I Can't Believe It Was This Easy

I conquered my fear of inserting zippers awhile back, but so far I have only put them in the little bags that I make, like this one:

All that has changed since I found this tutorial. Now I know how to make a zippered throw pillow, and I can't believe how stinkin' easy it was. I made this one for my nephew, cuz his whole room is decorated in Arizona Cardinals gear:

Check out this zipper:

I can't believe how well it turned out for my first try at making a zippered pillow. I'm going to be making lots more of these now.

Maybe I'll get the courage up one day to try the invisible zipper.... but for now, this works for me!

P.S. I luuurve my new sewing machine.... it is AWESOME!!

Merry Christmas to Me!!

I got my Christmas present tonight ..... yay, I am so excited!! I know, it's just a tad bit early, huh? Mr. S. and I decided we didn't want to wait that long to get our "big" gifts to each other, so he got a new gun and I got a new sewing machine:

I can't wait to start using it. It has all kinds of stitches, as well as monogramming and lots of quilting accessories. I have been wanting to try quilting, and now I can!

I think all of my sewing is contagious ... my sister has asked if she can have my old machine! I am happy to let her have it, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I have.

If you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because I'll be busy sewing!  LOL   Have a great week everyone.

Sewing for a Cause

I had so much fun today helping to sew pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer. The event was organized by Melanie of Above All Fabric.

September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, so volunteers are sewing as many pillowcases as they can for pediatric cancer patients. Melanie is so awesome... she provided ALL of the fabric that we used and she rented the room at Randolph Park Rec Center here in Tucson so that we could all get together and sew.  Thank you Melanie!

Here are a few pictures from today:

Look at that pile 'o pillowcases... approximately 85 were made today and will be delivered to Diamond Children's Medical Center here in Tucson.

If you're interested in contributing to this very worthy cause, you can get more information here.

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

I was making up some of the kids tote bags last night when I heard a crash .... down went the iron, thanks to my kittens! I didn't notice when I went back to my ironing that the iron must have fallen on something, as this was the result:

I washed it hoping the mark would come out but it didn't. I was just going to throw it away, but then I had a thought ... why not make matching Mother/Daughter tote bags ... that way I could cover up the mark.  I finished it up this morning, and think it turned out pretty cute.

I added some bling to the flower on the little girl's tote ... after all, what girl doesn't love a little bling??

I think I will make a crayon roll to go inside the girls tote, and a zippered pouch to go inside the Mom's tote. Hopefully some Mother/Daughter will spy these at the craft show and HAVE to have them!!

So there you go .... that is how I made lemonade out of lemons today!

Check out My Stuff!

Awhile back I posted a photo of the pumpkin I made out of aluminum dryer vent. Last week on the same blog I found a great tutorial for a fall wreath that I had to try too. Here is how that turned out:

I sent pictures of what I made to Allison, the lady behind House of Hepworths. She featured both of my projects on her blog! You can check it out here.

All of the materials for the wreath were found at Dollar Tree .... the whole thing cost around $10!


glitter-graphics.com

I've been working on more things for the craft show, just haven't had a chance to post any photos yet. For those of you in Arizona, the craft show I will be at will be held on Sunday, October 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at St. Frances De Sales Catholic Church in Tucson, which is near 22nd Street and Camino Seco. I'd love it if you would come by and visit.

I Won Something!

I am always signing up for giveaways on blogs ... and usually never win .. until now!

Tricia over at Notes of Sincerity recently had a giveaway and I was one of the winners. Look at the beautiful charm I won:

Since I have been putting charms on the zipper pouches that I make, I think I will make one just for me! I even have the perfect fabric to go with it.

Tricia was so sweet and also sent me this charm too:

It is the most adorable little black kitten charm ... she said that she wanted to send me something special that would brighten my day. It definitely did, and I will treasure it always.

Tricia makes beautiful jewelry and sells it on her Etsy shop, which you can find here. Her prices are very reasonable ... I'm sure you will find something that you have to have!

Thank you Tricia ... you are so sweet and thoughtful, and you made my week!

Receipt Wallet from a Market Bag

I know we've all seen them everywhere ..... most stores now carry market bags to cut down on plastic waste. Some have the store logo on them, but a few sell them without it (I've found them at Michael's, HomeGoods, TJ Maxx and Pier 1, but I'm sure there are others). Yesterday I spied these bags on clearance at Pier 1 for .98 cents each!

