Show and Tell

Remember when you were in Elementary School and you had "show and tell"... wasn't it fun, I always loved it (but that probably comes as no surprise since I'm a blogger and a blog has got to be the ULTIMATE show and tell)...
I always get sooooooo excited when people email me with projects that they have made with my tutorials here or on Moda Bake Shop... So today, we'll have a little "Show and Tell!".
*if you have made something, send me an email, I'd love to put you on the next one!*

Christy from Sew Plain liked my idea for the Skinny Christmas Table runner but instead made placemats!!

How genius is that!?!? She made one for each member of her family. I might have to steal this idea for Easter!

Kelly (who I don't think has a blog, but if you do Kelly, email me I'll add a link) made this Christmas skirt for her daughter using Figgy Pudding Fabric! She used my patchwork skirt tutorial.

Didn't it come out beautifully ????? I should have made one of these for my daughter this year!!

BJ Mama of For What it's worth, or Not  took the pattern from my Birdie Pillow, and made a Christmas pillow instead!

What a great idea!! You could make one for all the holidays and change them out! Did you see the cute holly and berries in the corner? That's my favorite part (oh and the pom pom trim, and the letters... okay I like the whole thing!)

Kate at the Quilter's Kitchen made Thanksgiving Advent Calendars...

and get this, she made FIVE of them!! 4 for her kids and one for her!!! WOW! She's my hero! What lucky kids!!

Thanks so much for sharing your creations everyone!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to see them!

Also, I'm trying to "organize" my blog better... I moved all my tutorials links to one page. Just click on the link "My Tutorials" on the upper right side!

Classroom Party Idea... kids scarves

Last year I was the room mom for my kids class at school.  For the Holiday party I needed to come up with an inexpensive, easy, kid friendly craft- that did not involve food.

I decided to have the kids make their own scarves from polar fleece.  Our school colors are orange and blue so I decided to go with school colors.

I bought polarfleece (waited for it to go on sale!) that was 60" wide. I then cut it into 5" strips then cut the strips in 1/2 so that the scarf measurements were 5"x30".  This way you can get 14 scarves out of 1 yard of material.  For the fringe I cut 5x5 squares.  I pre-cut these pieces at home then when we got to school the kids assembled them.
I had the kids cut the 5" squares into fringe (their school scissors worked great) then they kids used fabric glue to glue the fringe pieces to the scarves.  If you were working with kids that were old enough you could also have them embroider their initials onto the ends with embroidery floss. We tried this but it was a bit too hard for the kids.

My kids love them and still wear them this year.  I'm in charge of the Holiday party again this year, I'll share what we make.

Intriguing 12 days of Christmas...

My 'lil sis, Emily who guest blogs here occasionally is doing a 12 Days of Christmas on her blog. Her first post was up today and I'm intrigued to see what else she has planned.  Seems like it will be a good walk down memory lane.
Go check it out
just a hint... remember this anyone?

Sneaky Peeky....

So, I've got a MILLION other things I should be doing tonight.... like sewing,  or sewing or sewing...oh cleaning the house too I guess :-)

And my Christmas tree is UP, but that's about it... I keep thinking I'll wake up and the ornaments will have magically hung themselves overnight.

So typical me, I get an idea while driving in the car today... get home work on IT not the other stuff...

But, it's turning out cute! I'm excited... a tutorial may be coming your way soon!!

Tiny Handbag Christmas Ornament

Kristin of Write it Down, asked me to participate in her 12 Days of Handmade Ornaments! I was so excited and knew right away, I needed to make a tiny purse!!

Go get the tutorial here!!

Free Pattern! Stripey Tree Skirt

Finally! 

Thank you so much for all your kind comments on the Tiny Stripey Tree skirt that I made for Moda Bake Shop. The #1 question I got was, "can I make this full size"... I thought "sure, that would be easy!"... Well famous last words!  There was a bit of math involved (so glad I paid attention in High School Geometry class), but I got it figured out.

My original plan was to release this in my etsy shoppe with my first group patterns, but it's sooo close to Christmas and the shoppe is not ready to launch yet, so you all get the benefit!! (plus it's good practice for my pattern writing skills to just release this for free).

The tree skirt pattern is available for download here. It measures approx. 48" across.

