Quiet City Mat Tutorial

I am forever making quite games or travel things for my kids. We tend to spend a lot of time in the car, or waiting for siblings to get down with soccer/dance class.
This is one of my favorites.

What you need:
City or fabric with lanes or roads
Interfacing
Batting
Binding
Coordinating fabricS for the back side and pocket.
Snaps or velcro optional.


Once you have found the perfect road fabric you are ready to sew.
I chose to do mine the size of a 1/2 yard, but into an exact square...the size is all about how large or small you want.

First take your back fabric and stitch the pocket on. Linethe pocket with lightweight interfacing, Top pocket with binding. If you want you can add a snap or velcro to keep it shut. I chose not to as I wanted it as soft as possible for toddler knees to crawl all over it. Even staying open we have never lost a car.

Once that is complete. Put the back fabric right sides together. Top with interfacing and a thin batting. Stitch all the way around. BE SURE to leave an opening so you can turn your project right side out. Once turned out, Iron and sew shut the opening. Once you are done with that, begin with the binding. Take it all the way around the edging. This will finish the project off and hid your open stitching.
Make a small handle and attach at the top. I used 3 layers of bias binding to make it strong but a small enough loop for little hands to either carry or pull out of a backpack.

Fold closed to your desire. I did a tri-fold across the one fold horizontally. Works perfect.

LemonLime Beer

Call me the crazy lady, but I am already looking forward to summer BBQs. Maybe its the warm weather we are having this winter, or the fact that I LOVE this beer mix....either way...you need to try this out.

This is perfect for when friends come over and wanna have an adult beverage, but want to stay lighter on the alcohol side.

Here is all it is, so simple.... (Very similar to a "Shandy")

Use Approx 3-5 cans/bottles of beer. It can be any type. I would advice using the cheaper beers. After all, why waste the spendy ones when you cannot taste the difference in this mix

For every 3-5 Beers (taste depending)

Add 1 Frozen Can of Limeade and 1 Can of Frozen Lemonade.

Sounds a little crazy, but trust me, it's a huge hit.

Garnish with sliced Lemons or Limes if desired.

Rag Rolling Your Hair

How to make your own rag rollers
How to roll your hair.

I decided to go "old school" with rolling my girls' hair. I have used harder plastic curlers, the soft felt and wire rolls and am so tired with how they last or even stay in. So I thought, why would I use all this modern "junk" when I will just do what my Mother did.
So I set off to create my own. Which, by the way, is super easy.
You can use any old shirt, towel, or cloth.
I had some extra knit fabric sitting around and chose to use that.
1) It is much easy to use, hold, tie.
2) washes up great after use.
3) thinner to store, and sleep on.

I left mine longer. Approx 8-10 inches long and 2.5" wide. I did this so that the kids could manage them themselves, plus since knit is so soft and less bulky....the long strands wouldn't bother them as they sleep.

Once the stripes are cut to your liking, its time to CURL :)

Wash hair and be sure to condition first. It can take a while for the curls to dry, so overnight is the best time to let the curls set and dry.

Comb hair completely out and begin to curl. Separating hair into small chunks (thickness as desired). Place middle (ish) of fabric near end of the hair. Begin to twist hair around this all the way to the scalp. Once there tie the cloth strip tight. Be sure to make it nice and tight. This is so it stays in and creates the tightest curl. Plus they can loosen as you sleep. I tie mine in a bow and then double knot the bow. This way the "rag" won't come out, but you haven't permanently set the rag in the hair either, ha ha

Once you wake, or once they are dry. Begin to untie and lightly unroll.
This is optional, but I always hair spray the head of curls right as I finish rolling, and then again right after the ties are out and the curls hang. Just to be sure its all going to "stick".

Touchdown!

This project was a labor of love, and a little painful.
I have a dear-dear friend that I miss terribly. She is a huge Steelers fan and I wanted to make her a new Steelers purse. I had a pattern I really liked, but no instructions. Now, that is not new for me, but after cutting out all the pieces, it seemed like it was a process to piece together. At that point I had wished I would have just free-handed the pattern. After many, many steps and pieces to place together, it was a touchdown!!! She is going to love it, and I loved making it for her. I only broke 4 machine needles, and one of them struck my eye (darn thick interfacing). All in all, I am very happy with how it turned out. It will be in the mail to her first thing in the am. Enjoy my Sarah!!!! Miss you like crazy....

the rounded bottom, pops in and stands great.

the pockets.

large and deep sides.

{Sew Easy} Iron Board Cover

In this weeks {sew easy}edition, I wanted to share my quick and easy iron board cover revamp.

This can be as simple as laying out your fabric on the actual board. Cut around the edges leaving about 2 inches all around. Be sure there is enough on all sides to get an elastic casing in AND to wrap just under the underneath lip of the board. If it turns out too big you can always attach more elastic at different points underneath once finished.
Since my batting was also shot I ended up lining it with ultrabond heating liner that I had a ton of. I use this material for oven mitts and hotpads. Feel free to use a cheaper soft liner. I just had this and since its meant for hot use, why not??
Tip: If you don't have one whole piece of fabric that fits, you can always use another coordinate for the middle piece to mix it up. Be sure to leave a seem allowance there as well.

Mini Frittatas

For dinner tonight we made Mini Frittatas. I have no idea what that really means (lol), however my kids seem to eat things better when they are in small portions and easy to hold. I found this recipe off of the familyfun website. Here is the link that can explain how to make them much better then I could. However, do not over fill them...I learned that the hard way as they were way to overfilling to cupcake portions. They were still delicious. In some I even added cooked sausage and cheese. These were the biggest hit w my girls. I plan to make these a lot, esp in the mornings when everyone is running out the door because they are perfect to hold, eat and go.
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/breakfast-recipes/eggs-omelets/mini-frittatas-687877/

Fabric DS Covers

I am so tired of my girls losing their DS games, stylus and all. I saw a few other DS cover ideas and decided to give it a go on my end.
I chose a heavier cotton fabric to give it some substance. I also used crafting interfacing to make them nice and sturdy.

I free handed all this by sight. First I cut the length of the case I wanted. I then cut shorter pieces for the cartridge holders. I basted and put together the game slot stripes. I then continued to stitch the lines for the games. Be sure to leave a little extra room so you can slide the games in and out. But not too much as we want them to stay in the slots and not get lost. I then put a large elastic piece just above the game slots to hold the system. I chose to do my horizontal as I felt it kept it tighter. You can also do two of them vertical if you chose.

For closure I measured where it would land once full and rolled like a wallet. I then stitched Velcro on the fabric pieces.

Once all this is set and sewn I then put right sides together and sewed the outside and inside together and flipped right side out. I took the interfacing and cut just so it would slide in between the casing just so. Then sewed my outer edges down, and TADA....we have a DS case!!

Here are some photos of my process as I made my 2 latest ones for gifts.