evermore

Over the Christmas Holiday the family and I went North to visit family and friends.  All and all we traveled 2300 miles round trip!  This translated into a ton of time spent in the car.  Knowing this I prepared a large bag of yarn and crochet hooks to keep me busy.

I crocheted these cute Sock Monkey hats for my niece and nephew. While visiting in Ohio a friend helped Me start these little cuties. She shared the pattern she used over at Repeat Crafter Me.  The hats were a simple project for my beginner crochet skills.

Speaking of beginner crochet.  While in Pittsburgh, Mom and I taught my younger sister to crochet.  Here is her first wash cloth.  TA-DA! She did great considering she is does not have any previous yarn working skills.  I think she was inspired to learn after a trip to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh with her youngest.  The day she was there with him they were doing a project with yarn.  The instructor asked her son to add a piece of yarn to the project.  When the instructor started to explain yarn he said, "Yea, I know.  My whole family knits." He was so proud of us.  Aren't 7 year old great!

I also crocheted several wash cloths.  Here is a small sample. Many were left with the people we stayed with on our trip as a smallish.  Thank You for having us in over the holidays.  These are the few I remembered to take pictures. The two circle wash cloths Kitchen Lovelies are from Fiber Flux.

I also made two granny square wash cloths using a combination of several different patterns.

While staying with friends in Michigan I worked up this cute little hot cocoa ornament.  I found this pattern over at I'm Frayed Knot.  It is sooooo Cute! This was the home of the friend who started me on my knitting journey.  While there we learned that we were both picking up crochet.  How Crazy it that!  We hadn't even talked about it.  She made a hot cocoa ornament also which I brought home and promptly hung on my tree to enjoy.

Fabric Envelope

What do you do with all of the receipts, coupons and lists that accumulate in your purse.  I often take one day a week to run multiple errands.  By the end of the day I have a huge mess in my purse. Paper, paper and more paper.  I try to use email receipts where possible. But if I have to head to a store like CVS where their receipts are taller than I am....forget-about-it, paper everywhere!  It drives me crazy. CRAZY.

Over the years I have tried various things to help organize or at the very least contain the mess. I have used coupon organizers, folders, notepads, and even tucking them (not so neatly into my checkbook cover).  My recent attempt was a business envelope.  That worked for a few weeks, with me taping the envelope and re-taping the envelope periodically, but eventually it died a horrible death.

R.I.P.

I don't know why I didn't think of if sooner but I decided to make a fabric envelope. I cannot believe I haven't been making these. They are such a quick and simple project. A quick search on pinterist.com revealed lots and lots of tutorials for fabric envelopes.

Envelope it by Bolt Neighborhood

Envelope-IT tutorial by Bolt Neighborhood has an elastic strap to keep the envelope strapped to a notepad or journal.

If you are a follower of Dave Ramsey these Pretty Little envelopes from Just Imagine Heaven will put you in Organization Heaven!

Prettiest Little Envelopes by Just Imagine Heaven

 I am already planning something using this tutorial for Love Note Valentine Bunting from Lil Luna.  Too CUTE!

Love Note Valentine's Day Bunting by Lil' Luna

Ultimately I decided on this Fabric Envelope tutorial from In Color Order.  Simple. Easy. Practical.  Perfect.  Seriously this took me 15 minutes tops.  The results awesome.

Holds everything nice and neat.  Best of all no shredded paper in the bottom of my purse.

Mudroom {Part 2}

A few months ago I started my Mudroom makeover with a new coat of paint for the bench and the cubbies and a few new shoe bins. If you missed it you can read about it here.

Since then I have been slowly working on part two of the makeover.  A breadboard wall with coat hooks.  This is the blank wall pre-makeover.

And here is our post-makeover wall.

It is now all up and painted! There are hooks for all of our bags, coats, purses, etc. and I love it!  I could not be happier with the results.  Now on to the next step, cushions and valance.

t-shirt up-cycle.

Emma has been wanting to do a little up-cycling lately.  Last year we had purchased a desk for her room for $15 and she proudly cleaned, sanded, and painted it until it was just as she wanted.  Now she has the bug again.  This year I decided we would do a little wardrobe up cycling.

We dug into her t-shirts and came up with 4 she was ok with cutting up.

I cannot believe how incredibly easy these were.  I think the most it took was 15 minutes to complete a t-shirt remodel.  The best part... She loves them!

I searched the internet for ideas and tutorials; there are literally hundreds of ideas floating out there.

These are the blogs I took the directions from :

http://www.crafterhoursblog.com/2011/08/tee-to-tank-tutorial-by-jen-from.html

http://buntefreunde.blogspot.de/2012/06/tutorial-t-shirt-cutting-weaving-braidi.html

http://www.beadandcord.com/clipper/uyen/clothes-refashion-8717/26236.html

http://wobisobi.blogspot.com/2012/07/no-sew-one-shoulder-shirt-diy.html

http://wobisobi.blogspot.com/2012/06/racer-back-tee-diy-2-braided-back.html

Thanks to all these creative bloggers for giving us such a new spin on our t-shirts!

