Slender Man Mask

For Halloween this year my son wanted to dress up as Slender Man.  He said he would need a white hood-like mask, white gloves, a black tie, and a suit.  I looked around Ebay and found some white gloves and even the mask for not too much.  I felt quite prepared ordering everything weeks in advance.  When the mask finally arrived, it was clear that it was not quite transparent enough.

We thought about ways to fix the mask.  We could make eye holes, but that would ruin the effect.  Remaking the whole mask was another possibility.  Then after looking at the mask, I decided I could simply replace part of the mask on the front side.

At JoAnn's I checked out every white fabric for stretch and visibility.  Finally I found one that seemed better than the original mask.

Replacing part of the mask was a great idea for many reasons.  For one, after removing the stitches, I could use the panel I removed as a pattern.  Secondly, this fix was much quicker than making a whole new mask.  It gave my son better visibility and worked well. We had a Happy Halloween and hope you did too!

Quilted Totes

After making the little daisy mug rugs, I still had some pink daisy fabric left.  I wondered if I could put together another little something with the leftover pieces.  I decided on a quilted tote bag.  I found lots of different inspirations for them and liked parts of this one pattern.  I settled on a wonky log cabin pattern and quilted along as I went.  I love that kind of quilting.  

The finished size wasn't really a concern of mine while piecing.  I was thinking a rectangle might be good, but I also knew I could just add more strips.  The first one ended up at about 12.5" by 10.5".  The second was 13" by 9.25".

After making my fronts, I decided to just keep the back plain black.  I added batting to each part and quilted them using a hot pink free motion design.  Then I sewed front to back at the sides and bottom  edge, then formed the bottom.  

My surplus of bottom weight material came in handy for the straps and lining.   I also added an inside pocket and made it the length of the one long side.  The straps I sort of followed the quilted tote pattern in that it called for each strap to be 5" x 26".  It's a pretty long strap.  I also made a tab 6.5" by 2.5" for the top of the bag.

The two bags were constructed at pretty much the same time.  I was often two steps ahead on one, then the other.  The first bag was almost done and I showed it to my husband.  Right away he noticed the large black strips on the front of the wonky log cabins and how it stood out too much.  Somehow I had missed that.  I think part of it was the fact I was involved in the construction at that point.  In addition, much of my log cabin had been folded under for the bottom.  This made the top part more prominent.

After considering a few ways to potentially "fix" the big black strips, I decided to add a pink daisy.  I researched a few different options for constructing a fabric flower.  I found one out of ribbon that seemed to be nice.  The one video tutorial I found used hot glue and paper.  As I wanted to have it all washable, I opted to stitch everything down to a felt circle.  I enjoyed learning about this new construction.  Each pedal is shaped out of small 3" pieces of ribbon.  Then the base of the ribbon is scrunched together to give it the pedal shape.

Pink Daisies

I have been trying to organize my sewing room better, specifically my fabric stash. I purchased some smaller bins and sorted the smaller bits of fabric by color. Already I see the benefit from this change. Yesterday I continued sorting through larger bins that I hadn't looked inside for a while. I got everything sorted by type as well. I have a bin for knits, one for corduroys, another for flannel, a huge amount of fleece, bottom weights and denim, and of course cottons. Seeing all this fabric just makes me think of how much I should be getting out of my house!

As I was sorting, I found a very cute pink daisy fabric. Much of the time I am sorting, I remember what a fabric had been used for or my intention. This pink daisy fat quarter didn't ring any bells. I must have gotten it when fat quarters were on sale.

A friend of mine, Debbie, I met through the organization, the Young Survival Coalition, started a non-profit to help woman diagnosed with breast cancer. It is called the Pink Daisy Project. I thought a little mug rug to remind her that what she does is very much appreciated might be the perfect rainy day project.

Another friend, Melinda, lives miles away, but is a huge help to Debbie too. I thought she might also like to know she is appreciated.

Pink Ribbon fabric is also a part of my stash. I have used it in a number of projects for the Pink Ribbon Walk we participate in May, to a quilt, a baby carrier, and embroidered t-shirts. It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and many of us feel that the pink ribbon and how it's often used gets to be too much. You can find cute pink items with ribbons on just about anything. When the pink ribbon became a symbol for breast cancer awareness, it was just the beginning of ribbons and awareness campaigns. I can't imagine one person living in our culture who isn't aware of breast cancer. While I do agree that cancer isn't cute and shouldn't be wrapped up in a cute package, the pink ribbon remains a symbol of breast cancer for me.

I also took advantage of my Viking Lily sewing machine's many decorative stitches.


I hope Melinda and Debbie like the little mug rugs and enjoy a nice hot beverage knowing that their efforts are appreciated by many. Thank you both!

Naked Barbies No More!

When my youngest first discovered the one Barbie and multiple princess Barbie dolls we have in the house, she was quite taken with them. Especially their sparkly dresses. Then one day it was as if a switch flipped and they all needed their clothes off all the time.

