Back to School 2012

Here we are one full year later.  Grandkids went back to school today.  They are very excited to meet their teachers and hope to see friends from last year.  Grandma Cat hopes to get back on track.  Haven't 'blogged' for a full year because the connection from the Captive Illusions domain name wouldn't connect to the blog, which made the blog next to impossible to find.  My daughter, De'Anna, visited from Colorado a couple of weeks ago and straightened everything out for me.  Let's hear it for daughters...Hip Hip Hooray!

I've been helping said daughter, De'Anna, build inventory for a craft fair she will be doing in October in Colorado.  I used Simplicity pattern 1957 (shown below) to make these sweet miniature aprons.  I intended to make them for decorative purposes like it shows on the pattern below; however, the aprons fit Barbie dolls perfectly.



I've made 36 of the full aprons and intend to make a dozen or so out of Christmas fabric.  If I do not run out of time, I'll make a couple dozen or so of the 1/2 aprons as well.  These are fun and quick.  The first apron took about 30 minutes, but after tweaking the pattern a bit, I can now make them in 10 minutes.  They are fully lined and didn't cost a thing as I've got drawers of scrap fabric that I've saved for quilting.

Time to get this blog posted, get shipping done, finish the laundry, make some zucchini bread before the grandkids get home from school, get some accounting done, make a grocery list.....and so on and so forth!
 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!
              
   Captive Illusions            Captive Embroidery
              &                                  &
Grandma Cat's Attic            Crafty Family

Last Week of School - Tuesday

 The twins are so excited.  Their Kindergarten class is going on a field trip to Mudgy and Millie's in Coeur d'Alene today.  It's a walking trail based on the book Mudgy and Millie about a moose and a mouse.  When all three grandkids get home from school day, their project for the day will be Smartie Airplanes to go with the Graduation Hat Cards they did yesterday as gifts for all their classmates on the last day of school.  I found this one on line for Valentine's Day.

 

Rubber Bands  $1.99 at Office Depot; probably less expensive at Wal-Mart.  We'll get 2 packs to make sure we have plenty.

Any gum with foil wrappers works great; however, the gum my son brought home does not have foil wrappers, so instead of putting a wrap around the gum with the foil wrapper showing as shown on the Valentine Airplane, we'll cover the entire piece of gum.  The gum was very flimsy and kept bending when the grandkids tried to put the airplanes together, so I cut strips of card stock 2 3/4" X 3/4" and had the kids set them on the gum before they wrapped the gum with the paper.

We bought this huge 41 ounce bag of Life Savers at Wal-Mart.     The bag has over 200 pieces in it, individually wrapped.  Yes, they have to be unwrapped to use them for the wheels of the airplane.  Sonny cut one end off each wrapper and Skyler dumped the mints out of the wrappers into a bowl.  There were only 3 broken mints in the bag.  We ate them.

Smarties are inexpensive.  We got an extra bag for the kids to enjoy!








I printed the words Congrats Smartie! several times using a word document, the font is Arial as the letter were the closest I could find to the letters the grandkids learned in school.  I used size 18.  You could write them on pieces of paper if you want, but I don't have that much time to spare.  I folded the paper so the grandkids would have cutting lines.





To assemble the Airplanes, thread the rubber band through the hole in two Life Savers.  I had the grandkids put their pinky finger through one loop of the rubber band, put a stick of gum in the loop on the other side of the Life Savers, then take the rubber band off their finger and over the other end of the gum.  Next, they inserted the roll of Smartie's under the gum and above the Life Savers.  They added small stickers for a finished look.


Too much fun and totally worth every minute!  Tomorrow they grandkids will put the Graduation Hat Cards and the Candy Airplane in clear poly bags, tie them with ribbons and be ready for the last day of school!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
              
   Captive Illusions            Captive Embroidery
    Captive Decals                 Crafty Family

Last Week of School - Monday

This is the first day of the last week of school for Trinity (First Grade) and Sonny and Skyler (Kindergarten).  We have so many projects to do this week along with keeping up with the housework, eBay, Artfire, and now that the weather has finally turned nice, yard work that we will be running around like a chicken and her little chicks.  Our after school project today is to create little 'graduation' gifts for all the kids in Trinity, Sonny and Skyler's classes.  Each class has between 20 and 25 children so we'll be making 72 gifts which should give us a few extras.  First off, I bought some cute decks of cards from Oriental Trading shaped like graduations caps.  They are on sale for $1.50 for 12 decks of cards.  I bought 6 dozen - a set in red, blue, green, yellow, purple and orange for $9.00 which is 12 1/2 cents per deck of cards!

