Just Pure Lovely

Handmade Christmas (& a tutorial on how to make a puzzle)

I told you we're trying to have a handmade Christmas this year.  "Trying," meaning "I'm not entirely sure we'll pull it off," meaning, "I haven't finished what I wanted to make," but we have been busy with our trying, anyway.  Our children have really gotten into this idea of making gifts.  It's been good for them to have to think creatively.  

Our ballerina likes to sew and bake, so deciding what she wanted to make everyone was easy. Our boys, though, needed to do some thinking.  Our little guy (8yo) decided to make stickers with my old Xyron sticker-making machine.   After drawing on cardstock with markers, he simply puts the paper into the machine, turns the dial, and voila!, stickers!  I've had that machine for years, but seldom use it, so I'm happy he's getting such enjoyment from it.   I'm also glad it's so easy for him to master alone.  Before he had the idea of stickers, he wanted to sew pillows.   That would mean that his mama (me, yes) is doing the sewing and he's telling me what to do.  I'm behind on my own need-to-do list, so I am especially supportive of his sticker-making idea.

Our 13yo asked if he could learn to use the scroll saw the other day.  Why not?  After laying out a few rules and making him quote them to me at least five times, he thought he'd use the saw to make puzzles for his sisters and brothers.  This is the one he made for his brother:

Step One:  Draw a picture outline on thick cardboard or thin wood (this cardboard was from the back of an old dresser, but any cardboard or thin wood would do - you can buy it new if you don't have an old dresser to tear apart)

Step Two:  Paint the picture.  The entire surface should be covered in paint.  We chose acrylic paints -- those that you find in the little bottles at the craft store.

Step Three:  Cut that picture into puzzle pieces (note to his Nana, my mom:  you might not want to see the next photos of his hands so close to that saw blade.  But we don't need to worry. He said the rules at least five times, remember.)

Step Four:  See if you can put the puzzle back together again!

If you're working on projects, too, leave a link so we can see what you're doing!

 

An Apron to Sew

Fall weather makes me want to do things.  Does it you?  I want to Do Things like bake bread, stir stew, sew an apron...

And if I'm going to sew an apron, why not a ruffled apron for baking that bread and stirring those stews?  This apron was an easy one to make, even for me - a straight-lines-only amateur seamstress.  Want to sew one, too?  I'll try to help get you started. Here's how I did it...

First, a piece of muslin cut to the size of the apron (but a few inches less than the length desired):

Cut fabric choices into folded strips the width (horizontally) of your muslin, and twice the length (vertically) you prefer each strip to be. 

Fold the strips in half (into one long strip).  Sew the strips closed along the long side.  The strips will then have one raw, long side (with sewing stitches shown) and one folded long side.

Turn under the raw edges of the shorter ends and sew shut.

Sew the strips onto the apron, along the raw, long side of each strip.  I found it easiest to sew from the bottom of the apron up, allowing the last ruffle to hang over the bottom edge of the apron.

For the tie, I sewed an extra long strip of fabric, folded it over the top edge of the muslin, and sewed along its length.  It looks like this...

And, viola!, an apron!  A ruffled apron, no less!

Oh, p.s., if you don't have a fancy machine, don't worry.  We don't need a fancy machine to sew things!  Mine is an old ugly thing after 16 years of sewing.  It was my first Christmas gift from that handsome man I married and still peek my eyes open to every morning.  It's humble, but it can still sew.  That's what matters to a sewing machine anyway.

How to Make a Spinning Top

 

If you have a mini lathe hanging around on a workbench...oh, you don't?  well, neither do I, but it doesn't hurt to learn something new anyway, so..

if you have a mini lathe hanging around, or not, you might want to use it (or wish you had one to use it) to make a spinning top, like this...

Step One:  The woodworker keeps a box of circles with dowels in them.  I think you could create these circles with a door handle tool (I'm sure it has a more technical name than that!) and use a drill to inser the dowel pieces into the circle. 

Step Two:  He put the dowel-in-a-circle-of-wood on his mini lathe.

 

Steps Three and Four :  He's carving the wood to shape, using lathe tools.

