100 Wishes Quilt - It's Starting!

So I put out a call quite a while ago asking people to contribute fabric to the 100 wishes quilt. I have gotten several contributions, but not 100. Not even close. Still, the stack of fabric was growing and I just knew that this was a huge undertaking. Plus, all this waiting and helplessness has reached a point of "incredibly difficult" and I felt like I needed to be able to DO something. So I decided to call up my friend, neighbor, and partner in mischief, Mollie, and see if we could go ahead and get started.

Seeing as how I've never sewn much of anything before I figured that what would happen is that I would end up doing lots of cutting and she would do the actual sewing. Oh, how wrong I was! We took a little time to play with my very basic machine and figured out what we needed and got it all set up. She let me practice on a couple of scraps and then before I knew it she was handing me the center square and the first strip and we were off! Amazingly, it wasn't that hard. In fact, I did all the sewing today. Mollie did all the cutting and ironing (which was probably best for everyone!) and in only a couple of hours we had put together basically all the fabric I had! It ended up being about 20 pieces. It definitely went more quickly with two people, and it was also more fun.

I'm super-excited about what I have so far, but I'm also super-excited about what comes next! And that is MORE FABRIC! We are far from 100 so pretty please send something! If I need to come pick it up (and you're in driving distance) I will be happy to! Pick something special/meaningful to you. I've still got some pieces of t-shirts that are going to be worked in and probably some other things, too. It will probably be a little while before I sit down and add some more to it. It really worked very well having a bunch to do at once so I think that's what we'll try to do again. Obviously I don't have a target date, but if you're going to be making a trip to the post office for Christmas stuff, it might be a great time to pop a little bundle of fabric in the mail (just saying!)

100 Wishes Quilt

Several years ago I learned of a tradition from China of making a quilt to welcome a new child into the community. Each member of the community contributes a piece of fabric and with that a wish for the child's life. A scrap of each piece of fabric along with all of the wishes are made into a book to go with the quilt so that the wishes and fabrics can be matched up and the child has an heirloom that can literally wrap them in the love of their community. I thought it was absolutely beautiful and I knew it was something that I wanted to someday do for my child or children, no matter how they joined our family!

Now that we have just about completed our home study, we are ready to really start working on this for our child or children that we want to adopt. If you would like to contribute to our quilt, please choose a fabric that is 100% cotton. It does not need to be new, but if you choose something that is "pre-loved" please wash it before you send it to us. Because we do not know the age, sex, or personality of the child or children, please choose something that is meaningful to you! Also, because we may be adopting a sibling group, please make sure that the piece is at least the size of a fat quarter so that we have enough for multiple quilts. Joann Fabrics has a great selection of fat quarters in all kinds of colors and patterns for 99 cents each, so it doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive! We will be using a log cabin pattern and the fabric will be cut into strips, so smaller patterns are probably best.

Also make sure you write a note to go with your fabric that we can include in the book. It can be a wish, prayer, poem, song lyrics, scripture, blessing, or anything else you would like it to be. If there is something particularly special or meaningful about the fabric you chose, please include that information in your note. You can hand write it, e-mail it, or send it via facebook message. Please make sure you include the name of who the fabric is from and a description of the fabric so we can make sure everything is matched up correctly! Also whenever you get me the fabric (either by mailing it or handing it to me) please attach a note with your name on the physical piece of fabric. Please also send a picture of yourself and everyone who is contributing the fabric. Digital is preferred. If you get me an actual photo I will do my best to get it back to you, but can't make any promises! If every individual in your family would like to contribute their own piece of fabric, feel free! Please just make sure you have a separate note from each individual, and if you can send individual photos that would be ideal (although I understand if you can't!)

If you would like to contribute a piece of fabric, please let me know. You can leave a comment on this post or let me know some other way. If you need my address to mail the fabric, just let me know. Also, if you know someone who would like to contribute to this, feel free to tell them about this, send them to this post, or let me know. I also have a letter about this that I can send to them (or you, if you'd like to have it!) Even though this is called a "100 wishes quilt" that is just our starting point! The more the merrier!

Once the quilt (or quilts) are done, I will post pictures and details about the whole process, so stay tuned!

