March Calendar Challenge

Supplies: paper (Making Memories, The Paper Company, unknown alligator-skin paper); CM heart punch; green rhinestone.

I have another simple calendar page this month. I just so happens that a 3-leaf clover is pretty simple, but it's what I thought of when I thought of March. It's simple, but it works. :)

I deliberately chose a 3-leaf clover instead of a 4-leaf clover to subtly illustrate the verse beneath it - God is the one who supplies our needs, not luck or happenstance.

Now you'll want to head over to my friend's blog to see the calendar pages she made for next March. Enjoy!

Homemade Gift: Crocheted Baby Doll Hats

A friend of mine has been posting crocheted baby hats on Facebook lately. She's selling them for preemies, and she displays them on her daughters' baby dolls. That got the wheels turning in my head, and I asked her about them.

Here is the link she sent me.

With a regular-weight yarn, I've found that I need to go to 48 stitches and then quit the increasing. I do two more rows at 48 stitches each and then jump down to the ribbed cuff trim. It perfectly fits these Chou Chou babies, which are my daughter's favorites!



These are really fast and easy. I can do one in about 30 minutes if I'm not interrupted. (These are great to do while the kids are getting ready for bed or I'm "babysitting" some food in the kitchen.)



This one turned out a bit big, but it was the first one I made (and increased to 60 stitches, instead of ending at 48). It fits this doll alright, though, since her head is made out of a grippy-type material.



And what happens when you make it with baby-weight yarn? You get a smaller hat! I used the same hook (size G) and same instructions for this one, but it's the perfect fit for this smaller doll. If you want to use baby-weight yarn and make it for a larger doll, I'd recommend adding a few more rows on for length. These are so quick and easy, they're addicting! (Can you tell?)

My mother-in-law just gave me a HUGE bag of yarn, mostly in smallish increments. These are the perfect project for those small balls of yarn, even though I won't ever get through that whole bag of yarn in my entire lifetime. My daughter has claimed all of these, but I'm hoping to sneak a few into my gift stash for my nieces (and friends) who love their baby dolls just as much!

I'm linking to Check This Out,

Yet Another Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek into my next quilting project. I nearly squealed with delight when I discovered how cute these fabrics would be together!



Too bad I don't have a few of each of these sheets. I'm thinking a little girl's bed would be adorable in these, as well as a baby quilt. Who knows? I may just have to enough to do both. Stay tuned to find out! (I'm not even sure yet.) :)

Homemade Gift: Another Reversible Handbag

I made another Reversible Handbag with the template from Very Purple Person. I really love the fabric on this one. It's fabric that I picked up at the thrift store as actual yardage. It still had the sale sticker on it, with the yardage listed. I lined it in pale pink, which is really part of my sheet stash. I pick up solid-color sheets on occasion for just such purposes. This one is going into my gift stash! I'm linking to Check This Out, Fiber Arts Monday, Upcycled Awesome (still can't get the button to work right, sorry!) and

Homemade Gift: 18" Doll Glam Denim Wrap Skirts

How about a dressed-up version of the denim wrap skirts? A friend gave me this bangle trim. While it's completely impractical for a child's use (my daughter would have those bangles ripped off after ten minutes of running), it's really cool for an 18" doll.



Here it is with just green bangles. Due to the delicate nature of the bangles, I recommend hand washing these and definitely not ironing over the trim. If you like these, I've listed them in my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

I'm linking to ... Upcycled Awesome (couldn't get the button to work this time), Whatever Goes Wednesday, Fiber Arts Monday,

