutorial many years back to make a drawstring bag that I use for projects, so I thought this would be a great use of those remnants. I mapped up in illustrator how many bags I could get out of a single yard of fabric (it is two at this 9×9 size for all pieces, including the drawstring), and created myself some pattern pieces out of plain paper. Then I set about cutting as many of each piece as I could out of each fabric. 

Once I had all the fabrics I had gathered cut, I had to figure out how to match them up since there weren’t always enough to make each one the same combination. I matched everything up that I could and sewed all the pieces assembly-line style, because that is my favorite way to do anything.

I’ve only got four combinations up right now at my Etsy shop, but I am working to get more put up in the coming weeks.

I also started experimenting with some heat-transfer vinyl, but I have to perfect that method before I’m ready to do any personalization since I don’t have a cutting machine and am just using an exacto knife.

Super Special Cookies

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I went a little overboard in the mini-candies aisle at Ralphs a couple weeks ago. After eating a bag of mini stuffed Reeses and a bag of Hugs, I decided that the dark chocolate mini Reeses were going to become cookies. Well, be baked into cookies.

Using this recipe, the tiny chef (“I’m gonna help, because I’m a good chef!”) and I made 35 out of the predicted 40 cookies. We had a bag of 37 cups, one was lost to the tiny chef in the unwrapping process and another was crushed so I ate it, and somehow we lost the appropriate amount of dough as well…

These are super simple. You just mix up the batter, roll it into balls, cook those in mini muffin tins, and then you press the cups in right when you take it out of the oven. We unwrapped all the cups and put them in a bowl in the freezer to make that part a little easier, so they wouldn’t melt immediately on impact.

I’ve made these before with regular peanut butter cups, but the dark chocolate are way better. Maybe next time we will have to try the stuffed ones.

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Stripes Got Me Hooked

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I came across this bright neon striped yarn randomly in Walmart one day and had to see how it would turn out when worked up. Turns out, it’s really cool. And really bright.

I made two of each, that are currently listed on my Etsy store, and have started way more. I bought five more skeins of the striped yarn, which I like more than the gradient. With each skein making about 2.5 hats, there’s a lot more in my near future. I’m already two in…

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Countdown to Christmas

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Technically doesn’t start until a week from Friday, but that means you’ve still got just enough time to make an advent calendar. This one only took me parts of two days last week. And then waiting for the numbers to be delivered.

I started by figuring out the placement of the pockets, which are 4 inches by 4 inches, and then I created strips for each line. I folded the top edge down half an inch and stitched it with a zig-zag stitch. Next I centered the strips on the green felt and stitched along the bottom of each row before flipping the whole thing over and drawing the Christmas tree outline with a Sharpie. Then I cut the tree out to make it easier to fit through the sewing machine to sew the side of the pockets.

I sewed the lines in between and on the ends of the strips that ended inside the tree outline. I left the ones that go over the edge free until after attaching the tree to the background fabric.

Next I sewed the trunk of the tree to the background, so it would be behind the bottom of the tree.

After pinning the outside pockets out of the way, I sewed the entire outline of the tree down. Everything is sewed with a zig-zag stitch to flatten the edges.

I sewed the remaining pocket edges down and added a star for the top.

I finished the whole project off with a backing (of purple muslin because it was the only plain woven fabric I had that was large enough to cover the whole back) and a wooden dowel for hanging that was slightly too short.

I added a screw to each side, which worked out well anyway for attaching the string to hang it. I had ordered stick-on felt numbers, so all that was left was to stick them on when they arrived. Now we just have to figure out a way to hang it for December 1.

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Making a Peanut

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This year I had a request to turn the smallest (and I really mean smallest, as he was only barely three months old for Halloween) into a peanut for Halloween. Ever up to the challenge, I said yes immediately and then began searching for a pattern.

Did you know there aren’t any peanut costume patterns out there? At least not any good infant ones that I could find. So I looked at the above picture of a previously available costume (which I found on a webpage about creating a Mr. Hankey costume for an infant. The Internet is a truly strange and wonderful place.) and the below pattern and set about making a costume.
Since the little dude is still quite little and this was a blanket pattern, I used the back of the three-month size as a base. I divided it into four columns and then two-inch rows, cutting armholes and drawing a circle for the face.

I cut everything double, and then went back and cut just the front pieces for the face hole. I sewed the columns, then sewed those together around, leaving the front for a zipper to make it easy to get into and out of.

I lined it in muslin and stuffed it a slight bit at the top and bottom, to give it more of a rounded peanut look.

I cut a two inch strip width-wise and the single strip managed to finish off all three holes, single fold.

Then it was on to the zipper. Fleece and zippers don’t mix easily, but I got it in there. Mostly.

The best part is, it fit!

The Baking Bug

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Leave me home alone long enough and I will just start baking anything and everything.

Ok, wait. That sounds bad. I’m not saying I start putting random things in the oven. I’m saying I start making an overabundance of random food.

This time, it even extended beyond baked goods to cold foods as I made way too much “salsa” (sans peppers which I didn’t know were already moldy).

All together I have made a loaf of banana bread (in July), two loaves of honey wheat bread, about a gallon of salsa (may be slightly exaggerated, but only slightly), and 48 zucchini muffins in the month of August. And there’s still a week to go.

Something Different

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Because I never have enough things I’m doing, right? Recently, we had an outbreak of monsters and bad dreams around here. So I made some “emergency” dream catchers for the littles out of supplies I had laying around. I cut the ends off a circluar box and covered it in electrical tape, then used some leftover yarn to weave it.

Turns out, dream catchers are super addicting to make. So I’ve started making proper ones with metal rings and suede string. I like to make felt feathers, though, because real feathers get too messy and they get messed up easily.

Look for these to be hitting the shop soon!

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