Circle Flowers from Fabric

Joanne taught us how to make fabric flowers to embellish scissor cases, hats, or anything that needs a little dressing up. First you use a rotary cutter and mat to cut the circles out of the fabric. You need five or six of the same color. You fold the circle in half, right side facing out, and do a running stitch along the circular edge. Then you pull the thread tight. You should leave your doubled thread long enough to hold all the petals. When you have all your petals sewn, you join them at the center. To cover the stitching, you add a button which can be sewn on or glued. They are fun and easy to make.

Choosing fabrics and buttons

Christmas in July: Stone Coasters

Kari taught us how to make rustic Christmas coasters using stones squares, her favorite stamps, and a special ink that adheres to stone and ceramic products. Here are some of the ones we produced.

This is what the original stone looked like.

Christmas in July: Glitter Ornaments

Kari taught us how to apply glitter to the inside of clear glass Christmas ornaments. First you squeeze a puddle of a product called Glitter It in the bottom of the ornament and swirl it around until it covers the inside. Place a paper towel on the table to catch excess. Then pour the desired color of glitter in the ball and shake it all around until the insides are completely covered. Let dry and put the hanger back on the ornament. This is an excellent idea because the glitter doesn't come off on everything when you use the ornaments. We created blue, purple, and iridescent white for use on peacock trees, and some used the traditional green and red Christmas colors. This was a fun, quick, and easy project.

Little Baskets

For our June meeting, we assembled at Joann's barn again to make what she called a "little basket." The handle is part of the basket instead of being added later. I would rate the difficulty as medium, but all baskets are hard for me personally. Here are some of the beautiful results.

Arm Knitting

Karen learned to do arm knitting off You tube videos. She then taught us how to make a scarf using this technique and bulky yarn. It's a little more difficult than the Swerve scarves, but not much. You can make one in less than an hour. It takes two skeins of yarn.

Don't Bug Me: Natural Bug Repellent Spray & Soap

The club members made melt and pour glycerin soap with essential oils useful in repelling insects such as gnats, flies, and mosquitoes. While the soap set, we made bug repellent spray by mixing the same essential oils in a base of witch hazel. After we enjoyed a wonderful snack, we turned out the soap from the molds and packaged it in shrink wrap bags. To finish off, we placed the soaps and spray in a small basket covered in cello wrap and embellished with colorful ribbons. It is a great gift idea or a useful product at home. It sure beats the chemical alternatives.

Swerve Scarves: Hand Crochet

The Kountry Krafters model their scarves 

made by hand crocheting Red Heart Swerve Yarn.