Neck Pillow

I am really enjoying my new sewing machine. It is so fun to find the fabric & create something. If you have been following this blog at all...you would know that my hubby is off playing soldier. He has been on numerous flights during the month & plenty more in the near future. On one of his visits to the airport...he sent me a picture asking me to make him a neck pillow. It had to be light weight due to weight restrictions. I didn't take any pictures, but here is what I did.

I purchased some anti pill fleece {1/2 yard...with a little left over}. I cut a u-shape pattern out of a large piece of easel paper {you could also use a paper bag}. Using your pattern....cut out two u-shaped pieces out of the fleece.

Pin right sides together & sew around the edges of your pillow...leaving a small opening to flip pillow right side out. Once you have turned the pillow right side out...stuff it. We opened up an old pillow & stuffed the neck pillow with the stuffing from it. It was a great way to use what we already had! We stuffed it very full!!

Once you have stuffed your pillow..whip stitch the pillow closed. This is a great tutorial on an invisible whip stitch. It was perfect!!!

Here is the finished product. Hubby loves it. He is excited to use it {as excited as he could be to fly AGAIN!!!}



See...it is so comfy that he fell right to sleep. {He is a good faker!!!}


I am going to make the boys each a neck pillow next. Their booster seats just don't give them support when they are asleep. I will take step by step pictures when I make theirs!

Here is a tutorial, but I think it is pretty simple without one.

Car Caddy

I made Kaden his "man bag", but needed something fun for Preston. When I saw THIS super cute car caddy, I just knew Preston would love it. It would also be nice to take with us to Dr. appointments & church. I usually have cars floating around in my purse, but this will keep them together.

Preston helped me make it. He helped me pin & measure {& he is playing with it right now!!} I didn't end up using the denim for the backing because I couldn't find a big enough piece. The regular fabric seems to work just fine.

This is very similar to making a crayon roll, just a little bigger. Don't look very closely at the stitching for the velcro on the strap. I didn't have the right color of thread & was too lazy to fix it...so it looks pretty bad. Preston doesn't seem to care!

"Men Bag"

I discovered an amazing blog the other day. I found some awesome new projects. This is the first one that I decided to tackle. Kaden loves "men". We have a TON of men & Kaden loves to take them with him everywhere. I thought this would be the perfect little "men bag" for Kaden to keep his men together at church. I don't have a tutorial. This is my very first time sewing a zipper. It was a fun practice & I am really happy with how it turned out. I may add a nose later, but for now...here is the finished product:

Birthday Postcards

I am so excited. I just got my Happy Birthday postcards in the mail. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to be better about birthdays. I found this post about getting FREE postcards. I chose from their designs...typed up my message...& paid $6.00 {& some change} for shipping. It came with 100 postcards. They came today & I can't wait to start addressing them. If you get one...act surprised! All I have to do is put a stamp on them & write the address...& I am GOOD TO GO!!!

I am going to make them up for the month before & then they will be ready to be mailed. Wahoo!! I feel like I am getting things together! :)

Confession...{& how to make a valance}

I have lived in my house for over a year & a half. Only ONE window has curtains/valance. {GASP!!!} They are just never that high on my list, but they should be.

When we moved here...I bought new bedding for the kiddos room. It came in a set with a bed skirt. Well, we don't need a bed skirt with the boys having bunk beds. For the last year & a half I have had every intention of turning their bed skirts into a valance, but I never found the time or the means.

Yesterday we cleaned & organized their room & I rediscovered their bed skirts. I decided to tackle that project. I am going to attempt to show {& tell} you how I made them, but keep in mind this is my 3rd sewing project. I am a novice, but this worked for me!

I measured my windows. They were both 44 inches wide. I then wanted to give myself some room to let it bunch so I multiplied 44 by 1.5. That came to 66 inches. I added a few extra inches just to be safe, I didn't want my valance too bunchy. I have read other places where you double or triple your window width according to what you want.

For the height...measure your window height. Mine was 42 inches. I divided that by 3. So...my height for the curtain ended up being 14 inches.

Because I was using a bed skirt...I had to sew 2 parts of the bed skirt together that were 14 inches. If I had just one piece of fabric...it will need 28 inches x 66 inches.

I pinned the right sides of the two pieces together where I unpicked the stitches from the bed skirt. {The only unfinished sides.} This is an extra step if you have one whole piece of fabric.



Here is my "whole" piece of fabric.



Pin right sides together & sew leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance. {You want your fabric to form a tube.} Turn right sides out. {This is the top!}



Iron the seam to form a crease. Then sew 3 inches down from the crease. This is for your header.

Sew another 3 inches down from the header seam. This is where your rod goes in. If you have a thick or thin rod...you many need to change the measurement.



Slide your rod into the rod hole & there you have it!!!!




The most time consuming part was picking the seams. I think I spent a few hours unpicking the seams.

With hubby gone, I decided to be self-reliant & use the drill. Wahoo! There is something about power tools & a finished project to make you feel good!

Now I am on the lookout for fabric to make some fun curtains for my kitchen. I also wanted to show you these really cute signs that I also rediscovered when we were organizing. My brother in law sent Kaden his sign while he was on a mission to Germany. Then, my mother in law made one for Preston {his nickname is P bo}. I love these signs. The boys asked to put them right over their beds...so we did. I love the 3M hanging strips. They work so well!!!

No Sew Fleece Blankets

My boys love their fleece blankets. The blankets are almost 6 years old & they are starting to look really worn out. I decided that the boys needed some new fun blankets. We went to Joann's & I let them pick out whatever fleece they wanted. Preston picked a John Deer/Camo print fleece {not my fav} & Kaden picked a really cute blue Diego fleece. We did a two layer..so we picked out a coordinating fleece for the bottom.

I have made the no sew fleece blankets before, but it has been a while. I used THIS TUTORIAL as a little refresher. We wanted our blankets a little bigger...so I bought 2 yards of each fabric.

It took me a few days to find the time to actually make the blankets, but once I started...the boys had brand new blankets. I didn't get them finished until after they went to bed, but they will wake up with their new blankets on their beds. I think that I will have two VERY happy boys in the morning!

Crayon Roll

My hubby officially flew out yesterday. I am trying to stay busy & my new sewing machine is helping me with that! I have been working on a few things, but today I made crayon rolls for my boys. I wanted to make something "boyish"...monster trucks, robots, cars, something along those lines. Kaden {my oldest} asked for it to look like a flag. I try to fulfill reasonable requests & this one was doable. I finally found the perfect fabric this morning.

I used THIS tutorial from Skip To My Lou. This was the best tutorial that I looked at. Very simple to follow. I didn't have any ric rac...so I skipped that part.

Here is the finished product:

Another Slipcover...

I made one more slipcover on Saturday night, but didn't get it posted. Here it is...I LOVE this material too.



I have one more to make, but I am not sure when I will work on it. I will post it when I finish! I am also working on making a quiet book for the boys. I have one page almost finished, but I lost the Velcro that I bought...so I am off to the store.

If you don't have any idea what this is for...just look at the previous post. ;)