Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Scraptacular Cup Cozy Tutorial :)

The word "cozy" makes me smile.
About a year ago, my hubby and I were ordering a pizza.
The girl behind the counter asked for his name.
He said "Jose" and she proceeded to write on the pizza box.
15 minutes later when the pizza was done,
we laughed uncontrollably all the way to the car.
The girl had written "cozy" on the box!

Now my hubby is a lot of things...
handsome, intense, intelligent,
but I don't think cozy is a word that most who know him
would use to describe him!

Although the older he gets
and the more grandchildren we get,
he is getting "cozier" all the time :)

For this Scraptacular Cup Cozy you will need:
3 - 3" squares of scrap fabric for the hearts
3" by 9" rectangle of Wonder Under
2 - 5" by 12" scraps of fabric for the cup cozy
1 - 5" by 12" piece of fusible fleece
1- 1" button
1 - pony tail elastic
28" of 3/4 to 1" wide rick rack (optional)
Download pattern HERE
*Make sure that when you print the pattern,
in the print screen where it says "page scaling"
you change it from "fit to printable area" to "none"
or the pattern could print the wrong size.
The cozy pattern piece should measure 10 1/2" long.

Read through the entire tutorial before
you get started.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Using the pattern piece,
cut 2 of fabric and one of fusible fleece.
I just stack them and
 cut all 3 pieces at once.
Fuse the fleece to the wrong side
of one of your pieces of fabric
and set that aside.

Now take the 3 - 3" squares of scrap fabric
and fuse the rectangle of Wonder Under
 to the wrong side of the squares.
Using a pen or fabric marker
trace the heart pattern on each of the 3 squares.
Cut them out along the lines you drew.
Using a pin,
scratch a line in the center of the paper backing
and fold along the scratched line.
Now you can easily peel off the backing
without fraying the edges of the hearts.
Once you have all 3 hearts peeled,
you can set them aside. 
Now for the fun part with the rick rack.
If you are not choosing to use the rick rack,
just ignore this step.

Take LOTS of pins and the piece of fabric
that you ironed the fleece to
and pin the rick rack
to the right side of the fabric so that
the "valley" of the rick rack is lined up
with the fabric edge.
This takes a while to do and you'll have to
"ease" the rick rack around the corners and 
overlap the beginning and the end of the rick rack
so you have a smooth finish.
I'm sure someone has an easier way to do this,
but this is just the way I do it
so I'm sharing it with you.

Once you have the entire edge pinned
you will edge stitch an 1/8" all the way around
pulling the pins as you get to them.
I tried to show the overlap of rick rack,
but it is hard to get a good picture of what
I'm actually doing here.
You want the ends of the rick rack to fall outside
of the finished cozy.
Now back to the stitching.
Use a 1/8" seam to stitch the rick rack to the
fleece lined fabric panel.
My sewing machine foot has a red line for the 1/8"
as you can see in the photo.
This is what it should look like when you are finished
with that step.
Now flip it over and check out the front side.
Be sure that you caught all the rick rack
and if not, you can go back now and re-do it.

Remember....if you chose not to add the rick rack
you'd most likely be done by now :)
Ha! 
Ok....now take your remaining piece of fabric
and match the 2 sides good sides together
and pin.
Take the pony tail elastic
and with the bulk of the elastic towards the inside
pin in place. I stitch back and forth
over the elastic for durability,
pulling the pins as I reach them.
Just stitch around the entire cup cozy again
at 1/8" following in the stitch line
you made when you added the rick rack,
leaving a 3" opening for turning.
Do not leave the opening in the same place
as where you overlapped the rick rack.
Leave the opening a bit before or after
the overlap.
If you chose not to use rick rack,
just sew the 2 pieces together,
right sides facing in and leaving a 3" opening for turning.
Carefully turn to the outside
and slip stitch the opening.
Now press.
Next take your 3 hearts and lay them out
on the front until you are pleased with the location.
Fuse them to the cozy with your iron
and stitch around the edges  of the hearts
with an 1/8" seam.
Stitch around the entire cup cozy edge
 with an 1/8" seam as well.
Hand sew your button in place
check the pattern piece for button placement.

It really doesn't matter whether your button
is on the left side or right side.
Just as long as it's opposite the pony tail elastic.

Then stand back and admire your handy work :)

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A slight break in the action....

