wish list ornament

One set of ornaments done, lots more to go.

Here is how my nephews ornaments turned out.  I think they are adorable and I'm fairly sure they are going to just love them.  I just used some empty black spools that I had in my sewing area and some ribbon from my box so they were basically a free way to say 'I love you' and 'Merry Christmas' all rolled into one.

Here is the link to the original tutorial where I found the idea.

Christmas ornaments

This year I'm doing something a little different for my extended family Christmas party.  I haven't been abel to attend for a few years now and it just seems a little silly for me to be a part of a christmas exchange for a party I don't even go to.  I've been trying to come up with an idea of how to still show my love to them, and I think I've found it.  I'm going to make them Christmas ornaments.

Here are some of the ideas I found today that I'd like to try out.

"charming ornaments"

"Christmas wish list ornaments"

• I think my nephews will love this.  One of them has a CRAZY long wish list this year.

"Christmas tree stump"

"Scrabble ornaments"

Dala Horse ornament

Here are a few picture ornaments.  I can't decide what one is my fav

wood plaques
Tin wedding box
Paper sewing
Juice top lids

Batman cap for Halloween

For Halloween this year I made a few costumes.
I used this tutorial to make myself a candy corn costume. Make sure to sew the fleece so that it stretches from side to side and then you don't have to worry about a zipper or buttons to get in and out of the costume.

And since we already had a batman costume for my toddler I fell in love with this idea for a cape.  I made mine out of fleece so that it would repel rain and possibly offer more warmth.  Plus, I didn't have to worry about hemming everything or the fabric unraveling.

Toby thought it was the best peek-a-boo toy EVER because it never fell off.

 Hope you all had a great Halloween too

It's fun to dream

For a year or 2 now my husband and I have been saving money every month to buy a house "some day"  which to us meant probably not for another 12+ years when he retires from the military.  The money comes automatically out of his paycheck like the kids collage savings plans and our retirement plan.  It was so far out into the future that we didn't really think much about it.
But recently we have been day dreaming of buying something small near our families in a vacation community so we can use it in the summer and rent it out to skiers in the winter.  Who knows if it will ever happen, but the idea of it has been making it easier to increase the amount of money we are putting into our account every month.

Some of the options we have been finding are:

• Ski in/ski out condos.  Those are really small, but probably easy to rent out because they are so convenient.
• Cabins that are close to the resort shuttle locations so we could have more space and an easy way for vacationers to get to the slopes.  
• Buy land and build our own cabin on our own time.

My favorite thing has become the idea of buying some land.  Because when we look at properties online, no matter how perfect they might seem to us, they probably won't be available when we are ready to buy.  

Its fun to see lots on the computer and research things about it like...

• Could we camp out on the land for fun before we decide to build?
• Are there rules about how long the land can stay empty before we build?
• How close are the trail heads and ski lifts?
• how much would it cost to install all the necessary utilities on land that is not yet equipped with power, water, sewer/septic...

But even more fun than looking at land is looking at floor plans/making our own floor plans.  We especially love the idea of floor plans that can be added onto in the future.

• A free floor plan website 
• A building cost calculator
• We found this website that has floor plans for sale with guesstamits on how much they would cost to execute.  Here are some of our favorites for a snowy area like Snoqualmie Pass.

• 1 story country Tudor $68,130-$128,690

• cheep lake house* $43,200-$81,600

• cheep camp cabin* $48,600-$91,800

• Shed House* $84,240-$159,120  

•  A Frame House* 

• 2 story A-frame* $71,640-$135,230  

• 2 story chalet $70,380-$132,940 

•  bunk house kit $56,900

• Silver ranch kit**  $135,995 

•  Linwood kit** $114,700  

•  Unique 2 car garage apartment plans*

•  Unique 3 car Garage Apartment* 

•  The craftsman* 36 $28,728 

•  Mason* $43,925

*plans with Lofts for bunkbeds and cousin sleepovers :)
*So small the bedrooms don't even have built in closets.  (Meant to be true vacation cabin I think.)
*Something we could comfortably retire in
*Garage with apartment above for a quick build on a lot

As fun as it is to dream, dreams don't always last.  Before I was done dreaming of our attainable vacation cabin/condo, sam moved on to bigger and better things.  He is now dreaming of buying a real home in about 5 years if all the planets a line and we get stationed in Washington.  And now he has gone money saving crazy.

