Valentines!

Thank you, Design Mom.



Here's the image we used for the kindergartener's Valentines, so you can see better just how cute he looks. His new method for getting a natural-looking smile in pictures includes hyperventilating and fake laughing. Seems to sort of work, though.

Quilled Snowflakes

Here's a Christmas craft for you to take on when you're snowed in.





To make these four snowflakes (adaptable for use as Christmas ornaments), I used one sheet of cardstock, a rotary paper cutter, and a large tapestry needle, no special quilling tools or papers. I adapted the pattern created by Reese Dixon to make a six-pointed snowflake. I also used this snowflake-quilling template, mounted to a piece of foam-core, to help hold them steady and symmetrical (with straight pins) while the glue dried. I used a clear liquid craft glue with a fine squeeze tip, but I think as long as you're pinning them in place with the foam-core template, standard white glue, applied with a toothpick, would be fine.

Use a paper cutter or a paper shredder that only cuts in one direction to make strips of the cardstock. They can be anywhere between 1/8" and 1/4" wide, but it's better if they're not wider, and it's important that they be as even as possible. Then cut them to the lengths needed for the snowflake pattern, only make the strip for the central spiral 10" long instead of 6". I might also cut the "arm" pieces a little longer, because I like the slightly airier look of the snowflake at upper left in the picture above. Its "arm" pieces were the same length as the others, just curled a little less at the ends.

Using a needle instead of a quilling tool meant it was a little harder to get each strip started winding, but it was totally doable and pretty quick once I got the hang of it.

More Banners

I went a bit nuts making more banners for Cindy Lou's birthday party last month. I got carried away cutting triangles from just about every possible fabric in my stash, and ended up having to buy about 10 additional packages of bias tape. I made four more Fourth of July banners, and I was amazed at how well the other fabrics ended up falling into pretty neat categories. That way each banner would just have four to eight different fabrics in it, instead of 20. When I first starting making them, I was certain that I would end up giving a large number of them away as gifts. Once I had them all hung in the dining room, however, I wasn't sure I would be willing to part with any of them--it was like being in a circus tent.

One small note about cutting and construction: when you're folding over a piece of fabric for mass triangle cutting, make sure the first fold leaves the fabric with right sides out. That way when you're dividing your cut stack into pairs of triangles, they will already have wrong sides together, ready for stitching.

Fourth of July Banner

Wow! A project that I started and finished in one day! I've been seeing these homemade banners or pennant strings all over the mommy blogger universe for the last few years. They're great because a) they're easy to make; b) they can be made from whatever materials you have on hand; and c) they are limitlessly adaptable: color, shape, finishing, etc. There are lots of etsy shops selling them, but why would you buy something that's so easy to make?

Once I got the idea that I might try to make a red-white-and-blue banner, I looked through my fabric index cards to make sure I had enough different fabrics to make it work. Then I dove into the bins and pulled out anything susceptible, ranging from small scraps to pieces of a couple of yards each.

I had decided in my web "research" that I liked the look of strings made with varying sizes of pennants. I liked the body and stiffness and reversability that came from using a double layer of fabric, but I didn't want to sew the triangle pieces together with internal seams, that would require stitching, clipping, turning and ironing to make lay flat and look nice--too fussy. I preferred the look of banners made with unfinished or simply pinked edges, the triangle pieces stitched together with a zigzag stitch. You don't get much more of a no-brainer for the top string holding everything together than prefolded bias tape, and I had a extra-large, 8-yard package of scarlet double-fold bias tape--just perfect for two four-yard banners.

Once I had all my fabrics marshaled, I got out my cutting mat and rotary cutter and started cutting. For the smaller scraps, the size and orientation of the triangles was determined by the size of the scrap, but none were smaller than about four inches in length. For the bigger lengths, I cut a nine-inch or so piece off the end of the fabric, folded it in half to make the selvages meet, then continued to fold it in that direction until it was four inches or so wide--producing a many-layered rectangle with the same height and width as the desired end-result triangle. Fold in half one more time in the same direction (making a long skinny rectangle with all the cut edges together at the top and bottom), then use a quilting ruler as a guide to cut it diagonally. This should make two little piles of paired triangles, ready to be stitched together (and two half-triangles that can be discarded or tossed back into the scrap bag).

With right sides out, zigzag stitch around the two long sides of the triangles and trim hanging threads. (If I had pinking shears, I probably would have pinked the long sides of the triangles, too.) Then stitch the short side of the triangles into the middle of the bias tape, with little to no space between the top corners of the triangles, and leaving a foot or so of bias tape at each end to use when hanging the banner.

