Old Pattern Tissue

Use old sewing pattern tissue for packing ... Plus it's fun looking back at old things you had sewn years ago!

Scrapppppy Halloween Quilt

Which comes first ... The chicken or the egg..... So I had all my Halloween stash out and made some bowls and a quilt for my grandie ... Lime green pumpkin is Jean Wells technique and fee motion quilting on pumpkin uses glow in the dark thread! BOO!

Halloween spoookieeeeee stuff

I make coiled rope bowls(see way down several posts) and my daughter wanted one for her K classroom so I dug out all my scraps and made one for the classroom and one for my granddaughter's babysitter ........ Now all we need are the treats.....

Seasons Grater!!!

Here are the Fall graters!!

Spring is Starting to Sprung

.....well lots of sun and temps starting to climb a tad higher....time to dust off some fun stuff and  make the house springy looking...new baby arriving in late April so better get things ready......so i have this old grater and at Christmas time I had evergreen pieces stuck in  it with some red ribbon tied around the grater. Now I seem to have this great seasonal thingy I can change out depending on what the season is....I'm so smart...tee hee....my late husband was a doc and he used to say if you hear hoof beats think horses...he was very smart!!!!

Here is the Christmas effect!!!! Plus I am into old license plates and cutting them up and making messages from them....the grater is fun but don't cut yourself!!!!! and I use the velcro command strips to attach it to the wall....

for my brothers beach house

my bro's 60th!!!!

my kiddos

this was daughter's save the date!!!! had a lot of fun collecting THESE!!!!!

my bro-in-law's 70th!!! he took it to fishing club meeting and made a hit!!!!!

A Horsey Nay Bridal Shower

This past weekend daughter and mother helped throw a wonderful bridal shower for a great friend. The gal is an accomplished horseback rider and animal lover in general. All her friends and bridesmaids thought a fun derby style shower with mint juleps included.....the "placecards were inexpensive plastic horses painted with black chalkboard  paint and the names hand written with white wet erase chalk marker. ( the mother used Pental Arts brand ) Each table had a vase filled with carnations and roses. Since the mother has a son who orders LOTS of flowers to be delivered to her house we have many, many clear glass vases. So the mother painted the INSIDES of each vase with Looking Glass spray paint ( paint the INSIDE only to get the silver look) and voila! Silver vases for each table! The daughter and the other went to a local throphy store and bargined for an old used trophy and paid a few bucks for the shop owner to place a horse on top. It was a horrible shade of blue but situation solved...spray painted the trophy CHROME except the "gold" horse.....chrome folks...get it at an auto supply place or wally world....chrome.....it's fab!

each horse had a guests' name hand written  on the side

horses waiting for  guests and notice the chocolate horse head lollipops in the little bin



here an old golf trophy used as a pretty vase

here is the painted silver trophy and another old golf trophy serving as a flower vase

 

Thought I'd Explain the Cute Picture Above

The Mom in this group is a widow. The daughter lost her Dad over six years ago when she was 19. He never got to walk her down the aisle but her cool bro did. Today is that daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday dear daughter. When tragedy struck our little family the mother's sister flew across the country to be by my side and help that daughter and nephew through the most horrible days of their lives. To say I am close to my sister is an understatement and probably aside from my daughter the only person I really put out for in a crafty way....so one day a year or so ago I made her a coiled rope bowl to corral her small quilting tools, a pincushion and a sewing  kit to hold a few needles, her special scissors a tape measure and her thimble. The coiled fabric covered rope is one of my specialties and  you can find the directions in many places...it's not hard to do and your first attempts will look it but they are the best ones!!! Then I fashioned a pincushion. Again nothing terribly special there you can get that tutorial anywhere on the net.  The fun part is making a sewing kit container from an old hard shell eyeglass case. I started saving them years ago thinking they must be good for something....well............all decorated and personalized, they can hold lots of things  so you can throw them in your handbag or knitting bag or quilting tote. This doesn't have to be a sewing kit...it can be a small travel jewelry case or a safe place to hold fragile things .....so here goes... grab an old hard shell eye glass case....you know... the one that snaps shut and if you're stupid enough to leave your finger in the way wow does THAT hurt!!!! If it has a "faux" leather covering or a fabric, carefully peel off that and try to preserve it one piece it makes a great pattern for the fabric you might use to re-cover the case. If there is not one you just need a scrap large enough to cover one side at a time. You can use lots little pieces and glue them on like a "collage". Whatever you have. BUT try to coordinate all the three projects  if you plan to give the set to someone. Now gather all your scraps and trims, needles,scissors, some white glue and some poly fill stuffing.  I have boxes of trims, buttons, old game pieces, ribbons, small artificial flowers, beads and old jewelry.  pull the inside linings out and again if you can preserve them for patterns that's always helpful.

Gather all your stuff (that's the fun part!!)

Remove the outer and inner covering and lining  and use as a pattern, glue the target fabric onto the top outside and the bottom outside

pretty

 I had some print felt and used a small piece to line the inside top half of the "sewing kit"

the felt is glued in the top half and

a contrast fabric is glued to the bottom ; make it really loose and before gluing the last side to the eye glass case stuff it tightly with poly fill to make a stationary pincushion or a place to store your hand sewing needles, straight pins and such. Glue the opening to the case.

decorate the outside

Here is the free standing pincushion with some cute
fabric leaves attached..

...and here is the coiled fabric covered rope bowl...notice the flower and the knotted handles.



The foloowing pictures show a few of the other bowls I have sewn. They are great seasonable gifts...Halloween, Christmas, summer......