In his search for a home near the WA military bases he has found some great things that we should be able to afford.  He showed me one that I liked and decided I must document the awesome master suite.

I LOVE that bathroom/closet set up.

We don't know what our future holds, but we know we will need to keep saving money to make our dreams come true.

New idea 2-28-2014
Every day when my husband comes home he likes the kitchen counter to be clean so he can use it to look through the mail.  I love that he takes the responsibility to get the mail, sort through it and manage the monthly bills.  But I hate that his mail place is also my kitchen space.  It just makes it hard to clean.  When mail is left out occasionally, I never know what to do with it.  I normally just pile it up at the far end so he can sort through it when he has time.
I think the perfect solution would be a counter against 1 wall in the mud room.  It could be all his, out of the way when we have guests & it would simplify kitchen clean up.  Right now we have a roll top desk in the kitchen that is "his"  but the kids and I use it too.  It's size is probably the reason why he just leaves the mail on the counter.  Maybe I should clean the desk out and rededicate it to him as a solution until its dream house time.

New idea 6-6-2014
Sometimes we think it would be fun to do an off-the-grid cabin, mini-survivalist style.  But I can't imagine enjoying it when it gets too hot.  This homemade air conditioner would be inexpensive and not use too much electricity from our solar panels.  Basically it is a cheep styrofoam cooler with 2 holes cut in the top.  1 for a fan to blow into it.  The other to put an elbow Shaped PCV pipe for the air to flow out of.  Then all you have to do is add a big hunk of ice to the inside and you've got 10 hours of cold air :)  desertsun02 on youtube has a lot of cool do it your self projects that are easily powered by solar panels.

headbands

1 week and counting until the wedding!  The 3 dresses are complete :)

Our bride wants the girls to wear a ribbon in their hair, but I know that they will pull it out a few times during our wedding events.  So instead of  having to retie the bow constantly I thought I'd make some head bands that look like a ribbon tied in their hair.

We could do something like this with the ribbon sewn over a plastic headband  (the flat bow can stay, go, or be swapped out with something different.)

Or something like this that is just some ribbon with an elastic sewn to the ends

We can add a bow to the ribbon and it will look like this  

Or we could do a flower clip instead of the bow.
This one is not the same as the flower in the last post.  That one was made out of the fabric of the skirt and this one is made out of the ribbon.

Last but not least a ruffly headband like this.

If you have time, tell us what you think Heather.  (If you are way too busy with other pre-wedding stuff we will just bring 3 of everything so you don't have to think about it.)  We hear the Bridal shower is today.  Hope you have a great time, wish we were there.

Wedding hair

I am done with 2 of the 3 dresses and before I send one of them off in the mail I thought I'd get some feedback on hair ideas so I could send some hair accessories with the dress.  This is the dress I'm sending off.  It's a bit short for Maggie, but will be perfect for the intended wearer.

The first 3 are quick and easy hair do's, the last 2 take more time and skill.

Here are 2 easy accessories to make.  the flower is just a fabric yoyo with a button covering up the raw edges and the bow can be explained here at the ribbon retreat

#1 Flower Yoyo 

#2 Bow clip

 #3 Ribbon braid bun
This is a cute easy hair-do from cute girls hairstyles.  The tutorial can be found here
It can be looped like this, or wrapped up like a bun if you have short hair.  It requires a long piece of ribbon for each Braid.

#4 Braided Crown/Carousel braid
If we want to get fancy with the Braiding we could do something with or without a clip like this

#5 Double French Braids
We could also try something like this with a big flower at the base of the braids.

What do you think?  Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be great.

The wedding dress saga continues

This is the dress that I'm assigned to wear.

Cute, right!  I'm trying to recreate it in a child's size, but I am learning that no matter how many times I go to the fabric store or how much fabric I order on-line, I'm never going to be able to match the color shades exactly.  So between my pattern practice and color choices I have a few questions.

Question #1 the waist-
High waist (black dress) or low waist (cream and coral)?
With the high waist I have to add so much length to the layers that they look a little strange, so I'm thinking that the low waisted dress looks best.

Question #2 fabric choices-
Now that the dress I'm supposed to wear has been decided I know that I need to have the skirt lined with  beige instead of coral.  (so that small swatch on the front of the dress is what the whole skirt would look like.
Or, I could go with a different shade of coral.  (The bottom one in this photo is the other option.  It is not as see through as the fabric in the coral and cream dress, so it wouldn't have the same effect as the one I'm trying to recreate with the 2 layers.  But I wonder if it is a better color match.)

