One more Diagonal-14 Square Dance Skirts

Here is a 'kind-of' diagonal-cheap trick of perspective. My aunt and I made 14 skirts for my kid's elementary talent show this month. I made simple circle skirt patterns according to the girls' varying sizes and heights and cut them out. My aunt serged and sewed them together. I added the drawstring gathers at the bottom of the skirts. The talent show was for the school's 20th anniversary celebration. My little sister went there. Now my kids go there. It's a little weird. Especially since there are a couple teachers that taught my sister that work there. This favor was actually for one of those teachers.

(I took a big 'rip' out of the picture to protect identities...)

I CAN KNIT!!

Once upon a time I took a Creative Stitching class my last semester in college. I LOVED it. I learned many many forms of hand stitchery. It felt like we learned all but one, knitting! I must say I was a bit let down, but oh well, I came away from the class able to do many things that have come in handy over the years. 

The pang of disappointment was renewed when I used dishcloths that were a gift to my mother-in-law. I loved them! I thought "I want to make these" and then I learned that they were knitted. Rats!

Fast forward to last week when I saw a knitted dishcloth posted on this very blog, by one very good friend who lives not too far from me. I thought "THAT'S IT! I AM GOING TO LEARN HOW TO KNIT!" After Dora gave me a basic lesson on knitting and the help of youtube videos I was able to create my very first hand knitted dishcloth all on my own.

I really am so excited that I knit!!!!! I think I could knit dishcloths for the rest of my life and die a happy person. It is a great project that is quick even for a beginner. And who cares if it is not perfect, it's for wiping down counters! I can't wait to clean :)

Here are some items that I have filed away under "if I could knit, I'd make..." category:

Are these not the cutest scarfs? Forget how cute it would be to see my kids use these, I would totally wear one!

I came across this cute owl sweater during my search for cute owl ideas.

These are the closest I could find to a pair of mittens I remember having when I was a kid.  

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Teacher thank-you gift

I'm sorry in advance for the strange layout in this post. I've tried to edit, but it's NOT DOING WHAT I TELL IT TO!

Anyhow.

This is a fun idea for a teacher thank-you gift. I've seen variations around, and if I'd had more time, I think I could have made the wrapper look really cute.

I used a small fruit can with a pop up lid, opened up the bottom of the can with a can opener, emptied out the fruit and washed the can.

We filled the can with M&Ms, folded tissue paper on top, and then glued the top (bottom) back on.

Basil Pesto

Family and friends mistakenly believe that I can do anything. They are wrong. For years, every spring I would go to the local garden center and buy seeds or seedlings, organic soil, organic fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, peat moss, vermiculite, planters, upside-down planters and I try to grow a small vegetable garden. I carefully prepare the soil. If I transfer a seedling I soak the roots in  a fertilizer tea.  And every single year I fail. I heard zucchini grows like weed. I heard stories of people harvesting so much zucchini from a few plants that they leave  a basketful of zucchini on an unsuspecting neighbor's porch. I managed to have 1 single, small zucchini one year. Let's not get into growing tomatoes. Or bell peppers. I cannot grow a garden. I water my plants, I even got a  soil kit once to check the nutrients in the soil...nothing worked so far. I tried herbs too. Oregano, rosemary, etc. They would not even sprout. But I always had success with basil.

 That's the only plant I have been able to grow.

Chevron Fabric-Diagonal

I thought I was done with Diagonal. That I exhausted all ideas I could think of. But then as I was rummaging through my fabric bin, I came across a colorful striped fabric remnant I picked up a while ago. Eureka! Homemade chevron fabric!

I followed these instructions and made a small piece of chevron fabric. It is only 22 inches by 16 inches.
The pictures do not do justice to the beautiful colors.Well, I took them at night. Here is one I took this morning.

I have a couple ideas of what to make out of this small piece of fabric. I will post them as soon as I am done. Until then, try to guess!(Except for Wendy. She already knows.)

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Now you can see what I made with the Homemade Chevron Fabric. Just click here.
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Ladybug Boo-Boo Bug

I came across some cute small animal-shaped Therapy rice packs in a gift shop when I was at a family reunion 2-3 years ago. The ones in the gift shop cost about $15. I just made my own animal design, a ladybug, and made a few for my family for Christmas. I used it as a 'super saturday' project in my last ward in Idaho. It was fun helping a few young women learn to sew around the circles! I might make different designs in the future.

These are filled with rice and can be kept in the freezer or microwaved for 15-30 seconds. Each of my kids have one and love them. They make for cute inexpensive Christmas presents!

I have a pattern for it here.

And one for sale here.

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Folk Dancers

Here is a project I did a while ago. Little folk dancers made from fabric scraps, lace, cord, and a little hot glue to secure the arms inside.

http://www.idealeon.com/

Slouchy Bag Pattern (with Diagonal Cut Straps)

This post was moved here.

