Prairie Point Pin Cushion

We haven't made swap projects for the Modern Quilt Guild for the last few months (here is the potholder I made for the last one, and here is the one I received in exchange), much to my dismay. I really like doing them because it forces me out of my comfort zone, and I always learn something new. This month, the guild finally assigned another swap project: Prairie Point Pin Cushions. I've never made a prairie point before, so it's definitely something new.

I used a collection of fabric swatches I won as the door prize of one of our guild meetings. I love how it feels like Spring.

I cut nine strips 1-inch by 4-inches. I also cut seven 2-inch squares (to make the prairie points). And finally, I cut one 4-inch by 5-inch rectangle for the back.

I folded each square in half and pressed. Then I folded the corners in to make a triangle and pressed it again to hold it in place.

I sewed two of the strips together and pressed toward the darker fabric. Then, I laid the prairie point where I wanted it to go and pinned it in place, placed the next strip on top (right sides together), and sewed. I opened it up and pressed the seam so the prairie point pointed the right way. I repeated this, alternating the prairie points (middle, left, and right), making sure to keep at least 1/4 inch away from the edge.

When I finished sewing all the strips and prairie points together, I pressed it one more time. Then I placed the back on (right sides together) and sewed all the way around, leaving a two-inch gap for stuffing. I turned it right side out, stuffed it with poly fill, and hand-stitched the opening closed.

I'll be swapping this pin cushion for a new one tomorrow night at our Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I'll share it with you later this week.

Here's the back!

The pattern for this pin cushion came from Quilter's World in the February 2013 edition if you'd like to make one for yourself.

Valentine's Advent Calendar for Toddlers

Last year I made my husband a Valentine's Day Advent Calendar to count down the days to Valentine's Day. I decorated 14 white craft bags with paper, stickers, stamps, and other crafting supplies. Inside each bag, I included a note about why I love him and some candy. It was great. He thought I was really romantic, and it gave him two whole weeks to come up with something awesome for me!

I saved the bags because I really love how they turned out, and I'd love a chance to reuse them. This year, I'm going to give them to sweet Little O. I won't set them all out at once because at almost two, she isn't old enough to understand waiting to open one each day. I'll just give her a new one every day. And instead of candy, although I think a piece here or there is ok, I'll fill them books about Valentine's Day, supplies for small Valentine's crafts, and other Valentine's Day related activities we can do together as a family.

I will have to make three new bags, as #1, #10, and #14 are definitely geared toward a husband.

Once I get them filled, I'll post what I put in each one and what the new #1, #10, and #14 bags look like.

Have you made any

Small Zipper Wristlet

I had to make a zipper pouch for the January swap for the Modern Quilt Guild, and I decided I would make two. I made this pretty little zipper wristlet for a friend of mine for Christmas. I just love the colors and the metallic in the fabric. I found the tutorial for this pouch on Pinterest, and you can see it here.

I bought the fabric in bundles at Hobby Lobby. I don't usually buy fabric this way, but I wanted 12 different fabrics that coordinated, and I had a coupon. When I saw these prints, I knew my friend would like them too. The jelly roll came with 10 prints. I had the black with white polka dot in the center and I bought a 1/4 yard of the black and white paisley (top right corner). I also bought another bundle of larger pieces of coordinating fabric for the lining and pockets inside.

I will definitely make this pattern again. They make such cute gifts (I'm thinking teacher gifts at the end of this school year). But next time I won't trim the quilted portion until I finish the lining, and I will trim them together to make sure they are exactly the same size. My quilted side turned out quite a bit smaller than the lining because the fabric pulled up during quilting. Also, I will shorten the strap about a 1/2 inch. I accidentally sewed the end of the strap into the seam on the opposite side BOTH times I made this pouch.

I really liked the instructions she provided for sewing a zipper. This was my first attempt at a zipper, and following her instructions worked like a charm! I'm not scared of them any more!

I added the charm to this one because my friend really likes peacocks, and I thought it gave it a little something extra.

This post is featured!

Felt Christmas Tree

Earlier this week I found a really cute felt Christmas tree on Pinterest. And I knew I just HAD to make it for Little O. I thought it would be a great way to allow Olivia to play with ornaments and leave our real tree alone. Speaking of which, we put up our real tree today!

