Purple Patchwork Pot Holders

How is that for alliteration???

Here is the companion piece to Ruffled Towel I posted about yesterday.

I saw some cute ones on Pinterest and thought- "I could make some cute potholders!"
So I did!

Here are some inspiration pictures:

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I know there are a lot of tutorials out there for potholders too, but this is how I did mine.

Ingredients:
Fabric- Scraps enough to make 7" X 7" squares, front and back
Insulation- Either heat proof interfacing or AT LEAST 3 layers of thick material (I used 4 layers of flannel)
Bias tape or fabric to make bias tape- About 35" per potholder

How To:
Start by piecing together three squares of fabric (3" X 3")- these were left over from my KSU quilt. Piece together the background fabric, press and cut it to 7" X 7" square.

Cut the backing and insulation pieces into 7" X 7" squares.

Layer the pieces and quilt as desired. I finally got to use one of the cute stitches available on my sewing machine- love how it turned out.

For the binding I made bias tape using the same tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew.

Starting at the corner where you want your loop, place bias tape and potholders right sides together. You want to leave about 3 inches of bias tape stiching out from the top of the potholder.  Start sewing about 1/2" down from the top the potholder.

Sew until you get about 1" from the first corner. Put needle down in fabric and fold corner over as shown in the picture- first  fold so wrong sides of bias tape are together and the extra tape is hanging over to the right, then fold so that right side of bias tape and right side of fabric are together. Sew until you are about 1/4" away from bottom, put needle down and turn corner. Complete this step and all corner except the last one.

When you get to the last corner, pull back the bias tape used to start the binding and keep sewing about 3 inches past the edge. Cut bias tape and loop it to make a hanger. Place under the bias tape from the beginning and sew into place.

Loop the extra bias tape around the back and hand stitch into place as shown in picture. Hand stitching binding all the way around the back of the potholder using matching thread.

Linking Up with some of these parties!

This is also my entry for the September Blogger's Dinner Party

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Purple Ruffled Towel

So trying to stick to the Stashbusting September rules when you have birthday presents to make can be a little tricky- but I am very happy with what I came up with!

I really love this ruffled towel- it is sweet and simple! I think my favorite part is the fabric- you can't see it that well in the pictures but it has glitter in it!

I have seen these all over the place and it is pretty basic sewing but just in case you wanted to know-
Here is how I did it:

Ingredients:
Huck Towel
Fabric (enough to make a 2 3/4" X 48" strip)
Sewing Machine
Thread
Pins

Cut your strip of fabric 2 3/4" X twice as long as the towel you want to put it on. My towel was 24" wide- so my fabric was 48" wide.

Sew into a long tube and turn inside out.  Iron so that seam is on the middle of the backside.

Fold in both ends and topstitch all the way around the strip of fabric.

Set your stitch length on the highest it will go (mine goes to 5) and sew lengthwise down the middle of the strip for a basting stitch.

Pull on the thread and make the fabric ruffle until it is the same length as the width of your towel.

Pin in place and sew down the middle (make sure and set your stitch length back to normal ~2.2)

See- wasn't that easy! And Pretty! You can do multiple ruffles if you want!

Linking up with some of  these great parties!!

Make sure to check in tomorrow and see the companion to this great gift idea!

Thanks for stopping by!

New Food Friday #9- Faux Pho out of Ramen Noodles

So I was perusing Pinterest last week when I found this link to Faux Pho made from Ramen Noodles. I knew I had to try it. I love Pho but we don't have any places to get it in my area.

This was a little spur of the moment so I didn't have the ingredients I ideally would want to add in. Also the link didn't have a specific recipe so I will just walk you through my recipe.

Faux Pho from Ramen Noodles

Ingredients:
9 Cups Water
3 Packages Chicken Ramen Noodles (You could probably use any flavor you want)
5 small pork chops, sliced thinly
1/2 onion, chopped thinly
3 cups Spinach
Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Powder

Optional Add-ins: Sprouts, Fish Sauce, Cilantro, Kale, Most any other fast cooking vegetables you want.

Fill large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Once boiling add onions. While the onions were cooking I chopped my pork chops- the trick is to slice them very thin so they will cook fast enough.

Add pork chops to water once onions appear soft.

Once water has returned to a boil add the ramen noodles, seasoning packets, and garlic powder. Also add red pepper flakes- probably go light on these at first unless you like really spicy things! Let boil for 2 minutes, then add spinach and boil an additional minute.

This was very very good- the only thing I would have done differently was add extra spinach if I had more on hand and add sprouts.

I can't believe this is the 9th New Food Friday, I have been having a really good time trying all these new recipes!!

Linking up with these great parties!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a good day!!

Photo Challenge Week #9- A Mess

I'm not going to lie- this week's challenge was not too difficult for me. So here it is- the mess that is my craft room. I have been so busy filling orders for cross stitch/embroidery fabrics on Etsy that I haven't had time to clean them up.

But wait- there is more!! (and you get to see my pretty thrift store "Z")!!

There were more areas that I could take pictures of messes- the sewing table, more cross stitch/embroidery fabric strewn across the twin bed- but I didn't!

Now for the shameless self promotion- If you are interested in cheap Cross Stitch/Embroidery Linens, Belfast, Lugana, or Aida- you should check out my store. If you don't see what you are looking for message me- I have TONS of variety! I am going to try and list some more this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good day!

Finished Cushions for the Porch!

All I can say about this project is that I am sooo glad it is DONE!

Do you ever have those projects where everything seems to go wrong- well these last two cushions just happened to have EVERYthing go wrong. I ran out of brown thread (it's stashbusting September so I substituted black. Then I accidentally cut the long cushion fabric the wrong size. Instead of recutting the fabric or the cushion to the right size I decided to try and make the seam allowance smaller. Yeah, bad idea, don't do that!

The last thing that went wrong I feel a little guilty about- I ran out of cording- about 7 inches short- so I went and bought some. Now I know it is Stashbusting September, but one of my main goals was to finish this project. So in order to finish this project and get it out of my stash I did have to go and buy $.90 worth of cording.







Here is the before picture of the rocking chair. Not bad for $20 on Craigslist!

Here she is after a couple coats of paint and a new cushion. Don't you just want to come sit on my porch and watch the sunrise!!

Here is the porch swing- I still need to paint it, but I love the cushion on it! For the cushions I used the same tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew as I did for my other cushions.
I am getting pretty close to revealing my front porch- just a few more things to do!!
Linking up with these parties!



Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!!