Pillowcases for Charity

I was the Administrative Vice President for my local chapter of MOMS Club for three years.  It was an amazing and rewarding experience.  The biggest part of my position was to coordinate all of our community service projects. 

The last project that I coordinated was to sew pillowcases to donate to children with cancer.  We did this through the ConKerr Cancer organization.  It is such a simple and wonderful mission, provide a smile to a child by delivering a pillowcase to them during a hospital stay.  For anyone who has had a hospital stay, there is nothing fun about it, so anything to brighten a stay in the hospital is well worth the effort. 

Anyways, the members of my MOMS Club outdid themselves.  We were able to collectively donate 50 pillowcases!  50 PILLOWCASES!  That shattered my expectations.  Here is a small sampling of what we donated.

I was lucky enough to get to spend hours (I really mean hours) in Joann Fabrics buying much of the fabric used.  Some members did their own shopping too.  I am sure they had just as much fun as I did.  I want to thank our local Joann Fabrics staff for being so nice to me when I walked up with 30 bolts of fabric.  I completely understand how intimidating that could have been.  Your efforts were noticed and thank you!

We tried to make enough that would encompass children of all ages, boys and girls.  I wish I could have had the room to photograph all 50 pillowcases.  They were all great!  A big thank you to everyone in my MOMS Club, you made my tenure as AVP well worth all the effort. 

If you would like a instructions on how to make your own pillowcases, you can go to here.  ConKerr details two different methods for making pillowcases, I personally like the hotdog method.

Have you ever sewed/crafted for charity?  If so, what did you do?  I am curious, because I would love to be able to use my talents more to help out others.

Dammit Doll

Here is a great last minute Christmas gift idea for any sports fans out there.  It took me less than 30 minutes to make and that included making my own pattern for the doll.

I attribute the Dammit Doll to my grandmother.  I am not sure if she found it or made it first, but she is who I got this idea from and now I am sharing it with you.  So, if you are panicked in the middle of the season that I call, "The Christmas Crunch," (the two weeks prior to Christmas) feel free to whip up a few of these for any of those sports fans in your life.  I have a few of these made for various friends this year.

The poem attached reads:

When you want to climb the wall,
And stand right up and shout,
Here's a little Dammit doll
You cannot do without.

Just grasp it firmly by the legs,
And find a place to slam it.
And as you whack the stuffing out
Yell Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!

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Last Minute Kid Costume: Robot

Maben has issues with texture.  He doesn't do tags, he isn't a fan of anything scratchy.  He hates the polyester that most costumes are made of and yet he asked to be a robot this year.  I think of a homemade robot and it includes a boxed body, spray painted funnel hat and dryer vent arms and legs.  NOT HAPPENING!  

So, I was stuck and bought a sweat suit and ended up butchering it to the point of putting it to the trash.  I had to rethink and attack.  I pulled this robot off the night before the Fall party last weekend and the best part...it was easy and Maben LOVED it!

I cut out felt pieces and sewed them onto a jersey shirt.  I gave the robot essentials.  A pressure guage, on/off buttons and some cog wheels.  The pressure gauge was done using a simple short zig zag stitch. 

 

Maben proudly proclaimed all day that he was a robot.  He also kept the shirt on for almost the entire party!  Success!

My Costume: Part 2

I finished the wings of my costume and finally set up the camera and tripod in a rare spare moment to show it off!  Owl you glad I did!?!  Okay, I recognize how bad that pun is but am so sleep deprived that I don't care.

I created a template with paper and tracing a bowl to get the scallop shape.  I wish I had a tutorial for you, but sadly, I forgot to take photos of half the process.  This was however my first attempt at making a template for sewing and I would say it went rather successful. 

The wings are made with felt and attached to my arms with elastic loops.  I picked my shirt because it was ruffly and I think it goes well with the whole owl ensemble.

So, what do you think of the whole costume together?  I like it for my first real attempt at making my own costume.

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Do you theme your family or does everyone go as something different?

Baking With Kids

This past weekend I knew that Maben and I would be baking some cookies.  I scoured the internet and found some cute tutorials for a baker's hat and a child's apron.  Both of these came together super quick. 

Maben was very excited about his apron and hat.  He even slept in the apron the first night he had it.  I made a few changes to the hat, instead of a velcro closure in the back, I opted for elastic.

