Z is for Zebra

We made it! Today is the last day of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge. It's day Z!

It's been a whirlwind of a month and I've read a lot of blog posts, but I'll be taking May and June to get around to blogs on the list that I haven't visited. During the challenge, I've probably read over 2000 posts just from A to Z bloggers. That's a lot of reading. But it's really been a fun time. I've met a few new friends as well, so that's always worth it.

Today, I'm sharing the Zebra Hobby Horse I made for my nephew's 2nd birthday earlier this month.

To make this baby you'll need felt in black and white, a wooden dowel for your stick, some buttons for the eyes, some scissors, some fiberfil stuffing, and a sewing machine.

I made my pattern by modifying the one from over at Lia Griffith's blog. I liked her general idea, but I wanted a larger head for my zebra.

Even with my enlarged pattern, I still wanted more space. I cut a generalized shape for the head that was about an inch larger all the way around and then fine tuned it.

I cut out a total of two head pieces and two ear pieces. You could cut out four ear pieces and make stuffed ears if you like, but I liked the looks of these ones. I cut everything with pinking shears just because I liked the look. Nothing fancy.

I then cut out my stripes from the white felt, as well as 3 x 12" strip each of white and black felt to make my mane.

I used scissors to give myself a nice fringed mane and then weaved the black and white strips around each other to add dimension and break up the colors.

I pinned on my stripes and added some white felt centers to the ears.

All pieces got their individual stitches. All stitching (except for the mane) was zigzag stitching (another Z word!). Again...just because I liked it.

I pinned an ear on each head piece and marked the locations for the eyes as well as a general idea of where my mane would start and end. I stitched across the bottom edges of my ears once they were folded and pinned to the head.

I lined the mane up and sandwiched it between the two head pieces. I then sewed down the edges all the way around, leaving the bottom open.

With my zebra all put together, I started stuffing him with fiberfil until he was nice and plump. It took a lot of working down the nose to get the face right before I could get the rest of the head and neck ready to go.

The trick was trying to make sure that both sides of the nose and both cheeks were in the same positions - otherwise my poor zebra would be lopsided.

The ears didn't lay quite where I wanted them to after stuffing, so I hand stitched them for positioning. Probably not a bad idea anyway since I'm sure they'll get some good tugging.

Next was adding the dowel. I tried using the glue gun method, but it was just messy and not helpful. Instead, I used it just enough to gum up the insides and get the dowel attached to the fiber fill inside. That will prevent the dowel from simply sliding back away from the head. I then stitched across the bottom of the head piece to tighten and secure the dowel.

Lastly, I added his eyes and a blue ribbon around his neck to cover up his surgery.

He's all ready for a ride around the Serengeti. I like how he turned out, but next time I think I'm going to shorten the dowel by about 6". It's just a bit too long for the younger kids.

And there you have it! Blogging from A to Z. Amazing. It really is a fun event, it's just exhausting. I did a better job at being prepared this year, but I still have room for improvement for 2016.

And now...well...now I'm going to take a small break and be happy that I don't have to do a post for tomorrow. I'm going to do some blog reading for the next few days and then I'll be back for more fun. 

Mother's Day is coming up, so I have projects to work on. I also still have a few UFOs (unfinished objects) that could use a little of my time. And then there's the matter of the sewing room. It's a bit of a disaster at the moment. It could probably stand a little touch up...

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who joined me for A to Z. It's been a blast! I look forward to doing it all again next year!


Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)
15. O is for Owl (Owl Stuffies)
16. P is for Princess (Princess Peg Dolls)
17. Q is for Quilt (Moustache Quilt)
18. R is for Reading (Appliqued Reading Pillow)
19. S is for Superheroes (Superhero Peg Dolls)
20. T is for Tumblers (Custom Etched Barware)
21. U is for Upcycled (Little Kitchen)
22. V is for Vinyl (Vinyl Pallet Art)
23. W is for Whipped (Wild Orange Whipped Body Butter)
24. X is for Xtra (Play Kitchen Accessories)
25. Y is for You (You Are My Sunshine Nursery Decor)

Are you visiting from A to Z?

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

X is for Xtra

Today is X day in the 2015 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. As an English major, it truly hurts me to use "xtra" in place of "extra", but I got desperate. If it helps, it's better than the x-cessories that I could have used instead. Also, technically this will fit for the term xilinous, but I used that last year. So... you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Today's project is a set of accessories for the little kitchen that I made for my eldest niece. The original set was pot holders, oven mitts, and a chef's hat, but for some reason I failed to take any pictures at all of the hat. I'm really batting 1000 today.

