Fabric Bin from a Charm Pack

I ordered a charm pack from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I dont usually buy charm packs but this one was cute and it was a good price.  So I bought it.  Kind of a teaser when you buy one of those bcause so many of them in the pack I totally want now.

I have been looking at the charm pack, feeling a little guilty.  I wanted to do something with it right away.  But what.

Meanwhile my kids have this whole collection of Christmas stuffed toys that come out once a year at Christmas time.  They usually end up all ove the floor, on the couch where I sit.... all over.  Then I thought I totally need a bucket to put all this stuff in!  Goodness.

Light bulb moment!

Sew a bin.  And I did.  You can totally do this with one charm pack and a piece of muslin.  I used Kona cotton Hunter green in the inside but you could use muslin too.  I sewed 4 rows of 9.  I had a few squares left over for the handles and the letters.  I kind of screwed one of the letters up so I had to use fabric from something else. The two "f"'s were from the same piece but I put the fabric back to back.  I was so proud of myself cutting two f's at the same time.  Then I realized one was backward.  Ha.  So again I used a  piece of something else.

I used the hard iron-on crafters webbing.  It was great but I didn't have enough and did not want to spend more so I kind of improvised with scraps.  No worries, it's all good.  It looks cute but it is not going to win any awards for perfection, that is for sure.  No matter, it does exactly what it was intended to do with room to spare.  The thing is pretty huge.

If you want to sew a bin, I suggest you head to one of these sites to learn how.

A lined bin made from diaper boxes.

Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson for Sew Mama Sew

I am pinned to Pinterest

Why have I not been blogging on my craft blog.  Well, you see, it has a name... Pinterest.  Any computer time I spend drooling over the oodles noodles of Pinterest pin.  All very inspiring and all very addicting.

If you have not caught on to the mega mounds of inspiration that is Pinterest, what the heck are you waiting for?  Do it!

Here are just some photos that I found there among the millions.  These are the very things that distract me.

A little zaftig

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But I have been crafting too.  Honestly.  Just haven't found my way to my blog to tell you about it.  I will soon though.

Mousse Pad

Yes, those are my essential oils.  I am into it.  Thanks to my cousin a doterra rep, I have some melaluca, Breathe and peppermints.  Love them!  I have used the Breathe after I cam home from a walk in the cold outside.  My lungs hurt.  It totally helps me.  I was diagnosed with asthma last year. I spent a lot of time sick during the winter months.  On steroidal inhalers.  Anything I can do to not let that happen again, I am trying. 

But this is not why I wrote this post.  I finally made a custom mouse pad.  I love it.  The fabric is by Kaffe Fasset, one of my fabric designers.  I couldnt be more jazzed about it.  Its so easy. 

Cut the fabric to nearly the size or exactly the size of the mouse pad you want to cover.  You have to be pretty good aim if you cut it exactly.  I used Elmers Spray Adhesive*.  Worked like a charm.  Spray the adhesive onto the pads top layer.  Position fabric and smooth down.  Trim away any excess from the sides.

*Spray adhesive in open areas with lots of ventilation.  Outside is best!

Scrapitude Part II- triangulations

The next step in Scrapitude was announced.  Here is what you need:

1. Take your 5 1/4" squares, and cut them on BOTH diagonals (in an X from corner to corner). You'll consequently have four triangles from each of the 5 1/4" squares.

2.   Using the triangles you've just cut in the step above, sew 128 triangle patches using one background fabric and one scrap fabric.

Be sure you lay the background fabric triangle on top of the scrap fabric triangle (right sides facing), and place the 90-degree angle corner under your sewing machine needle to sew the 1/4" seam. This will ensure you're sewing the correct sides together.

3. Next, take your 2 7/8" squares and cut on ONE diagonal.

Using the pieces you cut in step #3 above, as well as some of your 2 1/2" scrap squares, you'll now sew 12 units together that use three different scrap fabrics for each piece. (Sew one triangle each to two sides of the 2 1/2" square.) Also, don't use the same fabrics in the same corners for multiple units as you'll be sewing some of these units together in the future. In other words, keep these 12 units as scrappy as possible. 

