Sew Busy - part 1

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been having too much fun sewing!  I have lots of catching up to do and for now I'll post some of the fun creations I've made.

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Before I share - I have a little confession.  I recently joined Pinterest.  I know, not a big deal, a lot of people are on Pinterest these days, but to me it was a big deal.  I avoided it for a LONG time.  I already had too many ideas and not enough time to do them all.  Well, I finally caved in and accepted an invitation from my mom to join and oh, boy am I glad I did!  Before, when I would find something online that I liked I would bookmark it or e-mail it to myself, and ocassionally print something.  Well, if I didn't do something with that idea right away it would get filed away, lost, and forgotten.  I don't know how many times I have remembered an idea I had saved but then was never able to find it.  Now, with Pinterest, I have my ideas sorted - I love that.  In less than 2 months since I've joined I have pinned over 2000 ideas (yikes!) but I have deleted almost that many e-mails and bookmarks, and found lots of long lost ideas (and new ones too).  The best part is, I am actually USING those ideas since they are so easy to find!  I haven't pinned much in a while but I have been lurking and liking ideas - once I get done with my sewing projects I will go crazy again until I get another wild hair.  Anyway, enough rambling - here are my creations and links to where I got the idea or pattern.

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Here are some darling Burlap Bunnies - found HERE (pinned HERE).  Here is the first one I made.

I found some cream burlap and I ended up liking those ones the best so I made a whole family out of them ;-)  My darker burlap bunny is hiding in the back - I originally left him out but the girls insisted that I include him and since he was the first one I made I agreed.  I may have to make more so he doesn't stick out so much.  These are simple and fun to make, the only problem I came across is the burlap is so hard to keep sewed - a few of these bunnies have already burst their seams.  In this little bucket of bunnies I included an old favorite project of mine, string eggs.  I have been making these since I was a kid and never get sick of them.  I made these ones from plain string, I am thinking of dressing them up in some fun new ways - we'll see if that happens this year or not.

The original poster used a Sharpie marker for the faces but I liked the puff paint best.  I used a Q-tip and blush to color the ears and cheeks.  I just realized I never added buttons like the OP but with them all stacked together like this I don't think they need them.  I may or may not add them.

Now this next project didn't involve any actual sewing, but it did use up some old jeans that I have been saving for years!  I found this idea HERE (pinned HERE).  I liked that this project was perfect for David's old work pants so it was okay if some pieces were a little more worn or stained.  I still haven't painted the lines on the road, maybe (hopefully) I will soon (eventually), and the original poster added velcro to the bottoms but I think I'll leave that off.  Trysten loves setting up his road since it's so different every time.  I do plan on adding more pieces.

As I have mentioned before, we do not have a fabric store here - at all!  So I took an afternoon a few weeks ago and headed to R-ton and our closest WalMart, which is an hour away.  WalMart and a small Ben Franklin Crafts store are pretty much the only options unless I want to travel 2 hours or more.  The sweet associate in the fabric section gave me this table runner pattern so I picked out some fun fabrics to give it a try.  I just wish I'd known just how easy it really was and I would have bought more fabric to make a bunch of these.  I literally made this in about 20 minutes - so simple!  You don't have to cut anything, and just sew 4 straight lines - it doesn't get any easier than that.  I don't have an online link, but the pattern is by LaRae Bunnell Clark through the Utah State University Weber County Extension - if anyone would like a copy just shoot me a message and I will pass it along.

I didn't get a closer picture of the pattern than this so I don't know if you can see it well, but I LOVE the fun black paisley piece.  The pattern says to stitch a decorative button or yo yo at the edge of the short seam to secure in place but I'm not sure I want to add any bulk, and would rather keep it flat and smooth - I may just hide some stitching to secure instead.

That will be all for today, but stay tuned as I hope to post more soon plus some family updates.  Thanks for visiting!