playing with blocks

Cast of characters: Wooden blocks, primer, mod podge, brushes, scrapbook paper and lots of patience. Not shown : acrylic paint, scissors, paper cutter.

Prime blocks. Let dry. Paint blocks. Let dry. 

Pick out cute matchy-matchy papers. I like this robot line from Cosmo Cricket. 

Cut squares to fit each block side. I did two cuts of 3 different papers.

Slop on some mod podge (can you believe I have NEVER used this stuff before ?) It makes me want to slather it all over my hands and then once dry peel off. Did you ever do that with Elmer's Glue. Fun stuff.

Watch it dry. Partake in a cold beverage. 

Once dry, brush on mod podge all over. Nice and heavy. This seals the paper onto the block. A nice kid protective cover. Sit back and watch dry. You see a theme here ?

Get really excited when you see the finished product, dig out some more fun papers and repeat.

something new

Sometimes I get a wild hair across my ass and I just have to do something.

Ask yourself why a mom of two boys would buy all this ribbon and all these "bare naked" hair clips. Why to make bows of course.

Duh.

The cast of characters: Ribbon (American crafts) 1/4" dowel rods, cut down to 6". Clothespins. Hair-clips. Not pictured are the pans, the hot glue gun and my burnt fingers.

Wind the ribbon around the dowels, securing at the ends with clothespins.

Place them all on the baking sheets. (lined with foil just in case they erupt into flames)

Bake in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes. Check to make sure there are no flames (kidding)

They come out nicely curled and looking like pretty noodles.

Next up thread (I ended up using dental floss actually) and some nail polish to seal the ends from fraying. You know how rough little girls are with their hair bows. Tie them up nice and tight and "fluff" the ribbon a little. 

Plug in the glue gun, walk away, come back and curse when the melted glue is dripping onto the kitchen counter. 

I glued a strip of matching ribbon onto the actual hair-clip first, along with my index finger.

Then I placed a HUGE glob of hot glue on the underneath of the bow (they call it a "korker bow but I dont like how that sounds) and then hurry and jam the bow onto the fabric covered clip and hope none of the hot glue oozes onto your fingers again.

Stand back and enjoy the girly-ness of the whole project.

...the clutches of summer

I am still here. I just haven't been sewing as much. Summer is running rampant in our house. All the activities leaves little time for sewing, quilting, creating.

I worked on this top for awhile. I had a mental picture of what I wanted it to look like and I did not achieve that. I know it doesn't make sense. Trying being me.

I am still trying to get away from using so much darn white. It's like crack, I just cannot stop.

Luckily (or not so much) I started yet another quilt top, really bad habit of mine - to start something else before I finish what I am already working on. But this new one, has very little white. Maybe none.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

This one has no name because I am done with the names, it stresses me out. I have roughly 3 quilt tops that are done, but not finished quilts. I need to find someone kind enough to deal with my quirks and who might not charge me a boat-load of money to quilt them. In my dreams....