Talk to me!
vlog: TTMT Old, New & Awesome!
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Category Archives: Hand Crafts
Sewing: Turkle the Turtle
Deep in the wilds of my backyard lives the ferocious Quiltus Turtleus, called Turkle by his friends.
His markings are wholly unique and set him apart from all other Quiltus Turtleus.
A canny camera person can get quite close to Turkle, just watch out for the super massively strong jaws!
Quiltus Turtleus are known for their pointy and exceptionally cute tails.
When forced to show his belly, Turkle will display a fierce purple leopard print, frighting off predators for fear of a badly dressed…oops, this a “G” rated blog!
Ancestry of the Quiltus Turtleus, decended from the Quiltus Buttericktus Family.
Happy crafting!
about the vlog: Talk To Me Tuesday
Things have been a’changing around the sewhooked blog. You may have noticed several vlog posts, where yours truly does a little crafty chatting.
Yesterday, in the Talk To Me Tuesday post, I invited you to talk to me via video. I’m thrilled to say that there have been video responses and that is wonderful! If you’d like to participate in Talk To Me Tuesday, jump right in! Grab the icon above to post on your own blog and link back to this post to let others know all about TTMT!
You can also go straight to my YouTube Channel, subscribe and you’ll never miss a vlog and you’ll know just when it’s time to chat!
Talk To Me Tuesday playlist on YouTube – all the videos I’ve earmarked so far as being TTMT.
Join our Livejournal group – TTMT.
vlog #3 – Freezer Paper Follow-Up & Talk To Me Tuesday
Come talk to me!
vlog #2 – All About Freezer Paper
Stencil: The Angels Have The Phone Box
I admit it freely. I am new to the Doctor Who fandom. My best friend is old school DW and my hubby has been into DW since he was a kid. We’ve been catching up so we can go out with 10 next year.
My daughter has taken Doctor Who to heart and this is the latest in a line of Who craftiness.
One Doctor Who-inspired stencil:
box*
*the original stencil was lost in a tragic file-accidentally-deleted mishap since this was originally posted. The current stencil includes an approximation of the original, plus a bonus, much more scribbled looking version.
Loads more stencils, right here on Sewhooked!
Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!
Video: threadly tip
I received an awesome goody bag from a friend recently that contained (among other things) tiny lint rollers. I tossed them in my sewing basket and went about my business.
That is, until I had some serious seam-rippage to take care of and got totally frustrated at the million and one wee bits of thread!
This short video is just a quick tip, a time saver for quickly conquering all that itty bitty post-rippage thread!
As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting
DIY: Consternating The Squirrel
I love gardening and I love feeding the birds. I don’t mind sharing with the squirrels, but the squirrels don’t want to share with the birds.
Being in need of a new bird feeder this year, I picked up an inexpensive two-part plastic feeder that was held together with a piece of cording. It wasn’t in my garden two hours before a squirrel had chewed through the cord and dumped the whole thing on the ground.
Being forever optimistic, I threaded a new cord through the feeder, reloaded, and had the whole thing happen again. Well, I just couldn’t have that.
Fast forward a few days, and you find me in the local DIY shop, considering my crafty options to keep the squirrels from hogging (squirreling!) all the seed.
Here’s what I did…
You’ll need:
- 2 bolt-on d-rings (also used for hanging mirrors)
- a threaded rod long enough to go through your bird feeder (the one I bought was 12″)
- 2 wing-nuts (the same diameter as the threaded rod)
- 3 hex nuts (also same diamter)
- a piece of chain (I used some I had left from another project)
- pliers
- squirrel compromised bird feeder
bolt on D-Rings
Connect in this order on the threaded rod:
- hex nut
- 2 d-rings
- hex nut
- wing nut (with flat side away from d-rings)
- feeder lid
- feeder body
- wing nut (with flat side facing feeder body)
After the rod is threaded, open the end link on the chain with the pliers and attach to the d-rings. I used two with them facing each other so the feeder will hang balanced.
wing nut on the bottom
view through the feeder
With the wing nuts still loose, fill the feeder.
Tighten top wing nut while holding on to the bottom one so it doesn’t come unthreaded.
Hang in the garden!
It’s been several weeks now and the birds continue to enjoy their food with occasional visits from squirrels, who have been totally stymied by the new set up. Like I said before, I don’t mind sharing the the furry beasts, but they can’t have ALL the food!
Remember, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting
Craft: Stampin’ on Stained Jeans
I found these fabulous unfinished kitchen chairs at the thrift store for $3 each. A little wood stain and some clear coat later, and they are fabulous and in-use.
Unfortunately, I managed to forget to not put my knees down on the tarp I had covering the garage floor and got matching brown spots on both of my knees. Did I mention I was wearing one of my favorite pairs of jeans? You might remember them from the Hem Extension post.
I wore them once with the stained spots and it drove me crazy, so I had to think of something else.
My first thought was applique patches, but I’m really busy lately and that would take a bit longer than I have to invest. I have loads of paint and a lot of stamps, so, hey, why not? They were already in bad shape and I couldn’t possibly make it worse.
You’ll Need:
- Acrylic Fabric Paint a shade or two darker than the spot you want to cover
- stamp big enough to cover the spots
- small paper plate or piece of freezer (or wax) paper
- foam brush
Smooth jeans out, with spots facing up and easy to reach.
Place a small amount of paint on the plate or paper. Use the sponge brush to add paint to the stamp. Don’t dip the stamp in the paint or you’ll end up with a blob of paint on the fabric.
Place the stamp on top of the stain and gently press.
Repeat.
I added a few more stamps to give a sort of pattern and now my favorite jeans have a bit more wear!
As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting
How To: Repair a Broken Seam Ripper
In case you haven’t heard, March is Mending Month. I do a lot of mending both on clothes and on items around the house, but nothing terribly exciting has popped up recently that seemed worth sharing.
Then I broke the little red tip off the head of my seam ripper and proceeded to stab myself in the thumb. Ouch! Now, a seam ripper is a super cheap tool and I have dulled my fair share of them. This particular one is fairly new and I hated to buy a new one when it’s still in fine stitch-picking shape. While casting my mind around for a solution to this problem, my eyes landed on my tray of ball head straight pins.
Now there’s a thought!
It took about 5 minutes, and that’s including the time it took for me to run and grab my camera!
You’ll need:
- Seam Ripper
- ball head straight pin (You could also use a bead, though the centers of all the ones I tried were much too large.)
- two pairs of jewelers pliers
- glue (optional)
seam ripper with broken head
Using the jeweler’s pliers, remove the pin from the ball head.
ball head with pin removed
If the opening in the ball head is too small to fit, place the pin on the point of the seam ripper and gently turn to enlarge the existing hole.
Place the ball head on the broken part of the seam ripper head. Use the pliers to apply enough pressure to secure the head in place. Be very careful, the seam ripper point is sharp!
If the ball head you’re using doesn’t seem secure, use a tiny dot of Super, Tacky or hot melt glue.
Wallah! Repaired!
As always, if you make any pattern or craft from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the Friends of sewhooked flickr group.
Happy crafting
Sewhooked 