Wallet

My husband's wallet has been falling apart for some time now.  I bought fabric to make him and my oldest son each a wallet a few months ago.  I finally got around to making one of the wallets tonight.  As it turns out, the flap of the wallet it not long enough for my husband (to hold a lot of stuff inside).  That means that this wallet will go to my son.  I am currently putting together a video tutorial for you tube and for my blog.  I will also include written step by step instructions on my blog as well.  I'm hoping to post the tutorial on here tomorrow.

Dog Lover's Fabric Valentine's Postcard

This one was mailed to my aunt today.  It is not as perfect as I would have liked it to have been.  Next time I am going to buy the thick middle part that you iron the fabric to.  I think that will help decrease the amount of folds and puckers.

Fabric Postcards

I made 5 more Valentine's fabric postcard yesterday.  Some how the fabric got the best of me with these, because there are some unwanted folds in them.  I almost forgot to take pictures of them before mailing them off to various friends.  This picture was taken outside of the post office on the snow.  Three of them are going to different places in the States, one is off to the Netherlands, and one is going to Queensland, Australia.  I wonder if the post office is delivering during the flooding there?

I also made this very special fabric postcard for a friend whose husband died this week.  He had been ill for awhile.  My heart goes out to her.  The "a" is for him and the "b" is for her.

Valentine Fabric Postcards & Swap Gifts

I participated in a Valentine's swap with other members of the From Trash To Treasure Ravelry group this month.  Actually I ended up organizing it.  Not only did I sign up for the package swap, but I also signed up for the card only swap.  I wanted to make some special cards for everyone, so I made some fabric postcards.  This one went to my package swap partner in New York.

This one went to delights (ravelry name).

This one went all the way to Australia to my Christmas swap partner.  I just had to send her something for Valentine's Day.

This one went to my friend spookycuddles (her ravelry name).

One of these went to my online friend who also happens to be a fan of my show.  She also got the crochet soda tab heart from me.  The other two went to my mom and my grandma.

Here is the back of one of the postcards.  A little history about the fabric used: The purple dove fabric I bought in high school.  I did not know how much fabric a yard really was, and I bought way to much.  Then I did not touch it for 15 years!  My first project with it was 2 years ago when I used it in my grandma's quilt.  It got used for the 3rd time in these postcards.  The dark red print was from some curtains that I made for the last place that we lived.  My husband does not like red curtains, so it was time to repurpose the fabric.  The red background fabric in the first one was left over from the first quilt that I made for my 2nd son.  Most of the other fabrics are from other Valentine themed quilting projects.

Spookycuddles took this picture of the package that I sent her.  What is with the finger tutu you ask?  Its an inside joke.  She loved it.  The regular card is a pop up card.  You might recognize many of these items from past posts.  

Spookycuddles took the pink heart ornament that I made and starched it, coated it in glitter, and attached a flower to the center of it.  It looks great.  Is that a Christmas tree that it is hanging from?  Why yes it is.  She leaves her tree up year round and decorates it for different holidays.  I wanted to make sure that she got some more Valentine's ornaments for her tree.  She also added a flower to the center of the crochet envelope and glued a magnet to the back of it.  It is now a note holder on her refrigerator.  How clever.

This lovely photo what taken by delights after she received her package from me.

And here is a close up.  

I still have a few more fabric postcards that I want to make for my online friends, especially for 3 in particular who are going through some hard times.  One of them lives in Queensland, Australia where there has been massive flooding which resulted in a number of deaths and missing people.  My heart goes out to them.  Another friend just lost her husband yesterday.  A card isn't much, but its a way to show that I care.

Applique, Make-Up Bag, and Socks

Monday I made this 16" square reverse applique block.

I also made two of these 8" reverse applique blocks.  I have several more to go.

Click here to view my reverse appliques tutorial.

Last Friday I taped episode 33 of my local access t.v. show.  This is what I made during the taping, a make-up bag (notions bag, jewelry bag, etc.).  My show is all about being "green," so how is this "green?"  I used fabric scraps left over from my sewing projects as well as from friends' sewing projects. You can also use old t-shirts, jeans, table clothes, etc. for it as well.  Maybe one day I'll use fused plastic bags for it.  That would be interesting.  You can also use organic cotton batting for the inside.  

