The Sock Sack...

As our family has grown so has the abundance of lost socks. It drives me crazy to have all the laundry done and find I still have a basket of socks without their match. Likewise, it drives me crazy to find a dozen socks under my boys bed, behind the couch, in the sandbox, or in the bottom of my pantry! When have dirty socks ever gone in the pantry?! 

So, here is my new solution to the problem, The Sock Sack. Everyone has their own sock sack, when you take off your socks, you put both socks into your sack. When the sack is getting full, zip it closed and throw the entire thing into the washer and dryer. All pairs SHOULD be accounted for. Which SHOULD make for easy folding and putting away. And I can't even wait to try it out on tiny little baby socks!

We started this routine this week and so far it has been a hit. My boys even spent an entire morning searching for my dirty socks to put in their sack. I think I will eventually make a little fabric tag for each sack, but for right now this works great!

I found our sock sacks at Walmart in the laundry basket/ironing board aisle. These are the Mainstays Brand and they were 97 cents each. There was a Tide version, but they were like $4 each. I couldn't see any reason why these wouldn't work just as well and haven't had any trouble yet. 

Hopefully, this will simplify our sock problem, do you have any time saving laundry tricks? Have a great weekend!

Quiet book update

Here are a few pages that I have recently added to my previous quiet book post!

These are button on flowers. Already a big hit with my girls!

These numbers are velcro. In retrospect I would have done them out of another material, perhaps laminated paper. They were difficult with felt and I anticipate they will tear very soon!

This bag is what we keep all of Mr. potato's accessories!

And these are the finished finger puppets tucked into the barn pocket.

Dahlia Pillow

I have been wanting to create some new decorative pillows for our front room. Last week our youngest wasn't feeling well, so while Daddy and Brother went to visit Grandma and Grandpa I had time to work on a little something. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. And it was really EASY! A little time consuming, but not too bad, I had the whole thing finished in a couple hours.

What you need:
                              Felt (I had felt off the bolt, I had used it for something else, but I probably had about 1 yard         or so and I still have some left over. It depends on how big you want your pillow and how large you want your Dahlia.)
                              Pillow Form (I used a really ugly santa pillow that someone gave to us, made a perfect form and was free)
                              Scissors
                               Hot Glue Gun & Glue
                              Sewing Machine, to actually sew the pillow slipcover
                              Some decoration for the center, I used beads, but a big button or anything would work too.


First, figure out how big you are making your pillow. I simply took the ugly pillow laid it onto my felt and traced around it, then added a little for a seam allowance. This was my front. For the back you have 2 options. You could simply do the same thing again and have a completely solid pillow or you can make a slip cover. To do the slip cover I took the front I had just measured and traced it again, then added extra for over lap and seam allowance, about 3 1/2 inches, but only to ONE side. Then I simply folded that piece in half and cut along the fold making 2 equal halves.

**here is where I would do something different. I created my Dahlia first and then sewed the slipcover together, it worked but was extra tricky not to sew over the petals, so in the future I would quickly sew the slipcover together.

               1. Take the back halves and gently fold over just a bit and sew. This is the part where you slip your pillow form in and out, so it needs to be finished.
                2. Then lay both back halves onto your front piece, making sure that the outside corners are perfectly aligned. The back pieces will be bigger, so align the outside corners and then put one side of the halves under and the side over and pin around.
               3. Sew the entire way around the pillow, remember to back stitch. Clip the corners, turn right side out.


Now for the fun part. I traced a circle using a dinner plate where I wanted my Dahlia to be. I didn't want it center for a couple reasons, I was worried that it might become slightly offer center and drive me crazy and I actually really like the offer center look.

Then cut your triangles. Bigger for the outside and then getting slightly smaller as you work toward the center. I experimented a little, until I had about the size I wanted, but mine are not all the same or perfect. I just quickly cut triangles about the same size.

To make the petal, fold one bottom corner in to the center and glue (JUST A LITTLE GLUE) and then fold the other petal into the center and glue. And that is one petal. Then glue it onto your slipcover along the line you made. And repeat working slowly inward, until you get to the center and add your embellishments. I used beads and just hand sewed them on.

Slip your pillow form inside and you're done!