Life of an Item

I wrote a guest post over at the Lab Rats blog - please visit! It's all about how I make my animal silhouette pillows. The newest one, featured in the post, is a bear. However, the pillow pictured had some serious issues - the fabric creased really well. Where I didn't want it to. So this is how it looks now:

A work in progress.

How Many of These Should I Have?

I planted a bunch of seeds last weekend, and today I transplanted some of them into their own little pots. I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I have baby plants so it seems to be going OK so far. The only problem is that this is just 1 of 4 types of tomatoes that I have... and all the little containers. I guess I need to buy more. When you're growing things from seeds, how many plants are you supposed to get? Can I save the seeds for next year? I think I need to figure these things out, because I don't have room for all these plants!

I love growing things. These already have a little tomato-y smell. I'm not even a big tomato fan but I <3 these little plants.

Who else out there is growing things this year?

Baby Quilt - Finished and Gifted

Well, seems like I'm developing a monthly blogging habit. I don't want to post things just to post, though - my favorite bloggers are the ones that feel the most authentic. I'm not a "writer," in that writing is not a natural skill of mine and I don't feel a pull to create written work. I do, however, like gathering my thoughts, and that's what this blog is. It's a place to focus on what I've done or what I'm doing, but when I just don't have the time, it gets pushed off my to-do list pretty quickly.

I've been trying to record more things photographically speaking, though. I'm trying for a picture a day - or, to be more accurate, a picture per day. Meaning I may take 6 pictures on a Saturday and call them the week's pictures. I'm about three pictures short right now, so I'm not doing too bad.

In other news, I finished the baby quilt a while back, actually got pictures of it, and gifted it today! It was a project that I started without a specific recipient, and I ended up giving it to a young woman at my church who's pregnant with her first baby, a little boy. Here it is, complete:

I don't know the finished size - good for cuddling, I hope. It's cotton on the front, flannel on the back.
You can see how I pieced the back if you look closely, but the pattern is busy enough that it wasn't super obvious. I hope it gets lots of love and holds up well. Let the quilting adventures continue!

A Fun History Lesson

Things have gotten a bit busy around here, as they tend to do. I just read a post on Etsy that I really liked - not really a history lesson, but a reference to history... It caught my eye because it's about needlework, which I'm liking more and more as I do it more. I like it for itself, but I also like its links to the past.

Go, look: Needlework from the Drawers of Daughters - it's much more eloquent than I am.

Mixed Up Holidays

So, I realized I never posted our completed Christmas card, and it has a picture of the husband and I, so it seems appropriate for this time of year... right? There's no better way to celebrate one belated holiday than with another one. (But to be fair, we might really do something for Valentine's Day this weekend, since we couldn't do anything on Monday. So it's not as belated as it might seem.)

Card designed by SugarTreeStudios on Etsy - cute designs, did exactly what I asked - not super impressed with speed but liked the final result. Photo by Swafford Photography.

Hook-ed on P-honics

Um, can anyone explain to me how this is supposed to be helpful? This actually came in the mail today. Really.

Maybe this would help?

How to Make a Felt Heart Garland

Over the weekend, I got several items made or started for my Etsy shop. One of them was a felt heart garland. Now that it's officially February, I thought I'd share a tutorial for making one - a quick and fun way to decorate for Valentine's Day!

You can freehand cut each heart if you really want to, but I started by making a little template from thick scrapbooking paper (like cardstock) that I got from someone who doesn't scrapbook any more (I don't either, but it's great to have a nice stock of paper around!) You can see that the line I drew wasn't the line I cut... I decided that I wanted my hearts a little bigger than what I'd drawn. These ended up being about 2-3/4" at the widest point and about 2-1/4" high. You could make tall, skinny hearts, little bitty hearts, or giant fat hearts - whatever you want.

Next, you need your felt. I used a thrifted 100% wool scarf that I washed and felted (wash in hot water, dry with high heat). I like using this method for getting my felt because you can get patterned felt this way. It also tends to come out thicker than premade felt. You could also felt a wool sweater, buy wool felt, or use a synthetic felt. Again, it's up to you - this is a very customizable project. If you want a multi-colored garland, go with the felt sheets you get at a craft store, for example. They're cheap, easy to find, and come in lots of colors.

The next step is to cut out your hearts, as many as you want. I only cut from the ends of my scarf, because that's where the bands of plaid were. I ended up cutting out 25 hearts. To get a consistent shape, I just placed the template on top of the scarf, held it with my left hand, and cut with my right. Being right-handed, I found that the right side was a lot easier to cut, so on some of them, I cut out the right side first, then flipped the felt over, repositioned the template, and cut the right side again (which was the left when viewed from the other side).

After you have a nice little stack of hearts, it's time to sew them together. Just stick the first one under your needle (leave longish thread tails at the beginning), sew sew sew, and slip the next one in there to sit as close to the previous one as you can. The tricky part is keeping them lined up and not getting too much of a gap between them. Since the sides aren't straight, it takes a little extra attention and effort to place one heart next to another while getting them to feed through the machine. It's really not difficult though - go ahead, you can do it!

Once they're all sewn together, tie the ends off leaving little loops and hang above your bed, over your couch, around the door... the possibilities are endless (well, sort of). Let me know if you try this!

 And if you'd rather buy than make, my garland is for sale here. :) Handmade with love, of course! [UPDATE: The garland has been sold - but contact me if you'd like a similar one!]