Diagonal -- Fence inspiration

We share a very ugly old fence with our back-yard neighbors. It is discolored and warped and sags in places. Every day I look out of my kitchen windows at The Fence, and it makes me feel gray and saggy too.

SO...

This spring I decided to transform The Fence into a thing of beauty that will brighten my view. A home improvement store had a special on wooden lattice, which my husband kindly nailed all along a large section of the sad old Fence. I bought three beautiful climbing rose bushes -- two white and one red. The white roses bookmark the ends of the lattice, and the red rose is in the center. My plan is to train the rose canes along the lattice to make a beautiful bower that will invigorate and inspire me. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if anyone has extra tips for caring for and training climbing roses (in large containers), please share!

Diagonal- Ring display

As I finished this display for my daughter, I realized it had a diagonal and that was the main reason it worked. So, for this month's theme, here is another DIAGONAL.

My daughter has 'Market Day' where each student has to make 10-15 of one type of item and sell it for 10-25cents each. They learn to make correct change, math, marketing (they make signs), and more. She's really excited. I helped make a display for the rings we made together.

It is made from an old thin wooden picture frame, 2 layers of cardboard and a cardboard stand stapled on the back. Bulk lace is stapled to the back and the stand to keep it secure and stable. A scrap of black spandex material is taped and stapled around the first cardboard. I love spending nothing and making something useful! The back isn't pretty, but it won't be seen.

www.idealeon.com

Fiesta Pasta Salad

Summer is here (at least in the South it is) and that means BBQ. And when we BBQ, I usually end up making a pasta salad. This is a family favorite that a friend shared with me a few years ago and I tweaked it to our taste. The recipe makes enough for 10-12 servings.

1 lb pasta (corkscrew, macaroni, etc. whatever your family likes) cooked and drained
1 c buttermilk
1 c mayonnaise
1 package Fiesta Ranch Dressing mix
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn (not drained!)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) olives, drained and cut into halves
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
3-5 celery stalks, sliced
1/4-1/2 c chopped cilantro

In a large bowl or dish, mix buttermil, mayonnaise and Fiesta Ranch dressing mix. Add pasta and the rest of the ingredients and mix. Cool in fridge.

You can play with this recipe, it is very easy. Use kidney beans instead of black beans. Add avocados, tomatoes and leave out the celery. Change it to your to your taste and watch it disappear!

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DIAGONAL - variations on the paper theme

While dinner was cooking and I still felt like playing around with paper patterns a bit, I made a few more of these. They don't work as cards because when folded closed the strips stick out over the edges, but the final open 3-D shape created is quite satisfying. (Can you tell I'm one of those people who liked geometry in school??)

Another Raffle, Another Set of Sock Dolls

I just thought I'd share my most recent (and growing) batch of sock dolls with you all. I'm having a lovely time sewing them in the evenings when the kids are in bed.


AND I'm throwing a Sock Doll Party! This morning I decided to invite a bunch of moms to come to my house on Tuesday morning so that we can make lots more altogether and have lots more cute prizes. A stroke of brilliance if I say so myself: I have gobs of socks, stuffing, buttons, beads, etc. but not enough hands or time. I can't believe how much I'm waiting for Tuesday now!

DIAGONAL - paper and pen progressions

Paper is one of my favorite things! Make a few simple parallel cuts and then fold each of the sections the opposite way and you get a neat little design.


And who can resist doing a bit of pattern drawing? I can't!

Then I turned it the other way around since I like that 'word search' look, too...

Ahh, an amusing way to play around with this month's theme. Not very practical, but patterns are always entertaining in my opinion!


P.S. these are actually easy to do. (I can imagine your older boys liking this, Dora.) Take a paper, fold it in half, make your series of cuts (starting from the far left make 2 the same length, then each next one progressively shorter by 1 cm until the middle, then progress back to the longest length, again cutting 2 of that one). Open out your paper and make mountain folds in the middle of each strip that you cut and valley folds at each end. Voilá!

Diagonal...

Hello Friends. A few days ago I visited this blog (I'm from Argentina) and I saw the challenge of creating something "diagonal", "...it is just for fun" Dora told me, so I decided to participate.

And here I´ll show what I did...

It is a simple pillowcase with some paint renewed...
While painting the ants, I thought that phrase could be written to complete the desing, and I had many! While he did not know which to choose, so finally I decided to let the image speak for itself, when...
Ops! I spilled whitw paint (with whom he was putting the finishing touches) on the pillow... some time ago (not much) I would despair... but lately I´m reacting differently to certain contingencies, so that spot is what became "what does the ladybug", not if it was ok, but I like a lot... after all, "is just for fun"... =)

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