Rag Rugs

Ok so last week will I was joy ridding through Pintrest I came across a post for a rag rug, to witch I've been want to make for a while now.  But I'm not particularly motivated to do the traditional braided rug, just to much effort then I wanted to put forth. so I've been on the look out for alternatives, well I found one over at Sugar Bee Crafts.  Now I warn you, I am not the read the instructions kinda gal, so I didn't exactly read it, just sorta skimmed over the pictures. I have enough crochet skills to make basic stitches and on a good day a circle.

So as I said before we love sheets around here (very useful things), so now I had a mission and needed to recruit some "helpers" (I use this term very loosely), I got to work .... I cleaned out my linen closet.  We found some sheets in there I couldn't even identify as mine ... any ways we pulled out the ones that where see through, had no elastic left, or just weren't being used.

  

I found lots of helpers for the next part, for some reason you can always find people to "break" stuff.  we got to making our "yarn" we tore 1" - 1 1/2" strips from our sheets, and rolled them in to balls.

Then I had a bit of a problem finding the giant crochet hooks, I did find them a few days latter at our local fabric shop for a couple of bucks.

This method works up really quickly, It took me and my poor crochet skills about an hour to get the middle done (about a foot to foot and half worth of rug).  Sweet I love instant gratification :)

I can easily get one done in a day in my spare time (ha ha spare time :)

 

 So as it worked out that 3 double/Queen size sheets will get you about a 3 foot round rug, give or take.  I've gotten a few comments on them, my purple and blue one I had made for myself as already been stolen by my son for his room. and the yellow and blue one matches my new curtains, you can see them here and here.

DIY Explorers Play Tent

 
After seeing the play ten tutorials on on Pintrest I thought I would give one a try for my little man, and it give my hubby some thing to channel his energy into.  So we went out to the hardware store for some supplies.  What we came home with was 2 – 1x2’s that were 8 ft long and a 5/8 inch dowel.  When we got home we raided the linen closet, yet again and pulled out this twin sized sheet set.  It kinda reminds me of the turn of the century explorers (i.e.. Indiana Jones) or an African safari.

So now with our materials in hand we headed out for the back yard.  We started  by cutting our 1x2’s in half, so they are roughly 4 ft long, and drilled a hole in one end of each of them.  We used a 5/8 inch drill bit because we wanted to have a sung fit so the dowel didn't fall out of the holes well the kids are playing with it, and we didn’t want to use any glue/hardware because we still wanted to be able to fold it up or take it apart for storage purposes.

Here’s a picture of just the frame, really Simple and supper quick for this part.

And here is a picture of the the sheet over the frame.  This is where all tutorials I saw online stopped, but we decided to add “doors” (flaps that open and close) to the front and back. We also added a tube at the top to run the dowel through, so it wasn’t sliding all over the place. All you do to make the tube is fold the sheet in half and run a line of stitching down the center along the fold, keeping in mind that the tube your making needs to be big enough to run the dowel through.  On mine I sitched about an inch from the fold.

 

As you can see we used the flat sheet for the main tent portion and I used the fitted sheet for the ends.  We started by removing the elastic from the ends and cutting the seams out of the corners.  Then we folded the sheet in half and cut down the center to make two end panels, then we folded each end panel in half and cut to make the opening for the flaps.  Then we finished the ends that would become the opening of the door (fold over twice and stitch), and hemmed up what would become the bottom of the door panels.  For the the closures on the doors we used  Velcro on one side and on the other we used twill tape for ties.

We also add some ties to the side to help support the weight of the sheet on the frame and so we could tie the doors open.

The tent has been a big hit, my kids and all the neighbor kids have been play in it nonstop.  If you make one and add the doors like I did make sure your elastic loops are on the out side of the tent, I have to go back and move mine, but other then that it works great! and cost less then $15.

Pimp my ... Cart ??

   
Well I’m feeling a little crafty again, and with the Wing Ding (community garage sale) coming up I thought it was time to spruce up my shopping cart.  The big problem I’ve always had with these carts is that the holes are so big you lose you bag through them, and well lets face it how snazzy is a cardboard box in the bottom (if you can find  one to fit).  So here is the game plan … I ‘m going to use some old jeans to make a liner.

