Mending for PB

Posted on August 30, 2021 by atangledyarn84

Another week and another mommy mending project to the rescue. PB showed up in tears with Teddy in need of some back surgery. No one is fessing up as to how Teddy got this point so we are just going to fix him and move on.

A little whip stitch by my inexpert hands and a fluff of bear fur and Teddy is back to normal. Just in time for the Teddy Bear Olympics at Jellybean’s school. (With permission from PB of course.)

I need to trip the cotton thread that was originally holding him togethter and I will return him to the wild!

Happy Mending!!!

Mending For Jellybean

Posted on August 24, 2021 by atangledyarn84

Jellybean got a little aggressive with dress up play and his favorite sock monkey suffered the consequences. His little hair didn’t fair well and there were tears. But no fear Mom to the rescue!!

A little bit of heavy duty button hole thread, a needles and sock monkey was back to normal. Jellybean was impressed with my “magic” skills.

Nevermind its still 90 degrees in Kansas and he’s wearing a full coverage ear flap hat. Kids man!

Happy Mending!!

Mend and Make Do

Posted on January 1, 2021 by atangledyarn84

I won’t be sad to see 2020 go. I don’t feel like 2021 is going to magically different but I hope it’s going to trend in the right direction. The kids are out of school and daycare so we had a project day around the house. Today’s agenda: mend the kids pants.

We managed to mend the side seam in a 2 year old’s pair of sweat pants, the knee seam in a 6 year old’s pants and patch two holes in the 6 year old’s pants. Disclaimer…I have a sewing machine but I’m TOTALLY an amatuer.

My kids and I had fun pinning seams and running the foot pedal. And at the end of 45 minutes I got back three pairs of pants for my kids. Now, I will admit that the pair with holes and blue flannel patches are going to “wear only at home” kind of pants. But the other two pairs are good enough for wearing in public, at least in my humble opinion.

It was fun to do something with the kids and they were pretty excited to have their pants back in rotation.

Happy Mending!!

Mending Day

Posted on February 8, 2019 by atangledyarn84

This is going to be a different kind of FO Friday. Today’s it is mending day. My parents are in town for a visit and they are distracting the human babies. So the fur baby and I pulled out the sewing machine to work on a pile of mending that has been waiting for anywhere from a week to several months.

I’m not the best seamstress, but I managed to fix two pairs of pants and a set of Pajamas for Jellybean and two pairs of pants for myself. That’s five pieces of clothing back in the rotation that were just collecting dust.

Now the real question is how long will my just barely passable sewing last? Time will tell!!

Dusting Off The Sewing Machine

Posted on August 25, 2017 by atangledyarn84

After Jellybean received his big boy he also requested * “soft fings” to snuggle with. I dug around in extremely dusty fabric stash boxes and came up with some fleece remnants and end of bolt pieces.

I let him pick a couple fabrics and let him be part of the sewing process. (Aka watch the machine and hand me stuff). In the end we had two pillow cases and two snuggle blankets. They are FAR from perfect or even but they are soft and made my child happy.

I really haven’t had the urge to sew at all since Jellybean was born. Like at all. It was nice to flex some different crafty muscles!

*Note: the presence of softies did not improve the duration or quality of said child’s sleep….this momma is still very tired…..

Boppy Madness

Posted on July 21, 2014 by atangledyarn84

Way back when I got my first sewing machine, I taught myself to make Boppy nursing pillows because I thought they made awesome baby gifts. I had to learn how to put in invisible zippers and thanks to my mom….I did!

And now I can crank out these puppies with the best of them. Now I don’t mean to exaggerate my sewing skills by any means. I have a very limited set of skills when it comes to my sewing machine, lol. But I digress, in preparation for Jellybean I made up my own boppy pillow and an assortment of fun covers.

What do you think? Think Jellybean will like them?

Pride and Labels

Posted on January 14, 2014 by atangledyarn84

Awhile back I purchased several sets of labels for my knitting from, Remember Wynn on Etsy. Seriously, I love this shop and her labels rocked my world! I had a set made for my Etsy shop and a set for personal gifts. But for some reason I stopped adding them into my items I knit for myself.