The decks measure a scant 3" X 3".  I have labels that measure 1" X 3" that I'll set up with sayings:

Happy Graduation!  Hope you have a fun summer!  From Skyler
Congrats Graduate!  Have fun in first grade!  From Sonny
Have a great summer!  Hope to see you next year!  From Trinity

The kids will put a label on the back of each deck of cards and then decorate the label with stickers.

I'll post a picture or two when the project is finished.

To go with the decks of cards the kids will be making Smartie Airplanes.

I'll blog about that those tomorrow!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
              
   Captive Illusions            Captive Embroidery
     Captive Decals                 Crafty Family

Fat Quarter Window Valance

Fat Quarter Window Valance

Okay, so here's what prompted this project. I moved from California to Idaho this summer and am leasing a house with blinds. I hate blinds. But since I don't own the home and am only leasing it for a year or two, I don't want to spend money on covering the blinds. But I HATE blinds. So, I dug though my fabric stash and came up with some fat quarters that will work well with the very dark kitchen cabinets and the stark white walls and provide a bit of class (I hope) to the blinds. Did I mention that I hate blinds?

Here goes . . .

Measure the width of your window. My kitchen window measures 36” wide; however, I’m going to use a tension rod from cabinet to cabinet. The space between the cabinets measures 42”. For a nicely gathered valance multiply the width times 2.5 (42” X 2.5 equals 105” for mine). That's how wide you will want your finished valance to measure. For the Fat Quarter Window Valance the fat quarters will be used as the 22” being the width and the 18” as the height. Dividing 105” by 22” will tell me how many fat quarters are needed for my 42” wide area which is 5. I can use 6 for a fuller valance for 4 for one with less gathering. Since I have 3 fabrics I want to use, I’m going to use 6 fat quarters, 2 of each color.

If you want your valance to be longer than 17" you can turn the fat quarters and use the 18" as the width and the 22" as the height, if the design of the fabric will allow. Mine would not, but that's okay because I'm fine with the 17" length.


Step 1:

Verify that your design does not run along the selvage but across the 22” edge. Iron the fat quarters. I trim off the selvage more out of habit as a quilter than a necessity for the valances, however, if the edge of the selvage is white you will want to cut if off so that it doesn’t show up in the front of your finished valance. Trim the fat quarters to the same size. I’ve received fat quarters that measured anywhere from 17 ½” to 20” in one direction and 21 ½” to 23” in the other direction. It is important that all the fat quarters are the same size before you begin, but it does not matter what the actual dimensions are . . . as long as all fat quarters are the same size.

Step 2:

Fold a fat quarter in half with the printed side of the fabric together so that the18” edges meet. You should be looking at a two layer piece of fabric that measures 9" X 22". Sew a ¼” seam along the bottom on a 9" edge, cut the inner corner diagonally for ease of turning, turn the fabric, pulling out towards the sides to make a peak. Press. Do the same with the remaining fat quarters.

Step 3:

Decide the order in which you fat quarters will be sewn together. With the printed design together place one fat quarter on top of the other, aligning the peaks. Stitch from the upper edge to the beginning of the angle. Press seam open. Continue with remaining fat quarters in order.

Step 4:

Time to line the top portion of the valance. Each of the seams between my fat quarters measure 7 ½”. I’m going to add 1” to that and cut a strip of lining 8 ½” deep by the width of my valance which is 132”. Press ½” under on one long edge of your lining. Pin the lining to the top, sew a ½” seam allowance. Press open. Fold sides ½” in, insides facing, press, top stitch ¼” from edge. Fold top of lining towards inside making sure lining covers raw edges, press. Stitch close to edge of lining.

Step 5:

To sew in pockets to insert a curtain rod, you need know the type of rod you are using and whether or not you want a ruffle on top. My valance is going to use a tension rod which is ½” in diameter. I’m going with a top ruffle. Stitch across top edge 1 ½” from the edge across the valance. Stitch from one edge to the other across the valance 3 ½” from upper edge. You’ve now formed an upper ruffle and a pocket for a curtain rod up to 1” wide.

Step 6:

Your valance is ready to hang unless you would like to add embellishments. You can string beads from the peaks, sew on bows, pin on butterflies, whatever strikes your fancy. 

