Potluck Bowl Covers

I've wanted to make a few bowl covers for a while now. My family goes to a variety of family dinners, church functions, and gatherings with friends and I always find the aluminum foil or saran wrap that I put on top of these bowls falls off. The plan is to make 3, one for each bowl. But due to crying baby, one is all we got done today!

What I love about these is because they're plastic, they are easy to wipe off if you're just bringing some chips, or you can throw them in the washer if you're making something more messy. I've seen these made out of material. Although it's cute, it wouldn't seal in or out like plastic and it would be messy to always have to wash.

Supplies:
Plastic you can sew on (2 inches larger than your bowl)
Biased Tape
1/8 inch elastic


First cut out your plastic by measuring 2 inches outside of the bowl. You can make it less than two inches, but remember, this is what holds your cover on the bowl.

Second you pin your biased tape around the edge of the circle. Sew around the edge, leaving a 2 inch gap to push your safety pin through. I used a stretchy biased tape, but you can really use any kind of material you want.

Pin the safety pin onto the end of your elastic and feed it through the circle. When you get to the end of the circle place the circle around the bowl to make sure you're tightening the elastic enough. Pull the elastic so the cover is snug on the bowl. Tie the two ends of the elastic together and sew the ends down to reinforce it.

Sew the gap you left out before down and enjoy!

Animals for Noah's Arch

I found a cute Noah's arch activity book at the Thrift Store a few weeks ago. We've brought it to church a few times with us and Logan LOVES the pictures and the story. The only thing missing were the 5 animals that were supposed to come with it to play with. So I decided to make these animals for his enjoyment.

First I traced the animals in the book and cut out two of the shapes (one to embroider and one for the back).

I then embroidered the animals with a thin, black crochet yarn. I drew what to embroider with Pilot Frixion Pens first.

Then I sewed the two layers together with black string. Logan's loved these little guys and has had some fun moving them from page to page. Oh and eating them. Anything felt I make he immediately stuffs in his mouth. Must feel good on those teething gums or something.

These would be so much fun in a Zoo, Animal, or Noah's Arch quiet book. Feel free to use the idea in whatever will keep your little guy or girl happy!

Kindle Cover

Made a cover for my Kindle Fire. It's the first piece of technology I love and couldn't live without. It's pretty much replaced my laptop. It's my personal assistant. So it's only fitting I made a home to keep it safe.

I added two pockets on the left side (once lined with fleece so I can store the Kindle in it). I also added a pen holder. But I never really use these features. I just keep it strapped in. Oh well, at least it's cute!

Kansas Star

This week has been a crazy one for us! Canning, visiting relatives, you know how it goes. So I haven't had a lot of time for sewing :( . But I did have time to squeeze this bad boy out.

It's called the Kansas Star and it's made of 9 Square in a Squares. It looks involved, but once you master the square in a square, you could crank these out pretty fast!

Halloween Hanging

Last year I made this to go on our side door for Halloween. It didn't take long to make, and I thought it would be a fun one to feature for the 1st of October! I used felt for the guys, felt for the background,  put some cardboard between the layers for support, and ribbon to hold it all together.

First I cut out the pieces and embroidered the details on with thin crocheting thread. Since I knew this would only be up for a month each year, I then used craft glue to glue the layers to the brown background felt. I stitched around the outside with off white felt, glued the ribbon onto the back, and called it good!

It's playful and Logan loves walking in the house now so he can touch his guys. He especially loves tracing the eyes out. I've scanned in the sketches I made of the halloween guys. If you want me to email you the PDF so you can make these (or something else Halloween-ie), leave your email in the comments and I will send them your way.

Frixion Pens

This might seem like an odd thing to find on a sewing blog, but these pens have seriously changed my sewing! They're called Pilot FriXion Pens and the reason they're awesome is you can write on material, sew or embroider, then iron the material and the heat from the iron will remove the ink!

I love using these when I make my Flying Geese because it's so much easier to mark with the pen, sew and the ink is gone when you iron the layers apart.

I also used these to mark my square quilting on my Quilted Zipper Bags. The only challenge with these pens is if you use it on dark material (like the bottom of the Quilted Zipper Bags) it can fade the material a little. It's not enough for me to care, but I would test them on darker material before I used them.

Sometimes you can find these at the office supply store, but I bought mine through Amazon.com. You can buy a pack of just black ones or colored ones. I like having the color ones so I can use it on different materials. So pick some up and try them out! They'll change the way you mark your material.

Beanbag Nativity

Last year I made Logan a beanbag Nativity set for Christmas. I wanted him to be able to play with the Nativity set without me worrying he would destroy something glass. He was only 5 months old last year, so he pretty much just chewed on them, but this year he's already started playing with them.

 

So why am I working on them again? Well, two friends are paying me to make Nativity sets for them, so I'm doing my best to get these done before the Christmas decorations go up! I'm planning on making two more (just Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) for gifts.

If you're interested in buying a full set, I'll custom make you one for $30 plus shipping.  Or Mary, Joseph, and Jesus for $15. Just let me know soon, so I have time to finish it before the holidays!