I accomplished yet another of the projects on my priority list today. The dogs now have some nice mats for their crates. They are even personalized! They were very quick and easy to make.

Materials:

One yard each heavy denim and polar fleece. This is enough to make two mats approx. 35”x28”. I just cut each yard in half down the middle to make two pieces 36” by 30”. My two fabrics were quite the same width so I did a little trimming to match everything up. If you want them to fit perfectly into the bottom of your crate just measure the bottom pan size and add an inch to get a 1/2” seam allowance all the way around.

How To:

If you want to personalize it, hoop your denim and stitch out the name. Because this denim was so stiff I didn’t put an stabilizer in the hoop with it. I did Maizey’s first and some of the stitches weren’t as nice as I’d like them to be so when I did Cas’ I slipped a piece of Heavy Cut-Away under the hoop before I started stitching and that worked great.

Lay the denim piece out flat right side up and place fleece right side down on top of it. Smooth everything out, matching edges, trim any edges that aren’t even.

Round off the corners. I marked them with a chalk wheel and used my magnetic pin cushion as a guide. I chose to round them off to make turning them right side out easier. Pin both fabrics together. Stitch around edge, leaving an opening for turning. I used my walking foot because the fleece likes to stretch under the foot while stitching. I also lengthened my stitch length and made sure I had a jeans needle in the machine.

Turn right side out and clip excess fabric from curved corners and notch seam allowance. (I forgot to take a picture of this step.)

Topstitch approximately 1/2” from edge. Be cure to tuck in the edges of the opening so they get caught in the topstitching.

All done in a couple hour’s work. I like that they are lightweight and easy to wash. No stuffing for the dogs to chew apart and get all over the house. The fleece gives a little cushioning and the denim is durable.

Miss Maizey looks a little less than thrilled with her new digs but that is partly because I moved her crate today from one corner to another and now Cas is in the same room. She doesn’t like change.

In reality the dogs don’t spend a lot of time in their crates. Just while we are out of the house. They are still spoiled and get to sleep on our bed at night. And with my part-time hours and how early the girls get home from school they are rarely crated for more than a few hours at a time. But Cas does like his crate and will just go hang out in their for periods of time. He is also a bit of a hoarder and we will find random things hidden in there. Like the time my friend stayed over to dog sit and after we got home I was cleaning it out and found her bank card still in the envelope from the mail in his crate.

Also, does anyone else think it is weird that two Michigan State Spartans have a dog named MAIZEy? I didn’t ever realize the awkwardness until I embroidered her name in bright yellow on a blue background.

This is one of the feet Steve got me for Christmas. (I think I wrote down the wrong number when I gave him my list, I really wanted the #71 which is wider and for denim but I’m not complaining, I’ll buy that one myself and still get use out of this one.) This isn’t a foot I’ll use often but like so many Bernina feet, when you need it nothing else will do the job quite as well or as precisely.

I’ll show you step by step how to use this foot. Also the above link to the Bernina website has a great little video showing the foot in action.

Step 1: Align your fabric WRONG sides together with the bottom fabric 5mm beyond the edge of the top fabric.

Step 2:  Fold bottom fabric over edge of top fabric and place under the foot.

I use the point of my seam ripper to carefully poke the top corner of the folded fabric under the foot and needle. I then take a stitch or two and stop with my needle down to hold everything while I maneuver the folded edge of the fabric into the foot the way I want it.  

Sew down the seam keeping the bottom fabric folded over the raw edge of the top fabric.

The finished first seam. The raw edge of the top fabric is wrapped with the bottom fabric.

Step 3: Press seam and open it out, I don’t press it flat though. I find that it helps to get it under the needle and then take a few stitches and stop with the needle down so I can rearrange the fabric and get it placed in the foot properly. This also where having the Free Hand System (knee lift) comes in really handy!

Sew down the seam. The foot will fold the edge over and stitch exactly along the edge giving a perfectly top-stitched finish.

This sample was sewn with bright green in the needle and grey in the bobbin. This sample was sewn with bright green in both the needle and the bobbin. My bobbin stitching doesn’t look as perfect in this sample as the above one because I didn’t have it threaded perfectly. Usually the two rows of stitching will be exact and perfectly parallel like they are in the above sample.

