warm hearts

I've been doing some small projects as I wait for our baby girl to be born! It's helpful to distract myself with something creative when I'm feeling so ready to greet this sweet little one.

For a long time now, I've wavered between giving away and keeping a certain pink wool zip-up hoodie I've had at least since my freshman year of college. It's cute, cozy, and the perfect fit...and I've worn the elbows to death. I darned them multiple times, and it just was not working anymore. I'm not really into elbow patches, so that option was out. So I kept the sweater. And tossed it between the "mend" and "give away" piles. Until a couple evenings ago.

Joshie and I came in from a very cold day in the snow last Monday, and I heated up my big rice pack for him to warm his hands and to keep him snuggled on the couch for a few minutes. It was hard for him to hold the large hot pack, but he was soon warm enough to be happy. That sparked my thoughts...maybe he needs his own hot pack!

I also recently saw that a friend (and relative) of mine made a small hot pack for her preemie's belly; it has helped his tummy troubles to subside and allowed him to sleep! Baby Center also recommends a warm pack like that for soothing colic in newborns, and I thought I should make one.

The final push to get this little project done came when I saw someone's adorable heart-shaped rice packs, and I had to give it a go! I honestly don't remember where I saw it, so if it was you, please know that you inspired me.

Would you like to make some, too? They're quick and easy, and you can make them in any shape you'd like!

You'll need:

Paper for creating a pattern
Dry rice (not quick rice)
Funnel
Spoon
Sewing machine
Scissors
Essential oil or dried lavender, if desired
A natural fiber fabric (cotton, wool, etc.)
Note: I used two fabrics, a wool sweater for the outside, and a 100% cotton tee shirt fabric (jersey) for the inside. You really only need one, but my wool sweater was worn very thin and needed some more structure.

Use your paper to create a simple shape for your pattern. I chose a heart shape, but it would be just as functional to cut a square, triangle, circle...or you could get fancy and do something else!

Cut two fabric pieces for each hot pack, and stack them with wrong sides (inside of fabric) together.

Using a zig-zag stitch, sew almost all the way around your fabric sandwich, leaving about 1" of the perimeter unsewn.

Using your funnel, spoon rice into your hot pack. My 4" hearts needed about 4T of rice each to feel full enough. You should have enough room to be able to shift the rice around a bit; don't stuff too firmly. At this point, you could also include dried lavender or a few drops of essential oil, if you'd like a scent other than warm rice.

Remove the funnel and sew up the opening of the hot pack. Be sure to start on top of the existing stitching so that there's less chance of the stitches unraveling.

Trim your edges close to the stitching so that they look neat. 

Microwave for about 30 seconds on high and enjoy!

card making craftiness

The month of June is front-loaded with anniversaries, followed quickly by Father's Day. That means a lot of card making!

Here are some of the results:

These two anniversary cards turned out pretty cute!

This poppy-inspired one was fun to make - I first tore red music-printed scrapbook paper into four petals, ripping so that some white showed along the edges. Then, I cut a circle of dark purple-gray metallic paper into a circle, and cut fringe all along the edges. I put it all together with a black brad in the middle. Ta da!

This one is for my good friend, Sarah, and her husband, Stephen. See the little glittery "s" sticker I used for each of the birdie wings? I drew a bird silhouette on the back of a piece of (bunny print!) origami paper, and then cut two at a time (right sides of the paper together to make the birds face each other). I must have been in a fringe-y mood that evening, because I decided that they needed to sit in a bed of green grass.

And now, the Father's Day cards!

These two cards were time intensive! I made two of the tree cards - one for my dad, and one for Hubby's dad. We were planning to see Hubby's grandfather that weekend, too, so he got an extra-special card, as well.

For the tree card, I drew a leaf shape on the back of a piece of card stock, then traced it six times on a scrap of textured green card stock. I saved some time by cutting out of three types of paper at once - that's a lot of leaves!

I then free-handed a tree trunk, fashioned from brown textured card stock. Cut two! The next part - gluing all the little pieces in place - took some time.

