Screen Print Pillow

Tried my hand at non chemical screen printing and loved the results!

So this saying has been my mantra for a while now.  And now that the hubby has retired I am thinking my online shopping is really going to suffer......

Diana

Mirror Makeover For Christmas

Wanted to dress up our mantel mirror for Christmas with a little vinyl.

Used a Silhouette file from the Silhouette store.  Added a few extra stars.  Super simple but in keeping with my desire to keep Christ as the center of  Christmas.

Diana

Feed Sack Apron

Just finished a really cute apron last week.  It is made from Feed Company Sweetwater Moda Feed Sack Fabric.

 I had bought the fabric while visiting my sister in law in Idaho.  It only took one evening to sew and wasn't very hard at all even though it had curved seams.  I hate curved seam piecing.

 Lots of rick rack.  And really cute plaid fabric!

 I haven't decided if this is for me or a gift for someone else..........

Diana

Tea Towels For Christmas

Getting a few of my Christmas gifts done ahead of time!  I machine embroidered and sewed up about 11 tea towels.

 I did a few with the french utensils and a few with the rooster.  The material is bought by the yard and cut into towels.  The printed tea towel were made from fabric I got on spoonflower during the fat quarter sale a few weeks ago.

 This is definitely my favorite!  Love the pretty silverware.

So pretty......Hope everyone loves these towels as much as I do.

Diana

WiFi Password For Guests

Do you know you can change you WiFi password from that ridiculously long string of numbers?  I googled it and followed the instructions and then......lost all access to the internet.  Called my provider and found out you also need to delete and then re establish your internet connection.  WITH ALL YOUR DEVICES.  Not hard once I knew how.  Then my printer wouldn't work.  Same deal.  Reconnect.  I think I am all set now.......  Back to the reason I changed my password.  When we have guests it is annoying to have to give them that old password.  So now I have a cute little framed Welcome and WiFi info picture in the guest room for them.

So much easier for them now. 

Got the frame at Walmart and printed the info.

I think it is a cute way to make my guest feel welcome.

Diana

Santa Bag Using My Silhouette

Been spending a lot of quality time with my Silhouette lately.  Today's project is a Santa bag for a young family at our church.

 I used heat transfer flocked vinyl from Silhouette and a cutting file from Fynes Designs.  She also has directions for a bag!  However, I used my own pattern because I wanted my bag to have a round bottom.

The file took forever to cut.  I used double cut and blade set at 4 which seemed to work well for this material and file.

Using my iron worked but it was more time consuming.  I did have a 12x12 tile under the fabric to help increase the heat from the back of the design too.

  

My bag is tied with a ribbon and is stuffed with a few goodies for there family.  Can't wait to give it to them.

Diana

Update on Dr Who Tardis Ornaments

Had so much trouble getting the vinyl to lay smooth against the glass ornament.  Found out if you hit it with a blow dryer or heat gun the vinyl magically flattens and is totally smooth!  So cool.

Diana

Dr. Who Tardis Ornament

Not easy to put a flat vinyl design on a rounded surface.  Enough said.

OK so not enough said.  So hard.  Never again.  Hated every minute of it.

Diana

Wintery Deer Pillow

I have been seeing Heat Transfer Vinyl projects all over the net and finally got enough courage to try one myself.  I don't have a heat press (hint, hint, Christmas is coming!) so I had to use an iron.  Apparently you shouldn't use a sheet of glass as a base....... crack!  But other than that small problem it wasn't so hard.

 I used a Silhouette file for the deer image and pretty blue flocked vinyl.  The silhouette cut it out like butter even though it was very intricate.  Then I used my iron at the hottest setting (less than 300 degrees).  I also used a Teflon sheet between the iron and vinyl.  Less than 1 minute of heavy pressure and the vinyl was stuck.  I am not sure if this pillow would stand up to a washing machine but since it is a pillow not a pillow cover it should not ever see the inside of a washer.

Here is a closer view.  This pillow is going to my youngest daughter who uses a lot of blues and grays in her decor.  Hope she likes it.

Diana

Owl Apron

A dear friend's great grand daughter Hailey loves the apron I wear for my church assignment.  (see here)  She asked if I could sew up one for Hailey for Christmas.  Hoping to get a jump on some of my holiday projects I got right on it.

She gave me free reign on fabric choice so I chose this cute owl fabric.  I even made a pot holder from the scraps.

  The apron and pot holder will be used for her 4H cooking class.

 Love this pocket.

The back is so pretty too.  Hope she likes this as much as I do!

Diana

Thanksgiving Place Cards for Silhouette

Want a free and easy printable set of place cards for your Thanksgiving table?

Here is a cutting file for your Silhouette that combines printing the card and overlaying a pretty fall leaf.  Or you can just print the entire thing.  (just be sure to select "No cut" on the leaf image)  You can also edit the name or stick with the "Be Grateful" sentiment.  The choice is yours.

The black lines do not appear in the download, I just added them to the image to make it easier to see so you could actually see the cutting lines.  The cards fold into a tent with the leaf sticking out the top.

Here is the silhouette download.

Diana

Bamboo Floors in the Cabin

One more project done......the bamboo floors are in and looking great!

