Project for the Day: A Special gift for a 30th b-day party

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a surprise 30th b-day party portion of the Friend's Thanksgiving, for which I created a "30" pinata. Well, one of the benefits of having a birthday is to receive presents.

So, here's what I made for my hubby.

My husband is a writer. He is currently attempting to finish his first novel (at least the first draft), by his 30th birthday, so he will shortly be needing fresh ideas to start his next big project. Hence the creation of an idea book

So, I asked several friends and family members to contribute little ideas for jump off points for new stories and ideas. They also contributed some ideas for ways to think of ideas and games to find concepts. I began this project by working on the cover. I drew the design I wanted and printed it out reverse (as I was going to cut out the pieces and have two sheets of paper be the cover. I started with the portion that would have the design on it. It was a shiny red. This portion took a long time! Especially cutting out all the little letters!

After I had gotten over the cramps in my hands from cutting out letters, I cut the other piece of paper which is a bright gold. This one was the main portion of the cover (as well as the color behind the red cover.

 Following this portion I cut book board for the spine, and both covers and then printed out all the pages. These were printed in booklet form with 8 pages per set (so I would have something to bind). Then I used a template to punch holes in the pages so I could bind them.  I then began sewing the pages to straps and each other to attach the pages to the book. I vaguely recall the type of binding being called a kettle stitch, but it's been a few years so forgive me if I'm mistaken.

Here the pages are minus the final page. (I had a few pages in the back where I put in lines for him to write in his own ideas or for others to add some more ideas later). This is where I should have glued the pages together, (but I forgot!), so there is a slight gap between pages when the book is open. the final page of the book has a portion that attaches to the cover (in addition to the straps) so it's extra strong.

 The next step involved a lot of cutting, measuring and gluing. Using a paint brush I spread the glue on the front and back covers and attached it to the book board. This involved some folding and trimming of edges so the edges were perfect. This was also where I made a second mistake (phooey). I measured and placed my spine a bit close to the cover, so it isn't as pronounced of a closure as I would have liked. It should have been twice the distance it is. (shoot). This luckily doesn't effect the book's functionality, or really the appearance much, so I got off fairly easily.

 Next, I glued down the straps, and portion of the end page (that was covered by the interior cover paper) and the interior paper. This one was a beautiful textured green paper with a lovely grain. It's definitely one of my favorite papers. (This was when I realized I forgot to glue the bound edge of the pages and that there would be gaps in the pages...I didn't want to rip up my lovely green paper, so I decided some gaps inbetween pages wasn't awful...).

Here it is! The final book! It has two levels of cut outs (the yellow with the mitered edges is on top, then the red with all the letters and silhouette cut out, and then another Yellow sheet, so it is quite visually fun!

I'm sure he'll love it, especially all the wonderful ideas from friends!

Turned out lovely!
\

Project for the day: Cushion for reading

I really wanted to be sure you had something to read today, so I did a project that my husband has been dropping hints in the hopes of me doing it for quite some time.

You see we have a 2 year old daughter who we read a chapter of a book to every night at bedtime since she was born and 99% of the time that reading falls to my husband. We've read the The Wind in the Willows, Frog and Toad Are Friends, The Complete Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Anne of Green Gables (all 9 books), and a vast variety of the American Girl books (Kit, Samantha, Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, and Molly thus far). It's my husband's favorite part of the day. The part he wanted to change (you may be wondering) was sitting on the floor. So he had requested a cushion to sit on for our daughter's room.

I had some left over fabric from the brown chair I had upholstered for our daughter's room, but not enough to do a cushion, but I also had some nice, sturdy, very light gray home decor fabric that would work for the cushion itself. I decided to use the brown suede for piping along the edges. If you've never made piping (I hadn't before) it's actually quite simple. It requires a special sewing machine foot (called a cording foot) and it turns out I had one (yipee)! All you do it fold the fabric around the cord and butt the foot right up next to it (allowing the foot to run right up next to it. I used a thick twine I had on hand for the piping itself and it looked perfect.

Once I had made the piping, I used the same foot I attached the piping to the right side of the fabric (please note, at this point I wish I would have decided on a round cushion. Corners are not fun). The piping was attached to both the top and bottom edges of the cushion and then I sewed the sides onto it still using the cording foot to ensure that the edge got as close as possible to that piping. I let the siding overlap slightly so I would have material to sew together to close off the cushion once it was done, but I made sure to sew around the entire cushion so everything would be nice and snug. and then flipped it right side out (see the picture at right once the edge was sewn on).

At this point I stuffed it using fiber fill and then sewed the opening shut.
I stuffed it pretty firmly so it would be keep it's shape for a longer time and not take a beating after being sat on for a long time.