Question #3
Is the top too creamy?  The only other fabric option in the fabric store for the top was a champagne color.  Would that be too dark?
Question #4
What do you think of the lace?  Is it good or should I get something with a smaller pattern?  No shine?


So to sum up my questions

1. High waist (black dress) or low waist (cream and coral)?_________________
2. What shade of coral should I use, the see through one or the one in the bottom of the photo?_________________
3. Should I use a champagne color lace for the top instead of cream?_________________
4. What type of lace should I use for the top?_________________
5. Bonus question, am I just obsessing over all this too much, and it doesn't really matter?

And for your enjoyment, here are some more goofy pictures of Gwen in her dresses.

 These two are my favorite :)

She LOVES the black one, so I know that all this work will be worth it when she has 2 fun twirly dresses.

Wedding dress #4

So I've submitted dress #3 to the bride and we will see what she has to say.  If she doesn't like it, or is disappointed that there is no lace on it, I will try a little harder to make this dress come to life. It was my first dress idea when my Mom told me that we needed to get the girls dresses that would coordinate with the wedding.  It's obviously inspired by Kate Middleton's Royal wedding dress.  The great thing about this one is that I could probably easily buy a coral dress on line and only have to make the jacket.

Here was my first attempt at a jacket.  (I didn't have any scraps of lace, so I used Georgette fabric.  So just use your imagination on that.)

The things I don't like:

• The sleeves are too big for this jacket
• The front of the jacket is poofy, I'm not sure if that is from me stretching it out as I folded down the edge to hem it, or if I need to alter the original pattern I made.
• The shoulder is not wide enough.  It needs to reach closer up to her neck.  
• The bow should be a little wider because even though it looks cute in the picture, every time she moved there was a gap between the 2 layers
• It needs a loop on the sides for the ties to go through to help it stay in place.

The things I like:

• I think that the basic design is good.  
• The bow is cute from both the back and the front and it is functional to make it fit perfectly around the waist.

If she likes this one and I work out the kinks it looks like I'll have to order the lace on ebay.  (My local fabric store had a very sad selection of coral special occasion fabric.)  It makes me so grateful to be a seamstress during this day and time and not 30 or more years ago.

P.S. I'm having so much fun being creative right now with all these dresses.  I think it hit me recently that in a year or so we will be moving and our new place probably won't be as big, so I won't have a room where my sewing machine can be left out all the time.

**********Update**********

6-14-2013- I tried today to make the adjustments that I noticed needed to be made, but they didn't really help much.  This is so frustrating to try and try and try and not make any progress.  (Today's jacket was jacket #3 for dress option #4 I must be crazy.)  Maybe I'll go back to New Look 6930 and just add the supper long waist band so it will fit better.  Because I really love the long wrap around look, and I think our bride really wants there to be lace on the dress.  My drawing was just so cute, I wish I could make it happen.  I guess there is a reason why a dress like Kate's or Princess Grace's would be so expensive.  It would require A LOT of tailoring.

Butterick 4967 Pattern Review

Wedding dress option #3

I was putting off this dress option because I could tell it would be more work than the others.  It had no sleeves and the sizing wasn't quite right for my oldest who is growing tall and thin.

But I sat down to make it and after about a weeks work it was done.  She loves the dress and I was able to make it out of fabric that I had in my stash, so all it cost was 1 zipper and my time.  I might go to the fabric store to buy stuff to make the sash that goes around the waist as seen in the pattern.  I'm sure she'd love it to be fuchsia like her shoes.

 I put it on her and told her to go in the other room to check it out in the mirror, when she came back she was so excited. I asked if she loved it and she said that it made her feel like a princess.  I was so glad because last month I tried to make a shrug for her and when she tried it on she was grumpy and told me it made her feel like "a fat old woman."

  I'm not sure where she heard that kind of talk because we never say fat in our house in hopes that it won't promote a poor body image.  (If I'm dieting or something I always try to say "I am trying my best to eat healthy so that I feel good." stuff like that.)  Anyway, it must have come from school.

