Busy Hands

Our favorite time of the year has come! We are enjoying the crisp mornings, the night walks, and the pull of bringing everything inward. 

This is the most creative time of the year for the girls and I as we jump into fall projects and plan ahead for the winter months. 

Our business just doesn't include sitting inside and crafting, but enjoying the outdoors and the friends that gravitate near us. 

Of course I'm carving time in my schedule to dust off the Singer and start on some projects. It's almost predictable who comes out of the woodwork and shows up here to visit, craft, and create with me. I'm feeling the pull towards these folks as I'm finding a peaceful place within myself. I'm acutely aware of who I choose to spend my free time with, and I'm grateful for the insight of which battles I need to let go. Autumn and all its richness seems to come at a time when I realize I need to get away from some "friends" and find my way to others. A time when old ideas fade away and new ones are formed. 

I look forward to my women's craft nights, drinking a PBR by my singer, taking felt and floss with me as a portable project during my down time waiting for my kids, starting Crafternoons with some of my favorite neighborhood kids, and of course creativity.

Appliqué project for kids

This weekend we tried our hand at appliqué. It was quite a success! 

We had some plain t shirts that could use some spiffing up and some scrap fabric waiting to be utilized.

We found our designs via google images. You can find outlines of just about anything by putting the word "silhouette" after it. We searched "pumpkin silhouette" and "star silhouette" we printed out the images. 

The girls then traced their images with a Sharpie on to a piece of Heat & Bond. (Found at any fabric store with very easy instructions.)

Then fancy fabrics were chosen.

We ironed the Heat & Bond to the back of the fabric. Since the outline from the Sharpie was clearly visible, cutting the fabric was simple. (We did use fabric scissors for this step.)

Once the fabric was cut, the girls peeled off the paper from the Heat & Bind side and ironed the fabric right on the shirt. 

We reinforced our fabric with a fancy zig zag stitch around the edges.

The girls were quite pleased with the outcome. 

This will be on my radar every time I see plain shirts on sale. This project took just little over an hour and the girls had fun.