St. Patty's Korker Bows

I love St. Patrick's Day! Don't ask me why, but I just love it. Every year I look for some new craft to celebrate with. Lately, I have been into hair

bows. I like korker bows, but I haven't done them before. When I looked up instructions, usually they say to use grosgrain ribbon. Well, grosgrain is more expensive, and I don't have just yards of it laying around. (Okay, I do, but that is beside the point. That ribbon already has plans in place.) But, I do have TONS of satin and other ribbon that I don't really have plans for. So, I decided to put it to use. TA DA! Korker bows. Apparently, you can use many different types of ribbon. The instructions I used came from Girly Things. They recommend using Fray Check or clear nail polish on the ends, but I am a pyro, so I prefer to use an open flame. Although, curly as they were, I might try the nail polish next time. Anway, they turned out pretty cute. I used two different width ribbons, and I liked the effect. I am excited to try other ribbon types and see how they work too. Oh yes, for this type ribbon, I baked them for 25min at 275.

Mystery Quilt

So, I tried the "Turning Twenty...Again" pattern, and wasn't entirely happy with the resutls. As you can see, I still haven't put on a border or back, hopefully that will help. The colors just didn't turn out the way I had hoped. I wasn't going to put two of the greens, the orange, or the teal in, but I added them to make a bigger quilt. Next time, I will go for the smaller but definately better quilt.

Meow

The other project I have worked on recently is this cute cat. I had scraps left from a jumper outfit I made for Joy for Christmas, and decided to make her a cat neck-pillow from them for her birthday. The rounded body goes around the neck and, viola! A perfect neck pillow. I love the fancy flannel. I made one several years ago out of the recommended solid polar fleece, and it looked fine, but not really nearly as fun. I am thinking about doing these for the boys for their birthdays. There is a monkey, lion and dog on the pattern as well, so that would be enough for each boy. I don't think I will be able to find such great fabric multiple times, but maybe I will get lucky.

Christmas Quilts

I was talking to a friend the other day, and her husband asked if I had been doing anything crafty lately. Besides being taken a little aback at the question from such a surprising request, I also realized that I was feeling that I hadn't been doing anything crafty lately. Then I remembered, "Oh yeah! Christmas!" I have been crafting, just with focused and energetic zeal. I did quilts for Paul and Brigham. And, they were a lot of fun.

This one is Paul's, and is made from the Bento Box pattern. The top is made from old denims collected over the years.


This one for Brigham is the Rail-Fence pattern. At least, I think that is what it is. After eyeballing quilts of this make at several friend's homes, I started to covet it. After it was described to me, I decided to try it out. I made a small change. Instead of doing all the patches as three-piece patches, I cut the back pockets out of some of the jeans used them as patches. I thought it turned out rather nicely and gave it a real look.

This is the back of the Rail-Fence quilt. I figure footballs should last a lifetime. He won't outgrow them, I mean.

Skirts

There has been a definite drought of crafts around here. There is so much going on, that even the essentials are being left alone. However, I cut fabric for some skirts for Joy two months ago, so I finally decided to get them done. The inspiration for these came from a skirt I got for Joy at Kohl's last year that she wears all the time. It has a top of denim and then cotton skirt in rings below. So, I copied the idea. The first one I did had to be just taken out - not enough gather. But, this is the second.

These were really easy. For the top three rows were two strips of fabric 5" wide the width of the fabric (a total of 88"). The bottom row was three fabric widths (a total of 132"). I just sewed the top three rows together and then gathered at the top to go match the waist of the denim. Oh yes, I went garage sailing and found several pairs of size 6 jeans. I cut them off just below the zipper to make the top of the skirt. So, for the last row, I gathered the 132" to match the 88" strip. This gives a bit more gather on the bottom and adds a little more ruffle. Worked pretty well.

Then, I had in mind a rainbow one in mind, and I decided that downward stripes would be fun. However, what to do about the bottom row? This was the result.

Hmm, definitely one of my favorites! At some point, if I get a whole bunch of extra time, I will do a tutorial. But, let me just show you the last skirt. It is a little fuller, has strips of varying widths, and adds a couple of extra colors in the bottom ruffle. And, it is dang cute.

Want to try? So easy and fun. The color combinations are endless, and I am thinking about making them a basis for Joy's wardrobe. She loves skirts, and these are long enough to be very modest. I just need a few more garage sales.

Paul's Bento Box

Paul's 4th birthday is coming up on Sunday, so I decided a quilt was in order. As a little(r) guy, Paul like to be laid on, he liked the pressure. So I thought a heavy quilt would be best, and I have been dying to make a denim quilt. I just cut up old jeans that I have been saving for far too long, and started work. This is not all the blocks, just the finished ones. I still have two more rows to add, plus the border and back. Who knows, maybe if I get crazy I will take it to the quilt store and learn how to use their long-arm quilting machine on it!

New Quilts

This is the latest fabric I got for two new quilts. Pretty, I know.