So first things first … take measurements.  My cart is about 20 inches tall, 12 inches deep, and 16 inches wide.  I drew a little diagram with my measurements on it so I would remember what number went where.

figure out how much fabric we are going to need (how many pant legs).  I used one smaller pant leg for the bottom, and dug up some lager pant legs for the sides.  I gave my self a 1/2 inch for my seam allowance (center picture).  And the picture on the end is Eddie trying to “help”, look at that face  :) .

 

 

I decided to use some bias tape to finish the raw edges and for a little pop of colour, and some twill tape to use as ties to hold it up in the cart.  I did the bias tape on the sides first and then did the top and bottom to keep it neat.  And here is Eddie “helping” again. 

 

Here’s the test run to make sure it fit and that the ties were in the right places, so far I’m happy with how it’s looking.

I made a top flap to hide every thing inside the cart, and decided  not to add any pockets for now, although I may change my mind but for now I’m going to leave it the way it is. I added a tie to the center of the flap so I can tie it down if I want/need too.

Here’s the picture before the flap was attached and all the bias tape done.

and  After, the finished bag, ain’t she purdy.

$5 Sundress

This was a supper fast and easy sundress to make.  I got a cheep tank top, it was only $4 from the the local department store, and an old bed sheet from the closet. 
The first thing you do is decide where you want your waist line to be, I did mine at more of an empire waist line (I find it more comfy not to have things floating around my natural waist).  So I put on my tank top and marked where I wanted the waist line.  Take it back off and cut along your markings, remember to leave a seam allowance.  The next thing was to cut the sheet to the length you want the skirt and sew the it into a tube.  Run some gathering stitches around the top of the skirt.




Now pin the skirt to the tank top, and gather your stitches to fit.  On my waist band I also added a 1/4 inch wide elastic for a little extra give.  I’m notorious for tripping over skirts and closing them in doors and stuff.  Run it through the sewing machine, and then turn it right side out. This dress only used about half a queen flat sheet, and I used the finished edge around the bottom so I didn’t have to hem it up.  It cost less then $5 in materials and is really comfy to ware.

Home Made Pasta Sauce

So this is the first time I’ve made pasta sauce, but with 20 pounds of tomatoes in my freezer from last fall its time they got sauced.  As mentioned before I’m not one for instructions…. so I got out 2 bags of frozen tomatoes (theses are the large ones each bag holds about 4 lbs).  Now I removed the skins from my tomatoes, which is really easy seeing that they are frozen, all you have to do is let them sit in warm water for about a minute cut your top off and the tomato will pop right out.  I had to let my tomatoes thaw a bit, my pour food processer couldn’t keep up with them frozen solid.  So when they were a little less frozen I sent them for a whirl, I made it pretty smooth the kids don’t like there food chunky. I also snuck in 2 cups of zucchini, some onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and a couple good sized carrots.  What they don’t know wont hurt them :)  Now into the pot it goes! add what ever spices you like to taste, I added thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, pepper, and a little bit of red pepper flakes for a little kick, I also added a little brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit.  I let it simmer on medium/low for almost 2 hours, this is how long it took for all the naturally occurring water in the tomatoes to evaporate off.  Don't forget to stir often you really don’t want to burn it.  I left my sauce quite acidic just for the sake that I am canning it, when I go to use it I will add more sugar.  So when I was happy with it I packed it in my clean hot jars, leaving 1/2 an inch head space,(don’t forget to remove the air bubbles and clean the tops of the jars) put the lids on and returned the jars to the boiling water in my canning pot.  They need to boil for 35 – 40 minutes. For this batch I managed to fill 5 - 500mL  jars.  Well the jars are bubbling away do up you labels, don’t forget to add the date it was made, or it may turn into one of the mystery jars in the back of the cupboard. 
Now when it comes to canning there are a few rules you must follow from the recipe the amount of acid and the length of time to process in the water bath. (For the amount of tomatoes I used I added a 1/4 cup of lemon juice) If you’re new to canning I would would recommend following a recipe / canning instructions.  There are tons of good books out there, and you can borrow most of them from the library for free :) I own the  Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda Amendt. And Google, I love Google
  
 

