It’s February! Lets Decorate!

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Hi Friends! 

Happy February! With Valentine’s Day right around the corner I wanted to share a few simple ways that I like to decorate this time of year. I’ve never been a big Valentine’s Day decorator but with now having 2 little boys, I do enjoy putting out a few things here and there since they do get a kick out of it. So here’s how I keep it simple yet fun enough to make it special! 

A Festive Quilt!  

A few years back I participated in a sew along hosted by Sharron Holland and Maureen Cracknell using the Heartsy Heart block pattern from Allison Harris. I loved how simple the pattern was and I had the perfect Art Gallery fabric bundle just laying around waiting to be sewn up. By no means do you NEED to go sew a special Valentine quilt right now… however I love how a festive quilt instantly brightens up a room and is a practical item to have on hand for snuggles or fort building. IF you are looking for ANOTHER project to add to that WIP list then this is a great one! I loved how easy the pattern was to sew up and it’s a perfect quilt for a confident beginner.

Pattern:  Heartsy Heart  By: Allison Harris at Cluck Cluck Sew 
Fabric:  Ballerina Fusion, Sparkler Fusion By: Art Gallery Fabrics 

A Cute Pillow!

I had a little Sparkler Fusion fabric left over from my quilt so I made one extra block in hopes of making a cute little pillow to go with it at some point…. well 2 years later I finally got to it and it turned out better then I had hoped! I had an idea in my head and I am the type of person to just start going even if I am unsure about some things along the way… I tend to figure it out as I go. Anyways somehow with very little seam ripping (thank goodness) it turned out.

So heres what I did…

Made the initial heart block following the same pattern as the quilt. I then added a 4.5 inch border around the whole block, which allowed it to fit my pillow nice and snug. My pillow size was 18 x18 in. You can easily adjust your border size depending on your pillow size either making it larger or smaller just be sure to take into account the seam allowance.

 Next, I cut a piece of batting slightly larger then my block along with cutting a larger white piece of fabric. I sandwiched them together (batting between the block and the white fabric) and spray basted them together using this to hold it all together.  

I then marked 1 inch lines with a Frixion Pen in a cross hatch design across the white background.

I used a pale pink thread to sew around the outside of the heart and then sewed over the Frixion Pen marks. Once finished I ironed it and the pen lines disappeared! 

Once my quilting was completed I cut chenille-it strips the vertical width of my heart. I cut 12 strips and evenly spaces them over the heart part of the block. I then sewed down the middle and used a toothbrush to fray it. You can also throw it in the wash and it will self fray (However I was impatient) 

 I then decided to  sew up a scrappy pipping for the edge of the pillow. Here is a great tutorial by Hey There Home on how to create a pillow with pipping and good tutorial from The Sewing Loft on how to make a scrap binding.

Finally, I cut a backing piece the same size as my front, installed a zipper and boom I had a pillow. Here is a great tutorial from Suzy Quilts on making a quilted pillow with a zipper you can check out.

Fun Garland

Using scraps from my Ballerina Fusion fabric that I had left over from my quilt I decided to sew up some fun heart garland. It was super easy to make and a great scrap buster project.

Heres how I did it in 6 easy pictures to follow…

Coordinating Slouchy Fabric Baskets

I love switching out our fabric slouchy baskets seasonally throughout my house. It’s such an easy switch that has a big impact. The large size works great for faux plants and the small size is perfect for things like pens and pencils or in this case I added one to my kids play kitchen to hold their utensils. They don’t take up a lot of extra storage so I don’t mind having a handful to switch between through out the year for things. 

I don’t always have the time to make thoughtful handmade items for my own home (my valentines decor has been in the making for a few years now) but I do love the feel of a home with those special handmade touches and they are always the items I am excited to pull out year after year! My hope is that you will be inspired to create something special for your own home that will be made with love.

Happy Sewing!

-Amanda

The Un-Paper Towels

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How To Make Reusable Paper Towels:

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Last week we posted about Mister Domestics Project Party and all the fun makes we got to create here. One of those were reusable paper towels, something that had been on our radar for quite some time. The only thing stopping us were using the little plastic snaps. Now that we actually made them it seems funny since they were SO EASY to do!!! I actually can’t wait to try them out on MORE projects!

Since we loved how ours turned out we wanted to make a little tutorial for you so that you could whip up your own. This is a great beginner sewing project and you can easily sew up a roll in a weekend!

Materials you will need:

-Cotton Fabric (we used scraps) (Dimentions 6.5×11.5in)
-Plastic snaps (4 snaps per towel)
-Plastic snap pliers
-Thread
-Terry Cloth fabric (1yd makes 12)
-Ruler
-Rotary Cutter
-Frixion Pen

Here how to do it:

1. First you will need to cut your cotton fabric and your terry cloth into 6.5×11.5in size rectangles. I suggest using a rotary cutter for both but it is very helpful for the terry cloth since its messy and you can easily make a clean straight line.

Pro tip: Use a lint roller when you are done to clean up the left over fuzzies on your cutting table.

2. Next, sew your cotton and terry fabric rectangles right sides together    using a 1/4in. seam allowance and leaving a 1.5 in. gap on one of the sides so that you can flip the fabric right side out.IMG_4448

3. Turn your fabric right side out and finger press the seams flat. You can use a Purple Thang tool to help you get the corners pointy. 

4. Now press with an iron to ensure flatness and straight edges.

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5. Next, sew a 1/4in. seam around the edges off each rectangle with coordinating thread since you will see it. This will also close your opening where you turned your fabric so make sure it is ironed so that the raw edge is turned under.

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6. You will then need to mark with your Frixion pen a diagonal line going from corner to corner which will form an “X” on each rectangle
Sew over your lines quilting the 2 pieces of fabric together for extra stability. Press with an iron to remove the Friction pen lines when done

lines steps

7.  Next, you need to attach the plastic snaps begin by using the sharp tool that comes in the snap kit to poke holes in each of the corners.

Pro tip: Along your corners will be thicker since the seam allowance is there so punch the holes slightly down from the corners roughly 3/4in. so that you are only punching through 2 layers of fabric not 4. This will make it much easier when you begin to attach your snaps as they can not go through super thick fabric. You can use a ruler to ensure the same measurement on each corner so that the snaps line up evenly

8. You will then follow the directions in your snap kit on how to attach the snaps, alternating each side of the paper towel with the opposite snaps (since they are male and female) in order to allow them to snap together once rolled on the paper towel.

Pro Tip: We lined our snaps up first in two lines so that we could easily grab the ones we needed since they are so little and hard to identify. It saved us time and confusion.

snap steps

9. Finally, attach all your fabric pieces together by snapping them to make a long strip and roll them around a paper towel holder. 

roll up pics

10. Hurray you are done!! Now go enjoy your new un-paper towels!

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Just throw them it the wash once you use one and snap it back onto the roll when clean! SOO EASY!!! 

Enjoy!!! Be sure to tag us at @Catalinahomegrown so we can see all your makes!

♥Jackie and Amanda