Cons to this pattern

• It was just not made for my oldest's body type.  I read some other reviews online that complained about the same thing.  She wears a size 7 dress, but i had to make her the size 5 and add 4 extra inches to make it fit.  (2" to the bodice and 2" to the tiers)
• Another place that obviously needs to be adjusted if I make this dress again is the neckline.  If she grows out of this dress quickly it will be because it is choking her.  If I make it again I will need to adjust the neckline by and inch or two so she has a little more room up there.
• It didn't have a sleeve option.  So I just used the sleeve from the last dress I make and it turned out great (New Look 6930)

Pros to the pattern:

• My daughter LOVES IT!!!
• I love that it doesn't look babyish.  So she gets to feel grown up without looking too grown up.  (I think my husband will like it for that reason :)
• The tiers are so cute and playful.  They move beautifully because they have a circular shape instead of being a straight strip of fabric that is ruffled.
• I learned a lot of new techniques (How to PROPERLY finish a circular hem, how to add a sleeve before sewing up the side seems, and more about how to sew delicate fabric.)

Overall, This is a cute dress, I love that it has a lining, but if your daughter doesn't fit the sizing very well, keep shopping for a similar pattern from a different company that might be more suited to her body type*.  It will just save you a lot of time.

*After reviewing the different pattern companies the only other pattern similar to this one is made by McCalls, but they seemed to be owned by the same company as Butterick and have the same size charts.  So I don't have a similar dress to refer to, but I reviewed the patterns of many of the popular company's and I noticed that Burda has a lot of patterns for girls that I liked.  When I looked at their size chart it seemed to be more suited to my daughter's body type.  I think I'll give them a try next time I am pattern shopping.

New Look 6930-Pattern Review

This is wedding dress option #2 for my girls.  

New Look #6930

Cons:

• It is too baggy around the waistline-  I think a roomy waist is cute in some dress styles, but with the trim around the rib cage on this dress, the baggy-ness just makes it look like it doesn't fit right.  In order to make the dress look better I'd suggest getting a very long ribbon that ties in the front like show (because that is so adorable) but instead of sewing it to the dress all the way back to the zipper closure, stop at the side seem and let it hang free so that you could use it to tighten the dress to improve the fit.

Pros:

• I liked the use of bias tape to fold down the neckline.
• The directions were great and easy to follow.  
• It went together faster than I expected
• The ruffle and trim is SO CUTE!!!! 
• This sleeve is ruffled instead of lying flat, so as sleeves go it was on the easier side.

This project would be good for a seamstress who is ready to graduate from beginner to intermediate.

Mix-trail

I know I've posted about this trail mix we like someplace before, but I don't think I've shared the recipe.
We don't make this very often, but my husband and I took the kids out camping this weekend and let the kids help with the meal planning.  This is one of the things they said absolutely must be on the menu.  So I think they'd be sad if they grew up and couldn't find the recipe here on my blog.
My kids were little when we came up with the recipe and they kept forgetting the name and called it mix-trail instead of trail-mix.  So the name has stuck.

Less-Healthy version of Mix-Trail

6 cups of Cheerios

1 bag of Peanut Butter M & M's (11.40 oz bag)

1 bag of Craisins (10 oz. Bag) 

1 bag of Milk chocolate chips (11.5 oz bag)

1 can of Peanuts (14 oz. can)

1 bag of Caramel bits (11 oz. bag)

1. Combine everything into the biggest bowl or pot you have.
2. Mix
3. Separate into 2 gallon sized zip lock bags (1 for now, 1 for latter)

I like to serve this at big parties like Bunko night.  

But if you don't have a lot of people coming through the door, you will end up with a lot of left overs, eat them all shamelessly, and be sad about it when you realize your pants don't fit good anymore. So I made a more healthy version with a larger cheerio to candy ratio.  1/2 cup of this is about 235 calories for those calorie counters out there.  Also, this all fits into 1 ziplock bag.  I like to put the 1/2 cup measuring cup in the bag so I know how much I am eating.  

Healthy-er version of Mix-Trail

1 cup Caramel Bits

1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

1 cup Peanut Butter M & M's

2 cups Peanuts

2 Cups Craisins

4 Cups Cheerios

1.  Put everything into a gallon size ziplock bag and close it without squeezing all the air out.  Shake it up good to mix everything together.  Serve

Now hide the left over candy or feed it to your kids so you don't end up eating it all in a moment of weakness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIM 2464 pattern review

Wedding dress option #1

We have a wedding to go to this summer and my Mom tells us that my girls won't be flower girls, but she wants them to wear Coral dresses so that we can have family pictures that will look nice with the wedding backgrounds/flowers.  So first I searched Amazon (My favorite store :) for some dresses that would work, but I didn't see any coral dresses with sleeves that would work.  So I decided that I should consider making the dress.  I chose this pattern to try out from my stash and found some fabric scraps to try it out on. 

