Ghostly upcycled socks

What do you do with a pile of old socks that you were just going to toss into the trash? Well, make ghost decorations for Halloween (of course). You don't have to have any special skills, just a burning desire to be crafty. Tools needed : scissors, marker, a piece of paper, sewing machine (or needle and thread), old socks, scrap of black fabric for eyes and mouth, glue runner.

Step one : gather socks

Step two: cut socks open  - cut down the back to open up the heel.

Step 3: draw a ghost on the sheet of paper and cut it out - this is your template. Lay this template on top of your cut-open sock and trace around it with the marker onto the fabric (you don't have to be real careful). Now cut that out and this is what you should have :

Do this again but lay your template wrong side (flip it over) so that you will have a mirror image ghost to match up with this one. Now just keep doing that until you have as many "pairs" of ghosties as you want. Save your scraps to use as stuffing later - nothing goes to waste!

 

Step 4: Sew -  put a set of ghosties right sides together and sew all around the outside (about a quarter of an inch seam allowance) but leave about two inches open on the long side to flip it right side out.

Step 5: Turn and stuff! put the scraps you saved from earlier and stuff your little friend. Squish it around until it is a pleasing shape. Use your scrap of black material to cut out eyes and a mouth and attach with the glue runner.

 

Step 6: Sew the hole and hang your little ghostie up in his haunt - or string a bunch of ghosties up with fishing line for a major haunting. Muwahaha!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

 

part 2> charming baby quilt

Cutting out the 3.5x3.5  tilted squares from the block baby quilt turned out to be a bit trickier than I had originally planned. The first template I made (out of clear plastic) didn't include an orientation arrow or a number to show which side is correct, so the first 3 squares I cut were wrong - there was no fixing them - I had to cut and sew the top row all over again.

 So, learning from my mistake - I made a clear template that included an orientation arrow and a number so I could tell I had it turned right and oriented right. Much better! (I didn't take a picture of the mistake - sorry).

I had to carefully label each block with the row number and block number. (example row 3, block 1 would be 3-1). There were 11 rows of 9 blocks each so the quilt wall came in handy (a cheap vinyl table cloth tacked to the wall with the backside out). So, I would cut out a few rows and then get tired of that and start sewing the blocks together. Going from cutting to sewing and back really helped break the monotony.

These pictures show how the cut pieces fit together. Look at the orange fabric and you see the top of the pinwheel.

The picture to the left shows the quilt wall during the process. You can start to see the pinwheel pattern coming together.

The picture to the right shows what was left after cutting out the blocks - so much for the idea of creating a cathedral quilt. I will however keep the 2 inch scraps for smaller blocks or applique on other projects. Nothing goes to waste in this quilters room.

Final product! What do you think? Leave me a comment.

Charming Baby Quilt

Baby Quilt  before the cut up;-)

I am making a baby quilt for a coworker who has overcome a year of trying to get pregnant and is now about to have her first little one! I am so excited and happy for her and her hubby. It is nice to have seen the whole romance, marriage and subsequential baby - a very unique story. Anyway, I wanted to make something I haven't ever tried before and this little charm quilt was just the ticket.

The instructions are from "Back to Charm School" by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene - a new book from my crafter's choice book club.

The first part is just making charm squares (5"x5") from 10 different fabrics (8 blocks of each fabric). Then piecing them together in 10 rows of 8 blocks each then add the pink border. This is as far as I have gotten. Next, I get to cut wonky 3.5" squares out of this quilt and carefully keep them in order (99 blocks) and they will get sewn back together in 11 rows of 9 blocks each row. It will make a pinwheel or blocky puzzle piece looking quilt. I will (of course) be posting pictures of the process and of the final product.

Someone asked me what I will do with the rest of the 'cut-up' quilt - I was floored! I hadn't thought about that, but it does seem a waste to discard it. They suggested putting another fabric behind it to make a cathedral quilt. I may do that, or I may applique some owls or large flowers over the holes.

Homemade Trail Mix

A co-worker had a bag of white yogurt covered dried cranberries and asked me to try one.  It rocked my world! But I wanted to do my own version with supplies from my pantry. My first batch just had CRAISINS ( a half a bag that was left from when my daughter and son-in-law lived here) and a half a bag of white chocolate chips. Well, it was a success and I was totally hooked!


A side note : I never liked craisins (dried cranberries) before paring them with the white chocolate.

As you can see in the picture, I also added almonds (with sea salt) in layers in a large jar. Try it, I bet you will like it;-)