Voilà!



After making two full four-yard banners, I had just a few triangles left over, and no more scarlet bias tape. I did, however, have some red grosgrain ribbon in my Christmas wrapping box. Rather than try to fold it around the tops of the triangles, I used two lengths of it and just stitched the triangles between it. I used just navy triangles to make a short minimalist banner for above my front door:

Crafty Christmas

I took a page from Design Mom Gabrielle Blair's book and decided to have my kids make presents for each other this year. Cindy Lou, being only two, was exempt (next year!), but each boy made (or rather, helped make) a present for the other and one for their sister. I loved how they turned out.

The Wizard helped me make a no-sew tutu for Cindy Lou, following the instructions here. I think it needs a bit of a trim, so it's not bigger than the wee girl herself, and so you can see the accent pieces of sparkly dark purple tulle a little better. Next time I do it I'll cut shorter pieces to start out with, and also use a higher contrast between the two non-highlight colors of tulle (bet you didn't guess there were two shades of lavender here, did you?)


Newton made a stenciled t-shirt for the Wizard, using the method I describe here. I suppose if I'd known beforehand what design we would be using, I might have selected a different color of shirt and/or paint. I guess next year we'll plan these things a little further ahead of time.


I was at a bit of a loss as to what the Wizard could make for Newton, and in the absence of a better idea picked up a letter and acrylic paint in Newton's favorite color. Impossible to screw up, and a nice addition to Newton's bedroom decor.


Newton helped me make a bunch of ribbon rosettes for Cindy Lou, mostly attached to barrettes. I followed Design Mom's lead, and think they turned out fabulous. I didn't have a glue gun handy, so I hand-stitched mine, both to keep the flower shape and to attach them to the barrettes. After an earlier attempt with a felt-covered barrette, I had my best luck with Scunci no-slip snap clips that have a plastic gripper around the bottom part of the barrette, and attaching the barrette directly to the back of the flower without any intervening fabric. The extra-large gold rosette (6" diam) we didn't put on a barrette, but left to be pinned on a waistband. One thing Gabrielle didn't note in her post on the rosettes, though it's evident in her pictures, was that she achieved some of her fuller-looking flowers by using 2 one-yard pieces of coordinating ribbon, gathered and then wound together. That is also the case with Cindy Lou's iridescent blue-green rosette at center right (and with the extra-large gold rosette).

Monkeys for a Monkey

It only took about a million years, but I FINALLY finished this quilt I've been working on for my nephew Bud. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and in a way it's good it took me so long because the way I ended up doing the binding is way cuter than the way I had originally planned. And yes, I did stitch around every single one of those circles. Oy. Now I've just got to get Cindy Lou's stitched and bound. Maybe by Christmas?

Sunday Mixed Bag

Sunday was a mixed bag at church. About a million people asked me my due date (I think they were expecting it to be much sooner than mid-October, since I'm really sticking out there), quite a few people complimented me on my dress, I had some good chats with people during the SS hour, and endured one truly cringe-worthy comment in RS.

Here's the dress, which I made with fabric purchased at Bolt a few months back. The pattern, Simplicity 3888, is a maternity pattern, but very similar non-maternity versions are available. I shortened the sleeves about two inches (thank goodness--they would have been too long if I hadn't) to make the pattern fit better on the fabric so I could add about 7 inches in length. Then I also added the contrast border around the hem (thank heavens the fabric store still had that fabric when I realized, upon laying it all out, that I would want to add length). The shoes, by Van Eli, came from the Nordstrom Rack.




During SS I chatted with Skye, who was scheduled to present at Sunstone but stayed home because her husband was starting chemotherapy (get better soon, Jared!). She wanted me to tell her that Sunstone had been boring and uninteresting, but I was unable to fib.

Then there was RS. The lesson was about "the false idols we worship." I tuned in and out, as per usual, so I'm not exactly sure why the comment was even relevant to the topic, but the very sweet, very young and very Utah woman said something to the effect of "One of my friends' families had a saying that 'When the prophet speaks, the debate is over,' and I just think that's a really great way to live your life." The teacher, typical for RS lessons, agreed, thanked her, and moved on. It about killed me, but I kept my mouth shut. 1) Since I hadn't been paying enough attention to figure out how her comment related to the topic, I couldn't figure out how to address the issue without seriously derailing the lesson; and 2) since she's new to the ward (doesn't know me) and has led a very sheltered life thus far, I couldn't figure out how to say something without scaring her to death, making her feel like her new ward is full of bitter angry apostates.

