Lodge Look Pillow

This weekend was my brother's birthday.  I have a wonderful brother.  He is a great man who is kind to all, family, friends, and strangers.  He is one of a kind.  He takes care of everybody.  So when my sister-in-law said she wanted to throw him a surprise birthday party, I thought it was a wonderful idea.  But what do you get a guy who has very few needs or and even fewer wants?  He loves to hunt, always has, and when he and his wife first married I made them Christmas stockings, one with a buck for him and one with a doe for her.  So when I started searching the Internet for something to give him I knew this would be perfect for him.  His living room is decorated in a lodge theme with some of his prized deer heads mounted and hanging for all to see.  I found my inspiration here.  This lovely lady  from Sew Homegrown was inspired by this pillow from Anthropology.

She had her husband draw a pattern and she made this beautiful pillow:

She has graciously shared the pattern on her blog so all of us to use.   There is also a wonderful step by step tutorial to guide you through the entire process.

It is amazing how changing the fabrics and colors gives you a totally different look.  I went to my local quilt store and chose two complementary fat quarters that went with the colors in my brothers living room.

I used a contrasting color for the back and added one of my labels.  I loved how it turned out.  Needless to say my brother was very happy with it.  His wife has requested the matching doe for her birthday.  I told her the doe would be so much easier because you would just cut the antlers off, the hardest part to sew.  Be sure and tell Jessica I sent you when you visit her blog.  Happy sewing

I am linking here:  The Shady Porch, 3 Mango Seeds

Ruffled Scarf

Here is a project that takes very little time.  I spent maybe an hour and a half total on this project.  I saw a scarf like this on the Martha Stewart Show.  I thought it was adorable.  So I went to the Lion Brand Yarn website.  This site offers hundreds of patterns for both crochet and knitting.  You have to register to get to the patterns, but they are free and they send you new patterns via email.  I also received a beautiful catalog that had beautiful color pictures of finished projects with the pattern number and types and amounts of yarn used to complete the project.  The projects also give you the level of difficulty for the project.  You can also get instructions on how to do certain stitches and what the abbreviations mean.  I found it to be a very helpful site.  Thanks Baby Girl for modeling!

"Otis the Owl"

Meet Otis the Owl.  I made this in about one hour right before Christmas for Baby Girl.  Baby girl wanted a new comforter for her bed for Christmas.  She had several different ones picked out.  She liked the ones with peace signs, she liked the tie dyed ones, she liked the zebra print ones, and she liked the owl ones.  Well, little did she know that way back in the summer Mamaw had gotten her one and put it back for Christmas.  It was a peace sign one.  On Christmas morning we open gifts at our house before we go to Mamaw's.  So....she opened a tie dyed fleece blanket and then she got the zebra print "Otis the Owl".  She was so disapointed.  When she arrived at Mamaw's there was only one small present under the tree for her, not nearly big enough to have a comforter in it.  Little did she know that Mamaw had tucked it away in the back room to surprise her, and boy was she surprised.

To make Otis I used a pattern I found here.  I used a chenille bedspread that was no longer servicable to make the back.  I basically used the pattern and put the pillow together the way I wanted.  Thereare some things I will tweak when I make Otis again.

Crap Shooter (haha!!!)

Ok, this is the funniest, but most needed product I have seen in a long time!!  I would love to try it out at my house.  With a house full of men, you know it is needed here.  Hahahahah.  I can't stop laughing.  The name is so cute. Here is the link if you would like to buy some.  Let me know if you do.  I would love to see if it really works.

I love stuffing stockings for my family. It is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.  My husband and I have given each other stockings since the very first Christmas we were married.  This will make Christmas number eighteen since we were married.  After that many years, I feel like I put the same things in his stocking every year, so I need some fresh ideas.  I also am having trouble thinking of original stocking stuffers for the youngans.  It was easy when they were little, you just bought small toys.  Now that they are teenagers, the small toys cost a small fortune.  I saw this blog on Pinterest.  It has some great ideas for stocking stuffers.  I am sure that my family will find more than one of these ideas in their sock this year.  Thanks Jenna!You can find Jenna's ideas here.

Inexpensive Baby Gift

Here is an idea for baby gift.  A designer burp cloth.  What mom wouldn't want to wipe spit up with this?  Lol.  I used a cloth diaper and added a piece of flannel down the center.  I turned the edges under about a quarter of an inch and stitched around the entire piece.  I added my label and some grosgrain ribbon.  I have probably $1.50 in the entire thing.  The cloth diapers come in packs of 5 for about $5 a pack.  The flannel I got at Hancock Fabrics in the remnant basket for nearly nothing.  There is enough of it left to make at least 4 more of these.  The ribbon is $1 a roll and will probably make 4 or 5 of these designer burp clothes.

Another Gift Idea

I found this idea on Pinterest.  I loved this.  I have had a couple pottery soap dispensers, but they seem to leak soap either from the bottom where they were not glazed or the cork where the pump is attatched.  I used items that I found in my kitchen.  I had a canning jar, an old ring and seal that happened to have fruits and veggies on it, and I recycled the pump from a Bath and Body works soap pump I was given as a gift.  I heated up the old glue gun, poked a hole in the seal with a hammer and a nail.  I had to shorten the pump because it was too long.  I simply snipped the bottom of the tube with a pair of scissors.  I insterted the pump in the hole I cut in the jar seal.  I secured it with hot glue. 

I filled the jar with my favorite liquid soap, placed the seal on the jar and secured the ring over the seal and Voila!  A beautiful liquid soap dispenser.