Katie Skiff

You’re A Cut Above

Hi again!!  Another birthday card.  This time, it’s for my sister in law.  She loves to sew, so I knew this set from Stampin Up! would be perfect. 

I stamped the “cut” lines across the top and bottom before I stamped the sentiment and scissors.  I pulled the colors from this week’s Global Design Project  and found some older DSP to add in for the black.  I also thought it would work well with the sketch over at Retro Sketches.  

I finished it off with some sequins and it’s ready to go.  It’s very simple, but I know she will love it!

 

I have even cleaned off my craft table of PAPER supplies and sewed her a couple cute pot holders! 

 

Kindle Case PLUS | Sewing Project

Hey there!! 

I was recently on a search for some sort of case for my Kindle.  I’ve been taking it to school and I hate the thought of it banging around in my school bag.  I wasn’t liking the option I had found to buy something, and I knew that I could easily create something. 

So I headed to Pinterest and these were a few of the Pins I saw. 

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I actually even attempted this last one, but I didn’t care for it.  Then I was messing around saw my three main things that I keep with me every day. 

 

It came to me, that I needed a case for all three since I carry all three with me most of the time.  And I can easily transfer this to my purse from my school bag and visa versa.  And I’ll know where they all are. 

So I thought I would just share with you what I created.  I am in no way a pro at this stuff, and you’ll see as the photos get messier that I was struggling.  lol 

I started with two sections of material.  I cut them just a bot larger than the planner itself as that would go in the main pocket.  You can get a planner like this HERE. 

I then cut two pieces that same size for the inside of that pocket.  I choose the grey here.  I lined each of them up right sides together, and stitched ONLY along the top. 

I then folded them back over, ironed them flat at the seams and then stitched the top again to finish it. 

I missed a few photos, but I did similar as before.  I cut two panels of the turquoise and two of the pink and stitched them rights sides together along the top.  Then put them wrong sides together, ironed and stitched the tops.  So when I laid them out, I have these three layers.  This is going to be the front of my case. 

Then I laid my phone on the front to get a feel for where that pocket would be and if I could add some spaces for pens as well. 

I stitched two strips down the front (on each side of the pen) to make the pockets on this front one.  I didn’t sew on the sides because when I put it all together, those will close up. 

At this point, I didn’t take any more photos really.  I took my other outside panel from the beginning and put them right sides – pink sides- together.  I stitched all around the sides and bottom. 

When I do that, I ALWAYS cut the corners to make it turn in easier.  I turned it right side out and about had a heart attack.  I had opened it up with the pockets on the backside and thought I did it wrong.  However, before I seam ripped threw it out, I realized I just turned it wrong.  Phew. 

So I ended up with a super cute lil pouch set for everything I need!! 

I’m super excited to be toting this baby around.   

 

Hope you enjoyed it. 

Thanks for visiting today!! 

Projects

Hey all!

I am cozily sitting at home today, hoping to get some things cleaned and caught up around here.  It’s been another one of those weeks with wildness going on. 

And we have a busy weekend planned, so I’m taking advantage of a couple huge blocks of time at home. 

I have deemed this the summer of projects. 

We have been getting a lot done. Things crossed off the list.  First coat of paint on Grandpa’s deck.  Finally.

I will no longer make plans to work on it, but randomly show up and paint a final coat.

When I make plans, it rains.

We finally got the ground tilled up for the front lawn. 

And I have grass seed. 

You do the math.

We made some tie-dye t-shirts.  Check that off the summer fun list.  We will be sporting these lovely beasts this weekend.

 

I may or may not be addicted to the Sharpie Mug creations. 

The kids may or may not be addicted to them too.

Where can we get more mugs?  - that is the question. 

Thanks to an awesome aunt and a cousin who works at the fabric store, I scored my polka dot rainbow fabrics for another Chevron quilt. 

No thanks to my niece who is now having a boy and won’t like rainbows. 

I’m still making it anyway.

The first photo reminds me of my own blanket. 

Looks like I have lots of polka dot going on.  But the red-checkered is what I remember the most.

And I was adorable, no?

4H cooking and baking projects are happening. 

Pinterest Rainbow cookies were baked and eaten. 

They do not look like Pinterest worthy, but they were great! 

Project Life is still happening. 

Friendship bracelets were happening with the intentions of birthday goodie bags. 

Friendship bracelets for one happened. 

After just over two years of braces, I am sporting some almost perfect teeth.  Straighter than they have ever been.  I love it.

So worth the pain. 

