Table Runners

I liked my nutcracker table runner across my breakfast table so much that I decided to try my hand at making a few for other times.  

We usually keep the little spinning basket on that table so I worry that it may scratch it at some point if someone is a little careless with it. Having a table runner on there takes care of that concern.

And it can make a pretty cute seasonal decoration that is fairly easy to make room for. Win win.

In February, I gave piecing these heart blocks a try.

The concept is easy if you've ever drawn a picture using graph paper (or cross stitched anything). You start with a bunch of rectangles and squares of different sizes.

Which you then sew on strategically.

And which will magically become a heart.

Then, if you're really good, you will sew all of them together in such a way that they still look like hearts. 

I'm not so good.

And you'll add some really cute Valentine's fabric on the back that would allow you to use whichever side suits your fancy. 

(And then, of course, you just bind the edges for your new table runner. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the finished product before it made its way to the Valentine's bin in the attic.) I think this was a free project pattern from Dear Stella fabrics but can't seem to find the link. I'll update it if I find it again.

Also, you might purchase, at the same time, some really cute St. Patrick's day fabric to make a shamrock version and then not manage to get it made before St. Patrick's day is over.

Nevertheless, I carried on. I decided to make a spring version for April & May (although it occurs to me now that I could do a Star Wars theme for May 4th). 

So, I picked through my stash and found any fabric that was sort of bright with small flowers on it. Then I used a quilt-as-you-go tutorial I came across and made a basic quilted runner.

It wasn't as nice and neat as I hoped but I'm still getting the hang of it. My mom, who was visiting for Rugrat's spring piano recital, commented that it was pretty and seemed impressed that I had made it. So I'm gonna run with that. You can check out the tutorial for it here. I was pretty annoyed with my binding. I didn't take as much time as I should have and I feel like it shows. Other than that I'm happy enough with it.

Memorial day was coming up and Independence day will be here before we know it so I decided to go patriotic. Particularly after I came across this free tutorial. I'm really pleased with how it came out.

You start with the stars.

Then come the stripes.

Then you put them all together. This was the point at which I got concerned. I had just finished trying to make a prayer quilt for our congregation and I have such troubles getting the squares to meet up where they are supposed to. If you look too closely at this one, you can see that I had issues but it turned out better than the prayer quilt, so again, I'm gonna run with that.

Finally, I added a bright red binding (which I also had to fight with of course) and she's done.

I'm still pretty pleased with it and putting the basket on there kind of camouflages any flaws. I think anyway. If not, don't tell me.

Now, I have to figure out which one to do next. I guess the next season will be fall although I could probably do something summer like for kicks too. 

Feel free to comment any suggestions you have too.

Prelude

 I usually look forward to spending some of my free time in summer sewing various and sundry things. But it always seems like I have some things to get out of the way first. So here's what we've been up to as we finished up the school year and headed towards summer.

May's bunco landed on May the 4th otherwise known as Star Wars day. I was up for a dessert so you know what I had to do, right?

In case you ever wondered, it's a lot harder to write "May the force be with you" in chocolate than "love."

I gave making a prayer quilt a try.

Prayer quilts are small lap blankets with a cross on the center that are 'quilted' with ties. Only we don't tie them. We hang it in the dedicated prayer room in our congregation's building and place a card nearby. 

After announcing who this particular one is for, people can come back, say a prayer for that person (who is usually ill with cancer or some other disease), 

sign the card, and tie a knot. When all the knots are tied, the quilt is taken down and presented to the person. 

Every time they lay it on themselves, they can know that each knot represents a prayer prayed specifically for them.

My problem is I stink at piecing quilts. 

My squares just don't work out like they are supposed to. They end up with squares that aren't touching or are too squished together.

I don't know that I'll be presenting this one to the sewing group yet. My mom told me it was pretty even if it had a few spots where things didn't come together right. I haven't decided yet though.

In olden' days, people would purposely place flaws or mistakes in their quilts because only God is perfect. Their mistakes would remind them of that. I promise I'm not looking for perfection but it isn't just something to throw on my feet while I'm watching tv. I want it to be right since it is representing our congregation. Perhaps I am being too prideful though. Like I said, I'm still thinking on it.

Of course, one spring activity in Oklahoma is already set for every one. You have to prepare your safe place. 

We're fortunate to have a shelter. The first couple of years we all piled into the little bathroom under the stairs. 