They had other patterns I liked better, but they were still priced at the regular price of almost $3.00  ..... so I'll wait till those go on clearance too!  I purchased 3 of them, thinking there had to be other things I could make with them.

After searching around the web, I found this tutorial. I really need a receipt wallet for my purse, so I got out some pink bias tape and then started tearing apart my bag with a seam ripper. The bag came apart very easily, and the best part was that there was already a bias tape attached to the bag! I kept it intact on several pieces thinking I could use that for the pocket pieces and I wouldn't have to sew on my pink bias tape .... and I was right. Yay, one less step! I cut my pieces out like so:

The 2 larger pieces are 7 1/4" by 6 1/2"... the 2 smaller pieces (pocket pieces) are 2 1/2" by 6 1/2" (see how I kept the bias tape on them?)

Next step was to put the 2 larger pieces together, wrong sides together.

If you have spray adhesive, put a little bit in the center to hold them together. I do not have any, so I put a small bit of Tacky Glue on instead.

Now take the 2 pocket pieces and lay them on top, like so:

I used clothespins to hold it all together, as I didn't want to poke holes in it with pins. I didn't have any small clothespins, so I made do with what I could find!

I then took it to the sewing machine and sewed a 1/4 seam all the way around the edges.

It was very easy to sew through, and I did not put any special presser foot or needle on my machine.

Now I had to figure out how to keep it closed ... I decided on using either sew- on Velcro or snaps

Since I had not yet had a chance to use my new snap-setting tool, I opted for that. You could also punch holes and string ribbon through too.

My DH came home at this point and decided he would help me with the snaps ... unfortunately he put them on a little crooked, so please ignore that part and put yours on straight... LOL!!

And there you have it .... an easy wallet to make out of a market bag

I think I'd like to try a lunch bag next.... or how about an apron ..... the possibilities are endless!

This post is linked to:





 

A Few New Projects

Wow, I did not realize how long it had been since I last posted on here. Sorry about that.... life got in the way for a bit.... we had to have one of our beloved cats put to sleep last week, so I really have not been in the mood to craft. This weekend I decided I needed to get back on track, so I did a couple of projects.

The first one was a simple notebook cover that I made at the request of my sister. I bought some small 3 X 5 notebooks at Staples and made a cover for them. Here is hers:

It's in her favorite skull fabric... she has a whole set of things from me now in this fabric... tote bag, key chain, kleenex holder, zippered pouch and now this! Good thing I bought plenty of this fabric when I saw it!

I decided I needed one of these too, so here is mine:

I dressed it up with a little ribbon and a button .... think it turned out cute.

The next project I found here. When I saw this, I had one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments!

Believe it or not, these are made with aluminum dryer vent hose!! All you do is cut out your length of dryer hose, hot glue it together, then spray paint it orange. Then you add cinnamon sticks and a raffia bow. I plan on putting some of these outside for Halloween decorations.

That's it for now... I will have more stuff to show you later in the week, as I need to get back into "craft show mode."  Have a good week.

A Little Something for Me!

I've been doing so much sewing for the craft show that I decided to take a small break from it today and make something entirely for me. I've seen ruffled checkbook covers all over blogland and wanted to try one. I decided I didn't want ruffles, so I put my own finishing touches on it. Here is how it turned out:

Here is what the inside looks like:

I followed a tutorial I found here. Since I use duplicate checks, I took the plastic parts from another old checkbook cover I had and sewed them on, like so:

For the embellishments on the front, I just cut rounds of fabric (used pinking shears on the green fabric) and glued them on, along with the ribbon and button.

All of the fabric I used came from here.  Melanie was offering a great sale on end of bolt pieces a few weeks ago, and I got a bunch of cute fabric for a great price. Plus I found out that she actually lives right here in Tucson...how awesome is that??!!  I got to meet her and she is so nice. Please go check out her shop, she has some really great fabric ... plus she recently added a nice selection of zippers (over 30 colors) that are only $.89 each.. you can't beat that price. I'll definitely be getting more fabric and notions from her in the future.

Hope everyone is having a great week.  :)