New Life To Metal Filing Cabinets

Today I decided I could not stand to look at the ugly metal cabinets in my office any longer.  So I hopped in my blue Saturn Ion and drove 6 miles to the nearest WalMart where I purchased 2 rolls of Con-Tact paper (and a bunch of other stuff that maybe I really didn't need).  The name of the color I picked out is Granite Rose, but I didn't know that until just now, when I grabbed one of the packages.  When I got home I ripped the clear plastic off one roll and measured it against an open drawer for length and cut across the contact paper following the lines on the backing.  Made it real easy to cut a straight line.  Then I checked the height of the drawer front and found that I could get two drawers out of the 18" wide paper.  Cool.  I folded the 18" X 26" piece in half lengthwise and cut along the fold.  I peeled the backing away from the 9" edge for about 5", held everything up to an open drawer, aligned the contact paper and static pulled it to the drawer front.  I could easily peel it away if the alignment was not right.  When I was happy with the alignment, I carefully pulled the back paper from underneath the contact paper, pressing the contact paper against the metal drawer front.  Once applied I made sure there were no bubbles by smoothing the contact paper, making sure not to stretch the paper.  I wrapped the contact paper around all the edges of the drawer.  It clung beautifully.  I used sharp scissors to cut a hole where the drawer handles were and cut a rectangle out of the paper, cut diagonal slits to each corner, then pressed the contact paper inwards.  After 2 drawers I could see that the cabinets were going to look terrific when finished.

While I didn't have to prep the surface for the contact paper, I found that dark colors would show through so I had to scrape off the dark blue stickers that were still on the cabinets from their original home at Joann's (I bought 6 of them from a Joann's that was closing at $20 a pop...thanks to my brother who picked them up in his truck).  I also made sure to remove any tape or stickers that were prominent, but I didn't bother removing the sticky residue figuring it wouldn't show and might help the contact paper hold.   As I got going each drawer took 5 minutes to complete.

I printed labels for each drawer from my computer onto parchment colored paper and since I don't have a laminating machine, I covered the front of my labels with clear packing tape.  Viola...no more ugly filing cabinets. 

Okay, so I still need to organize all the stuff on top of the cabinets...maybe that will be tomorrow's project.

Here are the cabinets a week later all cleared off and organized.

As usually, Happy Crafting from Cathy (and Trinity) at Captive Illusions!

Ironing Board Cover

Ironing Board Cover

Okay, here's another one of those 'must do' projects. While I was making the fat quarter valance for my kitchen and taking pictures as I went along, I realized that my ironing board cover looked quite disgusting:

So I grabbed a piece of fabric that I had won from an eBay auction for about half of what it would have cost at the fabric store (including the shipping) and draped it over the ironing board for the pictures. Looked much nicer. Then I remembered why I bid on that particular piece of fabric in the first place...it was to make a cover for my crappy looking ironing board.

Since I've already pulled, packaged and shipped my eBay sales for the day (and instead of cleaning house, cooking or gardening), I think I will finally turn that fabric into an ironing board cover.


Step 1:
Clear all junk off ironing board.

My mother used to say that if you presented a flat surface to my dad, he would fill it up. Guess I take after Dad. When I took off the blue cover that looked so bad, I found a striped cover that was in bad shape as well.

Wow, all the original cover had under it was a very thin layer of yellow foam that was falling apart, had an 'off' smell, and felt creepy.

Wadded it up and threw it away. Took the string out of the casing of the old cover, ironed the cover flat to use as a template. Hmmm, found something interesting. Instead of sewing a casing along the edge of the cover like the blue cover, the edging has a wide overcast stitch with the tightening string within the stitching. I like this method as it seems like it would be quite easy to do. Read on to see if it worked for me.

Step 2:
Ironed the old cover and used it as a template by pinning the old cover on top of the new fabric. Cut out the new cover. My ironing board cover needed a piece of fabric 58" long by 17" wide.

Step 3:
I sewed a loose casting stitch around the edge of the cover with the tension string within the stitches (being careful not to sew through the string). I used the string from the old cover since it was still quite strong.

Alternate casings: Sew bias tape around the edge, or sew a hem all the way around, leaving an opening at the center back of the cover to pull and tie the string.


Step 4:
Before I actually secured the new cover to the ironing board I cut a piece of The Warm Company's Insul-Bright the size and shape of the ironing board, then put the cover on top of it. Since Insul-Bright reflects heat back to the source, it will make ironing quicker and give crisper seams.

This was the most fun I've had sewing in a long time. Probably because it was a quick and easy project (I'm always up for 'instant gratification'), or possibly because I learned a new technique (sewing the tension string inside the overcast stitch).

As usually, Happy Crafting from Cathy (and Trinity) at Captive Illusions!

Crochet Afghan

My first Christmas project in progress. I have modified the colors so the recipient won't guess who it's for. Sneaky, right?

Anyway, I'm crocheting an afghan, in a chevron stitch. Now, its been a long time since I've done one, so I drew on my database to see what I remember. This is how I decided to proceed.

