POUF OR STOOL

Large pouf stuffed with fabric scraps

This idea comes from Maya Donenfeld's book, Reinvention. She has instructions for three sizes of poufs and recommends using scraps to stuff them.  Wanting to make one large enough for an adult, I opted to make the 24" X 12" one. Thinking that maybe putting a smaller one inside would help to keep the shape better, I made a 16" X 10" one first.

It was made from purple fabric and stuffed with just about one whole leaf bag full of scraps, then whip-stitched closed. No need to use a zipper for this one.

The purple one was stuffed inside the 24" one. This will only work if your zipper is just about as long as the diameter of the pouf. My zipper was 23", taken off a dress from the thrift shop.

After carefully centering it inside, I stuffed down scraps all around the inside pouf, packing firmly as I went.

I ran out of scraps and put some yard goods on the very bottom, which will be easy to retrieve due to the zipper. As soon as I start more projects, I will replace the yard goods with fabric scraps; might take a few months.

The 24" cover is made from wool pants and skirts. There is a handle, but as heavy as this turned out, it probably would not be wise to use it for fear of tearing the seam, although I did sew over it several times. Incorporated in a panel on the side is a small cross stitch that had been setting around for decades, probably. Using one of the underutilized embroidery designs on my sewing machine, I added a leaf design along a seam on the top of the pouf.

HGTV's STROLLING THE BLOCK QUILT

STROLLING THE BLOCK QUILT

In 2002, HGTV had an applique quilt block a month project which featured houses for each month of the year decorated to reflect the month's general happenings.  I just now finished it! It was a lot of fun choosing fabrics from my stash. The applique was ironed on, then blanket stitched around each piece. The first two months I had done the blanket stitching by hand in 2002, but when I picked it back up again a couple of years ago, I just used my machine blanket stitching. 

You may be able to download the pattern at the website in bold below (which I got to from here - http://groupbox.com/ViewTopic.aspx?&iTopicID=ds1+MZIzqmI-&iGroupID=6lcZL19AC9o-). When I downloaded it, not all pictures would download, so I just followed the written instructions and guessed on how some things should look.

http://web.archive.org/web/20031204163301/http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_lnb_gutter/text/0,1783,HGTV_3938_4907,00.html#

This is only the third quilt I have ever done, and I tried my hand at free motion quilting, which was not as hard as I anticipated. The outside border is where I did most of that making a flower and leaves quilting. The instructions suggested using a variegated thread which I did.

Using the walking foot and monofilament thread, I quilted in the ditch and around the appliques.

I only did other quilting where there was more than 2" spacing between seams, so in the skies mainly.

 

HOW TO HANG A QUILT

HOW TO HANG A QUILT

My quilt measures 55" across and was made to display as a wall hanging. Before attaching the binding, I made a pocket for a rod to be inserted into. I cut a 9" X 56" piece of fabric, hemmed the two ends, ironed in half, then sewed the raw ends into the binding seam as it was applied. I had about 1" space on each end of the quilt. The bottom of the pocket was blind stitched down to the back of the quilt. I was going to put a 1/2" dowel rod inside it, but they don't make them that long, then I read about the Hang It Dang It, but did not want to spend that much money. My husband suggested conduit, but that would make it stick out too far, I thought, plus it may sag.  I opted for a thick wood molding that will not sag, which I found at Home Depot, and they cut it to size for free.

I spent less than $4.00 for it. It can be hung by resting on a nail on either end, or by drilling small holes about 3/8" in from each end and putting the nails through those, and since I made the pocket shorter on each end than the quilt top, the molding does not show.

Happy Birthday Banner for Cake

Since decorative writing on a cake sometimes is not practical, I made a banner tied to skewers to poke into the top of any type of cake.  I used printed paper goods cut into two-sided triangles that were glued onto a string or yarn.  These particular triangles are a finished size of 1.25" wide by 1.5" long.  A strip of paper 3" wide when folded makes the final 1.5" long measurement.   The backside also has lettering, so I wrote H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y on a scrap of paper, turned it around and wrote the same letters under it, so I was assured to get the correct letter behind each one when writing on the triangles.

Merida outfit

With two unused scarfs, a cast-off blouse, a scrap of faux suede, and Simplicity Pattern 1219, I made an American Girl sized outfit. It is Merida's dress from the Disney movie "Brave".  Just love repurposing materials.  Instead of buying lace for the skirt, I used a decorative stitch on my machine.

Car Travel Organizer

From ideas on pinterest and googling "car organizer", we now have a back of the seat organizer for the backseat traveler.  It hooks around the headrest with straps using velcro, and the bottom is tied around the seat back.

Sheet aluminum

Simplicity 2200 pattern piece

The clothing were 49 cent finds from Salvation Army Thrift Store. The dress made the back and front. The pockets were made from two different blouses and the dress. Notice the zipper in the dress? I made a secret compartment on the back side utilizing it by adding a pocket inside where you could stash emergency cash or credit cards.

Simplicity pattern 2200, organizers for walkers, had a perfect pattern for smaller pockets or cup holders.  Elastic is in casings to make the tops a little snug.  The first attempt at an organizer had drooping corners at the top, so I had some sheet aluminum cut to fit the width and about 2" wide and slid that into a casing sewn to the inside. When stitching back and front together, I left the casing open on one side to insert aluminum into afterwards to ward off any sewing machine problems, then slipstitched closed.

Deconstructed dress

GARAGE SALE TAGS

for clothing and jewelry

Get some card stock. Color with magic marker stripes. Cut into squares with craft scissors. Punch a hole. Insert rubber band through. Hang on clothing hanger with info and price. That ensures your tags aren't switched during the sale. 

The jewelry tags are just smaller, and use crochet thread instead of rubber bands.