sewtakeahike

keychains and other important things..

 

Have you guys seen these? Leila has come up with the cutest little keychain fob design imo.

If you'd like, you can purchase one that's she's made from her etsy, or, for those of you who want to make one or two or three of your own, she's working diligently to have a pattern available in her etsy after the first of the year!

 

 

And then would you just look at this sweet little coin purse that Kerry sent? I am blown away with her thoughtfulness. She even put a little "P" tag on it for me! I just want to squeeze it everytime I look at it!

She also sent along this text tea towel (hint, under my new fruit bowl). Thank you so much, Kerry for your thoughtfulness!

 

One last thing before I head off this morning. This is L-man's birthday weekend, so I started the weekend with making these cake batter blondies for him.

 

 

He's not a big chocolate lover, so these were perfect for him! I'm serious guys, you need to RUN and get what you need to make them. They really are that good! In fact, L-man ate so many of them that he got a tummy ache. Awwwww! So just don't do what he did and eat 1/4 of the pan and you should be fine and very happy!

 

I hope your day is filled with peace and joy!!

~Penny

bottle cap trivet tutorial

 

I was pleased as punch when Jennifer asked me to be a part of the 12 gifts of Christmas blog hop!  I was excited to learn I'd be in good company too, just have a look at this line up!

Friday, October 14- Jennifer/ Ellison Lane Quilts
Saturday, October 15- Ayumi/Pink Penguin
Sunday, October 16- Amy/ Lots of Pink Here
Monday, October 17- Faith/Fresh Lemons Quilts
Tuesday, October 18- Penny/Sew Take a Hike
Wednesday, October 19- Kati/From the Blue Chair
Thursday, October 20- Lee/Freshly Pieced
Friday, October 21- Elizabeth/Don't Call Me Betsy
Saturday, October 22- Melanie/Texas Freckles
Sunday, October 23- Lindsay/Craft Buds
Monday, October 24- Amanda/A Crafty Fox
Tuesday, October 25-Vanessa/Little Big Girl Studio

 

Each blog will be posting an awesome gift tutorial, and having a giveaway for a GC to a fabric shop.  Make sure and leave a comment on Jennifer's tutorial for a chance to win the grand prize of a $250 GC to the fabric worm!

 

On to the tutorial!

I had been saving bottle caps all summer (we drink a lot of Reed's Extra Ginger beer around here.  It's non-alcoholic and if you like ginger, you won't be disappointed if you pick some up!) for a trivet, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make sure I actually made something with them instead of well, you know, just having good intentions to make something with them!

 

 

What you will need:

• 28 bottle caps
• 30 mm clover yoyo maker
• 28 fabric circles approximately 3.25" round (I used 12 pink ones for the points and 16 scrappy ones for the center square)
• needle and thread and a water soluble pen

 

What you will do:

1.  Arrange your bottle caps and choose and cut your fabrics.

 

2.  Using a double threaded needle, make your fabric covered caps by making a yoyo, and right before you cinch your thread and tie your knot, insert the bottle cap right side down into the yoyo.

 

Finish cinching your thread and tie your knot.  Make sure you don't pull on the thread too hard, or it might break.  Hide the thread tail in the yoyo by reinserting the needle into the same area that the knot is in, and pull the needle through the yoyo edge.  Cut the thread close to the yoyo.

 

3.  Lay your bottle caps out in a pleasing manner and mark on the top of the cap where they touch with a water soluble pen.  This will help you to know approximately where to insert and bring your needle through the yoyo.

 

4.  Sew your bottle caps together by inserting the needle into the INSIDE of the yoyo and aligning the exit point on the lower edge of the bottle cap, with the dot on the top of the bottle cap. 

 

Then insert the needle into the next bottle cap FROM THE OUTSIDE, aligning the entrance point on the lower edge of the bottle cap and with the dot on the top of the bottle cap.

 

Continue sewing the bottle caps together in this manner, until they are all sewn together.

Here is a view of the back of my trivet once the bottle caps were all sewn together:

 

5.  Dab the water soluable pen off the top of the bottle caps, and there you have it!  A wonderful trivet to give as a gift!

 

Now...

why don't you come on over and join in my sewtakeahike patterns and tutorials group on flickr and post your creations made with my patterns, I'd love to see you there!

Then, for your chance to win a $25 GC to the Fat Quarter Shop,

 

leave one comment on this post!  I'll choose a winner on Oct 26th!

Good luck, and thanks for stopping by!

~Penny

p.s. 

