*BURP*!

*BURP*

'scuse me!  Did I do that?


{{{giggle}}}

It felt good!

No, not the burp!

I just got done with a shower gift.

It went quick and was fun.  

And the good thing?  

It's simple for even the most novice stitcher.

What you need:

A package of CLOTH DIAPERS. 

 (Mine were 7.99 at TJ MAXX.)

A yard of FLANNEL.

(It was on sale at Joann's this week for $2.99, they have a great selection!)

Your SEWING MACHINE

THREAD to match fabric

Narrow ELASTIC

A little BASKET to make a liner for, and FABRIC to line it with--

 that coordinates with the burp cloth flannel.

(I got my basket at Joann's on clearance for 60% off, it had some nasty looking

 fall liner in it with leaves that looked like marijuana leaves!  Seriously!)  

This can be done "assembly line" style.

1.  Pre-wash and dry the diapers.
2.  Take your yard of flannel as it's folded at the store.  Cut it all the way up the long fold.
3.  Fold in half, and cut again.  Fold in half and cut, etc. until you end up with strips of flannel  whose WIDTH is slightly larger than the thick center of the diapers.
3.  Fold the yard in half the other way to make the proper LENGTH.
4.  Fire up the iron and fold every edge and press.
5.  Pin each strip of flannel to the center of each diaper.
6.  Top stitch each strip, and trim all threads when done.
7.  Take the ugly liner out of the basket, cut it up for a pattern.
8.  Cut out the bottom and the four sides.
9.  Cut out "handle holes" and hem so it looks nice on the outside.
10  Stitch liner together, and hem edges, and then sew elastic along underside of liner so it will grip the basket.
11 Make a "burp!" tag and hang it from one handle; this can then be used on the changing table as is. I covered my "burp" tag with clear contact I already had here. The tag was made using my scrapbook paper and supplies.

*If you'd like me to do a picture tutorial, let me know.  This project seems easy and straightforward to me, but if you want me to break it down into visual steps, I can do it.  I just had to get this done quickly and didn't have time or the  right light yesterday to get the camera out.

This shower is neutral....the couple isn't finding out what baby is until he or she is born. YAY for them!  It makes "birth day" a real exciting surprise!


Let me tell you--there's not a lot of neutral baby fabrics out there anymore to choose from.  I went into the mom's baby gift registries to find out what her other items were and what "theme" she might have, and it seemed to be mostly zoo animals so I got the only fabric that closely followed that theme.  


(I am giving a new "Little Golden Book" instead of a card or gift tag.)

I am all ready to go!  Hope she likes it!

Accomplished: Burp Cloths

Got into the sewing room last week, and finished up some burp cloths I had cut out a while back.


It feels good to have another stack, ready and waiting.

And it's a good thing I got them done, because I already gave this set away, to a friend who just had a new grandson on Easter eve!  The ducks were my favorite in this batch.

It's always fun to pick and match patterns, and flannel is so easy to work with.  

These will be gone before I know it, and I will be making yet another stack.

If you want to learn how to make these handy baby gifts, just go here for a tutorial.


I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Cozy @ Home: Make A Simple & Sweet Valentine's Gift

Would you like to make a sweet, simple Valentine for a good friend or a family member?  I have a fun little one to show you today.

It involves a little hand-stitching.


All you need is:

quilting thread and needle

felt in two colors

cookie cutter or something that you can trace and cut the shape out

pinking shears

ribbon for hanging

a small amount of  stuffing, I used very little just to barely puff it.

The recipient of this little periwinkle heart with a Scottie dog on it loves the color periwinkle and Scotties, so she'll be pleased, I think.

Cutting with the pinking shears seems to help the thread to have a place to rest when the stitching is done and makes it look a little bit neater, I'm not the best hand-stitcher.


I cut the dog out first.


The heart shape (cut two) I first cut with a piece of paper--free handed--then cut the felt with the paper heart pattern, AFTER making sure the shape would fit nicely inside the heart.


First, stitch the shape onto the front of one heart.


(Tiny buttons could be added at this point for accent if you'd like.)


I secured the ribbon to the back heart on the inside before starting to stitch the hearts together.


Start stitching the hearts together.


Sew almost all the way around, stopping on a flat side on bottom to gently push just a little stuffing in before finishing your stitching.  


Words could be stitched on, but I thought the simpler, the sweeter.


They're almost as fun to decorate as a Valentine's cookie!  And I don't think you'll be able to stop with just one...so have fun!

Simple + Sweet = LOVE!

A Vintage Farm Table for Sewing...

