I Spy Quilt #3

 I've been working on this quilt for a few months now. I finally finished it this weekend! :) I used Sandra's Tutorial  from Sew In Peace. Overall it was easy to put together and I love the end result. It's different than the other two I've made seen here and here. 

I also decided to stipple this one. It's tricky to do but really fun. ;) 

 For the backing I bought the binding fabric for that but the quilt ended up being a lot bigger than I thought. So I just used a bed sheet I picked up for $5.

I also made my own bias tape. 

I love how it's so different from the ones I made before. Overall a fun and time consuming project.

Puppet Theater in 5 minutes

My daughter loves puppet shows right now. Our library does puppet shows for storytime, maybe that's where she got her love for it. She's been asking for one for quite sometime now. I finally broke down and made one. It took about 5 minutes.

 Here's what I did. I already had the blue flower fabric made into drapes. We used them when we lived in a different house but they've been sitting in a box. I also had some leftover drapes from Ikea and quickly sewed a casing for the rod and voila! A super easy and cute puppet theater.

We spent all afternoon doing puppet shows. 

She doesn't quite get the idea that we shouldn't see you, just the puppets. Maybe with more practice?

We just put it up the the doorway when we want to play and then put it back in the closet when we are done. I also scored a bunch of cute hand puppets at D.I. last week that my kids will be getting for Christmas. I will try and post pictures of them soon. 

How are your projects coming along?

Pillow Update

I found this fun fabric a few weeks ago and knew it would be perfect for some new pillow covers.

I just made a simple envelope cover which took less than 10 minutes. I also paired them with my Chevron Love pillow. A fun new update for under $10 and under 10 minutes. Can't beat that!

Homemade Owls

Owls are everywhere! I'm sure you've all seen those cute owl pillows and toys. I've been wanting to make some for awhile now. There is this great website called DIY Dish. If you haven't heard of it they have some great and easy craft ideas. You really should check it out.

About a month or so ago they did a episode on how to make Owl Pin Cushions. Plus they have a free pattern available on their website.

The pattern online is for the small owl with the dangle legs. I made that one first and wasn't sure if I liked the legs. With the other two I meant to draw some different legs but never got around to it.

The best thing about this project is I used up some of my fabric scraps.

They also share a great tip on how to sew the legs.

For the bigger Owl I had my husband enlarge the pattern for me. You really could make it any size you'd like. My daughter loves to play with these owl pillows. But you could also use the pattern and make a paper banner or use them for pin cushions. The possibilities are endless. These would also make great stocking stuffers or gifts for the holidays.

Organizing Fabric

Let's face it, as a crafter we all have TONS of fabric. I have lots of random scraps that were just sitting in a box. During the summer I found these awesome wire egg baskets for $1 a piece. Score huh? These baskets sit under my sewing machine desk and hold all those scraps. I really love how I can still see all the fabric. Fun huh?

Here are both of the baskets. The orange one holds all the small scraps and the silver one holds the bigger scraps.

As for organizing my fabric before it used to be in plastic bins under my bed. But since moving I had these door organizers and my Mom (thanks Mom!) suggested that we double them up over the door and put all my fabric in them. I LOVE it this way! Now I can see all the fabric I have and it takes up no space at all. No bins under the bed anymore for me.

Do you have any ideas and ways that you store your fabric and scraps?

Re-Decorate my home: part one

As many of you might know my family and I just moved so my husband could go to nursing school. Since we no longer live in on campus housing I have a big house to make my own for the next few years.

We own this beautiful king size canopy bed. ( We actually won this bed at a home remodeling and decorating show about 2 years ago.) The places we have lived in before didn't have tall enough ceilings for us to use all the attachments. But not anymore. Have you seen those canopy beds with fabric draped over them? Like this one?

We recenlty stayed in a bed and breakfast that had a similar bed with fabric draped over it. I knew that I wanted to do that with our bed someday.

Here's my take on it.

The best thing of all is that I already had this fabric. I got it at a friend's yard sale for free 4 years ago. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I held onto it. I'm so glad I did. The total cost for this was nothing! That makes it even better don't you think?