Chocolatedogstudio Archives - Page 5 of 26

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Quilting!

Spring comes with a rush and with it the days fly by. It has been weeks since I have posted on the blog. I’ve not quite creating. It has been overwhelming lately with so much to do and time seems much shorter these days.

I have started this log cabin quilt after finishing Â the quilt from the quilt class. This quilt is using a jelly roll of coordinating fabrics.

It is going together easily. The quilt from quilt class is finished and looks great on our bed. This is number 33 in the Use My Stash Challenge!

Here it is quilted, bound, washed and dried to get the lovely puckery look of a quilt. It was easier to sew than I thought it would be and I learned so much. I am taking another quilting class next week. I haven’t bought my fabrics yet and I can’t find out any information about the block sizes so I can use my scraps. This might be a fabric shopping situation.

Here is the quilt I will be starting next week, or at least one in the same pattern.

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Spring Break Progress!

Last week was Spring Break for our house and home school. While the college kids were home the first week in March, we did not take off school as we did last week. I am sure that you noticed that I have been missing the past two weeks. I did write blog posts but we were busy doing fun things. I did get so much sewing done last week and it was great. I have a few photos of new items that were on the To Do list a long time. It was good to get them finished as they are also on theÂ Use My Stash Challenge items. They were also on my To Do List, so I am quite happy about last weeks progress!

I finished these baby swaddling blankets. They are reversible with white flannel on one side and the chevron on the other.

I also finished a fox blanket that was sitting around waiting to be stitched. So it counts in the total. I completed two of the red blankets, one blue and and the one fox blanket. So these would be numbers 18, 19, 20 and 21

I also sewed up these cute baby burp cloths.

I completed 8 baby burp cloths total; 2Â in the red chevron, Â 4 truck burp cloths with chenille on the backing, and 2 truck burp cloths with the diaper backing. They sure look cute. These are numbers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.

I also completed several capes that I bought fabric for two years ago. They are definitely sewn out of my stash fabrics. The capes are reversible. Â There are several different color combinations. My boys would have loved them when they were little. I finished about 4 of them total. I have several more that just need the finishing touches. These are numbers, 29, 30, 31, 32!

The baby items will eventually find their way to ChocolatesBabyShop.etsy.com and the capes are for an event later this summer.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Use Your Stash Challenge…14 – 17

I know that you are probably wondering where I am in the Use Your Stash Challenge! Have I been hiding, or have I simply forgottenÂ aboutÂ the Use Your Stash Challenge 2015! The truth is neither, I have been hard at work on this challenge. Here are some new things that I have made using supplies that I already had on hand.

This giraffe is number 14

His friend is number 15.

This is number 16.

This baby blanket is number 17.

So, I have been working on it but the items are more complex and take more time! It is great as they also use up more supplies! This is the last post I made in the challenge.

I have started a couple ofÂ new blankets but it is taking longer than I expected to get them finished.

I have been looking at some ideas that will use up more of my fabric stash. The Use Your Stash Challenge is making me think about what I can do to use up what I already have. I feel a bit guilty as I bought some yarn yesterday in order to work on a new crochet blanket idea. Â I gave myself permission to buy if needed. The purchase is within the rules I set.

Here are some cool ideas I found on Pinterest.

This i

Use Your Stash Challenge — http://thesewingloftblog.com/create-scrap-binding/

This is a brilliant idea and while I found it on Pinterest I am not pirating any one else’s idea. I can use my scrap binding on anything I want!

http://www.howdoesshe.com/easy-diy-road-for-toy-cars-made-out-of-your-old-jeans/

This is also a brilliant idea. I would add hook and loop tape to the back since we have carpet on our floors.

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5d14f8180102dt0k.html

These are wonderful. I used google translate and the meaning is never quite right but I think the photos are enough direction to be able to make these scissor keepers.

This pot handle pocket is along the same line and just as simple.

These bunnies are so cute and a perfect Spring time sewing project.

http://733blog.com/2014/03/scrap-fabric-bunny-softie-tutorial/

Just a few ideas to get your creativity flowing! Winter will soon be over in my part of the country. Well, at least it will be in the 70 degree range next week. We do have ice and some snow forecast for this week. We still have snow in the yard from this weekend.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Log Cabin Quilt

Taking a quilting class can be fun. It can be educational. It can be both if you take the class with friends. I have never really quilted. I decided to use my scraps as it would be a great way to use up scrap pieces. This was not a great idea. It has been really hard and I have ripped out more than I care to admit.

I set out the fabrics to see if my idea would work. Â After taking all the squares apart and putting them back together about 4 times. I have learned some things.