The best part is that both of these projects are ones that can be made from scraps. Yay scrap stash!!

Let's start with some pot holders...

I made a set of two pot holders from some leftover denim and a little bit of patterned fabric. Just remember, these are play accessories, so they aren't really designed to protect from actual oven heat. Do I need to spell that out more plainly? Don't grab hot crap with these. There. That ought to do it.

Start with four squares of denim. Mine were 4" squares. Iron them flat and sew two wrong sides together, stitching around the edges. This doesn't have to look pretty, the stitches get covered up.

Piece together your edges by using some homemade bias tape. I had some leftover from when I made some jean aprons. I wanted this to have a bit of a scrappy look, so I cut the bias tape in short sections and pinned it all together.

Zigzag stitch around the inside edges, extending through the bias tape at the corners. Surge or stitch to close the outside open edges of the tape.

Stitch on a little ribbon loop for hanging and you're all set.

Add some oven mitts...

These ones are little more realistic in terms of construction for use, but still...no grabbing hot crap. Seriously, don't do it.

I made a pattern out of some white fleece using my kiddo's hand as a guide for size.

Cut out four pieces to make two mitts.

Cut out four more pieces in your outside pattern. I added an extra quarter inch to mine for some unknown reason. You don't have to do that. It just makes things more bulky and your thumbs come out funky on the outsides because you haven't made them distinct enough from the hand section...you'll see. (And this is how you know I'm not a professional...I show you all of my mistakes. With any luck, you'll learn from them.)

Layer and pin. From the top you should have: two fleece pieces on top of two pattern pieces with right sides facing each other.

Stitch around the edges, leaving the bottom edge open. Flip inside out so your fleece is the inside lining.

Finish by tucking the bottom edges in and stitching around the opening. This is the only place where that extra 1/4" came in handy. I folded my excess patterned fabric over on itself to get a clean edge and then folded it over the fleece to the inside to leave a hem of color inside of the mitt.

See...funky shaped thumbs on the outside. They're surprisingly fine on the insides, but overall my extra 1/4" was just a pain.

Now your little chef is all ready to cook in his or her (not hot) kitchen. Just a little something "x-tra" to make their play time fun.


Only two days left! Can you believe it? This month has gone crazy fast.

Tomorrow is Y day. I'll tell you a little secret...I have no idea what the post will be. It'll be a surprise. As of right now, there is no Y project. It could make for an interesting day today...

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)
15. O is for Owl (Owl Stuffies)
16. P is for Princess (Princess Peg Dolls)
17. Q is for Quilt (Moustache Quilt)
18. R is for Reading (Appliqued Reading Pillow)
19. S is for Superheroes (Superhero Peg Dolls)
20. T is for Tumblers (Custom Etched Barware)
21. U is for Upcycled (Little Kitchen)
22. V is for Vinyl (Vinyl Pallet Art)
23. W is for Whipped (Wild Orange Whipped Body Butter)

Are you visiting from A to Z?

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

R is for Reading

I have two posts up today. This one is for letter R of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z in April Challenge. The other is for Top Ten Tuesday.  If you're wanting to see the Top Ten post, you'll find it here.

As for A to Z, today's post is a Reading Pillow that I made for Darian for Christmas. What makes this a reading pillow? A few things actually:

1. It's nice and fluffy, perfect for reclining against no matter where you're reading.
2. It has a handle. The ribbon handle at the top makes it easy to lug around anywhere.
3. It has a pocket. That's right...the front piece is a pocket that is designed big enough to fit a book, or a Nook, or a notepad and pen, or a combination of the three, so you can take your reading show on the road (by the way, in the car is a great use for this pillow).

I'd love to take all of the credit for this one, but it's actually a Pinterest find. The original idea (at least for me) comes from Melissa Mortenson over at PolkaDot Chair. Since you can get the specifics from her (she has a great tutorial), I'm just going to give you a brief rundown of how I made mine.

I cut out cardstock letters with my Pazzle and then traced them upside down onto a piece of fusible interfacing paper that had been ironed to my letter fabric.

I lined my letters up on my pocket fabric, ironed them on and then zigzag stitched around the letters to secure them firmly.

