thrifty thursday

I'm trying something new today - uploading photos with the "blog this" button in picassa. I'm also toying with the idea of posting thrift finds on Thursdays. We'll see how it goes.

I received a wonderful package the other day from Susie Sunshine. She'd done a little thrifting herself and in it was some great shelf edging. My kitchen shelves were dressed in some plastic, faux-lace edging that was cute. In fact, I liked it until I opened the package from Angie.



Inside was this edging. Suddenly the plastic stuff was horrid. I can't imagine anything going more perfectly with our dishes. And there's a ton of it, so I'll be able to do all the shelves with some extra for future replacements. Susie, you win the thrifty award!

In keeping with the whole thrifty theme today I wanted to let you all know about a great website I found. Check out http://www.thethriftyshopper.com/ . Just enter your zip code and viola! All the thrifty goodness in your area with addresses and store hours to boot! I should have plugged in some zip codes of places I stayed on vacation. Next year...

pom pom maker

Some people buy tee shirts on vacation. Some buy postcards. I bought this:

Sadly, this was my first attempt. Pathetic looking.

Round 2 worked a little better, but it was still hard to tie the center tightly. It's also still not as full as I would want.

The center of this flower is attempt number three. For this one I actually separated the 4ply wool before winding it on the pom pom maker. Can you say tedious? (This is what I'll resort to after hour 12 or so of driving to keep myself occupied.) It did turn out looking closer to a store bought pom pom, but I doubt I'll have the patience to do it again. I think the key is winding as much yarn as you need, and then adding even more. Otherwise they look pretty anemic.

I need to add a few felt leaves to this and it'll have a home on one of Ellie's jackets.

*I've seen these makers in larger sizes at Hobby Lobby since I've been home.

french knitter

This is what got me into knitting on vacation. It's a french knitter(size small). I bought this book for Ellie and was intrigued by some of the projects. An entire section is devoted to projects made with french knitters.

While this isn't knitting at its finest, I can totally see the meditative draw of doing it now. Leftover skeins of tapestry wool went into the road trip craft bag. I ran each color through the knitter until there wasn't any left. (Note: 18 inches of tapestry wool = about 1 inch of knitted tube) The book called for specific sizes on some and for those I stopped at the required length. These are still waiting to be turned into something.

These, however, just need some pins on the back and they'll look cute on Ellie's backpack. I think they'll spiff it up nicely for first grade.

(More notes: 5 petaled black eyed susan was 20 inches to start. The pink flower was about 17 inches. Sew pink heart to felt background - maybe two layers with pinked edges?)

I'm also wondering if I couldn't make even smaller tubes using crochet thread and a homemade knitter from an old thread spool with nails on one end. They might make cute necklaces or bracelets.

what i did on my summer vacation

I was hoping I'd be able to post a finished cross stitch project after spending 40 hours driving to and from Maine, but I didn't even touch the one I'd packed. It seems when there's something that requires so much time to finish, I'm far more interested in anything else.

Here's a little of what I did finish(with a few more things to post tomorrow and Wednesday).

A favorite pencil case of mine - At least a year ago I spilled something on it. Spot cleaning got a bit out, but then there were some lovely water rings to contend with. Now they're hidden underneath a spray of yo-yo's.

This came as a kit from Joann's in the clearance bin. (Carol, I think I sent this one to you, or one like it.) It's sat around my sewing room for ages. Now I know why. I wasn't so much interested in the fabrics in the kit, but I figured once I saw how it went together I could use the template to make the flowers out of fabric that was of more interest to me. Not sure I'll bother though. I look at it and think, "meh". Not horrible. Not great. I might try pinning it to my black winter coat and see if that gives it any life. Perhaps a few more tucks here and there to give it more dimension. I still prefer the flower pin pattern that's included in the Amy Butler Madison Bag pattern.

(Now that I've thought more about it, I think the fact that this pattern doesn't cut the petals individually makes the difference. It's all too flat. When I can sew them together one at a time, I can shape them more realistically.)

More to come - a mini foray into knitting(emphasis on "mini") and a new tool I'm trying to figure out.

the kids - independence day

Sorry, I thought I'd be back to crafting posts, but our re-entry to real life is taking longer than expected. I'll be crafty again on Monday (I hope). For now, here's a slightly early update on the kids.

At our town's Fourth of July Ice Cream Social.

Happy Fourth of July!

the lawn - phase 2

We're still on the road and hoping to be home sometime late tonight. I took the updated lawn pictures the day before we left last week. With any luck we'll return to an even greener lawn. (Our neighbor, whom I refer to as "the lawn whisperer", has been overseeing the watering in our absence.)

before:

two weeks later:
before:
two weeks later:
What's come in so far has been the rye grass part of the mix. By the end of next week, all the types should have had time to germinate. Then I get to start picking out the little weeds that have come in along with the grass. Fun.

I may not post on Thursday because I'll be in the middle of unpacking and a mountain of laundry. See you Friday.

bias tape hem tutorial

Here's a pretty easy way to add trim and hem a project in one step using single fold bias tape(even though it has two folds, it's still called single fold - double fold bias tape is single fold tape that has been folded in half).



1. Pin the right side of the bias tape to the wrong side of your fabric. Line up the raw edges as you open one fold of the bias tape. Be very careful not to stretch the bias tape as you do this. If you do, you'll be stuck ironing the item flat everytime you pull it out of the dryer. (Trust me, I speak from experience here.)



2. Stitch in the fold of the tape. I use an edgestitching presser foot to do this. It has a blade that will follow the foldline very easily. If your machine has a foot for making a blindstitch hem that may also work.

3. After you've completed the stitching, press the tape to the right side. This will encase all the raw edges making a very neat finish. The bias tape will conform to the curves in the garment as you press.

4. Using your edgestitching foot, sew a seam near the edge of the bias tape. Use the blade of the foot to follow next to the edge of the bias tape. Move your needle to the right and sew the length of the seam.
That's it. The project in the photo was the upper neck edge of a doll dress. The same technique was used for the hems of the girls' dresses. I ran out of the green tape for the hem of the doll dresses so I simply used white and reversed the first step and sewed it on so that it would be on the inside of the dress. If you're sewing in the round (as you would on a hem), start your bias tape with a small bit folded over on itself so you don't have raw edges showing. You can also get fancy and miter the ends together. I refer to a copy of Finish It by Alex Anderson when I need a refresher on doing that. If the ends of the tape will be enclosed in other seams (the neck edge of the doll dress will be enclosed in the bias used to finish the armholes) you don't need to worry about the ends.