The result is a perfectly finished seam with no raw edges. Where would you use this technique? This narrower one would be perfect for sewing side seams in lightweight blouses instead of a French seam. The advantage over a French seam is that this type lies flat. You see this seam finish in men’s dress shirts. This type of seam is very strong so it is good for seams that get a lot of stress. The most common use of a wider flat-fell seam is in denim jeans. I made a pair of stretch denim jeans for a store sample this fall and plan on making myself a pair soon so I will be going back and getting that #71 foot. I love the way this seam finish looks, so professional. I’m at the point in my sewing career that I want my home-sewn items to look as good if not better than store bought and this is just another way to achieve that goal.

At a later date I will share with you a couple short cuts you can use to achieve a flat-felled look in fewer steps and less time. Because we all know that I also like to get projects done fast!

Step 1:

Start with a smallish (2”x3”) trapezoid shape. The more irregular the shape the more skewed the finished block will end up.

Add the side pieces to opposite sides. I usually pick a piece of fabric that is longer than the side I’m adding it to to give me plenty of room for trimming later.

Sew (1/4” seam allowance) and press with seam allowances toward outside.

Step 2:

Trim excess fabric. I line my ruler up with the edge of the original piece and trim off the excess fabric. You can also trim at a new angle if you want to skew the edges even more.

Step 3:

Add the next round. Again choosing a piece that is a bit longer than the edge it is being added to. This round goes on the other edge of the first piece and the seam crosses the ends of the seams of the first round. Press open with seam allowances toward the outside.

Trim overhanging fabric like in the first round.

Step 4:

Continue to add fabrics to opposite sides, pressing and trimming as you go. I typically add a total of 7 rounds, the center square counting as “round 1”. I planned this quilt so that the 6th round will be white fabric and the last round (7th) will be the darker green.

Step 5:

I want my finished squares to be 11” square so I make sure the last two rounds (white and green) are plenty thick enough to give me room to trim them down to the finished size.

Lay a square ruler on top of the finished block and make sure your finished dimensions fit on the square.

Trim right and top sides.

Line trimmed sides up with the 11” marks on ruler. Trim remaining two sides.

Your finished block should be square with opposite green edges and opposite white edges. You can vary the width of the inner rounds to make the outer rounds wider or thinner. You can also add more rounds. The bigger the angles you use to cut the edges will skew or square you block more or less depending on personal taste.

Step 6:

Putting the finished blocks together.

Line the blocks up so that a green edge is touching a white edge (turning each block 90°)

I am pretty sure that this is how I’m going to assemble the finished quilt. But I may experiment with adding a narrow green sashing between blocks. But right now I like how the green edges make the rest of the block “float” in space and blur the lines of the finished blocks.

NOTES:

For a while I was making the blocks so that the 3rd round was always white but then I thought that made the finished quilt look too white all over so I started eliminating that round of white and varied the fabric placement to make more darker blocks. I’m also trying to make more blocks with thicker green edges. I think the overall effect will be very cool and modern looking. I love the fresh clean look of this simple color palette. Right now my quilting plan is to just straight line quilt with lines going across the quilt in different directions. I just don’t know what color thread to use. I think white will show up too bright on the green parts but green or blue will muddy the white sections. I’ll have to do some test blocks to see what I like best. Of course I’ll post results here to get your opinions!

I also made this one square using the breast pocket from one of the shirts. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to incorporate it into the finished quilt. I may do a partially pieced back and put it there with a note to Missy in the pocket. Or I may use for a coordinating pillow. I also saved the front button bands from the shirt with the idea of using them on pillows as the closure. The possibilities are endless!

If you use this technique please link back to me so I can see your creations. I love these improvisational techniques because the end results are all so different. I can’t wait to see what you all make with it too!

When I was a kid summer camp was the highlight of the summer, right after the County 4H fair. Probably because I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone else from birth to death and the majority of us were cousins I looked forward to any opportunity to get away and meet new people. For either one of my many trips to camp or maybe when I was in the Performing Arts Troupe that toured the state all summer, my Mom made me a drawstring duffle for my sleeping bag and pillow. Mine was heavy denim and had my name appliqued on the side. It was also huge!

