Firewood Tote

Last Spring we chopped down a half-rotted crab apple tree in our backyard. It was dangerous - it overhung our house and our neighbors and it scared the poo outta me every time the wind blew. So down it came. We hired people to cut the parts that might do damage. And we did the rest of the work ourselves which, I admit, wasn't super smart but did save us a lot of money. So the tree came down (everyone's limbs stayed intact... get it? ha) and we chopped it all up and saved the logs for firewood. TONS OF WOOD.

Fast forward a year and the wood is finally cured. And thanks to my hunk of a hubs, it is now nicely chopped and stacked in the back of our yard. TIME FOR FIRES!

Nicely stacked at the back of the yard, this wood is in the perfect spot - it's not near the house (no critters, no ants, no termites...). BUT, it's a nuisance having to carry two or three logs at a time to the firepit. They're awkward. Ok, maybe it's me and my small arms, but I had to make like ten trips for our last fire. I needed a solution. So I made one. Boom.

Firewood Tote

What you will need:

-Wooden dowel 18'' x 2

-Canvas 21'' x 36''

-The Usual Suspects: thread, sewing machine, scissors, ruler

1. Cut your canvas to the above dimensions: 21" x 36". I used a leftover piece from another project.

2. Cut your wooden dowel into 2 pieces, 18" long. I used a 3/8" diameter dowel

3. Sew a 1/4" seam down the longest two sides of your canvas.

4. Fold your canvas in half the "hamburger" way - short ends meet together. Using a medium sized bowl (mine was about 6" in diameter) trace a half circle in the center of your short edges. Cut this out with your rotary cutter. This will be space for the handle.

  

5. On either side of the cut-out half circle, fold the edge down 1/4" and crease. Then, placing the dowel along the edge, fold the crease down over the dowel and pin. This will make a pocket for the dowel. Sew along this edge.

6. Sew one end of the dowel pocket closed along the 1/4" seam previously sewn.

7. Slide the dowel into the pocket and sew the other end closed along the 1/4" seam. 

8. Repeat steps 5-7 for the other side.

Now load 'er up and make a fire! There's never been a diet that couldn't (or shouldn't) be broken for a few s'mores. Just sayin'. Beach bod dreams aside, a roasted marshmallow is happiness in a bite. MAKE SOME HAPPINESS. 

Go forth and enjoy SUMMER!

Cheers,

Bridget

XOXO

Casserole Carrier

Wedding season is rolling in and the first few bridal showers were this weekend. I love wedding season. It's a time of year when new beginnings are everywhere and I'm reminded that life is full of reasons to celebrate. My job as an ICU nurse can be hard - emotionally and physically taxing, and no matter how hard I try, I absorb the pain and suffering of the patients and families I care for. That being said, the reason I craft, blog, and focus on what I love on my days off, is to heal from that. It's important for me to remember that the joys in life are what keep us going; and we shouldn't struggle for reason to celebrate every day. Life's too short not to.

So, let's celebrate WEDDING SEASON. I'm admittedly falling off the organizing bandwagon. I'm ok with it. I'll keep organizing the house and I'll take pictures and post them at a later time. Wedding season is just too much fun to wait for. kthanks.

My college roommate, Marissa, is getting married this year and I'm psyched to celebrate with her. She was my lifeline during college and I'll never forget the days and nights we spent dreaming of our weddings. Real life took us on a breeze and so much has changed since college, but she still holds such a special place in my heart. She is brilliant and beautiful and I'm so glad I was able to celebrate her and her fiance this weekend!

My new favorite bridal shower gift is an etched casserole dish with carrier. I made one for Marissa and  I know it will get use with all of her mom's amazing Italian recipes.  I found a decent tutorial at 2 Little Hooligans and made a couple of small adjustments to fit my dish. I also added cotton strapping as handles instead of making the handles from scratch - that required about 1.25 yards of strapping. It was easier than making my own and I'm more confident they will handle some beating.

Check out the etching. Pretty sweet, right? Also super easy. I'll be detailing how to do that in my next post. Stay tuned.

