Quilt-Along: Finished!

I am happy to announce that I have finished my quilt! I am sure the rest of my family will be happy as well... Dave will be happy to not have fabric and batting shreds scattered throughout the house and the kids will be happy that I'm not sewing all day long. Not to mention that Violet will no longer have the temptation of the sewing machine in the living room. Yesterday I came in to find that she had unraveled the thread and wrapped it around the couch (along with several toys and her brother).

Quilting the quilt was a bit complicated on my little sewing machine, but I was able to do it. I don't think I could quilt anything bigger than a twin size on my machine. Binding the quilt was a struggle because I am not very precise... especially when I am that close to the end! I was just so excited to get finished, that I didn't really care to rip stitches out and make them look good. So I ended up doing a straight stitch around the binding, then finishing it with a zig zag so that it would lay flat.

It was a fun project to do and I am glad I did it. It turned out well enough that I am considering doing a second one for Eddie... but there's no rush. I am looking forward to a break from such a big project.

Thanks to Jill and Sarah for hosting the quilt-along. I couldn't have done it without the walk-throughs!

{Linked on Content in the Meantime, Mom On Timeout, See Vanessa Craft}

Compiling a Personal History, Part 1

On a recent trip to visit my parents, I happened upon a personal history written by my grandmother. She had compiled it as a scrapbook, complete with photos, what she knew of her parents and grandparents, and memories of her life. She is still living, so it is not complete, but reading through it opened my eyes to how little we really know people -- even those closest to us. I grew up living 30 minutes away from my grandparents and visited at least twice a month. Since my parents have moved from my childhood home, I really feel like visiting my grandma is "going home" for me. I spent countless weekends playing and working on my grandparents' farm, but as I read through what my grandmother had written about herself, I learned so much that I never knew.

As I contemplated the concept of a personal history and harassed my parents about writing their own, I decided that it would be much easier to begin with a template. So I decided to design one. Part 1 of the Personal History Printable Template includes a page for recording the subject's name, birth information, parents' information, and a few lined pages for writing out memories of the subject's parents. I plan to design and provide more templates in the future, including sections on various life stages, major events, work, etc.

Click the button below to download the PDF for Pack 1.

{Linked on Someday Crafts, Daisy Cottage Designs, We Like to Learn as We Go, Trendy Treehouse, Content in the Meantime, Lil' Luna, Sugar and Dots, Sew Much Ado, My Girlish Whims, Mom On Timeout, Life With the Crust Cut Off, Seven Alive, The 36th Avenue, The Thriftiness Miss, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Liz Marie Blog, Life We Live 4, One Artsy Mama, Happy and Blessed Home, VMG206}

A Wired Headband Tutorial

I have a confession to make: My head is oddly shaped. I have never been able to wear headbands because of this. Hard headbands are too round for my square noggin. Elastic headbands will never stay in place.

This is bad because for most of my life I have been a short-haired gal. I love having my hair short, but not being able to wear headbands severely limits my styling options. I go through bobby pins like nobody's business.

Then I discovered wired headbands. In my opinion, these are the best things since sliced bread… or remnant bins… or hot glue guns. And for those like me walking around with a wonky head, these are a life saver! I got my first wired headband from Mod Cloth and since then, I have been working on replicating this fantastic invention. And now you can, too!

Supplies

Fabric of your choice
Floral wire, nice and bendy
Needle & thread (or sewing machine)
Iron
Pins

Tutorial

Step 1 - Measure & Cut

Measure your head where you want the headband to lay. Ask for an extra pair of hands to help you make sure your measurement is accurate. Add six inches to your measurement and cut your fabric length. Test it out on your head to make sure it is long enough, but not way too long. Remember to allow for seams on the ends that will shorten it 1/2 inch or so.

The width will depend on how wide you want the headband to end up. I like my final product to be 1.5-2.5 inches wide, so cut the fabric twice as wide as you want the headband to be.

Step 2 - Iron & Sew

Fold your fabric in half, right sides together, and iron the fold flat. Stitch the long edge.

Step 3 - Prepare Your Wire

Cut your wire approximately 4 inches longer than your fabric strip. Loop the end and wrap the cut end of the wire around so that no sharp parts are poking out. Do this to both ends.

Step 4 - Flip & Iron

Flip your fabric tube right side out. Iron it flat with the seam centered on the back. Place your wire into the fabric tube, making sure the length is right. Remember to leave some space for a seam allowance on the ends.

Step 5 - Final Stitches

Make sure your wire is as straight as possible inside the fabric tube. Place a few small stitches to secure the wire loop on each end. Fold each end of the fabric into the tube and stitch across, closing the tube on both ends. Embellish as you like.

I added small rick rack along the edge of my headband. I did the stitches by hand so they wouldn't show.

Step 6 - Style and Rock It!

The best thing about wired headbands is their versatility. You can wear them many different ways. This is my current favorite:

Place the middle of the headband at the base of your head, then bring the ends up to the top. Wrap them around each other a couple of times, tuck in the ends, and you're ready to go! This is my favorite way to wear my hair ever since I got my blunt bangs.

 

{Linked on Coastal Charm, Cedar Hill Ranch, Ladybug Blessings, Naptime Creations, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Inside BruCrew Life, Ducks 'n a Row, Today's Creative Blog, The DIY Dreamer, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Daisy Cottage Designs, Lil' Luna, My Girlish Whims, Someday Crafts, We Like to Learn as We Go, Life With the Crust Cut Off, Crafty Blog Stalker, Easy Living Mom, The 36th Avenue, Seven Alive}