Tutorial - Storing Board Puzzles

We've had many a board puzzle in our house over the years.  In between kids and when we move we always seem to loose pieces.  So, I came up with a way to store these puzzles with their pieces without loosing anything!  This will work with any board puzzle with or without the little nubbins.  For puzzles without nubbins just cut the contact paper to size and stick down.

Materials Needed:
Board Puzzle
Contact Paper (any will do... I just have clear laying around so I used that)
Scissors

Step One:  Measure and cut your contact paper to just smaller than your puzzle top.  No photo here...

Step Two:  Starting in the middle of your puzzle, use your fingers to find your first nubbin and cut an X with your scissors.  Slide it down onto the nubbin.  Continue until you have cut all your X's for every nubbin.  Note that the contact paper is right side up!

Step Three:  Starting on on side remove the paper backing and press it down onto the board.

 

Step Four:  Admire your storable puzzle!!

Step Five:  When wanting to use the puzzle again just peel it off and play.

*Please note that my puzzles have been storing like this for about 6 months now and they are still pealing off just fine.  I'm not sure however how these would do for years on end.  I would suggest checking them every so often to ensure that they are pealing away without difficulty.  I also want to note that I've pealed some of this stuff off wooden drawer bottoms that has been stuck down for a decade without it injuring the wood at all... so I would think it wouldn't be any different with these puzzles.

Solstice Star Series - Block Along

Monday night I happened upon this blog post over on Fresh Lemons Quilt Blog.  What a pretty blog!  And, those star blocks are to die for!  Tuesday morning I started on the three blocks that were from previous weeks and was able to get them all finished.  This morning I refreshed the page and found that week 4's block was posted.  During Cael's nap I was able to finish that one.

Week One Block

 Week Two Block

I'm using all batiks with white as my background color.  I wanted to do a rainbow of colors on each star.  But, I was really surprised to find a total lack of yellows and oranges in my stash.  (the fabric show next month will be the prefect place to fix this problem!)  So, for those colors I'm fussy cutting some of my multicolored batiks.  So far I'm really happy with these.  I'm thinking it'll be a small quilt.  Goodness knows I don't want anything to difficult to quilt on my machine.  I am planning on adding some stars from her Summer Sampler as well.

Week Three Block

Week Four Block

1930's Dresden Quilt

I saw this blog post at the beginning of the month and I immediately knew I'd found the perfect pattern for my 1930's reproduction print fabrics.  I've had these fabrics for a good 3 years now just waiting for inspiration to strike.  I purchased the Dresden ruler and began the work of cutting it all out.  I have to say that I was really excited to be working on this quilt.  I swear, it just put itself together.  I spent all my free time during Cael's naps and evenings after the kids went to bed for over a week.

I'm making the quilt bigger than the one in the Scrappy Plate Club.  I'm making it a queen by using 20 blocks and adding more borders to the outside.  Picture above shows over 600 4" plates cut out.  I did end up cutting out another 100 or so for the border.

 Finished plate above. I removed the dark red floral one.  It really stood out and looked funny to me.

 Finished Dresden block.  I purchased some Kona cotton in a vintage blue color for the centers and borders. And, the background fabric is a great white with red dot.   I used the blanket stitch on my machine to applique the plate down using red, green, and yellow embroidery thread.

Here's two nice views of the quilt top minus the final two borders.  It was so big that I couldn't get it all in the photo.  I used each of the fabrics for the little blocks between the sashing. 

Finished quilt top on my king size bed.  I can't believe how big the queen actually is. In the top picture I have it placed on the bed the right way.  I really love the red inner border.  In the bottom picture it's pictured with the long sides going over the sides of my bed. (wrong way that it would go on a queen)

Here are some bonus pics of the bottom corners and scrappy border.  I'm trying to use up as much of my fabrics as I can.  So, I used the Dresden ruler to cut out more blades and I sewed them up to make a scrappy border.  I really love how it looks.  The blue dot on the outside border is the same fabric that will be used on the backing.

I've had a lot of fun with this quilt. Now, I'm working on the backing.  I cut out 8" Dresden plates with the remainder of my fabrics.  I'm going to make an L shape with them on the backing.  I may have to add another fabric to the backing too as I'm not sure I have enough of the blue dot fabric.  Pics of the backing will come in the next blog post about the quilt.

