Domestication, part II

In my first domestication post I wrote how I made my very own homemade strawberry jam. It was much more of a blog-worthy post than this one will be since I took step-by-step pictures documenting the process of making jam. No step-by-step instructions here. Oh well.

My sister Elizabeth needed some good ole fashioned pioneer clothes for the youth conference trek her ward was going on over the summer, so I whipped a little something up for her.

I didn't use patterns for the apron or the skirt. I just cut out the fabric and sewed it together. However, I got the bonnet pattern HERE.

My next project was extra large lay-on-the-floor-to-watch-movies pillows. Check out the post right before this one to read step-by-step instructions.

Christmas time was filled with lots of little crafting projects. First I made this sweater for Killer. The ones we bought her last year don't fit anymore, and since we don't turn on our heat at all ever during the winter, on cold days we like to put her in a sweater while we're away from home.

She's so festive! Once again, I didn't use any pattern. I just measured her and cut. This doggie sweater is made out of an actual sweater. I just went to Goodwill and bought one that looked cute.

So I didn't make this tinsel, but the picture's so cute I couldn't resist throwing it in.

 

I made lots of these temple recommend covers to give away as Christmas presents. It's super simple - plastic canvas (you can find it at Michael's) and white yarn. Also, your life will be much easier if you have a needle big enough to handle yarn. Still no pattern. I just looked at mine and copied it.

I made these adorable snowmen for my grandmother. I'll have to make some more for myself next Christmas since they make such great decorations. They seriously took maybe 10 minutes total to make. Go HERE for the tutorial.

Susie gave us a ton of Christmas tree balls last year - way more than could ever fit on our tree. Rather than leave them in their box collecting dust I made this great wreath out of them.

There's about a hundred different ways to make these, but I followed THIS tutorial.

In order for Killer to have something under the tree beside just treats I made her another, not so Christmasy, sweater. This one's also made from a Goodwill purchase.

Here's to another year of projects and crafting and becoming even more domesticated!

Courtney

How to make extra large lay-on-the-floor-to-watch-movies pillows

These are seriously the best pillows. They are beyond comfortable and make the floor much more appealing than the couch for movie-watching. I've also started using them for late night study sessions when studying in a nice warm bed sounds more pleasant than at a cold table. I just replace my normal pillow with one of these. It seriously cuts down on me dowsing off because I've sunk farther down into the bed than I realize. There's no way I can lay down while using this pillow to study.

I made two of these things and didn't once think about taking pictures of each step. Oh well. They're really not too hard so hopefully written instructions unaided by visuals will suffice.

Brad and I went to Joann's and picked out the fabric we liked. I don't even remember how much I bought. The pillows are 36x36 squares. I probably bought about 3 yards, because I used the same fabric to make the cording around the pillows. I also bought 6 yards of muslin (3 yards per pillow). Here's what I did:

1. Cut 4 36x36 squares of muslin.

2. Sew 2 squares together on 3 1/2 sides.

3. Stuff the pillow. I bought all my stuffing at Wal-Mart. It's by far the cheapest place for batting. Each pillow uses 100 ounces.

4. Sew the rest of the 4th side together.

5. Cut 4 36x36 squares of fabric.

6. I bought cording and then sewed fabric around it. You can make everything, but buying the cording seemed easiest. Wrap the fabric around the cording leaving at least an inch. Sew as far away from the actual cording as possible. The first pillow I made I sewed super close to the cording, which would have been fine, but I didn't sew that close when I attached the cording to the pillow. So now you can see some of the thread around the cording in some places.

7. You can attach the cording to all four sides of the pillow if you want. I attached snaps to one side so that I can easily remove the pillow from the inside and wash the case if need be (and I'm sure there will be a need). HERE'S a great tutorial on attaching snaps if you don't know how.

8. Next attach the cording to the 2 square pieces on 3 sides. Make sure you turn the fabric inside out. I'm sure this would have been easier to follow if I had taken pictures...sorry. You should end up with a fabric sandwich. Square piece, cording pieces, square piece. Also make sure the cording is turned the right way. You definitely don't want to sew the cording on the inside of the pillow. Make sure it's on the outside. When you're sewing everything together it should be between the 2 front sides of the pillow fabric.

9. Stick in the muslin pillow, snap up the 4th side, and you're done!

 

Courtney