Thanksgiving Centerpiece

My daughter Lisa put together this fun centerpiece for her Thanksgiving table.  It was made using stuff she already had.  Recycled jars, ribbon, craft paper, punch and candles.  Inexpensive to make and it brought many smiles to her guests as they ate their turkey dinner!

xoxo Karen Lee

Christmas Owl

I decided to make this owl using Christmas fabric.  The hat wasn't part of the pattern, I added that myself.  It was fun to make even though my sewing machine was acting up while I was stitching around the applique pieces.

I purchased this pattern from AngelLea Designs.

xoxo Karen Lee

HOOT-HOOT!!

This was my little project yesterday.  It was my first attempt at making anything stuffed!  I made a few mistakes and it took me hours and hours to make........but, I love it!!
I purchased the pattern for this little cutie from DIY Fluffies

xoxo Karen Lee

Party Table

My granddaughter wanted a goodie table instead of a birthday cake this year.  I hit the dollar store and bought clear plates, bowls, stemmed glassware and glued them together to make pedestal serving pieces.
A very inexpensive project and it made the table look so cute!

The girls loved these pasta sauce jars with their names and ribbon.  Great way to serve up Pirates Booty!

We inserted polka dotted napkins into a clear vase and added silk flowers.  We had the vase and flowers, very inexpensive table decoration.  And it looked so bright and cheery!  We also for color crumbled polka dotted napkins and added them to votive cups to add color to the table.  Another very inexpensive little decoration.

I also found this blinged up picture frame at Marshall's for $5.99, used my Cricut to cut out "15", added a glittered "K" that I bought at Michael's for $1.50.......just how cute and inexpensive is that!!!  The ice cream sundae bowls were purchased at the Dollar Store too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY!!!

xoxo......... Karen Lee

Rag Blanket for A Baby Boy

Hello........I finished up another rag blanket last week.  This one is perfect for a little baby boy.  The back is mint green polka dot and the front is made with different shades of brown and tans.  Its so very soft and cuddly.

 I started making one for my granddaughter Mia this morning.  I've increased the size as Mia is 4 and needs more than a baby sized blanket.  I've only made baby sized so far, this is my first larger sized one.  I'm sure when I start to snip all the seams I will wish it was baby sized!!

My rag blankets are for sale in my Etsy shop.  There is a link to my shop over on my side bar.

XOXO.....Karen

 

I JUST REOPENED MY ETSY SHOP

I reopened my Etsy shop today.  I am selling the baby rag blankets that I have been making.  If you have a minute or two please go take a peek.  These blankets make great baby shower gifts. 

                                   click here to view my shop

XOXO, Karen Lee

BABY RAG QUILT

Happy Saturday!!  I'm so ready to enjoy the next couple of days.  

I finished my second baby rag quilt last week.  I'm having so much fun making these with all the fabric that I have stashed for years!!  I only had to buy the flannel backing fabric.  Very inexpensive project for me so far and I'm making a small dent in my fabric collection!!!  

  The backing is made using the flannel elephant print fabric......so soft!!

If you would like a few instructions on how to make a rag quilt, just click   HERE

 And here is the next fabric all cut up and waiting to become another baby rag quilt!!  

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!!

XOXO ............KAREN LEE

MY FIRST RAG QUILT

Good morning.........I have decided to start sewing again, so I gathered up all my fabric that I had in storage, got my sewing machine tuned up, bought a new pair of very sharp scissors and I am up and sewing again!!!!

I am going to make baby quilts.  I did some research and found that I loved the rag quilts that everyone is making.  For years I made quilts that I would have to send out to be quilted with a long arm machine, well the cost of that is just to much for me to handle now a days.......so a rag quilt is right up my alley!!!

I cut all my fabric Friday night after work and got up Saturday morning and started sewing......by Saturday afternoon I had my first rag quilt completed.  I love being able to finish a project in a day or two!!

Pic's of my little project...............

