Poinsettia Pillow Tutorial

I love this Poinsettia Pillow from Pottery Barn, but it is no longer available.



Poinsetta Decorative Pillow

My DIY attitude forced me to come up with my own take on this pillow and I thought I'd share the process here.



Supplies needed to make one 16" envelope pillow:
1 Yard of Wool or Linen
¼ Yard of Wool Felt (or 4 - 9” x 12” squares of felt)
16” Pillow Form
7 - ½” bells
1 Skein of DMC Floss in a Coordinating Color
Embroidery Needle
Pencil or Marker for Tracing Leaf Pattern onto Felt
Pins
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Leaf Template



Directions:
Cut a 17” square out of the wool or linen for the front of the pillow. Print leaf template and cut out large and small leaf. Trace 5 large and 5 small leaves onto the wool felt and cut these out. Pin the 5 large leaves in place onto 17” square. Cut 30 inch lengths of the embroidery floss keeping all six strands together. Using a running stitch, stitch down the center of each leaf with the embroidery floss.



It doesn't have to be perfect. I like the effect a little gathering has on the finished leaves. Next, pin the 5 small leaves slightly askew into place and sew these down the center line in the same manner as the large leaves. Finally, sew the bells to the center of the pillow. The top is now finished.



To finish the pillow, cut 2 – 17” x 20” pieces of wool or linen. Fold them in half, so that you have two 17” x 10” pieces and press. Next place the front of the pillow facing up. Line the raw edges of the back pieces up with the raw edges of the front over lapping the folded edges in the middle. Using a ½ seam allowance sew all the way around the out edge of pillow.



Clip corners and turn the pillow to the right side by pulling it through the back opening. Stuff pillow form inside and you are done.



The tutorial and template are on the sidebar if you want to try making one.


Sharing with Craft-O-Maniac , Some Day Crafts , Skip to My Lou, Censational Girl and Design Dazzle

Wool Filled and Monogrammed Glass Ornaments

I don't know how it happened, but after several moves these past few years my heirloom ornaments ended up 300 miles away in the basement of our summer home. I needed a quick and inexpensive way to decorate my tree this year. They do say that necessity is the mother of invention. Can you see the light bulb above my head? Enter Jo-Ann Fabrics . I bought some of their clear glass ornaments. They were on sale $2.99 for EIGHT! No coupon necessary. I bought four packages.



I found some leftover yarn scraps and a knitting needle. I'm going for a gold, silver and bronze theme this year, but any colors would look great.



It couldn't be easier. Remove the metal hook anchor. Stuff the yarn into the glass ornaments. The knitting needle is helpful for stuffing and moving around the yarn inside the glass bulb. (They are delicate and I did break a few by dropping them.) Replace the metal hook anchor and add ribbon for hanging.



I really like the thick wool one the best.



I also bought some glitter style clear stickers for $1.79 (also at Jo-Anns) and made Pottery Barn inspired monogrammed ornaments by just sticking a letter to the outside of the bulb. Super easy. Now I'll have some time to make a few special ornaments and these will fill the tree.

Sharing this project with Wild Olive and Design Dazzle

Etsy

I have a love for pretty much anything vintage, but I especially love things from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I enjoy hunting for these little treasures when I am vacationing in Maine and I have accumulated quite a large collection of items.



I always had it in the back of my mind that it would be fun to have an Etsy Shop. Finally this little dream has come to fruition. I opened my shop this week.




I'll be adding more things each week. It has been fun and I'm a little nervous, but I'm also very excited about it and wanted to share my news with you.


Enjoy your weekend!

Nefertem

The Nefertem Shawl is a pattern designed by Kirsten Kapur for the Loopy Ewe Spring 2011 Sock Club. It came as a kit and included a beautiful skein of Madelinetosh Sock yarn in the colorway called Midnight Rendezvous. The color is a deep purple-blue with hints of black. It's very pretty in person. This was my first time knitting with Madelinetosh yarn and it did not disappoint.

The shawl is worked from the center top edge and has a lotus motif lace border. It was quick and easy. The crochet edging was a challenge for me, but I conquered it in the end. There is some errata for the crochet edge that can be found here. Unfortunately, I didn't find it until I was done.