I made this simple duffle for Emma to put her sleeping bag in and to keep it neat and easy to identify. I made it in less than 2 hours with one yard of cotton fabric. It would probably take less time now that I have measurements and am not stopping at every step to take photos!

(It still needs an actual drawstring, seems that no matter how much fabric, notions and other stuff I have here at home I still need to make a trip to the store to finish a project!)

Step one:
Measuring and cutting.
Measure around the rolled up sleeping bag. I added quite a few inches to leave room for extra stuff like a blanket or small pillow or if Emma can’t get it rolled back up as tight at the end of camp. I determined that one yard would be just right.

Cut yard of fabric in half length wise set aside one 36″ x 22″ piece to use for bottom and optional pockets.

Finish raw edges of 22″ sides. I chose to serge mine with a narrow 3-thread overlock stitch. You could also trim with pinking shears or sew a small zigzag stitch.

Step Two: Marking and Sewing
Fold right sides together matching finished edges. Pin
Make small marks in seam allowance 1.5″ and 2″ from top edge. I chose to leave the selvage as my top edge.
Sew seam using a 1/2″ seam allowance from top edge to first mark, secure, cut thread.
Sew remainder of seam from second mark to bottom, securing stitches at mark.

Press seam open.

Step Three: Making Round Bottom.
Here’s where the math part comes in. If you don’t remember your basic algebra the formula to determine the circumference of a circle is: Diameter x 3.14(pi) or for our purposes we’re going to reverse the formula and take the circumference and determine our diameter: Circumference/pi + 1″ for seam allowances.

Because I serge my raw edges I ended up with a 34″ circumference instead of the original 35″ that I had planned. That gave me an approximately 11″ diameter (10.83 to be exact) So I cut a circle with a 12″ diameter.

Fold circle in quarters and mark with small notches.

Fold main body into quarts and mark with notches.

Step Four: Sewing body to bottom

Match notches on body to notches on bottom, pin. Continue matching and pinning the raw edges (right sides together). You may need to make small snips in the raw edge of the body to help ease around the curve to match the bottom.

Sew. Be careful to keep both layers flat under the needle, stopping every few inches with the needle down to straighten fabric and keep raw edges matching.

Finish edge.

Step Five: Make Drawstring casing.

Fold top edge down, wrong sides together 1 1/4″ inches. If you have a raw edge here turn raw edge under 1/4″ then turn down remaining inch. Press and pin.

Sew 1″ from folded edge. I chose to sew from the right side using a 3mm topstitch. You could also stitch from the wrong side 1/8″ from finished edge.

If you made your small opening in the side seam in the right place you should have a small hole right at the top of the bag to thread your drawstring through. I typically use one and a half the circumference of the bag for my drawstring, 1.5 yards in this case. I plan to get a slippery nylon cord and a cord stopper. After my trip to Joann’s I’ll try to remember to take a photo of the finished product and post it here.

I just made mine plain and simple but you could add a pocket to either the inside or outside, if you have an embroidery machine you could add a cute design or your child’s name to the side. If it is going to get a lot of rough and tumble use, like when I took mine on the road for the summer, you may want to make it out of a sturdier fabric like denim, canvas or home dec weight cotton. There are even some really cute new vinyl coated cottons out there that would make it slightly water-resistant.

Happy Summer. Don’t miss your kids too much while they are off on new adventures. I’m going to try not to miss Emma but it won’t be easy.

Now I am sitting here at my computer and finding inspiration to get some sewing projects started. (Notice I said “started”, I make no promises of finished projects!)

First I found this: Off The Grid Quilt. I found it through Sarah at My Spare Time blog but now I’m getting 404 errors when I try the direct link. She made her version smaller to make it more of a stroller blanket. I really like that idea because I remember when my girls were babies and that smaller size really came in handy. My niece is expecting her second baby girl any time now and I have an abundance of the Tula Pink Hushabye line of fabrics left so I’m inspired to get cutting and piecing again.