 

Steps Five andSix are really the same step.  While the lathe is still on, he sands the top down.

 

Steps Seven, Eight, and Nine :  He draws with a Sharpie marker (no kidding!) while the lathe is still on.  This part gets "ooo"s from the crowd as the color moves across the wood.

 

Step Ten: Giving the top a dousing of spray varnish.

 

Step Eleven:  Cutting the spinning top off the lathe.  I think the lathe is still on.

Step Twelve (not pictured):  A little hand-sanding just on the tips where the top was cut from the extra dowel on the lathe.

Step Thirteen:  Give it a twirl and see if it spins!

In case you're wondering, those aren't my hands in the photo. I really hope you weren't wondering that.  They're not.  They belong to a very nice woodturner at the local heritage festival we attended Saturday. 

He sold these tops for just $3.  Less than a gallon of gas.  Who needs gas anyway?  With that inherited logic, and to support the arts (& crafts), all four of our children wanted one, custom made, in different colors.  Such an accomodating gentleman he was!   They were, I mean: my man who handed out the cash and the patient woodworker who handed out four tops.  I purchased a hairstick for me, which is yet another reason to put "mini lathe" on my Christmas list this year. 

Project: Knitting a Shawl Like Tasha Tudor's

I don't think you're supposed to keep the knitting urge when it's Spring and the garden is growing, but I do still have the knitting urge, so that's that.   I am a whim-follower.   This week, my whim is to knit a Tasha Tudor shawl.  Never mind that I'm knitting it in wool and we are in the middle of March and I live in the Deep South.  Never mind that at all.  I want a shawl like Tasha Tudor has, and I want to knit.

Here is Miss Tasha in her red shawl:

Mine will be in Chestnut Brown. This is what the delivery guy brought today:

Chestnut Brown 100% wool (4 skeins) & size US4 29" circular Bamboo Knitting Needles

(those are the only things needed for this project but I also ordered, because I am a follower of my whims, a Bias Tape Maker and white wool to dye - neither of which I know how to do, but ... what fun is not trying, I ask?)

Do you want to knit a shawl like Tasha's, too? If so, here are a couple of links to photos and the free pattern:

• The free pattern for Truly Tasha's Shawl and a photo of the back
• Photos of a completed shawl by Threads of Love

Of course this is not the only knitting project I have going on.  I like to have several projects in the works at all times.  So, I'm also making a knitting bag, a scarf for my man (who absolutely will not need it until next "winter," and maybe not even then, but what else to knit a guy?), and finishing a purse for our Little Gal.  The purse was supposed to be a sweater until I got absolutely bored of the pattern and couldn't imagine spending months on it, so it's now being stitched up to be a bag/purse.  Whims.  You know.

Links for Hand Piecing & Hand Quilting

It's 3:26am and I can't sleep for the major thunderstorm that's going on outside.  I love a good storm, but they don't lull me into sleep anymore, thanks to a hurricane named Ivan a few years ago that left me still loving storms but with a fear of their after-effects to the point that if it is dark outside and I can't see that things are perfectly fine, there is no relaxing to be had.  If you've gone through a major natural disaster (and who hasn't these days?), you understand, I'm sure.

Happily, the Internet is working even though our satellite is not (cloud coverage, I think), so I was able to find some links for you.  In the comments recently, someone asked for links to handstitching tutorials and I finally found some great ones for you:

• Hand piecing a quilt


• Hand quilting

And if you are very new to sewing or new to rotary cutting (cutting fabric with a pizza-cutter-looking gadget), this rotary cutting tutorial may be helpful, too.

Project: A Tutorial for the Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt Top

There has been quite a bit of interest in the Disappearing 9 Patch quilt top I made a couple of weeks ago.  That humbles and surprises me, new quilter that I am (thank you.) When I started a new one for our Little Gal who is turning 5 tomorrow (sob), I thought I'd photograph the process more closely for you.  I only recently learned the Disappearing 9 Patch from another blog, but I'll include how I went about the process in case it's helpful to someone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, select your fabrics.  If you're like me, the decision takes a while, so just hang fabric swatches up like laundry on a clothesline, adding one/taking one down every time you walk by until you notice that you're not taking any off anymore.  That's what I do.

