First Quilt

For the past several days Josh has been in Texas with work and my computer stopped working, so I had some time on my hands. I began and finished my first quilt! My inspiration was the pro-mom blogger SouleMama's log cabin quilt she made for her daughter. Her take on log cabin quilting - little measuring and any width of rectangles sewn together to make squares, seemed to fit my ability level. The quilt top went smoothly, but quilting the quilt was far more difficult than I expected. I made the quilt from one of my great grandmother's pillowcases, one of Josh's dress shirts, my old pajama shirt, and some of Ben's old pajamas mixed in with fabric remnants I already owned. Some of the fabric stretched more than others, and there are several mess up places across the top because of not accounting for the different materials. Next time I'm sticking to cotton and no stretch and I think it will work out much better. The batting is Soft and Natural 100% cotton and the underside is "super cuddle" white fuzzy fabric. This made for the perfect heavier weight throw. I made 12 squares, 18 inches across each, making a  54" x 72" blanket. I will try to post some close-ups soon.

Josh is now home from Texas (I'm sneaking a minute on his computer before he gets up). Ben is feeling better, but is still coughing a little and snotty. His grammy keeps promising me that with better weather, he should feel better soon. I certainly hope so.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today Ben is one year old. He celebrated by skipping daycare and spending the day with grammy. He joined Josh for lunch and had dinner with grandma Sherry and grandpa Steve. Between all of that, I gave him his first haircut (just a little off the back) then quickly finished up his birthday present that I have been working on since a little after Christmas - Ben's Barn! It's a felt playhouse that fits over a card table.

The front is made to look like a barn door and he has a lamp on one side and a mailbox on the other. The mailbox opens and has letters that he can put through the opening. I made the lettering by printing the words "Ben's Barn" and then using that as a pattern to trace onto the felt.

One side has a vegetable garden with corn, radishes, onions inside pockets made to look like soil. Some of the vegetables have jingle bells sewn into them and others have crinkly plastic or other textured fabrics on the inside. The stems are bendy and made by sewing pipe cleaners into felt tubes. The corn is woven white and yellow corn, just like the corn we grew in our garden last summer.

The other side has an apple tree and a corral which holds his stuffed cow. The apples come off with velcro, and I may make pears or oranges to stick on there some day.

The back is our pond with velcro fish, a dragonfly, and cattails.

The inside is much less complicated, mostly covered in book pockets. 

I also used clear plastic sheeting to make picture frame pockets around the top of each wall.

And curtains for each of the side windows. The tiebacks are also tied around the legs of the card table to keep everything in place a little better.

And he has a fireplace in back. I still need to sew around each of the windows and trim the bottom a little. He absolutely loved playing with his barn. He crawled in and out through the door several times, then pulled all of the books out of the pockets, the apples off the tree, then crawled back in and out a few more times, trying to see if he could get his head through the mail slot. 

Felt is so forgiving and it is very much like using construction paper. Nothing was turned and top-stitched and everything but the lettering was cut freehand without doing much of any measuring. I sketched out my plans and I must give credit to my blog-spiration here. You will see many of her ideas repeated throughout my playhouse project, (mailbox, mesh in the windows to keep your kid from climbing through them, tree and garden ideas, etc.) and I am so grateful for her blog and sharing her creativity with the rest of us. She includes a lot more details about how to make each section and templates that make it possible to completely repeat her process.

I custom fit this to our small card table. I believe she used her dining room table, and somewhere she mentions that with felt, it is a little tricky to manage that much fabric when you are in the final stages of putting everything together. Because I did the inside and outside, I had a tough time managing the weight of the final project when I was sewing the finishing touches. I still need to go back and fix a couple of things and it's going to be tricky to keep the fabric from breaking the needle or pulling in the wrong direction.

I didn't use any patterns or templates, so I don't have any of that to share on here, but I think the best part about the barn is that I used features of our own farm and home. Ben's barn was the single biggest crafty/sewing project I have ever attempted and I think it was a big hit.

This is from his first haircut. I figured while I had the good scissors out I might as well cut a few of the long places in the back. I already don't like how old his haircut makes him look.