Cornhole Bags

You didn't think I would make a Cornhole game and Not make handmade corn hole bags, now did you?  Of course not.

Yes, I made corn hole bags and I will show you just how it did it.

You will need approximately 1/4 yard of HEAVY weight Duck Cloth that is 60" wide in two colors.  If your Duck cloth is only 42 inches wide you will need 1/3 of a yard.

(Let me emphasize HEAVY weight. I made the first ones, these cute bags in the photos here, out of mid-weight duck cloth.  It took all of 10 throws before the seams ripped and corn flew everywhere.  Great if you are a squirrel or a bird.  Not so good for playing the game.  After reinforcing the seams countless times.  The fabric actually started to shred.  Not good.  Not good at all.)

Cut 8 -- 7"X7" squares out of each of the two colors.

Matching right sides of 2 same color pieces together. pin.  And sew around bag leaving a 4 inch opening on one side for turning and inserting the feed corn. Then Sew a second time, right next to the stitches you just sewed.  If you have a serger, or access to a serger you could easily serge around the edges.  Once you have sewed twice around the bag.  Clip corners and turn right side out through opening.

Use a knitting needle or the eraser end of a pencil to help turn corners.  Once bags are turned.  Fill with desired corn.  I turned this over to my DH and Daughter because they are more, anal  technical about the process.  There are certain weights, measurements for the "official" corn hole bags. This however does not interest me one iota. I sew.  That's what I do.  I am sure you can find the exact weight with googles help.

Once they are filled pin opening closed.  I found using 2 pins to secure the opening closed worked great.  Then I used 2 additional pins, running horizontal to hold the corn in place for sewing.  Sewing Machines do not like sewing over feed corn.  Trust me. Don't even go there.

Sew opening closed with a top stitch.  For the first set of bags I stitched the openings closed the first time with one seam.  Then reinforced the seams with 2 additional seams around the entire outside edge.  The second set the canvas was thick enough that this step was unnecessary. 

That's all there is, you are Ready to Play

DIY Outdoor Fun

Those of you who know me, know I am not afraid to tackle any project.  I love trying out new ideas in the sewing room as much as I do in the garage or the yard.  Last summer the kids and I got a bee in our bonnet and decided to build some outdoor lawn games.  This isn't the first wood building project we have tackled together.  Now that the kids are older and stronger, especially my boys, I am amazed at how quickly things get done.  Well, almost.

We put together our ladder ball ladder within one day.  After a few coats of paint, chosen and painted by my daughter. (I know the pink and purple probably gave that away, didn't it).  We were ready to play.  It has been great fun for the entire family, and a wonderful thing to have when company is here.

Last summer we also put together a Cornhole set.  We built it and put one coat of primer on it and it has sat in the garage ever since.  I am not sure why we stalled out on it, but this year with my husbands, ah..encouragement, we finally finished it up.

Once again E and I were in charge of painting and designing the finished product.  We went with Scarlet,  Gray and White for a certain University.  Using contact paper to design the Block O and to trim out around the hole was a great tip provided by the Internet.

The directions for both I pulled of the Internet.  There are numerous patterns on the Internet for ladder ball.  The most common is the PVC type.  Since our original ladder ball set was PVC and the boys managed to mangle that within the course of one summer, we went the wood route. The Ladder ball game directions we used can be found here at This Old House.

The Cornhole we used directions can be found here at DIY network and here at This Old House.  It is a great way to get the kids away from the electronics and involved in something that we can all do together. Happy Gaming.

Cargo Duffle - An Easter Surprise

Another Easter Surprise?  You Bet!  This past week my Mom was in for a visit.  The kids were SO excited to see her.  They love having visitors, especially family!  Since mom was going to be hanging around for Easter I decided she needed to have her own special 'Easter Basket'.

Unless you have been living under a rock I am sure you have seen Noodlehead's Cargo Duffle pattern floating around on the web.  And if you haven't you can check it out here at Robert Kaufman and here at Noodlehead.

Let me say my bag did not even come close to being as cute as some of the bags out there.  But overall I'm happy with it. The bag came together fairly easily after the quilting of the individual pieces was completed.  I thought the directions were clear and concise.  However, if you get hung up on a step, no worries.  There are many, many bloggers out there who have made the bag and offer their advise, tips and strategies for making the directions clearer.  

How cute are these pockets!  Love them!  They really set the bag apart from other bag patterns that are out there.  I believe on my next cargo duffle I will have a friend of mine embroider some cute designs to take these pockets to the next level.

The bag has a large long zipper which makes getting things in and out of the bag a breeze.  Nothing worse than not being able to find what you are looking for on your trip.  The seams on the inside of the bag are bound, much like a quilt, which makes up for the fact that there is not an actual lining.  However, if you really want one I believe there is a blog or two out there that has adapted the pattern to add in a lining.  I really prefer the bag finished the way the pattern was written. The interior looks nice and neat and the quilting is highlighted.  Beautiful. 

