Halloween Costumes

I just finished Sienna's Halloween costume, and am working on Brecks. Sienna will be a Lady Bug. It was a fairly simple project, one I suggest for anyone. All you need is red and black felt (1 sheet each), black pipe cleaners (2), a black onesy, 3 red buttons, thread, 1/2 yard of pre-quilted red fabric, black pantyhose (for babies or toddlers, depending on who you are making it for), and black knee-high adult nylons (you can get these in little balls for 33 cents each at Wal-Mart). First, you cut out wings from the quilted fabric. Cut 2 for each side, then sew them together except for the very top. Turn it inside out. Cut out 6 black circles 2-3 inches in diameter. Hot glue them to the outside of the wings. You can choose to stitch them on, which would be cute, but for time reasons, I opted to just glue them. Then, fold the tops of each of the wings inward so that the rough edge isn't showing. Sew them directly onto the onesy at the shoulder line. I then sewed the 3 red buttons on the front to put some cute detail on the front. Twirl the pipe cleaners one at a time around your finger 3 times to get the spiral look, and cut out 4 red circles from the red felt. Hot glue them together, leaving a space to slide the pipe cleaners in. Glue it shut. These too can be stitched together for a cute look, but once again, I just glued it. Then take one of the knee highs and cut off the toe and the top thick part. hot glue the ends together. Then, wrap the bottom of the pipe cleaners around the opposite end of the nylon band about an inch apart from eachother. You can cute a thin strip of the red felt and tie it into a bow and glue it in the middle if you like. Voila' ! You have a lady bug! Just pair with black stockings and black mary-janes and you're set to go!

Shaggy Raggy Rug

This is a project I started about 9 months ago. It didn't really take me that long, I just kept losing steam on it, and then regaining it for a couple of days, only to lose it again. Most of what made me lose steam was that I was trying to figure out what I was doing, and figuring it all out right, took a long time. So I firgure if I tell you how to do it, that will eliminate a lot of time for you! I got the idea when I was looking through a catalogue for nurseries, and I saw one that I just loved. The only thing I didn't love was the price, which was about 150 dollars. It was then that I figured that I could probably make it for much cheaper, and I was right! I do have to warn you that if you do not like redundant, tedious tasks, this project is not for you. I used 15 yards on material for this, and I figured out that it can be done with much less, which would take less time, and money. I am doing my second rug at the moment, and will let you know an exact amount later, when I finish it. You will need the fabric for this rug(I suggest the quilting solids), Rug canvas (sold at most craft stores, although JoAnn's just discontinued it), fabric scissors, and nimble fingers! First, I cut the canvas to be 100 x 70 squares. Then, comes the most boring part, in my opinion: the cutting. I laid the fabric out fully, then folded one edge (length wise) over about 5 inches. Then I would cut down that strip. I continued this with all the fabric until I had a ton of very long strips that were all 5 inches wide. Then, I took each long strip and cut them width wise about an inch thick each. The finished product once you're done cutting should be tons of little 1" x 5" strips.

After that I tied the fabric through the rug canvas. With this rug, I tied them side-by-side on each row of 70, on every other row. Thus, the actual rumber of tied rows are 50, and there are 70 in each row. You just continue to do that with each row until you are done! It's pretty simple, just tedious!