Or you could be less indecisive and just go to the fabric store and choose quickly.

Cut the fabric into squares.  I cut 4" squares, but you can choose another size. I forgot to take a photo of the little squares.  Sorry.  You can imagine 4" fabric squares, right?

If you want to make a doll quilt like mine, which is about 18"x13", you will need 27 squares.  I used 9 different fabrics (see them above), so I cut 3 squares of each fabric.

Is that too much math for you?  It is for me.  Let's not do any more math.

Sew the squares together, to make "9 patch" quilt blocks, which are each 3 squares wide by 3 squares long.  You'll see what I mean in the photos below.

Square up each 9 Patch.  I like this part.  It allows me to get the piece back into a square shape.  After the way I iron (lumpily) and the way I sew (crookedly), it is a lucky thing indeed that I can square up the piece.  I squared my pieces to about 10-11", I think.   Just get them square again.

Cut the 9 Patch in half.  Oh, yes. I did just say that.  You can hold your breath but don't close your eyes. 

(I used a rotary cutter. That's what that pizza slicer-looking thing is doing there.)

Cut the 9 Patch in half again.  Yep, again.  Keeping the pieces together in their original position (as if you hadn't cut it already), cut it again, this time across).

See? They are cut and they look still pretty.  Now catch your breath again.

Turn the cut pieces in any direction you fancy.

Arrange all of the pieces in the order you find most pleasing.  Indecisive person that I am, I spend quite a while turning the squares, adjusting, counting (oops, I mentioned math again), and worrying over them.  This time, our 10yo daughter said, "Mom.  It's fine."  And I said, "I'm obsessing again, aren't I?"

She wisely kept silent.

Sew the pieces together.

As in the other quilt I made, I worry that you experienced quilters might giggle-snort into your coffee when you see my multitude of blips, tucks, and, ugh, a complete misalignment (I don't like to pin things before I sew them).  Look at the photos below after you set down your cup.

I love the Disappearing 9 Patch for the way it covers up glaring errors, like those I make while quilting.  It's a good design for new quilters like me.

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Add embroidery (if you like), batting (if you like), a backing fabric...then machine or hand quilt the piece.  Then bind the edges as you like.

I've loved embroidery for years, so hand quilting is appealing to me.  Blissfully ignorant of any quilting rules (there are some, right?), I am freehand-quilting, going in a square here, creating a little trail there, making tiny plus (+) signs there.  I know I have much improvement to make in my stitches, which should be even & tiny and not wonky & big like they are. In embroidery, we don't deal with such thick layers.

Here's a peek at the quilting and embroidery progress so far:

Photos by Lori Seaborg, February 2008

Project: Knitting a Hot Pink Gift for a Little Sister

I walked into our girls' room this morning to find the room had been picked up (check), the blinds were open (check), the sheets were taken off the bed for today's laundry (check), and then...

I found this on the bed, next to an Easter hat and a pile of stuffed animals.

It looks like our 10 year old ballerina has been knitting for her little sister's upcoming birthday. 

Our ballerina knows that her little sister thinks dressing up is far more fun than any plastic toy money could buy.   She dresses up at least a half dozen times daily, in princess dresses, a yellow blazer, high heels, flower-laden sandals, and soon, in this:

Every gal who dresses up needs a hot pink boa.   

Knitting Directions

(she used size 10 needles and FunFur yarn)

• Cast on 10 stitches, or to your desired width
• Starting with a knit row, knit one row, then purl one row until the boa is the length you'd like
• Bind off

Project: A Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt Top

Note:  A full tutorial has now been written and photographed. Click to read "Tutorial:  A Disappearing 9 Patch Quilt Top."

As I mentioned, our ballerina and I are taking a quilting class soon.  But, being myself, I just couldn't wait a full week until the class, so over the weekend I used this tutorial to make a Disappearing 9 Patch incubator-sized quilt top.

The fabric:

ooooh, ahhh, oolala

Cut into squares:

Before you look at more photos, if you are a seasoned quilter, please set down your coffee cup or you might giggle-snort into it and get coffee on  yourself.  I have uneven blocks, little blips, tiny tucks, but, hey, it filled some time with creativity.

