Red Sweater Heart Pillow

Remember the little hearts I sewed on my recent travels—upcycled from a sleeve of a cozy old red sweater?

I used two of them for little-girl barrettes with pink button a-la-mode and all but four for my heart-to-heart garland.

Then I looked at the sweater again and decided that the body had to become a BIG red Valentine pillow, like this:

• Fold the sweater in half lengthwise and, starting at the fold, cut a large half-valentine from the front and back. Unfold.
• Pin and stitch strips of the sweater’s hem and sleeve binding across the pillow front for a-la-mode.
• Pin and stitch the pillow front to the pillow back, right sides together, leaving about three inches unsewn.
• Trim the seam, then turn the pillow rightside-out, stuff, and handstitch the opening.

It’s the softest pillow ever! ♥

P.S. The drawing in my office is a print of I’m Into Art by Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton of Wellsville, Kansas.  You can read a biographical sketch of Mrs. Layton’s life and see close-ups of her drawings here.  She’s one AMAZING lady!

Crafty Corner

One thing I LOVE is seeing my blogging friends’ sewing and crafting spaces. Some have whole rooms dedicated to their art, some have one bookshelf or a few pretty boxes, and many (most???) of us spill over onto the dining room table for big projects. When I recently finished a weeks-long high-priority project for work, I couldn’t wait to get reacquainted with the “crafty corner” of my small home office (which also includes jewelry, scarves, and belts, a Mary Azarian print my mom loved, and some of my grandma’s vintage hats) . . . but first I decided to reorganize it so I’ll be ready for all the fun ideas I’ve been collecting. Then, when I snapped a photo of my finished work, I was amazed at how many projects I already saw in this tiny space! So here’s the photo, here’s the list, and now . . . to start playing! ♥

• Click here for pretty tape dispensers.
• Click here for a ribbon dispenser.
• Click here for neat bobbins.
• Click here for “spool kabob” thread storage.
• Click here for penny pattern weights.
• Click here for bin labels and a pattern weight jar.
• Click here for a pink fabric basket.
• Click here for a scissors pocket necklace and shirt-sleeve fabric bins.
• Click here for embroidery floss clothespins, jewelry frames, and notion jars.
• Click here for a zebra-print origami lotus bag
• Click here for a sewing machine cover.
• Click here for a fabric flower storage display.
• Click here for a reversible lace belt.
• Click here for a dinosaur bracelet holder.
• Click here for beautiful ceramic wall hooks.
• Click here for mini-pillow Christmas ornaments (in progress!).

DIY Ironing Board Cover

I have such a fun job (writing books and classroom resources for K-5 students and teachers!) and I’m lucky to have a small but cozy home office to work in. It has a large black desk, a black rolling chair, and black metal shelves filled with my curriculum and reference books. It also has a matching black metal shelf for my fabric and sewing/craft supplies and a very small black desk for my sewing machine. My favorite piece of furniture is a dressing table bench that belonged to my Aunt Vitha. We painted it black and recovered the seat in zebra print, using a bedsheet I found at Target. I also made a black and white alphabet print cover for my sewing machine (from a fun book called Simply Irresistible Bags, but I’ve since seen lots of tutorials on sewing blogs and Pinterest) and black and white floral curtains (basic hemmed sides and bottom and casing on top) for the window.  So, when I needed to leave my ironing board set up for my after-hours sewing projects, its stained, worn, pink and green cover looked badly out of place. This weekend I remedied the problem by making a new cover from the zebra bedsheet! I simply used the old cover for a pattern, leaving a little extra around the edges to stitch a casing for elastic. Oh yes, and the old cover had two velcro straps that fastened under the ironing board to help keep it in place, so I snipped those off to reuse, too. It fits, and I love it! ♥

Sometimes It’s the Little Things . . .

I had a few spare minutes today and decided to tackle some quick-‘n-easy projects with my materials and supplies, so now I have . . .

(1) a clasp on my needle book (braided embroidery floss stitched to the back cover wrapped around a small button on the front cover),

(2) labels on the red fabric bins where I keep my office/sewing/crafting supplies (typed lists taped to scrapbook paper rectangles and clipped to the fronts of the bins), and

(3) a home for my ever-growing collection of PW‘s (pattern weights) . . . the mason jar from my Mother’s Day gift labeled with a Publishers Weekly logo. (I don’t think they’ll mind, do you?) ♥