Homemade Gift: Vintage Sheet Pinwheel Quilt

It's done! This is the project I gave you a peek at last Monday. It came together pretty fast because a lot of the cutting was already done for me. You see, after I made the yellow patchwork quilt, I had some squares leftover. I had them sitting here waiting for just the right idea when I ran across this pinwheel quilt design. Would you believe I only had to cut one more square to have the exact number that I needed? I guess it was meant to be. :) See this? No sashing. Yes, I did it quilt-as-you-go, but I tried a new method I learned in the book Learn to Machine Quilt by Sharon Chambers. (I borrowed mine from the library.) First, you assemble and quilt your blocks as you want them. Then you sew them together. This is where it's different: You eliminate the 1" front sashing strips and instead sew the blocks directly to each other, right sides together (1/4" seams). You still have the back sashing strip (1-1/2", then ironed in half) which you use to hide that seam just like you do with the other methods. I love this method, and I must say it's easier and less confusing than the front sashing method. The only trouble you might run into (as I did) is that the seams get pretty thick with batting. The original instructions say to trim the batting away at the seams, but have you ever tried to do that on a 1/4" seam? It's nearly impossible. There are two solutions to this. First of all, you could cut your batting 1/2" shorter than your blocks (8" square of batting for 8-1/2" blocks) and then center the batting between the squares. This would work great if you know to do it ahead of time. I didn't, so the second solution was born ... Secondly, you could hand-stitch the back sashing strips to the backing. I usually machine-stitch it down, but I'm able to coax more under the strip by hand than I am by machine, so I had to use this method when I was joining rows. (I had no trouble just joining the squares into rows.) I added a border to this one, and I was thrilled not to have to mess with that 1" strip on the front! To quilt the border, I simply used the fabric design as a guide, since everything is lined up in neat rows. I bound the quilt with one of my least-favorite, what-was-I-thinking vintage sheets. I'm happy to report that it looks great as a quilt binding, and I'm nearly done with that particular sheet. :) And here you can see part of the back, with the quilting and sashing. In case you're wondering, the finished pinwheel blocks measured approximately 16" before joining. The finished quilt will easily cover a twin-size bed, and could probably even fit a full-size bed in a pinch, as you can see from the very first picture (on our guest bed, which is full-size). Considering the fact that I've gotten three quilts from these yellow vintage sheets so far - and I still have plenty of each of them left - I'd say these are pretty inexpensive quilts. I think I paid more for the batting (even at 40% off) than I did for the sheet fabric to make it, including the backing. A pretty, finished quilt for less than $15? That's my kind of quilt! :) I'm linking to Fiber Arts Monday, Made by You Monday, Upcycled Awesome, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Check This Out and

Homemade Gift: Car Rolls

This is one of those ingenius ideas I've run across, thanks to some link parties. There are all kinds of tutorials out there for these car rolls, but I originally found this idea at Sewing and Growing. She has several other links at her post, so you can check them out for variations on this idea.

I looked at all of the ideas and then came up with my own, based on what was easiest for me. It's basically a rectangle, with the bottom sewn up to create the pockets. I added fleece (you could also use batting) to make mine a little more sturdy.



I was able to get seven of them out of the vehicle sheet I picked up at my favorite thrift store a few weeks ago. See? I do actually use those sheets! :)

I gave one to my son, and I'm saving the rest for birthday gifts and "just because" gifts for visiting missionaries' kids. I figure this would be an excellent gift to keep little boys busy on a long deputational tour.

Linking to Check This Out!

Homemade Gift: Reversible Handbag

Today I have a wonderful free pattern link to share with you. It's called the Reversible Bag from Very Purple Person. I just discovered her blog this week, and she lives in Tokyo. I held my breath reading her post about the earthquake, wondering how it had affected her family. I was happy for her when I read that her husband made it home safely and they weren't directly affected by the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami. If you think of it, I'm sure they could still use prayer, though, since the nuclear situation is troubling.

I love the shape of this bag, so I had to give it a try. I started with the beautiful leftovers from a canvas-y tablecloth. There was just enough left to make one of these.



Here is the inside, since it's designed to be reversible. I used another canvas-y fabric inside, although this one is just a very small, simple print.



After I finished, I saw this slight flaw running through the top of the inside fabric. It doesn't show through to the other side, so I'd guess it's a simple case of one of the threads catching on something, then being smoothed back into place.

I love the look and feel of this bag! Since the fabrics were both a canvas-y material, it gave the bag lots of structure without any added facings. It doesn't have any zipper or other closure on top, but it hugs close to your body, so I didn't feel that it was necessary to add one.

At any rate, this one turned out so beautiful that I decided to go ahead and list it on Etsy. Because of that little fabric flaw, it will be at a reduced price. Go check it out if you're interested!

I'm linking to Check This Out!, Made by You Monday, Upcycled Awesome, Whatever Goes Wednesday and

March Sketch Challenge

Supplies: stamps (Blue Ridge Impressions girl, Studio G sentiment); paper (Making Memories, The Paper Company); ink (Versamark with black embossing powder, BIC Mark-Its, red pigment); Labels 4 Nestabilities; MS doily lace punch; Prima flowers; recycled button; pink polka-dot grosgrain ribbon.

I picked the sketch for this month. I love Becky Fleck's CardMaps, so I chose the first one from December 2010. I absolutely love this sketch!! I only got to make one card for the challenge, but I'm sure I'll be using the sketch again.

Another thing I dearly love is this girl stamp from Blue Ridge Impressions. We own a timeshare right down the road from their warehouse, so I generally pick up an order every time we visit. :) I love that they offer unmounted stamps to cut the costs, and I have never been unhappy with my stamps. This is the first time I've used this girl stamp, and I can tell it's going to be a favorite.

There are a few things I especially appreciate about Blue Ridge Impressions' stamps. First of all, as I mentioned, is the price and quality. Check them out and you'll know what I mean. Secondly, they have loads of inspirational sayings for the insides (and outsides) of cards, and they aren't afraid to make them religious. I appreciate that. Thirdly, the modesty of this girl stamp is refreshing. Sure, there are plenty of other cute stamps of little girls out there, but this is the first one that is dressed like I dress my daughter. I really appreciate that.