Tulle Wreath

This was another craft project inspired by a variety of pinterest projects. It wasn't all that hard, it just took a little bit of time. The only "tool" needed was a pair of scissors, and if you really wanted you could probably do without them.

Basically, I just bought a wreath form and several spools of tulle and started wrapping. I figured out that the pieces of tulle needed to be about a yard long, and used the very scientific measuring device of my arm. I figured out that the "about right" length was from the tip of my middle finger to all the way across my shoulders, give or take a few inches for cutting. I could bunch it up and wrap it three or four times to make a big enough section for me to be happy with it and cover up all the underneath.

The wreath form I used was a straw one. I would have preferred a foam form, but the only foam form I found at Hobby Lobby was squared and designed for flower arranging, so I went with the straw one. I really REALLY wish I had left the plastic on it. The straw made an unholy mess all over the place. Plus, the loose straw made me very itchy. So yeah, moral of the story - if you use a straw wreath, leave on the plastic!

I probably used about 65 yards of tulle, total, so just pay attention when you are buying your tulle. The green and white had glitter in them, and they were smaller rolls (about 12 yards each) and I used all of those and actually needed a little more. The pink, purple, and blue came in 25 yard rolls so I still have some of them left for other projects.

You could easily change the colors and use it for team colors, birthday, baby shower, or other holidays. I could definitely see doing another one of these!

My first crafty-creation of 2012

I feel like i have shared the gloriousness of Pick Your Plum before, but if you haven't checked it out yet, please do! Quite a while back they had an awesome deal on colored twine, but I had no idea what I might do with it so I didn't get any. Then I saw the cuteness that is gifts wrapped in brown paper and twine, and I was all over it. Later, another twine deal showed up on PYP so I was all over it!

I'm giving the credit for this to Pinterest, but I don't have any pins like this on any of my boards so I have no idea if this is actually where I found this or not. No matter. It's mine now and I love it! Another little tip I am almost certain came from pinterest but have no proof of that, is the idea of using a sugar container to store your twine. You run your end up through the little hold in the top and just pull what you need! My spool is just a bit too wide to fit in my little container, but I figure one or two more wrapping jobs and it'll be perfect!

In the midst of all this cuteness, I found myself on the hunt for cute gift tags. I found and downloaded lots of free printables thanks (again) to pinterest. But I wasn't really digging any of them if for no other reason than I didn't have a ton of colored ink in the printer. But then it hit me - check my cricut cartridges and see if my basic shapes has a tag on it. And it certainly did! There were several, actually. But even better than that, I found the "charm" function which will add a little loop to the top of any letter, number, or shape. Perfect!

One thing I worried about was getting the tape to stick because the paper was pretty heavy and stiff. I used gift-wrapping tape and it was fine, but I also had some glue dots which I think would have worked just a well and you wouldn't have seen any tape on the underside. In the future I think I may use contractor paper, which I believe is not quite as thick and stiff, but it comes in much bigger rolls and I didn't want to shell out for that if this ended up not being as cute as I thought it would be!

I have a few other ideas for expanding on this, but you'll have to wait to hear about those! (And I'm sorry for the lack of picture. When I try to load it, it's huge! So check it out on my facebook page or just stay tuned for future attempts!)

Stemware Charms

I have always thought the little stemware charms were just super-cute. I have never particularly had a need for them, but I decided it would be a fun craft to try. I got some not-so-expensive supplies and sat down to play. They were super-simple to make and lots of fun. I've enjoyed dreaming up new sets and making them. This is one of those "instant gratification" crafts.

For the set in the picture I used:

Six 25mm earrings

Assorted colors of seed beads - size six (I used 36 beads total)

Six Small silver bells

The only tool I used was a small pair of jewelry pliers.

Basically, I took each ring and opened it. These have a small end folded up that I flattened to get the beads on. I didn't have to get it perfectly flat and even, so there was a little notch, but that made it easier to bend back when I was done!

I used a colored bead, a white bead, another colored, a bell, another colored bead, another clear, and the last colored bead. Then I just folded the end back up the way it was before.

I used a different color on each one so that they can be used to identify the different drinks - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo.

These are super-easy to personalize. Use any kind of beads or charms you may want to fit your personality or match your china or just your mood at the moment! These would make a great little hostess gift with a nice bottle of wine or even a fun party favor!

