A Simple Denim Rag Quilt

Photo property of Simple Inspirations.

Here is a link to instructions for a simple denim rag quilt. This is posted at the blog of "Sister in the Mid-West" - Simple Inspirations.

Denim Rag Quilt

This quilt is a good way to use up denim scraps, old clothing, and other fabric scraps as well. I'm not sure, but I think you could make this with corduroy in place of the denim, although, that might get a bit messy, and you might not want the super bulky types. :-)

Use It Up - Quick and Easy Summer Dessert

This isn't really a recipe, but I'll name it for you. :-D

Fruit and Cake Jumble

As I recall, we had had some friends to dinner some years back and she brought this yummy fruit mixture, among other things. She left the remnants with us afterwards and I had some cake on hand so I crumbled the cake and mixed the fruit with it. Then I put a few scoops of ice cream on top and it looks like I put some strawberry freezer jam over that. It was really good! 

This is a very simple way to use up stale-ish or leftover cake and chopped fruit. If you don't have enough liquid from the fruit, you can sprinkle it with bottled fruit juice of your choice or even soda. 

Whipped cream or vanilla pudding could substitute for the ice cream.

You could also make this with canned of frozen fruit if you don't have fresh. You might want to thaw the frozen fruit at least partially.

It's really just about being a little inventive with what you have. :-) Be creative and adventurous! And Enjoy!

Cheap, Pretty, and Good - Gift Wrapping Ideas

 

Although gift bags are all the fashion these days and are great for reusing, some of us still like wrapped gifts upon occasion. :-) But wrapping paper can be expensive. Here are some ideas for making do or using less expensive methods.

Here are some ideas from "Sister in the Mid-West" at Simple Inspirations:

Cheap and Creative Gift Wrapping Paper

Among a number of good ideas, she shows an example of writing on paper to decorate it for gift warp. The image above is an example of this that I made some years back. I used my colored Sharpie markers to write "I love you!" in different colors on plain white tissue paper. This was for my husband for our anniversary one year. :-) As she points out in her blog post, you can save paper from packages and reuse paper grocery bags for this as well.

You could also make the wrapping part of the gift. 

Here are some suggestions:

Wrap a gift for a sewist or crafter in fabric for her to keep.

Wrap bridal shower gifts or a gift for a home maker in kitchen or tea towels.

Wrap a baby shower gift in a light weight fleece blanket.

Wrap a summer birthday gift in a beach towel.

Wrap a house warming gift in a fleece throw or table cloth.

Wrap a set of bed sheets in one of the pillow cases or an extra pillow case.

Wrap various home gifts in a pillow case.

Wrap a kid's birthday gift in a specialty pillow case.

Wrap books in a lap throw (for cozy reading). :-)

These gifts can be held closed with safety pins, ribbon, or low-tack tape that won't ruin the fabrics.

Repurpose jeans or other trousers to make gift bags too.

I have made gift bags using old jeans. I used ones that had the hem still intact, but you could use trimmed ratty ones as well. If the jeans are worn too much around the bottom edge try cutting off the hem and washing them to give a frayed edge to work with. Do this before cutting off the legs for the bags. The hem end will be the top edge of the bag.

To make the bags I just cut the bottoms of the legs off below the knee at whatever length I wanted. I turned the pant legs wrong side out and then sewed them shut along the cut edge. Be sure to use a stout needle size for this. Also, it may be difficult to get the machine to sew through the thickest side seam on the jeans. To avoid breaking a needle I used the wheel on the side and gently worked it by hand so that the needle went through slowly and firmly. You could also sew these up by hand if you don't have a sewing machine. Add decorations as you like. In the one in the photo I added a ribbon on one side to tie the bag shut and some "yo-yos" just to pretty it up a bit. You could also paint them with fabric paint.

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While I was looking for another photo I found this one of that white tissue gift wrap that I wrote on years ago. :-) 

Also, this basket came to me from my mother and she received it as a gift. The lady who gave it to her spray painted it blue, as I recall, to make it fresh. This is another way you can repurpose or re-gift a basket. A little paint can make something look quite new. 

Regrowing Vegetables from Kitchen Scraps

Here is video showing how you can grow new food from vegetable trimmings. If you don't have a garden to plant the things in later after they root and sprout, you can plant most of them in pots. The pots would need to be large. For potatoes you would need something quite large since they are going to grow under the surface and will need plenty of room.

