Follow My Quilt Part 1

Off topic but I wanted to do a quilting tutorial--


No joke at all when I say I have been thinking about this quilt for over a year.  It's been the longest sewing debate so far, but I LOVE this fabric and spent enough on it I wanted to be sure I'd L-O-V-E the final product.  


I started cutting today.  


I have had many ideas of what to do with this fabric, at first I was thinking modern and "wonky" but the fabric is so geometrical I felt like the idea would conflict itself.  Then I thought simple squares--I just did 4 of those--I needed something new and fun...back to the drawing board--then school started and it sat in the back burner for a while.  I decided to do zig-zag or chevron of some sort, but it seemed too "easy"...  Not that I wanted it to be hard or difficult I just wanted it to look hard but have a different dimension to it.


I found this: Easy herringbone tutorial

So I started drawing and this is what I came up with...

Yes my child helped me with this.  

My husband: "why do you waste your time drawing?"
**Skip this part if you don't want your head to hurt**
There is a lot of figuring to do.  What I decided was to make each finished strip 2" wide and 9" long.  So each has to be cut 2 1/2" and 9 1/2" to allow for my 1/4" seam allowance.  Each piece will be cut at a 60 degree angle (usually they are 45 in zig zag or chevron--I wanted something different).  So, if I cut the strips at 9 1/2" long at the angle they will be 8 1/2" long, so I have to allow for that in my finished quilt size figuring.  I picked 2 1/2" for my width for several reasons, 1 because I wanted the rows not to be too wide or too thin and it would get the best use of fabric (see below).  


So I get out my iron and ironing assistant "Mary Ellen's Best Press" and start ironing my 22 fat quarters and 5 1/2 yards of cream.
(See my fabric choices here)

It's time to start cutting.  So I first square up my fat quarters by lining my salvage up with a straight line on my mat (white edge on left is salvage).  Some of my fabrics are hard to do this with, like the one pictured, because I want my lines straight so I need to square these right so they are cut straight, some of my fabrics it doesn't matter if they are perfectly straight.  

So I cut each of the 3 sides (not the salvage, you'll see why in a minute) so they are straight.  

Now I will cut strips of my fabric the same way as my salvage--this is because the stretch of the fabric runs against the salvage so when my pieces are cut the stretch will be with the 2 1/2" sides this way I'll have less stretch to deal with.  So I'll cut 8-2 1/2" strips and then later will sew them together so I will have one long piece of each color. PS: If you don't have a rotary cutter--get one... 

This is why I did not trim the salvages--It is in my 1" of waste after I cut my strips.  

Repeat until all strips are cut.  

Now I just need to cut the cream (under the strips).  I'll need more than the colors--I have 21 colors and 8 strips of each.  Each strip is about 17 1/2" long so:
17.5x8=140" for each color stripe, I have 21 colors so 
140x21=2940" total.  YUCK!  
Now if I divide 2940 by 43 (width of my cream) that tells me I need to cut a total of 69 2 1/2" strips.  
That's 172.5" of strips or 14.375 feet or 4.8 yards.  So I have enough cream, some left over for mistakes and possibly a border...if needed.  


After I cut the cream I will sew each of the strips together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Including the cream.  I'll press these with the seams going one way then I will start cutting the 60 degree pieces.  I will tell you more about that in the next post--it will get confusing!

Daddy's Love Cloth Diapers Too! Daddy Guest Blog

From A Daddy’s Perspective: Cloth or Plastic, Sir?

Justin “The J Man” Holton

The changing of diapers is something that most parents share a strong dislike for.  Paraphrasing St. Augustine’s “Love the sinner - hate the sin” - we love the child and hate the poop.   So it only seems right that the quickest way to dispose of the refuse is the plastic receptacles that in a few years will have every parent doing the potty dance in jubilation.  

For the first few months of my son’s life, I always answered plastic with excitement (especially since plastic meant free – entrance into our baby shower was a pack of those poop holders!).  But then, my wife brought me the idea of cloth diapering….

 

WHOA!  STOP! HOLD THE PHONE!

Horrific ideas started entering my psyche like:

“You want to wash poop filled diapers with my clothes?  I can see it now – ‘Hello Fellas at Work…these aren’t decorative designs on my jeans I paid $100 bucks for – no, they are refuse stains out of my kid’s butt!”    