Details:

Pattern: Nefertum

Designed by: Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock, 1 skein Midnight Rendezvous, 395 yards

Needle: US 8 circular

Knit while waiting for my power to come back on during Hurricane Irene. It took 3 days to knit the shawl and 6 days for the power to be restored. Ugh.

Tag Blanket Tutorial

I'm crazy about this baby!

I made a tag blanket for my grandson. I can't remember if I told you my step-daughter and her husband gave us our first grandchild in November? Well they did and we are having so much fun being grandparents. He has incredible fine motor skills and he loves to play with the tags on his toys. That got me thinking that he might like a tag blanket. They are so easy to make. I made this one with minky. If you are not familiar with minky it is a soft and cuddly machine washable chenille that is perfect for use in baby blankets.

I'm sure there are a million tutorials on this, but here is my version. It will make a 17 inch square blanket not including the ribbons.



First you will need some supplies:
1/2 yard of minky
1/4 yard each of 16 different ribbons
thread
pins
scissors
sewing machine
tweezers (if you use wire ribbon)


If you use wire ribbon you will want to take out the wire. This is so easy. Just use a tweezer to pull out the wire. It should slide right out. Then cut each ribbon into two pieces. Make them all different lengths so that some ribbons are longer than others.

Cut two 18 inch squares out of the minky.


Fold each ribbon in half and pin the raw edge of ribbon to the edge of the right side of one of the pieces of minky. I pinned 8 different ribbons to each side in varying distances apart starting an inch away from the edges. Ribbons should face inside. (see photo above)

Baste the ribbons down using your sewing machine with a 3/8 seam allowance.



Now put right sides together of the minky squares. Pin together making sure ribbons are inside.



Now, using a 1/2 inch seam allowance machine sew together leaving a 4 inch opening for turning.



Clip all edges and corners leaving a 1/4 inch raw edge. Turn right side out.



Pin the 4 inch opening closed tucking in the raw edge.



Top stitch around entire blanket using a 3/8 inch seam allowance.



Then I machine washed and dried the blanket because I know my grandson will try to eat it. Well it does look like candy.

The tutorial can also be found on my sidebar under free patterns.

Homemade Granola Bars

I found a new to me website called My Baking Addiction. What a great name. Jamie shares lots of good recipes and they are not all baked goods. I recently stumbled upon this homemade granola bar recipe and decided to try it.



These granola bars have a simple base of rolled oats, flour, and wheat germ. Brown sugar, honey, cinnamon and vanilla are the sweeteners. An egg and some vegetable oil bind it all together.



Dried cherries, slivered almonds and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips add to the yum factor.



They are baked just until the edges turn golden.



These granola bars are moist and chewy and I love the tart cherry and dark chocolate flavor. They are the perfect afternoon pick me up or on the run breakfast.



I wrapped them in parchment paper and they are ready to grab. This recipe is simple, delicious and makes 24 bars.

Note: I used the Spark People recipe calculator to figure out the calories and came up with 180 calories per serving.

Simplicity 3835

It all started when I found a piece of lace at a little antique shop for a dollar. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I couldn't leave it there. It was too pretty.
It was a DOLLAR!

I also had some Kokka fabric that I had bought at Purl Soho IN A SCRAP BAG NO LESS on a visit to NY last fall. It's a 90% cotton and 10% linen blend. Perfect for a summer top.

I had some lace leftover from another project. It was white, but I soaked it in coffee and then rinsed it to match the lace panel.

Voila!

Details:
Pattern: Simplicity 3835 - view 3. It is a Built by Wendy pattern that I have used before to make the tunic. It's a really flexible pattern with dress, tunic and top lengths and sleeve variations.
Fabric: Kokka, a blend of 90% cotton and 10% linen. I can't find a link to it, but it is slightly sheer.
Mods: The lace is hand sewn into place on the sleeves and bodice.
New Techniques: I'm trying to learn how to make a more professional looking garment, so I used a french seam. This is a good tutorial for making a french seams from Colette Patterns.

Have a wonderful weekend!