I do not know this lady, but she lives in the same part of the US as we do. Her aprons are a fun addition. :-)





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Berry Fun Friday - Strawberry Pincushion Tutorial

Here is a tutorial for a cute and easy strawberry pincushion brought to us by the Gourmet Quilter of New Zealand. A simple hand sewn running stitch can be used to do the gathering around the top. Another option would be to zigzag over a bit of string, yarn or fishing line.

I used a different pattern to make similar berries. Instead of using felt for the tops I made yo-yos from green fabrics and sewed those over the opening.

This would be a great way to use up scraps of reds and pinks.

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Sew Happy Wednesday - Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Bags

Here are two tutorials for making your own shopping bags. One is a soft bag that would be comfortable to carry on your shoulder perhaps in a farmer's market. The other is a large sturdy tote for carrying large amounts of groceries home from the store.

Photo: Sew4Home.com

Soft and Stuffable Cotton Shopping Bags

Photo: Sew4Home.com

DIY Re-usable Grocery Bags

Sew Happy Wednesday - Two Quick and Easy Quilt Tutorials

These tutorials are not as in depth as some, but the information is enough to make the quilts if you already have some quilting skills. :-)

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Sew Happy Friday - Disappearing Pinwheel Tutorial

Here's another fun quilt tutorial from Jenny Doan at The Missiouri Star Quilt Co. You could use this pattern to make a very scrappy quilt with leftover 10" squares.

Enjoy! :-)

Sew Happy Friday - Scrappy Jelly Roll String Quilt Tutorial

This quilt is a version of the jelly roll race quilt. It's a great way to use up scraps. If you enjoy making this type of quilt but don't like cutting all the 2" strips at one time, you can cut the strips ahead of time by cutting up your scraps from other projects as you do them. You might store the strips in containers by color. This way you can later select a pleasing mix of colors, or if you have many from on color group you can make a quilt from one color as this lady does in her demonstration.

If you don't want to do all the trimming of angles, you can make this quilt by just sewing the strips end to end. However, if you do that be sure to trim away any selvage edges first. Also, the angle cuts are what give the interesting points in this.

Sew Happy Friday - Quilt As You Go Blocks Tutorials

Here is a tutorial from the Gourmet Quilter in New Zealand. She shows us how to use up scraps of fabric, batting, and strips of fabric to make quilt-as-you-go blocks to make a quilt or tote bag or whatever project you want to make. These blocks could also be made over a period of time using up scraps, then making a very scrappy quilt at some future date with all your blocks.

NOTE: Beware of ironing blocks with synthetic batting. I have melted synthetic batting before when ironing a project. It will go "very flat" as she says. I prefer to use 100% cotton batting now because it doesn't have this limitation.

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In this second tutorial she shows how to sew the blocks together into a quilt or project. If you want to see the instructions for the borders and the rest of this specific project, please check out her YouTube page. I am mainly interested in the basic blocks and joining them. The edges can be bound in any typical quilt binding method you prefer.

One thing you can do to break up the "string" blocks is to make some blocks to mix in that are just a solid square on each side in the same size as your other blocks. Make a sandwich of the three layers and then machine quilt them however you like. She made some with applique stars on them, as you can see in the video.

Sew Happy Friday - Prairie Point Table Runner Tutorial

Here is a fun, easy table runner made from 5" squares (charm squares). This could be a fun way to use up complimenting scraps or to add a pop of color to your home with a favorite charm square collection. (Don't forget that it is easy to cut 10" squares into quarters to make 5" charms.)

This runner finishes quite long at 52 inches, so if that is too large for your table you can shorten it by reducing the number of horizontal squares from 11 to whatever you need it to be. You could also use 4" squares instead in this case because the instructions wouldn't change, just the measurements. You may have to arrange the prairie points a little differently, though, to get them even.

When closing the opening left for turning the runner, Donna just stitched it shut on her sewing machine leaving a visible thread line. This can be made to look more a part of the overall design if you top stitch around the entire runner making sure that the opening on the bottom is closed as you do so. I think this will also provide extra security for the prairie points.

Sew Happy Friday - Vintage Doilies Made into a Banner or Garland - Tutorial

Do you have vintage doilies that you like but don't enjoy having them out because they make extra work for you? Here is a clever way to make them into a banner that can be hung up for decoration. You could use this all the time, or you could use it for parties or celebrations. Do be sure to sew the cut edges very well so they don't come apart. :-)

Vintage Doily Banner

Thanks to Lauren at My Wonderfully Made for this pretty project.

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for A Tissue Holder

Photo property of Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose.

