Advent Calendars

I saw these in a magazine last year and decided I was going to make some for this year.  I bought the fabric and it really turned out nicely...except I have four children, but only had enough fabric to make three.

I stamped these with the numbers for each day.  I hung them with care (which was quite the ordeal because we couldn't get the Command hooks to work so we just put nails in the wall, argggghhh).

I had to figure out what to do for my son.  I am a hoarder of jeans...I have finished a picnic quilt, and I have many more to do so jeans are aplenty at my house.  My oldest daughter had a brilliant idea.  I actually had a ton of old jeans from my son when he was little, so we cut out 25 pockets and here's what we came up with.

They are all of his back pockets!!!

We glittered up some tags and stamped them.  We may throw in a couple of red ribbons to jazz it up a little more, but it really turned out fun.  I hope this gives you some ideas for next year.  What kind of advent calendar do you use?  I've seen tons of different ones on pinterest...be creative!!!!!
Blessings!!!!!!!!

Creative upcycling: sewing an apron out of gently used material

Now how cute are these aprons???  I was in apron mode earlier this summer because I wanted some pretty aprons for my girls and myself and possibly to make as gifts.  I was perusing through the thrift store and saw this fabric and it immediately struck me that it would be so pretty as aprons. But this was not regular fabric; it came in a much different form, but I got inspired because of the pretty print and lace.  Here is what it looked like when I bought it:

That's right!  It's a dust ruffle.  Dust ruffles are perfect to make aprons because they don't get much wear and tear, plus they have beautiful prints.  The tag said $6.99, but lucky me it was the color tag that was 50% off so I got this material for $3.50.  I made the three aprons you saw above, plus I have enough to make 3-4 more.  That is an amazing savings.  All I did was cut the print material that shows from the flat sheet portion that goes between the two mattresses.  I made a simple continuous tie and sewed that on.  In the first picture you can see I made one that was double...it's so pretty that way that I got to thinking how cute this would be to make little girl skirts as well.  Really, the possibilities are endless!  You could even make some pretty valances for your windows.

Speaking of valances, here's what I used to make adorable aprons for two of my nieces.

It is actually a valance, but I thought the print was sooooo sweet and would be perfect for little girls. What I like about using these gently used fabrics to make aprons is that most of your seams are already in place.  I am no seamstress...I can quilt, but putting in lace and ruffles is not something I am good at so why not get it already in place? Here's what it looks like on my sweet niece:

I made this at home so I didn't have a size reference when we visited on vacation, but it just fits her.  I made another one for her younger sister and that one she'll have plenty of room to grow in.  These are just some ideas on how to think outside the box when you need to make something.  Fabric is so expensive so why not look at garage sales and thrift stores or even your own home for inspiration.  I would love to hear what you are upcycling!  Be blessed and be inspired!

Recycled Jean Quilt is Finished!!!

So much has been going on the last two weeks that I don't even know where to start!  I will keep this post to this quilt.  I had worked on getting it quilted and I really had to hurry because I have a daughter who was entering an apron in the county fair (that is going to be a whole other post!).  I hate having to recalibrate the machine because it took me forever to switch everything over to sew on the denim.  But lo and behold, it is finished!!!!  This is our summer picnic quilt.

There are six of us in the family and every one of us has jeans in this quilt.  The sweltering heat made it really uncomfortable to sew this behemoth!!!  It weighs about seven pounds and I was sweating while I was quilting it on my machine. At one point, I had to go outside with my machine and set up in the shade because it was over 85 degrees...in my house!!!!  I like how it turned out...because I used some stretchy jeans, some of the corners do not match perfectly...OH WELL!!!  This is one of those workhorse kind of quilts so I'm not too worried about the imperfections...that's the whole point of this quilt.  It's all been recycled and getting new life.  

The quilt laid out in the driveway.

Detail of the center...again from jeans we had! (sorry, bad picture)

I hope you are all having a productive summer.  I can finally check one project off my list!  How about you???  Blessings to you, and may you keep cool in this heat!!!

Our House of Embroidery..on a budget

As we are on spring break, I have lovely projects set up for my daughters.  I recently found some flour sack towels on clearance at our local Sam's club.  They were on clearance because the plastic wrap was damaged...they marked them down half-price which means bargain for me!  I paid a little over $6 for 12 of them which is a very good deal!  We were at the craft store yesterday and you would end up paying nearly $7 for two.

