Saving money means more money for fabric!!

I have these dish towels that I sooooooooooooooooo hate....hate the way they feel, hate the way they collect strings (imagine that....finding strings in my house)....I just hate them. So....for months....I have been folding them over and putting them under this....
I usually sweep my hardwood floors first and then go over them with this swifter.....never ceases to surprise me on the dust I can get on one of these even after sweeping.

So....I always kept telling myself, one day I am going to cut them up and then serge them together. I saw this done on a blog...I am thinking "Happy Cottage Quilter"...not sure so forgive if I am wrong and if it was your blog, I would be happy to mention it.


That was my disclaimer.....so I finally did it, double the towel over, cut in half.....so I have four halves....keep two together and serge.... Easy......

Now...the one question is.

"Why did I wait so long to do this?"....it took a matter of a few minutes. Savcs money too.... More money for material....HA!!!

I got a surprise mail box the other day....OHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYY GOODNESSS!!!!!
Go ahead and double click,,,,,I know you want to....

Have you ever seen such Samoan delights? I carried these fabrics from the kitchen, to the sewing room, to the living room...just so I could see them. Yes, I know, I have a sickness....

Thanks Krista!!!

REVERSIBLE SNOODS (SNOODIES)TUTORIAL, GREAT FOR CHEMO PATIENTS

First you pick out two coordinating fabrics. I have a yellow knit for the band.

You can go here for a one sided snood and pattern. She also has a place where you can go and buy the pattern. I did buy the pattern but ended up making my own.
You probably can not read what I have on my patterns...so here goes

The body is 13" by 11.5", you place on the fold lengthwise and the ends are rounded on one end of the fold to the opposite end width wise .... just slightly rounded....go to here for her picture.

Here is mine, notice how the end is slightly rounded (only on one end). Her measurements may vary but this is mine.

The band for mine that I did today was 11" by 5" rectangle. The original directions called for 5 inches by 25.5 inches (total, so you would divide that number in half) so for mine....you will place the end on the fold to get 22".... if you are not using knit for the band, you may want to use the longer version, her version. The knit seems to stretch and if it is longer it tends to be too long.

The tie is 17" by 5" and place the end on the fold.

Here we go....you get your ties, fold them in half lengthwise and sew all the way down them. When you get to the end, you will take and fold over the end like you see here....

You will make a finger press and get a marking diagonal like you see here
You will sew down that finger press marking.... you will trim and you will get this for the end of the tie.
Next.....many moons ago in Texas I purchased this little rod for turning handles for bags etc.
I put the rod on the floor, put the fabric over the rod and just shimmy the tie down the rod to the right side...
Here you have it....then I press the ties...

Next I take the knit fabric (I ironed it in half lengthwise).....I put a tie on each end....and I take note on how I have placed the ties so the bottoms are facing the same way.....(the little triangle at the bottom). The knit fabric is inside out....with the ties inside the knit...I sew a seam on each end. I like having two different colored ties.

Next....I take the body of the snood....with it still folded but right sides together....where the ends are rounded.... see above picture...and I make a gather between the dots....hopefully, you can see the dots... After it is gathered, I take a regular stitch 1/2 inches from the top to make the gathers permanent...and I serge the ends. Do this to both fabrics.

Next...I take the head band with the ties - right sides out and ties hanging out.....I find the middle of the band. I take the opposite end of the body I just gathered and I find the middle and match it to the band's middle. Right sides of the band to the right side of the body.

I pin all the way down it. Now I can't believe I don't have a picture of this but....I have about 1/2 inch of the body hanging over the side of the band on each side. I sew this body on. Remember to back stitch.

Then I do the same thing to the other fabric....matching the middles and leaving a little fabric at the end hanging over to match the other side of the fabric that is already sewn on.

I thought you would be able to see the fabric hanging off the side but you can't....

Next you are going to pin the two coordinating fabrics together as you see here. Remember you left some fabric over hanging on both ends of the band so you can just sew right next to the band all he way around to the other side.... I match the middles....The ties and band are encased in the body at this time.

Remember to leave an opening so you can turn the body right side out.

Here you have it turned right side out.

Here is what the end should look like, I do like this much better than having the band longer than the body of the snood.

Next we are going to top stitch all the way around the band and body. Starting at one end..going to the other end....turn the corner...

Go all the way around the body til you get to the beginning point....you will end up sealing the hole in this process.

This is what it looks like.... I so much like this better than my first one.

If you have any questions, let me know, I will come back and try to clarify.

DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT A SNOOD IS?

I had not heard of one until recently. If I was comfortable in my own skin, I would model what I have made but since that is an issue with me....I had to take the one off the site I found my pattern from. You can find the pattern here.


Here is mine.... I made it reversible...
Here is the other side.
She suggest in her pattern that you use knit for the band because it would stay on better.

I plan on doing a tutorial on a reversible snood soon, if you are interested.

Why a snood you ask? Well....I have a very dear friend from Missouri that has a daughter 33 with 3 small children that was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She is having to have a double mastectomy. I knew her when she was just a young woman, so I went online to see if there was something I could do. You know, we all feel helpless and just want to do.... So these snoods are what I came up with, I call them snoodies.

