Sunday Funnies

Not funny ha-ha, but funny peculiar. As it so happens, I missed this week’s MOSS Project. Insert shame here. I was actually out of town this weekend for a family wedding (which was beautiful and nice) and then when we returned home this afternoon, I realized that I hadn’t gotten around to the fabric store earlier in the week to buy the double-fold bias tape that I needed for this week’s project – the potholders. I’m not going to beat myself up about it – sometimes life happens. I’ll be back next week with the sewing kit roll.

In other news, I’m slowly coming out of my cooking rut. I had a taste for pasta for lunch today so I made a white bean and broccoli sauce with a touch of lemon and chili flakes. Sometimes its nice to have a pasta sauce that isn’t based on tomatoes. For dinner tonight, I decided a crockpot rotisserie chicken would be the way to go. I covered it in Milwaukee Iron seasoning from the Spice House and put a little lemon juice in the bottom. Crockpot chicken doesn’t call for liquid, but I thought a little touch would be a nice flavor addition to the seasoning. I guess today ended up being a lemon kind of day. I’ll make some mashed potatoes to go alongside. I’m still trying to think of what to bake for a breakfast treat – I’m thinking chocolate chip muffins would be nice.

MOSS Project – January 16 Sewing Machine Cover

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? Not a chance! My sewing machine is set up in front of a window and is a complete dust magnet. It’s a pain to have to clean it off every time I want to sew something, so I’ve been wanting to make some kind of a cover for it to keep it dust free.

I made a very simple box cover using two 23×15 pieces of fabric. You’ll see I decided to coordinate the cover with my ironing board. I simply sewed around the sides and top of the fabric (wrong sides together of course) and then fitted it over my machine to shape the corners. Shaping the corners was easy – I just pinched the top sides into triangles and slipped a pin in to mark the fit. Then I sewed across the triangles and cut the excess fabric. I finished the cover by doing a simple single fold hem along the bottom. I flipped it inside out, and onto the machine it went. It took me 15-20 minutes, start to finish. I love the quick instant-gratification projects!

The great thing about a simple cover like this is the fact that it can be tailored to cover just about anything, by changing the measurements of the fabric – toasters, computer peripherals, coffee makers, filing cabinets – whatever you need to cover up.

(Oh, and I know the calender on my sewing desk is a date ahead. Guess I got a little overzealous flipping through those little cubes.)

MOSS Project – January 9 Mini Ironing Board Cover

Our mini ironing board came into the house way back when my husband and I first moved in together; it actually belonged to him. We’re still using his original iron too. He had an ironing board because, responsible bachelor that he was, he always made sure he had crispy ironed dress shirts for work. As for me, I refused (and still do) to wear anything that requires ironing.

The ironing board was so ugly – it was a simple plywood affair with metal legs and an awful faux-denim print cover. I can’t tell you how many times I almost pitched it. But as it turns out, an ironing board is essential for professional-looking sewing projects. It’s needed a makeover for years. Today, I finally did it -

It’s a huge improvement on the old. It’s a bit hard to see in the photos, but the fabric is red/white ticking stripe. I just love ticking. It always looks good, no matter what. I created my own pattern by following the instructions in One Yard Wonders which is my favorite sewing book on the face of the planet.

My stitching isn’t one hundred percent pretty and I definiately need more practice tucking fabric around curves, but the pattern guidelines in the book are incredibily forgiving. I could’ve gotten the cover to lay a bit flatter on the board had I been more careful (or rather, more experienced) at tucking. But not bad for a first time. This was also the first project I’ve done that requires making a casing for cording and that was super easy – you just have to go slowly around those corners, so your fabric doesn’t bunch up horribily and get sewn into itself.

I was also pretty excited about this project because I found a remnant in my fabric trunk that was perfectly sized, so I only had to cut the rounded corners. And I reused the cord from the old cover in the new. All in a all, a pretty good project, and my sewing supplies are looking even spiffier now with a bright flash of color from the ticking stripe.

MOSS Project – January 2 Draft Dodger

For January 2 I decided to sew up a draft dodger for our back door. It can be a little drafty even though the door is well insulted with weatherstripping, so I thought an old-school draft dodger would help the situation. It’s beats an ugly old towel any day!

Please pardon my dirty floors. I designed to be a bit long so it can be pushed all the way into the doorframe for a snug fit, and sewed a ribbon loop into one end so it can be hung out of the way when not in use. It’s filled with almost five pounds of rice (which only cost me about $3.75). It’s about 33 inches long and 8 inches in diameter - a hefty dodger for an exterior door. The fabric is a great pine board flooring print, which Tracy of Half Pak Designs got me for my birthday in December.

Next week’s project – a mini ironing board cover!

Month of Sewing Sunday (MOSS) Projects – January

For January’s MOSS projects, I’ve decided to focus on a “home” theme for what I’m working on. You can do the same theme for yours if you’d like to, but it’s not obligatory – the point is just to get sewing, no matter what you’d like to work on!

This month I plan to do the following -

January 2 – Draft Dodger

January 9 – Mini Ironing Board Cover

January 16 – Sewing Machine Cover

January 23 – Potholders

January 30 – Sewing Kit Roll

Month of Sewing Sundays!

One of my goals for this year is to sew something new every week. I have alot of patterns I’d like to try out and things I’d like to make for the house, as well as the fact that I’d like to keep honing my skills so I can work my way up to advanced projects like clothing.

So I was thinking about that today and it occured to me – why not invite others to join in? This is how it works – at the beginning of each month, I’ll make a list of the projects I want to get through in the month. I’ll allot a week to work on each project, and it’s “due” every Sunday, where I’ll post here, as well as in the Apartment Farm Moss Project flickr group.

If you’d like to participate, do the same for yourself! Email me a jpeg of your project and I’ll post it into the MOSS page of the flickr group. This way we can all have a little fun encouraging each other and showing off our work. I’ll be designing a badge this week as well that you post to your blog if you’d like, to show that you’re a participant in the project.

Since 2011 was kind enough to start on a Sunday, it makes sense for everyone to start with the project next week. But I was so inspired and ready to jump in that got right to sewing when I got home today. Stay tuned momentarily!