Oh, Pinterest

I resisted your temptation for as long as I could. I really did try. But it was ultimately too much. The pictures were just so pretty and the ideas so plentiful and the ability to organize it so neatly was just more than my weak and not overly-occupied heart and mind could bear. So I joined in.

I'm having far too much fun with this. I have the feeling that I'm going to be looking for excuses to have parties and going a little bit over-board when I do. I'm finding all kinds of crafty ideas and inspiration for lots of crazy ideas and projects and adventures.

If you want to see what I'm up to, you can check out my stuff or, even better, follow me! I'm all about new ways of keeping up with people!

Goodbye July!

I can't believe July is already over (or will be at midnight tonight!) Yikes! It's a little bit crazy.

Residency is continuing to go well. I'm doing an ethics presentation this week on Pediatric Consent/Assent/Dissent. I'm pretty excited. I think I've outdone myself this time! Next week I'm doing another one on a book called "When Parents Say No" about refusing treatment on the basis of religious convictions. I'm pretty stoked.

Jeff still hasn't found a permanent job. There's a chance he could go back to Nafco for a little while, so that'll be nice. I know he enjoys working with them. Heck, he enjoys working period. I totally understand it!

We have been enjoying being crafty lately. Jeff built me a beautiful workbench as an early birthday gift and as a result I have moved into the garage. It's actually quite a nice work space. I spent several hours down there today. Now if I could just find a stool with wheels on it I'd be set. I've been working on flowers for hair clips. I didn't intend to do as many as I have, but you know how I get when I'm on a roll. I made about 50 today. I should put the finishing touches on several tomorrow. Jeff has a project of his own that he's working on, but I'll wait a while before I tell you about that!

There really isn't a whole heck of a lot that's been happening, but it's quite nice. I like having life settling into a routine. Too bad it's all going to get shaken up again before too long!

Prayer Beads

I was first introduced "officially" to the idea of prayer beads when I was in high school, attending Camp Sumatanga. My bestie growing up was Catholic and she had a rosary, but I never knew what it meant or what it was or why it mattered. While at camp, my counselor made all of us in her cabin some prayer beads and she explained the ways there were to use them and what she liked to do with them. Being the crafty soul that I am, I took it upon myself to make a few sets. To this day I'm not exactly sure what happened to my first set, but I do have some others I have made.

I hadn't made them (or really even thought about them) in many years. But recently, on my religiously-inspired craft kick, I got the bright idea to make a set of prayer beads in which each bead represents a day on the liturgical calendar. I made a field trip to a local shop called The Bead Biz and spent more than I intended on getting the supplies for this little project. The good news is that I have lots of leftovers of most of my beads. Only a few were singles, most came on strands.

What do you think? Can you find the beginning? I'll give you a hint - it's not the cross!

Now, normally this is not something I do here, but I'm just going to throw it out there. Would you buy something like this? And if you would, how much would you pay for it? I'm going to make at least one more set to give as a gift, but that leaves a whole bunch of beads that I really don't have any other use for and would like to see go to a good home and also help me recover a little bit of the cost of these. All the beads are glass, stone, or metal - no plastic.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Work in Progress

Yes, this is Christmas related. But as we have already discovered, I'm a little nuts and enjoy all the planning and preparation that goes into holidays. And I really did intend to make this whole thing a bit more timely, but life kind of gets in the way of these things. So consider this "Christmas in July" from me. Alas...

I have been a little bit obsessed with getting stockings for me and Jeff that match. And in perusing one of a zillion catalogs whose name I can't remember, I came across some that I LOVED that were knit. The thing that I really loved about them was that there was an advent calendar to match. But it wasn't like any advent calendar I had ever seen, because it was a garland to string across the mantle with cute little pockets for each day. Apparently this is not a new idea, but it wasn't something I had ever seen so I thought it was just the cutest thing ever.

Well, the problem with all this matching cuteness was that it was very expensive. And I forgot the name of the catalog I saw it in. And the actual catalog has been thrown out because it wasn't mine and I forgot to snatch it from my step-mom's house and that was at least 8 months ago now. And in all my online searching, I have yet to find one that I liked as well as that one (or that had stockings to match). Even Etsy wasn't helping me out this time!

