Stencil: The Angels Have The Phone Box

Leave a reply

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!

Photobucket

Video: threadly tip

Leave a reply

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

Cooking: Whole Wheat Pancakes

Leave a reply

I get hungry just looking at this picture! Yummy pancakes, maple syrup, melting butter. Mmm!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar or honey
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup of skim milk
1/3 cup half-and-half or buttermilk
3 tbs shortening or butter, melted

Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix eggs, milk and half-half together in a small bowl. Hollow out the center of the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients, mixing as you go. The batter will need to be mixed a little than regular pancakes because of the whole wheat. Add melted shortening last, folding in. You can substitute veggie oil, but I like the flavor and texture better with shortening.

Pre-heat a lightly greased griddle or large cast-iron skillet until water drops will dance on the surface. Place about 1/3 cup of pancake mix (about the size of a serving spoon or ice-cream scoop) on the griddle, making sure not to crowd because they will grow! These don’t bubble as much as plain flour pancakes, so give them time to rise and flip when they’re golden brown on the underside. Cook the second side until also golden brown.

If making a whole batch at once, keep them warm wrapped in a tea towel inside of a large sauce pan with the lid on. That will keep them warm without overcooking or the pancakes getting soggy.

Serve warm with butter and maple syrup, if desired.

Right now, I desire!

Serve 4 adults or 2 adults and 2 growing kids.

more recipes

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

Photobucket

DIY: Consternating The Squirrel

Leave a reply

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

Paper Piecing: Eggsactly

2 Replies

Combine the joy of spring with the joy of quilting and you have one of my all time favorite combinations!

How about Three Eggs (pictured above) made in happy spring colors or prints? Three Eggs was created for my friend Cat, who loves chickens and is putting together a wonderful chicken/barnyard themed quilt!

Once you’ve scrambled your eggs, why stop there? There are loads of great paper pieced patterns that would translate to a happy spring quilt or wall hanging!

Spring & Easter Themed Patterns:

lamb, snail and lily patterns from sewhooked

Patchpieces – find a basket, an easter egg, butterflies and a chick
Winnowing by Christine Thresh – scroll to the bottom of the page for Posy Pots, morning glory and Baby Chick with Easter Eggs
Paper Panache Guest Patterns – Spring Nosegays and Little Rabbit
Quilt Designs Northwest – Poppy & Calla Lily
Piece by Number – various flowers
AZ Patch – baskets and eggs
Compuquilt – flowers and flower pots

There are so many great free patterns out there and a slew of wonderful quilting books, too. Whatever inspires you, grab it with both hands and enjoy!

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

A Personal Update and Some Challenges

Leave a reply

Wow, can it really be so long since I last posted? I’m somewhat ashamed to realize how long it’s been since a new craft or pattern has graced the sewhooked blog.

I have been having a lot of Real Life lately, which I will be talking about here fairly soon.

In the meantime, I’d like to pimp two craft challenges, both for LiveJournal groups that I moderate or help moderate.

There are new tutorials and a new paper pieced pattern in the works. Until then, I remain yours craftily,

Quilting: Around the Psychedlic Rainbow

1 Reply

I did not make this quilt. In fact, I had very little to do with it at all.

Back in January, I started cleaning out my sewing/craft room and one of the things I unearthed (a term I do not use lightly) was a quilt top my mom had given to my sister ages ago.

The top was made by a friend of my grandmother’s back in the 1960s, completely hand-pieced out of old clothes that belonged to our mom and aunt.

My sister doesn’t quilt (yet!) and I had told her I’d help her finish it up.

It sat in my sewing room for a long time before I found it again and I’m pretty sure my sister had stopped thinking about it by that point. When I found it, it occurred to me what a great surprise it would be to finish it for her and then give it to her as a birthday gift.

I bought batting and a fun backing fabric. After spending ages ironing down all the lumpy bumpy seams created by hand sewing all kinds of fabrics together, I passed the quilt top on to my lovely and talented friend Linda, who quilted it on her long arm machine.

She finished the quilting in record time and then I squared up the wonky sides and adding a dark green binding and a label. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a photo of the that. It has the names of everyone involved in making it as well as my sister’s.

I dubbed the quilt “Around the Psychedelic Rainbow” because of it’s fun 60s colors and it’s Around The World quilt pattern. It was handed over to my lovely sister last weekend and I feel especially happy with the project knowing I’ve shared in the history of this quilt.

The whole shebang on my bed.

The back.

Fancy “gift wrap”

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

x-posted from my personal blog

Craft: Stampin’ on Stained Jeans

6 Replies

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

1 Reply

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

also available on cut out + keep

Strawberry Ice Cream Baby Blanket

8 Replies

Mmm, luscious pink strawberry ice cream. Soft pink with bits of brighter yumminess. That’s what I had in mind when working up this baby blanket pattern.

add to your ravelry queue

Printable Pattern

This pattern is also available on Knit Picks!

You’ll need:

6 ounces Caron Simply Soft Watermelon (Color A)
8 ounces Caron Simply Soft Soft Pink (Color B)
8 ounces Caron Simply Soft Raspberry (Color C)
H hook

Finishes approximately 36″

Note: Ch 3 counts as first dc throughout

hole-free center made using magic loop technique

Instructions:

Row 1: With Color A, use the magic loop* (also called magic ring) technique. [3 dc, 2 ch] four times on loop, join at the top of first dc with a sl st. Pull loop tight.

*you can also start this like a traditional granny square: ch 3 , 2dc, [ch 2, 3 dc], rep [ to ] 2 times, ch 2, join to the top of ch 3 with a sl st.

Row 2: Ch 3, turn, dc in each dc across, [2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc in corner], continue to dc across, repeating [ ] for corners, join with a sl st in the top of ch 3.

Row 3: Repeat row 2, join Color B at sl st.

Rows 4-6: Repeat Row 2, join Color C at sl st, end of row 6.

Rows 7-9: Repeat Row 2, join Color A at sl st, end of row 9.

Row 10 – 31: Repeat pattern (1 row of Color A, 3 rows of Color B, 3 colors of C) through row 31 (the last row will be Color A). At the end of row 31, join Color B in sl st. ch 1.

Note: Do not turn ch 32 or 33

Row 32: ch 1, sc in back loop of each dc. 3 sc in corner ch. Repeat around, joining Color C in sl st.

Row 33: ch 1, sc in back loop of each sc, in corner [sc, 2 sc, sc]. Continue sc in back loop around, repeating [ ] in corners, join with a sl st and finish off.

back loop sc edging

More free crochet patterns from sewhooked

Join the Sewhooked Facebook Group for community, support & prizes! I’ll be there, as will my awesome pattern tester Amber along with many other friends of Sewhooked. We’ll answer your questions and nudge you along if you need it. Joining the group is never required, but it is fun!

Photobucket