More Patriotic Items

Yesterday I finished sewing 8 new patriotic cloth napkins.  They are about 10 inches squared.  Now we have 3 different sets of patriotic napkins.  I am liking the 10" squared ones more than the 5" x 10" ones.

While going through my old blog posts for patriotic images the other day, I realized that my flag quilt was made long before I started reading blogs (or having one).  I made this quilt over 4 years ago.  What I did was  to sew the flag like normal (13 stripes, stars, and a wide border).  I made it longer than what I wanted it to be.  Then I cut it into stripes and shifted the stripes so that it looked like it was blowing in the wind.  Then I pinned it and sewed it back together again.  Next I trimmed up the sides and sewed on another border.  After machine sewing it, I learned about a walking foot.  I wish I knew about it before, because there are some puckers in the quilting.  This was a very simple quilt to make.  I love making holiday themed quilts for my kids.

Wordless Wednesday: WIPs

Patriotic Parade Linky Party

Craftaholics anonymous is having a patriotic parade on her site.  I have linked a few of my patriotic crafts on there (shown below).  There are a lot of great ideas there.  I like to decorate with red, white, and blue from May - September, because there are several patriotic holidays during that time.

Tuesday's Tot Craft Time: Batik Wall Hanging & A Crown

We went back to the American Textile History Museum on Sunday.  The kids' room still has Cambodian inspired crafts.  We did not try the batik wall hanging during our last visit, so we tried it this time.

I wrapped the fabric around a straw, and glued it in place.  Then my son put several stickers on it.

Next he colored over and around the stickers with a marker.

Then we removed the stickers to reveal the batik.  It is not a traditional batik, but it is perfect for little kids.  I ran a piece of yarn through the straw, tied a knot, and now its hanging on a door knob in our house.

My son made one of these crowns during out last visit.  It was so much fun that he wanted to make another one.

First I traced the crown template onto a stiff piece of felt.  Then my son went about adding fun things to it.  Then I punched a hole on each side, and attached some string.

He loves his new crown.

UFO: Cabled Cowl

Recently I picked back up the cabled cowl that I had been working on earlier this year.  It has gone untouched for a few months.  Thankfully I marked it just right so that I could easily pick up where I had left off.  I'm on my last repeat of the chart.  I had to repeat the chart 4 times.  Then I'll change needle size and do some ribbing.  This wool was dyed by 3rd graders using Kool Aid.  Its nice to be knitting again, and to have a portable project.  The finger weaving was portable, but not easy to work on outside of the house.  I'm hoping to finish the cowl this month.

Its Easy Being Green Episode 22: Sock Puppets with Bonnie

Episode 22 of my local t.v. show was about making sock puppets.  My guest was Bonnie Rankin, a local storyteller.  We had a blast making sock puppets out of items that we already had at home.  This is a great project do do with your kids this summer.  These are the 2 puppets that I made during the show.

The white one is a short sock.  Her eyes and mouth were painted on with puffy paint.  Her hair is a wrapped and tied novelty yarn that is glued on with a hot glue gun.  Two purple pom pom like things from the novelty yarn are her nostrils.  A long, skinny scrap of purple fabric was tied around her neck like a scarf.  I think she looks like Carla from Cheers.

The pink one is a knee high sock.  Her eyes are lima beans with dots (from a sharpie) on them for the pupils.  They are glued on in different directions (one horizontal and one vertical).  Her nose is a heart cut out from felt with two black dots drawn on for nostrils.  I wrapped two pieces of chenille stems around a pencil and glued them to the top of her head.  I used a hot glue gun for all of the glueing.  Then I took a fake flower, cut it, and glued it on her head as well.  Bonnie said that she looks like a dragon.

The inside of the pink one's mouth is a piece of black fabric (the back side of a printed fabric) and a pink paper clip for the tongue.  While wearing the white one, I drew the inside of the mouth with a sharpie.  Then I used some puffy paint and a paint brush to paint over the sharpie later on.  It took a full 24 hours for the paint to dry completely.

It was a lot of fun creating these fun sock puppets.  We just gathered various scraps and odds and ends from around our homes to use in making them.  We did not buy a thing.  Bonnie also brought in a sock puppet theater that she had made from a discarded cardboard box, some construction paper, and fabric.  All of those things she already had in her house.

What a fun summer craft or rainy day activity for you and your kids to make.  Just think of the possibilities: make the puppets, make a theater, write a play, preform the play, etc.

Its Easy Being Green Episode 19: Felt Board & Stories

I just uploaded 3 new videos onto my you tube channel on how to make a two sided, portable felt story board and felt stories.  Please follow the links below to see the videos.  Also here is my blog post on how to make the felt board and stories.  It includes resource links.

Part 1: Felt Board

Part 2: Felt Board

Part 3: Felt Stories