Well, I considered the idea of knitting one myself. The garland itself would be easy enough to do wit the right size loom. The problem comes with the creation of the little pockets. I'm sure they aren't that hard to make, and I looked at all my options but I wasn't feeling great about any of the things I feel like I could do. Then, I found this. And it was brilliant. And all was soon to be right with the world. Except I don't have any sweaters I can sacrifice. And I really didn't want to go buy sweaters to cut them up. So I sent a plea to my friends on Facebook.

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on some sweaters. I may have to resort to hitting up the thrift store, but I'm still hopeful someone will come to my rescue with a sweater or two (hint hint!) Since it is now the opposite of sweater weather, I'm going to reserve my hunting and pestering for the fall when people start unpacking old sweaters that had been stashed for summer.

In the meantime, I have been working on the actual garland. I found a tiny loom (I actually now have two, but that's another story for another day) and some fantastic Christmas-colored yarn, so I've got a garland that's 10-12 feet long. I really should measure that...

As for the pockets? Well, I came up with another Christmas clearance find last year - mini stockings! I got them for roughly 20 cents each, so about $5 later I have all my "pockets" for my garland. This really makes things right with our world for a few reasons. The first is that we have yet to get the cute matching stockings I want us to have. So for now we have the kind of cheap fuzzy ones. And now miniature versions of those are going on my garland to hang with them. So it will all match. And we have already covered how much I like for things to match!

I've still got to make myself sit down and start measuring and attaching the stockings to the garland, but it's in the works. I also have some other liturgically-influenced crafts in the works, so stay tuned for more on those!

Sew Much Fun!

I bought a sewing machine my senior year in high school wanting to learn how to use it. I started making pillows and even went so far as to make some pajama pants for myself, and later for a friend in college. Unfortunately, a dorm is not generally a good place to set up craft space, especially with something like a sewing machine so my machine ended up in storage. It stayed there until last year when we cleaned everything out. I finally got all my stuff together and said I was going to pull it out and dust it off, but it just hadn't happened until recently.

During CPE, I was introduced to something called "feely hearts" that were basically small stuffed hearts given to help someone going through a hard time. We were each given a feely heart by our spiritual director and it was very sweet and meaningful. As our time with her came to an end, our group said we wanted to do something special for her, and after talking we came up with the idea of making her a pillow with a pocket on it in which we could all place some sort of note or picture. Seeing as how I am the resident craft person, the task of making it came to me. I can't say I mind, and it was my idea.

In spite of how long it had been since I made something with my machine, it really wasn't that difficult. If you've never made a pillow, I think it's the easiest first project you can make with a sewing machine because it's three and a half straight lines (you finish the fourth seam by hand after you flip it inside out and stuff it!) The hardest part of this was sewing the pocket onto the pillow because I did that by hand, but I did that on purpose because I liked the way it looked!

I'm really excited about getting back into sewing and learning to make some new stuff. One thing I really want to get is a ruffler foot to try making rosettes for various things. I also saw a simple scarf at a recent craft fair that I think I could make pretty easily so I'm excited about trying that. (so if it goes well, guess what folks may be getting for Christmas this year?!?)

On a slightly unrelated note, I think I want to try making some of the cute flower hair clips I have seen (both from silk flower petals and from fabric). A friend suggested using the cricut to cut flowers out, so I may have to give that a shot! If you have any requests, let me know!

French Memo Board

I got a crazy idea at the beginning of the month. In all my boredom, I decided that making one of those ribbon memo boards for my cousin would be a nice graduation gift. Then I decided that since I was doing it for my cousin I should do one for Jeff's cousin, too. And it might be fun to make one for my office, too. Clearly, I can't do anything on a small scale. Well, the one for my office is still in the "to be accomplished" file, but these things are SO easy to make and lots of fun!

The supplies are pretty simple and flexible - a cork board, low loft batting, fabric, a stapler, ribbon, straight pins, and furniture nails. You can also use a frame if you want, or some black "furniture fabric" and mounting hardware.

I had to start by cutting my board in half. I bought one large (16 x 36) board and cutting it in half, so the individual boards are 16x18. You could certainly do this without a table saw (or just buy a board that is the right size to start with!) but I enjoyed getting to put my trusty assistant to work!