The Year Of Quilts - Starting With Dr. Seuss!!!

I adore handmade quilts.  I drool over them on the Internet and sewing shows.  I oooohhhh and awwww at all the gorgeous quilting fluffy goodness.  I want to make them, I just don't.  I'm not one for perfect points, lined up seams, etc.  Quilts take a lot of time and need more attention than I can usually give.  However... I am a fabric hog.  I have a weakness for quilting cottons.  I buy them constantly.  Mostly for things like purses, toys, clothing, etc.  I have bought some fabrics specifically for making a quilts. Specifically the Dr. Seuss collection from Robert Kaufman.  I bought these at Boardwalk Quilts over a year ago.  And, have recently purchased the Grinch Fabrics too.  I've also been hoarding some vintage inspired 1930's fabrics for almost 3 years!

I decided after the new year that this year would be the year of the quilts!  It's time to actually get sewing with those yummy fabrics and make something that my family can snuggle up in.  And, first up is the Dr. Seuss Quilt.  I am sooo taken by the colors of these fabrics.  I knew this was a good one to start with because nothing about Dr. Seuss is straight.  All his books are curvy, ripply, and fun.  And, so is this quilt.  I had very little actual Dr. Seuss fabrics, so I pulled a few prints from my stash that worked as well as some Kona Cottons in co-ordinating colors. I made the pattern up as I went.  I wanted it to be warm so I used a high loft batting.  I won't do that again unless I'm tying a quilt.  It was a bain to quilt on my machine.  However, I'm very happy with it and so are the kids.  Even my oldest loves it and wants to cuddle in it.

Some closer up images.  I did scrappy squares and stuff to fill in the quilt.

For the back I used up my leftover fabrics.

Bonus picture of my son pointing at all the fun images.  He loves Cat In The Hat.  And, he loves this quilt.  It'll go on his toddler bed when he's ready for it.  Until then, it's just a throw.

Cael's Cardboard Boat

My hubby and I had a hard time thinking of something for Cael for Xmas.  He really didn't NEED anything.  But I wanted Santa to bring him something cool.  Something that he would absolutely love and play with.  My hubby kept saying that he would just as happy with a cardboard box, so we might as well save our money and just get him a few small things.  During a strong discussion, I yelled at him that he might as well make him something out of that darned cardboard box then!  Funny enough, we both kidna looked at each other and stared thinking.  The next day I told him to make a boat or a car or a train or, or, or.  But, he simply said... "A Car".  That same week he got to work.  What I thought would be a very simple cardboard boat turned into something really amazing.  Just look at this thing.  I think it would probably float across a large body of water before falling apart.  It's held together my hot glue and two corrugated layers of cardboard.  It was painted and then gorilla tape was used on all edges so it would be nice and smooth.  I added felt to the bottom and he added a rope to pull him around the house.  It slides beautifully on the hardwood flooring.  It's also got a little seat with a back rest, a steering wheel that turns, some knobs on the front dashboard, two drop holes up front, side rope with beads and two cute anchors in back.

 

 

 

This thing really goes to show you that you can make beautiful gifts for kids with cardboard.  As, he grows we plan to change things on it to keep it new and awesome.  We might even add a sail to it someday.  I need to get better pictures of him in it.  He really laughs when he's being pulled.  He loves to just sit in it and play.  And, his sisters and daddy all agree that they would totally play in it too if they could fit.

Boy, do I love that husband of mine...  He is continually surprising me.  I never thought he would put so much love and work into something like this.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised though.  He never does anything halfway. And, he would do anything to make his children smile.

My Last 3 Months

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post.  I got so caught up in making X-Mas gifts that I kinda lost track of things.  I thought I should honor all those long hard hours of work and post some pics of those gifts.  I'll start with the knitting.

Machine Knit Socks:  I used fingering weight and sock yarns.  Some from my stash and other bought.  I made my own pattern for these.  I basically made two sizes... women's and men's.  The women's are between 8.5" and 9.5" long and the men's are between 10" and 11" and are slightly wider.  11 Pairs total.