As terrifying as it sometimes is to have to use our 'hidey hole', I'm so grateful to have it. It's definitely more roomy than that little guest bathroom.

Always need to sweep it out, change out the old water bottles, and check batteries and throw blankets again. Every family in Oklahoma has this one ritual at the beginning of spring.

As school was winding down to a close, I found that we had more days than curriculum. Rugrat finished up her Algebra, History, and Science first. Next came Bible and finally English. I started supplementing some of the basics just to have something to do each day. By the last week, our mantra was "we're just counting days at this point." 

One of the last activities suggested in her History was to play Catan (formerly known as Settlers of Catan).

We also found an interesting experiment in making your own chocolate bars.

And then, finally, we reached the end of our count.

Somewhere in there, she also got her first direct tip from someone at work. This job thing is looking better all the time.

Also, I had a few projects for the sewing ministry.

Like this fidget mat. Our fearless leader brought us all dish mats to try using for these. It works pretty well and you don't have to worry about putting any kind of backing on it because the mat is heavy enough on its own.

We also tried out making hand carrots.

Hand carrots are mobility tools used by nursing homes and therapists. When people have stiffness or cramping in their hands due to arthritis or other issues, these can be used to get their hands back in working order. This project is here if you'd like to take a look. We all came to the conclusion that t-shirt material or fleece was the best to use.

For me,  I found this really cute little Ramen fat quarter at Wal-mart and had to make myself one more oversized hot pad. 

And, of course, our church's second baby boom is in full force so I've added a few gift bags as well.

This cow one was for someone who's nursery theme is cowgirl so I couldn't resist making a cow bag. Not exactly baby like but fitting the theme. And I thought it was so cute, I ended up making a paci clip as well. 

Believe it or not, this incredibly long post is at an end. I think I've pretty much covered our goings-on. Guess it was less of a prelude and more of a Chapter 1.

In going back over it, I realize why I've been feeling like I have no time. Cause we've been busy -- between school and a new job and projects, we've actually been doing a lot. So, I think I'll give myself a break on that.

A Canning Mat

 I've mentioned already that I really love the oversized hot pads that I've made. I didn't realize how handy they would be.

While looking through another canning site, I noticed that the site owner uses and sells canning mats. They are essentially a larger, more square version of the oversized hot pad. You use them to place your hot processed jars on so they can cool. The danger of just setting them on your counter is basically HOT jars on a COOL counter = thermal shock and jar breakage (sometimes violently).

So, I plan to make myself one pretty soon. However, I recently got some John Deere fabric from someone. And I had an idea.

My mom's husband is a jelly maker. And also a fan of John Deere.

 Seems like these two things might 'jam' together pretty well. (See what I did there.) (Don't groan.)

And so, I went to work. 

I cut everything to size and made my fabric "sandwich". I realized, while opening up the smaller fabric I intended to use to make the binding, I actually had three different prints rather than the two I thought. 

His canning mat is going to be reversible. Hey, hey!

I was a little put out when I realized that I just made a bigger rectangle though. I really wanted a nice square. But he won't care. In fact, it will probably work better with their counters. And I can just make mine more square later.

Instead of using the masking tape method from the original post this time though, I used an iron off pen and a ruler to make some diagonal lines. After using my walking foot to machine quilt directly on the lines I drew, it was easy peasy to run an iron over it and make those lines disappear. 

I really like the diagonal quilting on the print on this side. The other one looks good too but I especially like it with this print. I was pretty pleased with how the quilting turned out all around.

A little binding made from the third fabric (which is a random mish mash of John Deere hats) and all done. 

I think it turned out pretty well. It does lay flat but I had rolled it up to tuck into the goody box we place things to take to Arkansas when I realized I had not taken a picture of the final product.

I seriously recommend making one of these mats. It is so handy to have and super cute too. The link to my first post about them is here.

Happy sewing! And canning! And baking too! 

A JOB!!!

 Little Miss has some special needs that I have on occasion mentioned. We weren't real sure how the whole getting a job thing might go one day but we have never really pushed it.

But, recently, her OT sent me an application for a special program a local shop does. They specifically look for special needs kids old enough to work (with an age cap of 21) who would like to try a job out. They give them shifts of no more than 4 hours a time and call it an internship that only lasts for a total of 120 hours.

That sounded like the ticket for us. Rugrat was a little nervous about the idea but really wanted to try, particularly for the possibility of getting a paycheck.