Sometimes we would be heading out and Jasmine or Cinderella would tag along, in the nude. The naked dolls didn't phase me much, but we did seem to get regular comments about them.

It seemed that they had been naked so long, we had a hard time finding all their pretty dresses. One by one we dressed most of them. A couple were still missing.

With naked Barbies on my mind heading into a naptime, I searched around for easy Barbie sewing patterns. I found two that looked perfect. Jessica's tutorial at Craftiness is Not Optional is clear and simple.  I also liked the bodice idea from Nancy at My Cotton Creations.

A few days later we tried the patterns out. I used the sleeve idea from one, the bodice from another and a nice full skirt. I figured it should take about 15 minutes. Well I forgot how challenging it sometimes is to sew tiny seams and tiny clothes. The sleeves were getting all kinds of caught in the machine and then my sewing opportunity for the day was over.

I was able to come back to the little pink dress today along with my mini helper and it all went smoothly, not taking much time at all to finish. Why not make another! This time I tried just the simple straight bodice and less full skirt. It probably took 15 minutes as predicted. I did put the bodice on Barbie to figure out the darts as the tutorial shows. It all worked well. And the delight on my daughter's face as the dresses neared completion made it an even more satisfying project.

Unicycle Cookies 2012

Last year I created a unicycle cookie cutter and made decorated unicycle cookies. It was a major project and this year I wanted to do it again, but easier.

I decided a stand mixer would help make things easier and it certainly did!

I made up the dough on Sunday and cut out the cookies on Monday. After baking and cooling, they went into the freezer until Wednesday night. While they were freezing, I made up royal icing and read about a different method of using it. Last year I attempted the two step process of flooding and detail work. This year, for some of it, I would use the 20 second rule for applying icing.

Thursday was decorating day. It really did help to have the frosting made up and colored. And in order to color the frosting, I had to have planned out the decorating. My mom was able to join me again and my toddler had a super nap after swimming all morning.

It didn't take too long at all. Perhaps two hours was spent decorating including some clean up. The simplified method of decorating worked well and knowing a bit better what to expect helped too. I wish I had thinned the blue for the saddles a bit more. The thinned black on the saddles worked very well. I started with a larger tip opening and too much icing came out. Switching to a #5 tip worked better.

In addition to the unicycle cookies, I made ovals depicting the Schlumpf logo. Schlumpf is the company who created a geared hub that my husband uses. I also made some square shaped cookies I cut with a fancy cucumber knife. My mom wrote the "MUNI" on them which stands for Mountain Unicycling. The cupcakes are for my husband's birthday which happens to fall on race day.

I enjoy celebrating the great group of unicyclists I've come to know through my husband's hobby.

Memory Mug Rug

My grandmother used to send me fabric from time to time.  She was always a sewer.  She mainly made clothes for herself and her husband.  And she was very talented, no patterns necessary.

Memory Mug Rug

My grandmother died last year and my grandfather died just last month.  I know people do all kinds of neat memory quilts and wall hangings from the deceased clothing.

I thought about the fabrics I have from my grandmother.  One is from a shirt she had made my grandfather, another is from an outfit she made my daughter.  Others I'm not sure of their stories.  I collected these fabrics together and some other scraps that reminded me of my grandparents and a couple that would tie everything together.

Back of Mug Rug

Instead of a quilt, I would make a mug rug.  These are cute mini quilts which are designed to use as a coaster for a cup of tea and perhaps a cookie.  This memory mug rug is for my mother in memory of her parents.  I like the idea of my mom having tea and having a remembrance of her parents right there with her.  I hope she likes it too.

Pancakes for Breakfast

My older daughter isn't a fan of your average breakfast fare.  In fact her favorite thing for breakfast is leftover dinner.  We have been encouraging her to try new, easy things that are sure to be available, especially for school days.

She does however love pancakes and I have been known to make some ahead and freeze them, but I hadn't in a while.

It's a napping child that probably inspires me the most, or perhaps it's the quiet that comes with a napping child.

Anyway, I was happy to use my new mixer again and try out a new recipe for pancakes.

I used a basic recipe from the cookbook entitled, Whole Foods for the Whole Family, and then made some modifications.  I often add mashed bananas to my pancakes, but we were all out.  But we did have a bunch of mini Chobani Honey-nana Greek yogurts which have a nice banana flavor.

2 cups of yogurt and milk mixture - 2, 3.5oz  
  Chobani Honey-nana (banana flavored) Greek
  yogurt and skim milk together to make up 2 cups
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I used my whisk attachment and my lovely new mixer.  It certainly makes baking easier.  They cooked up quickly and I placed them on a cooling rack.  They will be frozen layered in wax paper for a quick, easy breakfast.  It's a fairly nutritious breakfast as well as my daughter prefers applesauce as her dipping sauce.  These are actually so tastey that I sampled one mostly cool without anything extra and it was great!  Between the sweet yogurt and the added sugar, they are sweet.  I probably could leave out the sugar entirely.