wedding quilt 2

My other idea for a wedding quilt will be given to my older sister at her first anniversary.  She's getting married next june and my idea for her quilt is the following.  Take her favorite wedding photo and get it enlarged or shrunk depending on the original size, get it transferred to some fabric and put it in the middle of the quilt.  around that, take about 4 of her engagement photos and place them at each of the corner surrounding the middle wedding photo.  The rest of the quilt will be some different pattern, but I especially love the idea for the middle.  I think that she'll love it and it will be worth all the time and effort I put into it. 

Wedding Quilt

I have a friend thats getting married and I have chosen to do a rag quilt for a gift.  At first I was going to do a type of pinwheel and then a star pattern, but with only a month till the wedding, I don't have enough time to do anything extremely time consuming.  I was talking to my mom about it and we decided to make the centers of the blocks spell out their names and wedding date and do some other pattern for the rest of the blocks.  I think that it will be a good gift for them as they're going to need their own blankets and this one will be the perfect reminder of their special day!

Glass Blowing

If you've ever been to Silver Dollar City, then you've probably seen the glass blower's place.  I think that it is so amazing the work that they do.  The amount of patience they have is astounding.  I once watched as they made a duck out of liquid glass.  The glass was so hot that it was liquid and they took the liquid and with incredible precision, made a little bitty duck.  They also have places like that in Disney World and the people there make spectacular creations ranging from Cinderella's Castle to Pluto.  With such a wide variety of things that can be created, I just wonder. Where do they learn how to do it?

Pottery

It was in Kindergarden that I discovered that art was not the path for me.  I ruined everything I touched and it seemed like I would never create anything pretty. Now, almost 15 years later I find that I was right.  Especially in Pottery.  The best thing I ever created was a crown for my little 6 year old head.  It looks like crap and it doesn't even look anything like a crown, but to a 6 year old, the sky's the limit. 
I wish I was talented enough to make the vase's that look so beautiful and have such unique shapes, but i'll leave that to the professionals.

Embroidery

While most embroidery is done nowadays with a computer controlled sewing machine, there are still people that take the time to hand embroider.  To the side is a great example of someone doing hand embroidery.  It takes a firm, steady hand and a lot of patience to do something this large, but I think it's worth it. 

 I used to make different quilt blocks and was quite talented, but after summer ended, so did my summer projects.  When I started up again, I had to rip everything out because it just didn't look quite right.  I had lost my touch. As with most gifts, if you don't use them, you'll end up losing them.  I suggest that if you start a project and find that you're really good at it, keep with it and perfect your skills and show them off!

Cross Stitching

There is a wall hanging in my bedroom at home of a cross stitched Precious Moments figurine.  It was made by a relative of mine and I don't know how long it took them to finish it, but I think it is so beautiful.  I know that kits that come with patterns and the cloth do do it can be found anywhere, but taking the time to complete these works of art is priceless.  Cross stitching can be done on any surface to create wall hangings, pillows, blankets, and more.

Beadwork

While it may not be the most sophisticated project, the little beaded lizards are a great rainy day activity to do with the kids.  Simple and cheap, these projects can build in intensity and difficulty depending on the age of the person doing the project.  I took beads and some string to a sorority rush event and girls bonded over these tiny beaded pets.  Pony beads are the best to use with beginners because they're bigger and easier to see and keep track of.  I have seen people do beads as small as seed beads though.  How-to books can be bought at any hobby-lobby or michael's with different projects and what beads to use.

Sarah's Cordless Heating Pads

CORDLESS HEATING PAD
As legend has it, in an old rural Missouri farm house, the cold nights were made warmer with a Corn Sack. During the day, a large pan of shelled corn was warmed under the kitchen wood burning stove. Before be, mom would distribute the corn into sacks, one for each family member. That hot Cornsack warmed the bed feet or anything for quite a while. Every morning, before breakfast, the corn was returned to the pan under the stove to warm for the next evening's use.
My friend Sarah makes these corn sacks and sells them at fairs and it keeps the users warm.  I know that a lot of her friends have used them at home football games during the cold months to keep themselves warm. 

