Money Apron

So my Dad has been working hard to promote a Christian film called "A Matter of Faith". I am helping him sell tickets, advertise, etc. Tomorrow is the first of two matinee showings. I decided that we needed more than a cash box for the event. I decided to make a money apron. I'll post a tutorial later once I sort through my photos but here's the finished product...

What do you think?? It's made of one 20" x WOF piece of strong home decor fabric (1/2 yard plus a 2" x WOF ties). This would probably be easier with regular cotton but I wanted a sturdy apron for the theatre.

Let me know if I should do a printable pattern too :)

Mason Jar Tumblers Tutorial

I run a Scrapbooking and Quilting retreat every year in Tilley and I try to give away a few things to the ladies that come. In the past, we've done reusable shopping bags by Baggu, various fabric, organizers, etc. This year, I tried something different.

Mason Jar Tumblers are all the rage recently...

I figured it wouldn't be too hard after watching this tutorial by my new favourite YouTube Channel: The Sorry Girls! (Love that they're Canadian too).

I didn't take photos of the process but I'll do my best to explain how I made 60 (yes SIXTY) of these Mason Jar Tumblers!

Materials:
- Pint-size Mason Jars (I got mine at Walmart and then for fun, I bought some vintage-looking blue ones at Target)
- Grommets (I got mine here)
- Stainless Steel Straws (I got mine here. You can use plastic too. I also bought some fun Paper Straws from Paper Mart just for fun :))
- Drill & Drill Bit (7/16")
- Hammer
- Piece of solid wood (like a short 2-by-4)
- Flat smooth floor (I used my furnace room concrete floor)

HOW I DID IT Instructions:
1) I washed all my jars, jar rims, and straws in my dishwasher on a sanitizing cycle (I didn't wash my lids at the same time).

2) I took my lids to my sister's house and my brother-in-law drilled all the holes. I only gave him the lids. I suggested that he drill them on top of a wood piece (like the YouTube tutorial). He did all the work for me (Thanks a ton!!).

3) Some of the edges of the holes were jagged so I tried to trim them as much as I could but I used tin snips that I read about in another tutorial but they were super awkward to use and didn't work very well at all. I trimmed as much as I could.

4) Trying to make everything as smooth as possible, I decided to take my lids down to my basement, put the lids one-by-one down on the concrete and hit them with my hammer a few times to make everything flat. I couldn't believe it but it worked out great! On my next round, I'm going to try a different bit that my dad said would work well... we'll see :).

5) After the lids were all smooth, I washed these in the dishwasher.

6) When they were all dry, I put in the grommets which was easy once I got in a groove... and after I had done about 10, I was like a pro!

7) I let the ladies choose whether they wanted the bent or straight straws and I let them choose a paper straw for fun.

Any questions??

Oops

I'm seriously neglecting my blogging duties. My bad!

In a perfect world, my house would be clean, my son would be well-behaved, my husband would put his dirty socks in the laundry basket, I'd have a new car, money wouldn't be an issue, and I'd post here more often. Well, maybe I can get one of those things to happen... starting now by blogging on my phone ;).

Anyway, I'm just popping in to say hi, hope you are enjoying your summer, and taking time to rest.

Love to you all!

quilt & resolutions

I'm a member of the Prairie Patchers Quilt Guild out of Brooks, AB. My sister and my mom are members too and my cousin-in-law will be joining in September which will be nice because there aren't a lot of "younger" members yet but we're making waves!

I just finished my 3rd Quilt. I started quilting in January last year just after my son was born. I started with a Disappearing 9-Patch quilt you can check out here and here. Then I moved on to a Jelly Roll Race Quilt you can see here and here. I finished my Charm Pack Cherry Quilt on Monday night and it's from a FREE pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop. They even have a great YouTube video tutorial. My version can be seen here and here. I used a super soft red minky on the back. I hope my little one will love this quilt.

new layout

I'll be working on a new layout soon. I'm not sure I like a lot of the ones Blogger has but I'd like to keep to the "cotton & cooties" theme so we'll have to see how that goes :)