I have a friend named Jocelyn.  She owns a bakery called Bakery Bar.  She spends a lot of her time decorating cakes.  Jocelyn told me she wanted some pillows for her couch in her home.  I told her that we could make them together.  She basically did one of her cake designs, but in a pillow format instead.  She cut out the felt details and drew the design.  I was the sewer in this project because I am a more experienced sewer than she is.

I used batting to create the inner pillow.  One thick piece intended to be used for floor pillows and some thinner long pieces that one might use for a quilt or blanket, but for this project I used them to wrap the pillow.

I cut up the large piece of batting to the dimensions I needed.  Then I cut out some pieces of knit material to create an inner pillow for the slip cover.

It was fun to work on a new project with new designs that I didn’t even have to think about coming up with.

Day 28: Felt Pillows With Flair

Here is the completed pillow.  I hope Jocelyn likes it!

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I made a meatloaf yesterday and realized that I didn’t enough ketchup to top the meatloaf with.  I thought, “maybe I could make my own?”   I remembered that the last time I was at the Victory Bar I had ordered hush puppies that came with homemade ketchup and it was amazing.

I haven’t made ketchup before so I started searching for recipes.  I found this one from Epicurious. I didn’t have any cans of whole tomatoes so I substituted 2 smaller cans of tomato sauce.  I finished it and added it to my meatloaf.  It was unbelievably good.  Next time I think I’ll add a little less brown sugar.  I put the extra ketchup in a canning jar, so we can use it in the future.   Now I want to try my hand at making hush puppies too, maybe this weekend.  Here’s a recipe for hush puppies that sounds great.

Day 27: DIY Ketchup

Can be chilled for up to 3 weeks.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I have this shirt that is waaaay too short. It’s one of those shirts that every time I wash it it’s a smidge shorter than the time before.  I decided I was going to redo this article of clothing for functional reasons, but also in the process add some detailing to make it custom and unique.

I used a bathing suit pull-over thingy.  What do you even call those things?  Bathing suit cover-ups?  I almost never wear bathing suits and when I do I cover up with my clothes so this cool green thing is getting no use in my life.  Perfect for a redo.

I decided that I going to use the top part of the cover-up at the bottom of my shirt.  To tie the piece together I decided I was going to make an octopus embellishment.  I cut out the octopus out of paper.  Then I laid it down on the shirt and tried it on to be sure that the octopus was placed above my breast and not on my breast. 

Next I cut out the octopus and pinned it onto the shirt.  Notice that I didn’t iron this shirt or the embellishment.  I also didn’t back the embellishment with a stabilizer either.  I wanted to keep this really simple.  If you aren’t much of a sewer a stabilizer is a good idea, but I like to challenge myself and do things in new ways when I can.

I sewed the octopus onto the shirt using a straight stitch of 3.5.  When I was done stitching I trimmed away the excess material.  After I was done sewing the octopus.  I pinned and then sewed the top of the cover-up (the smocking portion) to the bottom of the shirt.  I could have made this into a mini dress if I had wanted to by leaving the bottom portion (the skirt part) of the cover-up, but I wanted a shirt so I cut that part off and used it for the embellishment.

Day 26: Short Shirt?  No Problem.

Here is the completed shirt.  I took two items that I wasn’t wearing and created one super wearable piece that I LOVE.  I hope this inspires you to create something new in your wardrobe from something or somethings that weren’t working for you in your life.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I have this table runner that I’ve had for years.  It’s at the point where many people would probably throw it away or give it away.  It has tons of little holes in it and a few stains, but I still think it’s so pretty and I don’t want to give up on it.  With some simple, fast sewing techniques I can salvage this old tired table runner.

I spent a few minutes trying to think of a simple design that would complement the already existing design.  Since the table runner is already red and white I decided I would stick with those colors.

Day 25: The Fix Is In – With Embellishment:

I cut out red circles of felt  and pinned them onto the runner over every hole and over every stain.  Then using my darning foot, which you can do free motion sewing with, I sewed rough, simple spirals.

I felt that this would look loosely like the roses that are already part of the runner’s motif.  I cut out a few sizes of felt, so that it would have a somewhat random pattern.