I will say that it has taken me all day to do this snood. I had to read the directions several times..well....throw a fit...read the directions...throw another fit...read again. I just kept saying...if I coud just see a picture (she did give pictures but not for what I was needing).....but in the end I figured it out but I still dont know about the band, it was much larger than the actual hood, is it suppose to come out a little? Does it really matter? I am thinking it doesn't matter. To me it matters...I wanted to do it right...but what is right when you can't see what right it? Okay....sorry....I could keep going. Least ways it is done, I am happy with it and plan to do more.

The winner of the iron on transfers is Marlene from Stitching by the Lake....
Thanks to all of you who joined in.

LONG OVER DUE POST!!!

I can not begin to tell all of you how much I love this banner/table runner...I made it a banner. It now has a place on my kitchen wall (well....where the kitchen table is). Thanks so much Debi, I just love it.....love it!!! love it!!! This was a just because.....don't you just love those just because surprises in the mail??

Then take a look at these lovelies........I won these over at Marilyn's Maze.....

I sooooo love them...thanks Marilyn!!

That being said....I am giving away these iron on transfers, if you would like them...just leave a comment.





Happy Stitching!!!

FIREWORKS IN A BIRDIE BLOCK!!

I finished the birdie block for July. I was so excited when it came out that I just could not help myself.

Happy 4th of July to all of you!!

Like most of you, I have a great love for my country. I love seeing the American Flag wave in the blue sky. I often wonder where this great love came from. Having a father who served in the military probably was a major role. I like to think my husband and I instilled in our sons a great love for our country as well. As you know, we have two serving and I am proud to say that the other sons feel a great pride in our country as well.

I know my Canadian friends feel the same way about their country. I have been to Canada and I will say that I have never been to a cleaner country. It is very beautiful as well.

So to my Canadian friends, Happy Canada Day...and to us Americans.....have a wonderful 4th of July. May God continue to Bless America....!!!

If you look on my sidebar, both my sisters are having giveaway......send some love their way by visiting and commenting on their post.

STARTING JULY OFF WITH A BANG!!!!

Today I finished up these three quilts. Snap! Crackle! and POP! I really should show close ups because I tried my hand at free motion quilting on the pink one. I did whatever on the frog one and just meandered the pinwheel. Talk about fun!!!!!

I wanted to show you the border of this Thimbleberries quilt.... This quilt covers a king sized bed and draps over as you see.
Here it is again....
Finsihed up the other two towels.
Boy, it feels so good to get some projects completed.

I often think of the times when I would go to garage sales and the kids would be selling their mom's unfinished quilts for next to nothing. Then projects not finished....and of course their fabrics for cheap. Well....if that is not a motivator to get my projects done, I don't know what is??? Actually, it was really sad....I always hated it when the mom was at the garage sale.

So....let's get cracking on those quilts.....do you hear the whip!!!! I will be your biggest cheerleader!!!

Snap, Crackle, Pop
Finish those tops,
Hop,,, Hop.. to the fabric Shops
Chop! Chop!!Chop!!
machine never stop,
until you finish those quilt tops!

MYSTERY SOLVED AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

So...here is the story. Picture it....back in Virginia....2011

One night while I was sleeping I became very hungry. I remember I had put my Beam N Read on the book shelf beside my bed. So....I slowly got out of bed, not to disturb my husband. I had the red lens on the Beam N read so it would not hurt my eyes and wake me up totally. I put it around my neck. Went downstairs, to the fridge....checked out the freezer....no ice cream...checked the fridge...no fresh blueberries (oh yes....love these)....so noticing that the light was so bright from the fridge, I took off the Beam N Read light. Laid it on the counter next to the fridge.



Did you really think I would take a picture of me in my nightgown....all of you will stop following me and go looking for that stick to gouge your eyes out!

The next morning I woke up it was gone. So.....I go to my sons computer to see if he had accentidentaly took it (that is his story). He said, he had ment to put it back (sure you did David)....but he said when he got up...it was gone from his computer.



We both were stumped. Did elves come in and use it and forget to return it?

So I hunted.

David hunted.

I must have that light.

So as I am hunting, I notice a sheepish look on my husband's face. Didn't really register on my mind until I saw out of the corner of my eye, the man slyly skulking around with something under his shirt. So.......I dropped what I was doing and watched this man try to cover his tracks.

He goes and lays it on the counter under some bills.... What is up with that....do you think I was borned yesterday? Oh no baby...not me.

So....I get my Beam N Read....hug it every sooooooo lightly and then go and confront my husband.

This is his story.

He said that he noticed that the light was by David's computer before he left for work and needed to find something in the bedroom and did not want to bother me. Just so you know, this man gets up around 4 in the morning....so can you see him skulking around with this light around his neck.



He then said that he forgot to return it. It was so light that he had it around his neck when he went to work.

How could HE???? That was my light!!! Doe he think he was James Bondo walking around with my light around his neck? Or did he think he would get extra brownie points with the boss if he had it around his neck incase the power went out? What ever he was thinking.....IT IS MY LIGHT!!!!! IF YOU BORROW IT>>>>>PUT IT BACK!!

Well....there you have it...now for the winner!!

Winner is LizA from the Scrap Basket

Thanks to all of you for joining in on the fun. tHANKS AGAIN TO KELLY OF I HAVE A NOTION and Bob from Beam N Read.

Have a Happy 4th of July Week!!

I know I said I would post tomorrow but as I was getting the post ready to go and save as a draft, well...it posted...so I went ahead and picked a winner.