Life Happens

The air is crisp and clean and many of the leaves have taken on pretty burgundy, orange, and yellow tones. No, not in my home state of Hawaii but here in North Carolina!

Yes my friends, the hubby and I arrived yesterday in the beautiful state of North Carolina where he will be undergoing extracranial/intracranial bypass surgery. Unfortunately, he is not a stranger to these kinds of surgeries. This particular surgery is terribly scary but I know that we will get through it. We always have. I struggled with the decision about whether to bring this to my blog but I thought that it would help to explain why I haven't been a very attentive blogger over the past several months. My heart and mind have been preoccupied with life matters.

Unfortunately, I will not be seeing much of this beautiful state as the next couple of weeks will be spent mostly in hospital and hotel rooms. Between initial consultations, preop testing, and the actual surgery itself, there will be little time for sightseeing. I will be bringing my camera along for the ride anyway. Shots of pretty trees in parking lots...



a quick trip to the mall...


where they're already decorating for Christmas...


and as of Friday, delicious hospital food to whet your appetite, followed by a shot or two of the inside of hospital rooms. The possibilities are endless. *smirk*

And because this is a blog about making stuff, here is a penny posie flower cluster made from wool felt that I put together before I left Hawaii. I'm still debating on whether or not to permanently applique this to my jeans pocket because I'm wondering how well it will hold up to multiple washings.


Thank you everyone for your well wishes about my fractured pinky. Fortunately, it is on my non-dominant hand and mostly hurts when I hit it against something (like my computer keypad). It is feeling better and better with each passing day and is pretty minor in the scheme of things, don'tyathink???

Take care everyone. Remember to enjoy the little things in life and to savor the time spent with family and friends. Life is fragile and things can change in an instant.

Aloha!

Scrappy Patchwork Flower

**This tutorial is intended for personal use only.**

Fabric scraps. What to do with all of those fabric scraps. I am willing to bet that most of you have them, and lots of them too. It is very fulfilling when a project can be put together using scrap pieces of fabric. This would mean that it would cost you next to nothing to make, and who could argue with that these days.

I needed a package topper for a small gift and decided to create a simple flower in lieu of a bow. The first place that I look for small pieces of fabric is in my scrap drawer. What a wonderful assortment of prints awaited me.


For this flower, I used nine, 1-3/4-inch square pieces of fabric. With a scissor, round both corners on one side of each square.


With needle and thread, take a running stitch along the square edge of each petal. After all petals are on the thread, tie both ends of the thread together to form a circle of petals.


Take another scrap piece measuring approximately 3/4" x 7". This will act as the flower center. Remove threads from one of the 7-inch sides until you have 1/4-inch of fray. With needle and thread, take a running stitch to the non-frayed edge. Gather and tie both ends of the thread together to form a circle. Sew a button or two to the center, and sew the piece onto the center of the circle of petals.


It is pretty just as is...


...or add velvet leaves for an extra special touch. Add a pinback to the back of the flower if you wish. Voila! A very pretty and very easy package topper/flower pin.


Make a bunch of these to coordinate with the wrapping paper you intend on using this holiday season. Modify the size of the petals to make it larger if you would like to have something more dramatic. You can also make a couple of petal rounds, one about an inch in diameter smaller than the other and layer it for a fuller effect. Wouldn't they be gorgeous done up in red and green or burgundy and gold? Hang them on the Christmas tree or on a holiday wreath. Whatever makes you happy. A fabulous something for almost nothing, and that has to be a good thing!

Take care!

Aloha!


P. S. Hint of the day: Never stand on a swivel chair when tending to a paper jam in your printer high up on your computer desk. You risk falling and breaking something, such as the tip of your baby finger. Ask me how I know.

Take-Me-Along Tabbie Blanket

**This tutorial is intended for personal use only.**

I know a cute little baby girl who is just learning to grasp items with her hands. I am sure that she is going to love this Take-Me-Along Tabbie Blanket. It is small and can easily be taken with her wherever she goes.


