Receiving Blanket Rag Quilt Pillow Cover

This sewing project was easy, a pillow form, receiving blankets, a tape measure, scissors and a sewing machine and voila!  a fun way to capture a piece of the past.  Pictures coming.....

1.  Choose any pillow form

2.  Measure the pillow and then divide into squares

3.  Cut squares adding 2" per inch of desired width (8" x 8" cut 10"x10")

4.  Start by placing two squares together w/print side facing OUT and sew seam of 1"

5.  Add on squares as needed to achieve desired lengh & width, seam should be on the patterned, outside of pillow

6.  Measure out two backs, measuring width by 2" and length add 3" or 4" on

7.  Overlap the two pieces so that they overlap making it easy to add/remove the pillow

8. With right sides now facing each other attach the front to the back

6.  Last but not least snip vertical cuts to give the raw edge a fringe

7.  Throw in wash to make it look ragged and not just like fringe

Receiving blankets seem to pop up on everyone's registries it is only certain that if you have had a baby a few have passed through your household.  In our case, with our triplets at 10 weeks premature, receiving blankets were one of the few personal items we could bring to them in the NICU.  Two of the triplets were in the hospital for 2 months and the third nearly 4 months.  In the NICU the nurses used the blankets in their little hospital beds, called isolates, as bedding to line the isolate as well to swaddle them. Since these blankets are tied into the first months of my children's lives whether adorning their isolate or when snuggling with them it seemed like they should continue on.  I knew I wanted to do something quilted since we had a fair amount to work with but wasn't sure what.  After the kids no longer needed them I remembered being intrigued by rag quilts.  A rag quilt seem easy enough and also since I was going to do it on a smaller scale by making pillow covers.  These pillows are in their beds and come out on the rare occasion that they get to watch a movie or when they just want to have something fluffy and soft to sit on. 

Nuts about Soap Nuts!

Landing on an old episode of Dragon's Den I was introduced to the idea of soap nuts, a natural berry that can be used to wash laundry and more importantly for me, cloth diapers.

Today I made my 2nd batch of detergent.  My first 500 gram purchase of soap nuts I used the traditional way, counting out 4-6 soap nuts, putting them in the muslin bags and throwing them in the washer.  The muslin bags are reusable but after going through the wash the tie gets twisted and it is a huge hassle to get the bag open when disposing of the soap nuts (ours go in a bin for compost).  With my second purchase I decided to make the liquid detergent, it's easy and it allows me to use cold water versus hot which is required when using the nuts.  

Valentine's Day Canvas

I wanted a fun art project for my toddlers and keepsake for Valentine's day.  Keeping it simple and cheap I figured why not just help them make an actual piece of canvas art.  I had brushes and craft paint on hand already and headed to the dollar store to pick up some 8x10 blank canvases & contact paper (the kind you line drawers).

Keep it fun, keep it simple!

1.  Measure out the contact paper and cut out desired design and stick it to the canvas - 

2. Give the kids some brushes & paint and let them create -

3. After giving the canvases plenty of time to dry it's time to remove the 'sticker' design from the canvas -

4. Voila!  Fun, pretty art for Valentine's Day!