Freshly laundered flour sack towels

While at the craft store, I also picked up on sale the Aunt Martha's transfer patterns for $0.99 each.  I bought five--each of my girls picked one for themselves and I picked two.  As you know, my oldest does embroidery.  I've also taught my younger two to backstitch so they are learning redwork.  It's really a lot of fun and there are so many fun patterns to choose from.  Here's a sneak peek at what they are working on:

A lovely rose pattern

This is my youngest daughter who is nine years old.  As you can see, her stitches can use some improvement, the sweet little darling, but already since I've started typing, she has done a great job staying to the lines.  All it takes is practice, practice, practice.



Running horses pattern

This is my middle daughter who is fourteen.  She adores anything with a horse on it!  She would love to have horses in her future.  She does excellent backstitch and I can't wait to see how this turns out for her!


A pattern of a colonial lady with her umbrella



My oldest is working on a bit of a harder pattern because it involves different stitches...she has much more experience so she will use some lazy daisy stitches and french knots.  
It's turning out to be quite the productive day and quite inexpensive.  These transfer patterns are good for additional transfers, plus there were many more patterns they haven't used yet.  The cost for this little project per child came out to $1.45 each.  It will give them hours of enjoyment and they will have a nice finished piece when they are all done. 

What fun projects are you doing on a budget?  Hope you are having a lovely Wednesday...blessings!

My Daughter's Quilting/Embroidery Project

I hadn't posted for a few weeks due to my oldest daughter's fine arts project--I stayed up with her so she had company at all hours of the night.  She is part of AWANA and as a high schooler, she goes to the national competition with her team.  They do Bible quiz, games, and fine arts projects and can win scholarships.  She actually won last year.  She had quite the lofty project this year and almost to the detriment of her health and grades, she finished it.  I must say, it turned out beautifully and has led to some exciting developments.  First, let me share some pictures with you!

View from the center

This project features Galatians 5:22 about the fruit of the Spirit.  The top tier has the reference, the middle tier has the beginning of the verse, and the lower portion has nine miniature quilts with each of the fruit of the Spirit.

One of my favorites is the quilt on love.  All these quilts are embroidered with mostly silk ribbon, and my daughter has perfected the french knot.  Look at the tall flowers...I tell her that I have no other way to describe them except as "delicious", hahaha!!!

Thank you for letting me indulge you about my daughter.  I really am a proud mama because this project was a huge undertaking and took so much work.  She is sixteen and after all this was said and done, we think we know where she would like to go to school.  I am going to do a separate post on that because this would be an exceptionally long post otherwise.  However, it has everything to do with these pictures and will be about a school most people have never heard of.  It's got a magnificent history and as a homeschooling mom who has taught her girls some things about embroidery and quilting, it makes perfect sense for the skills and direction that my oldest daughter would like to go.  It is all coming together so amazingly that the Lord's hand has been on her and it's becoming so clear what she needs to do!

I can't wait to tell you so come back again!!!  Have a great day and blessings to you!!!

New Year's Resolution...project

I have the same new year's resolutions that I do most every year:  lose weight and get organized.  I did lose 25 pounds last year and plan on losing another 20 this year.  As far as getting organized, I know in my heart that it is a lifelong pursuit, haha!

I was going through a pile of old projects and came across a project that I've had for at least 12 or 13 years now.  When we moved into our house ten years ago, I left a space on my wall for this project.  I still have that space waiting and yet, the project is nowhere near finished.  My new year's resolution is to finish this project this year!  I can't take another moment...it is time!  I will finish it and I'm working in time mostly everyday to work on it.  It's a large cross-stitch tapestry of a peacock that I bought in a kit.  It is magnificent and will look so beautiful when I finish it.  Here is how much I've worked on it in the last 13 years:

Aren't I pathetic???!!! Just keeping it real, hahahaha!!! It's all wrinkled.  Here's a better view of this delightful little corner:

I am going to finish this thing, darn it!!!  It really messes with your eyes because it's cross-stitched onto linen so you have to work over 2 squares...I basically have to work on it during the day in full light.  I found this image on the web so you can see what the finished product will look like.



What you can't see is that there are gold beads all throughout the border and you use gold filament to accentuate (which I absolutely hate using because it's difficult to work with).  When I am done with this, I am going to get it professionally framed.  This is going to be one of those heirlooms that's passed down to my children...provided I ever get it done!!!