Related articles

Around the House | July

Sewing | Chevron Quilt

Simple Jelly Roll Quilt

I’ve always admired the Jelly Rolls at the quilt shops, but never really had any plan for them.

Until Pinterest. 

I saw one similar with no instruction, so I decided to work it out on my own and share my steps here with you.*

I picked up these fabrics at The Quilting Hen the last time we went to Great Falls. They look like a hodge podge of fabrics called 1930’s Reproductions.

If you do not have a Jelly Roll, these were 40 – 2.5” strips by WOF.

I started out by sewing 30 of the strips together in no particular order. 

 

Next, I took the remaining 10 strips and cut them in 10 inch strips. 

Then I sewed together the 10” strips.  Randomly, I sewed 4 sets of 7 of the strips together at the short ends, like shown. 

Then I sewed two of those strips together, without lining them up.  I staggered them as shown below.  Then did the same with the other two, staggering them in a different way.

 

 

I see I missed a couple photos here. I tried to show you as best I could with this one. 

Next I took my larger piece and cut off 4 inches off each side. 

When I laid it out with the smaller strips it should look like the photo below. 

I apologize if that was confusing. 

Again, when I laid these out, I staggered the smaller strips. 

 

After sewing it all together, it will look like this.  (Well, better than this – I didn’t iron it yet. HA!) 

 

Once it is all sewed together, trim off the extra bits and square up your front.  It should look like this.

McKinley asked what I was going to do with it, and I wasn’t sure.  She said I should have a plan.  I think I do, but I want it to be a surprise, so I’m not telling her.  HA!! 

I am going to add backing fabric to my list of things to look for, and then finish it up.  Before Christmas.  Hee Hee!

 

*Making a note that I am in no way a professional quilter. I just enjoy it and wanted to share with you! Enjoy!

Sewing | Chevron Quilt

I’ve had this idea for quite awhile.

I really wanted a grey and white chevron quilt. 

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I wish now that I would have started sooner, as it was super easy and took me just about half a day total. 

The biggest reason it took so long, was a) I didn’t have the right fabric and b) I could not find decent directions. 

However on a recent dental trip to Havre, I found some material that matched a pillow kit that I had purchased once before.  I thought it would help coordinate the pillow in the living room.

So I searched through Pinterest for directions. The above photo, as well as many others, simply went to etsy sites for purchasing the quilts. 

I wanted directions and I didn’t even mind paying for them. 

I found these DIRECTIONS HERE on Cluck Cluck Sew. 

It was another one of those Duh moments where I could have just figured it out.  But sometimes I need to see things to make sure it will work. 

David watched me through part of the process and thought I had gone mad.

He was relieved to see that it actually created something resembling the Chevron pattern.  Or zig zag in 14yo speak. 

 On my quilt, I cut each square to 11”.  I wanted it a bit bigger. 

You could go any size and it would be awesome. 

 

Unfortunatly, when I went back to get material for the back, they didn't have enough.  So I found something similar and I am happy with this yellow. 

I am super excited for this quilt. 

Even tho it’s a million degrees outside now. 

But we do get together now and then on a cold evening.

 

 

I am now in the process of picking materials for THREE baby quilts in this design.  I think each will have smaller “zig zags’ and maybe some more color. 

Ombre.  Ohhhh…

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I am on the hunt for this material to make this one.

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What about jeans? 

Or scraps? 

Aw... I'm excited!! 

A Banner Friday

Hi!!  I have had a busy week and it’s only been three days really.  Makes me happy today is Friday and I am home ALL DAY!  Looking forward to a lazy weekend at home, and in order for that to happen I need to take care of this crazy house!!  Yikes!! 

However, before that I wanted to pop on and visit with you all.  Grab something warm and settle in. 

Today is my second of 2 Creative Friday posts over on the Memory Works blog.  I have a few fun and cheery cards over there, as well as the rest of this layout.  Head over HERE to check them out. 

Before you go (or after you visit the MW blog) I wanted to share a couple banners with you. 

This isn’t the best photo – I could only get a good one at night. But this is the banner my SIL, Lindsey made me for Christmas.  I was so happy I put it up the next day and never took a photo.  Sorry Lindsey – I really do love it!! 

Here is an OK shot in the day time. 

When I was at Lindsey’s house this weekend, I got to dive into her stash of fabric and made this fun banner for my room.  I think I have a new addiction… I want one everywhere!!   

Speaking of Lindsey, she has opened her own Etsy shop and it’s full of super cute items.

Check it out HERE – On Hope Road.  I’ve seen all her goods in person and they are awesome.  I love that she is selling whatever she makes at the time – it’s so full of fun!! 