Painting

While not the traditional paper, paint and pretty picture, its the roller, one color and a wall painting.  I am getting ready to paint my apartment and right now I am looking at a wall covered in little white spots from previous holes.  I love painting and doing little home repairs so I guess what better to blog about right now than what I am going to do with my apartment!  Since I am in an apartment, I had to get permission from my landlord to paint and then  get permission for the color.  I got really lucky in the fact that my landlord likes dark colors so I was able to paint a color other than white or ivory.  I think the color is a light brown and is going to look spectacular!
When painting, it is important to get some blue tape and tape whatever you don't want painted.  The last people to paint my apartment didn't care at all what happened and there is paint all over my baseboards.  It looks quite terrible and I spent a whole day using paint thinner to get it off. Its not perfect, but it looks so much better. Tape everything, especially if you aren't sure about it. You can never use too much tape unless you don't put it where it needs to go. Usually it goes around windows, doors, along the ceiling, and baseboards.  The rest of painting is simple, don't get too much paint on your brush because then it will drip, and always use a primer to cover the previous paint. The primer isn't needed if you're using a 2-in-1 primer and color.  Happy Painting!

Knitting

My first experience with knitting was a complete disaster.  My two sisters took to it like bees to honey. Me, I was all thumbs.  I kept dropping stitches and I was the only person they ever knew to get three rows into a project, snag on something and rip every stitch out.  That was a long time ago and since then, I have just stuck to quilting.  I do wish I could learn how to knit and make a scarf or some mittens, but its just not my thing. 

Knitting is actually quite easy to learn and after ten minutes of instruction, most people could learn to knit a simple scarf.  The general items you would need are knitting needles (the long stick looking things), and some yarn.  For scarfs, I love the feel of the yarn you would use for babies because it is so incredibly soft and very warm.  For people that learn it and are successful, more power to you! As for me and my fingers, I'll stick to something like embroidery or quilting. :)

Wood burning

The art of wood burning is a very delicate process.  Just one mess up and the entire project qualifies for a life long trip to the wood stove. :)  I personally have never done this, but I know that it takes a lot of patience to create something like the horse above.  I have family out in Kansas and in the town where they live, there is a restaurant that has each of the ranch logo's burnt into their own piece of wood.  It's quite neat to see all the different farm names on one wall.  Shops like Hobby Lobby and Michaels sell wood burning kits and anyone that has the patience to do it has my respect.

Stained glass, minus the glass

A couple years ago, I was at a camp and we did work with the stained glass paint.  It looks beautiful and is a simple gift idea for anyone.  I made one for a gift exchange in my sorority and used my schools logo as the central idea.  Using liquid lead and various paints and toothpicks, I was able to create a beautiful piece of art that was relatively cheap. 

Any picture can be turned into a stained glass piece by placing it under a piece of glass or plastic and tracing the outlines with liquid lead.  You must let the lead completely dry before filling it in with colors otherwise the lead will get in the area you want to fill with color.  After the lead is dry, color can be added.  a little goes a long way and can be spread with different paint brushes to create different effects. A toothpick can also be used to blend more than one color together.  The finished effect will look very professional and can be hung in a window to create a beautiful stained glass piece.

Wedding

I am the Maid of Honor in my friends upcoming wedding and all her talk of weddings got me to thinking about do it yourself weddings.  I am going to be married in around 2 years ish so I have a lot of time to think about such things.  The things I like most are the table centerpieces and favors.  My friend has a really good idea for favors where instead of buying Hershey's kisses with the premaid stickers on the bottom, using the dots you get for garage sales and writing or printing on them what you wanted them to say.  I also saw rolls of mints that had ribbons tied around them with the bride and grooms name on them. 

Centerpieces are really easy to do. Candles in a vase with pebbles around them is very classy.  I have seen many people that use flower petals with floating tealights.  Basically you fill a vase up with petals and water then put a tealight on top to float.  It looks very nice.

Sorority Letters Shirts

So we've all been around a college campus and seen all the girls in their shirts with the different letters on them depending on what sorority they're in.  Well, I make my own.  I charge $5 for a t-shirt and $10 for a sweatshirt simply because the sweatshirts are harder to work with.  Working with shirts is somewhat difficult, but like any craft, it just takes a little time. 

The first step in making these letters shirts is to get some wonder-under. This is the stuff that makes the letters stick to the shirt.  Take the wonder under and iron it to your fabric, then trace out your letters Backwards!  cut them out and peel the backing off the fabric so you can iron it to your shirt.  Iron it to your shirt or pants or bag and sew around it using a satin stitch (the zigzaggy one). This completes your very first (or maybe second or third) shirt!

It also doesn't have to be a letters shirt, you can make any applique shirt or bag or pants using the same method.  Me, I prefer to make letters shirts for people, but I've also made frogs and footballs using the same method as described above.  Happy sewing!

