Sewing - large hot pad with a removable washable cover with four different looks

I have been playing with this idea for a while and decided I would give it a try.  A hot pad that has a removable & washable cover.  This way you just wash the cover and with the four different fabrics included in the cover it can span several occasions and appeal to a wider audience.     The pad (13" x 16") is made up of two layers of cotton batting with a metallic insulated layer in between.  I laid two layers of cotton flannel cut to 14" x 17" right sides together and pinned them to the "inside" piece. I stitched all the way around leaving a gap to turn it inside out.  After turning it inside out I removed the pins.  I should have counted them because I missed one and had to undo my edge seam to remove it.  I restitched my gap by hand after removing the pin.  I added a line of stitching all the way around at about 1.25" or so.  It will not need much washing if it is always used with the cover.  The cover is made up of four pieces of cotton fabric pieces with an accent strip - two vertical - 2 horizontal.  Just the way the pieces worked out.  There is a winter scene with mountains and a starry sky, one with fun flowers in white vases, a beautiful batik in browns, yellow and orange flowers and a floral with a dark pink strip.  It should cover most seasons and occasions and certainly should provide some options for anyone who is looking for a certain colour or design.  I cut the pieces 14" x17" and sewed  3/8" seams when I was assembling it.  It makes a double sided tube with two fabrics on the outside and two on the inside.  By turning it inside out it features the other two fabrics.  I just folded the pad in half and lined up the two long edges with the seams in the cover and flattened it out inside.  It is a bit snug so will use 1/4" seams next time.  I used cotton thread as well to make it all cotton.  It is a flexible item that is perfect for your table when you have a large casserole dish or two smaller ones.  Protects your table and looks beautiful all the while.   Therese

Sewing - two table runner for merchandise for our Gramma Link Africa - Chili for a Cause on October 23rd

I worked on projects for our next event with Gramma Link Africa - Chili for a Cause.  A table runner (31.5 x 15") which turned out quite nice.  I have not made many table runners before but I really liked this colour combination and theme.  Christmas with white doves and silvery snowflakes and on the other side coffee!!!  For anyone who has red as a part of their kitchen/dining room will appreciate this table runner.  I added polyester batting and sewed it all around and turned in inside out and finished the outside edge with top stitching.  I used my walking foot and its guide to add some quilting about 3" apart at a 45 degree angle.  

 I made this Christmas table runner first!!  Doves on red on one side and a snowy mountain scene on the other side (30" x 15").  Again, polyester batting which I stitched to the red side before placing them back to back and stitching all the way around.  Once I turned it inside out I top stitched all the way around.  I added more straight lines of quilting between the ones I had put in to secure the batting.  I had not yet taken out my walking foot and it might have been a good idea.  

There is always a learning curve.  

These are both not too thick though they do have some dimension because of the fluffy batting.  

Therese

Cardmaking - Card #3 - inked glossy backgrounds with black embossed stamped images and a die cut frame

 For our last card I always create a quick and easy one!!!  These ones feature the backgrounds I was experimenting with before I came up with the technique for our first card.  It was a fun afternoon of playing with ink, water and alcohol!!!!  So I decided to use them for this set of cards.  I decided to stamp black images onto the backgrounds but wanted to highlight them in some way.  I eventually chose to die cut a long tall rectangle from a piece of white cardstock.  I then embossed them with a texture embossing folder (SU).  With this new element I was able to reasonably position my stamped images where the frame could easily be placed to have the image highlighted in the opening of the frame.  It is a little tricky to stamp with embossing ink on glossy cardstock - can easily slip and make a smudged background that cannot be rescued!!  So I chose to stamp all the images for these cards.  So the assembly was quite straight forward.  We embossed our background with a little dots strip embossing folder, highlighted them with contrasting ink and then adhered them to our card bases.  A bit of embellishment to the frame if we wanted to and adhered them to the front to highlight the stamped images!!  Quick and easy!!!  Therese

Cardmaking - Card #2 - fun backgrounds, layered cardstock and watercoloured and embossed images

 For our second card we added ribbon/seam binding to our scrapbook or collaged backgrounds using double sided tape.  Again, we tied the piece to trimmed off to the front using a single knot to simulate a bow before adding these to our card bases.  

The embossed images were ready to go - the black and white (laser printed) ones were watercoloured to coordinate with the backgrounds.  They were then embellished with paper piercing (pattern tracing wheel), and or distressed on the edges.  Their backgrounds were created by placing coordinating cardstock strips next to each other, taped on the back and then trimmed to size for each image.  We embossed our backgrounds and embellished with the pattern tracing wheel and/or the distress tool.  We adhered our images to their layers and then added 3D foam tape to the back and positioned them over the ribbon/seambinding on the front of our cards.  Lots of variations and colour combinations for this set of cards.   Therese

Cupcake - Cre8tive Hands, little flower (my doodle), fall wreath (Beccy's Place), flower wreath (Melonheadz Ilustration), embossed cup with a flower (Cuttlebug).  

Cardmaking - Card #1 - Distress ink background on glossy embossed and highlight with ribbon and black accents

 

It was so nice to see my cardmaking friends again!!!  This was the first card we made.  Glossy cardstock which has been dipped into puddles of Distress ink and water.  We dabbed the ink pads on plastic (packaging) and then spritz it with water one colour at a time cleaning our plastics in between.  It was a fun process of adding colour here and there, drying, and adding a different colour until we were happy with our creations.  Next, we embossed the colourful glossy background and applied a different colour of ink sparingly to highlight the embossed areas.  So fun!!  That was followed by choosing one of our first colours and dyeing our seam binding to coordinate.  Just dabbed the ink on our clean plastics, spritzed water and then placed our seam binding into the puddle and moved it around with a bamboo stick until it was completely dyed.  We carefully dried it with the heat gun.  After auditioning our accents we added a length of seam binding to our background using double sided tape on the back.  We tied the piece we trimmed off to the front using a single knot to simulate a bow.  

The embellishments were all die cut from black because I could not predict what colours each person would use when creating their backgrounds.  We slipped these under our ribbon and added dots of glue OR 3D foam tape depending on how delicate the embellishments were.  All the die cuts are from Tim Holtz.  

It is so great to be creating with others and we always learn from each other and each person follows their muse when they are creating.  It really is so wonderful how one kit with all the same supplies can be used to create such a diverse and interesting cards!!  Therese