Webkinz sleeping bag tutorial

Start with 2 rectangles of coordinating fabric, right sides together. To figure the correct size, lay your Webkinz (or other pet) on the table in their normal sleeping position and measure their height & width… double the width measurement because the rectangle will ultimately be folded in half. (pardon me for getting so personal here, but Cheese needed a rectangle 9 inches tall and 18 inches wide) Sew all around the edge, leaving a space for turning:

Turn right side out and iron the seams so they’re nice and crisp. You do not have to sew the little gap shut… it will be taken care of when you do the next seam. Fold the rectangle in half so that the outside fabric is together and the lining fabric faces out:

Start at the folded edge and sew a seam on 2 sides, stopping a few inches from the top edge of bag:

Turn the bag right side out and fold down a cuff on one side of the sleeping bag. I didn’t press it down at first, but it kept flipping up onto Cheese’s head when he was trying to rest… I recommend pressing:

The sleeping bag part is done! Make a little pillow with leftover fabric:

All that’s left to do is see how your little buddy likes it:

I made two of these… one for Cheese (who slept like a log last night) and one to send to a friend of mine. They were pretty easy to make; I hope the tutorial is helpful.

I wound up taking a giant nap today (too much fun over the weekend?) and I apologize for the delay in updating my Etsy shop… I’ve a few special orders for threadholders to take care of before I can make more for the shop, but I promise I’ll get to them asap. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

 

on frogs and quilting

A lot has been going on, but nothing I can show pictures of… I’m doing some exchange stitching and working of several special orders for my Studio Twenty shop. Speaking of, if there’s ever a design you’d like to see on a threadholder, feel free to ask. I’ve done sets for shop stitching camps, several personalized threadholders, and so on. It’s fun to do special things for people :)

These froggies sure are cute! Hubby was getting ready to cut the grass and found this little guy. He brought it in the house to show me, and it jumped down onto the carpet…it’s a good thing Katie (the cat) is on the fat and slow side or that frog would be toast.

I discovered a neat quilting-related website yesterday, Quilting Gallery. I haven’t had a lot of time to explore, but I did see that they are also the hub for quilting bloggers, and there are currently 700-something blogs listed. I clicked on a few and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that one of the bloggers lived here… there’s only like 12 people in this town! What are the odds?!

It’s time again for the Fab Shop Hop, which is an internet-based shop hop. There’s a long list of sites to visit… you look around each site for a few minutes and find the bunny logo. The more bunnies you find, the better prizes you qualify for. I think it takes 130 shops visited to have a chance for the big prize, which is one of those computerized sewing machines. (you know-the kind I’d buy if I had an extra couple thousand $ laying around) I never visit anywhere near that many, but the hop is a fun time filler while I’m doing a printing task or eating my lunch.

Here’s our own Penelope, the African Clawed frog. We didn’t know he was a boy until long after we had been calling him Penelope! He started to croak (sounds like loud metallic crickets) and grew nuptial pads (black streaks on his hands) which are signs of froggie puberty that only the boys get. He was unnamed for a long time… we had 2 frogs and didn’t want to name them until we could see their personalities. (We called them “the froggies” for so long– it apparently takes a while for frog personalities to show) When there was just one left, we figured we better name it anyway. Here’s his baby picture… he looked like a girl frog when he was little.

DH just found Mother Toad in the yard :)

 

the 78 year old Singer sewing machine

When I am in Albuquerque, I always stay at my Mother-in-Law’s house (1.) because I enjoy her company and (2.) because it’s free. During my visits, her sewing room becomes my sleeping room. I’ve had plenty of opportunity to admire her sewing machine:

My MIL is an old school needlewoman; she has used this treadle machine since she was tall enough to reach the pedal, and continues to use it regularly to this day. She has made dolls, quilts, wedding dresses, and everything else imaginable on this old Singer… she’s quite talented. And guess what else? She has some great original documents to go with it. Here’s one of them:

The sewing machine was delivered by wagon to the family’s home in Chilili, New Mexico in 1930. My MIL actually has a picture of the occasion… how cool is that?! Check it out:

I have lots more photos of the trip to share, though none as historically interesting as these. My daughter sent her little Webkinz, Cheese, with me on the trip as my travel companion and he had a few adventures along the way which I documented for her… I’ll have Cheese’s Travelogue posted soon. Here he is snuggled in my tote on the day of departure:

Today’s simple pleasure: discovering I can still do a pretty good cartwheel or two.

