Eye spy/abc quilt

I started this yesterday and finished it today. Originally it was going to be an activity quilt like the one I made before, but then I found the ABC fabric in my stash and changed my mind.

This is the eye spy side. I added the strips around the edge so that I wouldn't cut off too much of the pictures on the other side. It's lined with baby blankets, the really thin kind.

This is the ABC side. I had this in my stash and it's lovely. I quilted around each square. Probably not the right way, but I did. 

I wrote the letters on. That ghostly Qq there is because several squares had more than one letter and as you can see that is a Rhino in a rose covered robe in front of a Quilt with a Quail on it's shoulder. But...there is another square with two quails doing other q things. So I didn't heat set that and hopefully it will eventually wear off. Why they did that with only one square and a duplicate letter is beyond me.

Just a close up of a square.

When I tried to wash it before I heat set it because of that extra Q (before it was sewn on to anything) it frayed and tangled. So I put ribbon around the edge to try to keep that from happening. 

Mady loves all the colors. She has never slept with a blanket in her life, but eventually she will, though this is more for learning. I'm glad she likes it. 

Headed to bed, but I'll put up the quiet book that I've been working like mad to finish hopefully tomorrow. It's done and she loves it too. 

Magazine rack for bathroom

I got this basic idea from pinterest, and this thing sure isn't pretty but it's functional. As previously stated our bathroom is tiny and ugly. So I made this to hold reading material.

Box I got in the mail cut down and covered (on the visible sides) with scrapbook paper that I wouldn't use for much else.

Hung up with tabs from pop cans. I secured them with Mod Podge, Elmers Glue All, and packing tape. I like to be sure. 

Childhood treasures

I've been working weeks on a quiet book for Mady. It's mainly done now, just the little bits and pieces need to be finished. It's sooo much work and I have nooo time. :) But I love doing stuff for my baby girl.

Here are some pictures of things that were not made by me, but were made for me or my sisters when we were kids.

This is a quiet book that was made for me by my grandma's neighbor. My sister had one as well, her doll had lighter hair, short in front long in back. (It was the '80's) Note the lovely late '70's early '80's color pallet. I thought I had more clothes (stolen from my sister) but I guess not.

These were made by our dad, knit by hand without any pattern whatsoever. My dad was so incredibly talented. I really wonder what magic he could be creating had he lived. 

My older sisters dress, she was in 5th or 6th grade I think. 

My little sisters dress, she was 3.

My dress. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. I only remember wearing it once, but the teachers wouldn't stop talking about it.

My sisters asked if I had these, so they could have theirs back. I have saved them for them. They would have been ruined had I not taken them with me. They have moved with me 17 times in the ONE little tote of childhood things I have left. I have been called a pack rat and been told everything EXCEPT, "Thank you" for holding on to these dresses in my one little tote. I really should have put some of my own cherish items in my tote instead. :) But, I knew they'd be lost and/or destroyed somehow in my sub-conscience mind, and so I protected them. 

You're welcome.

Small bathroom update

K, I'll just say that I've lived in a LOT of places. Since I've been married I have lived in five different houses and one hotel for two weeks in between. I've been with my husband three years today. Since I left my parents home I have lived in 17 different places, some nice, some not so nice. This place takes the cake on the not so nice. I really can't understand why they use this nasty yellowish paint, rather than the standard rental white. It makes everything seem dark and dingy. It's also put together crooked in so many places it's not funny. But I make do. We had to get it sight unseen when we came from our last duty station. All that being said, now that I'm really getting my craft on, and have a pinterest addiction, it kills me to be living in a rental. I want to make my house my own! So...I am anyway, and they can KMB. :)

I'm really not doing that much, nothing that will cost them that much to change back if they wanted to, yet anyway....

I hate my master bathroom more than any other room in the house, so that is where I started. I got the idea from pinterest several months ago and let it sit in my brain for a while building momentum. Finally I did it.

They didn't just pop out. I had to boil them for 15 minutes to get them out. 

This is our bathroom. My daughters has a flame on the hot and a snowflake on the cold. I tried to do the kitchen, but it was so rusted and nasty, there was no way they were coming off no matter what I did. 

Before...looks better in the picture than in reality. 

Before.

During,

After! This one actually came out of the guest room. The screw was so tight I stripped the heck out of it on the first go. I had to wait FOREVER for my husband to cut if off so I could put this up. 

After. The original person who did this painted around the edges. I didn't bother since they will probably take it down anyway...not to mention if they do leave it, they paint so poorly around here they will just paint their nasty yellow paint on it. 

Small things make the heart smile. :)

Wedding/Party invite idea.

I came up with this a long time ago and just came across it again. If you like playing cards or gambling or as in my case just like the look of playing cards, than this is kind of a cool idea for invites or favors.

I cut a King of Hearts and a Queen of Hearts in the same zig zag pattern and then attached them to each other. They blend well. 

You can see by the back that it's basically seamless. 

Simple easy, nothing to it. 

Patriotic Earrings

Not really an experiment as I've made earrings before, but I used stronger wire. (Sorry for the poor pictures.) All have fresh water pearls. 

Patriotic dangle post earrings. 

Slightly more elegant patriotic dangles on hooks. 

Itty bitty patriotic dangles on posts.

For the nonconformist, completely untraditional patriotic dangles on hooks. 

Posable doll

This was going to be in the pocket of the activity quilt, but then I decided to include clothes and house stuff, and so...it will be a future Christmas gift. Mady wants one too, and of course I already planned to make her one. This one (first try) is so ugly that I think it is going to be my mannequin anyway.

I've had this book for years, and my mom had it before me. It was published in 1953 and I've always planned to make these dolls, but was just to dog gum lazy to do it. I even promised my brother when he was like 4 to make some to ride in his trucks, and never did it. He is now 17 and at boot camp. 

It says to hand sew with tiny even stitches. Total sign of the times, no way would most kids do that nowadays. I did though, as it's so small, it was easier than with a machine. 

The skeleton is made of pipe cleaners so that the doll can bend and sit on furniture (or in trucks).

Then lay it out and draw around it on the fabric. 

Pin the fabric and sew around it BEFORE you cut the doll out. Leaving a hole in it's head you put the skeleton in and then use a skinny object to push cotton down around it. 

I used embroidery thread for the hair and used that to sew up the "skull" so that I didn't have to be too neat with the seam. I also gave her a little bow. Told you she was ugly. :)

The back, with a toothpick to remind you how small she is. 

Decided to try to make her some clothes. 

Looks cute, but I picked the wrong fabric cause all it does is fray...so this dress is no more. 

Trying again....

So there you have it! Perfect little doll house doll. She can actually go into a quiet book as well, which is kinda what I'm thinking.