I was contemplating screen-printing the actual fabric (which I may do at some point, but I wanted to use it this evening, so I guess if I do, I'll save that for another blog post).

Here it is being tested by a cute little girl who took some time out from dancing to ensure it worked well. I'm pretty sure hubby will love it. My daughter sure does!

 PS -You know what's tough about doing crafts...I take pictures of the nice things I make, but I have to stare at the stuff I want to fix that I don't have the expertise to tackle. For example, I can't wait till I can replace that carpet! It's definitely seen better days!

If you want to donate, so you don't have to stare at it in my pictures, I would be sure to make you something in return! You know, if you've been just trying to figure out what to do with a pile of cash lying about or something :)

Presents I've been working on - 4

I recently completed a quilt as a gift for a lady for her niece-to-be as a baby shower gift.

She had decided she wanted a modern/fun design, with a nice soft back. We went to a fabric store, picked out all the materials, and got the supplies and then I began work on it. This type of pattern/design is slightly complicated because you have to make sure that you have straight lines to sew and can split it up into sections (so it ends up mostly straight and such as you go). It is also necessary to ensure that you leave extra fabric for seam allowance (for example if you want a square that is 12 inches next to a series of 3 inch squares when laying it out you need to make sure that each 3 inch square is really 3.5 inches as you loose a 1/4 inch for each seam). In addition, you may notice that every fabric is never touching the same fabric or within 2 blocks of it. this was intentional, so this design actually took way more thinking than a typical pattern, but is more forgiving of mistakes as it appears absolutely random.

 I also wanted to use a specific fabric for the edging, so I knew I wanted to make sure that fabric was never touching an edge. After I had finished the inside and put on the first edge, I decided it was too plain, so I added the colored border (using squares of all interior fabrics except the edge). Once I added the second border in the fabric I decided it was still too plain for a baby quilt and the ruffle was added (see picture of making the ruffle the the left - this took a LOT of fabric - 24 feet worth actually)!
This took some major effort as I had made it about twice the full diameter of the quilt and then used a thread the exact length of the outside of the quilt to ruffle the fabric the correct amount. After it was appropriately ruffled I attached it to the edge of the quilt and then pinned the entire front to the backing (which is a really soft fleece that is safe for baby bedding in a light yellow). I had to sew the entire ruffle and backing by hand as I found out that it was too thick for my sewing machine to sew without trouble. So I did it similar to a pillow case by turning it right sides together and sewing the edge in a whip stitch, flipping it inside out and then using the machine to put a seam to hold it all together and in place. Then I quilted it in the ditch of some of the squares so it would maintain the soft backing and not add to the busy front.

I then washed the whole thing to make sure all the fabric was nice and tightly sewn so the mom wouldn't have to fix anything that came apart in the wash.

Have I ever mentioned that I make sure all my quilts are machine washable? If not, I make an effort at all times to do so because I hate nothing more than not being able to treat stains and with a baby quilt it is particularly important to have something you can clean. To the right is the finished quilt which turned out adorable!

As an added bonus, I tried my hand at embroidery by adding a little message in the corner for the baby from her aunt. (this was a chain stitch I believe). I think I did a pretty good job for a first time on the embroidery, but if I ever do that again, I'm going to try to remember to do it prior to attaching the front and back as that really complicated the moving between letters. Overall, turned out wonderfully I think!

Projects I've completed for Presents - 3

After the doll dresses were done I set about doing a more complicated project.

I was doing a themed b-day present! This one revolved around some lovely floating candy corn candles I had gotten for my sister-in-law. Since the little candles were mostly just cute I decided to add some actual candy corn, and once I had done that. I needed to make a candy corn table runner! (Her birthday being in October, it seemed appropriate).

 First I sewed together strips of orange, yellow and white fabric and then cut out a bunch of "candy corn" shapes. made from a template I made for the correct height. Then I sewed them the pieces of black fabric cut at the same angle as the edge of the candy corn. Once that was completed I added trim to each side to make the candy corn surrounded. Then I worked on the back. I took a fun striped/polka dotted fabric and quilt batting onto which I sewed a spiders web. (If you know me personally, you are aware of my intense, paralyzing fear of spiders) so this was really a challenge. I did this spider web in Silver thread so it stood out (sadly it's a bit hard to see in the pictures. I intended to sew spiders on there too. But it freaked me out...

I then attached the two strips of candy corn to another 'beetlejuice-esque' fabric to make the front the same size as the back. Then I sewed right sides together and turned the whole thing inside out (Using a chop stick to push the corners out). Then I sewed along the edge of the two to close up the hole I had left for turning the runner inside out.

And it was done! To the right there is the front and the back. It turned out cute and made the themed gift extra nice.

Hopefully when you zoom in you can see the spider web. It actually is pretty fun looking.