While investigating that pattern I came across this: Child’s Activity Bag I think this will be a quick sew that will make a perfect “Big Sister” gift for Kaija Jane.

Both of these tutorial/patterns came from the Moda Bakeshop. The patterns are designed to use the precut fabric bundles Moda sells but are easily adapted to using any fabric. There are pages that give all the measurements for the precuts so using remnants or regular yardage is pretty simple. I’ve added a link in my sidebar to the “Bakeshop” so if you’re looking for inspiration or patterns it is easy to find.

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Heidi update:
Earlier this week I was afraid I’d have to report that we had come to the decision to finally say goodbye. Monday and Tuesday she was really doing bad. She could barely stand and dragged herself outside to potty and had accidents both mornings in the house. But yesterday she rallied. She got her feet back under her and managed to walk with some difficulty. Last night after we went to bed she somehow got herself across the house and into the bedroom with us! She hasn’t left her rug by the front door other than to go outside in weeks so this was a big deal. This morning her eyes are bright and all of her happy personality is back. I attribute some of it to the fact that Steve got home last night. She is really bonded to him and misses him when he travels. Also Sarah and I took Maizey for a walk yesterday and Heidi was beside herself because she couldn’t go with us. Maybe she is trying to prove she can still get around if we give her the chance. Her 10th birthday is Sunday and I plan on treating her like the princess she is. If it’s possible I’m going to get Steve to join us at the dog park and hope that the snow in the forecast really comes.

While I was at the vet today I had a conversation with my vet about our end-of-life plans for Heidi. As difficult as it is to even think about I think it is important to have a plan in place. Because we’re pretty sure she has DM but there is no way to know for sure without doing a necropsy we are planning for that. The University of Missouri is doing a study of many breeds of dogs to try to determine the causes and genetics behind this disease and someday hopefully the information they gather will lead to treatment and maybe a cure. I have decided to participate in this study and have Heidi’s spinal cord sent to them for their studies. I also shared my worries that she will fail when Steve is traveling as he is in his busy season again. I want him with me if at all possible when this happens but if he can’t be I will need help moving her. I was reassured by my vet that if the need arose they could either send a tech to help me transport her or she would make a house call if worse came to worse. Having these difficult conversations and having a plan in place does help put my mind at ease. This is the hardest part of being a pet lover.

I put together kits of my eco-tote shopping bag a while ago. I’ve had them here in the store and I have sold a few. But I finally got my act together and photographed them and listed them in my etsy store.
 
A couple weeks ago one of my online friends sent me a link to a rag quilt with the suggestion that these would make great holiday projects. Of course I ran right out to the front room, grabbed some bolts and started cutting and sewing!
 
This is my first one made with squares of all the different holiday flannels I have. It is so soft and cuddly! But then I looked at all the coordinating smooth cottons I have and had to make another.
 

This one is made with the Jennifer Paganelli “Bell Bottoms” line. I added batting to this one too but I don’t like it so I won’t suggest that to anyone else. Maybe a layer of plain flannel sandwiched between the regular cotton would be nice. Flannel would add a little body and warmth without making it stiff like the Thermolam did on this one.
Today I added my first kit for these to my etsy shop: Rag Quilt Kit
Tomorrow I hope to have time to put together a kit out of the Bell Bottom fabric and get that listed too. Of course if you are local and would like a kit you can always stop in the store and pick out your own fabric combination.

Happy Sewing!

Today she brought in the fabric and the wooden frame her carpenter built for her and we tackled it together. We did some math, measuring and digging around in the basement for a few little supplies until we completed this awesome awning!
 
And we had a lot of fun doing it too. She has very little sewing experience but she was perfectly capable of “following the scalloped line” and sewed the little edging perfectly on the first try. Then we had to get “Girl Scout creative” with our staple gun with a too short cord and no working extension cord and a little more garbage picking to put it all together.

All in all a very satisfying project and now Cammie can tell all the visitors to her basement Ice Cream Parlor that “I made that!” and be deservedly proud of her achievement.

