The pincushion was a bonus project in my online Home Ec class.  This project took me 15 minutes and I spent at least 5 of those minutes just deciding on which fabric to use.  I think I chose well.  I love the look of the pincushion.

Even the bottom of it is cute!  So, if I get tired of one side, I can just flip it over.  I think I'm going to make a few more of them this afternoon and give them away.

Want one? I'll put the details on my Facebook page once they are finished with details.  If you aren't on Facebook and/or are morally opposed to "liking" my page, leave a comment on this post to let me know you want "in" on the giveaway.

Thanks to my Home Ec sewing class, I've got quite a good start for the month.  I've been sewing every day for a week and I'm going to continue that on through September.

Be sure to check out the National Sewing Month website. They are doing a giveaway a day and to enter you need to take a very short survey.  They are also having patterns up throughout the month as well.  The first one is a Kindle cover.

Happy Sewing!

Our group of local crafters, Lincoln Handmade, worked on some squares for the chalk art portion of the festival.

Crafterella worked so hard on this design!  My mom and I helped out with a couple of the squares.

Our Social Media Club also did some art.  I love how they Rick-rolled the festival.

Some things I learned about sidewalk chalk art:

• bring knee pads
• wear a high neck shirt or camisole  (I may or may not have been flashing people)
• spritzing your work with water sets the chalk
• drink lots of water

I'll admit...I wasn't too motivated to make cloth napkins.  It was a super easy project and I didn't really need to learn the "lesson".  However, when I signed up for the course I was determined to make every single project in order.  So, I bit the bullet and did it.

I used some green cotton fabric from my stash and white thread.  I didn't have any ric-rac in my house (seriously?  How could that happen?) so I "borrowed" some from my friend, Kelly.  It's got a bit of green on the white ric-rac and it looks pretty cute on the double napkin.

Remember how I didn't want to do this project because I didn't need to learn the lesson?  Karma.  My single napkin picture is showing the only part of the zigzag stitch worth showing off.  The rest looks totally mangled.  I didn't think I needed to change my sewing foot from when I worked with the vinyl for the cuff project.  I was wrong.  Lesson learned.

The next project was a tote bag.  It was a pretty basic tote and it didn't give me any problems.  For this, I chose some Clifford the Big Red Dog fabric that someone had given me.  This tote is going to be a library tote for one of my nephews.

To go along with the tote, I made a fabric panel book.  This has nothing to do with the Home Ec class, but I figured I better make it while I was one a roll!  Fabric panel books are super easy to do and make great gifts for babies or young toddlers.  You can find fabric panels at most fabric shops--although the selection is usually underwhelming (at least where I live).

What did you make last weekend?

It's time to vote for your favorite!  This month, participants had some great supplies to work with.  Here's a reminder of what was in the package:

Special thanks to our sponsor for the month, Glue Arts!   The participant with the most votes at the end of the two days will win a prize pack from Glue Arts and next month's challenge packet.  If you blogged about your creation, send me the link and you'll be eligible for the 2nd prize--a free month of the challenge!

It isn't too late to sign up for next month.  Our sponsor is The DIY Dish.  Have you seen this great web show?  Kim & Kris dish out crafty goodness weekly.  Check it out!

On to the voting...

1.  Haunted Art Gallery

2. Mixed Media Collage

3. Spider Web Shadow Box

4.  Meow.  Cat art.

5. Animal Print Frame

6. Flower Frame

7. Elephant Wall Hanging

8. Necklace with Pouch

9. Flower Pendant and Necklace

A couple of weeks ago our friends, The Cooks, came through town and stayed at "Hotel Nelson".  During their last visit she had given me a few veggie recipes since she knew I was working on this project.  I decided to have one of the salads when they came to visit.  She even made it for me!

Green Bean and Walnut Salad Recipe

1/2 cup ground walnuts

2 medium-size cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or more to taste

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut crosswise in half

1/2 medium-size red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Boil the beans in lightly salted water for about 7 minutes, or until beans are tender.  Drain, run under cold water, drain again, and pat dry.