I stitched a loose chain (ch) in increments of 17 to about twice the length I wanted the afghan. Add one for turning, and turn. Now I am doing the entire blanket in single crochet (sc).

Turn, skip one stitch, *sc in the next 7 ch, skip 2 ch, sc in next 7 ch, 3 sc in next ch, repeat from *, if counted right, you should end on a 7.
{ch 1, turn, 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 5 sc, this should put you in a valley of a chevron. **Skip 2 sc, sc in next 7 sc, 3 sc in top sc (peak of chevron), sc in next 7, repeat from ** until you get to the end of the row, 2 sc in last sc, ch 1 and turn}.
Repeat { } until you have the height you want for your finished afghan.

Well, at this point I'm about halfway done, and putting in a little time each night. There's 2 ways to do this, the long way (working up and down the long direction) or the short way (working side to side from the bottom to the top). I am doing the short way, in which case I recommend not leaving the tails when you switch colors for tassels, but weaving them back into your work as you go.

 I'll be finishing with an edging around the entire blanket. If you work the long way, you can leave long tails when you change colors, then make tassels with your leftover yarn and include those tails as part of the tassel, trimming to match length.


Will update when it's all done. Have fun crocheting, let us know what you're up to.

Until next time, Happy Crafting

De'Anna

Jewelry Box Make Over

Project of the day – Jewelry Box Make Over

Trinity is 6 years old. She is already a consummate collector…of anything and everything. She thinks everything is good for something and someday she will find a use for it. While she is visiting her maternal grandparents today, her paternal grandma (me, Grandma Cat) will hopefully be turning a broken down, unattractive chipboard sewing or jewelry box (that Trinity found and had to have) into something special.

Gathering Materials

Check my scrap drawers, bins and boxes and found a wonderful piece of purple satiny silky fabric (purchased long ago, have no idea what it actually is) with black flocked flowers. Trinity has seen this fabric before and I know that she loved it. I’m sure I have a bit of black velvet somewhere to line the inside of the box. While hunting for fabric, I also found a bit of black fringe that I might be able to use,. Grabbed my box of glue and fray check, scissors, and I’ll add whatever I have to run and find as the need arises to the list.

Time to Begin

It’s almost 9 am on a Saturday morning. First, I’ll carefully take the box apart. I used a small screwdriver ( yup, already had to find something not on the list…a screwdriver), and gently pried off the hinges so they could be cleaned, painted black, and used again.



After pulling them out I see that I will need a pair of pliers to straighten out the points so the box can be put back together. Once all the hardware is off, I’m left with 3 separate pieces to the box…the top, the bottom and the inside ‘drawer’. It took 8 minutes to find the screwdriver and take all the hardware off. Not too bad.

Covering the Box with Fabric

Couldn't find the velvet, though I know it is here somewhere. My only excuse is that we moved from California to Idaho 6 weeks ago and haven’t exactly gotten everything in its place yet. I did find some black polished cotton that will work for the lining. I started with the ‘drawer’ since it was smallest and would either be the easiest because it was small, or the hardest because it was small. Either way, I would get it out of the way first and be happy it was done. I cut a rectangle ½” larger than the ‘drawer’. Then glued the fabric inside the ‘drawer’ using a flat craft paintbrush to spread Elmer’s white glue over the inside surface .

For the outside of the drawer I cut 1 rectangle 1 ½” larger than the drawer, then glued the fabric to the outside, over the edge of the box making sure the fabric ended slightly over the black lining. I used paperclips to hold everything in place while the glue dries. If you’ve got clothespins handy they will work just as well. After everything dried, I took off the paperclips andI used fray check along the edge of the fabric to prevent stray threads later that Trinity or her boys, as she calls her twin brothers, could pull thus ripping everything apart. The box bottom was done pretty much the same as the ‘drawer’, just had to adjust the measurements as the bottom was bigger than the ‘drawer’.

Okay, now for the top. To give it a little bit of ‘wow’ factor (I hope), I cut two layers of quilt batting slightly smaller than the top and glued them in place, one on top of the other, and then covered as the bottom and ‘drawer’. I glued the bit of black fringe that Trinity liked around the top and held it all in place with straight pins until it dried completely which took about an hour.

Putting the Box Back Together

I painted two coats of black model paint onto all the hardware pieces after scrubbing them with steel wool to make sure they were clean and give the model paint a grip-able surface. Put the hinges on the back, hooked the drawer back on the inside rivets and put the front clasp back on. Done deal.

Until next time, Happy Crafting

Grandma Cat