Roll up Car Mat

We couldn't find a good car mat that we liked and I wanted one that could roll up small and fit nicely in a closet and not take up a whole room.  Greg wanted one that the roads were the correct size so that one car could drive on each side of the road.  So I decided to make one.  This is going to be one of Eli's birthday presents since it is at the end of this month, and he got some match box cars for Christmas.  He is still a bit young to use it, but it sure was fun to make!

1/2 yard Green Felt
1/4 yard Black Felt

Red, Blue Felt- small amount of each as I made the structures out of my scraps from making the trains.

Hot glue gun/glue

I took my Green felt and cut it in half length wise, so like where the natural fold in the fabric was from the bolt.  This is the size piece that I used since I wanted it small.

Next I cut out my road pieces.  I decided to make them a square, with a one way street going each direction down the middles so it forms a t shape in the middle of the square.  I then hot glued all theses pieces onto the green felt.  (Note: when you hot glue them don't put any glue down the middle, this will make it really difficult later when you add your middle street line) I put them mainly off to one side because on one of the short sides I am putting a storage place for some of the cars so we can take it with us if we go somewhere.

Next I made all of the buildings that I wanted.  I made a lake(really small with a boat and some fish), a car wash, a house, and of course a gas station.  These were fun to make.  I put one in each of the small squares.

 

I then attached the blue felt to the side of the mat.  I sewed this on, but make sure you keep one of the long ends open so you can slide the cars into the slots.  I then sewed on the blue piece, to make pockets each one is about 2.5 inches wide so the cars can fit inside with ease.

I then attached one last strip of felt to the outside so that I could roll the mat up and tie it all together. I sewed it on first, and then I hot glued it on either side of the sewing just to make sure it stayed in place.  You could always use a cute ribbon, or put a nice backing on it, but I liked it simple! The last step that I took was I quilt stitched a line going all around the outside road down the middle, for the dividing line in the road. If I wanted to do it correctly I would have used yellow thread, but I only had white available so I used that instead of running to the store.

In case you want to make one the same size as the one I made here are all the measurements for everything I made (with the exception of the buildings)

Side road: 4"X11.5"

Top/bottom road: 4"X20.5"

Middle road horizontal:2"X13

Middle road vertical:2"X11.5

Blue car holder:4"X19" -each pocket is 2.5" wide
Green mat: 19"X 27.5"

Tie: 3"X32"

I hope this helps, and I hope if you have a little one that they may enjoy it to, as I know my husband is looking forward to playing with Elijah by the hour with this! Now we just have to wait until his birthday

Redone pants=cute skirt!

I have been needing some new bottoms since recently my clothes decided shrink...don't know why but all my pants are high waters!  I was trying to fall asleep last night and couldn't, when I suddenly got the idea to try and make a skirt out of my khaki pants. I couldn't wait to fall asleep so I could get started on the project bright and early. This took me about 1 hr to make, probably would have gone faster if I knew what I was doing but I made it up as I went along and prayed it would work.

 First, I measure the inseam of the pants it was 29", I then measure up from the bottom 14.5" and pinned it on both sides and in the middle of the leg.  I then cut the leg off where I had placed the pins.  This made them look like shorts!

 Next I cut the top off off the pants, I did this by going to the beginning of the inseam and cutting it off there, now they look like booty shorts, haha something I would never in a million years wear.  Now I have 4 pieces of leg and the top part of the pants.

Now, cut the inseam off all the pants so that they lay flat!  Pin them together with seam allowance.  I just did the side of the pants where the old hem was so I didn't have too do any measuring.  I know measuring is a necessary step but in my opinion it is the most boring part of sewing, that and the pinning!

 Start sewing all those seams together. I first sewed them all in a straight line and then when I had all the pieces put together I sewed the last two end together to make a circle.  I did not use half of one of the pant legs or it would have been waaaay too wide, so do make sure you measure the total length and that it isn't going to be too big or small.  You don't want to have to take the whole thing apart later.

 We are going to attach the top and bottom piece together now.  With right sides of the fabric facing each other, pin in place.  I did a slight gather on mine because I wanted it to be go out a bit in the legs and not fit too tight.  Then you are going to sew these two pieces together.  I used a 1/2"seam allowance just in case, I didn't want it too close to the edge and risk it coming unraveled.  One of my biggest fears even though nothing has ever come of it, I would be horrified if that happened so I always do a bigger seam allowance on my clothes!

 Turn the fabric right side out when you are done sewing and now you are going to hem up the bottom of the skirt so it looks nice!  I used 1/2" here also. 

 What do you think?  I think it turned out quite nicely, especially for being made out of a pair of pants.

It is more fitted through the hips and then flares out some.  I'm really excited to wear this, I might just wear it to work tonight.  By the way, theses were made out of maternity pants, so now I have a maternity skirt to wear, I'm kind of excited about that.  You could do this with any kind of pant but that is why there is no zipper or anything since it has that lovely huge stretchable waist band.

Tie/Bow Tie Onsie

I wanted to make Eli one of those adorable tie onesies, and then I couldn't resist making a bow tie one out of some left over red felt that I had. 

First, I cut a tie shape out of newspaper for a pattern to follow, I then made it bigger so it could account for seam allowance.  Below are the two patterns I used.  For the Bow tie, I just cut it right out of the felt and it turned out ok.