We had a great time making cookies together.  I hope that Maben continues to enjoy cooking and baking, because I love doing it together.  I have fond memories of spending hours in my Grandmother's kitchen.  I hope that Maben grows up with that same fondness.

The cookies we made had a special place they were heading to.  Because of that, I wanted Maben to be a big part in making them.  I want him to understand what it is to pay it forward and being able to give.

So, those white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies ended up yesterday at a Texas National Guard Armory.  We gave those cookies to those soldiers with the utmost thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

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A Quick Fix

So have you ever had something happen that you just weren't sure how to fix?  Of course you have!  My teenage years were littered with moments like that.  Well, since this past weekend I had my birthday party, the whole week prior was spent fixing or hiding things we didn't want to be seen by party guests.  This "blemish" on a coffee table in our entryway was one of those.

This is what happened after a medicine ball sat on the table for a few days.  Ahhh, so much about chemistry that I just don't understand.  There was some crazy reaction between the rubberish material of the medicine ball and the stain.  I have NO idea how to strip and restain this to get the exact color of all the matching pieces near it.  So, I covered it up...with wax paper.

It was sticky, I had to.  But, that's not all that I covered it with.  I busted out a cute table runner to cover it all up.  The wax paper was used to keep any of the sticky stain from sticking to my fabric.

Didn't it turn out cute?  My hubby has requested that I make a table runner for the buffet that matches. 

This is what the party guests saw.  Ahhh...no one saw the ugly blemish and until I figure out exactly how I am going to tackle the actual problem, this quick and cute fix will have to do.

Tool Holders

My husband and I both enjoy woodworking.  Living down south with all this humidity is NOT a good thing for your tools.  It causes a whole lot of rust and rust prevention is important if you want to keep using your tools for a long time.  There are many tool holders you can buy to store your tools and they typically come in two options, leather or canvas/denim.  Last month at the woodworking club meeting I attended, I decided to ask the old guys (don't judge, they are old!  I am fairly certain I am the youngest member) which was better.  It was an almost unanimous agreement upon canvas, and then denim.

Apparently leather holds moisture and you don't want moisture next to your tools.  Moisture = rust!  My hubby has a lot of leather tool holders, so for Father's day, I made him a denim one for a set of his chisels.

It rolls up, clips shut and has grommets at the top to hang it on a peg board (open or closed).  The grommets actually line up when you roll it closed.  Total happy coincidence! 

The only *constructive* criticism I received from the hubby was that it needs a flap at the top, so if he throws it in a tool box, the chisels won't come sliding out.  That's easy enough...I can add that at a later time.  For now, I just wanted to show off another creation.

Geektasticly Awesome Quilt - Waka Waka

I was cruising around on fabric.com one fine day and came across fabric called Geeks Gone Wild Pac-man and knew that I had to have it.  I mean seriously, a fabric that is paying homage to one of the greatest video games ever made, who couldn't resist that.  There is a reason why I don't own a gaming system other than a Pac-man plug and play.  If I did own a gaming system like a Playstation or X-box...I don't think this blog would exist.  I'm kind of an addict.

Anyways, it has been sitting in my art room for a few months when Prudent Baby announced their Embroidery Contest.  That is when I knew I had to kick it into gear and get a quilt done for Colton.  I am sure you are wondering the connection between quilting and embroidery...I decided that I was going to hand embroider Pac-man's catch phrase of, "Waka Waka Waka," across the quilt.

I purchased my coordinating fabrics and went to town on doing the quilt.  I decided (with this being only the second quilt I have ever done) that I would do a strip quilt since it seemed much simpler than blocks.

I cut out randomly sized strips of all my fabrics, I made one large strip with the Pac-man fabric.  I arranged the way I wanted to started sewing.  It came together rather quickly which was great.  I then cut out and appliqued Pac-man to my large strip of the Pac-man fabric.

Now, I am sure that I probably didn't do the batting correctly, but I did a fantastic job with the binding.  I am a person who most definitely learns by trial and error.  This is a vast improvement over my first quilt.  I intend on making more in the future, but probably not right away.  I am going to bask in the glow of this being a super duper kick butt quilt with a seriously geeky boy flair. 

Anways, enough about me telling you how cool this quilt is, why don't I just show you?

Maben pointing out my hand embroidered, "waka, waka, waka."