Start by cutting the batting to size. You can wrap it around the edge if you want, but Just having it come up to the edge worked best for me. I doubled it up to make it a little fluffier (you could use a thicker batting for this as well and achieve the same result).

Then cut the fabric and wrap it over the batting, pull it taut, and staple it to hold it. Start with a couple of staples in your corners to make sure you don't have any wrinkles and like the way it looks. It's a lot easier to pull out 2 or 3 staples than 10 or 12!

I did this next step a little out of order. It's definitely easier to iron on the applique (if you want it) before you staple on the fabric, but I got the fabric partially stapled and then ironed it on. It worked fine because I only had to get at the back of the one corner. Then finish stapling the fabric around the back. I used a small staple gun/tacker with 5/8" staples. Technically a simple office stapler would work, but again we had to break out the power tool! It actually made things a lot easier. I may have to go back and get a manual one I saw at Hobby Lobby just for my craft projects!

Now lay out your ribbon. You can use pretty much any kind of ribbon and space it however you would like. Both the fabrics I used had pretty distinctive patterns so that made it easier for me because I didn't need to fool with rulers and whatnot. Use the straight pins on the edge to hold the ribbons in place.

Now flip the board and staple the ends of the ribbon to the back. Just remove one straight pin at a time, make sure you pull the ribbon taut, and staple it. Working your way around is definitely the easiest.

Now put your furniture nails where the ribbons cross. They may poke out the back of the board a little if it's on the thinner side, which is fine, especially if you're going to attach the backing.

Just cut a piece of the backing slightly smaller than the back of the board. You want it to cover all your staples, but not be visible from the front. We used contact cement to attach it, but fabric glue would also work well. This will also protect your wall from scratches if the tips of the furniture nails are coming through. Then attach the hanger to the back if you want it.

I have enough fabric, ribbon, batting, and furniture nails to make at least two more small-ish boards. All I need is the board, which will run me less than $5. It's a great way to use up scraps of ribbon and fabric!

We have also been looking into the possibility of making these to sell at craft fairs and maybe on Etsy or in local gift stores. Let me know what you think and if this is something you'd buy! We're going to make several different sizes and will be happy to take requests for fabric and ribbon colors/patterns. Right now I think the new sizes will be 9x12, 12x12, 16x18, 24x36, and 8x24. We are going to try to put a small clock into the 8x24 just to do a little something different. Let me know if you want one!

Knitting 2.0

I have put my craftiness on the back burner for a while. I finally decided to pull it out again. I found a really neat pattern for a patchwork blanket and that seems like something I could actually do (and enjoy doing!) I flipped through a book tonight at Wal-Mart and saw instructions for doing a cable knit stitch on the loom, but promptly forgot it when I got home and couldn't get it to even start the right way so I'll just have to actually buy the pattern for that one!

Anywho, back to my blanket. I have some baby yarn somewhere, but there is no telling where it is at this point. I have a slew of yarn that is thick and perfect for practicing with, but other than making pot holders and dishcloths, it really doesn't work for much else. But since the blanket is made of a bunch of different squares pieced together (and pot holders and dish cloths are square) I figured I could just make a bunch of squares and play around with how I would attach them before I invest in the pretty yarn to make a real blanket.

I settled in with all my stuff and got it all set up and ready to go. I couldn't find my little knitting tool, but I figured it wasn't too big a deal because I had pretty much always done this kind of thing without it. Except there are a few factors that I failed to consider. In my past experiences the pegs were bigger (and usually had a little notch in them to help get under the loops of yarn), the yarn was chunkier and easier to grab, and my fingers were much smaller! In this case, it just wasn't happening.

Fast Forward about 18 hours - I had to run a couple of errands so while I was out I went to Wal-Mart to pick up my little knitting tool. They didn't have any of the little tools sold by themselves. I was figuring on it costing about $3-4 for the tool, so when I saw a tiny loom with the tool and another plastic needle for $5.50 I just snatched it up.

With tool in hand, I tackled a new project on my knitting board. I quickly discovered that it still wasn't going to work well. For one thing, the pegs are much smaller and closer together so it's naturally tighter. For another, the pegs are straight and there is just no good way to get under the loops and flip them. I tried for a little while and it was just frustrating so I pulled it all off. I'm rather disappointed because I really wanted to like my knitting board, but it just doesn't work for me. I prefer the larger pegs on the Knifty Knitter. Fortunately for me, Knifty Knitter makes long looms that are basically the plastic version of my big heavy board, which is nice.