OH!  I almost forgot!  Just for stopping by, you can take advantage of a generous 

15% off discount at Fabricworm with the coupon code fw12days 

through the end of the blog hop. The giveaway is now closed!

 

this weekend

Was full of fun for L-man and I!

 

We flew down to Arizona for our friends Anthony and Jeanette's wedding and visited with L-man's parents for a couple of days as well.  This is the label I made for A&J's Unity quilt.  Yes, they were married on October 1st!

 

 

For our trip, I went armed with all the supplies to make a new and improved scrubbie pattern.  L-man's mom is a master at these and after several pointers from her, I gave it my own twist and came up with this new scrubbie pattern.  I'll be posting the PDF pattern for sale sometime this week for a minimal cost for those of you who are interested. 

 

And as you can probably imagine, L-man and I are out of our minds excited for our upcoming move.  I am so thankful to you all who left us encouraging comments about our new home, you guys absolutely rock!  Lenny and I sit and look at the pictures we have of our new home daily and plan and dream about all the improvements we will be making.  So until we actually move in, I'm making what I can for our new home. 

 

What do you all think of my new hand-soap dispenser for our kitchen?  It was super easy to make and all you need is a jelly jar, a pump and a lid for the jelly jar.  L-man drilled a hole in the lid so that the inside of the pump would fit snugly, I painted the lid parts and then glued the pump to the lid.  Easy peasy!

 

 

Here's a view through the kitchen door and windows that lead on to the deck.  One thing Lenny and I wanted was a home that didn't require a lot of upkeep in the yard.  We both agreed that we have too many things we enjoy doing in the summertime to have a yard that required any time at all.  We truly found what we were looking for in this home!  The complete 1/2 acre our home sits on is natural-scaped, complete with moss rocks, a few succulents, and whatever else grows up there naturally.  It really is a beautiful scene!  My plan is to throw out a few wildflower seeds, plant a few munstead lavender plants and call it good.

 

 

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and have an even better week!

~Penny

two and a half things

 

You guys know how I like to number things, right?  Well today is no exception! 

1.  Have you all heard of mug rug madness week yet? 

 

The lovely Erin of twomoreseconds is putting this event together that will happen the last 10 days of March.  She has asked a few bloggers to participate by making a mug rug, writing a tutorial and then giving the mug rug away. 

I'll be posting a tutorial on making my mug rug "under the umbrella" on March 28th and will be giving this little guy away!  It's based on a wonderful vision I have of walking around under an umbrella on a dark, rainy day.  And under the umbrella, the sky is blue, the birds are singing and the posies are blooming.

 

2.  I've had a change of plans with the cameo project.  It just wasn't coming together as planned (read this:  my cameos were looking like cavemen because this girl is a lot of things, but she ain't no artist!) and after muuuuuuch turmoil, I decided to go with some images that weren't people and now I'm happy again.  After talking it through with my friend Tara, she helped me to realize I should focus on what I'm good at and people are not it!!  So thank-you Tara, and for all of you, you'll be very happy that I had that convo with her!  The project is coming along very nicely and I can't wait to show you, so check back  next Wednesday for a lovely tutorial and a fab giveaway from the guys and gals over at Saral!  (And thanks Ben for being so patient with me!)

 

2 1/2.  You've GOT to try one of these!!!  (sorry Tara, I couldn't wait to share the news)

 

What is it?  I'm glad you asked!  Only one of the best things I've ever had and since having one two weeks ago at a soda fountain while out shopping for fabric with two wonderful friends, I've craved them daily! 

It's a vanilla creme Dr. Pepper.  And for you Dr. Pepper fans out there, here's the recipe I came up with:

VANILLA CREME DR. PEPPER

16 oz. glass, fill 1/2 with ice
Fill 1/3 with 1% milk
1.5 pumps of starbucks vanilla syrup
Fill remaining 2/3 with Dr. Pepper

It's like having a float without all the calories!  Now go!  Make one for yourself!

Happy Weekend to you!

Penny

 

spicing up the kitchen, with bags

 

After seeing that my friend Amy had joined the spicing up the kitchen swapon flickr, I was compelled to join too.  What if, just what if, she ended up being my partner?  I'd be thrilled!  Since it's a secret swap, I can't tell you if she is my partner or visa versa, but that will all be revealed in time.

What I can share for now is what I've made for my {very secret} partner:

 

A couple of reuse-able produce bags and a couple of my "wrap it up" shopping bags. 

The wrap it up bag is from a couple years ago and it's such a handy bag!

I'm finally thinking of making a pfd pattern for it!

 

~Penny