Tutorial: Santa Sack

I wanted to revisit a tutorial that I made back in November 2011 for home made Santa Sacks.

I don't know what your Christmas was like as a child - but one of my highlights was the stocking. The arrival of Santa (Father Christmas) and the stocking was huge. The stocking was one of my father's thread bare socks (it was not at all attractive.) So when we had children I knew that the stocking was going to be one of my little Christmas obsessions.





I had made a few of these sacks back in 2011 - but only kept 2. I knew when bunny #3 came along we would have to make another sack. I know he will notice Christmas this year - he fully understands the concept of presents now. In fact I am unsure how we will restrain him.

This new sack came together really really quickly and if you shop at JoAnns for cheap fun stuff these sacks came be made very inexpensively. I love the sacks - they are so cute. The girls sacks have held up really well AND they can fit a surprising amount of bounty in them.

My little chap was very pleased with his sack but could not understand why I was shoving his toys into it and asking him to hold it while I took photos. 

His older sister - bunny #2 - was all too eager to stick her favorite toys in and pretend it was Christmas!

So if you feel like making some sacks this year - either to use as stockings like we do - or as just pretty gift sacks please remember my tutorial which you can find here - it seems to still make sense (to little me at least!)

 Santa Sack Tutorial from November 2011

Tutorial: No Sew Hanging Tent for $20

We took our basic $20 hanging tent (tutorial below) and jazzed it up into a Frozen Hanging Tent with another whopping $6!

 What you will need
- 1 hula hoop (mine is 65")  - purchased from the Dollar Tree $1
- 3 packets of Ikea Lill curtains - $12
- Ribbon (not too thin) - two lengths of around 54" - mine are from my recycled ribbon bucket - but lets assume you can find something at the dollar store or JoAnn's bargain bucket $1
- 1 yard of fabric - $6
TOTAL = $20
(In this price I am assuming you have a small amount of some sort of glue in the house at hand.)



Variations on a theme ....  
Any curtain panels with a rod pocket can be used for this project. I really wanted to use some pink & purple sparkly sheer panels I had spied on JCPenny.com. But the budget won out. I think there could be a million ways you could take this tent with different fabrics and different panels. We also used one of our play silks we had dyed with red cabbage and baking soda as the canopy fabric. It was the perfect icy color our tent needed.

1) Fold your two ribbon lengths in half and make a knotted loop in the middle. (I knotted my lengths at 5" from the middle which yeilded an approx 3" loop.) Knot both lengths and put them aside.  NOTE: I used two 54" lengths but if your hula hoop is wider you will probably want to use a longer length. 

2) Open your hula hoop at the join and thread on all your curtains - secure the hula hoop back together again once you have the panels on the hoop.

3) Tie the lengths on ribbon onto the hula hoop. Make sure all the lengths of ribbon are equal in length. You can tie between panels or thread the ribbon through the curtains. Totally up to you - I did both. 

4) Turn your yard of fabric into a square (36"x36") and make a small hole in the center. Thread the knotted ends of ribbon through the center of the fabric. NOTE if your hoola hoop is bigger than mine you might need to use a bigger piece of fabric. 

5) Use dots of glue (glue dots, fabric, glue gun, super glue etc) to secure the canopy to the top of the curtains/hula hoop - creating any folds/draping etc as you go if you wish.

6) Ways to embellish your tent:
 - Glue lengths of ribbon to the outside of the curtains. I used 4 packets of 50 cent ribbon from JoAnn's - ($2) & some blue recycled ribbon from my stash.

 - Add flowers, butterflies, snowflakes etc to 'theme' your tent. I used 4 packets of plastic snowflakes from the Dollar Tree ($4) to make a 'Frozen tent'.

 
- Fairy or other novelty lights - I used some from our Christmas tree box.

We had a full on Frozen reenactment. In case you wondered how Anna really found Elsa's castle - she came on a pink scooter ....

Let it go, let it go .....

Snow is falling everywhere ....

Stay away Anna .....

 

Sisterly love can conquer anything ..... after all we all like warm hugs!

And when the daylight fades - the warm hugs continue.

Two Metallic Threads for Quilting that won't break

I have wanted to quilt with metallic thread for ages - but I've been scared of the potential disaster that could ensue with constantly breaking thread or large rats nests at the back or various other possibilities.

Recently I have discovered two brands of metallic threads that are extremely strong and will not let you down while you quilt.

Yenmet Metallic Thread 

and

Glisten by Fil-Tec.

(I admit that this whole thread choosing business has enabled me to create a new obsession of collecting dreamy thread charts - but the thread charts do enable me to choose/match thread colors very easily and quickly.)

This quilt top was made by Earamichia. I quilted the brown portion of the quilt with Glisten in Tudor Gold. The Glisten thread brings the most gorgeous shimmer to the quilt top - not too much bling though - the golden shimmer is only apparent quite close up. (In the bobbin I used Bottom Line in Ivory.)

 

Ode to Foot Quilt

This is another top made by Earamichia. The top was made as she was recouping from breaking her foot after running a half marathon! Respect enough for the running - but also for a lovely top.

The top is quilted in So Fine #50 in #504 Silver Screen the bobbin was Bottom Line in Silver. (Batting is my favorite Hobbs Heirloom Wool batting.) Quilting the whole top in grey was a big move for me - usually I would change threads however many hundreds of times - but I'm trying to be braver ....

I love the main motif in this quilt. It is a idea I had seen on one of Judi Madson's quilts - I was eager to try it on this quilt.

  

Every color block is in a different design.

This yellow block was my favorite design. An idea from Angela Walter's new Shape by Shape book. 

Tiny Diamonds, shells ... 

... more ideas from Angela ...

... swirls, spirals & flowers ... 

... you can just keep looking at this quilt - there is a new pattern and detail everywhere you look. I do wonder if I should reign in my love of creating different textures and perhaps using less quilting motifs at once - but ........ I think this pattern is so bold and colorful and Earamichia so warm and bubbly - I felt this top and owner could handle it!

Memory Pillow: from Toddler Dresses

You might remember that I was given a beautiful array of toddler dresses from a mom who wanted a pillow made for her bed. A pillow isn't very big. So to make something little that showed the material from all 7 dresses in an interesting way - had me stuck for a bit.

I looked at endless pictures of cushions (I think I would now get top marks in any cushion quiz!) and finally decided to make a simple flower cushion.

Not too much or too little focus on any one material I hope. (If you remember I still need fabric left over for a kids quilt. )

I stuck all the smaller bits of fabric left over from the deconstruction of the dresses to white felt using a strong fusible. I cut out the petals and sewed them in circles - lots of circles!  The petals even show case the lace and other cute details from the dresses.

The vibrant leaves are made from the green velvet collars of one of the red tartan dresses. (I really really try to minimize any waste from any of the clothes I work with.)

Because there were two red tartan dresses I used some of the tartan to make the back. The smocking of one as the center of the back with some spiral paisley free motion patterns around it. 

Almost reversible but I think the front is much prettier.

Memory Pillows: Friendship Pillows

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This is a tale about four sisters who recently left -  

their friends, school & town quite sad and bereft.

Made from cloth that their friends all wrote upon

with bright colored sharpies (they really wrote a ton.)

I took the cloth and quilted each letter, each picture, each word.

It took quite a time - my vision is now blurred!

Four purpley pillows being sent through the mail

carrying the oodles and oodles of love they exhale.