The three 9-patches:

What's more fun than filling time with creativity, I ask? Certainly not giggle-snorting into coffee.

The pieces are then cut (ack!), turned (ack!), ironed (ick!), and then sewn back together (whew) to make this:

this...

and here it is in full (-ish):

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I learned something during this patchwork process, besides that quilting requires ironing. A lot of ironing.  I learned that I like quilting.  I really, really like quilting.  I know, I haven't actually started the real "quilting":  hand-stitching the layers together.  But I already know I really, really like quilting.

I just know.  You seasoned quilters understand.

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p.s.  It's February 21st.  Later today, this evening if all goes well, I hope to have posted a full tutorial complete with even more photos of this Disappearing 9 Patch quilt process. This time in pink!  Check my main page tonight or tomorrow morning.   Done!  Click here to see a second Disappearing 9 Patch that I made, with more photos and instructions included.

p.s.  Oh, you know what else is super fun about the Disappearing 9-Patch?  Making the men in my life (ages 8, 12, and their Daddy) figure out how I did it, after giving them only one hint:  that I cut all the fabric squares the same size.  Heehee, it's fun to puzzle those puzzle-solving guys.

Photos by Lori Seaborg, February 2008

Project: Turning a Child's Art into Embroidery

Our children like to embroider their drawings.  The following one was created by our eldest daughter (the ballerina) when she was 8 years old.  Just this week she created another one (she is now 10).  Below is a tutorial that originally posted in 2006 on my homeschool blog:

STEP ONE:

First, draw a picture.  This is a picture that our ballerina (8) drew of her new kitten.  She drew it left-handed, even though she is a righty, because her right elbow is broken and in a cast right now.   Pretty good, considering all that!

STEP TWO:

Transfer the design onto any fabric of your choice. Denim, broadcloth, linen, cross-stitching Aida cloth, burlap, silk, etc.   For the child's first time, choose a cloth that is light-weight (eg. not denim this time) so the child can insert the needle easily.  Our ballerina transferred her design onto a piece of pink linen purchased at the needlework store.   

There are several options for transferring a design. One idea is to just have the child draw on the fabric in the first place. If they drew on paper, you might use a transfer pencil, use some kind of transfer paper, or simply do what we did:  put the drawing under the fabric and copy it with a fine-point Sharpie (see Step 4 to view the results) or a pencil.

STEP THREE:  

Choose your thread. On burlap or plastic canvas, use yarn.  On the other fabric choices, use perle cotton thread or embroidery thread.  We used DMC cotton embroidery thread, which our model is displaying below.

Awwww.

For the needle, use a chenille needle or a tapestry needle.  You may also use a plastic child's needle.

STEP FOUR:

It's time to embroider!  . Back Stitch is the most common stitch used for outlining in cross stitch, and was very easy for my children to master.  My favorite is the Stem Stitch (also known as other names).  For filling in small spaces (like the bunny's carrot in another project), we used Satin Stitch.

STEP FIVE: 

When finished, you have lots of options.  Here are a few:

• Leave the project in a wooden embroidery frame, such as above, and hang it on the wall
• Mat and frame the embroidery (there's a huge debate amongst needleworkers as to whether or not you should use glass in the frame - you choose)
• Turn the artwork into a small pillow
• Use it as a stool cover
• Turn one or several of them into a child's apron, like Wee Wonderfuls did in this post.
• what else?  add your ideas to the comments.

Our ballerina's finished design (which turned freakishly purple when photographed in the shadow of a blue door)....

was turned into a pillowcase.

If you post a project on your blog, send me a link!

Photos by Lori Seaborg, 2006, 2008

A Month of Quilting Tutorials at Sew, Mama, Sew

Oh, goody!  The Sew, Mama, Sew blog is posting a month of quilting tutorials for February.  This is perfect timing for us.  Our little ballerina (age 10) and I are starting a sewing & quilting class this Thursday with a lady at our church.  I just love it when older women (we're all older than someone!) practice Titus 2.  That makes my heart cozy and warm.  Hey! Just like a quilt makes my toes cozy and warm.