I did try something new on my big round loom (pictured here), and that is making a square. Now you may be asking yourself "how in the heck to do you knit on that thing, and more importantly how do you make a square on a round loom?" Both are quite easy, but are easier to demonstrate than to describe. I may do a step by step one day (after I actually complete something!) Jeff got a nice little tutorial and was asking me all kinds of questions, specifically about making a blanket similar to the one he had as a little boy. I explained how I could do something similar, but that there were differences in crocheting and knitting, specifically loom knitting with my limited knowledge. I discovered that I actually know a little more about this stuff than I thought I did! Now I just have to put it into practice!

I got a fair amount done for today. Now that I have something in progress I think I will be a lot more motivated to work on it! I am going to get some cute yarn next time I have a few dollars and use my new tiny loom to make a cute scarf. The tiny loom also came with a pattern for making cute flowers, so I may try making one of those and putting it on a pin or a clip or something. We'll see how that goes.

Crocheting

Back in the summer I promised a a post on crocheting. I didn't forget, I'm just finally getting to it!

I got a great Hobby Lobby gift card as a wedding gift and when I went on my little shopping spree I found a "teach yourself to crochet" kit that I decided I couldn't live without. Crocheting isn't something I know how to do (or know anyone who knows how to do it!) but I really wanted to learn.

I got my kit, got some yarn, and got home and sat down with my little illustrated book and started. I was doing a little test patch and got the first row done, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get turned around and working on the next row! I did something, but I did it very wrong because it just kept getting thicker rather than wider. I just couldn't figure it out! I needed someone to show me what I was doing. But since I didn't know anyone who knew how to crochet, who was going to teach me? So I did what any logical person would do. I packed everything up when we moved and just tucked the whole box away! I didn't even open it.

Last night I was just surfing around online and saw where someone had mentioned learning to crochet by watching videos online. I don't know why that never entered my mind as an option! I guess I just don't spend enough time on youtube. I did a quick google search and came up with a great instructional video that shows you how to start, do the basic stitch, and then how to turn around and do another row! I don't know who was in this fabulous 3 minute video because it only showed her hands as she worked, but I am very grateful to them!

I got started. I intended to make a potholder but got a little excited and turned around too soon. So I am now well on my way to being the proud owner of a crocheted coaster! It's a little lop-sided because, well, it's my first project and I'm still learning! But I am really enjoying it and looking forward to doing more.

Next project will be a potholder!

Knitting

I first started knitting when I was probably 7 years old. It wasn't "real" knitting, it was a very small loom that came in a kit intended for making Barbie clothes. Well, I loved knitting with the loom but never got around to making the doll clothes. Unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything to do with the little ropes I was creating, so that was the end of that.

While I was in college, I found some much larger looms and was able to use them to make a little hat and scarf. I didn't ever really get around to doing much more than that, but I have intentions of getting there.

During my first year of Div school I learned to knit with needles along with half the other females in our class. The problem is that I started after everyone else and never really learned how to start it. A friend started my scarf for me and showed me how to do the basic stitch and I picked it up pretty quickly. I got about a quarter of the way done with it, but it was in really sad shape (I didn't start with a good type of yarn) but since I didn't know how to get started, I couldn't start over!

I got a Hobby Lobby gift card for a wedding gift, so the first thing I bought was a long knitting loom (I think it was called a "knitting board") and some good, sturdy yarn plus a kit to teach myself to crochet. Well, the crocheting still needs some serious work, but one thing I did learn was how to get a project started. Out of curiosity I tried it on my knitting needles and it worked like a charm. After a small test patch that came out great, I got started on my first project on the long loom.

My first project, a dishcloth, was officially finished this morning. It took me a little while to figure out how to finish it in a way I liked, but once I did I was quite proud of it! When I really sat down and worked on it, it only took me about a day and a half to get it done. 

The next project is to do another dishcloth, this time on the needles. I'm also thinking of trying to do some throw pillows for the living room. We'll see how that goes!