Projects I've completed for Presents - 2

So after the little elephant was done, I got to work on doll dresses for my niece's 3rd birthday. I actually made 2 dresses, but sadly it appears I only photographed the first one. (shoot)

 This dress is a reversible dolls dress. It's closures are velcro (so it's easy to put on). You can see both sides in the pictures below. It's a very simple pattern that crosses in the back and fits very snuggly on a standard size baby doll.

I do like this dress, but it seemed a bit plain, so I made a second one that was a summer dress that tied in the back, which I didn't use a pattern for. (sorry no pictures on that one!) That one was measuring the doll and sewing pieces together like I used to do as a kid when I would make clothes for my barbie dolls. (Trust me, I did that A LOT!) It has a more full skirt

My niece who adores baby dolls, seemed to like them, so I was pleased.

Projects I've completed for presents - 1

Making presents causes a little bit of an issue when blogging...I'm not sure if the people I make things for are looking/reading my blog, so I don't like putting them up before I give the item to the recipient, but then I look like I'm not crafting at all.

Well, I recently gave some items away, so you can see what I've been up to.

First, there was a tiny elephant toy for a baby shower. I've done one of these before and it turned out as cute as ever. Just in case you want the step by step it's pretty easy. I started by putting right sides together and cutting out a front and back template.

I sewed along all the seams after pinning everything. making sure to sew the eyes first (I just did eyes that were thread, so by doing them first I could make sure they were nice and tight and the knots were inside the body).

Then I turned the little fella right side out and sewed the ears shut (so when I stuffed him he wouldn't have chubby ears). Then I used a chopstick to get all the corners nicely flat before stuffing.

I used fiber fill to stuff him, while making sure to get some in the nose and all the extremities before doing the head and body.
Once he was done being stuffed, I sewed up the back and sewed on a permanent bow so it couldn't be untied. Here he is sitting up waiting to be given to my friend for her little boy who will be arriving in December.

I can tell he can't wait to meet his new friend. Can't you?

Project for the Day: The window seat cushion

So, it's been forever since my last post. This of course is partly due to our intensive budget project, but also due to my having worked nearly all of August to finish several large projects (and therefore had no time for crafting).

But here I am. I'm sure you are rejoicing :)

First off, it is nearing my birthday and I had told one of my very good friends that I wanted foam to make a window seat cushion (I walk on the wild side... and I had coupons! Score). So, she came with me to get the foam (ended up with a 24 x 72 x 2 inch piece and I started out working the very next day. The first step was to make a template for the window seat I used some paper we had been given that was no longer needed at an office and taped it together to make a template. I wanted to be sure not to get my foam (it being $32/yard it's not exactly something you want to ruin) dirty, but also, I knew the small size would be easier to use to get around the various angles and such. Also, making the template didn't spoil my daughter's ability to use it for art (which is why we got it anyway).

Once the template was made, I placed it on the  foam and began trimming. The window seat itself is 96 inches long by 18 inches, but I was able to cut all of the window seat out of the above piece. Yay! The strangest part about this step was my normal scissors weren't sharp enough to cut the foam so I had to use my good sewing scissors (gasp!) to do it, since I didn't have a utility knife (or at least a really sharp one) handy.

After I had cut out all the pieces, I was able to test it in the window seat area to make sure it fit, as well as do any trimming necessary to make it nice and straight on the front (I used the factory cut edge on the front to ensure a smooth front, but if the back was strange it would cover more or less of the window seat ledge. Once it was perfectly fit, I had a helper test it out. Looks like it met approval.

Then on to the fun portion. If you remember way back when, I used to have three green curtains in that window prior to the window seat going in. Well, that third curtain became the fabric of the window seat. That curtain wasn't going to be big enough to cover the whole thing, and also, I wanted the cushion to stay on the window seat, so the bottom became the white grippy fabric that you often see on the bottom of kids slippers for going downstairs without slipping. I got 1 yard of that at $12.99 (also not cheap). That grippy fabric I cut and sewed as close to the perfect fit of the bottom as I could. All additional fabric needed on the bottom was covered by the former curtain.

The down side of this cushion was that the shape (and the clingy aspect of the grippy fabric) prohibited the normal techniques I use for covering furniture of turning the material inside out, pinning, and sewing up with my machine. So instead I sewed everything into a giant flat portion and then I had to close this thing up by hand, so that took quite a while.  ( you can see I pinned it closed as I went along).

Once I finished that, I put it into place (praying that it still fit) and it was immediately taken over by individuals ready to test it out when I went to get my camera. After the initial test, it was scotch guarded (love that stuff) to protect the fabric as well as the wood seat underneath.

So there you have it. A new window seat cushion. Happy Birthday (early) to me!