It will only be there for a limited time, after that I am going to pull it out and "fancy it up" and save it for next year for sale in my etsy shoppe....**just a note, the pattern is basic, no fanciness! I was trying to get it done fast so that you can all make it before Christmas! ***

Please respect the copyright on the pattern, it's just for personal use only (when I re-release it, it will have a commercial option)

For those of you that download the pattern, I'd LOVE to have some feedback, just shoot me an email!

Quick and Easy Neighbor gift ideas

I have to tell you a secret.. my husband has forbidden me from baking for our friends/neighbors for Christmas gifts.... Apparently I'm not in the best "mood" when I make hundreds of gingerbread men or loads of peppermint bark!  So the last couple of years, I've been trying to come up with other "non-baking" things for our friends for Christmas, and leave the baking for my family.
I shared this before, but thought it would be worth a 2nd mention.. Last year, I gave out popcorn buckets filled with candy.

last second photo, snapped before the delivery (bad photo sorry :-))

I ordered online a bunch of popcorn buckets (just google popcorn buckets, you'll get alot of choices). Then filled them with candy bars (bulk at Costco), popcorn kernels in a bag tied with bow (with directions to pop them) cheddar popcorn seasoning (that I put in a shaker), and a note... It said something like:

"During this busy Christmas season, take some time to pop some popcorn, put on a movie and have a relaxing night with your family"

For the kids bus driver and teachers, I added a gift card to the bucket.
I also ordered a stamp last year from expressionery.com that said "Just for you, love the Mortenson's"  I used it on the tags, and I tell you that stamp has come in handy this year!!

I have NO idea what I'm doing this year, I actually have 4 or 5 ideas, but have yet to settle on one... (good plan huh! Need to get cracking on that one!)

Also, check out this SUPER CLEVER idea from  from Angela, of Moda Home Mom.  Wouldn't this be awesome for a teacher or neighbor gift???? Visit her blog for the tutorial.

As I come across other ideas online, I'll be sharing them with you!   If you have any ideas for me (either for neighbor gifts, or managing the Christmas season), SHARE THEM PLEASE!, leave a comment and I'll compile them into a blog post.. I don't manage stress well during the Holidays, so any "tips" you have for me would be greatly appreciated!

12 days of Handmade Ornaments & 25 Days Album!

I'm so excited to be participating in Kristin's,  of the Write it Down blog, 12 days of Handmade Ornaments.... I'll be contributing on the 9th... in the meantime go check out her blog for a daily tutorial for a Handmade Ornament!




Also, are you participating in Ali Edwards 25 days of December Daily album?? I am, and I'm just about done with mine, I'll be sharing it soon along with mine from last year. Check out her blog for more information, it's a GREAT idea and a wonderful way to remember the Christmas season for your family.  

Shelf Re-do

Whew!!! What a week! It's getting to that time of the year where I need to remind myself to just "breathe"! I'm working hard to get some stuff in the "shop"... and have a couple of things that I'm sooo stinkin' excited to share!
For those of you asking for the tree skirt, it is sitting on my sewing machine waiting to be bound!!! I'll post information on it as soon as I'm sure that it "worked" *wink*... (always a bit of an experiment when you are making stuff up).

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you this little project that I tackled this fall.

I had this shelf leftover from when my twins were babies. Now that all of my kids had outgrown it I didn't know quite what to do with it.  I hated to just throw it away (or give it to goodwill).

I needed a shelf for above the toilet in my guest bathroom. My Mom and sister have always covered the backs of bookcases with fabric (great way to jazz up a plain bookcase). So I thought I'd give it a try. Since the shelves in this were not removable, I just cut a piece of cardboard to the size of the openings, then covered them with fabric... Pretty simple!

Winner!!!

I hope that all you guys are having a nice wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend!! We had a great dinner yesterday (in fact I"m still full!) and hit the stores today. (found a few deals, but honestly i've been doing better ordering online this year!)...
So for the winner of the Lu Bird Baby Giveway is:


Melissa who said:
 Melissa said...

I've been wanting that felt food forever! Count me in!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

63 

Timestamp: 2009-11-27 22:32:58 UTC

So Melissa (of sew mama's blog)... send me your contact info (my email is on the side bar) and I'll get you in touch with Kristen for your prize!!
Congrats!!!

now I'm off to sew!! See ya'll Monday (I hope...)