Ramblings and Pillows (Deployment Projects #171-176)

Did you know that we are almost…ALMOST in the single digits for our countdown for Handsome Hubby to come home for his two weeks of R&R?  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  Am I ready?  YES! and NO :(  I am so ready to have him home, so ready to have him next to me, to see him interacting with our kiddos, to cook and bake for him, to just sit and look at him!  I am not ready to send him back after those two weeks.  I’m trying not to focus on that, but it is in the back of my mind.

I am also not ready with all my projects.  Seven months 175+ projects and I am still not ready?  Yeah, I know, underachiever!  Actually - - my number one project since he left is to do our bedroom.   I have not decorated or hung pictures, I’ve hung about 5 different sets of curtains but no permanent ones, I just cannot focus on that room!  But, time is running out - - ALMOST single digits here - - I gotta get me some motivation!!!

Don’t hear me wrong here, Handsome Hubby is really not going to care what the bedroom looks like.   It’s just something I really want done before he gets home.  So, knowing that I have an entire bedroom to design and decorate, what have I been doing?

Making pillows!!  I have some more pillows to put in my etsy shop.  These ones are really fun!  They have vintage images “printed” on them.  They really aren’t printed, it’s a process called sublimation.   Here’s how Wikipedia defines it:    A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a computer printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye onto a medium such as a plastic card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name is applied because the dye transitions between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage.

So anyway, my aunt has one of those fancy printers (and her own blog!) and she printed these images from Graphics Fairy onto my fabric and they turned out fantastic!  I just love how the fabric absorbs the color instead of it sitting on top or having the sheen of an iron on transfer.  And these can be washed!!

 

I also made an embroidered number pillow.  Four is our number - - four of us in our family.  I’m going to offer custom embroidered number pillows in my etsy shop, so if you have a favorite number and you’ve always wanted a pillow to go with it, I’m your girl!

And, last but not least - - I should have posted this last Sunday.  I just wanted you to know that I was patriotic on the 4th.  I made this dress on Saturday, when I wore it on Sunday, I kinda felt like I should be singing and dancing everything - - I felt like I was in the musical “Oklahoma” - - I’m still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

Well, that was a lot of rambling about nothing, but I have successfully put off working on that bedroom for yet another hour!  Gotta get motivated!! 

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder (Deployment Project #162)

Just a quick little project for the day.   It’s so incredibly hot here.  I thought it was hot living in the middle of the Mohave Desert in CA, but this humidity thing is killing me!  It makes me not want to do anything.  In fact, the biggest thing the kids and I have been doing is going to the pool - - every day!!  Even with sunscreen, the kiddos and I are turning very brown!!

I designed this embroidered pillow last night (while watching So You Think You Can Dance - - love that show!).   It’s a simple eye chart that upon closer examination reads, “Beauty is in the eye of  the beholder.”  It is a fabulous accent pillow with a cute hidden message!

 

In very exciting news - - I have decided to open my own etsy shop.  Right now, I am just putting different embroidered pillows in it.  I’ve been selling some of my designs on etsy for awhile now, but I’m making it official now!!

To see this pillow on etsy, click here!

Flat Flange Edging Tutorial (Deployment Projects #154-157)

Have you noticed flat flange edging?  I’ve been seeing it everywhere and I really like it!  I love the simple yet sophisticated look of it.  Such a clean line, custom look.  I’ve been throwing it in on some of my projects lately.  And some of you have sent me questions asking about it, so I thought I would do a little tutorial on flat flange edging!

First, some inspiring photos of flat flange.  Let me just throw it out there that these are all pictures I have ripped out of magazines, so a. the quality isn’t that great and b. I have no clue where I got them from, but I can’t take credit for them :)

 

        Here’s how you do it:

1. We have to start by making the flat flange.  Start by cutting 2” wide strips of your fabric.

2.  Sew all your strips into one long strip.  The easiest way to do this, is to overlap your two pieces at a 90 degree angle.

 

3.  Sew diagonally across the two pieces.

This will form a little triangle seam…

Trim off the extra triangle of fabric.

4.  Iron your entire strip in half

Just match up the edges and iron down the length of your trim

5.  Now it’s time to make the pillow with the flat flange.  Cut out your front and back pillow fabric, adding 1 1/2” to the size of your insert on both the length and width - - this will be your seam allowance.

6.  For this pillow, I am attaching a zipper closure, so I folded and ironed a 1” edge along one side.

7.  fold the rough edge inside and iron to give it a finished edge.

Grab your zipper

And….here’s a little trick of mine.  To attach my zippers, I love to use my double cording foot.   I simply center the zipper under one of the channels of the zipper foot and it slides along like there is nothing there at all!

