When Your Looking for Buttons, Think Out of The Box

Every once in a great while you find a deal that puts a permanent smile on your face all day long...You may be the only one who understands the joy it brings...but it's a great deal all the same.

I found 2 the other day. A pink embroidered linen table cloth for $0.50 and 8 teal buttons for $1.50

The lady at the counter said..."what a pretty sweater!" and I said..."actually, I'm just getting it for the buttons. I plan on cutting them off." You should have seen the look on her face!

8 - 1 inch buttons for $1.50..what a steal!!

But seriously, have you seen the price of buttons lately? If you're looking to stock up on buttons, check out your local thrift store. Preferably when their clothing is on sale.

The tablecloth will be used for our tea parties. 

xo
Krista

Break Free Linen Pillow

I've been busy. So many Christmas gifts to make...and I can't blog about most of them...we don't want to ruin the surprise. Once the holidays are over, I'll share all my little goodies with you.

Until then, I'll share my pillows with you. My ETSY shop is running low and I needed to stock up. So, I made a few of my ever popular Break Free Linen Pillows.

Etsy Listing

Etsy Listing

The pillows are appliqued on and sewn for added stability...the "break free" is done freehand. I also made this little number....She matches my chair I reupholstered earlier this year...and my curtains..I love this fabric. It's such a beautiful linen I've made myself a small change purse and a large slouchy tote....Can't get enough so I thought I'd share some with you....

Etsy Listing

I want to make some more items for my shop. It's so tough, this time of year, balancing projects for my shop and projects for Christmas.

I'm currently working on this Magnetic Scrabble board I found on Pintrest at The Twice Remembered Cottage What an AWESOME idea. She did such a great job and used almost 400 tiles!!! Hopefully I'll have mine finished and ready for a post tomorrow :)

xo
Krista

Reversible Table Runner Tutorial

I wanted to make a table runner for the buffet I had in my living room. I had some home decor weight fabric that would go perfectly, but I only had a piece that was about 42 - 43" wide. My buffet is 52" long. I really wanted the runner to go the whole length of my buffet but, the fabric is about $35/yard so, I figured I'd try to make it work.

Tools:

Fabric A

Fabric B

Fabric C

Stick Pins

Rotory Cutter (optional)

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Matching Thread

Needle

Binding Clips (optional)

Thimble

Cut Fabric A and B to desired width and length PLUS 3/8" seam allowance.

Cut Fabric C in 3" strips. The number of strips will depend on the size of your table runner. To figure the required length you calculate  2xwidth +2xLength + 10 inches.

Sew your 3" strips together with a 3/8" seam allowance. Press seam open.

Press strip in half, lengthwise.

Press one side in 1/4" as shown in picture above.

Pin fabric A and B wrong sides together.

Place the unfolded edge of your 3" strip along the edge of your runner, being very careful to align all three layers together.

Leave 3 to 4" at the beginning as show in picture above.

Sew together using a 3/8" seam allowance.

Stop 3/8" from the corner and back stitch

Flip your strip up at a 45 degree.

Fold your strip back down folding it at the upper edge of your corner as shown in the pictures above.

Continue around the rest of the runner.

Stop 6 to 8" from where you started.

Fold raw edges in so they line up as shown in pictures above.

Cut excess fabric off your strip.

Press folds.

Pin together making sure to line up the pressed folds.

Sew along fold.

Press seam open.

Finish sewing strip to runner.

Fold strip (binding) over to the under side of runner. 

Press in place (except for the corners) and secure with binding clips or stick pins.

Don't worry that the corners aren't perfect. We'll press them again later. 

Hand stitch binding in place with matching thread using a ladder stitch.

Be sure to catch ONLY the under side of the fabric with your needle. 

It should not go all the way through the other side.

Be careful to place stitches so as not to let thread show on the outside.

Continue hand stitching binding all the way around.

When you reach the corners, sew binding all the way to the edge, fold fabric to make corner and continue along the next edge.

This may take some time and patience to get it just right. 

When you are finished, press the entire table runner.

I LOVE the fabric and the way it looks with the black buffet. It ended up being too small for what I had in mind. I think I knew this all along, but I had to give it a shot. 

It's now available in my ETSY shop. The reverse side and binding fabric are linen and the french script is a heavy weight decor blended fabric. I've listed it for cost. I'll be making a new runner...after the holidays.

xo

Krista

Catching up

Well, we have some catching up to do. You see I've been busy these past few years and haven't told you all about it. I'll make it brief and only talk about the things I've pictures for. I do not have tutorials for any of these however, I do plan to offer some in the future. Now, please forgive the pics...they were not originally intended for the world wide web....

 

This is a twin quilt i made for my little sister last spring. It is unbound in the picure...the two blocks i used were a snowball block and a 54 40 or fight block. I wasn't sure about her color choices,.. but I think it turned out nice in the end. I've seen this done with greens and then a red where the blue is...very festive for Christmas time. The last 3 pictures are of the bag I made to "wrap" the quilt in. It's made of a heavy weight linen and the applique is just stitched on with raw edges...

Well, that's all for now...we'll do some more catching up in a few..til then...
xoxo
Krista