Honey-Do list update

Well not every thing got done that was on the list over the weekend, it wound up being really nice and to hot to do to much around the house.  But the garden is about half planted, the lawn is mowed, and the pool is fully operational and was actually used (the water is only 15 degrees C bburrr).  The family had there priority on the pool so it was the only thing that got done in its entirety.  So I keep plugging away at the garden and it should be done by the end of the week, which is good for me, I usually don’t have it done in May. Today I got my white pumpkin seeds and as a bonus I found some  seeds for the jade pumpkins(they’re a blue/green colour), and the tomatoes and peppers to pant too. Now I have to work though all the tomatoes, zucchini, and raspberries in my freezer, so I can make room for all of this years garden vegg.  I’m working on a batch of spaghetti sauce right now I've never made   it so we’ll see how it goes.

My garden as it sits right now

Pool Before (yuck!)

Pool After (with it’s shiny new cover)

The Honey-do List

Today I decided to post something a little different. I’m taking a little break from sewing this week to work on the household honey-do list.  I have  bunch of little projects to do around my house that have been sitting around for a long time (years in some cases).  There is a cupboard to go up in the bathroom, and I would like to paint my towel rack that the previous finish is coming off of.  And this is garden weekend here, I have my potatoes to go in the garden, and we are going to plant the pumpkin patch and get some of the other vegg in. 
And there is the pool (I use the term loosely 10 ft round & 2ft deep) to be cleaned (yuck), set up and ready to go …  with the temps getting up there its time to  get R done.
So I’ve spent most of my week in preparation for getting some stuff done around the house, like getting gas for the lawn mower, getting the garden supplies, and all the hardware and paint for some of the bigger projects.
I will post some before and after pictures of some of the projects  as I go.
I’ve done some little things like knitting up some washcloths, lot of baking before it gets to warm this week, but nothing to exciting.

Regency Bib Front Dress part V

 

 

 

Well I’m not as far along as I would like to be but alas I have good news for this post …  I have fixed my issues on the sleeve, yah!!  I redrafted the sleeve over the weekend so today I cut out a mock up of the new sleeve and took it for a test drive, I could move my arm in all the directions its supposed  to move in, it didn’t pop any seams this time and is rather quite comfy.

Pictured below is the new sleeve shape in the mock up fabric, and a picture of the final before the pin tucks were done.

 

 

 

So here we have it I’ve got the final sleeves basted in, And the bodice basted to the skirt.  The Bib is only pinned on for the moment I have a feeling that there will be some adjustments to be made here.

Thing that still need to be done on the dress…

I need to finish stitching the side openings, baste the bib to the skirt, find some thing to use for the dress ties,  place the loops for the ties on the back of the dress, and buttons for the bib.  And then once its all basted together I make sure it fits and run it through the machine.

The Faux Feather Pillow

Well  I wanted to make some throw pillows but I have no “fluff” to stuff them with, so the creative wheels turn. I have a bag of snippets that was getting quite full, it’s been hanging next to my sewing machine for about a month now.  Usually I would throw it out when the bag was full, but this time I thought I would use it to stuff my pillows.  Will surfing the net I came across a tutorial for how to make stuffing from Belrossa’s Blog. Now having reed through the post to find she ran her bit through the blender.  /Now I was forbid running any thing that is not food through my blender, I just cut my bits into really small little bits (some thing the little people could do to, they like to help when it involves taking things apart.)  




So here is a picture of my tub o’bits.  Now to contain my bits and pieces I used an old t-shirt as the pillow form.  All I did was cut a square (mine was about 14in. sq.) and sew three sides together.  After the case was about 2/3 full I sewed up the last side to keep all the '”fluff” in.

Now for the pillow cover, I used some bits and pieces from some button up shirts that where kicking around.  I used two short sleeves from one shirt as the back, I overlapped the finished edges so I would have a place to slide the pillow into the cover.  Then I pieced together some other pieces to make the front.

 


The next thing I did was to put my Backing piece over the front pieces with right sides together, and stitched all the way around. I then trimmed all the excess of the edges and prettied it up and turned it right side out.  Now your ready to slide you pillow form into its cover and voila a Faux feather pillow.  I find that the squish of the snippet fluff mimics a feather pillow with out the pointy hard feather bits poking you in the head.