Pajama Pants From Sheets

A little over a week ago I went to the end of the nearby Catholic church yard sale. I was handed a large brown paper grocery bag and was told I could fill it for three dollars. I piled the bag full of sheets, pillowcases and tablecloths for all kinds of repurposing and sewing projects. The first that came to mind was the pajama pants pattern from Weekend Sewing. The sheets were a soft, old and broken in muslin, perfect for pajamas. I took a strip off a pink tablecloth to make the drawstring (sewing then turning with my bobkin), and using the same pink for the cuffs. For a gift, I made a second pair and plan on making a matching drawstring bag out of the remnants as the gift bag. I have big plans for the rest of the sheets and tablecloths as well. My goal is to set aside (at least) two hours per week to create, sew and craft during the school year. We will see how that goes.

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There is no way Ben will still fit in this Halloween costume in October, so I figured we'd put it on and take some pictures now, while the pants barely squeeze on.

Handmade Gifts

I absolutely love giving and receiving handmade gifts. I recently gifted a pair of wool dryer balls and a sandwich wrap for a friend's birthday. Ben has received some awesome handmade gifts as well, including felt blocks, a beautiful quilt from my mother, my grandmother and great-aunt crocheted him baby blankets, and he recently received some very cute silk screened and hand-painted shirts.

Those of you who know me can probably guess which crafty friend's mom made the shirt in the top picture. My mind is already spinning with ideas for Christmas presents this year.

I am still reading Weekend Sewing, but I haven't made anything yet. I have also checked out Sewing Green by Betz White from the library. The library book includes all of the patterns in an envelope that says we are welcome to make copies, but please don't cut these patterns. Sewing Green is all about repurposing clothes and recycling fabric and thrift store finds. I should soon be recieving the newly released book Handmade Home with many more ideas. I will be sure to post with any of my creations from any of these books. Hopefully sooner than later.

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Josh spotted our fox friend out in the field one day. We were a little worried about seeing him during the daytime, but he took off just after I snapped this photo.

Curtains for Ben's Room

We are still struggling with getting Ben to take naps during the day, so I decided to make curtains for his room. I scavenged around our basement and found the box with our wedding table cloths (they were just serged blue and white striped heavy fabric). They were very easy to make, and I even had enough to sew lining on the backs. Here are the great directions I used. I followed them pretty closely, but changed the top because I couldn't figure out her directions on that part. I just folded over the top, sewed a line at the fold and another four inches below to make the tube where the curtain rod goes. Total cost - $0. We'll just have to wait and see if this helps our napping situation any.

Sewing Diaper Covers

Whether cloth diapering or using disposables, diapers leak - especially overnight. We have had very few leaks overall with cloth when compared to disposables, but overnights have still been tough. We've added extra liners to thicken the diaper but Ben's legs are so skinny that he usually leaks out of the sides. A solution I'm trying is for Ben to wear a soaker. A soaker is a diaper cover that holds any extra moisture by pulling it away from the diaper and skin without wicking it to other clothing or sheets. Wool is the best for this, but I know less about it, and it requires lanolizing and hand-washing. So for now, we're using fleece covers at night. I made a couple of different pairs, each with an extra layer through the middle for added absorbancy. I used the serger for the most part, which made the whole process very quick. A free, printable pattern and directions can be found here.


The first two were too small to fit over Ben wearing a Bum Genius diaper, so I had to move up to a size medium body with small leg openings. The waist is still a little big, but I haven't been able to get the bulk of the cover big enough with a small enough waistband just yet. I think tomorrow I'll have the pattern closer to perfected (and soon enough Ben will grow out of it).

I cut bottom off of a couple of onsies and serged the bottom edge to make the t-shirts. The pants are a little crazy looking when not on, because I used the same pattern and just made the legs longer. It's a little goofy, but has to be so bulky, again, to cover the diaper.


The best fleece to use is the non-pilling kind from Joann's, which happens to be on sale this week! (Fortuante coincidence.) I bought the spiders, neon green, and the Cardinal's fleece. We tried the first spiders one last night and it worked great! No leaks. I'm only making a few for now, to see how they work out after several washes. I also know Ben will grow out of these and need more soon.

I had a great conversation with mom today about how fun and rewarding it is to sew clothes. I might even try to make something for myself this week.

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Ben also went swimming for he first time today! He loved the pool Josh picked out and we splashed around for quite a while on this very, very warm day.

