Pillowcase bag

Sleeper of a Bag

Give an orphaned pillowcase a new home -- over your shoulder.

1. Trim 1/4 inch off the closed end, and cut the case in half on the diagonal. Turn the fabric of each of the four diagonal cut edges over by 1/4 inch, twice; pin, and hem.

2. Place one pillowcase half inside the other, lining up bottom edges; pin, and sew at front where fabrics overlap. Repeat on other side. Turn fabric inside out, and hem case's cut bottom. Trim with pinking shears. Turn case right side out, tie top ends into a knot, and you have a carefree summer bag.

Ruched Pillow

Preparation:
Cut one piece of fabric 32 inches wide x 25 inches tall.
Cut four strips of fabric 1 inch wide x 30 inches long.
Cut four pieces of ribbon 36 inches long.

Construction:
1. To hem the side openings, press 1/4 inch to the wrong side of each short side. Press another 3/4 inch to the wrong side to make 3/4-inch finished hems. Topstitch along the inner folded edge.

Folding the side edges twice finishes the inside of the tube neatly.

2. Mark the center of the pillow, 12 1/2 inches from each long edge, with pins at each hemmed edge. Measure 4 inches from the center line toward the long edge and mark at each hemmed edge. Measure 8 inches from the center line in the same direction and mark. This marks the casing lines on the front of the pillow. Repeat on the other side of the center line to make the two casing lines for the pillow back. Chalk-mark lines from side to side for each marking.

3. Lay one narrow strip of fabric centered over each marked line on the wrong side of the pillow fabric. Edgestitch on both sides of the strip, leaving a casing opening of approximately 1/2 inch.

If your fabric raveled easily, cut the strips wider and turn the raw edges under.

4. Fold the pillow in half, matching the raw edges, and stitch a 1/2-inch seam.

Serge or zigzag the seam together to prevent raveling.

5. Attach a safety pin to the end of one piece of ribbon. Feed the safety pin and ribbon through a casing, leaving a few inches exposed at each end.

The safety pin and ribbon should slide easily through the casing.

6. Repeat for the remaining three pieces of ribbon.

7. Insert the pillow form into the pillow tube.

8. Gather the pillow fabric along the ribbon casings, evenly distributing the gathers. Tie the ribbon ends in bows and trim the ribbons as desired.

Cookie Cup Treats

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cup Treats

½ batch of your favorite cookie dough recipe

3 Cups Mini Marshmallows
2 Tablespoons butter
3 ½ Cups rice crispy cereal

1 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons coconut oil (you can also use heavy cream)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press cookie dough into mini cheesecake tins or mini muffin tins filled about ¾ way full. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and drizzle 1 teaspoon caramel ice cream topping over each cup.

2. Place marshmallows and butter into a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1-2 minutes or until puffed up. Stir in rice crispy cereal until well combined. Scoop a spoonful of mixture and place over cookie cups. Spray hands with cooking spray and press gently to even out.

3. Place chocolate chips into a medium microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Stir in coconut oil or heavy cream until shiny and smooth. Drizzle over top of brownies.

12 cookie cups

Toggle Necklace

What you will need:

- chain (14″-16″ depending on how long you prefer)
- crystal bead
- rings (those tiny metal circles used in jewelry)
- wire (for wrapping the bead, but you can also use a ring instead))
- toggle clasp
- jewelry pliers

Step 1: cut the chain in 2 pieces (one that is 1.75″ long and other 15″ long)
Step 2: With the help of pliers, open up the ring and connect the long chain and one piece of the toggle. Close the ring. Repeat the process on the other end of the chain.
Step 3: Attach the short chain and the toggle (the round piece). Now you have both chain pieces together with the round toggle in between.
Step 4: Wrap the bead with wire and connect it to the chain. You can also try using rings instead.

Blanket

Materials:
flannel, about a yard for each blanket
cotton yarn in a weight of your choice
crochet needle in a size that corresponds to your yarn weight
needle and thread

1. First excuse my non-official crocheting instructions. I hope it will make sense to you despite that.

2. Wash and dry the flannel to pre-shrink it. Make sure your flannel has no uneven edges (you want each edge to be a straight line). The selvege edges will be square. You can fold your fabric and use the selvege edge as a guide for squaring your other edges, or you can rip a strip from the cut edge to make it straight. I don't worry so much if the entire piece is a square, just that the edges are even.

3. Turn under your edges all the way around 1/4". Then turn all those edges under 1/4" and sew them down. You can do this with pins and a sewing machine, or you can turn as you work and handsew the edges down. I use the stitch I would use to hem pants--hem stitch, perhaps?

4. My grandmother used a fine crochet thread for the edging. I use something a little heftier and I like the nubbier edge it creates. To start the crocheted edge, make one chain stitch. Hold your yarn behind the fabric. Then poke (although the word poke seems too delicate, it's really more of a shove) your needle through the flannel just under your sewn edge where there is only one layer of fabric. Yarn over and pull the loop through your poked hole. Yarn over and pull that loop through the other two on your needle. Now do that twice more in the same hole. Chain once, and start a new hole about 1/4" from your first hole. Keep doing this. When you hit a corner make your hole right in the "armpit" of the corner. Do your crochet in the hole bit. Then chain twice to go around the corner, and do another trio of crochets in the same corner hole.

5. When you meet yourself, bind off and weave ends into your work to hide them.

6. Now you're done!

Crown

Materials:
Lace, modpodge, gold acrylic paint, gold leafing powder.
Tools:
scissors, paintbrushes, wax paper, optional hair dryer

1) Take your lace and make a crown shape.

The laces I used have one flat side. That really helps the structure.
The width of the lace and the pattern will help you determine the size of your crown.

2) Trim lace to size with a 1/2 inch or more overlap, matching pattern.

3) Paint with gold acrylic paint. Be sure to cover all surfaces.
Paint both sides of the lace.Let dry.
You may want to do more coats of gold paint.
I mixed an iridescent gold and a flakier gold for a
deeper look.

4) Place on wax paper.

5) Coat with ModPodge until well saturated.
I recommend you seal with, at least, 3 more coats of Modpodge.
Move it around while its really wet,
to keep the holes in the lace from becoming windows

6) Enhance the color with gold leafing powder
dabbed onto wet Modpodge with dry brush.
You can skip this step, but I really think it makes all the difference.

7) Dry completely flat. A hair dryer can speed the process.
Brush dry crown with a dry brush to remove excess leafing powder.
Peel off of the wax paper.

8) After all of ModPodge dries,
use craft glue to attach the ends of the lace together
to form the crown.

8.5)Pinch ends with fingers until set, wait overnight, until dry.

If this crown will see heavy use,
some stitches on a sewing machine might also be a good idea.

9) Place crown on head and have fun storming the castle.

Ragged Crazy Quilt