I created my pocket with another rectangle of the polkadot fabric and sewed some bias ribbon on the top edge for a little flare.

I then attached my pocked to the big square for the front of my pillow. (In hind sight, regardless of how nice it looked, butterflies probably weren't the best choice for this. Tween boys don't really do butterflies. I'm surprised he hasn't yelled at me for it yet.)

I sewed the back onto the assembled front using the French seam envelope pillow technique we talked about for letter L's Loveseat Pillows and letter G's Good Night Pillows. See how many uses you can get out of that one technique? It's such a handy thing to learn!

Before I finished my French seams, I pinned in the handle so it would get tidily hemmed into the top seam.

Handle pinned on, I flipped it inside out and finished off those seams.

Ready for a nice, fluffy pillow!

It's pretty poofy and comfy. I specifically chose the pillow insert to be extra puffed and soft. So far it seems to be a hit. (But I'm still totally kicking myself over those butterflies.)

Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)
15. O is for Owl (Owl Stuffies)
16. P is for Princess (Princess Peg Dolls)
17. Q is for Quilt (Moustache Quilt)

Are you visiting from A to Z?

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

It's a good one tomorrow! You won't want to miss it! Letter S is one of my top three favorites. The other two? Letter P's Princess Peg Dolls and the still to come project for letter V. Have a great Tuesday!

Q is for Quilt

It's the start of week 4 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Wow. We're just plodding right along, aren't we?

I spent the weekend getting caught up on some blog reading. I've visited a pretty good number of A to Z participants, but there are still a lot out there for me to go see. There are so many good blogs this year! 

I'm having a good time seeing what everyone has come up with and I'm enjoying finding some new blogs to permanently read and some new bloggers who are becoming friends. This is just such a fun event!

Today is letter Q. Of course, being a crafter, Q has to be quilt. What else would it be? 

Today I'm featuring a quilt I made for my brother for Christmas.

I moustache you a question...do you like moustaches?

I do. I'm a little obsessed...especially when it comes to my youngest brother. I can't tell you why, it's just a thing. A couple of years ago I made him moustache pajama pants. There's also some additional moustache themed gifts coming up for letter T on Thursday.

This one was a pretty simple quilt. Really, if you want to get technical it, was more of a blanket. I won't tell if you don't.

I was inspired by some fabric moustache napkins that I found on one of my wanderings through Hobby Lobby. (That place will get you if you're not careful. There are too many fun things and stuff is always on sale.) Of course I snapped up a handful of them. At $1 each, I totally couldn't pass up that deal.

I trimmed my napkins and then alternated them with rectangles of gray cotton to create the front of my quilt. I completely failed to take any pictures of the back of the quilt, but it's just a black and white chevron pattern. You can see it in the trim of the quilt on the final photo.

I stitched my rectangles together by row and then stitched the rows together. Easy peasy.

The gray blocks needed a little fancying up, so I decided to add some moustache appliques. 

I cut out some moustache shapes in cardstock using my pazzle. I used those as a pattern to cut out each moustache in fabric that was backed with fusible interfacing.

I ironed each moustache on to it's respective square and then used a zigzag stitch around the edges to secure them.

After that, I lined up the front and back layers of the quilt and stitched them together, using the overage from my backing to create a binding. (I may have put a layer of light batting in between the two layers, but to be honest I totally don't remember. I'm pretty sure I did, but don't quote me on that.)

I did a zigzag top stitch to keep the binding flat and then put a few securing stitches in at the junctions of the gray rectangles and moustache rectangles to keep the top and bottom layers from shifting and bunching.

That's it! all done. Nice, lightweight lap quilt perfect for lounging on the couch.

Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)
15. O is for Owl (Owl Stuffies)
16. P is for Princess (Princess Peg Dolls)

Are you visiting from A to Z?

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

I have some work to get done this week...Friday's U project has yet to be completed. I will say though, I'm terribly excited to put up Wednesday's letter S post. It's one of my top three favorites this year!

O is for Owls

It's O day in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge! I can tell it's getting near the end of a rough week because it's feeling more daunting than exciting at this point. Thank goodness we have Sunday off...it will give me a moment to refresh. Well...actually it will give me a day to get my crap together since U, W, X & Y still need projects.

I've done surprisingly better at preparation this year, but there is definitely still room for improvement.