So she did. I helped her apply (which basically means I started it and then read it to her and explained it so she could finish it). She had an online interview with the person over the program and then interviewed at the store with the manager.

Shortly thereafter, she had a her first day with her first shift of two hours (a typical shift while training). 

To say she loves working there is an understatement. She anxiously awaits her next shift each time.

And, when she received her first paycheck last week, she decided working was awesome. 

It's been great for us because we have seen that she can handle the pressure of customers and the expectations of her co-workers and boss (even if they are somewhat understanding and probably more patient with her). 

And it's given her a taste of the experience of working. Previously, when we would talk about what she might like to do, she would be generally dismissive because "she didn't know how to" do this or that or run a register or whatever else. It didn't seem to matter that we kept explaining that they would train her. Now, however, she seems to understand all of that.

So, when she graduates next year, she may just be ready for the world of work after all. I don't think we were so sure before.

Cheers!

  Our congregation has something they occasionally do to encourage members who might be going through a trying time. They call them cheer baskets -- "because everyone needs a little cheer" from time to time.

I usually intend to bake something for them but almost never manage to. Items are collected for a few weeks and added to the baskets.  So, I didn't want to bake something and let it sit there and mold. 

Which invariably means I'm waiting until the last minute and then, well, life along with forgetfulness, and the next thing I know, the deadline has passed.

But, I just finished making samples for my visitor bag idea. And our next meeting for our sewing group was still over a month away. So I decided that instead of baking something, I would sew something.

We have a large congregation and many of the baskets were for people I didn't know well so I wasn't sure what to make for them. The journal covers I had tried earlier seemed to fit the bill. 

One of them was for someone I did know well enough. And as it happened, I had a piece of fabric I had accidentally cut too small to use on the journal. But with a little trimming, I was able to make it into yet another pocket tissue holder.

I'm actually beginning to wonder if I should get a piece of plastic cut to the pattern size for these things.  I seem to be making them by the truckload.

Our congregation has a school in the building as well as a Mother's Day Out program. One of the cheer baskets was for a young lady who was ill from that arena. 

So she needed something a little more child friendly. I came across this Hello Kitty fat quarter that worked well for another art pouch.

I thought it turned out quite nicely,  particularly after it was filled with colored pencils.

Not too shabby for a couple of days work.

Another Baby Gift bag

Fat quarters are the bomb when you want to have lots to choose from but are only making small projects.

I just love how this baby gift bag turned out. It's so soft and sweet looking. And the recipients were very impressed with it too.

 

Visitor Bags

I hope you and yours had a lovely holiday and a fabulous beginning to the new year.

After doing all the 'things' in December and throwing everything and everybody into a completely different schedule, life tends to be a little chaotic. Everyone is off. There's all this extra stuff in the house. You're eating things you don't normally eat and allowing a lot more sugar in your diet. Not everyone is getting to bed on time. And there's always, always something else to do. 

As much as I love all of it, it's always nice to come back to the norm. And it seems like January is all about getting back into your routine and getting your house and your family back in order. So that's what I've been doing.

Now that things are settling down, I thought I'd share a little of what I've been doing.

I had an idea for some additions to our congregation's visitor bags so I've been working on some samples of those. 

First up was coffee sleeves. I don't drink coffee or soda much either so I didn't really look twice at these every time I've seen them. But they are apparently quite popular.

They are the same as the little cardboard sleeves you get from the coffee shop but these are better. They are thicker so they protect your hands better and they are reusable so you are using something that won't be thrown in a landfill. On top of that, you can make them in any fun print you want which personalizes your drink making it easy to identify from other similar cups.

I got the pattern from here.

The next thing I wanted to try out was a journal cover. It uses these little inexpensive ones (this one was at Walmart for just over a dollar).

I picked out two coordinating fabrics. These came from that bumblebee fat quarter bundle I mentioned before.

Cut out my pieces and started putting them together.

And it turned out pretty cute too.

I had initially intended to put this hexagon fabric as the lining and the other as the outer fabric but when I turned it, I liked this so much better I left it. I ended up putting a ribbon in the hole for turning because I liked this side better for the front too.

I guess there's a little room to play with in this pattern. If you want to see the tutorial for these, it's here. 

I also plan to add to my list for us to consider:

Pocket tissue covers (By the way, they were a hit and everyone loved them.)

Bible pen holders

A zipper bag

A mug rug or coaster (to go with the coffee cup that's usually in there)

Or some other thing I come up with.