sewtakeahike

Happy Mother's day from me and Southern Fabric!

Happy happy happy Mother's day to all you moms! 

Whether you've given birth or not, I believe every single woman out there is a mom to many, either spiritually, with the encouragement you give, and through the Wisdom you share. 

And as a little thank you to all you mom's (cause I know if you read my blog you're a mom (or dad!) that loves fabric), our new sponsor, Southern Fabric, is offering a discount to you!

Aubrey, the owner, has been in business for over 7
years and has sold over 75 thousand items to happy customers
worldwide.

She is offering 10% off of your whole order...
just enter newshopper10 at checkout!

 

And a little eye candy, another bag I made this weekend....

 

and the other side....

 

Once again, I wish you a mother's day filled with 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!

 

Process photos

 

A few months ago, I bought this old pencil sharpener on ebay for a few bucks.  It looked pretty tattered, so today I transformed it.

These are my process photos:

 

 

 

 

Maybe the excitement of having a new home in the near future spurred me on to beautify it?  Or maybe I was just tired of looking at the poor little sad thing sitting on my desk.  Either way, I'm glad I did it. 

Do you have any little projects laying around that really wouldn't take that long to complete that could possibly bring a little joy into your day if you just went ahead and did it?

Please do tell and then by all means get crackin'!

Happy Friday to the lot of you!

~Penny

big girl camera and strap

 

 

Finally.  I get to use a big girl camera (well, it's an in-between camera, probably more like a toddler instead of a big girl camera.  But hey, it's a step up anyways).   The first thing I did was charge the battery.  Can you guess what the second thing I did was?  Yep, it's the same thing any of you would have done!  Made a camera strap cover.  I've never had a camera that had the loopies for a camera strap before, so I was super excited about this!

Anyways, this week is my birthday (all week long.  I'm serious.  Not really though) and L-man took me shopping this weekend for a new camera.  I decided on this Canon G-12 (thanks Anthony!) because of it's ability to switch back and forth from auto mode to "whatever my preference is" mode.  I had thought about getting a straight DSLR camera, but think this in-betweeny would be a good step for me.  I want to learn more about photography and I think this will help me to take some baby steps for sure. 

So what kind of camera do you have or dream of having??  Do you have any really cool tips for me?  I'd love to hear!

 

 

On another note, I've recently come to some conclusions.  It's getting harder and harder for me to want to sit at my sewing machine and sew with summer right around the corner.  And since no one came up with a good idea for a solar powered machine that will fit in our pop up, I'm resorting to some hand sewing.  (Thank-you for those of you who encouraged me this direction!)  I really thought I despised hand sewing, but I literally spent the day today making these yoyos from scraps.  I've always wanted a yoyo quilt, so maybe this summer I'll be able to get one made.  L-man and I are planning lots of camping trips so I'm thinking this will be the perfect sewing activity to take along.  We'll see how long my zeal for it lasts......

 

DIY lavendula spray starch

 

 

Make your own spray starch???  I didn't know this could be done (and really work well) until I unknowingly tried some that Tara made.  She had some in her best press container at Amanda Jean's quilt retreat and it smelled good and worked great, so I thought I was using best press.  Not. 

If you'd like to try it for yourself, here's Tara's recipe.  I honestly don't know that I'll ever buy spray starch again!

 

And now for the winner of the "Little Girls, Big Style" book giveaway!

Dum da.dum!

#7!  Michelle, who said, ""The clothing is fabulous! Mary has done an amazing job. Thanks for the giveaway!"

Michelle, I am so excited you won!  And what a coincidence, since I just finished your dresden block for Bee Beautiful yesterday!

 

Alrighty!  To the rest of you who didn't win, I hope you all are having a great December!  I'm getting caught up on some bee blocks so my machine can go in for repair (too many broken needles lately!), and getting ready for Christmas so I will be back around January 1st. 

Although....., I may pop in and surprise you all (and me!) before then??  Maybe??  I'll have to see how that all works out.  Either way, until then, I wish you love, joy, and the Peace that transcends all things!