Fall quilted wall hanging

I just finished this fall wall hanging for my house. I hung it up in the family room, in a spot I hope to switch out with other seasonal wallhangings.

I found the pattern online here.

Sampler Afghan

Another project I can pronounce finally done! I started it 5 months ago..... The squares came together quite quickly. Then we moved, and it sat. Finally I stitched the squares together, which only took a few sittings. Then it sat. And then today I finally did the dreaded weaving in of the strings and gave it a final single crochet around the edge.
 
Lessons learned for a sampler afghan:
Choose either to do lots of colors, or lots of patterns, but not both. I was doing this to use up scraps, but also picked almost all different patterns. I wish I had stuck with one or two.  But it will still keep toes warm, and help the lid fit back onto my yarn bin again, so I call it a success!

Front

Back

Rag quilt letters

I made a set of cotton letters for my niece Ella's first birthday.  I followed this tutorial from a blog called Happy Together.

I just grabbed a bunch of cotton scraps and made each letter a different fabric, the same front and back.  For the middle layer I used Warm and Natural batting.  I thought it "ragged" the best after a few washings.  I decided not to quilt the letters, like she did on the tutorial.  I tried one with quilting and one without, and liked them the same, so went with the easier style!  For the letters I used the font Ariel Black in size 500.  (Set them to "outline" style so you don't use up so much ink.)

Happy birthday, sweet Ella!

X-Stitch Afghan

Yoda says "Do or do not.  There is no try."  This should be my new craft project motto.  As in DO FINISH!

I've been working on this afghan since October, I think.  I did some here and there, but then it got set aside for other projects.  Chloe was quite helpful along the way.

Today I finally finished!  And then I immediately hopped online to find a new project.  I'm hoping for something to burn through yarn scraps so I can get the lid on my bin again.

Seth loved to help me crochet, too, but sitting on one side of me and then the other as the blanket moved back and forth with each row crocheted.

I found the pattern for this afghan in the book 7 Day Afghans.  I really like this book, it is the second project I've made from it, and I intend to use it more.  Plus it is fun to just flip though.  I do argue with the 7 day title on this one, though.  I know I was a bit distracted, but even working 24 hours a day I don't think it could be done in 7.  Anyways...

The pattern is basically one row of single crochet, and then the next row double crochet, but you cross the double crochets into little x's.  She named the afghan "Plum Pretty" since she used more purple and dark blues.  I think I'll name mine "done at last!"  Or maybe "Seth's eyes."  It matches him well!

Easy bird feeders

The kids made these super easy bird feeders this weekend. They have all been peeking out the window hoping some birds actually stop by for a nibble. 

Supplies:
Ice cream cones (flat bottom)
Pipe cleaners
Peanut Butter
Bird seed

1)Poke a small hole in the bottom of the ice cream cone.  We used a chop stick, but a pencil would work well, too.

2) Roll up one end of the pipe cleaner into a ball.  Feed the pipe cleaner  into the cone so that the ball is inside.

3) Cover it in peanut butter.

4) Lick fingers

5) Roll the cone in the bird seed.

6) Hang on a tree with the other end of the pipe cleaner.

Rainbow Blanket Tutorial

I just finished making this baby blanket for my cousin's new baby boy.  The rainbow colors just make me happy! I spent the week singing "Over the Rainbow" and craving skittles!  I liked making a strip rag quilt, as opposed to a rag quilt with squares, because you don't have to deal with the tricky intersections.  It comes together really quickly, with all straight seams.  Below are my directions for making a rainbow baby blanket.  You could, of course, make this with any fabrics.  Just keep in mind that only 1" of each strip will show, so avoid big patterns.

Strip rainbow rag quilt tutorial:

Supplies:

3/4 yard each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple flannel

Rotary Mat, ruler, blade

Ragging Shears

Iron your fabric, but DO NOT PREWASH
Using your rotary cutter, trim selvedge, and then cut 2" strips from (removed) selvedge to selvedge.

After you are done you will have a rainbow of fabrics.  You should have 12, 2" strips of each color, approximately 41", depending on selvedge size removed.  This will make 6 rainbows.

Match up pairs of strips, wrong sides together.  Sew them together, with right sides of different colors touching.  (An example stack of 4 fabrics would be red right side down, red right side up, orange right side down, orange  right side up.)  Use a 1/2" seam allowance.  It is easy to do but hard to put into words!  Basically the top and bottom layer of your quilt will be exposed, and you are sewing the seams so they all face upward.

I did all the red/orange together, then yellow/green, and finally blue/purple.  Make sure to put the first color on top each time, for example yellow of yellow/green.  You will have some length discrepancies, depending on the fabric and selvedge, but this will put them all on one end of the quilt, and it will be easier to even up later.

Finished strip pairs.

Next, lay out the red/orange and yellow/greens, with both seams sticking straight up.

Pinch the orange and yellow together, making sure to keep the seam upward.  Pin and sew orange/yellow together.  Repeat with all six sets.  Next add the blue and purple.

One of six completed rainbows.  Now sew the rainbows to each other.

Almost done with the sewing part!  The bottom corner is what the bottom of the quilt looks like; nice and smooth.  The top shows the seams that will be clipped and ragged.

Use your rotary supplies to even up the quilt.  I had quite a lot of size differences between the different colors.  The green, in particular, was a lot shorter than the other five.

Give the scraps you cut off to your kid for a kitty tail.

Now you need to top stitch around the perimeter of your quilt, still using a 1/2" seam allowance.  I just held each seam down before I went over it to make a smooth surface.

Now clip, clip, clip!  It feels like you are almost done, but this is actually the most labor intensive part.  You could use scissors, but I HIGHLY recommend getting ragging shears.  They are extra sharp, and have a spring so they bounce back after each snip.

Snip about every 1/4 inch, close to the seam, but don't snip through it.  On each row first snip next to the perimeter seam on each end, so that you can fold it over flat to snip easier.

This is the top clipped, but not yet washed.

And the smooth back of the quilt.  (Note, the green really is the same size as the other colors, but it looks smaller on the front.  I think the yellow is just a bully color and pushes it over.)

Now toss it in the washer!  Since you didn't prewash, be sure to throw in a color catcher sheet. (They are sold near the dryer sheets at any store.)  This will catch any colors that bleed.  I usually put just a tiny bit of soap in, and wash it on warm.

After the wash, but before the dryer, take it outside and shake as much of the loose frays off as you can.  Then into the dryer.  Check it every 5 or 10 minutes, because the lint trap will keep filling up.  Repeat the wash and dry at least one more time.  It will keep fluffing up every wash, but the majority will happen in the first two washes.