 I then laid it out on the onesie, and pinned it in place so it didn't move as I was sewing it and get all bunched up.

 I then sewed it using a zig-zag pattern just to give it some extra flair.  I ended up using the fabric below for the final project, sorry for the switch halfway through. 

 And you are done, they are all set to wear and look adorable in.  I really like the way they turned out, we used his bow tie shirt for his Christmas pictures. 
Note:  Just be careful when sewing that you don't catch any of the bottom part of the onesie in the sewing machine or they will be sewn together and then baby won't fit in it.

Simple, cute, cheap...Just the way I like crafts to be!

Bib

I made a bib that I like! I made it for pretty cheap too, and plan on making a few more just because I can!

Tablecloth(those vinyl picnic ones)

This tablecloth that I used was one that was $3 after Thanksgiving at Walmart, and it will make a lot of bibs, but I'm trying to think of something else to make instead of like 24 bibs although I wouldn't ever need another bib.

I folded the tablecloth in half width wise(hot dog style??)  When it was folded in the bag it came in i just folded it back along with middle crease, it then is still divided into three parts(by fold lines), so one of those fold lines is wide enough for a bib.  I took one of Elijah's cloth bibs and cut a pattern out of newspaper, making it longer and a bit wider around the neck, so it will fit for quite a while as the cloth ones he is starting to grow out of.

I took this pattern, and cut out the shape.  I kept the right sides of the fabric together and starting at the bottom edge, went all the way around the bib.  Leave a small opening at the bottom so you can turn the bib right side out.  I then tucked in the edges and sewed up the last side.  I used snaps to attach it so you can put the bib on.  They are the kind that you hammer in.  I think it was like $1-2 for like 7 snaps so not too bad and no extra sewing involved. 

It turned out good, and makes clean up after dinner so much easier because I can just wipe the bib down, I don't have to add to my ever growing laundry pile.

Berry Sauce

2 c water
1 c sugar
2 TBSP Corn starch
2-3 c berries

In a saucepan, mix together the first 3 ingredients.  Keep stiring so that you don't get any lumps.  Once the mixture gets thick add the berries, and keep on a low heat setting.  Stir frequently.  I always use frozen berries or fruit so I know it is done when they are all soft.  About 5-10min.

This goes great on every type of breakfast food imaginable.  I love to add it to my pancakes, waffles, crepes, french toast...like I said to everything.  I LOVE fruit and if it is in in this sauce my husband will also add it to whatever I have made.

Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Detergent

What you NEED:
5 gal bucket

4-5 gal water                                               
1 c washing soda
1 5 oz bar grated soap (ZOTE, or FelsNaptha!)
3/4 c borax

In a saucepan, grate the bar of soap and add just enough water to cover the soap.

Heat until it is all melted down.

In a bucket fill with water, leave room to add the soap mixture.

Stir in the borax and washing soda. Pour in soap mixture and mix well.

I used warm water so the borax and washing soda would dissolve, so I let it cool and then poured it into containers for later use. (I just used old laundry containers, since I knew I wanted to make some when mine was gone, you can also use old milk jugs or keep it in the bucket)  You need 1/2c for each Large load of laundry.  This works really well! I would recommend it to anyone, especially since it is quite inexpensive.

UPDATE(3/23/2015)- Couple of notes on this, now that I have been making this for several years I have a couple of recommendations!
1. If you want to skip the whole melting the soap thing, use Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild soap...You can buy it on Amazon-click here!
2. I personal preference when melting down the soap-I prefer the ZOTE...It melts a LOT faster! I like to save time(and money!) anyway that I can.  Also the ZOTE comes in a bigger bar(14oz), this enables you to get 10 gallons instead of 5! I am all about saving time, and getting more bang for my buck!
3. If you like Essential Oils, feel free to add them.  Just remember that when adding the oils, not to use an empty milk jug since it is made of plastic.  You would need to then store it in a glass container.

I also have this awesome new glass container to put all my laundry soap in.  It is an old drink dispenser, and I LOVE it!  Helps make my laundry area look just a tad nicer!

Knit Hat

Size 8 needles
I used 3 different yarns so that it had stripes
Blue Angel Hair-Color B
Grey Angel Hair- Color C
Black (forget the name, just basic yarn nothing fancy about it)- Color A

CO 60sts
Knit2, Purl2 (repeat until end of row)
Purl 2, Knit 2( repeat until end of row)
Repeat these two rows until you have 12 rows.
In Color B:
Knit row
Purl row
Repeat Knit and purl rows until you have done 6 rows in Color B
In Color C:
Knit row
Purl Row
Repeat these two rows one more time
In Color B:
Repeat above pattern until you have 6 rows again

In Color C:

Knit Row

Purl Row

Knit Row

Purl Row
Knit 2tog, K4 (repeat until end of row)

Purl row

In color A:
Knit 2 tog, K4 (repeat until end of row)
Purl row

Knit 2tog, K4 (repeat until end of row)

Purl row
Knit2tog, K2 (repeat until end of row)
Purl

Knit 2tog, K2 (repeat until end of row)

Knit 2tog, K2 (repeat until end of row)
String yarn through remaining stitches, and sew up the seams.

Note: I left a long tail each time I switched colors so that when I went to sew up the seams it would be in the correct color.