You can probably guess that I think the whole the-prophet's-every-utterance-should-close-all-debate-on-the-topic idea is evil and pernicious, but let me tell you why. My understanding (possibly colored by too much early exposure to My Turn on Earth) of Mormon theology is that in the Great Council in Heaven, we chose to follow God's plan for our earthly existence, and would need to make our own choices about just about everything, entailing both greater risk (possibly making bad choices that would lead us away from God) and greater reward (increased light and knowledge and better preparation for post-earthly existence). Satan's plan, which we voted by supermajority to reject, entailed an absence of freedom of choice, guaranteed return, but no personal growth. The thing is, although we voted down Satan's plan, it's still a very basic human urge to want to avoid making responsibility for our own decisions, to want more rules so we have fewer choices to make. That's what's kept this idea alive.

But what I really want to know is, where did it come from? Who said it the first time? Do they keep saying it, or has it been left to persist under its own steam? Anyone know?

Baby Love

Several months ago, when my sister and sister-in-law were pregnant and I wasn't, I decided that I would make baby blankets for those two boys and for Number Two, who has only ever had hand-me-downs from his big brother. Somewhere in the process of making them, I found out I was pregnant, and so there was a time when I wasn't sure if Number Two would end up with the blanket after all. Now that I know Number Three is a girl, I'm back to the original plan, which is good because I was thinking of Number Two when I designed them.

When my parents moved to Utard several years ago, I inherited all my mom's stash of fabric. A lot of it is scraps from completed projects, and there were quite a few larger pieces from aborted projects. The latter category included 6.5 yards of baby flannel, surely originally intended for a baby quilt for one of my brothers. It's a slightly aqua blue, and has teddy bears and giraffes with gold bows around their necks, and roses with green leaves. The first category included some light aqua velours left over from a sweatsuit my mom made for me in the 70s (wish I could find a picture of it to include here!). Somewhere along the line I also acquired a turquoise velveteen bridesmaid dress probably worn by my mother's youngest sister some time in the late 1960s. It had a couple of faded spots that made it unsuitable for wear as a dress.

So, I cut up the dress into the largest regular-sized pieces I could, and started laying out fabric, filling in with the velours. An early decision over which I agonized was the size of the finished quilts. The size of the largest pieces from the dress helped me settle on 24x36. I had originally planned a simple gold satin binding for the edges, but then I saw a baby with a fleece stroller blanket with ribbon loops sticking out of the ends. Besides looking really cute, the loops have the developmental bonus of working the baby's fine-motor and hand-eye coordination. There were just enough smaller pieces from the dress left to make three bunnies, one to go with each blanket, using this pattern (thanks to Angry Chicken for the link).

With both nephews due in May, I had a deadline (always crucial) for my project, and I was able to finish everything but the bunny face embroidery before leaving for Utah last week. Hopefully the boys will like them as much as their mommies (and older siblings) do! I gave Number Two his blankie and bunny yesterday, and he is in love.







And here is new nephew #2--isn't he cute?!?!

Spending Money to Save Money

Do you ever find yourself doing that? Like the time I had a leftover (stale) loaf of artisan bread that I paid $2 for in the first place, so in order to avoid letting it go to waste I spent $5 on cream and eggs to make the most delicious bread pudding ever?

In this case, Number One Son got stains on a couple of his favorite $5 t-shirts when they were still quite new. I had read about freezer paper stencils on Angry Chicken (thanks Adriana!), so I was eager to try that method and salvage the t-shirts from the Goodwill pile. Of course, I didn't have any fabric paint on hand, so I had to go out and buy some. And of course, there wasn't a single color that would "go" with both t-shirts, so I had to buy two containers of paint at $5/pop. Plus freezer paper. BUT, I figure I can use the paint on other projects, right? And the freezer paper (which was really cheap per use), too?




To make my stencils, I found images on the Internet and printed them out in the size I wanted for the t-shirts. Then I used transfer paper and a ballpoint pen to get the outline onto the matte side of the freezer paper. Then I cut out the design with an exacto knife, and ironed it onto the shirt. I also put an uncut piece of freezer paper on the other side of the area to be painted, to keep it from bleeding through. Then I put on a couple of coats of the paint, letting it dry in between, and carefully peeled off the freezer paper. Then (and this is very important) I heat-set the designs with a hot iron. Do not skimp on this part--one of the designs wasn't as set as it could have been, so it left a ghost image on the back of the t-shirt the first time it was laundered.