Quiet Book Page One

I finally got started on my quiet books. The key word here is started. I wanted to do these for my boys for Christmas. With everything on my plate, it's just not a reality. And have you tried to craft in secret with my three boys? It's tough. So it's public and they know about them, and now I can work on them whenever I have a spare minute. Here is the first page of their books, yes, I am making three of them. I have changed the colors to the favorite color of each of my boys so they will all be different. When I have more children, I will do theirs.

I am making patterns and as soon as the book is complete I will post them. Once again, I am not sewing these together. They will only be used on Sunday and in Sacrament and I think carft glue will do just fine. I will be sewing the pages to the cover and any elements I think might have the potential of being ruined. As for the clock just glue. I put an eyelet in the center of the two hands and in the center of the clock. Then use a brad and put it through all three of them so the clock hands rotate. The point of the page is to move one hand to the starting time of church and the other hand to the time church ends! I also just wrote on the felt with permanent marker, I thought about appliquing the words, but I wanted it in my writing, it's more personal to them this way! Stay tuned for more pages and the templates...

Oh and #12 for the advent calendar is on it's way...and I still need donations for Claire and Benson's auction! Claire is doing really well and I know this time of year is crazy for everyone but please help me out! I am excited about the few that I have received and would LOVE to get ALOT more. Help me spread the word and please all you crafties out there send me a donation or two!

How To Preserve a Keepsake Ornament

My mother bought us each an ornament when we were born. This one happens to be mine. She chose beautiful ornaments. They happen to be hairy. By hairy I mean they have that fine hair like stuff covering them. Mine has snagged I don't know how many times. And I didn't think to take a picture until I had cut it all off. So sorry about that one... You can see some of it doing it here towards the top. I didn't want mine to get any more ruined. This year I had to cut alot off...so out came the mod podge.

Oh how I love that stuff. Paint your entire ornament with it.

Let it dry. And it won't snag again!

Hooded Bath Towel

I know there is a million and a half ways to make these. But this is my way. And I LOVE it. I LOVE it because the design on the towel frames the face and doesn't go across the head. I love it cause the hood actually fits. So choose whose you may. I am sticking with this way... and my boys are hopefully going to LOVE these for Christmas. They have never had one. Imagine that!

Take a hand towel and if you have a fancy machine stitch your child's name across the end of the towel.

Fold the towel in half. I am pointing to wear the name is stitched.

Pin across the top edge of the towel.

Sorry Better Homes and Gardens. Love the towels, but can't have a tag hanging in your face. Cut it off as close as you can without cutting the towel.

Then sew as close to that top seam as you can. See the stitching here?

Now your done with the hood. Only if you are making an adult towel.

For a teenager and child continue on...

So measure 9.5 inches over from the edge that you embroidered the name on and make a pin line all the way down.

Sew up that line. Then Round off the corner. No poking KKK heads around here.

Cut about 1/4 inch from the sewn line.

Turn right sides out.

Take your large towel and find the center and place a pin in it.

Then match it up to the hood for all sizes now. The hood seam should be not touching the large towel.

Then pin them together.

Sew as close to the hemmed line as you can stand. When you sew over the seam make sure it is opened.

And you are done with the hood part if you are making your towel for a teenager. If you aren't...continue on...

For children the hood will be much to tall. Take it down to 12 inches. And round the edge allot more.

Sew and cut off the excess. Now all sizes should be done with the hood, and the hoods should be attached.

The inside seam of the hood looks like this. SCARY...let's fix it. First sew down both of the edges of the seam like shown. I followed the edge of my presser foot.

Then you are going to do what I have done in this video.

So now your seam is all nice and clean. Barely even there fancy that!

And your son models it for you... Yeah, I told him it was for a contest... It's his brothers anyways... he'll have NO idea on Christmas... he forgets things really easily... gotta love it!

See a perfect fit, and no gathering.

So a great gift for any child for any occasion! Make sure you use expensive towels so it will last and it will be soft on their skin after the bath. Those $3.00 towels at Walmart get crusty so fast... splurge on this one. I used the Better Homes And Garden Towels at Walmart. They are larger than regular towels and are so so so soft and thick. The cost was $8.00 for the large towel, and $7.00 for the hand towel. I know, kind of expensive but it will last them for years!