 I don't like spending $ on fabric for a pattern I've never tried before.  I made the size 8 top because Gwen already has plenty of clothes in her current size.   So you can see in the pictures that it is a little big, but I'll put it in the top of the closet and she will look adorable in it next summer with some leggings under it.

 She wasn't all that thrilled about doing a fashion show 1st thing in the morning.  but I had just finished it while she was sleeping and couldn't wait to check it out on her.

 My review of the pattern is this:

• The pattern is for intermediate sewers who know how to:
• use bias tape
• piece together curved pattern pieces
• handle a "3 way intersection" of pattern pieces (On the front)
• sew a casing
• Make a ruffle

• The guide for the elastic on the sleeve seemed to be too big.  It was as long as the sleeve was, so it would not have made a ruffle on the sleeve as shown.  I had to take it in a bit.
• That being sad, this is the easiest sleeve EVER!!!  I love that the top front, back and shoulder are all 1 piece.  That saves a lot of time not having to ease in a sleeve.
• There is not interfacing, so you skip that step, but then have lots of turning under of seems and stitching them in place to reinforce.
• I LOVE that there is no zipper and no buttons!
• However, Where the side seems come together, the elastic was a little bulky.  Next time I will make sure that the elastic is hidden about 1/4" or 1/2" in from the edge of the seem to cut down on all that bulk and hopefully make it more comfortable to wear.
• Also, I used 2 strips of 1" wide elastic instead of the recommended 5 strands of 1/4" elastic.  I think it still looks cute and it took way less time.
• The wording on some of the steps was not specific enough for a beginner seamstress.

Pros and Cons aside, I LOVE this pattern. I will make it again because...

• it is beautiful, it adjusts to fit any body type because of the elastic.
• It is light and airy without showing too much skin.  Perfect for a hot day.
• Elastic is SO much cheaper, easier to sew, and easier to wear than a zipper, buttons or Velcro.
• It does not take a ton of fabric and as you can see from the pattern, you can use coordinating fabrics from your stash, so it might not cost you anything to make it!  

However, I'm not sure if it will be right for this summer's wedding.  What do you think?  It's not very fancy and there are a lot of other patterns out there.  Maybe I could dress it up with a soft crepe and some sparkly trim.

I have a few other patterns that I'm going to test out this month before I make the final call.  And hopefully I will finish my swaddling blanket tutorial soon.  I just made another swaddling blanket last week for a little miracle being sent to some friends here in New England.  When I printed out my how to swaddle directions I realized that I don't have directions on how to make the blanket, and it is so easy, I should.

-Bri

Homemade laundry soap

I think in a lot of ways I grew up fast, but in the area of doing my projects, it has taken me a long time to grow up.
I feel like I am beginning this shift from doing projects just because it's something I really really want to do, to doing projects that are practical and coincide with caring for my family.  The projects that I've been doing recently have been less time consuming and more purpose driven.  I am getting better at choosing when to do my projects by planing ahead and deciding to have a start and finish time instead of working until the kids are driving me crazy or I want to fall asleep.  I am also being more cost conscious.  For a while I had felt so justified in my right to sew/craft that I really didn't care about the price of a project, if I wanted to make it I would.  But I don't want to do that anymore.
Now I still get to learn new techniques and create so I'm happy and staying true to myself.  But I'm doing it all in a new way.
So today, in an effort to try something new and find a way to save money, I gave homemade laundry soap a try.  Grating the soap was a good work out and I didn't do the math, but I know that each load has got to be only like a penny or so.  ($4 for a box of borax, $3 for a box of washing soda, $99 for a bar of soap)  its got to be cheep because you only use a small amount of the borax and the soda, Your most expensive ingredient per batch is the soap, and you get 64 loads per batch.
I found the recipe Here

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder 

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  You use ½ cup per load.

After I did all the measuring I made a mark on the top of the water line in my bucket so that next time I don't have to measure out all the water.  I'll just pour the soap mixture into the bucket and fill it under the sink until I reach the line.

I used an old Costco sized powdered detergent bucket and it was plenty big.

