Preparing the Nest

As I wait (impatiently, I must admit) for our new puppy to be born, I've started preparing the house for our little one.  It's been over 14 years since we've had a puppy living with us so puppy-proofing is in order.  I'm also starting a new project.  I'll give you a sneak peak.  See if you can figure out what it is going to be.  Here is the fabric I picked out at the store the other day.  I must admit that I hadn't figured on the fact that I probably would want to line this project but I had fabric on hand at home that coordinated, thank goodness.

Today I ironed all of the fabric which I had pre-washed yesterday.  I was a little worried that I might not have enough fabric since I don't have a pattern for this project but since I was able to pull other fabric out of my stash, I think I'll be in good shape.

I took careful measurements and then went upstairs to my cutting board with my freshly ironed fabric and proceeded to cut out my pieces.  As with any project, but especially with one that you are doing by the seat of your pants, I measured each piece and then measured one more time before I cut each piece.  It's so easy to slip up and forget things like seam allowances.

Tonight I started on the trim.  I think it is going to work out ok.  Of course, I only have a vague idea of how I'm going to attach this trim.  I'm more of a "creative - what if...." thinker.  I'm definitely not a spatial thinker so trying to take an idea and turn it into a tangible object is a real challenge for me without a concrete pattern or instructions to follow.

Not to say that I don't have some idea of what I want the finished project to look like.  However, getting to that point is going to be an adventure.  That's why I'm stopping for tonight and heading downstairs to knit and watch a show.  I think I need my mind to be fresh to tackle the next step on this creative endeavor.

Case in Point

Today was the beginning of the big Christmas sewing push.  In other words, I spent the morning ironing all the fabric for the novelty pillowcases that I always "gift" to my extended family and then cutting out the various components.  Tomorrow my friend is coming over with her sewing machine and I'll have my machine set up and we'll spend the day doing our Christmas sewing.  I plan to have all my pillowcases finished by tomorrow evening.  That's the plan!

In case you're wondering what pattern I follow, I use one from an organization called Pillows of Love.  They help women and children in crisis.  Some years back, our church's women's ministry group made a bunch of pillowcases for this group and I kept the pattern and have been using it ever since.  Here is a link to the pattern, which is available for free.  If you go to their website to check it out, read about their work.  They are a great organization.

In the meantime, my new case for my Kindle Fire arrived today.  It is a leather cover made by Marware.  You can read all the particulars on Amazon's site here.  When I first opened it up and tried to put the Fire into it, I really struggled to get it into the corner grippers.  I finally manhandled it into it and it's securely in there.  Of course, after I had put all that effort into it, I discovered the simple instructions (pictures only) which had fallen out of the box when I opened it and slid to the side that showed you had to SLIDE the one side into the right-hand top and bottom grips and then press the other side down into the grips.  Oh, boy!

The case is kept closed by an elastic strap that goes over the front of the case.  When the case is open, it looks like this.  At first I thought, "What in the world is with that left side of the case?"  OK, so I looked at the instructions again.  The honeycombed strips come into play when you use the case as a stand for the Fire.  The instructions never mentioned (or showed) what the thick elastic band was for but I figured it out anyway.

 I used to sing in our church choir after all.  Our choir folders have something similar.  In this case, you can fold the left side back and secure it with the thin elastic strap, and then slide your hand under the thick strap to hold your Kindle Fire.  I would imagine if you wanted to show something to another person, this feature would also come in handy, enabling you to one-handedly hold the Fire pointed toward the person while you point or gesture at the screen with your other hand.

Back to that "stand" feature.  If you want to use your case as a stand, you push the left side of your fire out of the grips and then pull it forward along the left side of your case either up to the first honeycomb strip or the second, depending on how much of an angle you want for your viewing.  It works ok if you want to view things from the horizontal position but I didn't see any way to use it as a stand in a vertical position.  There also isn't a lot of flexibility in the viewing angles offered.  It's pretty much the two options.  But I found one that worked for me.

Also, the first two times that I popped the left side of my Fire out of the case to put it into the stand position, it was rather stiff and tight to do this but I noticed that it is getting easier so I think it was just because it was brand new.

You can see in this picture how the case is designed to fold in the back when you adjust it to use as a stand. Your elastic strap just sits in the back while it is used in this manner.

As far as access to controls on the top and bottom of the Kindle Fire, the case is designed to give you full access.  This shows the bottom of the Fire in the case.  As you can see, it's no problem to get to the on/off buttom, the audio jack, or the charging slot.  The top of the case is similar, leaving the speaker unobstructed.

I'm pleased with the case.  The Kindle feels very protected in it.  It's a smart-looking case and sturdy.  My only criticism would be the lack of versatility in the viewing angles you can set when using it as a stand.

A Stitch in Time

Where's My Quilt, Nana?

I am fast running out of time when it comes to finishing a quilt for my little pippin, Luke.  We'll be heading off to visit him soon and I want to have it in hand when we go but it isn't even pieced together yet.  Ah, over-achiever that I am, I seem to think that this is no problem.

Many Hands Make Light Work

I've collected as many family hand-prints as possible, either in person or begging via email.  I know that I'm missing some key ones but time has run out.  Therefore the quilt will be made without them and I can always add them later on pillowcases or later quilts.

Hmm, Which Fabric to Use?

I've picked out my fabrics and my pattern and now comes the fun part of matching hands to design elements and to fabric colors.

What's a quilt without a few modifications?

