With 2 weeks of Christmas vacation ahead and nothing but rainy days forcasted...I started some indoor projects. The first was more simplistic but I'd never made one myself--it is the no-sew fleece tie blankets. This fabric caught my eye in Joann's on Black Friday when all the fleece
was like 60% off! Mom loves daisies and is always cold so I thought it would be a good gift for her (and if I didn't get it perfect given it was my first attempt, I knew mom wouldn't judge ). In the end I thought it came out pretty cute...lord knows the girls liked it! In fact, the minute I put
down the fabric in preparation the girls immediately came over and sat on it. They didn't understand why it wasn't for them so most of the time I just had to work around them! :)
My second project was a bit more involved but I've been wanting to give it a try ever since I saw the ones the speech therapist at work was cranking out every time someone was due to have a baby! These are called rag quilts and they have 2 layers of cozy flannel making them super soft and perfect for baby gifts! I had bought yards and yards of various flannel when I'd decided to brave the black Friday sale and Joann's Fabrics because they'd reduced the
price per yard of flannel to under $2.00!!! This price is fabulous for those of you who don't frequent fabric stores. For my first quilt I wanted to stick with a color scheme and chose pinks and chocolates. I then began cutting out my squares and trying to lay them out in a pattern I liked--let me tell you, this was one of the most difficult parts! I was determined not to have any two of the same patterns touch diagonally or be side by side and it took me
hours! When I'd nearly given up, I recruited a new pair of eyes...finally between mom and I we got it arranged into a pattern I was satisfied with! Then it was onto the sewing process, which started out smoothly or so I thought! Once I had all the squares sewn into rows I was ready to sew the rows together. THIS became the hardest part because I had to make all the seams match up! You see, all of the surplus from the seaming ends up on the same side making one side a perfectly sewn standard
looking quilt and the other side the cute frilly rag quilt. Once I made a few adjustments, I was able to get all the seams to line up pretty well and then came the slightly tedious process of snipping all the surplus edges. Last but not least, it was time to wash it--this is the part that makes the flannel fringe curl up and look cute and fluffy! Ta-Da! My first one came out pretty darn well if I do say so myself and I've already started planning out new color schemes to make more! :)
Kim was able to participate in this Relay for Life fundraiser thanks to
her sister's connection to the Kern County Police Department so we
decided to team up! Kim had learned to make cute hair bows after her
daughter was born and so she had a bunch of those on display. Her and
her sister also made some cute baby onesies that had added crystal bling
on them. I had a BUNCH of diaper wipes cases on display, some key
chains, along with my dog collars and leashes. Just for fun (and
hoping I'd sell some) mom and I wrapped up some pretty sagos and took
them along too! Truly, this day was long and a total bust when it came
to profit margin! By the time we donated (AKA Paid) for our booth I'm
not sure if either of us broke even let alone made any money! We had to
remind ourselves that it was a charity event to make ourselves feel
better after putting in so much crafting time!