I've been hearing from a lot of my friends who say that they do this and I've been wanting to try it for a while.  DON'T WAIT ANYMORE!  GIVE IT A TRY!!!

A few weeks ago my husband had to leave town for a class, since he was gone I got a project going to entertain myself after the kids went to bed.

I got this pattern and made a doll for each of my girls.

I'm not sure where I went wrong with the heads, but one is too big, the other is too small and I could have sworn that I followed the pattern exactly both times.  As they are, I think Gwen's (The one with the big head) looks sort of like Charlie Brown and Maggie's looks a bit like a voodoo doll.

My pattern deviations

1. Hair- The pattern told me to sew strips of yarn onto some type of paper and then sew it onto the dolls head, but I just used my crochet hook and strung yarn through the holes in the dolls head.  I made sure to fill the hairline in really well, the crown and part line too.  But for some of the less important areas, I only threaded yarn into holes on every other row of stitches and the hair is still too full.
2. body-I made underpants for them by using a fun color of yarn when I began the body, then when it told me to begin decreasing I switched over to the flesh colored yarn.

But the girls already love them and so I am happy overall.

Some of the things that I noticed about the pattern (good and bad)

1. The doll is a great size because clothes for an 18" doll (American girl style dolls) fit them fairly well.  
2. The hair reminds me of cabbage patch dolls from when I was a kid, so it will probably be great for using to practice braiding and stuff.
3. For the first doll I didn't have to buy any yarn at all.  I just used some scraps that I had in my box of yarn.  So it was basically a free toy.
4. The necks are not very strong so the heads flop back a lot.  (It's possible I didn't follow the pattern well enough.)
5. The dress was too complicated for me to follow, I was catching on, but I kept having to unravel it and start over until finally I decided to get creative and make my own dress.
6. I made about 1 body part a night so if you are working on this in the evenings too, consider that it will take about 6 nights.  (arms, legs, body, head, + 2 nights for the hair)

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am looking forward to Sam's next business trip (because I'd take cuddling with my hubby, a snack, and our favorite show over a project) but I have a few more toy patterns that I am wanting to try out for Toby that I will get started when Sam hits the road.

Craft Hope Project #20
I LOVE this group called Craft Hope, they do a new project for a good cause every month.  I have been having fun checking in with them and dreaming of joining their ranks of sewers.  Well, this month I finally did it.

 I only made 6 bibs to send off, Not quite what I had been dreaming of doing, but every little bit helps :)

Here is the pattern and directions for the project

 And I made one for my cute little guy too, I can't believe he's so big that he needs one!

An old Friend form the dessert had a baby recently and I had this blanket pattern that I had been dying to try.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/11/cathedral-window-baby-playmat.html

It was fun to watch how it went together, but I don't think I'd make it again because... 

• I felt like it was a waste of fabric to be cutting circles and leaving un-usable gaps instead of squares or triangles with straight edges.  So wasted fabric means an expensive project.  
• Also, when compared to conventional quilt construction,  I thought this method was more difficult to make the intersections look clean and nice.

However, I did love that there was not a ton of quilting to do when I was done and that I didn't ave to bind it .

I forgot to take a photo of the back of the blanket before sending it off to Baby Josh.  But it was the light blue fabric with little spots of the medium blue bias tape poking out at the intersections.

Here's the how-to

1. you cut the circles of top fabric, bottom fabric, and batting.
2. Sew them together into sandwiches
3. Sew on the double fold bias tape (This is what makes it look like a wedding ring quilt)
4. Draw squares onto the circles with a washable marker
5. Sew the circles together into strips along the marker lines
6. Sew the strips together
7. Sew down the curvy flaps and you are done.

Even though I won't make this one again, I still think that it looks cool.

I finally finished my first knit sweater :)  I've been working on it off and on since about Thanksgiving time.

I am so excited about it.  Like I've said before, it has taken me a lot of teachers over the years to give me the skills to do it and I thank you all.  

It is called a Raglan Sweater, I used a pattern from a book my teacher Ginger had.  But I think there are a lot of raglan patterns out there.  It was an easy stockingnet stitch for the whole sweater.  So now that I've had plenty of practice with that I think I'm going to try a seed stitch cowl or scarf to go with a hat that my pervious teacher Aimee made for me.

I can't wait to put Toby back into it for church on Sunday.  I think it will be so cute with a shirt collar poking out at the top.