Fun Finds

Yesterday was supposed to be a teacher work day, because exams had just finished the day before.  I say "supposed to be" because we were sent home at 10:30 due to a wintery-mix (sleet/freezing rain/snow).  However, by the time I left nothing was falling from the sky!  Soooo what better to do but swing by the wonderful Goodwill on my way home?  While on my way I realized that I would be driving right by the Y Thrift Center.  Now don't get me wrong, I like the Y just fine, but I have only stopped in there a few times and have found that their prices seem to be higher for sweaters and furniture, the two items I look for the most.  This particular day may have completely renewed my love for the Y Thrift Center!  They have a small section of fabric remnents and other notions! 

I was so excited to find vintage zippers for 10 cents a piece!  They had a ton, but I really only wanted the long ones.  I might go back later for the short ones...I mean come on 10 cents! 

I also snagged a Martha Stewart Living magazine for 25 cents. Granted it's one from last spring, but it'll be new info to me!  The wooden beads were a whopping 20 cents.  I have been wanting to make this necklace for several months, so now I just need to pick up the bigger beads, paint them and pick up some ribbon.  The biggest purchase was the bias tape for a $1.  Still a deal though compared to buying it new!

The fabric might have been a dumb purchase...but for 19 and 29 cents a yard (roughly) I knew I could find something to use it for!  The colors and patterns probably aren't ones I would go for if shopping at a fabric store...but I only spent 97 cents for close to FOUR yards of fabric!!!  I'll wash them and add them to my stash!

 All in all I was pretty happy with my purchases!  I spent $3.27!  While some of the stuff at the Y Thrift is more expensive, some of it is really cheap!

Yo-Yo's

Over Christmas break I spent a day making headbands with one of my favorite cousins.  While shopping for our supplies at my favorite fabric store we found a yo-yo tool.  I have seen a lot of cool things to make with yo-yo's recently, so we went ahead and bought the tool...let me just say they are SO EASY to make! You just have to snap the pieces around the fabric, cut the fabric closely around the yo-yo maker and sew in the guided holes.  Then you pull you string tight and tie it off. 

Once we were back in Virginia, I picked up a few more sizes of the yo-yo maker at Jo-Ann's.  I think I want to eventually make a table runner to put on our book shelves.  We have a plain-jane one on it now so the TV stand doesn't scratch the top of the book shelves...but I think a fun yo-yo runner would look really cute!  I guess though it would be a bit of a shame that most of it would be covered...so we'll see! 

Clover Yo-Yo Maker

There is a sewing blog, Sew Mama Sew!, that puts up a quite a few neat sewing tutorials.  There is one specifically about how to make yo-yo's without a nifty yo-yo maker.  This tutorial also shows several different items you can make using yo-yo's.  I'm not sure how to link the tutorial as it opens up as a PDF...however, you can see a pillow made with yo-yo's on her site.Check it out!

Wool "Sweater" Mittens

Last Christmas (2009), my sister, brother's girlfriend, and I made "sweater" mittens.  We spent an evening cutting and sewing Goodwill sweaters into the cutest mittens.  Well, this year, Kaitlyn and I spent most of Thanksgiving vacation whipping up sweater mittens for Christmas gifts.  We had both collected quite a few sweaters from our respective Goodwill stores, which made some pretty sweet mittens!  

Personally, my favorite pair would have to be the Mickey mittens!  When I saw this sweater I immediately thought of my mom's best friend.  She has a huge Mickey collection...so they were perfect for her!  Isn't the sweater a hoot? 

Wool Sweater Mitten Tips:  
MATERIAL: To make these beauties you need to have a couple of coordinating WOOL sweaters.  I try to get 100% wool, but will occasionally get a really cute one that is only 70 or 80% wool.  You have to wash the sweaters in hot water and then dry them on high heat to shrink them.  I believe this is sort of like felting wool.  I know that it helps make the mitten warmer, but I really don't know much beyond that.  A year ago I did a lot of "research" to figure out how to make our very own sweater mittens...so I know what works, but don't actually remember all of the reasoning behind it! Anyway, since I intentionally try to shrink the sweater I like to get big sweaters so there will be more fabric to work with after it's shrunk...makes sense, right?  Plus, the sweaters are the same price regardless of size, so why not get one that will make a few more mittens?

PATTERN: We found our mitten pattern at Field's Fabric and then traced it out on wax paper so that we could cut out all different sizes and then replace them once they've been used a few times.  One thing to be careful about when cutting out the mitten is to make sure you have lined up patterns correctly.  You also want to make sure that you flip over the pattern on the thumb sides so that you don't end up with two left gloves...this may have happened once...or twice.  

CUFF: We used the cuffs and bottom "hem" of the sweaters as the cuff of the mitten.  We also picked up a thin polar fleece to line the inside of the mittens, which makes them really warm.  It's a good idea to tack the cuff down so it doesn't unroll every time you take your mittens off.  One cute way to do this would be to sew buttons onto the top. 

Picture Problem

I don't know what the actual problem is, but for some reason I'm unable to post pictures that are in my photo library.  They are there, I promise, but when I go to post them they don't come up in the little pop up box.  I have done quite a few fun projects lately...so hopefully I can figure this out and get pictures up!  I did purchase a new fancy pants digital SLR camera while back in Michigan for Christmas...so I'm hoping this will help some how!  Here's my new camera:

It's a Nikon D3100.  Isn't she pretty?  A big THANK YOU to my Dad for helping me pick out the right camera!  I wouldn't have known what to look for without his help!