Combine walnuts, garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, water and oil.  Mix together and let stand for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the beans and the onion.  Add the dressing, cilantro, and more vinegar.  Season to taste.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Recipe from Please to the Table via FreshDirect.com

She warned me that the colors would change a bit in the next day or two after it is made but it is still good...and tastes even better!    This was a great, refreshing side and something that I've never had before.  I've never really liked green beans but I'm beginning to realize that I never really like canned grean beans.  The ones I bought were farm fresh local beans and were absolutely delicious!

Have a suggestions for a vegetable for me to try next?

Let me show you how I made it!

Faux Leather Cuff Tutorial

Supplies:

vinyl (faux leather) fabric   2" X 9" strip, two 4" X 4" squares

coordinating cotton fabric  2" X 9" strip

Fabri-tac fabric glue

sewing machine, scissors, thread

Sizzix Big Shot (or other die cutting machine or punch-mine is the Big Kick which is hard to find now)

Flower Layers #2 die (or one of your choosing)

velcro

1. Gather all of your supplies and prepare the vinyl squares to be cut using the die cutting machine and your die.

2. The picture above shows the "Sizzix Sandwich".  Silicon plate, die, vinyl, silicon plate.

3. My daughter loves to help me with this step. Run your stack through your die cutting machine.

4. There are 4 different sizes of flower layers on this particular die.  For my flower, I cut out the three smaller sizes.  Of the biggest one of those, I cut out two.

5. Using your fabri-tac adhesive, glue the layers of your flower together.  I've made three of these cuffs now and each flower I've done differently.  They all look great!

Now it is time to start sewing!

6. Get your strips of fabric.  You want to have about 2" of overlap when you wrap it around your wrist so the 9" length in the supplies list may vary.  Most women have around a 7"-7.5" wrist.

Place your strips right side together and sew around 3 sides.*  Leave one of the short ends open so you can turn it right side out.

*One of the bracelets I made by sewing it together with wrong sides together.  This leaves the edges unfinished and eventually it will start to fray but I think it might look good like that.  Your choice.

7. Top stitch around all four sides.  If you want to fold in the unfinished edge, that's fine...but I didn't bother.  That edge will be hidden.  In addition to the top stitching, I added some decorative stitching across the cuff.  I made one without it and I think I like it this way much better.  Personal preference, I guess.

8. Cut off some pieces of velcro and attach them using the fabri-tac.  On the end of your cuff that is unfinished (the side you left open to turn it), place the velcro on the vinyl side.  On the other end of the cuff (the one with the nice edge), place the velcro on the fabric side.

Glue on the flower using fabri-tac.

At this point, your cuff is complete.  You'll want to wait a bit for the adhesive to dry before you wear it or the velcro will just come right off.

]]> http://www.christynelson.net/2010/08/faux-leather-cuff-tutorial/feed/ 0 http://www.christynelson.net/2010/08/summit-knitting-take-2/ http://www.christynelson.net/2010/08/summit-knitting-take-2/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:29:24 +0000 christy http://www.christynelson.net/?p=3597

You  might remember this picture from a post I did from my trip to Italy/Switzerland.  I took this picture on the train from Venice to Geneva.  I knit happily on that scarf for several more hours over the course of that trip.  Somewhere over the Atlantic, something went dreadfully wrong and I didn't notice until I came home.

See the mistake?  There is an extra big hole off to one side.  Oops.  I know exactly what I did wrong and how to fix it but I lost my motivation.  Plus, I decided that this scarf would look better if I knit it the other way (vertical instead of horizontal).

Last night I unraveled the whole thing and started over.

Good thing I love the process of knitting just as much as the finished project!

The movie was cute.  It had the right amount of poop jokes, burping, bumbling villians, and animals to keep the kids happy.  It was a little long for my taste but I wish there would have been more Ewan McGregor (hubba hubba).  They've got to keep the moms happy, right?  Some things that did make me happy were the costumes and accessories.

This picture shows some prime examples.  Check out the button necklace.  The colors are amazing and the mixture of sizes and textures make it work.  You can't see them too well in this shot but she has on the most amazing flower hair clips.  And...don't get me started on the knitwear!  There was so much colorwork and it all looked so amazing.

I have a feeling I'll be trying to make my own version of that necklace soon.

Do you love Nanny McPhee?  Will you be seeing the movie?

I was not compensated for this post. I did receive complimentary passes for my family to see the movie.