Emergency Pocket Kit - Round 2

My sister Jenny requested another Emergency Pocket Kit that I had made for her.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to find square potholders!  I went to 5 different stores, 3 of which were kitchen specialty stores.  They had rectangles, ovals and mittens... no squares.  I finally found the 2 above at a thrift store. Thank goodness!  

I seriously wanted to keep the red flowered potholder for myself!

It's the perfect colors for my kitchen :)

But I caved and made them both for her.

She's going to love them!

Tutorial here

Heirloom Dolls

Dolls from my Mom

The girl doll above was a gift to my mom from me when I was a teenager, and the other my mom bought for herself.  From day one, she kept them in a prominent place on her bedroom shelf.  I loved them both and was always so proud that she cherished my gift so much.  

On our recent trip to Hawaii, my mom wanted to know if I wanted to take them home.  Of course I said yes!!   Their outfits were a little dull after 20+ years on their shelf, so I washed them when I got home.  The pictures on the left is AFTER they were washed, which didn't really help at all.  So I got out my Shaklee "Nature Bright® Laundry Booster and Stain Remover" and soaked them for 6 hours.  The picture on the right is AFTER they were soaked and washed in the Laundry Booster.  It worked great!

The overalls are still a little faded, but it took out all the the brown!

Now the dolls have a fresh look and a new home :)

Vinyl Letters (Silhouette Project)

 Red and White Wheat

This past Friday we had Leisa Card guest speak in our ward about her book "I Dare You to Eat It".  We wanted to set up a small display, so I decided to use some old milk bottles and fill them with wheat.  Then I used my **new** Silhouette and cut out some cream vinyl to make letters (font is Santa's Sleigh) for the bottles.  I think they turned out super cute and it was very easy to do!

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the completed display, we were too busy setting up for the presentation!

Button Display

 Love the buttons!!

While visiting my sister, her new baby and my mom in Hawaii, my mom let me look through her buttons.  My mom, Hannah and I spent hours looking through her extensive collection, and then she let Hannah and I pick out our favorites!  I knew I didn't want to use the buttons on an outfit, but instead I wanted to display them somehow.  These buttons are from my grandma and my mom, and all have special meanings.  My mom told me how she remembers her mom wearing the coat or dress that these buttons came from. I even added a few buttons from some of Hannah's clothes, a button from an outfit I wore when I was a teenager, and one of the buttons from my Dad's Aloha shirts.  What could be better than that?

I couldn't find any shadow boxes that I wanted to use, so I ended up getting an "8 Opening Collage Frame" from Wal-Mart.

 I put up paper so I could make sure of the placement before nailing holes into the wall.

The smaller papers were for my Thread Storage

I then laid out the buttons on the frame to get an idea of how I wanted it to look.

I cut out black card stock into 4x6 sizes and fit them into each of the frames.  

Since this frame wasn't a shadowbox, I had to remove the glass because of the depth of the buttons.

I used different size and thickness of Glue Dots to stick the buttons onto the card stock.

I also put this quote from President Uchtdorf, that I found in his talk "Happiness, Your Heritage"

*font is Santa's Sleigh

My favorite are the reds and oranges

 I just love that there is thread still on some of them!!

Here is my sewing wall!!  I'm VERY happy with the finished product!

Thread Storage

photo by Crazy Mom Quilts

I saw the above idea by Crazy Mom Quilts and LOVED it!!  I didn't think I would be lucky enough to find something similar in a thrift store, so I started searching the craft stores.  I found a "Collector's Treasure Frame" at Joanns that would be PERFECT for my thread!!  I originally bought one, but realized that if I bought any more thread, I would need a second one.  

Here's the insert that was in the frame/shadowbox.  Sorry, I didn't remember to take a picture before I set it all up.

I taped pieces of paper together and then taped them to the wall to make sure of the placement before nailing holes in the walls.

I love the way it looks!! *

The frames/shadowboxes had glass covering the fronts, but obviously I had to remove those completely.

