My Birthday Present: A Cutting/Sewing Desk

Kyle is awesome. He spoils me. Seriously.

For my birthday this year he made me the best present ever. (Yes, I’m super late in posting this- my birthday is in October.) He made me a cutting/sewing desk! Since I started getting into sewing 2 (or so) years ago I have been cutting fabric on the floor and sewing on a small plastic craft table that jiggles and shakes as you sew. It’s all we ever had room for. Until we moved into our house. Now I have my own sewing space. Kyle was insistent on making a sewing desk for me, and I didn’t complain.

Kyle worked on the desk in the evenings after work. He put a lot of thought and work into the desk. And I love him for it. (And for other things too.)

Here’s my documentation of Kyle’s process. You can tell it took him quite a few days to get it put together based on his change of clothes in each of the pictures.

Working on the garbage cut-out.

Screwing in the front edge piece.

Green painted edge.

Yes, I picked the color. Nice and bright. Although, had I realized how yellowy the urethane would be, I would have picked another color. But, I still love the green regardless of the wood color.

Painting on the polyurethane to protect the wood.

Attaching the legs to the top.

The finished product. I love it!

The white shelving unit is an IKEA Expedit bookcase. It gives me some cubby holes for storage (which I still need to organize.) Above the bookcase is my cutting area. I was given a new 24x36 inch cutting mat and a 36” ruler from my parents for my birthday.  Now I have plenty of cutting space for most of my projects and it doesn’t kill my back. The cut out in the back is great for sliding my scraps right into the trash. It makes clean up so easy. Next to the cutting area I have my sewing space with room for my serger and sewing machine. Kyle still hasn’t it done it yet, but we plan on drilling holes in the back so I can run my cords up through the bottom, instead of having them hang from the side and get in my way. When I’m not sewing I push the machines to the back and then I have a space for my laptop to sit.

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love my desk? Thank you Kyle! 

Free Printable: Do What You Love

I’m one of those people who in high school when you take those aptitude tests that are supposed to tell you what area you should focus on for a career ends up with results in every category. I like a little bit of a lot of things. I’ve always been that way. I’ve never excelled at any one thing. Mainly because I haven’t ever been able to focus on just one thing. I tend to go back and forth from one thing to the next: sewing to crochet to photography to quilting to baking to whatever else…

But you know what, in the past year I have come to the conclusion that I love sewing. I do. I love it. It is what I enjoy spending my time doing. Sometimes I get in a slump and struggle to get myself to my machine, but once I get there, it feels so good!

After being a part of the Sew-vivor sewing competition back in April, I didn’t do any sewing for almost 6 months. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. There were a lot of reasons behind it, but now I’m back. And I’m totally loving it. (And I have plenty of projects to share with you. Some done, some in the works, and some planned.)

As I’ve been getting back into sewing and enjoying myself I’ve had the phrase, do what you love, running through my head.

I think Pinterest is great. For me it is the perfect place to keep track of bookmarked ideas that once became lost and forgotten. It is also a great source of inspiration and a place to find ideas to remember and use.

Pinterest (and the internet in general) is also a good place to lose a sense of reality. Unfortunately. I know I do it. I often see so many great ideas, well designed and decorated homes, tips and tricks for keeping an insanely clean home, healthy foods (and not so healthy but very tempting foods), moms who appear to go above and beyond and spend what looks like all of their free time playing with and teaching their children, and homemade this and homemade that…

Sometimes I lump all of those pins and posts together and forget that no one is doing it all. Some people come pretty darn close, but there really is no way any one person can do it all, all day, all the time. Sometimes I try, but it never works. I always end up stressed and grumpy.

That is what that phrase, do what you love, has been reminding me. I need to do exactly that, just do the things I love to do. Do what makes me most happy. For me, I’ve found that it’s sewing. I still like to do an occasional craft or activity with Hailey, or bake up something fun. But I have been so happy keeping myself busy sewing in my sparetime. Yes, my house isn’t spotless. Yes, sometimes I don’t start dinner until nearly 6:00, and I try to cook only every other day or as long as I can get away with it. Yes, I don’t play with Hailey all day, everyday- I do make an effort to do something structured with her a few times a week, but if it doesn’t happen (because sometimes life happens), that’s ok, we’ll try again next week.