5. Next, sew 32 units that use two different scrap fabrics in the opposite corners, with a 2 1/2" square of background fabric in the center. Trim all your dog-ears. 

Note: You will have 8 smaller triangles left after sewing your 12 and 32 units--make sure they're all different fabrics. So you may want to plan ahead before doing all your sewing.
For an excellent tutorial/step by step instructions and a video from the Queen of Scrap- Charlotte, visit my fabulous friend- Sandy's blog- Quilting For The Rest Of Us.

Scrapitude- Month One

Don't you want to pick the thread off that one on the bottom. Ugh! Call me obsessive.

For those of you who do not know, one of the members in our guild is hosting a mystery block of the month.  Charlotte is an amazing quilter who pulls scraps together to make awesome quilts.  Sometimes she follows patterns and sometimes she makes her own quilt designs in EQ (whatever version she has).  This one is all a mystery to us.  We have had cutting instructions which you can see here and now we have our first step.  Follow along with us.  You can visit my blog or my friend Sandy to see where we currently are at. You can also post to the Flickr Group here.

Our assignment for this month was

With the two and a half sized squares, sew:

112 four square blocks (two background fabric, sewn in opposing places.
25 four square blocks of four different blocks.

Finger Lakes Fiber Art Festival

This past weekend was the Fiber Art Festival of the Finger Lakes.  I have never been there before.  I had to go and take my girls.  My friend who has been contemplating taking some classes on spinning went with us.

Besides the day of mostly rain, it was fabulous.  Lots to learn and see.  The kids had a blast. Loved looking at all the animals, all the different type fiber, the crafts, the gifts, the clothing.  Lovely!

The above are some drop spindles.  Never knew what that was- now I do.  The young gentleman below is showing how the fiber is turned into yarn.

The gentleman above is showing how the coat would be cleaned after the sheep are shorned.

This gentleman was very informative, telling us all about how they take the coat off the sheep.

It may look like the sheep was being man-handled but it wasn't.  It was pretty calm as it was getting its coat shaved off.

The others look on.  They are saying, "Geez, finally Hazel is getting a trim, she sure needed it.  Mahhhh."

Are you going next Millie? Me, nahhhhh.  You can go.

After he is done, the sheep looks around for his coat- where the heck did my coat go?

 Oh Hazel, I got it right here.  Its off to market after we clean it.

The above skeins are mohair.  So beautiful.

 The classic spinning wheel.

Silk worm cocoons. 

 Loved, loved, loved the alpaca.  I need to have one.

 More colors.  Beautiful set up.

Icelandic sheep.

Angora bunny.

Thank you to all you beautiful animals that give us such lovely fiber.  Beautiful.

Scrapitude Mystery Quilt

 (Note this is a sample of one of Charlotte's quilts- not the mystery one.  Now, that wouldn't be a mystery if I showed you the quilt. Besides its a mystery to me at this point.)

A lady named Charlotte in my quilting group is hosting a mystery quilt called Scrapitude.  Charlotte is an amazing quilter who has made many scrappy quilts.  She always receives oohs and ahhhs about her quilts.  Besides the fact that they are all beautiful, she also hand quilts them.  The woman is amazing.  After Bonnie Bunters quilt, Charlotte decided, with much prodding by us, to do a mystery quilt of her own.  Many of us have jumped on the bandwagon.  While most of these ladies do not have blogs, one does, my friend Sandy who authors Quilting For The Rest Of Us.  She set up a Flickr group as well that you can link to here.  P.S. Sandy has great podcasts that she hosts with many interesting guests including some big names in the quilting industry.

Why not join us?  If yes, see below for cutting instructions which will be followed by the first set of instructions tomorrow.  We have had the added benefit of receiving our cutting instructions early in the summer so that we would be ready in the Fall to begin.

