St. Patrick's Day Garland

Lately my brain has been a little mushy; the second trimester will do that to a person. However, this means I can't wrap my brain around finishing my Fall Sampler I'm supposed to be working on but I do not do well without something in my hands. What do they say? Idle hands are the devil's playground?

I needed something to keep me busy and that was also a little mindless to work on while watching a movie after the kids had gone to bed.

I have no pictures of the process but it was pretty simple. I made a template out of thin plastic from a shamrock I found on the internet. I traced it out on different shades of green card stock, cut those bad boys out and then punched holes to lace the ribbon through. I found ribbon at Joann's for $.50 (yes cents!) for six yards. Awesome. I strung them up over my bay window and used a little masking tape (classy-I know) to make the little swags.

Easy Peasy.

The pictures are a little dark (I'm working on replacing that blind-it goes no higher than what you see here--a huge bummer!) but hopefully you get the essence of what I was trying to accomplish!

A little business....

I added a few tabs to the top of the blog. One is a little history of how this whole lottery system got started. Spoiler: it was my mom's idea. A lot of *my* great ideas tend to be the ones my mom has suggested.

The second tab is a complete list of all of my projects. It makes sense to no one but me but I'm the one doing the projects so.....

Lastly, you can follow me on Twitter! I am @SewingbyLottery Be the first to follow me!

I went through my stash of fabric this week and found the best fabric to use as a border for my Fall Sampler. Unfortunately, it is only about 8 square inches; not nearly enough for what I need. I am hoping to make it to the quilt store tomorrow to find something similar so I can get this project finished and move on to the next one.

Since I had nothing to work on this past week I decided to make a little garland for my bay window for St. Patrick's Day. I should have that finished in the next day or so and that will be up on the blog as well.

I don't know about where you live but here in the Pacific Northwest Spring is definitely starting to bud! My crocuses are blooming and my first narcissus bloomed just a day ago. It brings me such great joy to walk out every day and see new things starting to grow and blossom! I'll take a few pics and post those as well.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and start working on those forgotten projects!   :)

Fall Sampler

Many years ago I picked up the book, Sample the Seasons Cross Stitch Designs, at Joanne's. It is pretty awesome; the designs are pretty but not overly difficult. There is some back stitching but it isn't complicated or involved-it mainly follows outlines or adds some simple details to things like leaves or faces. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to cross stitch and is looking for some easy and fast seasonal pieces to do and even to the beginner cross stitcher.


I have probably done three or four different samplers from the book and my latest pull from the lottery was to do  the fall inspired design entitled, "Let Us Give Thanks." Here it is completed:

My favorite part is the leaves!

I think it is very sweet.I did it on 14 count Oatmeal Aida and the finished design is only 9 1/4" x 4". Now comes the tricky part: yes I have completed the cross stitch portion but now I need to do something with it so it doesn't just sit in my unfinished pile (the whole point of this lottery!). My goal is to make it into a small wall hanging for my entryway.

 I spent a good portion of this weekend going through my fabric stash trying to find some coordinating fabric to make a couple of borders. I thought I might make some stars as one of the borders but trying to figure out the math of how big to make the stars vs the size of the piece just gave me a huge headache. Instead, I will keep it simple and make two borders. My goal is finish it by next week.  I also realized that trying to do something overly involved, getting frustrated and then setting it aside is ultimately what got me in this mess!

When I do finish it completely I will take some closer shots of the piece so you can see the details.

Again, if you are looking for some pretty seasonal samplers that move pretty fast, I highly recommend this little book.

Quick Valentine Wreath

This latest project wasn't part of the lottery. It just kind of happened on one of those days when nothing seems to be going right and I needed to say to myself I accomplished more than just laundry, changing diapers, feeding little mouths and cleaning up that feeding.The month of January was kind of tough for me and I am very glad that today dawns a new month!