Flower Bed

We finally mulched and tended to the flower bed in front of our house. This is a project I started over a month ago, mentioned here. If we would have done it then it would have been so much easier! Our flowerbed extends the full length of the house and was such the selling point when we first purchased our home. Little did we know what it would look like untended, one year later. After many, many hours of work, stacks of newspaper, 28 bags of mulch, and transplanting and moving several of the overcrowded plants, here is our finished project:



I'm still sewing, sewing, sewing (learning). Lately lots of sandwich wraps, a new type of rag rug, drawstring bags, and more wipes and burp cloths - all from recycled clothing and items from around our house. I'm thinking of splurging and buying some new fabric tomorrow with some of my birthday money.

Blackberry picking is also steadily increasing. We've gathered 2-3 cups a day for 4 days now, and we've eaten our way (or made soda with) all of them. I'm going to look into canning preserves later this week or next.

A new Missouri farm blog friend has introduced me to Picasa, so expect to see many more photo collages on the blog. Thanks Tammy!

With my new photo collage abilities, I added a synopsis of Ben's (almost) first 4 months.

Learning to Sew

Josh and my mom went in together and got me a sewing machine for my birthday! I know a little about sewing from growing up around sewing machines and being able to play with mom's as a kid, but I haven't really sewed anything before as an adult. My mother-in-law graciously brought over her sewing machine, but it is in need of some major repair and it was skipping stitches and had to be re-threaded every few minutes.

I would love to write about how to sew, but I don't know enough myself. My only advice would be to practice and play around with it. From what I can tell, a great deal of sewing skill comes from experience and practice, like most other crafts.

So far I have only made cloth baby wipes on my new sewing machine. I cut out two 8 inch squares of fabric, sew them together (nice sides facing each other), turn it out, then sew again with a neat pattern. I'm experimenting with the 50 different stitches on my machine, so every baby wipe has a different pattern so far. The fabric is recycled t-shirts, old washcloths and towels, flannel receiving blankets, and other odds and ends I had around with holes, stains, or usable places I could cut around.

As soon as we run out of our disposable wipes, I'm going to contact this mama blogger friend about her great wipes recipe and make my own wet wipes. If I'm already washing cloth diapers, it's not that different to add wipes to the load. I'll be sure to post about how the washable wipes are going once we've got our system in place.

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Ben still has gross, red, crusty sores on his head and is a little fussier than normal. We go back Monday to check on the infection and see if we need more or a different type of antibiotics.

Wool Dryer Balls

Continuing with my green crafty phase, I decided to try making wool dryer balls. They are incredibly easy, practical, and inexpensive. I used old wool yarn from my mother-in-law's attic and I've seen other people use wool scraps or even unravel old wool sweaters.

Benefits of wool dryer balls:
- Wool is hypoallergenic
- Wool is resistant to mold, bacteria and mildew
- As opposed to dryer sheets, wool dryer balls are organic and chemical free
- Naturally fire retardant - wool self extinguishes when lit
- Made from renewable resources
- Can be made from recycled wool
- The natural lanolin in wool is what softens your clothes
- Saves you money -

The average person can shorten about 1/4 (some say 1/2) of their dry time using dryer balls. For large loads the average US price to run a dryer for 90 minutes (the average dryer cycle time) is $1.02, that means dryer balls save you $.26 per 90 minutes of dry time on large loads. That doesn't really seem like a lot, but when I think about our family - we do about 6 loads of laundry a week. That's $1.56 per week or $81.21 per year - just in energy costs. If I figured in not spending any money on fabric softener it would be even more.

*I didn't include the fact that I try to line dry clothes quite a bit during the summer. So our savings would be a little less than that. However, I still "machine finish" everything so it's soft and completely dry.*

Here's how you make them:
1. Gather wool yarn (not superwash - it needs to felt as it washes), old pantyhose, rubber bands, crochet hook, scissors, very small fabric scrap

2. Wad the fabric scrap as tightly as you can and begin winding the yarn around it. Essentially, you're just making a ball of yarn but much more tightly than you would normally.


3. Once the ball is about the size of a golf ball, cut the yarn and use the crochet hook to pull the string into the ball to keep it from unwinding.


4. Put the ball in the pantyhose and use the rubber band to close off the end. If you do not put them in the pantyhose they will come unraveled and you will have a huge mess. This also happens if the rubber band isn't tight enough.



5. Wash the dryer ball / panty hose with your regular laundry and then throw in the dryer. Run it through with several regular loads (washing and drying both) without taking it out of the pantyhose, to make sure it felts completely.