So, what projects do you have lurking about???  Hopefully, they haven't sat around as long as mine, LOL!  Let's make this the year of finished projects!!!  Blessings on your endeavors!!!  

P.S.  If you read my post before this one, we were without hot water for five days...I'm happy to report that we are up and running again thanks to a good friend who helped us install a new hot water heater.  He saved us a good $500 on installation and we are so very grateful!  No more bathing in the "mini-spa" as I affectionately call our 18 gallon plastic bin.  

Recycled jean quilt top FINISHED!

Here we are in the new year and I have finished a project!!!  Yay!  However, I had this thing sitting around all summer waiting for only two more rows to be sewn on!  I am so thrilled to finally have the top finished!  This is going to be our massive picnic quilt!!!  It is 80" x 80".  Yeah, it's big!

I have hoarded our family's old jeans for years and now we have this to show for it!  As you can see, I included pockets and seams and a lot of sites said not to use stretchy jeans which I used, too!  Hello, it's recycling at it's finest.  Now, let me say that sewing denim is not the easiest material to work with.  I used the strongest, thickest needles I could use for my machine and I used upholstery thread to make sure the seams were nice and strong.  I didn't break any needles, but I had to help the machine along in a few places.  I had considered felting all the edges, but when I saw how much work was required per square I just went with simple blocks.  This project was too big to felt for the time I wanted to invest in it.  There are six of us in the family and I used jeans from all of us. It's so rewarding to see something so utilitarian repurposed for an even happier and more utilitarian use.

 Here's a picture of the center (sorry about the color...I just took this and had to use the flash...it's dark and my lighting is poor).  The girls always have pairs of jeans with fancy designs on them (can you say hand-me-downs).  I used a pair to make a nice design for the center of the quilt.



As I said, all the jeans we already had.  I bought brand new denim backing for a steal at Walmart when they were getting rid of all their fabrics.  The only thing I spent a good deal of money on was the batting.  With a 40% off coupon, I paid $18.00 for such a big piece of batting.  Because of that, I will be using this quilt indoors during the winter for us on our couches as we watch movies.  I really love how it turned out and now I've got to figure out how I'm going to "quilt" this monster.  I had considered buttons.  I don't like tied quilts.  I may just pick a number of squares that don't have massive seams to quilt so that this thing will stay together.  Any suggestions???  I will post another picture when all is said and done.  That won't be for awhile because my daughter is working on a fine arts project and using my sewing machine.  I will have to wait.  Until then, I hope your projects are coming together and you're finishing old ones or starting new ones!!!  I would love to hear about your projects, with denim or otherwise!  Happy quilting and happy recycling!

Aprons

Another one of my projects this summer and hopefully wrapped up soon are the aprons I am making for my children.  I've been wanting to make them for a long time now and so the opportunity presented itself and here I am.  All the older Walmarts with a fabric section are getting rid of all their fabrics.  I missed the beginning of the 50% off by a day or two so all the quilting fabrics were gone, but I picked up a few other fabrics that will be part of future projects.  I found canvas/duck fabric and it was exactly what I was looking for to be used as aprons.  It will hold up to a lot of wear and tear so I am really, really happy with the $2.50/yd. pricetag!!!!  It is excellent material.  I've completed one and almost done with another.  I've got two more to go and this is how they will look.

This is my youngest and hers is more "fru-fru."  The daisy buttons along the top match the daisies on the edging of her pocket...too cute!!!!!  The apron I'm almost finished with is my son's.  His has black and white accents.  He can wear his when he helps Dad barbeque and with me in the kitchen.  My two older girls have their accents picked out.  It's a lot of fun and will probably go with them when they grow up.  {sigh}

Another great deal I found at Walmart was denim.  In an earlier post I showed all my jeans cut into squares ready to be sewn into a quilt.  I found the backing denim for cheap!!!  I can get moving on that once I'm done with the aprons!!!  Be warned, though.  The fabric is thick.  One or two layers are fine, but when you're dealing with seams and putting on the ties, MERCY!  I already broke two thick needles.  I think I've figured out how to negotiate it all, but as with anything, it takes a little bit of time!

What are you sewing up this summer???  I'll keep you posted with the aprons and the quilt as I finish them.

Happy sewing and blessings!!!