OK, I best get going – I wanna get my chores done so I can play and make some eye candy for you all for next week!! 

TGIF – Thanks for stopping by PEEPS!! 

Project Life Update

Peeps – its already Wednesday!! 

I’ve blogged about our busy-ness here on my family blog if you wanna see what we did this weekend!!

Most of that will make its way into the next layout for Project Life – but how about I show you a couple week’s ago. 

Lots of fun colors here.  I used a lot of this month’s MemoryWorks Express Kit and my Studio Calico kit for February.  The Hello card actually came with my Origami Owl Designer kit. 

I have soooooo many letter stickers, I’ve used them for the journaling here. 

I had hand wrote I love to Read, and then I went back and added letter stickers.  I told you I have a lot of letter stickers.  lol 

I am loving the colors from both kits for this month and it flows well with my photos for this week. 

It’s a busy week, but I am here blogging in my PJ’s.  LOVE THIS!!  I do need to get going and clean up this house.  Being gone makes such a mess and lots of laundry.  Plus it’s Science Fair week, Music Festival, stamp club, Picture Days and my first O2 party this week.  So… I am going to ENJOY Friday when I can celebrate a few lazy days at home.

On our way home, I got to stop by the fabric shop and I wanted to share with you what I picked up.

 

Can’t wait to share with you what I create with this good looking stuff!! 

Happy Valentine's Day

Are you all ready to share your love today!!  It’s going to be a full day for us with kids’ parties, setting up for Science Fair, packing, etc. But I’m also making up some heart shaped pizzas and Cupid’s floats for dinner tonight.  Watch my Instagram in the side bar for photos. 

I told you that I was creating something for my Valentine, so I thought I’d share it with you today. 

I found THIS BLANKET on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun idea for Greg.  It is harder to see in the photos, and though it’s not the same as the Pinterest photo, I love how this turned out. 

I added some white material with our initial “carved” in the tree bark.   

I picked out some deer/hunting material go on the back.  This was so simple – my machine has a nice option to sew without the foot pedal, aka lazy sewing.  And they aren’t straight lines so I LOVED it. 

So I had to make a card to match it right? 

 

I  used the woodgrain embossing folder and added a heart with I Love You.

I better get going – have a great Thursday!! 

Sew Sew Saturday

Hey there.  Hope you are enjoying the weekend.  I am a bit too much, laying around on the couch watching The Vanilla Ice Project marathon. 

I wanted to share a couple things with you...

Due to the weather, Corinna was not able to get product ready for this Friday's Fresh Off the Spool, so she's offering up what she does have in stock ON SALE!  YAY...

Wanna see what I got last week?

 

I picked up some Maya Roads Trinket Pins, Kaiser Craft Sparklets, KC Mini Crochet Doilies and this vintage ruler twine. 

However, yesterday I spent the day working on some doll clothes for Missy's babies.  I am no seamstress but they made her happy. 

This was the outfit I made yesterday.  I wasn't really thinking too hard about it so I didn't match the thread on the pants.  She doesn't care... she loves it.

OK, go shop at the Ribbon Carousel.  I'm going back to see what Ice is up to now.  *wink*

Sew Fun

Hello there Readers!! 

Back to another week. This is the final week before the big craft sale, so I am going great guns to get enough inventory to make the day worth it.  I might be quiet for a bit. 

We had a few weekend here.  Saturday was a big football playoff game which the boys of the house were ready to go watch. My aunt was in town for Grandpa's birthday and along with her, my other aunt and my mom we set up for a day of sewing.  McKinley came along, as well as David who opted out of the football game. 

My aunt had picked me up some patterns on sale at JoAnn's and there were all for American Girl doll clothes.  Lil Miss was super happy.  I helped her sew a new dress for her doll. I thought she'd want to do more, so most of it was sewn on my Janome Mini. 

 

David had an Angry Bird idea and wanted a pillow. So he cut out each of the pieces and I stitched them on the pillow case.   

 

When I was working on my other projects Lil Miss just started to sew some things.  It ended in tears because she wasn't able to make anything her doll could wear, but it was fun while it lasted.  She did really well, once I got her going, knowing to move the needle and keep her fingers out of the way. 

Then David got in on it too.  He decided to make a tshirt.  And forgot about arm holes. LOL... I think I like the straight jacket look.

At the end of the day I got a nice photo of Lil Miss and her Emily.  Now Emily has a nice dress for Christmas. 

It was a nice day together with everyone.  Now, back to the card making.