Thursday, November 14, 2013

Recycling Sweaters

I made a trip to the Goodwill Outlet (aka – The Bins) with some friends last Saturday. Sara and I filled up a cart with all kinds of cool treasures! I figured (from the Goodwill tags still on the items) I got about $350 for $30.80!

scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife

I picked up these three sweaters while I was there to make the sleeves into leg warmers.

scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard FarmwifeI forgot to take the “before” picture until after I’d started cutting

I followed the directions on this blog but already knew what I was going to do and turns out I was right!

But I hated to let all the rest of the sweater go to waste. So I cut off the collar and shoulders, finished off the cut edge and made two infinity scarves. Then I cut the striped one into pieces, sewed them back together and made a traditional scarf, too.

Here’s how they turned out…

scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife

And here’s what they look like on…

scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife

scarves & legwarmers -The Backyard Farmwifescarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife scarves & legwarmers - The Backyard Farmwife

Now I just need some winter weather…

Monday, June 17, 2013

Lawn Dice

I saw a set of six yard dice on Pinterest. I knew they would be a fantastic gift for my hubby for Father’s Day. They were $50! Then they were no longer a fantastic gift for my hubby…

Thankfully, I am fairly clever and handy with a saw. All I needed was a 4x4 post, a saw, a sander, and some outdoor paint. Easy peasy!

First cut your post into six 3 1/2” pieces. Then sand the rough sides and edges.

Then trace your dots onto the cubes using a real dice as your guide. I traced a large button with a pencil.

lawn dice - The Backyard FarmwifeThen paint in each dot with outdoor craft paint. I used all black but you could use any color. I am making a set for my niece and I’m painting each dice with different colored dots.

To seal them and make them more weather/moisture/grass stain resistant, spray them with a few coats of clear spray paint.

In order for them to be easily taken to the park, backyard, beach or wherever you’d like to play, I made a nice heavy-duty bag with a drawstring top.

lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife

I also made a chalkboard game board for both Yahtzee and Farkle. You could also just throw a couple of game pads into the bag.

lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife

Some chalk and a cloth for erasing and we were ready to play!

lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife lawn dice - The Backyard Farmwife

Lawn dice are great for all ages and are tons of fun!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Circle Denim Quilt

I was inspired to make this quilt by the rag quilts I have been making lately for our local Caring Pregnancy Center and by the quilt I have hanging in my room.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made this quilt years ago and still love it!

This quilt is also a terrific way to use up all of those scraps of fabric that you just love! And all of those old jeans that someone has outgrown or now have holes in the knees…circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife First cut out 30 6-inch squares from the denim.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard FarmwifeThen cut out 30 4.25-inch circles out of 30 different prints. Also cut out 30 strips of 4”x1.5” from each of the prints for your binding.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife  circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

Just so they stay put on the denim squares while going through the wash, iron a bit of fusible web onto the back of each circle and then iron the circles into the centers of the denim squares.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard FarmwifeSew each circle onto the square with a 1/4” seam allowance from the edge of the circle.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife  Lay the quilt out how you want it to be and then sew the squares together. Then attach the rows to one another to make the quilt front.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwifethis is my boys’ print quilt

When the front is all pieced together, layer the back, batting and front together and secure with pins, tags or basting spray.

First “stitch in the ditch” between all of the squares. Then quilt a second smaller circle in the center of the circles. I chose to only do every other block.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

 

 

 

 

 

                                          You can also trace your circles

 

Now you are ready to do the binding.

Sew each strip together using a 1/4” seam allowance into one long strip.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

Iron the seams down in all one direction. (Is that grammatically correct??? It sounds wrong but I can’t figure out how to fix it when I’m so tired… LOL)

You are going to iron the binding in half but not in equal halves. You want more binding in the back than in the front. I folded mine over my quilt to see how much I needed in the front and then finger pressed a bit to get me started.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife Pin your binding onto the edge of your quilt and sew it on making sure to catch both sides of the binding. It’s pretty easy to do when your sewing on the front and there’s more in the back than the front.

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you wash and dry the quilt the edges of the circles and binding will get that frayed ruffled look like in the quilt from my bedroom.

Have fun!

circle denim quilt tutorial - The Backyard Farmwife

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Basting Spray

I have to confess that I had never heard of basting spray until one of my FB followers told me about it when I complained about hating the layering part of quilting. But it sounded so intriguing that I took my JoAnn’s coupon down to the store the next day and bought me a bottle…

basting spray - The Backyard Farmwife First lesson learned: I am glad I laid down a vinyl tablecloth. I wish I had thought to pin it down before I started. :o(

basting spray - The Backyard Farmwife

It was a WHOLE LOT FASTER than the traditional pinning but I will probably need a bit more practice before I have it down.

 basting spray - The Backyard FarmwifeI have to say that I was glad to have an easier way to layer it together because I had put a little more work into quilting this one than I have been lately. I normally have just been going to the “stitch in the ditch” method.

basting spray - The Backyard Farmwife basting spray - The Backyard Farmwife 

I really like the way it turned out!

 basting spray - The Backyard Farmwife

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Puffy Jar Lids

We got several jars of applesauce for Christmas from my husband’s aunt. Her lids were so nice, with just the perfect amount of “puff” to them.

canning jar lid - The Backyard Farmwife I finally opened a jar on Sunday and discovered how she did it…

canning jar lid - The Backyard Farmwife Round cotton cosmetic puffs. They are just the right size to sit on top of a wide-mouth canning jar lid!

canning jar lid -The Backyard FarmwifeThen cut out a 4-inch circle of fabric and lay it on top of the pads…

canning jar lid - The Backyard FarmwifeScrew on the band and you’re done! Super easy!!! Thanks for the great idea, Cyndi! 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Raggedy Circle Quilt

I had a whole bunch of leftover circles cut out from when I made round casserole cozies a couple of years ago… I know! I meant to use them before now, I just never got around to it.

Well, I took all those circles and wondered what they would look like as a quilt. And since I had just had a raggedy quilt class at church, I gave it a try…

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife

First lay out your pattern.

Then lay the two circles on top of one another with wrong sides together and right sides facing out… I did all of the back in the same print. It makes it so much easier!

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife

Then press them. Lay a 6” square, cut out of cardstock, in the center of the front circle.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife Then press the edges over the square.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife Your circle will look like this…

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard FarmwifeNext, sew an x in the center of each “square”.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard FarmwifeNow you can start sewing the rows together…

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard FarmwifeSew them together with the seams facing towards the front. Sew right along the creased side of your “square”. You will have very large rounded seams in the front of your rows.

Attach each row to the other the same way; wrong sides together with the seams facing out and sew along the creased lines of the “squares”.

circle raggedy quilt -The Backyard Farmwife

Once you have all your rows sewn together, sew all the way along the edge on the creased lines.

quilt question - The Backyard Farmwifecircle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife

Now you need to get rid of all those extra big rounded seams between each block.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard FarmwifeI folded each row flat and cut off the edges for a 1/2” seam allowance from the sewn seams. I also did each block individually so it would be more even.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife  Using a pair of scissors with a very sharp tip, clip the seams almost to the seams (DON’T CLIP THE SEAMS!!! You’ll be sorry!!!) about every 1/2”.

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard FarmwifeWash in cold water and a short cycle and dry on medium heat. I’ll warn you now, you’ll have a lot of pretty colorful lint when you’re through.

lint - The Backyard Farmwife

You’ll also have a very pretty blanket!

circle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwifecircle raggedy quilt - The Backyard Farmwife