For the body of the blanket, I used two pieces of 11" x 11" fabric, a decorative fabric for the front and a soft flannel for the back. I cut twenty-four tabbies from scrap pieces of coordinating fabric, each initially measuring 1-1/2" x 4". Each tabbie was folded and sewn before being attached to the body of the take-me-along.


The tabbies were evenly spaced and pinned around all 4 sides of the take-me-along. Each piece was then sewn securely to the body of the blanket for a total of 6 times so as not to become loose and pose a choking hazard.


A sweet Take-Me-Along Tabbie Blanket for a sweet little girl.


Have a wonderful day.

Aloha!

CRAZY BUSY

Time has been flying by here in the land of Polka Dot Pineapple. Tired, weary, sore fingers, but still pushing ahead. Barely.


I have been making these contrasting fabric yo-yo posie key chains for more than a decade and I can almost do these with my eyes closed. Thank goodness. Now, if I could only sew in my sleep, I'd have it made in the shade.


So much to do, so little time. Planning to spend long hours at the sewing machine this weekend and play catch-up. I hope you have a fabulous and productive weekend too.

Aloha!

Merry Yo-Yo Christmas!

At a glance, the yo-yo used in this project looks like a traditional fabric yo-yo, but it's not. This method calls for a rectangular piece of fabric instead of a circle. The benefit of using this method is that you get a double sided yo-yo without much effort. In other words, this ain't yo grandmama's yo-yo! Er, uhm, sorry, couldn't help myself. Heeheehee! Okay, back to the task at hand.

To begin, create a 2-3/4" circle out of cardboard or ultra firm stabilizer. This will be used to keep the center of the yo-yo rigid. Remove a 3/4" hole from the center of the circle. You will also need an 11" x 3-3/4" piece of fabric, two 3/4" buttons, and a handful of fiberfill.


Place fabric onto a pressing surface with wrong side facing up. On both 11-inch sides, fold over 1/4" and press in place.


Sew short ends together to form a tube.


Press seam open. Turn right side out.


With needle and thread, take a 1/4" running stitch close the edge of one side of the tube.


Pull thread tightly to gather, knotting securely before cutting thread.


Add a small amount of fiberfill to the inside.


Add the cardboard circle on top of the fiberfill.


Top with more fiberfill. With needle and thread, sew a 1/4" running stitch close to the edge.


Gather tightly, knot securely, but this time, do not cut thread.


Slide a button onto the thread.


Stick the needle through to the other side. Add the remaining button to the thread. Continue sewing from one side to the other to secure the buttons in place while keeping tension on the thread to create a slight tufted look to the yo-yo center. Knot securely, cut thread.


You will need two holly leaves for this project. Draw and cut out a 1" x 2" holly leaf from cardboard.

**An easy way to make the leaf pattern is to first make a 1" x 2" grid onto a scrap piece of paper. Quickly draw holly leaves in each of the boxes. This is a good way to achieve simple shapes and to guarantee the desired size. Simply choose the leaf that you feel turned out the best. Transfer the paper shape to cardboard.


Trace the leaf shape onto the back of a small piece of Heat 'n Bond Ultra Hold (the non-glue side).


Iron the Heat 'n Bond to the back of a remnant piece of green fabric.


Cut out the holly leaves. Remove paper backing and iron both leaves onto a small piece of white felt. Trim the felt to 1/8-inch of the fabric.


Using a 3-inch piece of cardboard as your guide, wrap narrow ribbon around it twice. Tie a knot in the center to form a simple bow.


Cut 8-inches of embroidery thread, clear fishing line, or gold thread and sew it into the top of the berry to form a loop for hanging.


Hot glue or hand stitch the leaves to the top of the berry, just in front of the hanger.


Yo-Yo Holly Berry
Glue the bow on top of the leaves. Leave it as is or add a decorative jingle bell to the center of the bow.


