Stash Bee Hive #7--January Tutorial--Hunter's Star

Hello, Hive #7!
I'm excited to get to know you guys this year.  You had a quick overview of me in my intro here a couple of months ago.  You can also read my About Me page on my blog if you still want to know more.  I've spent the last couple of months preparing for and taking my teacher licensure tests--in fact, my last three are tomorrow (Jan 2.)

Sarah's Primary Bee Block--the Pennsylvania

Of course, my child is the one who doesn't want to select from the list provided =)

Tipsy Tutorials--Random Bamboo

My Samantha re-named this tutorial as I was finalizing the posts, and I liked it, so I'm going with it ... (drum roll please) ... Random Bamboo!

Tipsy Tutorials: I Can Re-position Wonder Under!

So, first of all, I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by for my day of the Holiday Lane Pillow Hop.  I had so much fun and am still enjoying the comments that keep coming!  I will answer every one, but it will take a little while.  I can't imagine those bloggers who get hundreds of comments on posts--they must be much more full-time on the computer than I am.  I did end up buying a new backing for the wall hanging when I was at the quilt store in town on another matter :)

Another bigger project that I took on a couple of months ago was an advent calendar.  I love Christmas Countdowns, and have wanted a nice one for a couple of years that is more versatile--to put love notes in, activity suggestions, service projects, candies, or whatever strikes my fancy for the year.  I have some really cute smaller ones that simply count the days, but I. want. something. more.  (No snickers from the peanut gallery :)

Sooo, back in September I printed out the directions and bought the fabric.  Here is the original tutorial and picture:

Picture via Sew, Mama, Sew! and Elizabeth at O, Fransson!

After some shopping around, I settled on fabrics from the Blitzen line by Basic Grey for Moda.  I was doing great until it came to sewing on the numbers for the pockets ... or rather I didn't even get quite that far.

I'm so used to the quarter-inch mantra I've learned this year that I didn't double check the instructions before I started ironing things and, well, I ironed all the numbers too close to the edge to properly sew the pockets together.  Of course, I didn't even realize this until I was on #23--really!  See the nice small space between each of the numbers and the seams above--mine would not have that.  So, as is typical of me, I set the project aside and buried it so I didn't have to look at the frustrating failure until I decided what to do.  (I don't have enough of my chosen solids to just make whole new pockets.)

Working on my Holiday Lane Pillow put the advent calendar back in the forefront of my mind.  I started thinking and thinking ... well, you don't need all the crazy details, but I did come up with one idea.  I decided to see if I could re-position the numbers.  Not terribly original, but hey, I've never appliqued before and never used wonder under either.  That stuff seems like it sticks pretty hard and fast.

So, the other day, I started peeling.  For the most part the numbers come off not too bad.  Of course #1 peeled right off, no problems--no fraying, no glue left behind--just a nice clean pocket and perfectly shaped number.  I could still feel the sheen of the adhesive on the back, so I thought, "Still in business ..."

I fired up my iron ... well heated it up, anyway ...

re-positioned it to the proper 1/2-inch from the edges ...

and pressed good and well.

Voila, it stuck again!  Success!!

Who knew?  I certainly couldn't find any tips like that in my searches, so I share it with you now :)  I probably wouldn't do this if I wasn't already planning to machine stitch around the edges, but for this project I think it will work out OK.

A couple of tips I figured out:

* Try to use the pads of your fingers to help peel off the old placement.  Using the tips of my fingers/fingernails tended to fray the edges a bit.  If it ends up bothering me too much, I'll just re-cut-out a few of the numbers rather that re-doing everything.  I can live with that :) 

* On some of the numbers, a little glue was left behind.  I found that lightly scraping with my fingernail or the side of my bone folder distorted the fabric locally, so I stopped that right quick.  I ended up just leaving it and ironing over it.  That seemed to take care of it.  There wasn't really a residue left on my iron, either, so that made me happy.  I'll probably clean the plate of my iron when I'm done with all the pockets just to make sure no gummy residue is left to transfer to other projects.

* Go slowly!  You don't want to stretch your pieces out of shape or leave behind too much adhesive.  It might have taken me seconds to make the mistake, but as with anything, a real fix will take a bit of time.  I put on some Christmas music and reminded myself that it's not a race :)  There is no deadline, so if I don't have it ready for advent season this year, its OK.

Please feel free to add your own Wonder Under tips/stories to my own :)  You know that misery loves company.  I don't feel so new when I know other more experienced souls have had similar blunders learning experiences.

Tipsy Tutorials: Quilt-in-a-Week

Original Pinspiration (just scroll down a little):

http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/category/sewing/

It would probably be more accurate to say "blanket" but it is quilted :)  I am definitely a novice quilter.  For me, quilting is a definite step up from sewing clothes and other crafty projects.  I learned how to sew a straight line a very long time ago, but piecing quilts was something that seemed just a little out of my reach.  Matching seams and figuring out the math were beyond my comprehension.  Now I think it was just that I had a mental block because I didn't know anyone who could show me the ropes.  As I was thinking about the kinds of projects I look for when trying something new, I stumbled across this idea.  Why not show how *easy* quilting can be and make a small blanket in a week?!

Tipsy Tutorials: Bobblicious Hat Re-make

One of my friends pinned this hat (http://allicrafts.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-pattern-bobblicious-baby-hat.html ) couple of weeks ago and it caught my interest.  I have another  friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago and is in the middle of chemotherapy. We were talking one day and she said the hardest thing for her was that her head was always cold.  Now we don’t have frigid winters here in the Willamette Valley, but one thing I CAN do is make some very cute hats.  She likes the simple skull-cap styles because they cover more, stretch as needed and don’t hurt her head when she sleeps in them.  So many things I never thought about; I’m glad she shared with me.  I know it can't be easy.

Sooo, I’ve been on the hunt for cute caps I can throw together for her.  I think this is a fun hat, but the original pattern was for a baby hat.  So I went to work.  It took a couple of nights to work out the pattern, but here it is.  I tweaked the original a lot because I couldn’t follow her instructions and get the desired result.  (If you have any problems/questions with my  instructions, please ask so I can make corrections.)  When I made the second one to verify that the pattern really said what I wanted it to, it only took me one evening to throw the main cap together. 

Tipsy Tutorials: Heart Table Topper

Here is a little project that I threw together from one Moda charm pack.  I've seen several projects from other crafty designers that are so cute, but none of the shops here in town do charm packs.  I went out on a limb and ordered 2 charm packs and one jelly roll from CrazyQuiltGirl Fabric Shop.  Charm packs are basically a stack of about 42 pre-cut 5-inch squares. The jelly roll is strips of fabrics rolled up together.

S.W.A.K.--What a way to end a week!

I've been thinking about a way to get into a schedule that includes regular blogging.  I look around at a lot of the blogs that I enjoy browsing and they have all these catchy names like Wacky Wednesday or Make-it Monday or Fabulous Friday.  While all this is cute, and fun I don't want to duplicate what someone else has already done.  On the other side of things, I don't want to back myself into a corner where I feel like  I just have one more thing I have to do.