I think I can count on two hands how many days this month more than 50% of my little family has been well. We have had lots of jammie days this month. While awesome to be so nice and cozy, it's driving me nuts. I hate January. We just spent the last four months looking forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Easter feels so far away. St Patrick's Day is ok but I don't get to partake of any sweet green cocktail (side note: I refuse to desecrate beer by turning it green. That is simply wrong).

"What about Valentine's Day?", you ask. Yeah, Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day kind of gets lost in my house. For one, it's sandwiched in between a birthday and our wedding anniversary. Seriously, all three days fall within less than a week of each other. So celebrating all three kind of becomes ridiculous. Plus, the husband and I kind of think Valentine's Day is...well....stupid. I said it. Valentine's Day is stupid.

Random fact: I didn't notice the tree etching in the door for at least a year after we moved into this house.

I wrote this big long rant about why I think Valentine's Day is stupid but I deleted it. Don't jump down my throat. I know lots of people who like Valentine's Day and think it's awesome. Let's just agree to disagree. :)

Despite my whole soapbox about Valentine's Day, I kind of need something to look forward to right now so I am going to embrace Valentine's Day and love and puppy dogs this year.  Plus a little color around the house is nice to look at after having the house  decorated for Christmas and it being all dark and gloomy outside (which is starting continuing to reflect in my attitude, I'm well aware!).

I'm not sure where I first got this idea for this little wreath. Who are we kidding? I'm sure I saw something like this on Pinterest. Now, this bad boy I made in about 30 minutes only because I had the strips of felt already cut out from an abandoned craft I started last year. The strips of felt are about an inch wide and six inches long. I used four different colors - white, red, light pink, and dark pink.   I took an old wire hanger and fashioned it into a circle using duct tape to keep the ends secure. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the hanger before I started tying the strips of felt on because than you could see that it was not a perfect circle.

Once I had the wire hanger circle complete, I just started randomly choosing a strip and tying it on; easy peasy. After the circle was completely covered I started pushing the pieces all together to make room for more (I wanted it really fluffy and full) and tried to shove as many felt ties on there as possible. I didn't do a count, but I would say there are at least 100.  If you are going to attempt this project, it will take you a little longer if you don't have the fabric already cut; but cut the fabric one day and tie it on the next and it's still a nice, quick little crafty win! Quick note, if I had to do it again, I probably would have made the felt pieces only 1x4 or 1x5.

I've seen these done with all sorts of scrap fabrics and they look so cute. The wreaths made with red, white and blue scrap fabric would be really cute for summer.

What little craft do you have that could be done in a few hours or so that might cheer up your house?

Martha Stewart Inspired Curtains

So, I don't love Martha Stewart. I just don't. I like her. She has some nice ideas but I don't think she is the end-all-be-all of home decor. Plus, I find most of the directions for crafts or recipes overly complicated. In the past, I have had to print them out, read, and re-read directions for crafts many times just so I can re-write and simplify them. But that's just me.

But, many moons ago, I found a cute way to use up all the men's handkerchiefs a person has laying around the house. I don't have the problem but what I do have is lots and lots of cloth napkins running around my house. Why do I have so many? I love linens and my mom and her best friend send them to me. However, I don't need a dozen sets of eight dinner napkins especially when I don't throw lots of dinner parties. But most of the ones they send me are beautiful (and the ones that aren't get donated so somebody else can love them) and I make curtains for my kitchen window out them.

Fall themed cafe curtains

I change the curtains in my kitchen window about every two-three months, depending on the season. Some of the curtains I have made; others my mom has made. It is one of those things that makes me happy. Plus, making these curtains is nothing more than sewing straight lines and there's no hemming since napkins are already hemmed for you. Bonus!

So my latest pull from the lottery was to take these beautiful fall napkins and make some curtains out of them. I forgot to take pictures through the different steps so you only get to see the final product. This was another great project because it only took me a short afternoon; I think I finished it during nap time! Bonus again!

Also, you get to see the sweet suspension bridge my husband built last summer in our backyard. It is pretty awesome!

So, what do you have lying around your house that could be used to make curtains? Want to make them for yourself? Here's the link!

Happy Sewing!