Another part of this has been getting our Etsy shop going. I’ve actually been enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I love the earrings I’m selling- and that is making it fun and exciting for me. It’s pretty slow going, but I’m just getting started. Yes, I’d really like to make some extra income for our family, but I’m also doing it because I love what I sell, and I want to share that with others. (Just a reminder- get 28% off your purchase throughout October with the coupon code BDAY28).

If you’ve made it this far through this post, thanks for sticking with me. I’ve just wanted to get this off of my brain.

The point to it all- just do what you love. Just do it. Find some time, everyday, to do something you love, even if it’s just for a few minutes. For me, it’s making all the difference in my attitude toward everyday life at the moment. I have something to look forward to everyday.

I’m so serious about this, that I even made a printable you can download, if you so care to. (Yes, I’m a bit crazy, I know.) I plan to print it out and put it near my sewing table as a reminder.  I made two different versions, one with gray stripes in the background and one that has a solid white background. It is available for download as an 8x10, 5x7, or 4x6.

Follow the links to download the type and size you’d like.

Striped: 8x10, 5x7, 4x6

White: 8x10, 5x7, 4x6

Have fun doing what you love!

Linking up at: Thirty Handmade Days and Destination: Craft

Etsy and the Number 28

Have you noticed I’ve made a few changes to the blog recently? Did you notice a link to our store?

Store? What store?

Yeah, yeah… I’ve been slow in saying anything. I FINALLY listed items in our Etsy store (hillmade)! Hooray! I opened the store almost a year ago, but never listed anything. It was put off for many reasons; logo design, fear, no idea what I’m doing, busy with other projects, morning sickness and fatigue, vacation, moving… LIFE just happened.

But now it’s open! I currently have 20+ listings, and new ones popping up all the time. I also have a slew of ideas for projects I’d like to make and sell. Currently I’m selling earrings, in three different styles:

Mesh

Stitch

Solid

The store isn’t just me. It’s Kyle too. Although Kyle doesn’t have any products listed at the moment. But they will come, eventually. We have plans. It just takes time.

So, for now, I’m selling earrings. Earrings I love. They are simple- just the way I like them. I wear these earrings all. the. time. 

What does all of this have to do with the number 28? Absolutely nothing. Except that today is my 28th birthday. Happy Birthday to me! (28… really?)

To celebrate, I’m offering 28% off of all earrings for the month of October! Enter coupon code BDAY28 at checkout.

BTW: I have earrings available in every color. I’m just slowly listing them everyday or every other day. If you see a style you like, but not the color, send me a message on Etsy. I probably have it, it’s just not listed yet.

[Recipe] Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies

Our ward’s Relief Society had an activity tonight based on gifts and our favorite things. We were each provided a gift bag and given the instructions to put one of our favorite things in the bag and we would exchange gifts at the activity.
I struggled to think of something that is my favorite. I know I have plenty, but nothing came. All I could think of was food related! So… food it was. 

Cookies to be exact: Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies. Why these cookies? Because 1) I love chocolate and peanut butter. 2) I enjoy baking, especially cookies. 3) These are my favorite cookies to make- there’s something so fun about rolling balls and then smashing them.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies
[Chocolate Balls]
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
[Peanut Butter Balls]
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, cocoa and baking soda. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 c. sugar, brown sugar, butter and 1/4 c. peanut butter. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Shape the dough into 32 balls. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and 1/2 c. peanut butter. Beat until smooth- knead with your hands if necessary. It will be crumbly. (I added 1-2 tsp. milk to help cream the peanut butter and powdered sugar together. Just don’t add too much, or it will be sticky and won’t roll. If that happens add extra powdered sugar until it is no longer is sticky.) Shape into 32 balls.


To form the cookies, flatten 1 chocolate ball. Place a peanut butter ball on top.


Shape the chocolate ball around the peanut butter center completely covering the filling. Reshape into a ball.


Repeat with the remaining dough.


Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place 2 Tbsp. sugar in a bowl.
Dip the bottom of a drinking glass in sugar and lightly flatten each cookie, redipping in sugar between cookies.


Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cookies are set and slight cracks form on top. Cool on a cookie sheet for 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack.


Pour yourself a glass of milk (you’ll want it) and enjoy a cookie, or two, or three…
And don’t forget the best part of cookie making- licking the beater clean!

