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Rag Egg Tutorial

I want to make sure right from the start to say that this tutorial is not my idea.  I first saw the idea on another Melissa's blog - http://cornbreadandbeansquilting.wordpress.com/ .  If you click on tutorials on her side bar you'll see that what I am writing here is very similar to her instructions. (Take the time to poke around a bit once you get there, Melissa has some really fun tutorials and she has just started selling patterns and they are sooo prim perfect!) I'm not trying to copy, I just thought I'd share that I got it to work a slightly different way.

First, you'll need these things:

I used plastic eggs from the junk store (6 for a dollar), strips of homespun from my stash, an emery board, and Alene's OK to Wash It glue.  This little glue was in a set of mini glue samples by Alene.  I tried this hoping that it would hold the homespun and dry fast enough to make the project not a nightmare.  (It wasn't!)
Melissa's tutorial suggests using a glue gun.  The problem with that for me is that mine was at school and I wanted to do this craft now, not after I remembered to bring my glue gun home.

The first thing I did was cut a bunch of strips of homespun.  Melissa's tutorial suggested ripping the strips, but when I did that my fabric basically shredded, and was a mess.  I resorted to using my rotary cutter.  I eye-balled the width of the strip, shooting for about a half inch.  I found that if the strip was slimmer, it laid down on the egg a little nicer if that makes sense.
The next thing I did was use my emery board to sand the ends of the egg.  I figured this might help the glue stick a little better.  (Not really sure if it was necessary, but I had really good luck with the sticking and the filing only took a second.)

Next, I put a dab of glue at each end of the egg and rubbed it around so there was glue covering both ends of the egg.  Then I simply started wrapping my homespun strip around the egg.  When I got to the end of a strip, I put a dot of glue to hold it, then a dot of glue on top of it to start the next strip.  For each egg I used about 3 strips of homespun cut the width of the fabric.  For the homespuns that I had only a fat quarter of I used about 5 or 6 strips.  When I got to the end of the final strip, I just put a dot of glue and stuck it down. I didn't try tucking it under, but that might have added a nice finish.  (I'll probably try that on the next batch.)

It only took about an hour or so start to finish to do these six eggs.  I haven't decided how I'm going to display them yet, but I sure did have fun making them!

A Nice Day...

I had a nice day today and just thought I'd share a bit of it.  My husband and I went for a little drive to a town about a half hour away.  Purpose of the trip: I needed to stop in at Walmart and pay my Sam's bill, and he needed Farm Supply for bedliner for his truck.  As we approached Walmart I realized that I had not brought the Sam's Bill with me.  Grrr. I really need to do a better job of focusing lately.  Perfect opportunity for husband to be annoyed - he didn't show it if he was.   While in Walmart, my son called to wish me happy birthday, and I had a nice little visit with him.  (Insert more patience from husband.)
Got the bedliner and a few groceries and then took a nice drive to an antique co-op a few towns away.  I've been wanting to go in there for a long time as we pass it each time we go to son's college.  (Insert MORE patience from husband - this isn't his favorite thing to do.) We each found some treasures.  Some we left there in case someone else needed them (smile...), and a few we felt we "needed".   Here's what I thought should come home with me:

I have a little thing for cookie cutters and, I've been looking for different bunny ones lately.   I love the red handled ones.
And the egg mold is the first mold I've purchased.
 I have been thinking about trying the pantry cakes that blog friends have posted about and display so nicely.
The egg was a timely find for Spring. :)

After I found the cookie cutters and mold I could tell that it was time to feed the husband... anyone else have that experience?

We left the shop and went for a quick bite to eat.  When we got done eating, he told me that he wanted to go back to the shop for a couple of things!  (Insert shock and surprise on my part...)  So we went back and picked up two things that we both liked and left there the first time.

I have been wanting one of these little step stools for a while.
The steps fold back in.  I was thinking about putting it on my mantle, but have decided it's a little too big.
(My mantle is a corner mantle and a bit of a
decorating challenge for me.)
I have a couple of other spots to try it out in - I'm sure I can find a home for it.  I want to sand it down a bit and paint it antique white or black - haven't decided yet.   

I bought this book simply because it brought back a wave of fond memories to me.  When I was young, my cousin Darcy and I used to love reading The Happy Hollister series.  We spent hours reading these books!  I can remember once in a while we would wonder who was a faster reader - (Darcy always was).  Fond memories of simpler times.  Not sure where I'm going to put it, but definitely not just on a bookshelf.

This is the little cabinet that my husband couldn't leave in the shop.  We thought we might like it for the bathroom, but after trying it there, we had to check out other options.  I believe he's going to build a shelf for it to sit on in the laundry room.  My first thought was to paint it, but I think he would need resuscitation if I did that.  He is definitely a fan of stain rather than paint.  I'm not sure I can change that anytime soon.  Oh well, it's his treasure this time... : )

After the second trip to the co-op I went for broke and asked him to stop at one more shop on the way home.  (At this point we can insert maximum patience from husband as this shop is located in  spot where he HATES the parking.)  He chose to wait in the truck, so I hurried as I was then living on the edge... ; )

I found an awesome firkin in that store, but decided I had already gotten enough treasure for one day. (I'm really not sure if $50.00 is a little high for that particular one - where might I find out more about pricing for these I wonder?)  Anyway maybe it'll be there next trip.