Now that Christmas is over and done with, I have a big bunch of stuff to catch up on:  the main one is sorting to do in my sewing room.  It's sorting like thread, fabric, doodads and whatsists, stuff that is super-dee-dooper annoying to think about sorting.


Well.


Yesterday, I got some inspiration started for that when I accidentally bumped into this table at my favorite antique mall.  It's a little porcelain-topped farmhouse table, painted in brilliant red, glossy paint.  It came with two solid oak chairs, also red.  What a set!  And under $75!

It's a sweet lil' thang...


All red and white and cheery.


Even the man that helped me load it into the truck asked me if I planned on leaving it red and white.


I told him yes.


He said "Well that's good, because it's so cheery."


A man.


Said that.


Well.  


Well.


I was amazed.


And then, of course, I recovered from the pure shock of his observation to me and agreed with him --"It IS cheery!"  I said, and then, like a good girl, I helped him load it, said thank you, waved and was off to home.

I lugged it in the house and up the steps after I took out the old table and unloaded the stuff that lived underneath it.  (Like I said, I must SORT.)  


The old table is a 6' white plastic banquet table I made a skirt for from Sam's Club.  It worked for a long time, but it took up way too much room in my small area.  I'd been on the lookout for a little farm table like this.  


After I moved the old table out, I vacuumed up three complete generations of Asian beetles that lived (and died) under my sewing table.   


(Oh, have I mentioned that I would like to personally wring the neck of the brilliant governmental official who thought it would be beneficial to import these ANNOYING, USELESS bugs into our environment to drive every housewife in the state INSANE!??)

This little set has to remain red.  Besides being cheerful, it matches the curtains!

MOTIVATION, that's what this little set is.  Now I am obligated to sort and organize because my old table was WAY bigger and hid way more under its skirts.  


My sins are all out in the open now, with this little number.  I don't think it will wear big old long skirts well like my big table did.  She's a petite little thing, and her legs should be shown off.

Right?

Cheery.  
Oh.  
Yes.








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Please tell me that you hate Asian beetles, too, Michiganders?!  

Worth Repeating...A Great Gift Idea

I've posted this before but it's worth repeating.

These Therapeutic Rice Bags are under $4 each to make.

You won't want to make just one. Because, you'll want at least one for yourself!

It's sch an appreciated gift -- anyone I've ever given them to really likes them.

In fact, a friend of mine that was given one last year, ordered one for each of her adult kids and her mother for Christmas this year. She's going to "stuff their stockings"...!

They are fairly easy to make.

The place mats are sold at Wal-Mart and are perfect for this project. The reason is that they are firm and hold the rice well, and stay put where you need them.

First, remove any stickers or tags.

Next, fold the place mat in half the long way. Smooth it out. Feel those ridges? Those are going to come in so handy! Pin each end of the place mat at the upper corners only, as shown here. Go to the sewing machine and sew each end shut, reinforcing your seam at each end.

Now, take out your handy-dandy hem gauge and place a pin at approximately every three inches. Only one pin is needed at the top; approximate intervals will be fine for your stitching lines.

See the fine grooves in your place mat? Use those lines to stitch vertically! What could be easier?

Start at the right and work your way to the left side of the bag and continue to stitch each of your little sections off by following with your needle that little groove all the way down, not forgetting to reinforce your stitching at both the top and the bottom.

If you start your stitching at the right side of your place mat, you can roll it up as you work your way to the left until you have stitched all your vertical lines.

(These little sections will hold your rice, which will hold the heat, which will then be applied to your achey-breaky parts.)

Once all the stitching is done at both ends, and in the three inch intervals, hold your rice bag up in a 9 x 13" cake pan, and use a funnel with a fairly wide opening to pour approximately one cup of rice into each three-inch section.

Do not fill all the way to the top, you'll need some room for give and some room to stitch it shut. I left about two thumb-widths empty at the top.

Then, once each section (about one cup per section) is filled, stand your rice bag up in a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

If you overfill, the best way to remove excess rice is to take it out with a spoon.

Try to get each section filled to the same level as the one next to it. Shake gently from time to time so the rice will settle.

Use lots of pins so the rice doesn't escape and get into your sewing machine.

Now, take straight pins and pin halfway down the length of the top opening and flip it over and pin the other half on the back side. The reason for that is because you have to start stitching it shut from the middle and go out to the edge. So, pinning all the way down one side won't work.

Stitch the top side that was pinned, starting at the halfway point. Remove pins.

Stitch the back side that was pinned in the other direction, and once stitched, remove pins.

Don't forget: reinforce your stitching at the beginning and the end of the seam that you make to sew the top of the bag shut!