I haven't really touched my sewing machine since Friday.
It's been a busy weekend around here and yesterday I was busy
with paying bills and going grocery shopping.
I did, however, have some time last night
to do some more cross stitching :)
I can't wait to finish this one!
I love love love the chickens!!!
Sometimes it's nice to have a little
break in the action!
And Arthur and Barkley were more than happy
to keep me company while I stitched :)

Friday, February 24, 2012

Another Mug Rug and a Quilt Along!

I think I have mug rug fever :)
I get all the joy of quilting
and all the satisfaction of completing a project in one day!
It's a win win!!!
I made this one from scraps left over
from the little sun dresses yesterday.
I fussy cut some butterflys from the main fabric
and used Wonder Under to fuse them to the white background.
Then I machine stitched around the edges
to make sure they weren't going anywhere in the laundry.
I added the "You are a blessing" label
that I purchased from the Sweetwater etsy shop.



This past year on other blogs I've seen
some super cute quilt alongs
with embroidery in the center of the blocks.
I was hoping to join in on the fun myself in 2012.
Imagine how excited I was to find that
 Clover & Violet are hosting
Garden Steps Stitch and Quilt Along!
It took me all of 2 seconds to decide
whether or not to play along :)
They are so talented and so generous
share these patterns with us!
Seriously....go check it out!
The first block pattern will be available March 14th.
The hardest part for me is the waiting!!!
The supply list says you'll need 12 fat quarters
and one solid white for the embroidered center.
I actually pulled these fabrics from my stash
and I'm so happy with the way they co-ordinate!
The fabrics that they will be using are super cute too
but I'm a red, blue and yellow girl
so I'll be changing the colors
 to better suit my home.

 
I also have to share some of my
birthday month goodies that I received from my friends.
My sweet friend Regena made me this 90"
table runner made from red striped Moda toweling.
She knows how I love table linens!
Very French kitchen :)
It's perfection!
And from my dearest friend Marcia,
she made me this darling tea wallet
and matching heart shaped coasters!
She knows how I love hearts!
It's so cool to have such thoughtful friends!
I am so blessed :)


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Cuteness times two!!!

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having sewing girly stuff?
I made these 2 little sun dresses
 with matching hats for Sofie  and Evie.
I used Butterick B5017.
I removed those huge flowers after I took these pictures.
It just felt like over-kill.
Sometimes simpler is better.
Those huge flowers will not go to waste.
I will definitely use them on something in the future!

You may have noticed the cute little guy
in the background.
That's my youngest grandson Gabriel :)
He wanted so badly to be in the picture
to model his new hair cut.
Yes....he really is that stinkin adorable!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A Treasure Found :)

The other day my Mom gave me a bag of embroidery floss
and another little bag filled with cardboard quilt templates
of all shapes and sizes.
My Mom lives in a Senior apartment complex
and she has some truly amazing neighbors!
One woman is 90 years old
and doesn't look
a day over 65
and she goes dancing every week
at the Senior Center!
How cool is that?????

These bags of goodies were given to her by Irene.
She is one of my Mom's friends that had lost her eyesight
 to the point that she could no longer quilt or embroider.
In the bottom of the bag of quilting templates
I found this little hand quilted "treasure".
Probably one of the last works of art
this sweet lady worked on.
I just couldn't leave it sitting in a bag somewhere.
So I decided to make it into a
mug rug for her to use and enjoy :)
I used clear mono filament thread
to stitch along the hand stitched lines.
At the time I didn't know
that this dear lady had lost her sight.

My Mom was so happy to see it like this and said
that Irene will be able to "feel" the pattern :)
And she said that Irene has 2 daughters who will love
to have this piece of their Mom's artwork one day as well.
I love it when God brings a plan together like that!

Monday, February 20, 2012

King Arthur's new throne :)

I love my cat,
but I do not love cat hair on my couch.
So yesterday I finally got around to making
a proper Cat Mat for my kitty.
I bought 5/8 of a yard of blue checkered flannel.
It cost me less than $3.00.
I cut it in half and placed the flannel
with the good sides facing each other.
Then I cut 2 pieces of Warm & Natural batting the same size
and placed them under the 2 layers of flannel.
I sewed all the way around the edges with a 5/8" seam
leaving a 5" opening on one side for turning.
When you turn it right side out
 the batting is now sandwiched
between the layers of flannel.
I slip stitched the opening closed.
I did a 5/8" top stitch all the way around the edge and
machine appliqued a heart that I cut out of red fleece.
The finished size is 20" by 25".
The entire process took about 30 minutes.
Super easy.