OR

“Cloth diapering – doesn’t that mean it’s just a glorified burp rag with safety pins? I can see the drips of blood from my fingers on your pristine white changing pad now…”

OR

“What is everyone else going to think?  Maybe we’re weirdos!?”

Yeah, that’s it “weirdos!” – like the Bald Eagle from the Muppets used to say…

That’s where I was mentally with this suggestion - which brought me to the immediate conclusion of “No!”  After a little explanation from my wife, I started warming to it after I realized no poop will be swirling with my jeans, and I won’t be donating blood against my will…but I still leaned toward plastic.  

Then, my fellow fathers, she pulled out the big guns that bring down any man anywhere. How much will it COST????

Easily a box of diapers can run $30 - $40 WITH COUPONS from your favorite store of choice.  Okay…now we’re talking…she hits me with an initial investment of around $300 with a $20 - $40 freshening up “the collection” every once in a while. Interpretation: Every time my wife sees an adorable cover she can’t resist!

So do some math with me and for easy numbers we’ll say the child doesn’t potty train until age 3 (God forbid!).  Most experts will say that diapering a child over a year will cost between $1,000 to $1,500.  We are up to $1500 a year times 3 = roughly $4500 or more for the duration of your child’s diaper wearing career. 

Cloth diapering is $300 per kid with maybe $100 a year for “refreshing the collection”.  So per child I’ve basically saved you the part time income you would need to buy the diapers and supplies.  PLUS, ladies and gentlemen, you can resell the diapers after Johnny or Susie literally runs out of them toward the potty. 

And let’s talk about nature for a minute…if you get two of each the price goes down by reusing them.  But like almost any father our there, if we get a combo I’m okay with another $400 – don’t want my Little Princess in Superman covers or my Boy Adventure donning Pretty in Pink either! 

Did I just see light bulbs pop up over Daddy heads everywhere?  Yep - I think my fellow fathers are starting to see the light.  See, ladies, you just have to put it on our level.  No poopy jeans, most covers use Velcro instead of pins, and your kid gets themed underwear way before they wear the real thing.  Throw in the money and we’re caught! Hook, line, and sinker! 

I’m so hooked now I was at the grocery store the other day and the bag boy looked at me and asked “Paper or plastic, sir?”  I answered back, “Cloth.”  This was received by a puzzled look from the bag boy, but in the back of my mind it made me chuckle.  Yep, I’m a cloth diapering daddy and proud of it! 

Something easy to make...

In a few weeks we are going to Indiana to see my husband's Mom.  I think these are on my TODO list yesterday!  I always hate watching my kids' heads bobble while they doze in the car, these seem awesome!  

Original post from pinterest visit here and check out their other posts

Countdown to Disney: SeatBelt Pillows for the Trek

April 21, 2012 by Jenn  
Filed under Blog, Disney Social Media Moms

64 Comments

Our total stay at Disney will include the three days of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, Thurs – Saturday, and three-ish additional days, Sunday – Tuesday morning experiencing the magic on our own.  Having chosen to extend our stay, we have to shorten our travel time.  Add this to the “It costs HOW MUCH to fly five people to Florida?!” factor and you have a family of five with three kids six and under driving to Walt Disney World Resorts …from Kansas….in less than two days.

The first and largest piece of our trip will be driven overnight (by she who drew the short straw) and in an attempt to keep my kids as comfortable and therefor asleep as long as possible …. I decide to deck out their car seats with these seatbelt pillows.

I’ve seen such things around the inter webz….stores specializing in kid gadgets sell all kinds of versions of these…usually around $25-$30.  Hmmm…. 3 kids x $25 …. we are starting to defeat the purpose of not flying.  I figured I could make them myself.  I toiled.  I stressed.  I analyzed.  Then I came up with the simplest pillows that the SuperKids have fallen in LOVE with…

These pillows came out at under $5 each!  MUCH more reasonable!  A little brainstorming and I was on my way.

The pillows are roughly 4″ wide and 25″ long.  I stuffed the inserts with shredded foam and then made fleece covers with velcro tabs that wrap around the seat belt without interfering with the safety of the belt. There are no sharp pieces and the pillows don’t come between the kids and the seat belt.

I chose to make inserts because, well…. my kids are droolers….. and SuperBaby still pees UP sometimes when he sleeps.  I wanted to be able to take the covers off and wash them.

