Window Seat Completed.....

Who respects bloggers who don't follow through?  Who get so busy with cool projects that they take no time to blog about them?  Sorry I became that person.  Now I have several projects to share!

I did finish the window seat cushion, and I'm very satisfied with the results.  I used instructions that I found posted on Pinterest by Pretty Handy Girl:  thecsiproject.com/2011/07/27/piped-bench-cushionpretty-handy-girl/#axzz2h4lglLdE

There were several "no-sew" cushions on Pinterest, but I really wanted the piped edges for my window seat.  I'll mention a few tricks that helped me out along the way:

I used a saucer to form rounded edges for the seat.  This made it much easier to sew around than tackling sharp corners.

 

Using the striped fabric made sewing straight seams much easier.  I liked using a contrasting fabric for the piping, which I made myself.
Definitely cut the strips for the piping on the bias...necessary for the slight stretch needed to lay nicely.

The wider you cut strips are for the piping, the easier it it to sew it together.  As you can see, I have a fairly small seam allowance; another 1/2" would have helped.

Here's the piping detail of the finished window seat.  Another tip that helped me -- when inserting the foam pad into the window seat casing, cover the end with a plastic bag.  It will slide right in, and you can cut it and pull it out later.

Ta-dah!!  Fits well, and I used Velcro on the end so that the cover can be remove for washing.  The entire project came in at about $25, the most expensive part was the foam insert.  After checking around, I bought the 3" foam at JoAnn's with a coupon. Make sure the employee cuts your foam straight -- because that will be very important! 

And the Craziness Begins...

Just starting the plan for the transformation of my spare bedroom into an office/sewing room/grandma's nursery.  After painting the walls a dusty marble color (gray/green) I spent a few hours searching for fabrics for a window seat, pillows, window treatments and chair cushion.  Big thanks to hubby who always does the rolling after I cut in around the woodwork.

 I did buy a new, small 1" angled brush which worked great for me.  I also found that the blue tape at The Dollar Tree worked just as well as the more expensive tape we had bought elsewhere.  After all, you just use it for a few hours, and then toss it!  I had absolutely no leakage of paint on the edges of the tape -- great job.  We used paint that had a primer built in -- one coat easily covered the walls. 

This project will be an ongoing series of smaller projects.  We'll have to see how that goes!

I have furniture to paint, including a desk, chair, book shelf and crib.  Several sewing projects need to be completed as well.  All this before I start on my daughter's crib set for her nursery.  

First on the agenda is a window seat cushion!  I've never attempted this before, but figure I'd better dive right in to get what I want.  The palette will look something like this:

The colors are a bit muted in these photos... The polka dot is more of a dusty light gray green, not khaki, as it appears. 

I'm using the stripe for the box window seat with the polka dot cording.  I love the paisley -- but will reserve judgement for exactly where that will fit in.  I'll probably use it in some throw pillows for the window seat.

More later as the I get into the sewing of the cushion.  I'm not using a pattern for this -- just putting it together from multiple articles on Pinterest and the Internet. 

Preppy Boy's Bib from a Shirt -- Tutorial

I found a darling Tommy Hilfiger chambray little boy's shirt (size 6) in a thrift shop for $2 -- in perfect shape.   After having seen some really cute boy's bibs on Pinterest, I had a vision of turning this shirt into a designer bib!  I thought it might save some time, but I probably spent 2 hours on it since I had no instructions! 

I couldn't really find a pattern or tutorial online that matched what I had in mind.  So I took the shirt home -- washed it and pressed it.  Laying it out on a table, I decided to just cut out a basic bib form.

The sides are cut about 1/2 inch from the sleeve seam.  I cut the shoulders about 1/2 inch above the seam there, too.   I cut around the back of the collar the same 1/2" below the seam --- but later, I ended up trimming that part to the seam, and simply using a zig zag stitch around it to finish.

Keep the rest of the shirt for pieces you'll need later!

Next, I laid the front bib portion I had cut on the back of the shirt, and drew around it with a pencil, then cut a duplicate.  Where the collar was, I just cut a sort of regular neckline shape.  (Note next photo of back piece)











This is what the back portion of the bib looked like after I cut it out:

If you look closely at the photo on the left, you can see that the back piece of the bib is now laying on a piece of white fabric.  Actually it's plain white flannel that I also prewashed, and pressed.  I now cut a duplicate of the back bib piece out of this white flannel fabric.  I wanted the finished bib to have some weight, and to be more absorbent than just the two layers of chambray.