The argyle Grandpa card was the most time-intensive card I've ever made, I think! I first had to look up the proportions of a rhombus. Geometry was a long time ago! For those of you who are like me and maybe don't remember, a rhombus, or diamond shape, can be created by four right triangles. I used four 3-4-5 triangles (Pythagorean). Do you remember this formula? a² + b² = c²

It means that you can figure out the length of each side of the triangle, because the smallest side, multiplied by itself; plus the next largest side, multiplied by itself; equals the longest side, multiplied by itself: 3²+4²=5² (ahem, 9+16=25). This is derived from the Pythagorean theorem, fellow math friends.

I kept it simple, and decided to follow the formula rather literally. So, each one of my triangles was 3/4" on one side, 4/4" (1 inch) on the next, and 5/4" (1.25") on the longest side. Bear with me as I sketch a drawing in Paint to explain.

 

There we go. You can see now, I hope, that a rhombus is made up of four right triangles. I showed the dimensions of mine in this picture (3/4", 4/4", and 5/4"). If you do what I did, you'll end up with a diamond shape that's 2" high, 1.5" across, and 1.25" on each diagonal side. Cool, right?

I traced my rhombus template onto four colors of card stock (these colors remind me of golf clothes - buttery yellow-cream chinos, orange polo shirt, brown saddle shoes, and blue caps), and cut away! I like the way the design turned out. To make the gold dots on top of the diamonds, I measured the center of each long side, putting a pencil dot at the 3/4" mark. I then used my trusty ruler to keep the dots 1/4" apart, and dotted away!

Do you like it? Would you try it? In a box, with a fox? (Seuss reference, friends.)

weeknight potato soup

Tonight I made potato soup for the hubby and me! It turned out well, so I'm sharing. The recipe, that is. :o) This is a Linnea original.

Quick Potato Soup
Serves 2-4

3-4 medium red potatoes, or 2-3 peeled russet potatoes
1 large carrot
5-6 strips thick bacon
1 can cream of chicken soup
skim milk
1 clove garlic
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper
paprika
chives

1. Cut the potatoes into 1/4" cubes, leaving the skin on.
2. Peel the carrot and quarter it lengthwise, and then cut thin slices.
3. Combine the carrot and potatoes in a medium saucepan. Add the cream of chicken soup. Use the soup can to measure 1.5 cans of skim milk into the pan. Find the garlic press and squish the clove of garlic into the pan. Stir to combine.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer - keep it uncovered to avoid a mess. Meanwhile, cook the bacon. I used the microwave to keep the smell contained. Trim the fat from the bacon, cut into bite-size pieces, and add to the soup.
5. Add black pepper, paprika, and chives to taste. I didn't add any salt because the bacon is salty enough.
6. When potatoes and carrots are tender, add 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, stirring until it melts.
7. Serve!

Optional:
8. Rake in the compliments from hubby
9. Blog about it
10. Take the leftovers to school and eat it for lunch!

pillowcase apron tutorial

A little while back, I ventured into the thrift store and found two pretty vintage pillowcases. I bought them to use the fabric in projects, but wasn't sure what I wanted to make out of them. I forged ahead with a pieced pillow cover out of a baby dress, and folded the pretty pillowcases for another day. Today, inspiration struck.

An apron!
Here's what you need:

• One pillow case
• Matching thread
• an iron, set to the correct heat level for your pillow fabric
• Basic sewing stuff (machine, scissors, pins)

*If you use my tutorial, please link back to me. I would love to see what you make! Feel free to make these for yourself or for gifts, but please don't sell aprons made from my tutorial. Thanks!

Begin by washing and ironing the pillow case. Fold it in half - bottom open edge meeting the top, sewn-shut edge. Iron a firm crease. Cut it apart on that line.

Take the bottom, open-edged half of the pillowcase (with the pretty, decorative edge) and cut open along the side seam.

Sew 1/4" from the top, cut edge with a large basting stitch - my stitch length was set to 4, the largest my machine allows. Sew another line of stitching below that one - this time 1/2" from the cut edge. You should now have two parallel lines of big stitches.

Grab just the top two (or bottom two) threads and pull gently. See it gathering?