One of the benefits to sewing these circles on is that the stitches help prevent or slow future wear and tear on the holes that have already begun.

Another thing that is cool about this techniques is that as future holes develop you can continue to add more “roses” to the runner, which will make it look more and more handmade as you add the more embellishments to the piece.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I made some fingerless gloves out of a wool sweater.  They were so fast and fun to make.  I decided I wanted some that were really, really long.   Past my elbow, kind of long.  I cut the sweater sleeves off just past the arm pit of the sweater.

I put the sleeve on my arm and decided where to put the thumb hole.  I cut a small circle out for the thumb, then I put a zigzag stitch around the circle that I had cut to finish the edge so that it won’t fray.

Next I selected 3 buttons and put them on the outside of each wrist.

Day 24: Extra Long Reconstructed Fingerless Gloves

Here they are!  I finished the edge of the sleeve with my serger, but you could easily use a sewing machine zigzag stitch at the end.  I didn’t add elastic and casing to hold elastic, but you could do this very easily if you are worried about the sleeves slipping down when you where them.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

I am working on some decorative pillows with a friend of mine.  She is using this flower design on some pillows that I will be sewing for her.  More on that in another post, but I saw this flower and thought it would look good in my hair so I whipped something up.  I love the look of fascinators; you know those cool headpieces with flowers or feathers?  The problem for me is that I rarely go anywhere fancy enough to warrant wearing such an elaborate headpiece.  I was thinking that if I made a headpiece out of felt it might be more wearable for everyday.  I was inspired by this fascinator, but I wanted to something a little bit simpler.  Here is a picture of me modeling the fascinator I made. 

I constructed this fascinator out of felt and sewed it to itself after I layered the flowers.

I attached the flower to a headband I had around the house.  I used hot glue on the high temperature to secure it to the headband.

I put my completed fascinator in my tiny brass tree collection because i thought it would photograph well there and it was hard to photograph it well on my head.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

My laundry room is an on-going issue in my home.  It is regularly gross and messy, so no wants to go in there and do laundry, so the laundry pile grows and on and on like that.  Clean laundry pile on one side and dirty laundry pile on the other side, with lots of miscellaneous mess in between.  What I find really frustrating is I clean it and then it’s a disaster all over again.  I realized that I wasn’t really being realistic about all of the different uses that I use my laundry room for and because of that it was becoming messy again and again.  I needed more order from the top down, so decided that I should take some time to plan out the different zones in my laundry room.  I measured the laundry room and graphed it out on paper, then I spent some time thinking about how to group all of the zones and make enough room for all the different areas.  Here are the uses that I considered for my laundry room.

Laundry room uses:

1. washing and drying area
2. housing dirty laundry
3. laundry folding area
4. clean laundry area
5. Knot Ugly booth display and merchandise
6. small tool area
7. gift wrapping area
8. canned food area/overflow food area
9. paper crafts
10. fabric area
11. overflow craft area

I added each of the areas to the graphing paper along with other details.  Then I got to work with a friend, who is a great organizer.  I worked out a trade with my friend and she was able to help me tackle the laundry room in about 4 hours.  I think having a friend help you with project that you have been avoiding is a great way to get the job done pretty painlessly and quickly.

You can see what a mess it was.  The laundry room had gotten to that point where it’s hard to put things away or use the space properly because things were exploding out of everywhere.

Here is another perspective of the mess, before we really got a handle on it.  Because I had a plan it was really easy for my friend to come over and help me and everything had a place where it belonged.

Day 22: Top Down View Laundry Room Redux

Here’s the reorganized laundry room.  This area is probably the most important area.  In the upper tubs I have linens.  In the lower tubs I put clean, but unfolded laundry.  This keeps the laundry folding table free from clutter and ready for use.   When the clean, but unfolded bins are full as they are now, it’s a sign to us that we need to fold laundry before the laundry gets out of control again.  Each of us has a tub, my son, my husband and myself.  We also have one for linens and other items that are communal.  I spoke with my husband and son about the new system and explained that everyone is responsible for folding his or her laundry.  I love it when I can find ways to make my life easier!