New Wall Art

I have been doing a bit of hand work lately.  Many of the pieces I have shared with you.  This piece I believe I shared part of it a while back.  It's the Quilt, Sew, Live, Breathe sewing machine cover from Generation Q Magazine.

Well it turns out I decided not to make it into a sewing machine cover and I turned it into a piece of wall art. Here is my finished version.  I chose not to do the entire picture in black and red like the original pattern but added a few of my own choices.

After I pressed, starched and trimmed it I played with lots of different color combinations.  In the end I settled for mostly the black, red and white.  I did mix it up a little bit throwing in a tiny piece of blue, pink, yellow and green to complement my stitches.

I picked up an 12 X 16" canvas at Joann Fabrics one day when I was out running errands, just incase.  Well it turned out that it was the perfect size for my new embroidery project.

Once my red and black border was in place I simply stapled the completed project to the canvas!  Just that easy.  Okay, not quite that easy.  I did have to do some calculations here and there.  The finished embroidery project measures 1.5 inches larger than the canvas.  So for all you math impaired that is 13.5 x 17.5".  I also temporarily taped the project to the canvas to make sure that it was centered the way I liked it.  I'll admit that the manual staple gun has never been my best friend so I did have to beat several of the staples into submission to get them into the frame.

Now comes the really hard part.. deciding where to hang it.

New Crates for the Mudroom

I build a Shoe/Locker Combination unit when we lived in Ohio.  Then the kids were smaller and so were their coats, shoes and especially book bags.  It was a wonderful place to help organize the mess that is brought in from after school.  Although truth be told I still think the kids prefer to store their belongings on the floor.  It seems everything ends up there, or the kitchen table.

 When we lived in El Paso there was little space for the Unit so it was disassembled and used in two parts.  One in the Garage and one in a bedroom for toy storage.  Now here in South Carolina the kids are bigger and we once again have room for The Unit although it is still in two pieces.  After 11 years it was starting to show its age, as with any older unit it needed a bit of wood filler and a little makeup, ah.  I mean paint.  Emma and I moved everything out of the storage unit and hauled the two pieces out to the Garage for a little TLC.

I went ahead and painted them the same color as the cabinets in the mudroom, a lovely Dove White.  Makes them look nice and fresh, however not so good for scuff marks and stains

Notice the Bag, On the Floor.

I also purchased these crates from JoAnn's months ago, finished them up with the same Dove White.  I stuck some adhesive backed felt onto the bottom to keep it from scratching up my new paint job.  We also added the cutest little chalkboard onto the sides of the shoe crates.

A little $3 bottle of Chalkboard paint and everyone has their own bin. Well, except, Emma has two bins. 

 Trust me I am well aware of how "unfair" it is but she is a girl, and therefore she does have more shoes.  Whatch' going to do? This keeps everyone's shoes separated so mom doesn't have to listen to "Ew!  Mark put his shoes in MY bin".  Ta-Da we are done.  Okay.  Temporarily, I still want to put up board and batten or wainscoting in the mudroom, make a covered seat cushion and whip up a valance for the door window.  But for now.  We are done.

Tile {revisited.}

I have had many questions about the tile backsplash we installed in our kitchen.  I realized I never posted a finished picture.

backsplash over range

backsplash around counter

Okay for those who asked we used Travertine tile mosaic that was in 12 X 12 inch sheets.  I cut the sheets in half and ran a 1.5 inch glass tile border in between the travertine.  I also used the glass tile mosaic to create the 28 X 16 inch frame that is over the range.  I purchased the travertine and the glass mosaic at Lowes.  I used pre-mixed mastic and a V-knotched trowel.  All tiles were sealed twice with water-based Stone and Tile sealant once before installation and once before grouting.

Pitted Travertine.

We used SpectraLock stain proof grout. I enjoy cooking and am proud to say, I am not neat about it.  My DH was insistent in the use of Stain proof grout. If you have never used a stain proof grout before I found quite a bit of advice on the internet.  We found it is different from working with regular sanded grout in two aspects. 

 One. The working time is only about 30 minutes.  Because the grout uses a two part epoxy in the mix it drys very fast.  We would mix the grout and place approximately 1/2 in the freezer while we worked with 1/2.  The cooler temps in the freezer will prolong the work time. 

Two.  This grout is a two part mix.  The epoxy and the color powder.  We found that the best way to mix this particular grout for spreading on wall tile was to leave out about 10% of the color powder, which the manufacture recommends.  If all of it is added to the  epoxy the grout is almost to thick to spread with the float.  In some places I actually did spread it with my fingers.

  

Even with the sealant it was impossible to keep the grout out of the hundreds of natural holes in Travertine.  I purposely chose a grout which was in the same color family as the stone to minimize the look of the grout in the travertine.

To finish up we purchased the tinted calk from SpectraLock as well.  Did not grout the area between the counter and the tile and the cabinets and the tile. The caulk is an identical match to the grout which looks beautiful.

Hopefully this answers all of the questions I have had on the Tile project. Feel free to leave any questions in the comment section!