  
First off is a selection of hemp twine and hemp jewelry making books. The panel of teens and ‘tweens I had the pleasure of listening to tell us old folks what was cool with Generation Z were all about the hemp jewelry. I have large balls of twine for big projects of for those of you who want a budget friendly way to make lots of pieces for gifts. I also have variety packs that include colored hemp for special projects or for those of you who would like to try your hand at the old/new craft without investing in a lot of materials.

This seems like a good time and place to insert a little story and warning. A few years back my daughters got into making friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss and eventually, hemp twine. They had one of these big balls in a bag along with some beads in their bedroom. After a while after they had moved on to other creative pursuits (the eclectic crafter thing is hereditary!) the hemp was forgotten. Fast forward a few months when I take the dogs in for their annual exams. Heidi, the Bernese Mt. Dog, needs her teeth cleaned. I make an appointment, take her in on the appointed day and nervously wait for the vet’s call. Any time a big dog like her is sedated it is scary. A few hours later I get a call from my vet. It seems that when they began the teeth cleaning she discovered a string wrapped around one of Heidi’s back teeth. When she went to pull it out it wouldn’t budge and fearing doing great damage she x-rayed her. Turns out the string continued down into her stomach where on the x-ray there appeared a large mass. With my okay they performed emergency abdominal surgery to remove the mass which appeared to be a large “mop-head” like clump of string. Yep, you guessed it, it was the long forgotten ball of hemp twine. Had it not gotten wrapped around her tooth it probably would have continued through her digestive system and cause irreparable damage. This episode earned Heidi the nickname, Bernese Mountain Goat and is still Dr. Dodd’s favorite vet story. So if you decide to get into hemp jewelry making and have a large canine with goat-like eating habits be warned!

The next cool product I just got in is Spray Fabric Paint. I haven’t had time yet this week to test it out but it looks so cool. Watch a demo video HERE Imagine being able to make fabulous looking Tie-Dye shirts without worrying about the chemicals, messy rinsing process, and time! I have individually packaged colors plus party packs that will make up to 24 T-shirts.

The last new product line that I’ve been looking forward to for months is UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and EasyCast Resin. Both of these products can be used to make one of a kind jewelry along with lots of other cool craft projects.
  
The UTEE is a coarse powder that can be melted, poured, cut (when still warm) and used to coat paper, cardboard, metal and many other things. Suze Weinberg is the goddess of all things UTEE.
 
I made this gorgeous pendant using clear, violet and platinum UTEE by following the directions on the Amate Studios website I will be ordering more pewter jewelry blanks from Amate soon. Right now I do have the large rectangle as shown here.
 

The EasyCast resin is also really neat. It can be used to make faux glass and beads as well as used to coat or fill metal, wood or chip board findings. I have a nice selection of reusable molds that can be used with either the UTEE or the resin to make one of a kind jewelry pieces or decorative elements for collage. I haven’t had time to play with these yet either but did find some awesome online tutorials:
Resin and Silver Jewelry
Cute Resin Coated Dominoes
Jennifer Perkins Video Tutorial (And hey! unlike her you won’t have to go to two Big Box craft stores for your supplies, I have it all right here!)

I would love to give demos of any of these new products so if you are interested and just want to see how it’s done stop in and I’ll have show and tell!

(Click on any of the thumbnail pictures for a larger view.)
Step 1: 
Fold garbage bag in quarters and smooth out wrinkles.
Step 2: 
Place folded bag between layers of paper. I use a large piece of newsprint.
Step 3: 
Set iron to wool/silk setting with no steam. Iron over paper/garbage bag sandwich. Be careful to keep iron moving and apply pressure to get plastic to melt and flatten out. Keep checking progress and flip plastic over periodically to help bond both sides. If the iron is too hot or left in one place too long it can cause holes in the plastic or make it stick to the paper. Gently peal the paper from the plastic if it starts to stick.
 
The end result will be a textured thick plastic “fabric”.

Step 4:   
Cut rectangle of plastic into two smaller rectangles. Using a paper template, and folding plastic in half, cut bat shape from both plastic rectangles. Download Bat Template PDF

Step 5:
Using mono-filament or black thread sew thread onto bat and hang.
 
On one bat I just sewed through the back of the “head” and on the other I sewed through both wings and connected the threads in the middle.