My Blog has Moved

I am posting to let everyone know that they can know read my new blog at FabricMom.com. I have been keeping up with two sites for some time. With my hubbies help I have down sized to one. I hope everyone can find their way there. My new site is still in the construction stage so please be patient.

Geocaching Christmas Ornament

My husband has a hobby. It is called geocaching. Well I should say that geocaching has become a family hobby. My hubby describes it as, "Using multi million dollar government satellites to find Tupperware in the woods." It has grown on me. Except for the hiking with ticks. I'm not a fan of that.

He has a secret Santa partner that he has to get something for. He got him a gift and wanted to send an ornament too. We searched at 5 different stores and couldn't find any hiking or woods themed ornaments that you could give to a geocacher. It was rather frustrating. I can't remember if it was my husbands idea or mine to try to make an ornament. I was very hesitant about it. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it as nice as it should be. I went to the geocaching website and printed out their logo. I sat down with a pen and practiced drawing it out.

Now on to the actual making of it.
I used 100% cotton material. I cut 2 squares measuring 3 3/4 inches. I ironed a fusible stabilizer onto the wrong side of one of the squares. On the other square I used permanent fabric markers in pastel colors for the squares. They are washable and don't have to be heat set. It just has to dry for 24hrs. Then came the hard part. I drew the geocaching design on the colored squares. It is copyrighted. We thought that sense I am not selling these and only made two as gifts that it would be OK. No money was exchanged or made in the making of these. The original geocaching logo doesn't have black lines around the squares. I added that myself because the fabric markers I used bled a little bit. So the black line cleaned it up. I decided to use green ribbon for the hanger. It turned out pretty well. The finished size ended up being 3 1/2 inches square. I made one for my hubby. Every year we buy ornaments for each other and the children.

More Nine Patch Christmas Ornaments

I made a total of 15 nine patch ornaments in the last 24 hrs. They are going to be giving out as Christmas presents. I can't decide which one I like the best. My son Joshua picked out one with cats on it for himself. He hung it on the tree as soon as I was done.

These nine patch ornaments were so much fun to make. This is definitely a good project if you like instant gratification. Which I love. Aren't they just cute. I used ribbon for the hanger. The squares to make the nine patch are 1 1/2 inches each. This would be a great beginner project. You can make them as big or as small as you would like. These ornaments are 3 1/2 inches finished. I know in my last post I said I was going to show pictures with instructions. I just couldn't stop myself from making them. Finally I figured that 15 might be enough.

Easy Nine Patch Christmas Ornament

I have been looking online for things to make for Christmas presents. I found quite a few patterns for place mats, coasters, purses, quilts, and other crafty things using fabric. I found a coaster that I want to make using a shoo fly block. It ends up being 5 inches. I was starring at the pattern and thought, "Hey, this is a good idea for Christmas ornaments too". So I brain stormed for a little bit and this is what I came up with. An Easy Nine Patch Christmas Ornament.


I wanted to use an easy design. So I decide to make the first one using a nine patch pattern. I opened up my scrap drawer and found the pretty pink batik butterfly fabric. I have used this in quilts and other things. I love the fabric and unfortunately don't have any more of it. Then I came across the sage green fabric with pink rose buds on it. If you know me you know that I love fabric with roses on it no matter what color. (Butterflies too). I thought they looked rather cute together.

I cut the fabric into 1 1/2 inch squares. I cut a complimentary fabric in a 1 1/2 inch strip to use for the border of the block. The finished square ended up being 4 1/2 inches. I used a green blender for the back. I did use some low loft batting in the middle. I sewed it together using the pillow case method. I'm not sure if that is what it is called. That is what I call it. I used a cream colored ribbon for the string. It took me a total of about 15 minutes to complete this ornament.

I thought the next one I would make would be with out a border and stuffed with fiber fill to make it look like a pillow and sew the ribbon in at the corner.

When I make the next few I will take pictures as I go that way other people can see how it was made. I have the thank Bonnie for the idea. She does that on her site when giving out instructions. So I guess that is all for now. I hope you enjoy this easy nine patch Christmas ornament.

Our House from the Inside

I know that everyone who lives far away wants to see the inside of our house. So far I have only shared what the outside looks like. So here we go.

Here are two pictures from the door ways of the bathroom and hallway of our bedroom. It is a very spacious room. The quilt on the bed is one that I made for us. I used the Autumn Tints pattern for it.
This is out breakfast nook. We don't have a table for that area yet. The door way goes into the laundry room/sewing room. As you can see my ironing board is all set up. It is sad to say that it gets used 99% of the time to iron fabric.
This is a look at our kitchen from the breakfast nook. We have tons of cabinet space. Which I love. I have a ton of things to hide in them. LOL.
There is Josh playing with cars on the living room floor. This picture is taken from the foyer.
This is a look at the living room from the dining room.
This is our lovely dining room. You are looking at it from the kitchen.
This is looking at it from the living room. We love having a designated place to eat meals. In our old house we didn't have a formal dining room and living room. We love the extra space.
This is our den looking out of the kitchen.
This is looking at the den from the hallway by the bathroom. It is exciting to have a mantle to hang our stockings from. I went ahead and hung the babies stocking up too. Tyler wanted to have the Christmas tree in here so that we could open presents by the fire place. It looks rather good. The door by the Christmas tree goes out to our backyard onto the deck.
This is a picture of my sewing area. I made the curtain the other day. The wall hangings are from friends I have made online.

I didn't include pictures of the boys rooms because they need to clean them. I didn't feel up to that task especially sense I didn't make the mess. I am sure you can understand that. I hope you all like the pictures.

We had a house warming party this past Saturday. It was a big success. We had a great time. Most of our dear friends were able to make it. Most of our family lives out of town. Tim's brother Greg and his family were able to attend because they live only a few miles down the road from us. Emily looked like a doll in her pink velor dress. Unfortunately I didn't get to take a picture of her. Maybe I can get Mary to take one and post it later. God Bless.