I also put some sticky tack on the back of each frame to hold it to the wall securely.  I don't want the entire display falling down when I thread out of the frame!

*You'll have to wait until Sunday to find out what the last paper is for ;)

We ARE Cool!!

I never planned on posting about this, mostly because I thought everyone would think I was weird (or weirder than I already am).  However... today I feel validated.  On MADE, Dana (who's very popular, cool & hip) blogged about this (well... a form of it anyway).

You see, every time the girls in the family get together we play Rummikub.
We take each game very seriously, and a few years ago I made a book so we could keep score. 

This book has seen a lot of entries

and I included some rub ons to make it even sweeter :)

One day we (my mom and I) decided it would be very funny if the winner of each game received a trophy.  Not a "real" trophy, but a toilet paper roll trophy.  I think it was her idea, so she could laugh at the winner when they received a toilet paper roll as their "prize".  (poor mom doesn't win very often)  lol

So our quest had begun.  I decided that decorated toilet paper rolls were the way to go, and made this one :)

Here's a closeup

SO on my trip to Hawaii I scored a few of these babies!!
Decorated in cool awesome fabric squares from an estate sale!

I left a note for my sister, just in case she got jealous and tried to steal my trophies!

Then... she left me THIS note!

THIS is the huge basket that she's talking about.  HOWEVER, I must point out, that these trophies are not hers, but are waiting to be won. (by me.. hehe) This phenomena has gotten everyone involved.  My mom has friends and co-workers who are now saving toilet paper rolls for her and giving her decorating advice!

Hannah was inaugurated on this trip.  She won a game and was told what her "prize" was.  She was NOT thrilled until she saw the one and only paper towel roll.  She said "Oh Yea!" and then picked out her decorations :)

Resistance is futile

New Sewing Box

quick picture from my iPhone

Right after the new year Hannah and I went to Joanns for some shopping.  She saw the sewing box display and knew she had to have one!  We probably spent 45 minutes looking over all the boxes until she knew she had picked the right one.  She bought it with her own money and she absolutely loves it!  It now has buttons from Grandma's house, some ribbon and pins.  LOVE that girl!!

Perfect Pillowcases

Birthday List

Hannah was SO upset when she realized Ernest's birthday was the next day and she didn't have a present for him.  I told her not to worry, and she got busy making a list of things she would want to buy for him.  The fabric (last on the list) we turned into two pillowcases for him.  He really needed them...

His old pillowcases have holes by all the seams

and the ends are frayed and coming apart!

Here's our finished product!  Hannah saw this fabric at the store and knew immediately that Ernest would love it.  It's a soft flannel, is the color blue and is a Hawaiian type pattern.  She made one pillowcase and I made the other.

She even picked the ribbon as a nice contrast.

I didn't follow any pattern, I just took his old pillowcase and used the measurements from that.

Vintage Baby Blanket

Finished Quilt for Aliyah!

Originally I was going to have this quilt ready for my sister when she came to visit in August.  It didn't get done in time, so then I decided I would make it and have it ready before the baby was born.  It didn't get done in time for that either!  I finally got it done in time to take to Hawaii when I went to visit baby Aliyah and Stefanie in December.  Better late than never, and my sister loves it too!  

Pattern is "Vintage Baby Quilt" by YoYo Mama Designs and fabric is Moda "Love U" Jelly Roll.

The jelly roll made it SO easy to cut out 196 2 1/2 squares.  I took multiple strips and lined them up on my cutting mat.  Since the jelly roll is fabric already cut into 2 1/2 wide strips, I only had to cut them in one direction.  I have enough squares to make 2 more blankets!

To make the quilt, you need to draw on the background fabric with a washable fabric marker.  Mine did NOT come off all the way when I washed it!  I'm hoping after a few washes, it will come off entirely.  

Of course you can't see the blue lines unless you're up close. 

I absolutely love the little frayed edges!

and the binding...

and the backing.

I think my favorite is the p.s. I Love You!!