Cut a length of ribbon 50”. Find the center of the length of ribbon and place a pin there. To determine where to place the ribbon, measure down 7 inches from the center of the top edge of the bag and pin the center of the ribbon at that point.   Measure down 7 inched from center of each grommet and…
Place a pin in the center of the front of the bag. Measure 2 ½” from either side of the pin and mark a dot with a pencil. Measure down ½” from the top edge, place grommet piece against edge of ruler. With the pencil, trace inside of grommet. Using the punch that came with the grommet kit, punch hole…
With right sides together, match bottom seam to side seam. Pin and sew. Repeat for other corner of bag. Sew the bottom of the lining in the same way. Trim seam to ¼”. Turn the outside of the bag right side out. Insert outside of bag into the lining. Pin and sew around the top of the bag. Gently pull…
Tired of paying for gift wrap year after year? Do you cringe when you see that pile of paper on Christmas morning that you know will end up in the landfill (most gift wrap can’t be recycled.) There’s a simple and very elegant solution! Sew your own collection of gift bags. The initial cost may be a little more but…
Earlier this month I wrote a post about an activity that Dave and I call memory builders.  For this month’s Christmas on a Budget post, I will be discussing turning memory building activities into traditions. As a military family, we rarely lived close enough to family to have the traditional Christmas of visiting Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house on Christmas Day…
On Saturday, I got the third hot pad quilted after a quick trip to the fabric store to buy more thread. Free motion quilting takes a lot of thread! Then there was another stop in the sewing action while Dave worked on figuring out why the potted motor of my 15-91 was leaking oil.   He ended up having to take…
I’m going to start off by saying I am ridiculously pleased with myself. Last night during FNSI, I was having trouble figuring out how I wanted to quilt the hot pads I had prepped and ready (see previous post.) I had toyed with the idea of free motion quilting them.  For a while now I’ve been watching videos on…
On my Unfinished Projects list I have listed two table runners/toppers with a notation saying they needed to have borders added and then be basted, quilted and bound. The blocks in these two items were made back when AmandaJean over at crazy mom quilts was hosting her first quilt-a-long.  Not only was it AmandaJean’s first quilt-a-long, it was my first…
I’ve moved two more projects from the Unfinished Projects to the Completed Projects list on my 2011 – The Year of Getting Things Done page. First, is this crocheted beaded Christmas tree garland: I made two of these garlands a couple of years ago and then one again last year, but that still wasn’t enough garland to go all the…
Do you go on late night or early morning adventure with your kids? Dave and I and our son were out of the house at O four hundred dark this morning. We had an inflatable mattress strapped in the bed of Dave’s Ranger and were off to find a spot away from the lights of the city to watch the night…