Ribbon Key Chain

I saw this tutorial for making fabric key chains a long time ago but didn't want to go through the hassle of cutting the fabric and all the little details of it. So I decided to use ribbon and a D ring.

I used 32 inches of ribbon that is 1 1/2" wide. The D ring is also 1 1/2".

I folded the ribbon in half and tucked my edges and sewed all the way around it so that it was double the thickness. I then placed the D-ring in one side and folded in each side. There is about 2 3/4 of fabric tucked in from each side or just do it until it looks good and the main part can slide over your hand onto your wrist. I sewed the bottom part first to keep it shut and stop it from moving when I sewed the D ring in place. Then I got as close as I could and sewed the D ring in place. I did have to pull it along a little since the feeders had trouble pulling it through.The total size came out to be 6". They are super easy to make and took me maybe 15 minutes (with my son on my lap).

I did this one as well and I liked it better so I use this one. If anyone knows anyone that might want the other let me know!

Easy Apron

I have been looking for a easy apron to make. I have been trying to win a Flirty Apron every time I see a giveaway for them. I have yet to win so I figured I could make this one that I found at A Girl and a Glue Gun. I have a left over pair of jeans from this project and since it only required a little less than half a yard of other fabric it was a quick and easy solution until I break down and buy (or win) one of the Flirty Aprons. So from her tutorial this is the apron I made. I really like the way it turned out.

Carrots Everywhere

I made some garden boxes this year and planted what I thought was a minimal amount of carrots. Knowing that winter was coming I pulled them all up. I had a whole sink full of carrots varying in size. First I thought I could make carrot bread and then freeze them.

I didn't know I could make carrot bread until I ate at Mimi's Cafe. They place a bread basket on your table while you wait for your food and that is one of the breads in the basket. So I googled the recipe. My son always eats the bread before anyone can get to it so I figured it was a win win our house.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups of Flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup drained diced pineapple

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup finely shredded carrots

Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan or 4 mini loaf pans. Fill the pan(s) 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Mini loaves take about 20 minutes.

Having a convection oven I double the batch. Also when I did it I used crushed pineapple and I left out the walnuts and raisins. I was giving some away so I didn't want to gross anyone out if they didn't like walnuts or raisins. When I took them out it was all I could do to stop my son from taking one of them. Here was the resultsWell the bread turned out great but I thought I would use up quite a few carrots of my sink full. I only used about 10 and still had 50-60 left. So I quickly googled (Love google!) to see if you could freeze carrots. Turns out you can! You wash them, peel them, slice them, blanch them (about 2 minutes then dunk them in ice water for the same amount of time), drain them, bag them, and freeze them. They last about 9 months in the freezer.

I was dead by the end of the day but grateful that my carrots didn't go to waste!

Blanket and Matching Onesies

I have another family member who is having a baby girl here shortly and I wanted to try something new for a gift. I found this line of fabric and I have been dying to make something out of it. I heard that her nursery is brown and pink so it fit perfectly. I bought a bunch of fat quarters in the pinks and browns of that fabric line, cut them into 6"x6" squares and made a baby size rag quilt. It turned out perfect.

I had some left over fabric and I had heard that you can cut fabric on the Cricut so I wanted to try it. I followed this tutorial on You Tube and it turned out awesome. I did have some struggles at first with the fabric moving with just two strips of painters tape so I taped all the way around the fabric and it held lots better. Here are the results of the applique:

Sweater Vests

After my husband passed away I saved a whole bunch of shirts and sweaters to put into a blanket for my son (Which my sister-in-law did beautifully). We had quite a bit left of his shirts and I remembered seeing this tutorial on Made for a sweater vest made from a mans sweater. I knew I had saved two sweaters that my husband owned so I thought what better than to make my son sweater vests out of what was left of his dad's sweaters. This is what one of them looked like before:

I followed the tutorial on Made and they turned out awesome.

Now my son gets to wear a little piece of his dad when he wears them!