Scrap Door Snake

More uses for my great-aunt’s quilt scraps!

My garage door is off the kitchen. It has a large gaping crack that allows a cold draft to freeze my feet in the winter! Of course, the home store has better, more permanent solutions, but this was a chance to use up some vintage scraps!

To make

Measure the width of your door and add 5 inches. This is the length of your tube.

Fabric:

• Tube front: Sew your scraps together and cut  to measure 2 1/2 ” x your door length. I serged all my seams for durability. If you don’t have an Overlock Machine, you could top stitch each seam to insure the seams don’t separate with time. Make sure to iron each seam flat before cutting.
• Tube back: 2 1/2″ x your door length

Sew right sides together of scrap front to back fabric on 3 sides, leaving one  small end of the tube open. Use 1/4″ seam allowance. Again, I serged the seams for durability. I’d hate to have beans leaking out through a ripped seam! Turn right-side out and iron side seams.

Stuff: My daughter had fun stuffing the tube with pinto beans.You could use rice too.

Whip stitch the end closed and stop that draft! Quick and easy!

Finished circumference is 4″.

Quilted Advent Calendar

Inspiration

One of my favorite bloggers is Oh, Fransson! Everything she makes is lovely and inspiring. She shared a tutorial for an advent calendar that is styled after a small quilt with 24 pockets for hiding goodies. I couldn’t get it out of my head after reading the post. The tutorial is fabulous. The quilt involves piecing, applique, binding and quilting…everything that goes into a big quilt, just smaller. It is a good way to practice all those techniques! I have never stipple quilted before, and it was a challenge. Mistakes were made, and hours were wasted, but I love the result.

This year, my kids anticipated the birthday celebrations of Jesus every morning after breakfast searching for the day’s date and digging in the pocket for candy.  It was a new tradition for us and a keeper.

“She won’t take it off!”

Those are great words to hear when you make a skirt for a friend! My daughter’s friend had a special-turn- 5- year-old-birthday- party, and since she always made comments about the clothes I made for Eleanor, I knew she’d love something hand-made. And, she did! I heard her mother had to sneak it out of her room at night to wash it. I hope it held up!

Vintage Scraps

The scraps are from my great-aunt’s fabric stash of pre-cut quilt pieces. I just inherited the vintage pile from my mother. Its been fun finding projects that I can use the tiny pieces in because the patterns are so cute!

Scrap Bibs

I certainly enjoyed the October Scrap Buster Month at Sew Mama Sew! I made these for a bunch of babies born into my world recently. Even one adopted one! Welcome Aaron, McKenzie, Haley and Naomi!

Scrap Buster Cloth Napkins

Wow! I just loved the look of these napkins. Wedding present for Nikki! Tutorial here.

Halloween Curiosities

Sushi Cake for Baby

Sushi Shower Present

I guess these are the new thing in baby shower traditions along the lines of the diaper cake. I saw them for sale at The Silly Wagon boutique and over here at etsy.com for $100! Needless to say, I made mine for a lot less. Happy babies Alison!

Bubble Skirt with Suspenders

I’ve had this great deep plum fabric with a gold pin stripe for 6 years. I was thinking of making a fun leisure suit for Henry, but then I was inspired by one of my favorite designers to make a skirt instead. There is still enough for Henry too!

Inspiration

Do you remember reading those old-fashioned reading primers? Or any old book from the 60’s for that matter? The girls always wore cute full, short skirts with suspenders. I’ve always loved that. So when I saw Black Rabbit had re-created that design, I had to take a stab at it too!

Onions and Bees

I let a lot of my vegetables bolt this year, just to  see how pretty the flowers were. Broccoli?  Ugly. But they are redeemed by their beautiful green hue. Lettuce? Weird. Mine reached 6 feet tall! Radishes? Weedy looking. Carrots? Couldn’t wait, had to pull and gobble. Onions? Gorgeous! Mine snaked out hollow green tubes that bloomed these beautiful orbs at the end! The bees and me are lovin’ it.

Pizza Caprese!

Thin Crust

1. Start half a packet of active yeast and 1 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup HOT water. Let sit for 5 minutes until it foams.

2. In mixer with dough attachment, add 1  – 1 1/2 cups of all-purp flour and 1 tsp salt. Slowly mix in yeast water. Knead dough on slow/medium speed for 10 minutes. Dough should be sticky, but not wet. Add a little flour or water to get the right consistency.

3. I like to put my oven on Warm for 10 minutes, then turn it off to get a nice cozy rising home for my dough. Put kneaded dough in a big oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Put it in a warm spot and let it rise for 2 hours.

4. After 2 hours punch down dough, roll it out on a floured surface and spread it out in your oiled pizza pan. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Using a pastry brush, spread Extra Virgin Olive Oil over crust and use a fork to poke holes evenly in dough to prevent bubbles from rising.

5. Bake for 10 minutes. Just until the crust turn light golden in spots. Pull it out and set aside.

Sauce

In a blender or food processor, pulse 1 8oz can tomato sauce, 3/4 cup basil leaves, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and 3 cloves garlic. Spread on top of semi-baked crust.

Toppings

Top with Sliced Roma tomatoes, halved grape tomatoes, basil leaves, and fresh rounds of mozzerella.

Bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese gets bubble and golden in spots. Enjoy!