I am hoping to edit the 30 minute episode for viewing on you tube very soon.  Until then, you can view my blog tutorial here.

I'm not finished with my first sock yet.  I have about 2 to 3 more inches of the foot to go before starting on the toes.  There are mistakes and it looks funny to me, but it is my first sock.  I just hope that I can make a matching 2nd sock.  Maybe my next pair will actually be leg warmers.  It was below zero degrees out on Monday, and I sure could use a pair for under my jeans.

Heart Sun Catchers & A Heart Hot Pad

I started making some sun catchers a few days ago.  First you need white school glue, some plastic lids (mine are Pringles lids), and glitter and/or sequins.  I found some cute heart sequins and used those.  Then you fill the lids with white glue and add your glitter and sequins to it.  Let it dry completely.  Mine took about 4 or 5 days to dry.  Then pop them out of the lids.

My little experiment was to see if they would work with a die cut.

It worked.  So I die cut hearts out of all 6 disks that I had made.

I am saving the circle ones for when inspiration hits.

It was night when I made them, but you can see that the light does come through them.

Then I just punched holes in the top and bottom of the hearts, added pink string, and hung them up.

Now I have sparkly Valentine's sun catchers for my home, and it did not cost me anything.

I also made another crochet heart hot pad using 2 strands of red acrylic yarn.  

Episode 32 of Its Easy Being Green: Valentine's

Here are four videos from the Valentine's episode of my local access t.v. show, "Its Easy Being Green."  

This wreath was inspired by http://ourlifeinaclick.blogspot.com.



What's funny is that I recently saw a similar project in Family Fun magazine, but I thought this up all by myself.  Coincidences are a funny thing.



These ladybugs were inspired by http://www.familycorner.com.



You can watch my video on how to make a crochet soda tab heart here.
You can see the individual blog posts on these projects by looking through the archives on the right hand side of my blog under January 2011.

Valentine's Envelopes & Candy Cane Heart Wreath

Last night I finished these two crochet Valentine's envelopes.

I filled them with handmade Valentine's ornaments and mailed them off to some online friends today.

The other day I saw this great blog post by our life in a click on how to make a Valentine's candy cane wreath.  I knew that I had to make one.  First I figured out how many candy canes that I would need to make the wreath.  Then I die cut 2 hearts out of a cereal box and 2 hearts out of some red glitter eco-fi felt (made from recycled plastic bottles).  I glued the felt onto the colored side of the cardboard.  I then hot glued the candy canes onto the brown sides of the hearts.  I attached a loop of ribbon to the top.  The ribbon is white and red and says "Let It Snow," which is fitting since February is when we get the most snow here.  It was very easy to make and it looks great.  It is a little heavy and fragile (because of the candy canes), so handle with care.  Sorry that it is not a better picture, but I really wanted to show it right away.

Got Milk?

What do you do with your white milk cartons after the milk is all gone?

Make snowflakes.

I cleaned the milk cartons, then I cut out the 4 sides and die cut snowflakes out of them.

Using a denim needle on my sewing machine, I sewed the snowflakes together to make garland.

The end loops are the two threads tied together.  

It does tangle easily, so I'll have to be careful when storing it.

Then with the opaque green tea jugs, I die cut hearts out of them.  I also die cut hearts out of some eco-fi felt (made from recycled plastic bottles).  Then I sewed them together vertically to make these Valentine's ornaments.  

Last but not least, I have been crocheting envelopes to hold some special Valentine's cards in.  I made the cards today, but I won't be showing them for a little while.  One of the people who will be getting one follows my blog (you know who you are), and I want to surprise her.  Back to the envelope.  As my husband said the other night, it looks like Mrs. Claus's purse.  The person who will be receiving this one does not like pink, but I might be using pink for the other ones that I am making.  That being said, I like that it can be reused for Christmas.  After making this envelope, I have the pattern memorize.  Yep, its that easy to make, as long as you don't mind hand sewing (which I don't mind doing at all).  