“COOO-KIE”

[Tutorial] Toddler Messenger Bag

FYI: This tutorial DOES NOT include instructions for the front flap with zippers on the side and the crayon holder/pockets. The tutorial is for making a simple, unembellished messenger bag (the light canvas colored bag in the last picture of the post.) 

Today is the start of the Sew-vivor competition on Family Ever After! Go to the blog and vote for me! Voting is today only, so don’t put it off! (Only if you think I deserve it, of course.) For some reason it looks like the voting isn’t live yet. I expected it to be live at 6 am MST. I’ll update when it is. The poll is up! Go vote!  Thank you for your votes! I made it to the Top 8! Another week, another project. Voting will be next Wednesday (April 11.)

The challenge for week 1 was to use or base our project off of a tutorial from one of the judges’ blogs. 

Remember the backpack Kyle made Hailey? Since he made that, we’ve thought it would be fun to make her a messenger bag. Ashley at Mommy by Day Crafter by Night had a messenger bag tutorial. Perfect! So I began with her tutorial and scaled the bag down to Hailey size. After working with it, it transformed into my own project.


And I love it! I think Hailey thinks it’s fun. After I finished it she took it into her room and filled it up with her shapes. She was excited to show me what she had done.

 I made the bag specifically big enough to fit her coloring book, without making the bag too big. It’s also deep enough to hold a few books or other toys. I included an extra front pocket that unzips to show spots for markers or pencils, and two pockets for crayons or whatever else Hailey wants to put in there.


The zippered front pocket is open at the top so we can access the pocket without unzipping it.


Want to make your own toddler messenger bag? I’ll show you how to make a simple bag. How you embellish it is up to you.

You will need: These yardages are estimates. I had 1/2 a yard of all three fabrics and was running a little low. It worked, but I had to piece some pieces together to make them long enough, so that’s why I say possibly 3/4 yard. If you use a one directional print you may need even more. But don’t quote me on it, direction didn’t matter on my prints.

1/2-3/4 yard of heavyweight fabric for bag exterior
1/2-3/4 yard of fabric for bag interior
1/2 yard of fusible fleece (to add stability to the inner bag)

Cutting: Cut one of each piece in the fabrics listed after the dimension, except the strap- you need 2 of those! I would also recommend cutting the side piece and strap first- they need a lot of length! Before you cut, if you are using a one directional print be sure you measure so your print is going the right direction- I’ve made this mistake many times.

Front body piece: 9.50 x 11.75 (heavyweight fabric, interior fabric, fusible fleece)
Back body piece with adjoining flap: 11.75 x 19.0 (heavyweight fabric, interior fabric, fusible fleece)
Side piece: 2.75 x 32 (heavyweight fabric, interior fabric, fusible fleece)
Strap-cut 2: 2.75 x 26- you may need to lengthen or shorten this length. My 2 year old daughter is a size 3T. Measure your child to be sure. (heavyweight fabric, fusible fleece is optional if you want to add more padding, I chose not to.)

Pictured are my pieces for the lining (interior fabric and fusible fleece.) The pieces for the outer bag are the same size, but I just used heavyweight fabric, and no fusible fleece. Iron the fusible fleece to your interior fabric using the instructions it came with.

Follow the rest of the instructions for the both the outer bag (heavyweight fabric) and the lining. I’ve only pictured the lining construction, but it’s the same for the outer, so just repeat the steps.

On both your exterior and interior fabrics you will trace a rounded edge. Do this using a mug, cup or something else round, line it up so it just touches the edges of the fabric. Using a disappearing ink or water soluble marker, trace around the curve of your object. Do this to two corners of the front body pieces (the small horizontal rectangle) of both fabrics (the top corners won’t be rounded.) Round all four corners on your back body pieces (the big vertical rectangle.) Cut along the lines with scissors.

Hopefully this picture illustrates that well enough.

Put your smaller front piece over the top of your bigger back piece and line up their bottom edges. Make a mark on your back piece at the very top of your front piece. Do this to both sides. I show marking on the backside, but it really needs to be on the front side. Sorry.

Now we get to start sewing! Yay! Cutting and prepping is my least favorite part. All seams are approx. 3/8 inch. I prefer to use the edge of my presser foot as a guide. It ends up being somewhere between 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch. Either seam allowance is fine, just be consistent.

