Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snowed In!

We woke on Monday morning to snow, lots of snow. Well, "lots" by our standards since we get snow once, maybe twice, a year (sometimes none at all), and when it does snow, we're lucky if we get an inch. Monday afternoon a "wintery mix" moved in, and it started to sleet and rain. The temperature was still really low, and that 7 inches of snow became encased in a layer of ice. That meant that everything around here pretty much shut down. Luckily, I had bought a bunch of fabric at Hobby Lobby over the weekend, so I didn't mind one bit that we were snowed in. Here are a couple projects that I've been able to complete:



I bake a lot, and I was tired of my dish towels falling of the handle of the oven every time I opened the oven door. So, I fixed the problem. I came up with this idea. It's not a new idea (it's a variation of those crocheted ones that were popular back in maybe the 70's or 80's), but I love the look of the fabric ties in place of the crocheted ones.


I didn't take pictures while I was sewing these because I didn't know how they would turn out. But basically what I did was made a sash and attached it to the dish towel. It was really easy. If you can sew in a semi-straight line, you can do this.


I've had the idea for this pillow for several months but never completed it. I figured it was time to finish it.


It all started with this pillow that came from Hobby Lobby. I really don't know what possessed me to look at pillows, especially ones with the letter "Y" embroidered on them. Our last name doesn't start with "Y," nor does it contain that letter at all, but for some reason I picked it up anyway. I don't know if you can see that little yellow price tag, but it says $2.50! This pillow was originally $30 (am I the only one that thinks that's an absolutely insane price to pay for a pillow?), and the "Y's" were the only ones marked down. All the others were still $30. I knew I could do something to cover up that "Y" and make a really cute pillow, so I threw it in the cart. Okay, so I threw 2 in the cart. I'm just being honest. I had a few ideas in mind, so I headed for the fabric section. After looking (and looking and looking and oooing and aaaahing and drooling a little) at all the fabric, I decided that I would make some flowers like these to attach to the pillow.


I picked up this fabric. To make the flowers, you need some type of thin, satiny fabric. I chose a poly-satin, and I bought 1/8 yard in each color, a chocolate brown and a buttery yellow.


When I got home, I cut a bunch of different-sized circles (as many as I could get out of the fabric). They don't have to be perfect. They actually look better if they start out a little bit irregular (not too irregular; they should still resemble a circle).



Then I used the flame of a candle (you could also use a lighter) to burn all the way around each circle. The flame will basically begin to melt the fabric and cause it to sort of scrunch up a bit (Just don't hold one spot over the flame for too long, or it will start to melt like crazy and drip liquid poly-satin everywhere. Don't ask me how I know this.), and you'll have something like this...


I began to stack the pieces, starting with a large circle and gradually stacking smaller ones. You can make these as large or small as you want. I decided to use alternating colors for this project, but I also love the look of using only one color. Then I sewed the pieces together with just a few small stitches. The stitches don't have to be perfect. They'll be covered up.



I then sewed different-sized black beads to the center of each flower and tacked each flower onto the pillow. I love the way the pillow looks on our guest bed. It matches perfectly, although I didn't originally intend for it to. It just sort of worked out that way. I love it when that happens!

3 comments:

  1. It looks amazing!! You have inspired me to keep my eye out for cheap pillows! :)

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  2. Love It! Those flowers are way prettier than that Y thing! Gotta love those Hobby Lobby sales!

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  3. Love the pillows and the towel idea! I might have to make one of those. :)

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