Dig it out and use it up!

I have been Spring Cleaning for the past week, and one thing that I realized, is that I collect too much stuff throughout the year. I am from a long line of collectors. My grandfather had an entire orchard of things, mostly machinery, that he collected. My mother has a couple craft rooms filled with her wonderful collections. If I had the luxury of a craft room, it would be filled to the brim with crafts and my collections. It's probably a good thing that I don't own more square footage, because I keep way too much stuff as it is.

One of the things that I collect, and would love to use in my home, is vintage sheets. I buy them with the intent to use them in a sewing project, but it's too hard for me to cut them to bits.



I also collect fabric. It seems that whenever I find fabric that's on clearance, if it's in a shade of color I like, I buy a couple yards. This little obsession has led to quite a few baskets FULL of fabric.



I had a couple sick kiddos this weekend, so we couldn't leave the house. I decided it was a good time to get to work on some quilt covers for my girls. I was able to dig through my baskets of fabric and pull together some fabrics that coordinated well enough for this project.

My first attempt... big floral in the center was a little too over-powering. When I laid it on the bed, I didn't like it at all.



Second attempt...I love a plaid and floral mix, but wanted a little more color.


Final attempt... I found this cute plaid, buried in a basket, after I had cut all my green plaid strips. I started over with the multi-colored plaid. It may be too busy for some, but i think it's FUN!

One Dollar Wednesday... Valentine Pennant Banner

I LOVE Valentine's Day, but what girl doesn't? I've been itching to get some Valentine Dollar Store crafts done! I came up with a fun Valentine's pennant banner that I put together thanks to Dollar Tree.

I found this cute Valentine gift bag, and knew immediately what I would use it for.



I cut it to pieces using my trusty paper cutter.





I used one of the letters and a bowl to make a pattern.






I always have extra fabric on hand, and knew this red/white gingham would work perfectly. I traced and cut out 8 gingham pennants, and 4 white pennants.






I used one pennant on the bottom, one on the top, and sandwiched my white one in between. Pinned them together, and sewed all the way around the outside~ about 1/4 inch seam allowance.



Then I cut little slits all the way around each pennant. I wanted them to look a little raggedy, so I spritzed them with water and tossed them in the dryer.



Next I sewed each letter to a "pennant sandwich" with a zig-zag stitch.



I finished it off by sewing all the letters to a classic white bias tape.




I just LOVE how it turned out!

Rolled fabric roses and a bit about me...

To start, I'm just going to share a little bit about me. I'm Karen. I live in Arizona, but was born and raised in Utah. I long for the four seasons of Utah nearly every day of my life, but have grown accustomed to my desert dwelling. I have four kids that keep me very busy, and a hunky husband that keeps me very happy (most of the time!) I love to exercise, read, and shop. I LIVE the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure". I'm excited to work on this blog, because it will give me a kick in the pants to get all of my trash turned to treasure. Enough about me!

Now on to my project for the day...

There are so many tutorials out there about making beautiful fabric flowers to
embellish t-shirts, headbands, purses, etc.. I've wanted to make some of these beauties, but couldn't seem to find the time to get myself to the fabric store. I started to obsess a bit every time I saw a pretty fabric flower. I'm a Penny Pincher to a fault, and thought of a completely new concept (to myself anyway) Why not dig through that bin of old clothes I've got to take to the Goodwill?



Well, I found some usable fabrics and got started. These are my first attempt, and I hand sewed them.



Because I don't have hours and hours to spend sewing, I thought I'd glue a few, and see how they looked. Keep in mind, if you're embellishing t-shirts, you'd want to sew them so they can go through the laundry.

First, I cut my strips of fabric. The longer the strip, the bigger your rose.



Then you tie a tight knot in one end, and trim the excess.



Now the fun part... You twist the fabric, and gently roll it around your knot. Use little dots of hot glue to secure your fabric as you go. **Remember** less glue is always better than too much. (please forgive the blurriness)



Just keep twisting, rolling and gluing...




When you get to the end, secure your fabric to the back of your rose with a bigger blob of glue. You'll end up with this~



Now make two more~



Add them to a headband, and you've got a fun, new, FREE accessory!