What is a craft

Craft: an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill.  That's what dictionary.com says a craft is.  This means I have a lot to talk about.  There are so many things out there that are underappreciated so today I will talk about some of the crafts that aren't so well known like a Cobbler, or someone that works on shoes.  They repair boots, shoes and even make shoes.  I haven't personally had any experience with my shoes being worked on, or even working on shoes but back home we have Albert's shoe store.  He's been in business for as long as I can remember and has worked on all the shoes of my family.  He can take a shoe that's falling apart and make it brand new again.  He is a very talented man and has taken what he does and perfected it.  Although he may have questions sometime, that is normal with any craft.  I think it would be fun to get a list of all crafts that people don't practice anymore or very few people practice and try them.  Wouldn't that be fun?!

Another craft that is dying is a piano tuner.  Yes, someone that tunes piano's for a living.  There are several different types of pianos and a piano tuner must know how to tune them all.  Most are tuned the same way, but there are some that require different methods and instruments. 

Both of those are unique, but I would be interested in learning about some really rare occupations or hobbies that people have.  If anyone knows of one, let me know!

Missouri State Fair

Ahh the lights, the smells, the food. Everyone has probably been to at least one fair in their life, if not, you're really missing out.  There's funnel cakes, games, cotton candy, and lots more. 
My favorite part of going to the fair is going to the different "craft" areas.  There really is something for everyone at the fair.  They hold cooking demonstrations, embroidery demonstrations, tractor shows, horse shows, and it's a way for children of all ages to show off their talents with the 4-H and FFA projects.  The projects that make it to the state fair are the best of the best.  They had to get a blue ribbon at the local county fairs which is pretty hard to do.  My first year in 4-H I got a total of 9 blue ribbons, most from my city fair but a couple at the county and one at the state fair. I was pretty proud. 
Next time you visit you're local fair, find one of those proud individuals that entered something in the fair (at the state fair they'll be designated by an "exhibitor" shirt if they're showing an animal otherwise, they'll be the one beaming with pride showing off their work) give them a nice big congrats on all their hard work!

Cabinets

When I first toured what is now my apartment, I first noticed that my kitchen leaves a lot to be desired.  It is small and has no counter space.  I have resorted to putting the ironing board down and using it as an island. Its not very pretty, but hey, I'm not picky yet. 

This video shows a relatively easy project to do to fix the no counter space dilemma. Unfortunately I do not have the requred materials to do this project so I am going to use a sink base from Lowe's. With a little stain and some polyurethane it'll be a great addition to a small kitchen. 

Even home improvement projects can be viewed as crafts which is great for me.  It gives me a chance to be less of a girly-girl and get right in the dust and come out smelling like a wood shop.  

When I was littler, my dad made my mom a kitchen hutch that is gigantic.  I got to help sand down the little railing at the top and I thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Since then, I have developed an appreciation for people that can take a blank piece of wood and turn it into something amazing.   

Cake Decorating



Simple beginners project



One of my favorite shows to watch is probably Cake Boss.  It gives me great ideas for how to decorate cakes and cookies.  I've recently tried to start getting back in to cake decorating as it is a great craft to learn.  It can be used as a cheaper way to do birthday cakes, celebration cakes, or as a great mother-daughter activity in the kitchen. 

The other day, I had a cupcake/cookie decorating party with my sorority.  It got so messy! But I rediscovered my love for cooking and decorating.  It's a great craft to do in big groups or small, as long as you have plenty of towels to clean up afterwards!

I first got in to decorating as a class with 4-H and it made me realize that I could do just about anything if I wanted too.  For anyone that wants to try it, I'd suggest going to Hobby Lobby and getting a couple disposable bags and some tips and couplers (to hold the tips on to the bag), then making a cake and trying it out.  You'd be suprised at how good it can turn out without trying very hard.  With a little luck, you just might find a new way to channel some inner stress or decide that's your new calling in life. 

How I got interested in the crafty side of life

For me, doing crafts has always been a big part of my life.  By nature, I am a quilter.  I have only owned two store-bought blankets in my life, all the rest have been made by my mother, grandma, and me.  Both of the store-bought blankets have fallen apart and the stitching is no longer all there but my quilts that my mom and grandma have made are still going strong. 

The above quilt is one that I made to raffle off for my sorority, Sigma Alpha.  I know that football is a big part of Maryville, MO and with part of the proceeds going to St. Jude's, it was a great project for me. I took the finished top to my grandma's house and she and my mom quilted it themselves, as I was too scared I would mess it up.

Although working with fabric has become quite expensive, it is something that I have in common with my mom and grandma.  Working along side them and talking while we work on a project is a great way to have a strong relationship with the both of them. 

Quilting is just one of the many crafts enjoy doing.  I think that more people should make their own crafts because it is a way for parents to connect with their children, and every craft would have its own story to tell.  For me, each of my four quilts tells its own story and one day, I'll be able to tell those stories to someone which will hopefully inspire them to create their own unique craft.

First post

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