 

WIPs out the wazoo

I’ve had this fabric for a while, and never could seem to figure out what to use it on… I didn’t want to waste it on just anything. I had a brown version as well, which I used to re-cover my ironing board (rats- forgot a pic) and figured I’d try my hand at a simple purse with the beige version. I don’t have a pattern for the style I’m imagining in my head so I’m just winging it here… may turn out interesting. There’s a taller pocket on the other side of the lining, too.

Started a new My Mark design. Now that’s like 6 of them I have started… will I ever finish one?! BTW, I (obviously) gave up on the Valentine’s Day Blackwork. It was just too busy of a time for me, but now I’m ahead for next year, right? And this pic is crummy, really. I’m stitching on that yummy Bittersweet Lite hand dyed Jobelan.

Last night I put a few stitches in this LHN design; I think I’ll like the green. (I’m using Dinky-Dyes cotton floss in Gum Leaves) If I finish, this will only be the second Little House design I’ve stitched. I like them, I buy them, I have many of them in my stash… but when it comes down to picking something new to start, I almost never choose a LHN! And the few I have started are never finished, not even close. Weird. Maybe I like the idea of them more than the actual stitching of them.

**I’ve also made a start on 3 comfort dolls, although they are not ready to have their pictures taken yet… they screamed and hid their faces when I approached them with the camera.* *

And, finally, here is my Katie showing off some of my WIPs. Not counting the aforementioned My Mark starts, the four projects in the living room, the Christmas ornament under my daily planner (so I will remember to work on it… been there untouched for about 3 weeks now), and the “to go” project in my car, I have 16 things in my WIP box.

I better get off the computer.

 

a little sewing today

I was rearranging a bit this morning and ran across an old bag full of vintage zippers I forgot I had! I figured it was a sign that I needed to make a few zipper things, so I grabbed my Lazy Girl patterns (Perfect Pouches and Runaway Bag) and got busy. I made my husband a pouch for his golf tees, and a frog purse for my daughter. A word of caution:  those old metal zippers sure get hot when you iron over them!

I finished my Fair & Square exchange but again I forgot to take the envelope to the post office. This makes 3 days in a row now… grrr! I put a sticky note on my garage door, Deb, so I can’t leave tomorrow without remembering :)

 

on a Roman Holiday (sort of)

I was able to keep my promise to myself and get the sewing machine out, but it took so dern long to cut out the stupid squares that I didn’t get much actual sewing done! I seriously hate cutting out fabric. (that level of preciseness bothers me) I thought I was being frugal by cutting up fat quarters rather than going with the convenient, pre-cut Charm Packs… but somewhere around the millionth pass of the rotary blade I started thinking about the math. I can get 12 squares (5 inch) out of a FQ, which costs $2.00. But a 44 square charm pack costs around $8.00 which is exactly the same. Next time, I’m going with the charm packs.

This whole project started because I bought a charm pack of Moda’s Roman Holiday fabric on a whim, and fell so in love with the color scheme that I decided I needed a quilt made from it for the living room. That olivey color (which the 3 Sisters call “patina”) is the exact color of our couch. So I’ll carry on with the cutting and sewing and quilting and soon I’ll have a beautiful, slightly off-kilter quilt to snuggle in this winter.

 

great mail and a finish

I’ve been away from home for almost a week and returned today to a ginormous stack of mail… and one of the best envelopes contained 2 Lazy Girl patterns and a brand new DVD of tips so I can learn how to do zippers! I’m planning to experiment with that this weekend.

I finished this little bunny design from a UK magazine; my daughter found it and asked me to make it for her. It’s not often that she wants anything stitched, so of course I got on it right away. She was thrilled with the finished picture, but asked me to finish it into a purse or pillow– she’s not sure which yet :) We’ll go have a look at some fabrics tomorrow or Saturday; guess I better add a zipper to the shopping list, too!

The online show is still going strong, and I still haven’t had a chance to look through all of the exhibitors! I’ve been making an effort to spend less time on the computer (amazing how much I can get done when I’m not sitting at my desk) and more time “in the studio” so to speak. I’ve really slacked off in the creative department lately. I’m in the middle of a series of a paintings that I’ve been in the middle of for about 4 months now. Wait, make that 7 months–yikes!   Anyway, my daughter picked #222 so tonight’s doorprize winner is Kat Z. from GA :)