In the next step I pinned the two back pieces together.  These were NOT right sides together; the right side of the chambray was to the outside;  then I zig-zag stitched the two together at the outside.

Now I am ready to join the two back pieces to the front of the bib.  At this point I, again pressed the pieces individually with my steam iron.  Then I placed the two pieces of the bib together -- this time chambray sides together and stitched a regular seam 1/4 inch around the shoulders and rounded sides of the bib.  I then stitched it again, just to make it secure.   I did NOT stitch around the neck -- leave that open to turn the bib right side out.  Before doing that, however, clip the corners at the shoulders, and clip the curves a bit to make the seam lie flat.  

Turn the bib right side out.  Push out all the seams and steam the entire bib so that it looks crisp! Then top stitch 1/4 inch around the outside of the bib to keep it that way!




The rest of the job is mainly finishing work.  I unbuttoned the top button and zig-zag stitched around the back edge of the collar to reinforce it.

On the back of the bib, I rolled the lining neckline under about 1/8 inch, and slipstitched it (by hand)  down to make it lie flat.  Then I cut the back of the collar in the very center.

Going back to the original pieces of the shirt that are left, I cut off the bottom front placket (where the shirt is buttoned) section of the front.  It was a piece about 4 inches long.

I cut that in two, (creating two, two-inch pieces) and attached each one to either side of the back collar.  You can see these pieces on the finished bib photo.

I then stitched Velcro to each side of this piece.  That actually made the neck size of the bib somewhat adjustable.

Below is the finished product!  I also added the Tommy label to the inside neckline, just for fun!

Voila! 

Pretty Darn Quick Cinnamon Rolls

Waking up too early this morning I was Jonesing for cinnamon rolls, but knew I didn't have time for yeast rolls to raise for an hour.  I found multiple recipes via Google that looked plausible....so I picked one and tweaked it a little.  It was really pretty tasty, and everything took under 50 minutes!

By 7 am, we were having a warm, gooey cinnamon roll!  Definitely a keeper!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk -- and add 1 tablespoon white vinegar to this to work with the baking soda

Filling:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar or 1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk  (scant)    Start by adding less milk; then check consistency

Directions:
 

 Filliing:  Combine softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to form a crumbly mixture.
 

 

Dough: 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add butter after melting in microwave.
 

Stir in milk mixture to form a soft dough.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.  Mine was about 12 x 18 inches...
Spread the filling on the rolled out dough.
 

 Roll up the rectangle, with a sharp knife slice into 18 small rolls (12 if you want them a little bigger).
 

 Bake for 20 min at 400°F.
  

Glaze:  Combine powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl and stir until smooth.
1

 Once rolls are baked, drizzle on glaze and serve warm.

YUM!!

Original recipe at this link:  Have to give credit where it's due!

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/quick-cinnamon-rolls-no-yeast-293243?oc=linkback

Back to Sewing after many Years...

Sewing used to be one of my favorite pastimes during adolescence.  After taking Mrs. Smith's 9th grade sewing class, I and many of my friends jumped into the activity with both feet.  Soon we were making a few clothes for school, and even  high school Prom dresses!

Later, as a mother of two lovely girls, I made my share of Cabbage Patch doll clothes, and even sewed window treatments for my family room.  But after that, the old sewing maching sat idle for many years, and I eventually donated the old Singer cabinet model to GoodWill.

I bought an inexpensive Brother portable model at Costco for mending and small projects that might interest me, but didn't jump back into sewing until a few years back.  Baby quilts for a few friends and family members came first.   Then my older daughter expressed an interest in a t-shirt quilt to commemorate the years she spent as a high school and college athlete.  I finally put the Brother to work and created a t-shirt quilt for her. 

I purchased three separate fabrics for the backing, the binding and the stripes in between the t-shirt squares.  I pre-washed all the fabric before starting the project, and pressed all of it as well.  Mrs. Smith always said an iron is one of the most important items to used while sewing any project -- so true!

I used the t-shirt quilt instructions at this website to create the quilt, and found them very easy to follow!

http://www.goosetracks.com/T-Shirt%20Quilt%20Instructions.html

My daughter absolutely loves this quilt, and uses it frequently to cozy up to watch a movie.

Now I'm attempting some other projects, and that's the purpose of this blog -- to share ideas, tutorials, etc.