December's Box Exchange Blocks

This school year I signed up for two box exchanges with my quilt guild.  One is a regular box exchange and the other is for paper pieced blocks.  What is a box exchange?  Its where you pick out a quilt block that you want others to help you make.  You put the instructions and maybe one piece of fabric for them to use into a box.  The people in charge number your box (you don't know what your number is).  Then each month you pick up your assigned numbered box, or in the case of the paper pieced boxes, your lettered box.  Then you make one or two blocks according to the directions in the box.  You return it at the next meeting and pick up a new box.  You do not know whose box you have and you do not know who has your box.  In April or May is the big reveal.  We pin the blocks from the last box that we picked up to a sheet of fabric.  Then we hang them up at the quilt guild meeting for everyone to see.  Its a lot of fun to go and find your quilt blocks (the ones from your box that you get to keep) and to see everyone else's blocks.

Here are the two blocks that I made today for the regular box exchange.

This is the paper pieced cat block that I made for the other box exchange.  This one took a good bit of time.  The person wants two blocks, but I don't know if I will make a 2nd one.  The 2nd one is optional in the box exchange.  When she gets her blocks back, she'll embroider a face on the cat.  I'm glad that quilt blocks count towards my 365 item goal, because this one took a while to make.  Did you notice that the cat is wearing a dress?  The person put several different cat blocks to choose from in her box.  Very cute idea.

Cereal Box Matchbook Notebooks

I was a very proud mommy last night.  My 3 year old had an untouched cookie sitting in front of him for the longest time, because he was so into drawing in his large matchbook notebook.  He filled up the whole book last night with some awesome drawings.

He wanted to draw more this morning, but he needed more paper.  So I made him two new large matchbook notebooks.  These notebooks were made from two sides of a box of Captain Crunch cereal.  The paper is made from 100% post consumer recycled paper.  One of the notebooks has the cereal box design on the outside, and the other has it on the inside.  For the one that is brown on the outside, I decorated it with Valentine's Day stickers.

These are quick and easy projects to make for kids of all ages.  I've made these with kids ages 7 - 13, and they always love making them.  Basically what you do is to fold a half an inch of the bottom up.  Then you insert some paper in that fold, and staple it in.  Make sure to staple in the center of the folded flap and not near the top of it.  Then you fold down the top of the cardboard and inset it into that stapled flap. You might need to cut the paper at this time to make sure that it is the right size.  You can make these in all kinds of sizes.  I like using the large side of a cereal box when making notebooks for little kids.  Its a great thing to stick in your purse with some crayons and pull out when you need to keep your child entertained while on the go.

While I was resizing the pictures for this blog post, my son filled up the Valentine's notebook with some really great drawings for his daddy.

Be My Valentine

I've been placing all of my Valentine's creations on my fireplace mantle for both decoration and so that I won't misplace Valentine's for other people.  My husband took the photograph.  It is of my youngest son's hand holding a dandelion that he picked for his grandma.  The red and pink floral fabric is mine.  What I mean by mine is that I designed that floral print, then made the silk screen, and I silk screened it onto this sheer pink fabric.  It is over 10 years old.  I made it in college (I have my BA in Textiles).  In the back of all the little objects are pictures of my family.  It was a lot of fun finding pictures of my kids when they were younger.  The center picture is of the 4 of us on the Hershey Chocolate ride.  Its my favorite ride at the park, and it just so happens to be the only free ride.   Its not the greatest display, but I like it.  

I've been busy making Valentine's for other people this week.  I'm participating in a Valentine's swap in the From Trash to Treasure group on ravelry.com.  I want to have all of my Valentine's finished by this weekend so that I can mail them on Saturday.  Because of this swap, I have made a lot of items.  So far my total for this month is 69 items.  At this rate I'll have reach my goal of 365 items before the summer.

Last night I made this knitted dog bone.  It is stuffed with quilting and sewing scraps.

Today I made these two catnip filled felt hearts. 

Of course one is for my old man.  You can see the one from 2 years ago under it.

This heart hot pad was crochet using 2 strands of acrylic yarn.  I prefer the crochet pattern vs the knitted one that I made two years ago.   I still use that hot pad often.

I knitted another "Be My Dishcloth."  It is easier to see the hearts on the purple cotton yarn than it was on the red cotton yarn.

I made two more heart ornaments, this time with the left over light purple cotton yarn.

I made yet another scrubby.  This is the 2nd patriotic one this month.

For those just seeing this scrubby, I doubled the pattern for size.

Now I need to do my quilt guild homework this week.  I have about 13 or 14 blocks due on Monday night.