Boo to U Mantle

My mantle is my absolute favorite spot to decorate in my house. I change it around all the time. I decided to decorate it for Halloween with things I already had on hand. I have an old window frame that hangs there all the time that I like to try different things with. This time I added scrapbook paper between each frame. I took some painted face pumpkins that my Mom painted for me years ago and hung them on the 3 different spaces. The lanterns are old Southern Living at Home that I added candy corn and orange candles to. The trick or treat banner was made last year as well as the purple letters. I would like it to read Boo 2 - U, but I can't find a chipboard 2. The votives and purple lights are from the clearance at Hobby Lobby last year. I spent all of $1.50 on the scrapbook paper. I like the way it turned out. (I hate the cord hanging down. Dont' have photoshop to get rid of it.)

Pretty Pillows

I do some sewing for clients every now and then. And I totally enjoy it. I find it challenging, sometimes, and I love working with other fabrics and trims. These are some pillows I did for a friend of mine and they turned out great. The two brown ones I reused some pillows off an old sofa that she had saved. The floral pillow ( my favorite) insert was the ugliest pillow you have ever seen but it is down filled and so plump and soft. It was purchased on clearance at TJ Maxx for $7. It is a 20" by 20" pillow. You cannot buy a down pillow form that large for $7. My friend gets two thumbs up for that thrifty deal. Be on the look out for quality items that can be remade into something beautiful. There is potential in the ugliest of things...

Ruffled Pumpkin Tee

Time for a tutorial. A pumpkin t-shirt tutorial. It only takes an hour to make and the results are very cute if I do say so myself. Scroll down to get started...

Supplies:

Black t-shirt

1/4 yard orange fabric

orange thread

chalk

2 pieces of 6 inch long ribbon

rotary cutter with s pinking shear blade and cutting mat

Or pinking shears

pins

1. Lay t-shirt out flat. Draw a pumpkin shape with the chalk. This is going to be your placement outline. Pumpkins are not perfectly round, so don't stress on the shape too much.

2. With rotary cutter with pinking shear blade or with regular pinking shears cut 3 strips of 11/2 inch to 2 inch fabric. Cut from selvage to selvage. You want approximately a 44 inch strip.

(If you are making a size med or large t.shirt I would cut strips 2 inches wide).

3. With your sewing machine set on a ruffle setting. Ruffle your strips down the middle. Your strips should be approximately 22" long. Don't sew strips together.

4. Take ruffle and pin along chalk line on front of t-shirt. Once it is pinned take ribbon and fold in half . Slip ribbon pieces in behind the ruffle at the top of the pumpkin shape and pin in place. Join ends of ruffle together, fold over edges and overlap them so no raw ends show. You will do this for each layer of ruffles. (Depending onthe size of your pumkin shape you may have too much ruffle. That is okay. Just cut off the end and join them together as above). With a normal sewing stitch, stitch the outer edge of the ruffle. Then sew the inner edge of the ruffle.

5. This is what your pumpkin should kinda look like.

6. Pin the 2nd ruffle down, overlapping the ruffles about 1/4 inch . Sew the outer and then the inner edge of the ruffle.

Here is what your layers will look like with their inside and outside edges sewn down.

7. Pin the second ruffle down and sew the inside and outside edge. The ruffles should overlap about 1/4 inch. Don't forget to fold the ends back and over lap them.

8. Add the next layer of ruffles. Pin in place and sew the inside and outside edges. This should be your last layer and your pumkin should be closed up. * Now on the second one I made, I had a small hole that bugged me. I took a self covering button and covered it with orange fabric and sewed it over the hole. My hole was less than half an inch but it bugged me and that is how I fixed it.

This is what the finished pumpkin looks like.

I love the way these turned out. I hope yours turn out great. Feel free to email me with any questions. Happy sewing.

Laurel

Photo Friday - Fall

I LOVE fall. It is my favorite time of year. My hubby and boys had gone camping, so I took my girls apple picking. It is our family tradition that we all go every year, but the orchard said this would be their last weekend so it was now or never. There was so much to look at through the lens of a camera. Next week I'll share what I made with the apples we picked. Happy Fall Ya'll.

Fall Door Hanger

I was cleaning out some old Halloween decor and came across this saying. Loved the saying not the old piece of decor it was on. I wanted something for my front door that would last through the fall, not just til Halloween. I remembered a great tutorial from Jen at Tatertots and Jello http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/09/fall-embroidery-hoop-door-hanging.html (tutorial link) She made a fall hoop for her sister. I knew it would work for my saying. I am so pleased with the results.

I printed out the saying in a plain large font. Traced it on to the back side of my burlap with a fabric pencil. Back stitched it with 4 strands of embroidery floss, doubled. Made a ruffle and hot glued it to the back. Added some fall pieces to the top and made a bow with some leftover satin ribbon I had in my stash. Enjoy

Halloween Pillows

A new printer. some Avery fabric transfer paper and some great images from the http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ and look at these great Halloween pillows. We finally got a color printer. I have been waiting for ours to die for a year now and it finally did. Yeah. I downloaded the images and printed them onto the transfer paper. Ironed them on to white fabric according to the directions. Found some pillow forms at Hobby Lobby and made sewed them up. I have been wanting to try this techniqe for a while now and am so pleased with the results.