Maben sitting on the quilt, asking me if this is another blanket for him.  That would be a no pumpkin.  Your brother deserves things every once in a while too.

The little monster Colton standing next to his new quilt...which he so proudly asked to sleep with that night!  Woo hoo!  He likes it!

And a shot of the back with all it's imperfections.  There are a few, but I honestly didn't feel like redoing it and I am still learning.

A special thanks to my hubby for holding up the quilt and the boys for actually posing for me.  So all you quilters out there, how did I do for my second quilt?  Not sure what the learning curve is with quilting.  Is anyone else as geeky excited about this as I am?  I might have to show this off to my favorite geeky online store, Think Geek.  They have some totally awesome gift ideas for even the not so geeky (And I am not paid to talk them up, just love the occasional shopping there).

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So You Think You're Crafty

I'm a Princess!

My son Maben is so sweet, during the creation of this dress, I tried it on and he gasped.  He looked at me and said, "Mommy, you're a princess!"  I melted.  He then asked me where my castle was and I told him our house was our castle...he disagrees.

This is only the second dress I have ever sewn...so be nice.  I took a jersey tank top that was not long enough for my super long torso, cut off part of it and sewed the skirt (which I did all the construction on) to it.  I added a zipper in the back.  I sewed in a piece of elastic around the waist, to reduce the amount of weight on the jersey so it wouldn't stretch out too badly.  I love the fabric and fairly satisfied with the finished product.  What do you think?

The fabric is Kaffe Fassett Lake Blossoms Red.  I purchased mine from fabric.com and have wanted to make a dress or skirt with it ever since I first laid eyes on it.  (Not an affiliate link, just where I bought mine)

Pillowcases

I while ago, I made my son a quilt that was all decked out with Disney's Cars fabric with other coordinating fabrics.  He loves it and alternates between sleeping with that and his fleece Thomas the Tank Engine blanket I made him.  Anyways, I seriously overbought fabric when making my very first quilt (something I am sure others can probably relate to) so I had a lot left over.  I wanted to figure out a way to use up some of that fabric and came across a really cool tutorial for pillowcases over at MADE.  It was for the ConKerr Cancer Pillowcases.  While, this specific pillowcase is not being donated for cancer, I would love to do this with a group of people someday.  Maybe I can talk my MOMS Club into doing this as a service project.  It was a very simple tutorial to follow and I managed to bust out a single pillowcase in less than 30 minutes.  Maben is so happy with it that he won't let me steal it away for photos without him in it.  So, you get to look at Maben's awesome new pillowcase with him laying on it.

I don't think he could have been any happier with it. 

P.S. I can hardly wait  to go see Cars 2 this summer as a family!

Spiced Mug Mat: I Did It!!!

For Christmas my mother-in-law gave me a really cool gift, spiced mug mats.  They are fantastic but a little "folksy" looking for my taste.  I also realized that I could make them myself.  You can check out the original post here: I Could Do That: Spiced Mug Mats.

Well, I have not only made them, but created a tutorial for you.  Don't they look fabulous?

First, I chose my fabric.  This is from the line Java by Deb Strain for Moda.  I cut up a bunch of squares 5x5 inches.

You will also need some fusible fleece and cut up a bunch of those 4.5x4.5 inches.

I also chose the potpourri that I was going to use inside the mug mat.  I chose a cinnamon spice.  I only needed one pack (since cinnamon is very strong I didn't use much).

I placed two of my fabric squares right side together and sewed up three sides with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

I then centered and placed the fusible fleece and both sides and ironed it.

I clipped the corners and flipped it inside out.  I also folded in the open end a 1/4 of an inch and pressed it.

I sewed around the edges at 1/8 of an inch, starting at one edge of the opening, going around and stopping at the other edge of the opening.  Open it up and put a couple pinches of your potpourri in, turn and sew your opening shut.

That's it!  You have Spiced Mug Mats.  I managed to make up 8 in about an hour.

Some of these are going to be sent off to some of my friends that responded to my Pay It Forward, Craft Style.

My cousin posted this on her Facebook page and I in turn did the same.

Pay it Forward in 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status. "The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent... to your 5 people sometime in 2011."

 I am not offering this up again.  Just to be clear...but maybe a giveaway soon, since it looks like I am getting some followers!  Welcome to you all, I hope you enjoy my blog.

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