Homemade Rice Hot/Cold Packs

 

 

My newest creation...homemade hot and cold packs.  I would like to give credit to where I saw these cute little things, but I simply don't remember.  I saw it a while back.  We have been busy with this continuous remodel we have going on, and in the midst of it all, my son asks if we can move his room to another.  At first I was reluctant, but when I got to thinking about it, I realized that my sewing machine could go into his "old" room.  It was like sparks flew through my head!  His old room is one of the largest rooms in our house.  I always hated sewing in the other one because I felt cramped.  Well, the moving around of 3 rooms is now finished and I am happy to add that I am able to sew more now and like it!  I actually had these square scraps from a rag quilt I had done for my nephew, and they are lined with flannel to help keep the heat or cold in longer.  I simply just stitched them together right sides in and left a little hole, turned them, filled them with rice and machine stitched closed.  Dada....cute, simple, fun!!  

Live Simply

Not the greatest picture but a little something I put together for a craft fair....which, I have to add that I actually sold!!  This was my first sign to sell & it made me happy!  I'm finding it hard to actually get things done that I want to do.  With 2 jobs now, a remodel underway on our house & a shop overwhelmed with things that I should probably get rid of, it's a bit overwhelming.  How nice is that statement though...."Live Simply"?  Everyone should try and do that.  I have made a promise to myself that this year I will try to declutter a bit and just live simply.  The world would be such a better place if everyone did.  As I sit here in the room full of clutter (no kidding), I have such a hard time letting loose of things.  Why?  Is it simply that I spent the money on it and I don't want to waste it?  I'm sure that has to do with a lot of it.  I need to remember to tell myself to just breathe and let it go!  Once I clear out, I will feel so much relief.  Who's with me?

Sign Making

 

 

Here is a little ol' picture of one of my latest creations....my Love sign!  I made it out of old barn wood that I got FREE from someone!  Yes, FREE!  Those are always the best!  I saw a sign like this posted and had pinned it to my Pinterest account in my "to create" file a while back.  The O is made into a heart with fabric flowers that I rolled.  Now, I had never made fabric flowers before....I taught myself using the Internet from some very crafty people.  Who would of thought making flowers from scraps of material??  At first I thought that surely I had enough flowers, but when I started filling them in, I realized that it was going to take quite a few.  To glue them, I used the hefty E6000 glue, or something of that nature.  I thought the sign turned out great.  I think it's my hubby's favorite too.  We were going to keep it for our house when we finally get going on the remodel, but I decided to donate it to a benefit auction for Saturday.  I can always make another.  I am finding that I get so much done for benefit auctions that I haven't really had time to make anything to sell or keep!  That's ok though because it definitely gives me time to perfect my art! And I think that you should always give back to help others in need! 

 

Some more pics of the flower process: 

 



Apparently I can make dolls!

Who knew that hidden inside this body, was a sewing goddess, who can apparently follow a tuturial perfectly!  Um....ok, maybe not perfectly. I did it though!  Yay me!  I'm finding that if I find a perfect tuturial, I can do it.  I have two of the sweetest little nieces anyone could ever have.  Sassy pants' birthday was in February and I didn't quite have the motivation to get hers done then. Then came the Princess' birthday, and I figured I better get on with it.  I found this tutorial not long ago and thought that it would be awesome if i could do it for the special girls in my family, using my grandmother's fabric.  A good thing to do to get rid of her fabric, and not feel bad about it.  So, if you want a super easy tutorial (except when you sew the arms on the wrong side....who, me??), find Martha Stewart's Black Apple Doll here. I was able to do it, so I'm sure anyone else could.  I'm actually thinking of tweaking it just a little for a better conclusion.  Yes, I said better!  Better than Martha Stewart....can you imagine??
 

Here they are...my sweet girls.

Finding Time to Blog

Since I have started The Nostalgic Owl, I am finding the hardest time blogging on a regular basis.  It's been nasty weather here and I don't get to get out in my shop much the last few months.  I have soooo many projects crammed into this tiny brain! Ugh!  What to do??  I forget to take my camera most places, which I know is a bad thing to do.  Just last week I finished another quilt for a new nephew and forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to them.  Who does that?  Who forgets to take pictures of their own work?  So, starting from now, I'm going to be better!  I'm going to blog more!  My friend Amy has got me motivated again.  I'm finding out that a few of my very crafty friends also blog & she is one of them.  She is a quilt guru!  Check out her blog at http://prairieharmony.blogspot.com/ She is absolutely amazing and one of the nicest people I know!