When you take a quilting class for the first time. Buy exactly what they say. If it calls for 1 1/2 yards of color A then either have 1 1/2 yards or buy 1 1/2 yards of one fabric.
A class is not the time Â to vary from the instructions in any way. There is a reason why they want you to do the work a specific way.
Buy the gizmos and gadgets that they list in the instructions
It is stressful to the teacher for you to vary greatly from what everyone is doing. She worries that you won’t get it done, or that it will reflect badly on her.
It takes time away from the other students, if the teacher spends her time working with you on your crazy project.

Now you know what I learned this week. It has been incredibly stressful and I spent several nightmare days ripping out sewing and then doing it again wrong. I can easily say that this has been the single more frustrating thing I have ever done, and I brought it all on myself. I persevered and got it done.

I almost have the blocks finished. I have two left to rip out and sew again. That will give me 13 blocks and allow me a spare for the layout process.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Karen Stewart

4 crochet blocks a week: Week 7

Here is the next installment of 4 blocks a week. These 4 blocks a week are giving me fits as time seems to grow ever shorter. I seem to have more things to make than I have time to make them. I have so much to do and I have been incapacitated lately. Which means that I have been getting exactly nothing done.

This was a fun square within a square pattern. I like the diamond shape in the middle.

This on is a fun mitered square. It has no holes which would make it a good blanket square.

This square reminds me of butterflies.

Here is a compilation of all of the squares so you can see them all together.

I think this is all of them. I may have left a few of the easier ones off. I have bought a new book for a few new squares and I will get started with it this week for next weeks blocks.

I am also behind on the Use Your Stash Challenge. It has been hard to sew with a bad back. So, I babied my back the last two weeks and I think I am getting better. At least today I woke up feeling good! Yay, progress!!

Talk to you later,

Karen

You can find the previous weeks squares here:

I have been behindÂ on posting these squares. Â I hurt my back and it kept me off the computer. Â I am also behind on the Use Your Stash Challenge. It has been hard to sew with a bad back. So, I babied my back the last two weeks and I think I am getting better. At least today I woke up feeling good! Yay, progress!!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Baby Giraffe

I spent some time last week trying to figure out what I could crochet. I had hurt my back and I felt burned out crocheting baby blankets. I have recently finished two blankets and I was wanting to do something completely different. I ran across a really cute pattern on Pinterest. It seemed to hit the right chord and off I ran. I actually was able to use up some bits and pieces of yarn and I love the end result. These two cuties do fit with the Use Your Stash Challenge as I used up some small balls of stash yarn.

I showed you the arms and legs on Instagram and then quickly added the bodies.

Here they are together as they are already best buddies. The colors in the lower photo are a bit darker than they should be.

Perfect for babies or big sisters and brothers. The faces are embroidered on with yarn and the bodies are firmly sewn on. They sure are cute and were fun to make. You can make your own if you crochet. I will be adding these to ChocolatesBabyShop on Friday. The pattern is available on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-giraffe-2Â

So this would be 14 and 15 on my Use Your Stash Challenge! I love these and I will make some more Amigurumi. They are easier than I thought they would be.

The snow is continuing to fall today. It started looking like this at about 9 am this morning.

Â (I know that this isn’t much snow if you are further North than we are but it happens infrequently enough that it is a pretty big weather event for us!) I live in Colorado for several years when I was a child, so I know this isn’t much snow!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Use Your Stash Challenge-2015 Numbers 8-13

It has been a really busy week, I have been working on the Use Your Stash Challenge-2015! I have gotten several projects done and I might even be out of the single digits.

#8 I have finished this scarf/shawl combo.#9 I made four of these for a friend. Since they used stash yarns I am counting them as one item.

#10 This crib springs recycle to wall storage. I know it looks half finished but it is ready to hang and painted bronze.

#11 I finished this baby blanket.Â #12 I also sewed up about 20 cup cozies but I am only counting them as one. I have tons to sew that are already cut out. I am going to call a group of 20 cup cozies as one item for the challenge. I will get them all sewn that way and I won’t have them sitting around as WIPS. Here they are at the half way point.

#13 I also sewed some child sized reversible superhero capes. These two are blue and silver. I have a ton more to sew and it is just a matter of time to sew and the willpower to see it through.

This is what is next on my list of things to do.

Â Baby bibs: 6 done, 2 in the photo and 1 in the mail and 3 others.

Â Baby blankets ready to iron and do the top stitching: 3 sewn and complete, 1 left

Â Finish quilting the striped quilt!
Â Put the binding on the stripe quilt
Â Cut out and sew Â more super hero capes
Â Sew cup cozies that take red thread
~~Â Deconstruct some jeans so they are ready for cutting.~~
~~Â Pack some orders~~
Clean the studio

I have some fun things planned this weekend and the weather is promising to be rainy. This is good, it will encourage me to get some serious sewing done. I have so much to do. I will need to get some more navy thread, but I can sew with other colors until I get a chance to pick some up.

