Reality Bites

Hi readers. Some of you may have noticed my posts are less frequent.

I have Multiple Sclerosis that has recently come out of remision. With me it causes extreme fatigue, poor balance and problems with my short term memory and processing skills.

Everything takes a lot of effort and I have much less energy. Because of this I need to rest more and do less. Which means my blog needs to retire.

I appreciate your following and comments. It was really fun to share ideas and projects with you.

Blessings to each of you,
Melanie

Missing in Action

Sorry Readers for being MIA. Would you believe it took me a while to recover from the family reunion? lol.




I've actually been busy sewing. I've been working on making place mats and napkins. My daughter has opened my eyes to the waste of using paper products (such as napkins and towels). Not only do they add up in costs, but they fill our landfills and consume massive amounts of trees. And I love trees.

So, at 51 I'm going green!

Here are some of the place mats and napkins I've made. The mitered corners are gorgeous if I say so myself. A new friend showed me how to make them. Wish I could share the secret, but I promised to keep it to myself.



I've also started a monthly quilting and knitting (please accept my apologies) group in my home. The ladies are all from my church and we're making lap quilts or shawls for a local nursing home right now. Much fun, laughter and eating was done with little sewing to be seen! Hopefully over the month I can catch up. I'm making a batik quilt with colors that remind me of the waters in Key West.

Hope each of you is doing well.

Melanie

Clip On Sunglass Holder Tutorial

Good Evening!

I needed a new case for my clip on sunglasses, so I made up a pattern and took pictures along the way. These are quick to whip up, maybe half an hour tops. I used two coordinating fabrics from Moda's "Neptune".

Materials:
One 6"x7" square of your primary fabric
One 6"x7" square of batting
One 2 1/4"x6" square of contrasting fabric
One 5 1/4"x6" square of fleece or soft fabric
Thread
Scissors
dare I mention?...seam ripper?

Note: all seams are 1/4"

1. Cut fabric into sizes listed in materials list.

2. Sew contrasting fabric (2 1/4"x6") to fleece (5 1/4" x 6") along 6" sides. Iron seam open. This will be your inside fabric.

3. Make fabric sandwich layering batting, then Outside fabric, right side up, followed by Inside fabric, wrong side up.

4. With white pencil, make two marks on upper right hand edge of sandwich. From top right corner, mark 2" down and 2 1/2" to the left from the corner. Draw a line with the white pencil connecting these two marks. It should look like a triangle.

5. Cut off this triangle on the white line.

6. Sew around all edges edge leaving 2" opening along one side (to turn inside out).

7. Trim edges and corners to 1/4" from seam. Do NOT trim 2" area left open to turn inside out.



8. Turn inside out. Iron carefully.

9. At 2" opening, iron seams in.

10. Top stitch along top of case and down right side until you reach fleece. (Recommend double stitching for best look. Would not use double needle because the bobbin stitching is not attractive and it will be seen).

11. Now fold case in half length-wise as it will look when finished. Double stitch top stitch along sides.

12. Wala!

We fly out tomorrow to pick up my father-in-law in Destin, Florida. From there we will drive two days to Wilmington, North Carolina for my husband's family reunion. We have an annual golf tournament with a trophy and lots of food. I won't be able to blog during this week. So, I'll see you next week. Hope you have a good one!

Melanie

Gift Idea for someone that has everything

Top of the day to you!

Thought I'd share a great idea for a gift for someone that has everything. When I used to do speech pathology I did a home visit and noticed something like the photo above. When I asked about it the patient started crying. Bingo! Great gift!

This is a Scrabble board with words on it that are meaningful to the person receiving the board. Things like pet names, street addresses, favorite places, people, children, dates, etc.

You'll need a Scrabble game, white glue, creativity. Frame set or professional framing.

To make this item, begin by writing a list of words you'd like to put on the board. This is fun! Take your time, perhaps a few days, to enjoy the memories.

Take the longest word and spell it out with wood squares horizontally or vertically on the board. Glue each piece down with some white household glue like Elmer's. (Other glues produce a gas that clouds the glass in the frame). (NOTE: you may have to buy extra wood squares if you run out of letters)

Once dry, you can have it professionally framed (like the first example) or do it yourself (like the second example). Expect to get "ohhs and ahhs" when you gift them.

It makes a great anniversary gift, birthday or wedding gift. The first one is an anniversary gift I gave my dh and the second one is one I made for his grandmother. When she died, we got it back. So, it's special to us and bit of her.



Melanie

Fabric Scripture Memory Flip Books

Good Morning!

I've been playing with books lately and have produced four Scripture Memory Flip Books. I was having a difficult time punching holes in the fabric when (finally) I remembered you have to put a stabilizer on the back of fabrics when you do embroidery. So, after ironing the paper on the back of the fabric, I was able to punch holes easily.

I'm working on a quilt block wall hanging, so come back in a day or two to see it.

Take care,
Melanie

Two Tips!

Good morning! Hope all is well with you.

I've been sewing up a storm, but nothing is finished to show you. However, I did learn something new...How to make nice, sharp corners. I wasn't completely satisfied with my corners. Despite poking with a knitting needle, they were, well, blah. I found the answer at about.com. Basically you trim excess fabric very closely and then sew ACROSS the corner a few stitches. I know it sounds like a mistake, but it works. In the photos above the pictures in the left column show the way we regularly do corners, the right column shows the stitching across method.

Tip number 2: You know those little sandpaper dots we purchase to put on the underside of our rulers to keep them from slipping? Well, you can use them for other things. Like sticking one to a button on your machine. This allows you to push that button by touch alone. Your eyes can stay on your sewing. This is very nice for long-arm machines too. I also put one on my house door key so I can tell by touch which one to use. I also put a few on the top of my self-healing mat. It helps hold the fabric still as you cut. And the list goes on. I'm sure you can think of a few good spots to stick one. (by the way, that's my Baby Lock sewing machine. I just love it!)

Have a nice Memorial Day holiday.
Melanie

Forgive a grandma... This is Alex at one month! Can you believe he can hold himself up like that?!

Florida Sunshine

Dull and boring where you are? How about a little Florida Sunshine!

Here's my latest small quilt. It's made from the "Water Garden" fabric line by Moda. I just love the cheerful colors. I only used two fabrics, the floral is in the squares and binding and the yellow fabric in the sashing and back. It was easy to whip up and brings a smile to my face.
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I'm starting a special applique for the wall above my fireplace. It's called Meg's Garden and you can see it directly below. Isn't that just amazing!? I purchased the pattern from Australian Homespun.

You need to check out "Don't Look Now's " blog. She has more talent oozing out of her pinkie than most of us combined.

I've chosen greens, soft blues, burgandies and soft yellows for my colors. I've wanted to tackle a hand applique project for a while now. I'll keep you updated on it's progress.

Also, I found a very interesting site that has a video showing how to use simple Elmer's glue to temporarily attach your binding as you sew it. It remains in place and is a breeze to do. I used it with the last quilt (above) and it worked quite well.

Have a nice Sunday!
Melanie