Month: June 2012

I wanted to make some brightly colored throw pillows for the sofa and loveseat at our camp, so I tried cutting up and dyeing an old quilt (not like a valuable, antique quilt. Just a store-bought quilt we used to have in our guest room 10 years ago). The front of the quilt looked like this:

But the back was just plain white. (I thought maybe I’d like how the patterned side looked when over-dyed, but the dark blue turned a funny color and it just didn’t look good. But I bet on a quilt that was all light colors to start with, that would look really pretty). I used the dye from Dharma Trading that I bought  along time ago when I tried dyeing linen napkins. Similar to that experience, I had mixed results. But I think my problem was I was trying to cut corners and get more out of the dye than I really good. So for the pillow covers, I mixed up some red (actually more like pink), yellow, green and blue dye (in large, plastic buckets that used to hold cat litter. We have three cats. We go through a lot of litter). The pieces I put in first and followed all the instructions to the letter did indeed turn out nice and bright. But then I thought I could take those out of the dye and keep using it for other bits and pieces, but that didn’t seem to work as well, I think because the original instructions call for adding various fixers and stuff at different points. So while many of those pieces looked great at first, once they had been rinsed, washed and dried, they had faded considerably.

But I still have a nice stack of pastel pieces… no idea what I will use them for, but I’ll think of something. In the meantime, I think I need an orange pillow as well…Speaking of orange, here’s my kitty, Tangerine, checking out my work:

I’ve been wanting to try the bow clutch tutorial at Elm Street Life for a while now, so I decided they’d make great gifts for my son’s two teachers. I followed the tutorial exactly for the red version, even using the same kind of fabric (linen). I wasn’t quite happy with how I ended up with visible stitching on the lining near the zipper however (though that is really my fault for using red thread and a gray lining, and not thinking about the thread color). So for the yellow version (which uses some of the great Merimekko fabric I got last year), I used the zipper instructions from this tutorial at Flossie Teacakes instead.

While I do think that method results in a neater final product, I found it very tricky to figure out where to sew when the zipper was enclosed in the “sandwich” between the lining and outer fabric. I wish there was an easier way!

We tucked a book store gift card into each clutch, and Parker made cards for his teachers. He gave the gifts to his teachers this morning (the last day of school!), and brought home two thank you notes! So it appears they were a hit!

For my latest craft story for AP, I came up with three ways to turn recycled jars or bottles into vases, candle holders and other containers, perfect for a little something extra to include with teacher’s gifts, wedding presents or Father’s Day gifts. Our new summer cabin is surrounded by pine and birch trees, and I’ve been collecting some of the birch bark from fallen limbs. This story was the final push I needed to do something with some of those bits and pieces!

The felt covers look tricky, but they are super easy since I did not cover the bottom of the cans. So the covers are basically long tubes that fold down into the can to make a lining. (You can read detailed instructions in my article here)

And finally, I used chalkboard spray paint to decorate these glass bottles and jars.