Finally, pne more reinforcement on the long seam we made to shut the bag. Start at the bottom of one corner of your bag, and start a continuous line of reinforcement stitching.

All done, all reinforced.

Ready to use!

(Wasn't that easy?)

Heat the rice bag from 1.5-2 minutes, just be careful.

Apply that handy gift to your nearest and most achey body part.

Go forth. Go nuts! Buy place mats. Buy rice! Lots and lots Louisiana rice. And make rice bags. Your friends and family will love you for it!

Approximate cost per bag: $4 (Place mat 2.25 + tax, rice approximately $2 worth per bag, about two pounds per.)

Approximate time start to finish: half an hour or less.

************

I always roll these up, tie with a ribbon, and attach a cute tag or a label that tells the recipient how to use it.

The tag says something like this:

"Therapeutic Rice Bag

Keep in the freezer to use as a cold compress or...

When needed as a heating pad, heat in the microwave on a plate for one to one and a half minutes and apply to your ache or pain. Should hold heat for a half hour to forty five minutes. This bag contains rice, please do not get wet. Can be stored in freezer to use as a cold compress when needed."

And, one final note.... for all you quilters out there who know about the CHAIN sewing that makes repetitive stitching go so much faster, you can do that if you've got a pile of these to make. You'll save a lot of thread and a lot of snippin'....so go for it! I chained three to four at a time.

Just feed 'em through...

And pile 'em up....!

PS: At the time I bought the place mats, I also bought a table runner. With that I was able to make TWO draft dodgers for the old farmhouse entry doors. I will post those instructions soon. I am considering making windowsill draft dodgers for some of the farmhouse windows and the place mats are the perfect size.

Bandanna Blanket, A Cute & Clever Baby Gift!

It's been a while since you saw this sweet little man...my grandson, Levi Jack.

These pictures actually make my heart hurt...I miss the little guy so much.

Here, he still has his newborn look in his face, eyes, hair, skin...

and those sweet little lips.

Seventeen days old, just getting to know us, and we him.

So fresh, so new, so sweet.

The little blanket he's lying on was a gift from his great Aunt Lisa.

And it's made of bandannas, I thought you might like to see it--you might want to make one, too! It gets used every day at play time.

It's bright and colorful, and clever.

And it makes a quick and fun idea for a baby shower gift.

Aunt Lisa hand quilts these, and she makes these for babies all the time, it's her gift to all babies, the colors just get changed up...

if it's a girl she goes for the pinks, purples, yellows and turquoise and coordinating backing in flannel girly prints.

This one consists of two blue and two red for a total of four bandannas (larger is fine, but four makes a crib-sized quilt.)

The binding on this one is a coordinating cowboy print to the one that is on the quilt back....keeping with the theme for Levi's room of "retro cowboy".

(It would be great paired with burp cloths, made of the same flannel you use for backing the bandanna quilt, which I showed you how to make here.)

Jamie was so excited when she opened it at her baby shower.

It's THE gift that she said she hoped Aunt Lisa would make for the baby!

This blanket will be a keeper, for a long, long, time.

Bandanna Quilt Summary:

Buy four bandannas; two of each color or four different colors

Buy flannel to coordinate (two kinds if you like) one for backing, one for binding

Sew four bandannas together in the center

Form sandwich with backing, quilt top and quilt batting

Machine or hand-quilt the blanket

Attach binding, by hand or by machine

And, while we're looking at Levi, I thought I'd show you a couple pictures my husband took while he was "babysitting" Levi one night in August while they were all here in Michigan for my niece's wedding.

Grandpa had to give Levi a bath and get him ready for bed, so he rigged up a couple towels and made a way for Levi to lay down in our big bathtub. There wasn't room in the car for Jamie and Thad to pack all the things babies use on a daily basis; and Grandpa was so proud of his invention.

(Levi was two months, nine days in these photos.)

And Levi had his first experience of not being confined in the tub and splashed and kicked for a long time!

Look at those baby blues!

He even gave his grandfather a sweet little half-smile! ;-)

***

Tonight, my phone beeped; it was a video from Jamie of baby Levi.

It was the first time I heard him LAUGH, and it was so precious!

I am SO THANKFUL for modern technology, when my grandbaby is 750 miles from his Nana, instant video and pictures make me smile, every day.

Jamie and I have a tradition, since the baby was born, we call it

'picture of the day' and she tries to send me a picture on my phone almost every day

of the baby. It doesn't matter what he's doing, I love them ALL!

***

Hope you all have a really great Monday!

(It's the start to a brand new, fresh week!)