For those of you on Twitter, you can use the hashtag-   #scrapitude

You will need:

1. Background fabric--approximately 4 1/2 yards altogether. For example, you might choose white, black, cream, gray, or whatever you consider to be a good background fabric for scraps to play off of. It needn't be 4 1/2 yards of all the same fabric; but it should probably read as solid from a distance so it gives the eye somewhere to rest from the rest of the scrappiness.I chose a heather gray for my background fabric.
2. Assorted medium to dark scraps (scraps that will be visible against whatever background fabric you choose). Charlotte didn't give a total yardage here, but see the cutting directions below. She included a lot of 2 1/2" squares specifically because our guild has been doing strip exchanges for years so we all have a bunch of 2 1/2" strips laying around.Cutting Instructions:

1. From your assorted medium to dark scraps:

• 360  @  2-1/2" squares
• 32  @  5-1/4" squares
• 64  @  4-7/8" squares* 
• 56  @  2-7/8" squares

*Charlotte says that 50 of the 4-7/8" squares can be pairs if you'd like. Or you can go all scrappy. Charlotte is a big fan of "the scrappier, the better."
2. From your background fabric:

• 64  @  2-1/2" x 12-1/2" strips. Cut these strips first, and use the remainder of the strips to cut 2-1/2" squares (below) 
• 256  @  2-1/2" squares
• 32  @  5-1/4" squares

We actually got these cutting instructions at the beginning of the summer, supposedly to give us all time to have everything cut before she started giving us the steps for the mystery quilt. Truth be told I have most of it done... okay... 50%- I can not tell a lie.

Tuesday at the NY State Fair

The NY State Fair

I have not been to the fair since I was in my 20's, eh hem, quite a while ago.  Boy, have we been missing something.  The NY State Fair is like a City in itself.  So much to do.  So much to experience.  You can understand why some families make it their whole weeks vacation.

I did not bring my camera because it threatened to rain all day and boy was I sorry.  It did not rain and there was like ten thousand photo ops.  Dang.  Next year.

The following pics were some of what we saw.  The first set is all on the website if you click the link above to the NYS Fair.



This was an amazing sand sculpture.  Would ahve liked to watch it be constructed.

These sheep cracked me up.  As we walked by one of the stalls one of the sheep, in a very deep voice, said MAAAeehh.  You know how they do it.  My daughter jumped and nearly hit the ceiling.  She turned and looked at me, like, what the heck was that Mom.  Loved that!

The poultry area was great.  I initially did not want to go in because it can get pretty stinky.  Yup, I was wrong.  I really enjoyed this area.  So many cool looking chickens roosters and all kinds of other fowl.
 
And just when I thought we were leaving, I was totally exhausted, we see the Indian dancers.  Sucked right in I was.  These kids could move.  Loved watching them.


I did not see this aprticular ceremony but we did go and see the State Troopers.  They put on a safety show/talk and had another show about K9 Police that my children totally loved.

I want to mention to that we did meet and talk with a man named Bob about honey and bees.  He was so informative.  My youngest daughter thought she would like to have a bee colony by the time we were five minutes into the conversation with him.  She was totally taken by it all.  We were too.


The following photos are from individual websites and such.  Sources are linked with them in the caption area.

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And this is a must see for next time.  We waited while one cow was near to having a baby.  We had to leave because it was getting late.  We so want to go back and wait for that miracle to unfold before our eyes.  us City folk have never had the chance.

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I think this was one of the most moving things I experienced at the fair.  Horses do that to me though.  Large, strong, powerful horses who's beauty totally captivates me.

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Wordless Wednesday

Needlebook

I knew I had to make this.  I have been eyeing needle cases and patterns for them for so long.  When I saw this tut on Nana Company I knew it was the one. Note: she updated how she does it a bit, see here for details.

Don't expect it to come together overnight.  Especially if you are doing it by hand.  But its worth the wait and I totally loved the experience of it.  So much so that I think I will probably make another. This time I will fashion the pocket a bit different.  Note: the pocket is not part of the tutorial.

Here is the inside that I jazzed up a bit with notions.

The back, I hand pieced these little blocks too.

Some pretty flowers I saw while out and about one day.