I've had to come up with a few modifications for this quilt.  The original design called for the hand-prints to be made from fabric paint and then accented with things like rick-rack, buttons, etc.  However, I decided that fabric paint would dry too stiff and abrasive for a baby's delicate skin and buttons would not be safe for such a young child.  I've decided to cut the hands out of fabric and to zig-zag around them by machine.  I'll make "eyes" out of felt or fabric instead of buttons and attach them the same way - via zig-zag stitch.

Time to Fire Up the Sewing Machine!

I'm just about finished cutting hands out of fabric and attaching them to my blocks.  The next step is cutting out my quilt strips and sashing.  Then I need to assemble the quilt, layer it with batting and backing, begin zig-zagging around the hands, sew the accents on the blocks,and finish quilting the whole shebang before hand-sewing the binding around the edges.

Oh, did I tell you that this all has to be done in one and a half weeks?  No problemo!  Stoke me up with some creme-filled donuts and I'm good to go.

The Queen of Gadgets

I LOVE gadgets.  Can't get enough of them, in fact.  So when I find gadgets that are really handy and useful, besides being all cute and clever, that makes it a win-win situation.  Let me tell you about two of my favorite sewing gadgets.

This morning I sat down to sew up the hem of a knit jacket I own.  Is it just me, or are you also finding that many garments these days have hems that seem to come loose after just a few wearings and/or washings?  That's just an aside, but it's twice in a week now that I've discovered a drooping hem on a fairly new outfit.  Anyway, back to my gadgets.....

Clover makes a little needle threader that is just the neatest little thing.  It's the brown gizmo on the left.  I've included a link as this is still available.  On the right is a holder for two spools of thread that is made by June Tailor.
  

It has a little dowel on top of one end for a thimble, a slot on the other end to put a seam ripper, a magnet attached to the other end for needles, and then two dowels that can hold spools of your most frequently used thread.  I always keep a black and a white spool on there for quick mending jobs.  I picked up both of these items at a local sewing shop several years ago.  I'm not sure if the mini-spool holder is still available anywhere but if you happen across one, I'd highly recommend it.

The needle threader has a slot where you put your needle in (eye first).  Then you lay your thread across a little groove area to the left of the needle slot.  Once you've put the thread into this groove, you press down on a little lever.

It never fails to amaze me how easily the needle is threaded when you do this.  The gadget doesn't exactly thread the needle completely at this point, however. 

It pops part of the thread through the eye of the needle....just enough for you to grab and pull the thread through.  Then, once you have enough thread on your needle, you just put the thread through the cutter groove on the threader and give it a little tug and the thread is cut.  You don't even need scissors.  How handy is that?



Keep your eyes open for one of these threaders, if you are like me and hate struggling with threading needles, especially as our eyes get older more demanding.  Happy sewing/mending!

Toddler-Proof Lift-the-Flap Books

I worked in public libraries before I worked in a college library.  Part of my duties involved time spent in the children's section of those libraries.  One of the first things you realize when you are working with children's books is the fact that "lift-the-flap" books will NEVER come back unscathed.  Whoever invented those types of books had a cute idea.  Children LOVE to lift flaps and discover things underneath those flaps.  However, they also love to tear off those flaps.  It's just inevitable.  So it was no surprise to me when I observed my little granddaughter enthusiastically ripping off the interactive flaps on her little storybooks.

I happened to be working on putting together a fabric book for her sewn from pre-printed fabric story frames.  Hmmm, was there a way to modify the book to indulge her love of lifting flaps while keeping those flaps intact?

 I decided to cut out some felted wool squares and sew them securely over key pictures on the pages.  If you wanted to try this yourself, you could use other fabric such as batik cloth, which is densely woven and not prone to unraveling or a heavy felt.

All you have to do is decide what you want to cover and then cut out your flap big enough to cover the picture you want to hide.  Then sew it securely on the top edge only so that baby can lift up the flap easily.

Here's a little bird hiding under a flap, just waiting to be discovered.  Of course, half the fun is for the reader or child to provide the sound effects of the bird when the flap is lifted.

This little mouse is just waiting to squeak a "hello" when its flap is lifted up.  I'll be taking this little book with me when I go off to visit my granddaughter and I'll be sure to give you a full report on whether or not it passes the "childproof" test.

Pillows of Love Workday

Yesterday our Women's Ministry MerryMakers (our motto is "Spreading Joy through the Work of our Hands) had a workday where we made pillowcases for the Pillows of Love ministry. This is a wonderful ministry started by a lady in our area after hearing about children and women going to shelters often with their meager belongings gathered up in a trash bag. She felt God nudging her to use her special talents as a seamstress to make bright, cheerful pillowcases that could then be distributed to shelters for battered women and homes for unwed mothers. That ministry has now expanded to homeless shelters and to orphanages as far away as China.

Each pillowcase has a copy of the New Testament or a children's book about the Bible included in it. The pillowcases are given to the women and children and are theirs to keep. At the very end or wide cuff of the pillowcase is the verse "He will give you sleep, peace and a safe place to dwell." Psalm 4:8.

We had 3 sewers and 2 ironers at our workshop and after spending the morning sewing and ironing away, we had 27 pillowcases completed and another 13 pillowcases all finished except for the final seam around the 3 sides. Since each shelter receives about 40 pillowcases at a time, that was enough for one shelter. It's really awesome when God can use our hobbies to serve others. The morning was a joy.

If you would like to find out more about this much-needed ministry, check out www.pillows-of-love.com. Well, off to do some ironing of my own now so better cut this short. Practice some random acts of love today.