Oh and don't throw away those scraps...bath time friend tutorial coming soon!

And PS. You can purchase these at my etsy shop.

My Neices Christmas Gift

To my sister in law Kristen...please make sure your daughters aren't peeping over your shoulders...I hope the LOVE this... Okay so this one does NOT belong on this frame, hence why it is short. But I used it to show you the display. I LOVE it. And I really hope they love it too!!!

I was inspired by Homemade By Jill's Felt Playhouse. Go check it out here.

Okay on to the Playhouse. This is the front. The door us a swing door it is attached at the top, so you can simply walk through it. The window openings are cut out so you can see out from in.

I put Velcro on the back of the flowers and they simply attach to the felt so the girls can pick them from the flower box.

And put them back in. It's super easy because the hard part of the Velcro connects right to the felt!

And the mailbox. LOVE it.

My kids and I wrote letters to them that they can deliver to each other via the mailbox.

Now onto the side. Of course with soon to be four girls they had to have a poodle. And of course it had to be named fluffy. Again you can see through the cut out on the window. The tree has little hidden treasures in the openings that the girls can find.

One little robin.

Four red apples.

And four crinkly leaves.

And on to the back. A clothes line.

The Laundry is in the basket.

And they can hang it on the line!

On to the last side. The bird house is what it is. The window again allows you to see in and out. And the garden is ripe and ready to harvest.

Please don't hate me for this. The peas can be pulled out of the pods.

And they sit three in a pod like so.

And the pod can come off the plant. It is attached with Velcro.

And tucked up inside the leaf.

And the radishes come out of the pot.

And so do the green onions.

I really hope the girls love it. The inside is big enough for all of them, they can bring in their dolls, their kitchen gear, anything and everything.

As for everyone else. Of course I made patterns and tutorials. They will be posted soon!!!

Pencil Bag Tutorial

My husband came out of my craft room with this and asked me if I was using it. I said no. He then started rummaging for scissors and laid a pencil on it. I asked him what he was doing. And he replied, "I need a pencil case." So I laughed at him, he doesn't even know how to turn on my sewing machine and he was going to cut the fabric to his pencil width with no seam allowance. I told him to give me 30 minutes and I would have it. And I did. And you can too! It was really easy and it looks great. All you need is two squares of fabric, well kind of squared. You need them 12.5 inches by 13 inches. And you need a zipper, about a 12 inch one.

First cut two pieces of fabric 12.5 inches by 13 inches.

Iron them with starch and then put them right sides together.

Sew down the two sides that are the shortest.

Flip it inside out and iron flat.

Then fold the two raw edges together. And sew down the sewn sides. The two short ones.

Pull the seams flat making a square. To do this you open the pouch above, put your finger in the corner and press the top pf the seam down flat against the fabric. I hope this makes sense...

Fold the seam down.

And sew across it one inch up from the point.

Repeat this on the other side as well and then flip inside making a pouch with a flat bottom.

Then take the two raw edges on one side and fold them under 1/2 inch and iron.

Pin them together to hold in place. Repeat this on the other side as well.

When you get to the two side seams angle the hemline up to a point.

So it looks like this.

Then slip in the zipper in between the two layers that you pinned together. Put the actual zipper feet part just above the fabric line. Make sure the zipper end is right at the seam on both ends. Trim zipper accordingly.

Here is the zipper in one side. It's easiest to do this one side at a time.

Sew right along the edge, and then on the next marking on your machine over, to double stitch the zipper in and to make sure to catch the fabric on the back side of the zipper.

Then take the zipper apart by unzipping and put the other side of the zipper in the other side of the pouch. Sew in like above. When you are finished the seam will look like this.

Take your scissors and cut off the raw edge so it is even with the zipper like this.

Then turn the pouch inside out. Put the zipper pull back on and zip closed.

Push out the sides to a point.

Then fold flat and sew 1 inch below the point. This is the side view of the pouch. The bottom triangle you sewed previously.

The on the other side of the zipper you are going to open the zipper and hold it together making a point and sew across it at 1 inch below just like above. Turn inside out.

And there you have it. A pencil pouch.

This is the first project that I have completed for my husband that I actually got an impressed response from. So it must be a good one. Try it out and let me know what you think!