I included a cover so that the pyrex content would stay contained

I can't wait to make more of these with some gorgeous fabrics. Talk about a perfect wedding, birthday, or Christmas gift! No more packing your casserole dish with towels to carefully carry to your potluck. I love a practical gift.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers,
Bridget XOXO

Trick-or-Treat Tote

 

Halloween as an adult is wonderful, but I miss rustling through the leaves in the dark from house to spooky house trick-or-treating. I remember feeling so mischievous, like we were up to no good as we rang doorbells and showed off our costumes. It was always cold, and I remember fighting the parents year after year when they would try to tuck my parka under my costume.
I don't have kids of my own yet, but I can't help but join in with my friends as they get their little ones psyched up for the holiday. This year I made my little friend Logan an awesome trick or treat bag to carry from house to house with his baby brother. He's the sweetest little man and he deserves lots of candy (so Mom can have some too).... so I didn't skimp on the size.

 

Trick or Treat Tote

Supplies you will need:
Fabrics:
     Outer fabric 3/4 yard
     Inner lining fabric 3/4 yard
     Batting 3/4 yard
The Usual Suspects: sewing machine, scissors, thread, iron

1. Start by cutting all of your fabric pieces.

     4 pieces 18”L x 14”W (2 inner, 2 outer)
     4 pieces 15”L x 6”W (2 inner, 2 outer)
     2 pieces batting 18”L x 14”W
     2 pieces batting 15”L x 6”W
     1 strip inner fabric 40”L x 3”W (for handles)
     1 strip inner fabric 42”L x 3”W (for trim)

Put aside your strips. You’re going to start by making the four sides of the bag.

2. For each side, you are going to make a sandwich: inner fabric – batting – outer fabric. Make sure the fabrics are both facing outward. You will have two big sandwiches and two smaller sandwiches (these will be your sides). Press all of your sandwiches with the iron. Forgive me for talking in food terms, I feel like everyone is more comfortable with food terms when they're learning (or maybe that's just me).

3. Quilt your sandwiches any way you like -- I went with assorted horizontal lines. (PS. Cutest fabric ever… was definitely the inspiration for this project!)

4. Sew the bottom edge of your two big panels (sandwiches) together, outsides together.

5. Open up your sandwich on the fold like above. Starting at the top of one of your big panels, pin on your side panel with outsides together. Sew. Repeat with opposite side. Your bag should look like a T so far.

6. Lay your “T” down with outside fabric facing up, take the remaining long side and turn up, pin side panels and long panel sides together outside to outside and sew edges together. Make sure you start at the top corner.
**I know this step sounds confusing, but all you are really doing is sewing the sides to the other big panel, same as with step 5.**

7. Once side edges are together, sew along two bottom edges to complete sides and close up bottom of tote. Turn bag right side out.

    

8. Pinch and sew 1/4 inch seam along all four side edges of bag, enclosing open seam in a spine. This gives the bag structure and allows it to stand on it's own.
The basic bag is done. Now for finishing touches.

Edging:
1. Cut long strip of liner fabric, press in half the long way. Open. Now fold edges into middle crease and press again. Fold long strip in half the long way and press one final time.

 

2. Pin along top edge of bag and sew.
In retrospect I would have like to edge my four pieces first, eliminating this process. But this is how I did it and it still came out great!

Handles:
Repeat step 1 as above in Edging. Sew fold closed length-wise. Pin to inside or outside of bag (per preference), folding raw end under itself. Sew down to secure.

 

Done! Definitely an intermediate level project, but still do-able. I had a ton of fun putting this together and I can’t wait to see little Logan trick-or-treating with it!

   

Happy Trick-Or-Treating!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,

Bridget, XOXO

Sweet Baby Bibs: Repost

Every Spring seems to bring a new wave of babies into the lives of my friends, family and coworkers. It’s peculiar, but also a ton of fun. How can you not be smitten by a new bundle of joy; not to mention seeing the awe and bewilderment in the faces of the new mommies and daddies. I can’t explain why, but when someone I love enters into this new stage in their life, I can’t help but swell with pride and joy for them.

Perhaps this is why I love to sew and make baby stuff. Sure, my bibs look dang cute on their kids, but it is my way of giving a piece of my heart to this new child and these new parents as they all grow together as a family. I hand-pick fabrics that I know will speak to these Moms and the future diva/rockstar/football player/ballerina. It’s personal. And that’s why I’m reposting one of my favorite posts: Sweet Baby Bibs. Because I want to encourage you, too, to make something a little more personal. It’s not hard to do and it comes from the heart.

And I’m serious… these babies look so F*ing cute in handmade bibs. I can’t even get over it.

Here are some of my most recent bibs: given to a dear friend and colleague of mine for her first baby, Mia. Keri is one stylish Momma and I can’t wait for this baby to rock these bibs on her hip!