I hope all of you have had a nice weekend.  I have a couple of days off this week for President's Day, and I am hoping to get some sewing done so that I can share my newest brain drizzle.  : )

That's it for me tonight.  I have to wake husband up to go to bed.  (He had a challenging day - it's not easy to approach saint-like patience with a fairly unfocused wife!)  

I will be back tomorrow with a little project that's quick and fun!

Relax and feel the difference...

: ) Melissa

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a good day with loved ones!

I had a great day with my kiddos.  We worked in the morning (of course), and in the afternoon I got my little chocolate melting pot out and we dipped pretzels and oreos in chocolate.  Then we put sprinkles on them because we were sure that wasn't enough sugar with just the chocolate... :)

I love my little Wilton chocolate melter.  (I found mine for only $20 at Walmart right before Christmas.   I had never tried it before then, and it really couldn't be easier.  The kids love it, and for some of them it's the only time they'd get to do something like that.

I can honestly say that I probably wouldn't have tried it either, but I saw something on Oodlekadoodleprimitives blog back in December and I just had to give it a try.  Which leads me to another thought I have had lately about joining the blog world back in August.  I have had such a nice time wandering around blog world and "meeting" so many nice people.  I love how great people are about sharing their ideas.  It's really made me braver about giving things a try. 

I don't post as often as I'd like, but I surely do enjoy the comments when people are inclined to leave one.  

Thanks for stopping by and I'll look forward to getting to know you folks better as time goes by.  Hopefully I'll have a couple of tutorials ready soon for little ideas I have percolating.  In the meantime, thank you to all of you folks that are so faithful to blogging and leaving thoughts and ideas out there for everyone to think about, respond to and maybe even be changed by.  

Gotta run now, I have a batch of cinnamon dough bowl fillers that I want to dip in wax, and I have my husband interested enough to participate.  Who knew Valentine's Day could be so much fun?!

Who doesn't like a deal?

http://athomewithk.blogspot.com/2011/02/terrific-under-ten-announcement.html

Kindra over at At Home with K is starting a linky party on Tuesdays!  What a great way to find out how to do some decorating on a budget. Head over and visit her to find out all about it.  

The party starts February 15th. 

Pocket full of posies tutorial

I haven't had a lot of time lately to post.  I had report cards to do last week and have just been busy with other things.  
But I had a snow day today and a chance to do a little catching up.  We didn't get the snow they predicted, but I don't think there are too many who are feeling disappointed about that.  It seems like we get to February and most folks have had just about enough of the white stuff.  It doesn't bother me that much, but I do look forward to Spring and being outside more.  With that in mind I spent some of my snow day working on a little Spring decoration.  I took some pictures in case anyone wanted to make one for themselves or a friend.  I think they might make a nice May Day treat.  (Boy, I'm really looking ahead now I guess!)


Anyway here's my little tutorial for a

"Pocket full of Posies".  

First, you have to find a pair of pants that have seen better days...

Then cut the pockets out of the back like so:

Next, trim around the pocket so that all you can see is the pocket, but leave the fabric from the pants still attached.  You need it to still be a pocket!

Now you'll need to put a little hole in the corner for a grommet.  You can find a really nice tutorial for adding grommets here at Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  The tutorial is down the right hand side of her blog.  Her grommets turn out a lot nicer on the back than mine do, so I'd let her be the expert if you need help with this part.

I used a Crop a Dile Punch for punching my holes.  It's actually a scrapbooking tool, but it went through the jeans pretty easily. 

After I punched the holes I had to snip a little more to make it big enough for the grommets.  I used half inch grommets by Dritz.  They came with their own little setting tools.  I just had to go get a hammer from my husband's workbench - which reminds me I better get that back out there!  I want to rust some grommets before I make more of these.  I think that would look pretty cool maybe.

After setting the grommets, I got to work on making a little stitchery sign for my pocket.  I just hand wrote my message and then stitched over it.  I used some variegated thread and a scrap piece of the old quilt I cut up (see last post).  I love how it turned out.  

Now I should probably fess up and tell you about the running stitch around the outside.  I made two of these pockets.  The first time I got in a hurry (a common issue for me), and I decided that I could just stitch the little patch right on the pocket with a running stitch by hand.  Now mind you, I did at least figure out that I couldn't stitch through all the layers or it would close the pocket.  (That amount of foresight is remarkable for me on some days.)  However, there is a little problem with trying to stitch by hand through denim down in a pocket. Things got a little crooked, and you have to get kinda forceful with the needle...  

Oops!  At least it didn't break in two...

So for the second pocket I did the running stitch right after the words, and then I used fusible web to stick it to the pocket.  Be careful because you have to use a good bit of heat to get the fusible stuff to melt into the denim.  It's easy to scorch your patch.  Ask me how I know...  Oh well, I decided it helped it to look more primitive.

Once you have all of those steps done the next step is to find some wire and make a little hanger.  On the first pocket I used wire from an old notebook that was getting thrown away.  (Reuse and recycle - doin' what I can for the environment...)  For the second pocket I used the spring that I got when I took some bedsprings apart.  That stuff is much harder to bend!

The last thing you do is look through all your hiding spots until you find some artificial flowers that you like the looks of in the pocket.  I love that everything from this project was right here in my house.  No running out to the store and spending money! 

And voila!  The finished projects:

I hope this helped you to Think Spring!