8.  With your sewing machine, sew along the edge of one side of the zipper - - letting the zipper slide through the channel of your cording foot.

9.  Attach the other piece of fabric to the opposite side of your zipper (this is why I like to use the double cording foot, because I can just let the zipper slide under the opposite channel.

10.  Now you have one big rectangle of fabric connected by a zipper in the middle!  Fold this in half, right sides together.  Make sure your zipper is opened at least 6”.

11.  You are going to make a sandwich.  With your rough edge of the flat flange facing out and starting with the flange between the opened edge of your zipper.  Your front and back pieces (right sides together) are the bread, and your flat flange is the peanut butter!

  

12.  Now, all you have to do is sew around the three sides of your pillow, using a 3/4” seam.  Now, look at how the corner is pinned closely.  I just freehand folded and pinned as I got to each corner.  You don’t need to accordion fold it as much as I did, you can just fold it and make it a 90 degree turn.  Because there is a zipper all along the bottom, you only have to sew the three sides.  If you wanted edging along the zipper, you could have just added that in as you were sewing the zipper on.

 

And, here’s your finished pillow!  So cute isn’t it?!?

I just finished these pillows, duvet cover, and chair cushion for one of my friends.  Her daughter is growing up and needed a “more mature” look for her room.  I used the flat flange edging on all of these projects.  The stripes along the duvet cover are also flat flange.

 

Are you inspired to go and try doing it yourself now?

Tooth Fairy Pillows (Deployment Projects #136 -142)

I had a friend ask me if I could make some Tooth Fairy Pillows for her boys.

Her only requests:

1. use fabric scraps that I had on hand and

 

2. Personalize them.

Easy!

I thought they turned out pretty cute and the best part is that they were quick little projects, that let me be creative.  A nice break from the large demanding re-upholstery jobs!

We’ve been busy around here finishing up our school year.  Today was our last day of testing - - woohoo!!!   We are going to continue doing some schoolwork every day through the summer.  One to keep us busy and make the time go quickly till Handsome Hubby comes home and two, because I want to keep moving forward and not have to re-teach everything at the beginning of the year next year!

I am not Wonder Woman, Super Woman, or even Super Mom (Deployment Projects #122- #133)

I have come to the sobering conclusion this week that I am not Wonder Woman, or Super Woman and I’m pretty sure I’m not even making the cut for Super Mom this week!!  Don’t get me wrong, we are all still surviving - - we have even had some balanced meals this week (they were at a restaurant, not homemade!), the kids are clean (once we may have counted pool time as bath time), the house is still standing (lets just leave it at that and not go into whether it is clean or not).  But it has just been one of those weeks.  You know the kind where you are supposed to be in ten different places all at the same time, and every time you try running out the door, you are forgetting something essential for the day.  I feel like I have made a thousand U-turns at the entrance to our subdivision this week, because I keep forgetting things.  At least I haven’t forgotten either of the children….yet!  The biggest gut-kicker of the week has been my sewing machine breaking down…yet again…the DAY AFTER my warranty ran out.  Now, don’t think of me as shallow - - the world does not revolve around my sewing machine - - but it was just the straw that broke this poor, I-have-no-sanity-left, could-anything-else-go-wrong, sleep-deprived, is-the-school-year-over-yet-because-I’m-not-sure-I-can-teach-another-day, deployed-momma’s back!!

I have actually refrained from posting for a week because I have been so MAD at the sewing machine company and the poor customer service, that I knew if I got on here I was not going to be nice!  So I will just say that I will not be buying another sewing machine from this company and if you are in the market for a sewing machine you may email me and I will suggest some brands that seem to have better customer service and a better track record for not breaking down!!   Even Ethel decided that she didn’t want to work this week!

But, I can show you what I was able to make before all the sewing machines in my house decided to take their summer break!

First up - - remember the Miss America to Hello Beautiful re-upholstery project from last week?  Well, this week I re-upholstered the ottoman that goes with it.

Before

After

I also made two pillows for the bed in the room that the chair and ottoman are going into.  I love the little knife edge pleat around these pillows.  Such a custom, tailored look and a nice break from cording!!

I also made two more “Always” and “Forever” pillows for this room.  If you want to make your own - - you can check out my tutorial on that here.  These two pillows are similar to the last two that I made, except that the pleats are smaller/tighter.  That is the joy of the ruffler attachment, just by adjusting your stitch length and the number of stitched you want between ruffles, you can change the look.

These two little mini pillows will go in the room also!

Look at these fabulous fabrics I got to work with this week.  I made cushion covers for outdoor wicker furniture - - two chairs and one long couch cushion.  These are just the covers without the foam in them yet, so you just have to use your imagination until my friend sends me a picture of it all put together!!

 

Oh, and one custom Father’s Day pillow!!