Look for fabric anywhere – fat quarters are perfect – you get exactly 2 bibs out of them!

Yes, that’s gold trim you see there. Do it.

Sweet Baby Bibs:

What you will need:
- Patterned fabric (preferably cotton – washes and wears better)
- Terry cloth by-the-yard (can get expensive- use a coupon or get on sale)
- Biased tape (I bought mine, but you can make your own)
- The Usual Suspects: Sewing machine, scissors, thread, etc.

1. Use a bib pattern to cut out the shape of a bib on your fabric using rotary cutters (if you don’t have rotary cutters, trace the pattern and cut with scissors). You can download a bib pattern easily from Pinterest or trace an old bib or sketch your own. To sketch your own, the easiest way is the fold a piece of paper in half the long way and drawn half a bib along the fold (this way both sides will be symmetrical) . Here, I used my mock-up to trace.

2. Because I’m making more than one bib, I doubled up my fabric and cut two bibs at once. I then did the same for my terry cloth. I bought one yard of terry cloth and cut it into squares to maximize the amount of bibs I could get out of it (I think I got about 12!) (my bibs are 9 inches wide by 13 inches long)

Beware: terry cloth makes a mess – just a warning. It will get annoying. Have a lint roller ready for when your project is done.

3. Topstitch your terry cloth bib and your fabric bib together.

Note: I traced the bib as one piece with a hole for the neck first. Then once I sewed all the edges I cut the middle of the top to separate. It made keeping track of my lines and pieces much easier as I topstitched.

4. Pin your bias tape and sew carefully around the entire edge of the bib.

5. Add velcro or snaps to the tabs.

6. Press and voila!

 

Now go forth and make amazing, super-baby worthy bibs. And send me pictures – because I love seeing your creations!

Cheers and Happy Baby Season!
Bridget, XOXO

Heat Pack

Wow, New England is definitely living up to it’s snow standards this year. For a while there I was convinced that this would be a light snow year. I was wrong, obviously. Our house has been hit with almost two feet of snow in the past week. That’s a lot of shoveling. And a lot of back aches. I’ve been meaning to make us a new heat pack for a while since I discovered how easy they are to make.  That being said, it was put on the back-burner (no pun intended) over the holidays. Now that snow is here and backs are aching all over the country, it’s perfect timing for this tutorial.

Supplies you will need:
- 1/2 yard fabric (cotton or flannel)
- cotton ribbon cut into 2 x 24” pieces
- bag of uncooked rice
- The Usual Suspects: sewing machine, thread, scissors
1. Start by cutting your fabric into two rectangles, each 10” x 21”.

2. Place your fabric rectangles right sides together. Then, sandwich one piece of ribbon in the center of one of the short ends of your rectangle sandwich, with a small amount sticking out. (please look at the picture, this part is challenging to explain)

   

3. Pin and sew your fabric sandwich together on three sides- the two long sides and the short side with the ribbon sticking out.

4. Turn right side out, pushing out corners. Topstitch same three sides with 1/4” seam, but stop 1” from open end. This will allow you to turn in the end and sew your opening closed later.

5. Now for the fun part. And the tedious part. Hold on to your patience… it’s worth the end result! Start by pinning every 3 1/2” along both sides of the pack. These will be used as guides for sewing as we add rice.

6. Add 1 1/4 cup rice to your pack. Sew along the rice from first pin to first pin, closing in the rice you just put in there. This requires some finesse. push the rice out of the way as you go and take your time. Don’t worry about running over rice, it won’t ruin anything.

7. Repeat the process of adding rice and closing in each pocket until you have reached the top. You should end up with 5 total pouches of rice.
8. For the last pouch, add your rice, then turn in the end of the pouch and pin closed, adding the end of the last piece of ribbon to the center. Topstitch the end closed twice – once with a 1/4” seam, then closer to the end for double coverage. This is just to make sure no rice pops out if one of those seams comes loose with rough-handling.

Use:
- For heat: heat in microwave for one minute. Reposition and heat in 30 second increments until hot, not to exceed a total of 2 minutes.
- For cold: put in freezer overnight to enjoy as a coldpack.
- Handwash with water and mild detergent, let air dry for 24 hours before use.

Thanks for stopping by!
Stay warm, everybody!
Cheers,
Bridget XOXO

This tutorial was featured on Fridays Unfolded!!