I used a standard Queen sized pillow case cut into fourths, lengthwise to 24″ long x 6″ wide.  (I left half in tact in this picture because I’m making a larger one for SuperDad and I to use also!)

**I use a self healing cutting mat and rotary cutter to cut … um… everything.  It makes my life much easier.  It’s easier on my hands and guaranteed to be straighter than any other attempt I might make.**

When I had the sides sewed up I filled them with the shredded foam through one open end.  This may have been the most difficult part of the whole thing.  That foam wanted to go everywhere.  I ended up making a funnel of sorts out of a cardboard box that was headed to the recycling bin.  This worked MUCH-ish better.

When filling them with foam you have to compact the foam to get a nice firmness.  Pushing the foam down with the spoon is helpful.

*Side note:  While I was making these the kids kept bugging me, “What are you making? Is it for me?”.  I may have told them I was making “whacking sticks”….. While I was stuffing them I grabbed one end of the insert and started swinging the pillow like a billy club to get the foam to settle.  I turned around and SuperBoy was standing behind me with a look of horror on his face:  ”I thought you were KIDDING!”    Oops.

When the pillow is full you will need to slip stitch the end closed.  This makes a nice finished end. (Here is a great video tutorial on how to sew a slip stitch.)

Next, cut your fabric.  I cut my pieces 26 ½” long x 6″ wide.

*Another side note:  When I took these pictures I was getting VERY frustrated because I kept missing the focus.  I took about a million pictures trying to figure out what was wrong.  It occurred to me MUCH later that I was photographing FLEECE and the damn stuff looks out of focus because of how its made.

Next, cut 4 – 6″ x 6″ pieces of felt for the tabs.  Fold these in half  lengthwise with the right sides together and sew up the short ends.  Flip it right side out. These tabs will hold the pillow to the car seat.

Lay your long pieces of felt out with their right sides together.  place your tabs between the two layers with the raw edges matching up.  When you are spacing the tabs remember that you need space at both the top and the bottom of the pillow for it to fit freely in the car seat.  Place your tabs closer to the center of the pillow.

When you pin it all together it will be very thick where the tabs are, this is okay…just sew slowly to make sure you get everything sewn together neatly.

Be sure to leave 1 ½ – 2″ at the top of your slipcover un-sewn.  These “flaps” will tuck in/over after you place the insert inside.

Sew the fleece up, I used 1/2″ seam allowance and then trimmed it down after the seams were sewn.

Turn it right side out and add your velcro.  I used no-catch velcro so it wouldn’t stick to everything.  You will also need to use the kind you sew on, not the stick on kind because sewing through the layers of the tabs will give them more strength.

Place the insert inside your cover, fold the top flaps in on each other and tuck them inside and you are done!  The tabs will wrap around the seatbelt and velcro together like this:

I’m not a huge fashion designer, and this is the first thing I’ve sewn in over 15 years… so it is a no frills kind of project.  But you know what?  The SuperKids are THRILLED with theirwhacking sticks pillows!

The true test will be next week when we head out on the open road…. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Home Depot Commercial Hanging Flower Garden

Vertical Garden Build

 [ Edited ]

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03-04-2012 04:17 PM 

Hi everyone! We recently were given a project to construct a vertical garden. Our goal was to create a display piece that could be secured to a wall or set on display at ground level. Below is a walkthrough of our build process. Enjoy  !

Vertical Garden

                Size of 37” X 24 ½”

Materials:

1”x4” white wood or pressure treated wood for outside frame

                2@ 24 ¼” length

                2@ 37” length

1”x6” white wood or pressure treated wood for main box

                2@ 32” length

                3@ 15" length

1”x2” whitewood

                2@ 32” length

                1@ 20 ¾” length

                1@ 15” length

¼” plywood sheeting

                1@ 19 ½”  x 32”

1”x4” whitewood

                4@ 12” length

1.       Layout your materials as if they were a kit. This makes assembly much faster and organized.

Bed Assembly

2.       Take the 2 lengths of 32” wood and measure down from the top by 14” and up from the bottom by 3 ½” and place a mark at each location.   Now with the three 15” boards place one at the very top one at the 14” mark and one at the 3 ½” mark, these will form the body and compartments of the soil bed.  With the exception of the board at the 14” mark secure these in place with 1 ½” exterior wood screws.

3.       Take the piece of 19 ½”  x 32” plywood and secure it to the soil bed frame with wood screws. This will form the back of the vertical garden.

