Let's Talk Turkey

I made this onesie for my new great-nephew Kaiden to wear on Thanksgiving Day:

If you want to make one, here is a great tutorial that includes a downloadable free pattern.

The only thing I did differently was to cut circles from white and black fabric for the eyes and added a waddle.

While I was doing this, I discovered something awesome that I must share with you. I don't know about you, but I always have a problem peeling away the Wonder Under once I iron it to the back of my fabric. It seems like it takes forever to try to find a spot where I could start peeling it back.

As I was struggling with it during this project, I had one of those lightbulb moments. I grabbed my seam ripper and scored lightly through the Wonder Under. It was like magic!! It made a nice little tear without damaging the fabric at all, and it made it soooooooo much easier to peel away the Wonder Under.

I will definitely be using this trick from now on.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

No Sew Fleece Blanket - Take Two

I made my second No Sew Fleece Blanket the other day. I forgot how easy and quick these are!

I absolutely love how this one came out with the brown and pink. It is for my nephew and his wife who are expecting a baby girl soon - she is decorating the nursery in pink and brown and ladybugs is her theme. I just so happens that I found some pink ladybug fleece fabric awhile back! So even though I am going to be making her a quilt, when I saw this fabric I knew I had to get it and make this too.

I did something different this time around to make my cuts and it worked out so great. My trick was this:

Peel and Stick Ruler Tape!! Rather than using my tape measure or yardstick, I just put this ruler tape down and I was able to keep my edge straight.

Another nice thing about it is that it is marked in 1 inch increments, so it's real easy to see where to make your cuts:

I am definitely using this from now on!

Here are the particulars for this project:

Fleece:  Hancock Fabrics (1 yard of each)
Peel and Stick Ruler Tape: Hobby Lobby (or try your LQS)
Pattern/Tutorial:  There is a really good one here

I hope you try this peel and stick ruler tape - you will love it!

Very Belated Halloween Project

I forgot to post about the cute Halloween pillow I made:

I followed the tutorial that Suzanne at Just Another Hang Up posted here.   I printed right onto my muslin fabric using freezer paper rather than using the spray adhesive and paper.

I got the image from The Graphics Fairy.   If you've never checked out this blog, you really should. She has tons of FREE graphics that you can download.

I think I might make Thanksgiving and Christmas pillows too, since there are so many cute holiday graphics to choose from.

Quick Giveaway

Somehow I ended up with two copies of American Patchwork & Quilting December 2011 issue:

In addition to the gorgeous star quilt on the cover, it has many other great patterns, like these cute holiday pillows:

This Harvest Table Topper:

and this neat Contrasting Cabins quilt:

I will give away my extra copy of this issue to the first person who posts a comment on this post and says they want it! 

Alphabet Magnets - A Tutorial

These make-it-yourself alphabet magnets are all over Pinterest (so addicted to that site BTW!) so I decided to make some for a friend of mine.

I pretty much followed the tutorial found here at Bubbly Nature Creations. I did mine just a little differently, so I'll show you what I did.

Here's what I used to make mine:

and

and

I used cardstock and some cute alphabet stickers I found at Wal-mart for $1.

I cut my cardstock into small squares that would fit the gems (make sure you get the gems that have a flat back to them, found mine at Dollar Tree). I then put a sticker in the middle of the square, stuck a gem on top of it and traced around it with a pencil. I cut out the shapes, then Mod-Podged them to the gems.

After they were dry, I trimmed around the edges (see how there is some paper showing around the edges of the "j" in the above picture? you don't want that!)

I then went back and turned them all over and added a layer of Mod Podge to the back of each one, just to make sure those puppies were on there good:

After that dried, I glued the magnets to the back of each one using the E-6000 glue. The Mod Podge on the back makes them sort of slippery, so I put a dot of glue in the middle and pressed the magnet down really good and held it there for a few seconds.

After they completely dried ... voila, cute magnets:

I decided to gift these to her on a cookie sheet. She can put them on her refrigerator, but I thought a cookie sheet would work good if she didn't want the magnets cluttering up her fridge, or if her daughter wanted to play with them in her room.

I am thinking about selling some items at a holiday craft show ... maybe I'll make up a few more of these. The cookie sheet would be a great way to display them there.

If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, just click the Pinterest button at the top right-hand side of my blog page.

Happy Crafting!