Baby Blankets

I LOVE having tons of blankets around.

As I walked out to my living room the other day I suddenly realized how many blankets we have, and it is such an eclectic bunch. Blankets from far off places, ones that I have made for my husband and daughter and many more that others have made for us. I think giving someone a blanket is a wonderful way to say 'I Love You!' They are warm on a cold day, comforting when you need to curl up, perfect to take out side and lay on the lawn during a wonderful summer evening. We have them all over the house for whenever the moment calls for a nice cuddly blanket.

After seeing all the wonderful handmade blankets our little girl received from family I decided I wanted to help share that love that a handmade blanket can bring. Check out my ETSY store for the latest and great deals. Find that special blanket that says you love them.

Rag Flip Flops

Girls Camp is a time when the Young Women in a ward get together, with the leaders, and do a summer camp. It has always been one of my most favorite activities. The memories from my camps when I was in Young Women's have stayed with me. I love singing around the camp fire, hiking, being in nature and the crafts/activities that our leaders had for us were always great.

This year, being camp director, my goal was to make sure that everything we give the girls will be things that they can continue to use once they are back from camp. These things will be a subtle reminder of their time at camp, the Spirit they felt there and the memories they made. We also asked the girls what things they would like to do {and would like NOT to do}. It was mentioned that they wanted to do rag flip flops.

Me, myself and I have never made them but I could not imagine that it would be too hard. I called up my cousin {she is a sewing/quilting machine} and we talked about how I could go about it.

Here it is......

Find any scrap material you have lying around or get a couple of quarter squares from your local fabric store. The scrap will need to be made into 1"x8" pieces. You will also need scissors, a ruler and a pair of flip flops.

1st Step: I took all my material and cut them into 8" lengths.

2nd Step: Then at the top of each I cut in about a 1/2". Then I tore the fabric where I had cut it. There you have it, a huge pile of 1"x8" scraps. Each flip flop took 29 strips. Depending on the length of the straps on your own flip flops ~ you may need more or less. Make sure to tare enough strips!

3rd Step: I went down the strap and tied all the fabric strips in double knots. I'm sure you could do a single but I felt the double knot would hold better and it made the ends just a bit shorter instead of having so much fabric hang off.

There you have it. Camp Flip Flops!!!

Quilt in a day

Over the weekend I talked to my mother-in-law and asked if she wanted to have a quilt made for my sister-in-law when she got home from her mission in Uruguay. She thought it would be a fun idea so on Saturday we went and got the flat quarters to make the quilt Turning 20. Maybe I was being a bit ambitious of me but I was able to sew the quilt top and later in the day we went over to my in-laws and we tied the quilt. Here is my quilt-in-a-day!! I love the colors and how it turned out. My mom said that she was amazed at how we ~ her kids ~ could just take on a project and go at it to get it until we get it done. Well, you are the one that taught us. We would go to bed on a Saturday night and on Easter morning, she would have two new dresses sewn for me and my sister. She is the one who taught me to work until it is done.
~ Love you mom!!!

Because I can't afford to take the quilts in and have them machine quilted I do it my self. On the quilt I made for Paul a couple of years back, instead of tying it, I stitched by hand using a bigger stitch length. I love how it turned out. That is why I stitched both of these as well.

This is a quilt I have made for a friend of mine but have never gotten around to binding it. Now that I have two to do maybe that will help motivate me to get them done. The pattern for this one is Yellow Brick Road.