Continue to gather along the length of the apron skirt, making sure that your gathers are evenly distributed across the skirt. Gather until the skirt width is about the same width as the un-cut pillowcase - about 20". Pretty!

One more thing - let's add some rolled hems to finish the sides. Press each side in 1/4", and then fold over a second time. Press. Sew close to the folded edge of the seam, all the way from top to bottom.

Set the skirt aside for a bit.

Making the waistband:

Using the upper half of what was once a pillowcase, measure in 4.5" across the length of the pillowcase. Cut it off - this is the middle of the waistband. Cut open along the side seam.

Measure again - another 4.5" across the width of the pillowcase, and cut it off. Cut it open on the side seam and on the opposite side - you have two equal pieces.

Pinning right sides together, join one short waistband piece to the middle waistband, and repeat on the other side.

Sew together with a 5/8" seam, and then press open.


Sew 1/4" from the edge, all the way around the waistband (all four sides!). Press in toward the wrong side of the fabric.
If you want to add extra stiffness, now is a good time. Cut a 1.5" wide, 20" long piece of lightweight fusible interfacing and attach it to the wrong side of the middle waistband only, following package directions. The interfacing should be placed close to the bottom or top of the waistband strip - not right in the middle. Otherwise, you'll have trouble folding it over. Make sense? I hope so! Set this aside for a bit.

Making pockets:

Using what little fabric is left of your pillowcase, cut a 5" x 7" piece from the corner. Cut this apart on the seam - two pockets.
Sew 1/4" from the edge, all the way around the pockets. Press in all the seams toward the wrong side of the fabric.
Now is the time to decide if you want to add trim to the pockets - a little ribbon or rick rack, perhaps? maybe some cute pom-poms? Find the trim and iron it on the correct setting.

Fold the top of the pocket over about 2" and press, creating a pocket that's about 5" deep.
Pin trim to the front of the pocket (if you're using trim) and sew on. Otherwise, sew close to the bottom of the folded over part (the 2" fold you made).
Repeat for the other pocket.

Add pockets to the skirt:

Measure in 9" from each side and mark the spot with a pencil or chalk line. Measure up 1" from the pretty pre-existing hem of your apron skirt and mark. Line up each pocket with the marks, and pin on.
Make sure that all the raw edges are pressed under, and then sew around the three closed sides of the pocket, staying close to the edge.

You'll have some long threads hanging - here's how to hide those.
Turn the skirt over to the wrong side, and pull gently on the thread that's showing at the top pocket corner. This will pull up a loop of thread from the other side. Tug on the loop until the other thread is on the wrong side. Tie a double knot, and cut off the ends of the thread. Repeat on each pocket corner.

Putting it all together:

Find the middle of the waistband and add a pin or a pencil mark to that spot. With the wrong side showing, find the middle of the top of the skirt, and do the same.
Place the waist band wrong-side-up on top of the skirt. To clarify, the wrong side of the skirt is touching the right side of the waist band right now. Line up the waistband stitches with the bottom set of gathering stitches on the skirt, matching the middles, and pin.
Now, "stitch in the ditch!" Translation: stitch directly on top of the already-existing stitches on the waistband, being sure to match those stitches with the bottom row of gathering stitches.
Fold this up and press. Turn over so that the right side of the skirt is showing.
Fold the waistband down over the gathering stitches, just hiding the bottom row of stitching. Pin on - I used a lot of pins! Take a trip to the ironing board, and iron the waistband in half along the entire length. Make sure that your edges line up!

If you'd like a little extra bit of pretty, do this to each end of the waistband/ties. Iron in half, and then open up again, wrong side showing. Fold down one side, making the top edge meet the middle - there's a triangle, just like the beginning of a paper airplane. Press, and repeat with the opposite side. Fold wrong sides together, and press again. Repeat on the other end. Pretty, yes?

Sew close to the bottom (currently open) edge of the waistband, right side up, all the way across the apron. Make sure that those bottom gathering stitches have been hidden! Sew one final line of stitching along the top of the waistband, tie off loose threads, clip, and try it on!
Yay! You made an apron! From a pillowcase!
Please let me know if anything was unclear. I'm happy to help!