The Mint Needle

Make headbands, of course! Today, I bring to you, not one..... but two ways to keep that hair out of your face....& fashionably! Project #1 involves 4 pieces of knit fabric: 3 measuring 20 by 3 inches and 1 rectangular piece measuring 4 by 5. Gather/stitch the 3 long pieces together on one end and begin the braid. When you get to the bottom, straight stitch, but don't forget to decrease your stitch length on the machine. (You'll need this sewn tighter.) Connect your pieces by overlapping and sew together. Zig-zag stitches work great for reinforcing. Then, grab the 4 by 5 piece, fold the ends inward so that no rough edges are showing and wrap it around the braid. Reverse and hand stitch the rectangular piece in place so that the connecting spot doesn't show. Here are some pics! What's great about this project? It doubles as a really cute fabric necklace. Just think what adding felt flowers could make it look like! P...

Ahh.... morning tea.... buttered toast and grape jelly. Has it been so long since my last post? I sure hope not! Another wonderful birthday weekend has passed & I am proud to say I survived another tween sleepover party. Hooray! And this one proved educational to me.... I learned new nail polish techniques from my daughter and her friends. They were little creative artists using sponges, plastic  cups, water, and toothpicks to get some really neat designs on their nails.  Who thinks of these things? Moving on..... I have a few patterns I'm excited about pulling aside and starting. For example, this 80's style swimsuit below! Pattern C with the ruched sides has me thinking that it would be adorable in a vintage print.  Can you say, lime green roses?   And.... it turns out that the cost of vintage patterns are definitely on another rise.  So flea market fans ~ take 'em as you find! Looks to me like i'll be spending a little...

Oh warmer days have finally arrived which naturally means less time spent indoors. I will not bore any of you with too many words for this post. ~ Instead, here's to sharing some sights from our yard as everything is waking up! On another note... The girls have begun their countdown for summer break. Ya know, it's quite funny, how right when you have things down to a perfected system with "the morning routine" ~ school is almost done. My birthday has already come and gone & it's true what they say....one does get wiser with age...wink, wink. Also, there is a darling pattern purchase I made online and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I can't wait to work on it! And of course I didn't forget.... Happy Mother's Day!

Thinking of Mother's Day, I wanted to make my special mom a new work tote that was reversible and could easily be used at the market as well. Ya know, the whole green thing plus advertising for her daughter's Etsy shop...wink, wink. There was no pattern involved, just some rectangular pieces of fabric I had left over and playing around. I made sure that all my stitching and "add on's" like pockets and labels were sewn into place before applying the fusible interfacing on the reverse. That stuff makes anything more durable! I also paid extra attention to the straps that were sewn twice from the inside then enforced with a block on the outside. Pretty cute and bright, wouldn't you say? I think she'll love it! And the "a-ha" moment for next time? I really wish I had stitched one ribbon between each of the arched straps. Why? Because when you put the bag together, these ribbons could have been tied to shut the bag. I'll hav...