We did it ourselves and it took two days but I can't tell you what a difference it makes.

Everything just feels so much cleaner.  That's because it is-so much cleaner-cuz we had plywood floors before.  Yuck.

Here is a shot of the kitchen area.  We still have all the molding to do but that should go pretty quickly.

Just in case you forgot what we started with.......   We did all the work ourselves, once the shell was built.  We didn't want it to look too fancy.  More like it was completed and furnished by a family over a long time with things that made them happy and had a lot of sentimental value.  Which is kind of true because it has taken quite a while to finish and we got a lot of the stuff at auctions, antique stores and our own homes (and the clearance section of Lowes).

 We added a kitchen and a bath.  That meant putting in electrical and plumbing.

 We put in a stove and covered all the walls and ceilings in pine tongue and groove.  This cabin is solid!  The rocking chair was a gift from my family years ago for Mother's Day.  The log table was built by an Amish guy.  The crock in the corner used to hold sauerkraut.  I love that everything has a story and was bought over time..  The picture on the ledge were painted by some of our grandchildren.

 The chest was made from barn wood, again by the Amish, and the couch is a hide a bed for extra sleeping.  Plus it is a great place to cuddle up with a book (or Kindle) for some quiet time.  The blanket was crocheted by my grandmother who passed away this year.  She made it for the cabin.  I made the picture over the couch from a poster that I modge podged onto canvas.

 I so love the kitchen!  Behind the little curtain is a fridge and microwave.  I don't have a stove but the toaster oven and a hot plate have worked great for small meals.  And small meals are about all I want to do here anyway.  I do have a crock pot, electric skillet and rice cooker too, just in case.  Oh, and a Kitchenaid......  I always have to have a Kitchenaid.

 Here is a peek into the bath.  It is small but the shower is huge so that makes it nice.  We have an on-demand water heater for the cabin so it is hot showers for us!

 We refinished this cute medicine cabinet for some extra storage above the itty bitty sink.

 Jenn and Chuck bought this cool light that is great cuz you can direct the lights where ever you need them.  

 Another look at the kitchen.  We made the shelf from some antique shelf supports I got on ebay and pine boards.  You can see the water heater on the wall in the corner.  The crock that holds my wooden spoons and such was a gift from my brother's family and has a picture of Kirtland on the front.  We all went there the last time his family came out here to Ohio.  The vintage red plastic canisters were an auction find.  We keep little treats in them.

 A close up of the bamboo floors.  The rag rug was picked up at an Amish auction and is handmade.

 Upstairs is a sleeping loft.  We put a queen sized mattress up there and it is so comfortable.  We even have a view of the pasture out our tiny little window.  In the winter the heat from the stove keeps the loft so warm we often don't even use blankets.  We are talking Ohio winters!

 This ladder is suspended from the ceiling with a rope and can be lowered when we need to go upstairs.  It can slide along a metal pipe to the center of the room (that's where the headroom is the highest in the loft) and then can be tucked out of the way when we don't need it.

 I love that we have a small entry area to take off shoes and stow away some of our stuff.  We put in a tile floor in that area to protect the bamboo floors from dirt.  That little bench has a lot of storage and was built by some students at our local developmental center.

 Where you see the trees outside is the creek bed.

 The shelf on the left holds some plates and cookbooks.  Behind the door is a pegboard made out of a log that is real handy for hanging stuff.

 One of the last things we got was a cuckoo clock.  I bought it on ebay and it wasn't working so I got it cheap.  My husband replaced a few parts and now it is one of my favorite things about the cabin.  I love to hear the tick tock and the squeaky little bird.

 The colors were so garish when I first saw it but up against the pine walls it really pops.

So Kitschy!

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Diana

Another Baby Quilt Heading For China

Another of my husband's secretaries is expecting a baby!  And since this is his last trip to China (he is retiring early!!!!!) I needed to rush and make a baby quilt as quickly as possible.

 Nothing is faster than a strip quilt and it goes even quicker when you use a jelly roll to make it.  Even though it took a little more effort, I decided to round the corners and piece a section of the back.

 The muted palette of greens and browns looks so pretty and should work for a boy or girl.

I machine quilted it in simple swirls.  

The most time consuming part was figuring out why my thread kept breaking (dull needle) and hand sewing the binding.  I was about to lose my mind trying to resolve the thread issue.  Of course it is always something you should have thought of right away but somehow never do.  Thanks to my local quilt shop for giving me some support and not laughing at my duh moment! 

Hope Belinda and baby enjoy the gift!

Diana

Free Kawaii Rice Bowl Silhouette File and SVG File

I have been having so much fun designing cutting files!  Today I have a rice bowl to share with you and the best part -- it is free!

If you want to download a silhouette file go here and for SVG go here.

Please let me know if anyone is having trouble with the downloads so I can fix it.

Diana

Yellow And Black (and a whole lot of white) Quilt

This is seriously one of my favorite quilts I have ever made.  Not sure why, it certainly isn't the most difficult or the prettiest.  Maybe it is the colors and how graphic the fabric and quilt pattern is........

 Whatever the reason I just love it.

 It is lap size and I made it for my sister who is waiting for a lung transplant.  

I am hoping it helps to brighten her days every time she cuddles under it.

Diana