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought everything I needed to make Little O her very own felt tree. I bought green felt off the bolt, and several colors of felt squares from the crafting section. I also bought some trim (ric rack, sequins, and glitter glue) to make it fancy.

Here's how it turned out.

She's been playing with it nonstop since she got up from her nap. She has barely even looked at the real tree. I'd call that success!!

Note: I hung it on the wall using that gummy adhesive that teachers use to hang posters. It stuck to the wall, but it didn't stick to the felt. So I hot glued some green card stock to the back of the tree in various places (the top, the bottom, and several of the branches). That did the trick. The gummy adhesive is sticking great now.

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Teacher Appreciation Gifts

"Thank You for helping me grow!" 

Today was the last day of Baby O's Morning Out for Moms program. This school year, she's been attending the program for a few hours every Thursday morning. She had two wonderful teachers in her classroom, and I'm sure she's going to miss them over the summer. I am going to miss having a few hours each week dedicated to crafting and sewing. I sure hope nap time gets longer so I can have a few hours in my craft room to myself each week. 45-minute naps are not conducive to creativity.

Baby O (in the middle) with her teachers and a classmate.

Anyway, to show my appreciation for all their work and love O's teacher's have shown her this year, I wanted to make them something special. So of course I scoured Pinterest. There I found links to these other very creative bloggers: Love Grows Wild and Giggles Galore.

Here's what I did:

First, I gathered my supplies and made a list of what I needed. I had craft paint and brushes, chalk, Sharpies, ribbon, a tape measure, scrapbook paper, dowels, and dirt. I needed acrylic spray (to make the paint more durable and to keep the chalk from wiping off), flower pots, flowers, and gift cards.

Once I gathered all of my supplies (and of course, like my mother before me, and my grandmother before her, I waited until the last minute to REALLY gather all my supplies--I didn't have the flowers or gift cards until the day I was going to give them to her teachers), I got down to business.

First, I painted the base of the pots (and the little saucers) black. Then I painted the rims yellow. It took two coats of black and three coats of yellow. In hindsight, I would have painted the yellow first and then the black to get a crisper line. The black kind of showed through the yellow a little bit, but since it was under the rim of the flower pot, I didn't think anyone would notice. The craft store did have chalkboard spray paint, and I thought about using it instead of black craft paint. I decided against it because I didn't intend for the pots to be written on and erased over and over again.

After the paint dried, I taped the measuring tape around the bottom portion of the rim. Using a fine tip Sharpie (the regular-sized one), I marked off each inch mark. I had to fudge the last one because it didn't line up exactly. But I don't think anyone will notice (unless they get out a tape measure and check it). Then I removed the tape measure and marked the half-inch and quarter-inch marks with an extra fine tip Sharpie. In the examples I found online, they marked the pots to the 16th inch, but I liked the clean look of marking to the quarter inch instead. And since I waited until the last minute (6 a.m. on the last day of school), I was running out of time.

Next I used white chalk to write "Thank You for helping me grow" on each pot. I also wrote Baby O's name and the year on the saucer (which will get covered by the pot, but the teachers know it's there and will remember who gave it to them). I used the acrylic spray to set the chalk and make it more durable. Now here is where I ran into a problem: the spray dissolved a little of the chalk, so it didn't look as "chalky". I let the acrylic dry, and then I traced over what I had already written with a second coat of chalk. I sprayed it again, and this time it came out looking like I wanted.

While I wanted for the acrylic to dry, I made paper pinwheels out of scrapbook paper. I found the tutorial here. I didn't use brads. I just hot glued each corner down to the center and hot glued a button on top to hide the glue. I know they don't spin, but I was OK with that. It was more for the look. I just love the school days paper I found. Since my paper wasn't double sided, I glued two pieces (right sides out) together using rubber cement (I didn't have spray adhesive like she used in the tutorial). They turned out great, though. Then I glued each pinwheel to a small dowel using hot glue.

After the acrylic dried, I planted red impatiens in each pot. I tied the gift cards I purchased to the dowel using green grosgrain ribbon. I planted the pinwheels in the pot behind the flowers.

Here are the finished flower pots!

See where I've linked up!