Here is a tutorial from Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose on how to make a super easy tissue holder from a vintage handkerchief. You could also use just a piece of fabric of your choice. I love vintage handkerchiefs, but I don't want the bother of washing them, so I don't use them. This is a very appropriate way to upcycle one, I think. :-)

Handkerchief Tissue Holder

Sew Happy Friday - A Tutorial for Memory Projects with Jenny Doan

Here is a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. where Jenny Doan teaches how to make some memory quilt items with your loved one's clothing. There is also instructions for a simple pillow to make with a shirt. I suggest putting a pillow form inside rather than stuffing it directly with the poly-fiber filling because then you can take the outside cover off and wash it (it is made from a shirt, after all).

Also, remember that a lot of ties are not washable, so you may wish to make a wall hanging rather than a table runner if the ones you are working with require dry cleaning. Table runners used on the dining room table are more likely to get dirty and need to be cleaned.

This would be a nice way to use up clothing that you no longer use that still has a lot of wear in it as well. If you have some things that you especially like that you can't or don't wear any more, you could make a memory quilt of your own (or any family member's) clothing.

Fabrics that cannot be ironed are not a good idea for this project.

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for Cute Felt-Backed Coasters

Image property of sew4hom.com

These coaster would be a fun way to add some color to a room, or they would make great gifts. One might even fit into a card to be mailed. (Check to see if it needs extra postage.)

They also look pretty easy to make. If you have scraps of felt and some stray quilting patches, these would come together quite quickly. This is also a good way to practice top-stitching if it's something you struggle with. These coasters are not a big project and can be used for awhile and then discarded. This is much better place to learn a new skill than on a garment or a big project. :-) The tutorial is at sew4home.com

Link: Felt and Fabric Coasters

Sew Happy Friday - A Quick and Easy Potholder Tutorial

This is a quick, neat, and easy way to make a potholder (hot mat) for you kitchen or dining table. These would make nice housewarming gifts, among other things. For the batting you can use 100% cotton batting (wadding), heatproof batting, or a 100% cotton washcloth (without rounded corners). Do not use synthetic batting as it may melt with heat. This would be a great way to use up scraps or leftover 10" squares.

Enjoy! :-)

Cheap, Pretty, and Good - Tea Cup Candles

Do you have some cute or pretty tea cups you inherited that aren't worth all that much and you don't know what to do with them? Let's face it, some tea cups are pretty, but they aren't necessarily worth much, and if you don't use them or you have too many, they can become clutter. This tutorial shows how to make them into pretty candles so that they can actually serve a useful purpose and add ambiance to your home as well.

DIY Vintage Tea Cup Candles

Photograph property of Rhiannon Bosse.


I know, someone will probably object to this, saying that tea cups ought not to be "ruined" this way. Well, there are a lot of china tea cups floating around second hand stores because someone didn't have any use for them and donated them. If someone can find a use for their grandmother's tea cups as candles, why not? And, the tea cups don't necessarily have to be ruined by this usage either. Oh, another thought - these would make cute gifts too, and if you don't have tea cups, you could probably find some at the second hand shops I mentioned. :-)

Also, note that these candles could be useful during a power outage since they are easy to carry.

NOTE: Do not use plastic or melamine tea cups for this project!

Re-purposing Less than Great Watercolor Paintings

This tutorial from Sandy Allnock shows how to use watercolor practice paintings or "strays" for other projects. She demonstrates making them into bookmarks, but this method could easily be done for making smaller pieces for adding to homemade greeting cards or for scrap books or journals.

One thought that occurred to me is that you could have you children paint some fun watercolor washes and then use them to make other projects. This would be a fun way to work together to make some pretty gifts or cards.

Sew Happy Friday - Patchwork Shower Curtain

Photo property of Better Homes and Gardens

Here are the instructions for this pretty patchwork shower curtain. This would be a great way to add color to a dull bathroom. Also, the curtain without the plastic shower liner could be used for a light weight, colorful curtain at a sliding glass door or large window. (You would need to adjust the size appropriately.) By the way, this would be a nice way to use up some larger scraps of fabric leftover from other projects.

GO HERE for instructions.

Sew Happy Friday - An Easy Four Patch Lattice Quilt Block Tutorial

Here is a short tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. showing how to make a lattice four patch block. This could be a good way make a scrappy quilt with a variety of 5" squares, or smaller or larger squares. As you will note in the last image, the points may not all come together neatly in the centers of the blocks. If this is a problem to you, you may want to try another pattern, or find a way to make it work out better. Enjoy!