Oh Procrastination . . . How I love thee

I'm supposed to be finishing up my last Christmas order and working on getting the mandala slipper pattern up and running (pattern needs work, uggggghhh, perfect pattern writing is not easy for me!), but I have found so many projects to work on:

First here is a quilt that I have been working on with a friend for another friend who is going to have a baby soon.



Quilt top done!





All quilted, just needs a border



We used Ohio star blocks with a rainbow theme.  I absolutely LOVE the way it came out.  Now that I finished quilting it I will give it to my friend for binding.  We worked on the blocks separately, I did the red, oranges and yellows, she the greens, blues and purple.  Then we worked together to join the blocks and make the quilt sandwich.  Then I quilited it and now she will bind it.  I absolutely love working on quilts with someone else because it just makes the work so much easier and quicker.

Next I made the kids sweater hats and mittens and one bootie.  The bootie took too long so I think I'm going to procrastinate on the other one.



Now it's time to get back to the hook! Going to ship out the last Christmas order by Tuesday.
Happy holidays everyone!!

How to Line a Crochet Purse - The EASY Way

I'm loving all those cute crochet purse patterns out there.  In fact I won one in a giveaway! So I've had to figure out how to line them.  Here is the easiest way I've found - no measuring required.  Love that.  You can make the crocheted purse pictured from my free patterns. 

Step 1: Lay your purse down on a folded piece of fabric with the fold lined up with the bottom of the fabric.  Trace around the purse with tailor's chalk or a pencil.  Cut out your fabric.

Step 2 (optional):  Sew a piece of velcro about 3/4 of an inch down at one end of the fabric on the right side.  Pin your velcro so it stays in the center (they are slippery fellas). Repeat on opposite side. (You could also do a zipper or magnetic closure here too.)

Step 3:  With right sides together and velcro closed, sew up both sides of the lining.



Step 4: Press side seams open. Fold top opening about a half inch down towards the wrong side and press.

Couldn't figure out how to rotate this pic.  Grrrrrr.  So please tilt head to right to view : )

Step 5:  Insert lining in the purse.  Pin top of lining all the way around and hand stitch in place (with matching thread, unlike example : )

Step 6: Admire your beautiful creation! Voila!  You're done.

Making Non-Slip Booties



Felted Booties with Non-Skid Sole


I have gotten a lot of requests for non-skid soles from Etsy customers so I tested a few products and methods and came up with what I think is the easiest way to make your slippers non-skid.  I figured out that heat activated puffy paint (not just the 3-D kind) gives you the best spongiest result.  When finished it has the look and feel of the product you see on lots of baby socks.  So here is brief tutorial:

Step 1:  Prepare the surface of your slipper.  For felted slippers I use a razor (just a regular bic disposable razor) to shave off all the little fuzzies.  You want the paint to have a nice surface to adhere to.  For other materials you can probably just skip this step, but do make sure the sole is clean.

Step 2: Get the feel for your paint.  I have found that I need a few practice rounds on a piece of paper to make sure I get an even application.  You can also play with your design a bit too.

Step 3:  Pick a design.  I use just horizontal lines.  I find that this is the easiest for me to apply and has a really clean nice look - plus I do think that the horizontal lines provide some additional friction compared with other designs.  Some people do dots or wavy lines, etc.  Get creative!

Step 4:  Apply the paint to the sole.
Step 5:  Let dry for about 4 hours. 

Step 6:  Most of the instructions on paint bottle say that at this point you should use a hair dryer to activate the paint.  I have found that a hair dryer takes forever.  The better method is to put your iron on the steam setting and hold the iron about a 1/2 inch from the surface of the paint.  This method takes just a few seconds, it is incredible!  The paint will puff up into a wonderfully spongy non-skid surface.

DONE!  Love that!

Here are some other fantastic ideas listed on this blog!  I really like the shelf liner idea.