Riley's Art

Riley has been participating in an art class with other home-schooled kids nearby. A Korean lady, who owns a gallery, is teaching them. So far they have don't two watercolor pieces, an acrylic piece and a collage. I thought it would be good to show off some of her artwork. Please keep in mind that I help her draw out the picture and then she paints it. I think she's done a great job so far. What do you think?

Watercolor #1 - Leaves (inspired by the photo below the painting)

Acrylic - Hearts (inspired by the photo below the painting)

Watercolor #2 - Butterfly (inspired by the photo beside the painting)

I didn't get a picture of the collage... which got stuck to her sketchpad and we had to tear it off of the paper above it... oops!



On another note, Riley's girl scout troop went for a visit to see the working dogs (a part of security forces). I got a great shot of the group of them...

 

Homemade Quilted Stockings

I told my hubby that I would make us stockings... and 2 Christmas's later I DID!!! LOL! Here's nice little tutorial on how to make homemade quilted stockings:

First you need to make a pattern (don't forget to add extra for your seam allowance):

I used an old store bought stocking as a template

Next you have to cut out fabric using your pattern, the best way is to fold the fabric in half and cut both pieces at the same time, or you may end up with mismatched parts:

I went ahead and cut another fabric for the inside at the same time

Once you have everything cut you can start the quilting part. Take the outside fabric and put it on a  piece of batting and quilt away!

I use a diamond pattern on stockings, but you could use any patterns for the quilting

After you finish quilting you have to cut the excess batting away:

This is a view of the back once the quilting is finished and the batting is trimmed

Now comes the tricky part. I made a simple strip to use as the hanging loop. Then, I layered the finished front (finished side up) then the strip and lastly the inside fabric and sewed along the top to finish the one side:

Notice that there is only a small part of the strip sticking over the edge

 Then, I turned the whole thing right side out and sewed a finishing stitch along the top:

The next part is best illustrated with the picture. It is the same steps as the previous 2 pictures but you have to make sure you have the fabric in the right place:

Lay the quilted back down then place the front with the strip on top of it, lining up the right place for the strap to attach

Then lay the inside fabric on top and sew

 When you flip this one over and finish it you will end up with something like this:

Now the only thing left to do is put the like sides together and sew around the sides and bottom:

I pinned them together first to prevent the fabric form moving

Here's the finished stocking:

From left to right: Brad's, Elijah's, Riley's and Mine!

Crib Rail Cover

I decided that since Elijah was a beaver when he was 5 months old and wanted to eat his crib that I would cover the rails with hand towel and wrap tape around them..... that wasn't the greatest idea... I know this! I finally decided that it was horribly ugly and that he needed a crib rail cover, so I started my project of sewing one. Step one was making a pattern. I wanted it to fit over the while rail and then secure with Velcro between each of the rails. I measured the length and then measured the spaces between the rails and the rails themselves. I then drew the pattern on shipping paper, which is in the home office section at the store. Here's the pattern that I ended up with (the lines are my guide for where I sew the pieces together):

I then traced the pattern onto my 2 pieces of fabric:

Then, I cut a piece of batting that would fit between the two fabric pieces, not including the notches for the straps:

Once all the pieces were cut, I put the outside parts of the fabric together and then put the batting on top. Time to sew! Starting with the long side that all 3 pieces share:

Then the other long side with the notches, making sure to only go around the outside perimeter so that when it is flipped right side out the notches will become straps:

Once the two sides were sewn together, I turned it right side out, including the straps and then folded the ends in and sewed them shut and sewed a reinforcement along the side with the straps:

 The last step was to sew the Velcro on:

The only thing left to do was put it on Elijah's crib! I think this turned out really great!