Tshirt Rug - All Coiled Up

Here it is, all coiled up. 

It's not sewn yet.  I was trying to get an idea of how big it was and if I'd need more shirts.

It's about 24" in diameter (don't know how much that will change when it's actually sewn together), which is perfect for in front of the chair in our bedroom.  Any bigger and it would just be hiding under the bed.

On to the sewing! (Though I may actually try lacing, not sewing.  Depends.  On my patience and skills.  Wish me luck.)

til next time...

Embroidered Alphabet - The Choices

I have no picture, but the paper was taped to the fabric and then taped up to a window so I could transfer the markings to the fabric with marker.  My children decided to join me. (First under my supervision, then unexpectedly when I was making dinner.  Their beautiful artwork shown below.)

I picked to embroider in green because I had the most variety in green floss, and I had decided to do an ombré effect to give it a little more interest.  So here's my pile of green. (I've allowed my children to play with the floss to distract them while I do other projects, so it's not organized.  At all.  It's a hot mess.  Yay!)

And having never done this before I don't know if I have enough of one color to do the whole thing.  (I'm still deciding if I want to just outline the letters or fill in the block parts of them.)

Tshirt Rug - The Braiding

With all the strips cut, I started braiding.

My genius set up - I used the hinge of a folding tray table to keep the tension on my braid.  I'd get about 18" braided and then readjust.  Pretty quick while we watched a movie. (Or two).

And it is now all braided. How exciting!  Ready to be coiled and sewn.  Not sure exactly how big it will be.  We'll find out and if I need to grab a few more shirts to add, I can do that.  I like the flexibility of that.

til next time...

Embroidered Alphabet - The Beginnings

I'm on a crazy mission - I have become fanatic about cleaning, organizing, and decluttering my craft room. It’s a hodgepodge of stuff, but most importantly, projects that I’ve started and not quite finished over the last decade. Or more.  I’m trying to clear it out. Use things up, donate what can be donated that I don’t have a good use for, finish things and get them out!

Naturally, with that, I started a new project! Ha. Not surprising. But I did it for a good reason! I didn’t want to do any projects involving cutting and sewing fabric because that would involve a giant mess in the room I’m trying to clean, so I decided to start a completely new hobby of embroidery. Why not?

I found this image on Pinterest a while ago and loved it. I knew I wanted it displayed in my house (maybe kids room?) but I didn’t know how. It can't really be pieced in a quilt, my free motion quilting skills are not up to snuff for it, I didn’t want to just draw it, I don't have cool paper to put it on, and I wasn’t going to print it. So this week I had embroidery on my mind and thought, that could work. Then I found a piece of cloth that seemed like the perfect dimensions and it was already finished with a hem on the end to hang it from.  I decided to give it a try.

Since I don’t have a printer, I blew up the design on my computer screen and traced it onto paper with pencil, then traced the pencil with sharpie.  That's what I'm doing now.

(And yes, I use paper that my kids have scribbled on already, because I'm not keeping that, but I'm not wasting a basically empty piece of paper, either.  The dilemma that got me into the above situation.)

til next time...

Cinnamon Rolls

I bought the buttermilk for these and it took me over a week to find the right day to make them.

But Sunday morning we were treated to a second breakfast of Alton Brown's overnight cinnamon rolls.  (Second because my kids wake up when I do and these still have to bake an hour in the morning, so we had a quick english muffin appetizer first. Savory, then sweet.)

Totally delicious.  Only thing I would change, I may add more cinnamon next time.  But mmmmh, delicious.

(They store in the fridge marvelously, just microwave for 30 seconds and spread on the icing when it came out. Yum.)

til next time...

Braided Tshirt Rug - The Beginnings

I tend to ramble here.  I have a post waiting to be edited because it basically tells my life story as an intro to my new craft.  I am trying to settle myself down a little.  So here goes!

New craft - doing a braided tshirt rug.  I'm going to be doing a presentation to some ladies at church, so I figure I should make one so I know what I'm doing! 

Tonight I spent 90 minutes cutting up 5 L/XL tshirts.  Tada!

I chopped them up into strips between 2-6 feet and I'll be randomly pulling them from the bag to have all 5 shades mixed throughout.  I hope I like the effect.  ( I also hope this makes an ok size rug.  No other tutorial is very clear about what number of tshirts makes what size rug.  So we'll see, I guess.)

Tomorrow I'll start braiding.  (I did a mini version of this, like coaster size, as a preview for the ladies and I really enjoyed the process, so I'm looking forward to some mindless braiding as I listen to TED talks or watch Netflix or listen to a book on tape or something.)

til next time...

Willow Basket

We have a giant willow bush next to our house.

I couldn't find a spring/summer picture, but (don't mind the moose in the backyard) the wooden sticks you see in the foreground coming in a few feet over the deck, that's the willow we're talking about.  And that was 9 months ago.

So as my husband chopped off a whole bunch to reclaim entry to the backyard (the bush is right in front of our deck access door) I started stripping some branches.

And I ended up with this awesome basked.  I just wove it green so I know it won't last as long as if I had dried them and soaked them, but I was feeling a need for immediate satisfaction.  (Also, I have zero experience with this type of weaving, so I made it all up on the fly, so no judgement! It holds together, that's all I'm concerned about)

It's totally lopsided on the bottom as some branches were thicker and didn't curve as gracefully as others.  But it's ok, it's a cornucopia type, display basket (or it is now).

I don't know what to put in it yet, but it makes me happy and it smells good.  So yay! I made something!

See ya later...