This is the overflow craft area, which you will have to take my word for, was a disaster.  The gift wrapping area is in there as well.

On the shelving is where the paper area and the canned foods/overflow food area is.  The lower area is where I keep some of the larger knot ugly booth display pieces.

Here is where the Knot Ugly merchandise and other small booth display pieces go.  To the left you can see where the dirty laundry lands from our laundry shoot.

Here you can see the washing and drying area, laundry folding table and the tool area at the right.  To the left just out of view is where the fabric ended up being moved to.  I am hoping to paint this room at some point in the future, but just having a laundry room that is managed is pretty gratifying!

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

Here are some pictures that I thought would make good desktop wallpaper.  If you click on the thumbnail the larger 1024 x 768 image will appear.  Enjoy!

If you need help in trying to figure out how to change your wallpaper on your desktop, you can go here.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like! by:jen

OK, I admit that I seem to have developed a habit.  A circular scarf habit.  I hope it’s not too boring to read about circular scarf post after circular scarf post, but this is what happens to me sometimes and believe it or not for me, this is a very good sign.  When I started my business Knot Ugly, the business was born out of a need to get rid of all the hats I had piled up.  Everyone I knew already had at least 2 of my hats and I couldn’t stop making them so I decided I would start selling them.  My friend, Crochet Kim, who I work with calls this, putting a study on something.  I’m putting a study on circular scarves.  It is very satisfying to make these because they are fast, soft, beautiful and keeps you warm on a cold day.

This scarf is like the one I made for my friend Oona, but with different yarn so I had to compensate by increasing the number of stitches and I also tweaked the pattern, by mading it slightly longer in length and narrower in width (when worn) so that it stands up a little higher on my face and neck.  Now I have my own circular scarf. I think I’m in love.   Really, I have an unreasonable love for a scarf.

Day 20 – Off the Deep End with Circular Scarves

Here’s how I made this scarf:

I used a chunky wool yarn with a carrier yarn that was really soft and fuzzy.  I used size 15 needles and cast on 18 stitches.  I made this scarf using the moss stitch, which means knit 1, purl 1 across one row and then the opposite on the next, purl 1, knit 1.  I made 50 rows and then crocheted the entire piece to itself.  PS. This is my last circular scarf post.  I promise.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen

If you’ve been reading my blog during my 31 day challenge you might remember that last week I did a “Pay it Forward in 2011″ project, where I gave away 5 handmade projects that I posted on my blog.  Yesterday I received in the mail a handmade gift from one of the people who I sent something to.  Her name is Paula.  In the package I received from her was an icon shrine devoted to women with breast cancer and it stopped me in my tracks.

Since 2009 I’ve had a few friends my age pass away from breast cancer.  I have also dealt with a few of my own mysterious lumps, which were benign, but were still scary to experience.

My feeling when I received this was, “This is important and would be a great project to share on the blog.” I will give the details on how you can create your own.

Day 19: Pocket Icon Shrine – to Breast Cancer

This shrine is made from an Altoid tin.  It is covered in paper that appears to be Mod Podged to the tin.  On the inside of the tin is a picture of Saint Agatha, the patron saint of women with breast cancer (St. Aldegundis is also the patron saint of breast cancer . St. Peregrine is the patron saint of all cancers).  On the inside of the lid is a prayer to St. Agatha and there is also a votive candle inside.  Paula, the woman  who made and sent me this icon shrine,  uses icons that her husband paints.  You can find out more about them here.

Note: I am not religious person, but I don’t think you have to be to remember someone and honor them.  It can be quite therapeutic.

Cedar and Penny, I miss you deeply and think of you often.

In case you didn’t read my first blog post about this project . . . this post is part of a 31 day challenge I am doing to bring more creativity, stories and solutions to my life.  I have been using my creativity almost exclusively for work in the recent past and for the month of January I will creating things for my personal life, talking about them and taking pictures.I would love input from readers as to which project you enjoy the most and if I get enough comments on one particular project I’ll turn it into a tutorial after the 31 day challenge of crafting, stories and solutions is over.  So please let me know what you like!

by:jen