4.       With the frame of the bed assembled let’s address the holes for the watering inlets.  For our purposes our drip irrigation system will be using ¾” PVC pipe, one routed to each compartment. Use a 1” spade bit to drill a hole in the top of the frame. This hole should be just off center.

5.       Now take the middle support we didn’t screw in previously and slide it up and flush with the top board.

6.       Using a clamp to hold the board in place drill the hole for the lower compartment. Clamping the boards together insures that the holes line up perfectly for the PVC to pass through.

7.       Remove the clamps and move the center support back down to the 14” mark (made in step 2) and fasten it into place as you did the top and bottom.

Hanging

8.       Create a French cleat by cutting one of the 1”x4” boards lengthwise at a 45 degree angle. The bottom half will be the “hook” that you secure to the wall.

9.       Screw the top half of the cleat into the back of the plywood with the cut facing downwards so it will fit into the hook. Make it doubly secure by drilling it through the plywood and into a second 1”x4” board placed on the inside of the garden box.

10.   To brace the bottom of the garden box while hanging, secure the two remaining 1”x4” boards by placing one on the outside and at the bottom of the box, below the French cleat. Secure it by screwing it into the fourth 1”x4”, which should be placed on the inside of the garden box.

Frame

11.   The 32” long 1”x2” are drilled into place along the top edge of the soil bed to give us extra surface area to support the face frame without adding a lot of weight.

12.   Repeat this with the 20 ¾” long 1”x2” along the top and the 15” long 1”x2” along the bottom.

13.   Before attaching the facing frame we need to line the bed with a moisture barrier. This is to prevent wood rot and warping from the moist soil over time. In this case we’ll be using 2mil plastic sheeting pond liner is also and excellent option.

14.   Line the top compartment with enough slack in the bed to allow soil to spread without ripping and staple the over spill along to compartment edge. Once the staples are in place cut the excess away carefully with a razor knife. Repeat for lower compartment.

NOTE: At this point you have the option of drilling weep holes into the bottom of the soil bed to let excess moisture run out. Be aware that if you do this to place weed block over top the plastic liner in this area to prevent soil escape.

15.   We can now attach the facing frame, just be sure to align your screws so that they embed into the 1”x2” supports we put in place back in steps 8 and 9. If you plan on painting the facing frame remove it at this point, paint it and allow it to dry.

16.   Now with the bed and frame completed we can measure for the inset lattice. Take measurements from the inner edge of the facing frame (ignore the lip of the soil bed) to inner edge. You will want the take measurements for width from both the top and bottom edges and likewise for the height from the left and right edges. This assures you the best possible fit and finish for the lattice.

17.   Just as we did for the facing frame attach the lattice work to the inner lip of the vertical garden using 1” wood screws. Detach, paint as desired.

Irrigation

18.   Before we add soil we need to add our irrigation. We used a simple PVC drip irrigation set up.

19.   Make “X” shaped incisions in the plastic liner at the 1” holes we drilled into the soil bed in step 4.

20.   Take the piece of 8” long PVC and push through the hole without the pass through into the second compartment. When it’s about half way in attach the PVC cap to the end within the box. Glue the 1 ¼” - ¾” reducing bushing to the opposite end (this will be the water inlet). Use a small drill bit to place drip holes along the length of PVC, rotating slightly after each one. Make sure to get a hole as close to the bottom as possible to prevent standing water in the line.

21.   Repeat the process for the 19” long PVC line that runs into the second compartment. Only drill the drip holes into the second compartment section of pipe, leaving the rest solid.

Note: It’s not a bad idea to color code or label the water inlets so you’ll remember which is top and which is bottom 

Planting

22.   Fill both the upper and lower compartments with soil. You want them to be pretty full so once you reach the top lip (where the lattice attaches) shake the box to help the soil settle and add more as needed.

23.   With the bed full, place a layer of weed block tightly across the top, and staple into place.

24.   Reattach the lattice.

25.   Wait 2-3 weeks before standing up your garden to let the soil settle and the plants take root.

26.   Hang your vertical garden with the French cleat, or stand it up on its base.

27.   Marvel at your handy work and check for any last minute fixes like soil shift and repair as needed.

We hope you've enjoyed this walk through and as always if you have any questions feel free to sound ask.

Cheers,

ChrisFixit

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