With right sides together, sew your side piece to your smaller front piece. I really should tell you to pin. But I didn’t pin. I try to avoid it. The rounded corners can be a little tricky, so if you’re not comfortable sewing rounds I would recommend pinning before sewing. It’ll make you happier.

After you get all the way around your front piece, lay it on your cutting board and trim off the excess fabric. I gave a little bit of extra just in case it didn’t line up just right after sewing the corners.

Sorry this really is not the best illustrating picture. You need to take your side piece (which is now sewn to your front piece) and with right sides together, match it up with the mark you made on your back piece. Pin it in place so it doesn’t move, or hold it really tight and get it under the presser foot as fast as you can (like I do.) Pin your back piece to your side piece. Sew all the way around. The other edge of your side piece should match up with the other mark you made on the back piece. Or at least be pretty darn close.

Now to sew your strap. I did it the hard way. With right sides together I sewed the two strap pieces straight down either side. Then I had the dreaded tube to turn right side out. I chose to do this because I think it just looks nicer than the alternative (which I’ll explain), but holy cow it that heavyweight fabric was extra difficult to turn right side out! Instead of sewing a tube, you can use your iron to press the edges down 3/8 inch and sandwich your two pieces together with wrong sides touching (so the right side is facing you.) Then topstitch them into place.

After turning your tube, iron the strap flat and then topstitch to keep it tight and secure. I topstitched at 1/4 inch.

Pin the strap to your outer bag.

 With your outer bag right side out and your lining inside out, stuff your outer bag into your lining. The right sides of the fabric should be touching.

To keep the strap extra secure so it doesn’t shift while you sew, pin it to the lining as well. The strap itself should be stuff in between your two fabrics right now. You don’t want it visible or it’ll end up on the inside of your bag!

Now pin your bag together. I definitely recommend pinning for this step. Remember to leave a few inches open so you can reach inside and turn the whole bag right side out. I placed double pins on the side of the flap to remind myself to stop before I sew the whole thing shut. Stitch all the way around the bag until you get to your gap where you’re going to turn it right side out.

When you get to the spot where you’re sewing on the flap and turning to sewing onto the side of the bag, this part can be a little tricky. This is the one part of the bag I haven’t nailed down yet. Sew about 3/8 inch past the top of the side, leave your needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot and pivot your fabric so you’re sewing across the side. It’s a little bit awkward and there’s a little bit of bunching fabric.

After you sew all around the edges, notch the rounded corners on the flap. Turn the bag right side out! You’re almost done!

Iron the bag edges, turning the unsewn portion in.

Topstitch all around the bag edges.

You’re done!

Sew-vivor

Remember my zig zag quilt? (Which is now permanently resides on Hailey’s bed. I just couldn’t wait for her to use it. What if she was satisfied in her crib until she’s really too big for it, and then we just move her up to a twin bed and then she never gets to use the quilt I put so much time and love into…)

My friend, Kathryn, at Destination Craft, suggested I enter my quilt into a sewing competition called Sew-vivor being hosted at Family Ever After. So, after some hesitation, I did.

Entering my quilt was just applying to be a contestant. By entering, if chosen, I would be participating in a crafty-blogland version of Survivor. Where each week is a new sewing challenge and each week a couple of participants are voted off. Until three are left and first, second, and third place prizes are awarded.

I’ve never done anything like it. I sew because it’s fun. It makes me happy. Usually. It just feels good to finish something that you love. But the thought of sewing to compete was scary, and overwhelming and… then the more I thought about it I realized, what does it matter. It’s just for fun. I don’t have to go anywhere, do anything scary or dangerous. If I were chosen, I’d just have to sew. And I like to do that. Plus, what are the chances anyway?

Ha.

Well… I was selected to be one of the 10 participants! Out of 188 entries, my quilt was selected, along with 9 other fabulous projects. 

Wowsers. What are the chances… famous last words, eh?

Anyway, I’m definitely excited. It’ll be fun. It’ll force me to be creative and sew. And it’ll give me a deadline.

I’ll let you know when the time comes, and you can vote for me!

Fabric

Oh, I love fabric. 

I have projects to work on. Things I want to make, that have been sitting on the shelf for months. I just don’t have the motivation to start. Maybe tomorrow…

Mr. Serger

Renae, meet Mr. Serger. Mr. Serger, meet Renae.

Let’s be friends, ok?