Today's project is an easy(ish) one and one that I've discovered has been a surprising favorite with the kiddos. I made these little owl stuffies for all of the kids this past Christmas and they seem to be a universal hit. My 2-year-old nephew refuses to go to bed without his. In fact, it's so worn out that I need to make him a new one. That's the kind of thing that makes me feel pretty darned good about doing stuff like this.

These little guys were the result of a hodgepodge of inspiration from several Pinterest pins, most of which were actually rice filled animals designed as heating packs. I opted for softer and squishier (not to mention lighter) versions instead.

To start, I drew myself up a pattern. Then I took a horrible picture to document it for posterity because not all pictures can be winners. Why do I craft so late at night? Why is the lighting in my house so freaking awful for pictures as soon as the sun goes down? Do I live in a cave? Ridiculous.

The photos of sewing them together were equally awful or worse, so I chucked them. Instead, you get to look at decent pictures of finished products while I chat about how I did it.

For each owl, I cut out two of the body pieces, four wings (two right side up, two flipped over so I could create two wings), a belly, and face pieces. Everything but the face pieces were made from random fabric scraps I had laying around. The face pieces were scraps of felt. Owls are apparently a good way to clean out your stash. The body and wing pieces were cut out using pinking scissors with one idea in mind...simple sewing technique.

I sewed all of the face pieces and the bellies on and secured the edges of the belly with Fray Check. Turns out...that didn't matter. A few of the bellies have decided to fray anyway. Product fail.

Next time, I'm sewing two belly pieces together like a pillow and flipping them inside out so I have sewn edges to attach. Lesson learned.

I put the wing pieces together by just laying them one on top of the other (right sides out) and stitching 3/4 of the way around the edge. I stuffed them and sewed them shut. After that, I just laid them in between the two body layers and (once again) stitched 3/4 of the way around. I stuffed them until they were nice and fluffy and then finished stitching across the bottom.

The best part of these? No flipping things inside out and no hand stitching. So nice.

Total start to finish time per owl? About 20 minutes. Complete project win.

Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)

Are you visiting from A to Z? 

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

Tomorrow is one of my favorite projects for the 2015 A to Z. Letter P is awesome...you won't want to miss it!

N is for Ninja Turtle

I was almost afraid that I wasn't going to have a project for today's letter in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, but I pulled through.

N decided to be a bear. Okay...actually, it decided to be a turtle -- a ninja turtle to be exact. I had been working on two other projects for today, but when it came down to it I just wasn't feeling either one of them. They were boring and/or driving me crazy. So at the last minute, I decided to switch gears.

I went to lunch yesterday with my friend Erin and her three kids. While we were eating, her son started chatting with me about LEGOs and Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It didn't really click at that point in time, but it must have stuck in my brain because when I got home from work and sat down to get moving on my original N project and found myself uninspired, I suddenly realized that ninja starts with N.

Since I made this project from start to finish after work on Wednesday, light was limited and I was in a hurry. So...I apologize for the iffiness of these photos. Flash was a must so a few of them look a little bright.

I have an enormous stash of felt hanging around, so I started creating a pattern for myself and cutting out pieces.

I texted my sister-in-law to find out which ninja turtle is my nephew's favorite. She informed me that he doesn't have one, but that he really likes the color red. Obviously, I had to make Rafael. I cut out the head and face pieces, a front and back body, a belly, a shell, arms, legs, and a little tail.

I layered and stitched my pieces to their respective parts with a zigzag stitch.

I then connected the head and face to the body and belly...

...and the back side of the head to the body with the shell.

I pieced together my appendages, stuffed them, and sewed them shut. Arms were attached to the front piece.

Legs and tail were attached to the back piece.

I then put the two pieces together with right sides facing in, pinned them with appendages tucked to the inside, and stitched around the edge -- leaving the bottom area between the legs open so I could flip everything inside out.

After that, I stuffed the bejeezus out of the poor guy and stitched his base closed. I also stitched down the rest of his little mask to the back of his head so it looks like it has been tied.

I'd like to say easy peasy, but under the circumstances it really wasn't. The actual skills weren't hard, but I was definitely feeling the time crunch.

It took me about 5 hours start to finish, including developing my pattern. There was just an awful lot of stitching to do and quite a few times that I needed to change thread colors. But...I got a project completed for the day and now my nephew gets a new toy.


Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)

Are you visiting from A to Z? 

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

I will see you tomorrow for letter O...which already has a project done and pictures taken, thank goodness...