 I cut the fabric for the front and back at 10 inches and the batting was cut at 
8 1/2 inches.  I found in my research that there are many different opinions on how many inches the batting should be cut.  You can also use flannel as batting and cut it the same size as your front and back fabric.  I think I will use flannel as soon as I have used up all the batting that I have on hand.  From pic's that I have seen I think flannel gives it a great rag look.

Next you need to make a sandwich using your back, front and batting.  Center your batting between your front and back fabric......notice wrong sides together.  Pin it in 4 places, leaving clear space to sew an X across your sandwich.

 I just eyeballed sewing the X across the sandwich.  I am not that anal to  mark the perfect X before sewing.  In the end they weren't perfect but when all the squares are sewn together they looked great.  I wanted this project to be fun, not a pain in the you know what to make!!  Thats just me!  Start and stop sewing your X about a 1/4 inch from the end of your fabric......making sure to backstitch at each end.

 With all your X's sewn across your squares its time to lay out how you want your quilt to look.  I messed with the layout a couple of times and then it was time to pin the rows together.

 I started at the bottom of my laid out squares and pinned the bottom row of 4 squares together going across and worked my way up pinning 4 rows.  So you will have 4 rows of pinned squares going across.  I pinned this on my dining room table, so as to not mess up my rows I only picked up one row at a time to sew it.  I know you can mark your rows with numbers and letters, etc........but as I said I wanted this project to be fun.......so I would take one row to the sewing machine and when sewn together I would bring it back, lay it in place and pick up the next row to be sewn and so on.  Almost forgot......sew your seams at 1/2 inch. 

This is how they look when sewn.......now its time to pin these 4 rows together going up and down.  Start by pinning at the seams, match your seams as best you can, I opened my seams and pinned them, you can do it however you want.  I've  seen them done both ways.  Once you have all your seams sewn together, you need to sew a 1/2 inch seam all around the edges of your quilt. 

Now I have to confess I didn't take a pic of all the rows sewn together and the clipping of the seams.......I forgot!!  I didn't remember until after I had tossed it in the washer......yikes, I opened the washer door and snapped a pic of the clipped seams.  Once you have the quilt sewn all together, you grab your sharpest scissors and snip about 1/4 inch snips all along each seam.  This takes some time to complete, be careful not to clip through your seam.  Once all your seams have been clipped.....toss it into your washer and then dry it in a cool dryer......your seams will fray and become very soft.  Each time it is washed it will fray a little more and become softer and softer.  I did purchase a new pair of scissors for this process, I bought a pair of 6 1/2 inch rag quilting snips at my local quilt store.  You can also get a less expensive pair at JoAnn's, just make sure they have a spring, much less stress on your hands as you snip!!

 All finished........I do like the look of it, but I do think when I start using flannel as a batting I will get a more frayed look.  

 I don't think I mentioned that I did use flannel for the backing.  The front is made using 100% cotton fabrics.

I hope you found this helpful.   I'm ready to now go look through my fabric and start my next project.  I'm using greens this time!! 

XOXO.....Karen

Birthday Candy Gram

My daughter Lisa and my granddaughter Kelly put this Birthday Candy Gram together yesterday for Kelly's girlfriend.  I think it turned out so darned cute!
The only things they had to buy was a nice sturdy poster board from the office supply store and candy from the grocery store.  Everything else we had on hand.

Supplies:  poster board, candy, craft glue, scrap paper, cricut machine, paper cutter.........if you don't have a cricut machine, hand writing your message is great too.

Also before you go shopping decide on what you want your Birthday Candy Gram to say so you know what candy you will need to buy. 


This is a great little project to do with your kidlets. 

                                          

Kelly's girlfriend Deanna loved it, she has it hanging on her bedroom wall!!!

xoxo Karen

xoxo Karen Lee

Wow........its been over 6 months since I've posted anything here on my blog!!  My life has changed so much, I don't craft as much as I did and I sure miss it!!  I must find the time and space to do a few projects.


My grandkidlets are growing and growing.  They are not babies anymore.  Mia is 4 and Dominick is 3.  Here are a few pic's of them having fun this summer!!

XOXO..............Karen Lee