No, I wasn't paid to say any of that. I really believe it.

If you're still with me, I have a question for you stampers. I stamped this image with Versamark and embossed it with Stampendous Midnight Black embossing powder. I did everything as I usually do, but when I went to color it with my BIC markers, it was bleeding black into them. It totally ruined my first attempt, so I redid it, thinking I had goofed somewhere along the way. No, I did it exactly the same way I've always done it, and it still bled black when I tried to color it. It has never done this before. Does anyone have any ideas of what went wrong?

Now that you've seen my card, you'll want to visit my friend's blog to see what she came up with for this challenge.

Sneak peek of a work in progress

You can probably guess that this is another quilt-in-progress. I'm trying a variation on the quilt-as-you-go joining that I've used in the past, and I'll be sure to let you know all about it once I'm finished.

A sneak peek is all I have today. I've been dealing with a very sick boy the last three weeks. My son got the flu the last week of February, and the fever just seemed to hang on and hang on. Since I knew there was nothing a doctor will do for the flu (or so I've been told), I didn't take him in. Then he had his well child appointment last week, still running a low-grade fever. The pediatrician told me that if he didn't get better in a week that I should bring him back.

He didn't get better. He was still running low-grade fevers through the day and occasional spiking fevers at night. So I took him back, and lo and behold, he has scarlet fever! Apparently he had strep throat at some point in this lovely flu journey, and we just thought it was flu symptoms. Since it wasn't treated, it turned into scarlet fever.

Thank the Lord we caught it when we did, or it could have turned into rheumatic fever! (They suspect that my mother had rheumatic fever as a child, and it damaged her heart.)

I well remember the winter I got strep throat well over five times. It was the year I taught two classes in fifth grade, in addition to my high school responsibilities. Every time a certain fifth-grade girl got strep throat, I got it. Without fail. And boy, did she get it a lot that year! Needless to say, I still remember what strep throat feels like, and I'm afraid I complained a whole lot more than my son did!

Lesson learned: my son must have a pretty high pain tolerance. Take him seriously when he says something hurts.

I hope you and yours are enjoying good health! :)

Anyway, I'm linking my "sneak peek" to Fiber Arts Monday at Teaching Good Things.

I might be scarce for a few days.

Life has been extra-busy lately. We just finished a trip to deliver my sister-in-law's "new" vehicle, and I have a few doctor appointments to take up most of my free time over the next few days.

I do have a few projects in the works, but I might not get to post anything until next week. I just thought I'd let you know so nobody thinks I've fallen off the face of the earth or anything. :)

Link Roundup

I have found some pretty incredible bloggers this week, thanks in part to link parties and links from other people's blogs. Here are the links I thought were especially worth mentioning ...

If you have a daughter that you're trying to raise to be a good homemaker, Teaching Good Things has a great list of goals to help you in guiding her before she leaves home. If you're trying to raise a boy into a manly man (i.e. a traditional role like I am), here is a great list of goals (from the same blog) for him before he leaves home. You don't have to do them all, but it's a great list to help get your own customized list going.


This bath mat from Susan Being Snippy was made from old towels. We probably all have at least one towel that is fraying around the edges, but we can't bear to throw it away. This is a great use for it!



This purse organizer from Creative "Try"als is made from a potholder and ziploc baggies. I've seen some pretty cute potholders even at Dollar Tree. This would make an excellent carry-all for a small crafts project like embroidery, or even a first-aid kit for your vehicle or purse.



Aren't these little messenger bags adorable? (The fabric is pretty awesome, too!) My daughter has a thing for purses, and I'm sure she'd love for me to whip up a few of these for her. You can find the tutorial over at Falafel and the Bee.



What are these things? They're pattern weights from Jelly Beans n Crafty Things made out of lug nuts. I'd love to make a few!



Just last week, I was trying to think of a good solution for storing my daughter's headbands. She likes to "fix" her own hair, and she loves headbands. (She's only five, so I think she does a pretty good job at it most days, all things considered.) Anyway, I was thrilled to find this ingenius idea from Mary Janes and Galoshes.



Wendy at Old Days Old Ways made this lovely 18" doll cape from a Santa hat. Too bad I don't have any Santa hats sitting around. You better believe I'll be picking up a few when they go on clearance next year!



Creative "Try"als made this apron from a bed skirt. I have an eyelet bedskirt someone gave me, so I'm tempted to make one!

You know I always enjoy a good 18" doll project. Well, here is a link to some mittens and a headband/earmuffs that Mama Jenn made from an old glove. (You'll have to go to her blog for pictures, but trust me - you want to! They're super-easy.)

Well, that's about it for this week. I hope you enjoy these links as much as I have!