 

 

 Next I made a machine knit Clapotis for my daughter.  I guess it's not technically a Clapotis because it's not knit on the bias, but I used the basic pattern of drop stitches to make this.  6 stitches in use and 3 stitches "dropped"  I used a yummy self striping yarn... I'll have to look up which one.  It's very soft and comfy.  I stitched the ends together to make it a mobius.  She absolutely loves it.  Wears it all the time wrapped around her neck twice.

 

This next one is mostly sewn.  But, I did knit the "February Lady" sweater that the doll is wearing.  I made a 15" Waldorf doll for my youngest daughter.  It was certainly a challenge.  I'll post more about my Waldorf doll making later on.  For now, here is the doll and her clothing.  She loved it and sleeps with it and plays with it.  Even now, it's sitting next to me... she brought it down to play on the computer with her last night.

 Next is the Waldorf sacky doll that I made for Cael.  He liked it, but mostly wanted to play with other things.... oh well... maybe he'll enjoy it later.

 I made both girls new bags using the Joy-Nicole pattern.  Loved this pattern.  It would be more of a purse for me, but for them it's perfect to as a large purse or overnight bag.  Both bags are fully lined with pockets inside.  Alaina's bag is first up.  I just love the button I found from my stash!  Rachel's bags is all about cats.   And, they are doing yoga!!

 

 

 

 

 

 Last, but not least.  I made some boxy bags for all the recipients of the socks.  Each person got a bag with the socks in it.  No wrapping or anything....  Everyone seemed to really love them.  And, I got to use more lovely tags to help make opening the bag easier.

 

The only thing that I'm haven't pictured is the boat that we made for our son.   I'll do a separate post on that one.  Otherwise I think that's all the gifts I made....

Edit:  Totally forgot about the XMas jamies!  I made pants for all the kids and bought the shirts.  The flannel was upcycled from a flannel sheet.

 

Tutorial - Sleep Sac To Sleep Suit!

Now that my son is standing he no longer wants to sleep in a sleep sac.  During the summer that was fine, but it's starting to get chilly and he needs something to keep him warm and toasty at night.  Looking at his sleep sac I decided to just add some ankle holes to it so he can move all over his crib and stand without getting All Twisted Up.  Here's what I did.

To start you'll need a sleep sac.  Pictured is a fleece one in size 18-24 months.  But, this would work for any size.  Ribbing fabric or any stretchy fabric for the ankles.  And, basic sewing supplies.

Step 1:  Take baby and place him inside the sleep sac.  Mark with a pen where crotch is and let baby roll away and get back to playing.  (no photo of this as he was way to wiggle to photograph and mark at the same time!)  My pins are on the inside back of the sleeper.

Step 2:  Place another pin 3" BELOW where the crotch pen mark is.  You can go further down if want to.  I wanted there to be plenty of room to grow and be loose enough for any jamies underneath.  Then lay the front of the sleeper on top and mark your zipper where your lower pin is.  This is where you will sew closed the zipper.

Steps 3 & 4:  Now you are going to sew together the zipper where you marked it with the pin.  Make sure your zipper is all the way open before you sew it down. In image 4 you can see that I've tacked it down good.  You don't want your zipper pull to come off when you unzip it.

 Step 5:  Now your going to mark where to cut to make the new legs.  I made a rounded top and slightly angled it down the sides.  It's 3" from the zipper on the top and 3.5" from the zipper on the bottom.  I just eyeballed the rounded-ness.

Step 6:  Cut out on your line.  Then cut the very bottom so that it's now open.  Then turn the sac inside out and sew along your legs as shown below.

Step 7 & 8:  Cut out two 6.5" X 6" squares of cotton ribbing.  You could use any stretchy fabric.  Just make sure it's supper stretchy.  Add.5" to the width if it's not super stretchy.  Fold your fabric in half and sew.  Then Turn it half way up so you have a cuff.  Do this to both pieces.

Step 9:  Sew your ankle ribbing into the leg openings to finish.  This was tough to stretch all the way around.  But, it did to and it fits great!

Step 10:  Turn it right side out and admire your handy work.

I also tried this with another sleep sac.  This one had minky on the outside and a layer of jersey on the inside.  It worked great with this one too.

He now has room to move around and still stay warm!