Well, I’m proud of what I knit and why shouldn’t I advertise my goodies! So I took some time last night on the couch and sewed in labels to my Brick, Nutmeg, Mud Season #1, Mud Season #2, Abalone, and Shalom sweaters.

Take a look!

A Bed For Chloe

Posted on June 15, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Hello from the boondocks of Kansas! I got to have my morning coffee from the deck of my parents house and watch all five dogs run around my parents yard chasing each other. I hope they wore each other out, lol!

Now on to some knitting news. Remember this Stashbusting #19 blanket? And all the problems I had with it here and here? And then the solution I talked about here?

Well I got brave and I measured (twice to be sure) and then got out the scissors and snipped it apart in the center. I wanted to rip back a few rows on either side and re-knit a new border on each side. Thus creating two new appropriately sized blankets out of one large wonky one. Well I soon discovered that it was going to be impossible to pick up and re-knit the edges. The yarn was falling apart and I cold not discern the individual stitches in the midst of the chenille. Not to mention that the way I snipped was not the same direction as the way I needed to work. So on to another back up plan!

I grabbed some bulky weight yarn in really close color match and secured the loose stitches I had created with my cutting. I paired the two squares wrong side to wrong side and seamed around the outside with a whip stitch using the matching yarn. And you can see my results below. A double thick blanket/pad thingy.

Chloe claimed it almost immediately. So I took this as a sign as this blanket was always meant for her, lol. Goes well with her coat don’t you think?

And then she proceeded to rub her scent all over it as to say “this is mine and you can’t have it back”!

It now lives in her kennel and she (and I) couldn’t be happier that this project is over. Good riddance I say! Well I need to get my butt in gear and get the dogs walked, shop for groceries, and get ready to cook dinner for my grandma and cousins!

Happy Saturday from the boonies!

Special Requests

Posted on January 15, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I met the most amazing friend named Amy in college when we both played on the same volleyball team. She was fun and energetic AND we shared the exact same birthday right down to the year. She married an amazing man who is an Air Force pilot. They move A LOT. She and her husband are expecting their second child in April and being stationed in Australia in February!

I called her up to congratulate her and asked what could I make for the new baby. I told her to pick something she really wanted and not just something she needed. She had to think about it but finally a few days later she came up with it…….diaper changing pads that were cloth and washable. She disliked the plastic ones she had with her first child. She is big into cloth diapers and being green.

So I set out to design one. Her diaper bag is made out of an old green flight suit that belonged to her husband from his first deployment. So I wanted to stick with a green color scheme. Here are the materials:
– hand sized terry cloth towel in dark green
– 1/2 yard flannel in green and brown polka dots
– 16 inches of ribbon
Combine these and a few zips of my machine and I had a diaper pad!

I pre washed all my fabrics to shrink them. Then I laid the towel over the flannel and cut a peice to size and pinned them right sides together.

I then pinned two pieces of ribbon in between the right sides so they would be on the outside when I was turned it. The ribbon will serve as closure for the pad when rolled up.

I zipped around the outside of the square leaving a 1/4 allowance and leaving a 3” in hole to turn it right side out. After turning the work right side I went around the edge again to secure the layers and see up the hole.

And tah dah you are done! Simply, easy, and super cute. The cloth rolls up and secures with the ribbon so it fits nicely in a diaper bag. The towel is plush enough to provide a nice surface for baby and the whole thing is machine wash and dry!

I made two small and one large one for Amy and I will stick in the mail tomorrow to make sure she gets them before they leave the US. I can’t wait till she opens the package. I will miss her being in the same time zone but she is about to take the most amazing adventure. And I have to give her props for flying halfway round the world at 7 months pregnant with a preschooler.

These pads make great shower presents and anyone with a sewing machine can do this! Easy materials list and no technical measuring, just sew and go! My kind of project (just don’t tell my mom cuz she hates when I don’t measure, lol).