It took Arthur all of 5 minutes to check it out.....

and decide that he likes it.....

and take a cat nap on it :)

Mission accomplished :)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Friday Night Sew In #11

So here is my work in progress from this Friday night.
I'm almost finished with this little dress for Evie.
I'm also making one for Sofie and
they will have matching hats....of course :)

And since I had so much fun making
the Hometown mug rug for my Mom,
I decided to make one for my daughter as well.
She recently wrote a lovely blog post
about how much she loves her home,
so that inspired me to make
her mug rug with a little house on it.
I added a fun little Sweetwater label
that says "Home Sweet Hometown" :)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I'm so bad at keeping secrets!

If you read my blog on a regular basis
(yes....all 4 or 5 of you)
you'll remember that when Amy and I attended
a recent quilt show,
we joked about making
matching quilted jackets to wear to the next
Quilt Festival with Regena and Denise.
Clearly....that is NEVER going to happen.
But it got me thinking about
some fun personalized cup cozies for us to have.
I ordered these custom labels from Sweetwater.
This cup cozy pattern is my own.
I was planning on making it a free tutorial
but it's not easy peasy
because there is A LOT of pinning
 to get the rick rack just right.
Maybe I'll post the tutorial without the rick rack
in the very near future.
Would anyone be interested?

I was planning on giving these to the girls as a surprise,
but clearly I can't wait until July.

Sorry ladies....
you'll just have to get them early!!!!

All the fabrics I used are from earlier
lines from Sweetwater.
There's so much buzz about "Hometown" and "Reunion"
by Sweetwater, which I also love!
But the older lines are fantastic too!
Here is some fabrics from "Sunkissed".
I see some really cute sun dresses
for Sofie and Evie in the future!
That gray & pink fabric is mine :)

And these are from "Make Life".
And because I hate to pay full price for anything,
I love that I can find these older fabrics
at around 6 bucks a yard on etsy and ebay.
I loves me a good deal!
The fabric is such wonderful quality
and it just makes me want to sew something fun!
I also love that you can find some great
co-ordinating labels on the Sweetwater etsy shop.
This is starting to sound like a commercial.
I promise I don't get anything from Sweetwater.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Scraptastic Tuesday :)

As you can see,
 I'm still trying to use up every tiny morsel
of my Hometown scraps.
This 6" Dresden was supposed to be
 part of a pillow for my living room,
 but I decided to make a mug rug for my Mom instead.
I love to give random gifties.
It makes me happy :)

Hope you're all having a lovely Valentine's Day!!!

Monday, February 13, 2012

February Blessings :)

I have to admit, that I'm not much of a Valentines' Day girl.
Maybe because my birthday is 5 days before,
and my daughter's birthday is 2 days after.
And did I mention that she was born
on our 3rd wedding anniversary?
So with all that going on,
we have enough love to celebrate!
For some reason this cute fabric called out to me
when I was at Joann's the other day.
I fussy cut it into strips and then did
a sort of log cabin block and made this fun mug rug.
I figure that I always do my best to
"Sew in Love" whenever I am making something crafty :)
So it's not necessarily Valentines
and there are hearts and polka dots....nuf said!

For my birthday this year
I asked my Mom, my daughter and my daughter in law
if they would want to join me and we could all go
to Balboa beach for the day.
We packed our lunches and headed over there.
The weather was fantastic.
One of the very few times it wasn't raining
on my birthday.
Gotta love California.
The boys had such a great time in the sand and water!

And my Mom loves any excuse to hang out
with her 6 great-grandchildren!

Little Miss Sofie is 9 months old already!

And little Miss Evie is 7 1/2 months old!

Makes my Nana heart happy to see the boys
playing so nicely together!

I know these little ladies will be
best friends forever too!

The boys were excited to ride the ferry across
to the other side.
David has made this trip many times,
but for the other boys it was their first time :)

What a perfect way to spend my birthday!
And if that wasn't enough,
this little blog of mine was featured in
the "Best of the Web" post
How fun is that?
They also have a really cool "tips"
section you can check out HERE