This year the Use Your Stash Challenge seems to be more about finishing what I have started. I like it. It is encouraging me to actually complete some things that have been hanging around for ages. I hope I can keep up the momentum and my mojo for getting things done. Â I have some custom orders that are in different stages of waiting so I must get back to work.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Fabric Bin Tutorial

Today’s tutorial is brought to you by breakfast cereal! Really, I love to use these magazine holder style fabric bins to help me store and sort my fabric. If I put my fabric away in boxes I can’t see what I have and tend to buy more. Since I am trying to stay in my budget. I decided to store my fabric out in the open on shelves. so that I can actually see what I have. I am pretty visual and I need a constant reminder of what I have. The problem with shelves is that the fabric stacks get sloppy and tend to fall over.

I needed to find a way to store my fabric that would keep it in sight and keep it neat. I have open shelves or I would have rolled all the fabric on little bolts. So I needed to find another way to store my fabric. I had an old magazine holder that I had cut from a larger cereal box and decided that I would try that. It works perfectly. Now I can see my fabric and keep it neater. Â I can pull the whole bin down from the shelf. The sides keep the fabric from toppling over. It keeps the stacks of fabric neat and contained. I can also see what I have so I don’t over buy. Fat quarters fit perfectly into each bin or I can fold larger amounts of fabric smaller and file them away into these fabric bins.

We recently went through two of the large boxes of cereal from Sam’s. I am going to show you how I make these bins instead of buying them from the shop. I would rather spend my money on supplies rather than Â craft organizers.

Tape the boxes shut with packing tape.

Measure down three inches from the each long end. You can see the brown mark I made.

You can see both of the marks that I made above. Join them with a diagonal line between the two marks.

Do the same on the back.

Join the diagonal marks with a line straight across the edge of the box on both sides.

Then cut on the line. You will end up with something that looks like a magazine holder when you are done.

I ended up with 4 magazine holder style boxes. Now you can paint them, or cover them in craft paper or decoupage them with paper or fabric. Put them on your shelf and fill them with nicely folded fabric. Perfect fabric organizers for free or at least the cost of the cereal.

Yes, these count for the Use Your Supplies Challenge- 2015

These are numbers 4,5,6,7!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Karen Stewart

4 Blocks a Week Sampler Blanket- Week 5

This is week 5 but when I count the blocks for the sampler blanket there are only 18 in my bag. Two blocks have escaped. I need to take Â minute and find them. Here is the next installment in the 4 blocks a Week. These are a variety of different styles from 100 Colorful Granny Squares to Crochet.

I have included affiliate links to Amazon and I will receive a small percentage of the any purchase you make.

A flower block.An An An octagon that ends up square.

Another floral block

A texture block. I think I forgot to count this one and it looks wonky. I will need to go back and fix it. The problem is right at the beginning of the square, as always. I guess the tv was too interesting or was it when one of the kids had huge questions. I did count louder but it didn’t seem to help! :0)

You can find last weeks blocks here!

I am incredibly late crocheting these and I must head to bed.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Jam and Jelly Making

Last weekend we made jamÂ and jelly. The jam is cranberry cinnamon and the jelly is apple. It is a family job with pretty much everyone pitching in. I started the cranberries in the crockpot. Here the cranberries have just been added to the crockpot with brown sugar and cinnamon. The big lump in the middle is the rock hard brown sugar. I have to admit that I didn’t measure it out but just dumped it in.

We used our son and daughter in law’s juicer to skip the big long process of cooking the fruit down and then hanging the fruit in the jelly bag. It sure simplified the whole process. We bought a case of apples together and split the jelly and the leftover apples. It all worked out super easy. I was showing my daughter in law how to make jelly as this was her first or second time making jelly. She loves apple jelly so the first batch was apple. We had a leftover pomegranate that we juiced with the apples so that is the lovely rosy-yellow colored jelly.

Isnt’ it beautiful. The deep purpley red is the cranberry jelly. I tweaked a recipe to come up with it. The basic recipe is this one for cranberry butter. I doubled the recipe, sprinkled 2 tsp of cinnamon (instead of using a cinnamon stick) and then cooked it on high in the crock pot for 5 hours before we put it in the juicer. Then I prepped it just like any jelly. I added 6 cups of sugar and the sure jell. I’m pretty sure that next time I will leave out the sure gel as it is pretty firm but still good.

I don’t own a juicer but I am going to think about purchasing one. It simplified the jelly making and speeded it up by several hours. It is not the way my Grandma made jelly but I know she would approve as it sure saves a bunch of work. We didn’t have to peel the apples before we juiced them, or boil the apples until they produced juice. The flavor is fresher and tastes more like fresh apples.Where did we buy a case of apples in the middle of January? We bought it through Bountiful Baskets.

Talk to you later,

Karen