Green and Red Yo-Yo Holly Berry


Yo-Yo Peppermint Kiss
To make the Peppermint Kiss, cut twelve (6 red, 6 white) 1-3/8" x 3-3/4" fabric pieces. Join the pieces together on each of the 3-3/4" sides using a scant 1/4" seam, alternating colors as you sew. Iron all seams toward the red fabric. This will create the fabric piece needed for the yo-yo. The directions to make the Peppermint Kiss is the same as the Holly Berry.


That's it! Make a tree full and have yourself a Merry Yo-Yo Christmas!

Aloha,

A Simple Solution

**This tutorial is intended for personal use only.**

On weekends, I prefer hand stitching over machine simply because my project becomes portable and I am able to take it to any location I desire. I often leave my sewing room to be with hubby while he enjoys a weekend of watching golf on tv. It is comforting to be with him after a long and busy week spent mostly apart. Even if it does mean that I have to endure hours and hours of golf.

I often spend my time sewing seams closed, sewing on buttons, or tacking on embellishments of some kind. The problem that I have is transporting my thread because I like having an array of colors with me. For a long time I just threw spools of thread into a basket but I hated digging through it to find the color that I needed. Not to mention about how it would often become a tangled mess. THEN....a light bulb moment occurred. A rather simple solution to my problem.

This takes only a few minutes to put together. More time was spent on gathering the components that I needed.

You will need a base of some sort. I dug deep into my craft closet and found an old decorative chalk board that was just sitting around collecting dust. To hold the thread, I gathered a dozen golf tees. I whipped up a small pincushion to mount onto the top of the board. I plugged in my hot glue gun and went to work.


The golf tees were glued onto the base of the chalk board. The pincushion was then glued in place.


After adding spools of thread, a few needles, and scissors, I was ready to go. It took me less than 15 minutes to put this spool holder together.


In this example, I glued a round pincushion to the center of an old CD and then glued the golf tees around it to hold the spools of thread.


I hope you can use this simple but useful idea. Have a fabulous weekend.

Aloha!

A Little Bit of This and That

Hello. I'm over here. Can you see me? I'm under the pile of fabric in the middle of my sewing room. Hehehe! No, not really, but I will admit to feeling overwhelmed and it is starting to feel like there are a million things weighing down on me. I sure wish that I were better organized. It would come in handy as the holiday season approaches.

I'd like to thank you all for stopping by my blog. Please know that I appreciate and read each and every one of your comments. Mahalo Nui Loa (thank you very much) for taking the time to visit and to see what I am up to.

I would like to start off by showing you some of the beautiful gifts that I have recently received.

Emy is from the amazing country of Italy. She sent me the cutest, and I mean THE CUTEST frosted pink cupcake embellished apron and potholders along with some very beautiful yellow lace. As you can see, she does fantastic work. Thank you, Emy, I will cherish and think of you whenever I use these beautiful gifts. You are absolutely the sweetest! Emy does not have a blog but she does display her fabulous work here




Isabella is another wonderful person whom I have had the opportunity to meet through blogging. She has a blog called I Just Love To Stitch where you can see her beautiful sticheries and quilts. She sent me some lovely souvenirs from her home in Australia along with some beautiful fabric that reminds me of an antique table cloth. Thank you, Isabella. I love every gift that you sent me.


Remember this apron that I made several months ago? Well, I finally built up the nerve and entered it in Pat Sloan's Show Me Your Apron Challenge.


I'm sure that many of you are already familiar with quilt artist and book author, Pat Sloan. I am so happy to report that my apron placed in the Most Creative category. She sent me a couple of fat quarters from her Arabella fabric line along with a pattern for her Bella's Bloom quilt. Thank you, Pat. I absolutely adore it! Her blog is a fun read so stop by if you can.


I hope you are having a wonderful week. I am feverishly running around like a chicken without a head. It's that time of year.

Take care!

Aloha!