Saturday, July 25, 2015

Monogrammed Coffee Cuff

Needed a quick gift this morning and this little project is amazingly fast and easy. Plus it's a great gift for guys, which is always a bonus. This link will take you to my original post with step-by-step instructions.

Monogrammed his initials onto the shirt cuff with my embroidery machine ...



Here's what the lined inside looks like ...



Along with a handwritten tag tied on with ribbon, I'm going to include a Starbucks gift card. Fast, easy and personalized!

So many projects, never enough time

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Sewing a Super Hero Cape



Recently, a quilt went out to a new baby girl and I wanted to include something for her Super Big Brother. A personalized super hero cape seemed like a fun idea for an energetic 2-year-old.



I made an embroidered patch featuring his initial and appliquéd it onto the outside of the cape before stitching right sides together, turning, pressing, top stitching and adding the hook & loop closure. It was well received, as you can tell by the action shots ...





And then a co-worker ordered one for her 3-year-old nephew. When I was trimming the appliqué patch this time, I realized I had the ideal tool in a ruler -- the OmniArc by Omnigrid. The ruler has slots that allow you to draw the perfect curve with degree markings. The funny thing is, I've had this ruler for years but can't remember why I bought it. It made the process so much easier ... last time I winged it. 





With less than a yard of fabric, you can make your mini super hero's play time so much more fun.

Finished size: 
31-1/2" from top of strap to hem
25-3/4" from neck to hem
11-1/2" from outside edge of one strap to outside edge of the other
17" at widest point across bottom edge
1-1/4" wide straps
Appliqué patch: 3-1/2" center top to bottom and side to side at widest point
Embroidered gold shield: 2-5/8" high by 2-3/4" wide
Embroidered initial: 1-1/8" high
Appliqué placed approximately 4" from neck edge
Used the edge of a clear 8" glass plate to round the corners on the bottom of the cape and cut the neck hole.
Used a pill bottle to round the ends of the straps.



So many projects, never enough time ...

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Boating Potholders :: 3 Sisters Style



Playing games was a rite of passage in our home growing up. We had a great wood paneled rec room with a built-in bench full of board and card games. Scrabble, Mouse Trap, Uno -- and we always had a card table set up in the corner with an ongoing jigsaw puzzle. So it's no surprise that we all still love to play games whenever we get the chance.

A few years back, my sisters came to Arizona to visit and my middle sister brought a new-to-us game that was so much fun ... Like It or Lump It. If you can find it, definitely buy it. Basically, you try to earn points by giving another player a card with a subject on it you think they'll like (baking bread, roller coasters, Julia Roberts movies, trick-or-treating). You hope they'll like your card more than anyone else's. 



The sisters, my husband and I were playing and it was his turn to rate the cards we'd given him from Like It all the way down to Lump It. I had given him a McDonald's Egg McMuffin card and was absolutely sure that it would beat out the others for high score. One of the sisters had given him a Boating card and he rated that the highest. WHAT? I was so outraged -- and, yes, it could have been fueled by the lovely glass(es) of wine I had consumed -- that I shouted, "BOATING! BOATING? REALLY??? Right, because we go BOATING so often!" This was probably one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but we laughed until we cried, at least one of us fell off our chair and at least one of us had to run to the bathroom from laughing so hard.

So all we have to say now is BOATING and hilarity ensues. The other family members think we're nuts and just shake their heads at us, but that never stops the hysteria from happening. The funny thing is, both sisters own or have owned boats and do go boating. Me 'n the hubs? No! No boats, no boating ... we live in the desert. Seriously, the closest he gets is bobbing a toy boat in the swimming pool.



I saw this cute Sailboat quilting block last month and just had to make the sisters some potholders that will remind them of BOATING at our house. I made the 6" block and added some borders, embroidered BOATING on one and 3 SISTERS on the other so they'd each have a pair. There is a layer of Insul-Bright batting inside to provide insulation from high temperatures. And I used my Handiworking labels for hang tags (custom-made by Lilla Lotta).

We love being "3 Sisters" so much that we we share a Pinterest board by the same name that we all pin to. It includes things we all have a fanatic love for like reading; things we know each other enjoy like teacups, photography, dogs, crafting; and, of course, many references to BOATING!

Love you my sisters. Use those potholders! They're washable, but if they get beat up, I can always make you more!!!



So many projects, never enough time!