6. Once the dryer balls seem adequately felted, start again with wrapping in wool yarn. I tried experimenting with using different colors at the same time and came up with a few patterns. I'm not sure if I could explain exactly how to do it, but it was fun to experiment. When the ball is the size you want, use the crochet hook to pull the last bit of string into the depths of the ball.


7. When you think your dryer ball is big enough (I've heard anywhere from a 7-10 inch circumference is standard; mine are all different because I didn't measure), repeat the felting process by putting them in the pantyhose and washing and drying several times. Washing on hot makes this process quicker. Again, skimping on this step will result in a giant rat's nest of yarn - promise.


8. That's it! Take them out of the pantyhose and they're ready for the dryer. They may pill some over time, depending on your yarn. You can fix that with a sweater shaver or ignore it. Either way.


8a. (Other things to consider): I've heard of people using a scented sachet in the middle or using essential oils to scent the dryer balls. I'm not really into my laundry smelling like anything, so I don't plan on trying that. I know nothing about the color bleeding or leaching on your clothes. So far, none of the bright colors I've used have bled at all, but I can't promise that on all types of yarn. They will shrink a little in the felting process, so if you want a ball that's 9 inches in circumference then I would make it a little bigger.

You can use anywhere from 2 - 8 in their dryer and have amazing results. So far I've used 2-4 and I love them. Our clothes are static free and super soft!

I am attempting to teach myself to sew. Josh dressed Ben in sheep pajamas with his refurbished sheep burp rag - my first sewing project.


Garrett came over today and rode the donkey. I'll have those pictures up in the next post with more about the donkeys!

How To Turn 5 T-Shirts Into a Rug

While researching ideas of what to do with old t-shirts, I came across several websites suggesting rag rugs. I combined a few methods to try to come up with the easiest (not necessarily the prettiest) way to make one. In italics is what I learned through trial and error with my first rug.

1. Cut a t-shirt under one arm and cut off the sleeves and collar.


2. Tear t-shirts into 2-4 inch strips. You can use the sleeves for shorter pieces if you want. You may also want to cut around the print on the front of the t-shirt. I didn't and you can see the color difference in a few places, but I mixed gray and white t-shirts so it blends in for the most part. Consistency helps with making a less lumpy rug. The thicker the strips, the sloppier it looks, thicker the rug, and quicker it is to get done.


3. Knot (or sew for a neater look) three strips together and anchor somehow. (I shut that part in the coffee table drawer to hold it. The rug weighs the braid down later. It helps if the three pieces are different lengths.)


4. Begin braiding. When you have about 5 inches left of t-shirt, lay in another piece of t-shirt. T-shirt material, when ripped, will curl into a tube naturally. When braided together the next piece of t-shirt will hold itself in place. This is why the three pieces need to be different lengths, so you don't try to start three new pieces at the same time. Another option would be to sew the ends of the strips together (about 3 at a time) to keep ends from sticking up here and there.


5. After a few yards are braided you can start sewing the rug together. I used a large blunt yarn needle so the needle would thread through the braid and not through the fabric. I also used two layers of crochet thread. I would recommend something stronger if it were going to be in a main living area.


6. Lay out the braid and then fold over the end to make a sharper corner, then sew together. I started off sewing it to loosely, then went back and pulled everything and got it too tight. It takes a little experimenting to get the rug to lay flat.



7. Continue to fold over the edges until the braid will lay flat when curved around the edges. It is important to lay the rug flat on the floor or table while sewing it together so you can tell if it is truly laying flat.


8. Continue tearing, braiding, adding strips of fabric, and sewing onto the rug until it is the size you want. I could only add one or two yards of thread at a time so it wouldn't be too difficult to manage.


9. When your rug is the size you want, weave the ends into the pattern and sew around it. Tie the string off on the back. I found a loose loop and tied it off onto it so it wouldn't show on the top.


10. All done! It fits perfectly below the sink in Josh's bathroom where it seems to always be wet when I want to brush my teeth. I hope it washes well. It didn't up laying as flat as I'd like, but it is good enough for our bathroom. We really need to redo our bathroom cabinets.


There are certain ways to sew it where it could be reversible. Mine is definitely not. There are strings and knots across the back and places where I doubled back and redid sections. In future rugs, I might try one that is reversible, but I was pleased with a rug that looked satisfactory from at least one side. I also think the higher contrasting gray looks better than the light gray I started with, but it's not bad for a first try.

Ben is truly back to his old self. He needed a little Tylenol today but without the scar there is no way you would guess he had brain surgery less than a week ago.