Cloth Napkins:How I made them

Supplies- sewing machine,iron (not totally necessary but helpful), scissors,rotary cutter, cutting mat/template

materials- 100% cotton I used 4 yards total (1 blue,1 green, and 2 gray), thread to match or not match if you want, go crazy


Getting started-
I have a cutting mat that is 12 inches square and i used that as the template to cut out the napkin shapes figuring that the extra edges on the mat would be what I used for my seams, that way they would come out just about 12 inches square, but I never did measure them once they were done.
I am lazy so i just folded up the fabric and cut all 3 layers at once after the first cut an I relized how long it was going to take me to cut out all the squares.
I ended up being able to cut 9 napkins out of each yard, for a total of 36 napkins, which may seam like a lot but I am not that great at being prompt on the whole laundering things that I don't need to wear like right now so, I made enough for a few weeks (only my sister and I use them on a regular biases so they last pretty long)

I started to iron down all of the seams on all the napkins but then I realized that I didn't really care if all the seems where exactly even and straight since I had a bunch to make and they were for degopping our our hands anyway so I ended up just ironing them all flat so at least they weren't to puckered but if I made them again I probably wont iron them, so do as you please.

This is the one that I actually ironed down the seams on, I used a zigzag stitch, but again I don't know if that was totally needed, but they have held up well and not frayed past the stitch.


I just went around each corner by keeping the needle in the napkin but lifting the foot and turning, it worked well on my machine and my corners look pretty good.

I did not wash the material before I sewed the napkins, but I did before I used them. I washed them with towels and sheets figuring that's what they would probably usually be washed with any way. There where a stringy mess of frays and such when I first got them out, and I had to trim up each one, but they have not frayed since so I figure the time was well spent and I was watching a trash episode of The O.C. on DVD so it went by pretty fast. We have used them on everything from water to pizza grease and they have worked great.

The garden as of today! everything is still alive and growing well.
The squash that is in the compost heap- we are going to be over whelmed with squash if i dont watch out

as of 6/2

my squash as of 6/2, it has a bloom on it now

(click to see labels) So here is my garden today. Its doing pretty good. My mom planted pumpkins last year and the seeds got everywhere and so they keep popping up so I really have to keep after them but things are looking pretty good other then that.

I have silk worms at work, majorly creepy! a lot of them are cocooned now so that does help, they went through so many leaves, I was worried I would run out at times.

A while ago Carly and I went to Cal Poly Pomona and picked a ton of strawberries, well I froze some and then like 3 weeks ago I made strawberry freezer jam- 9 1/2 pint jars. It was soooooo good,I gave 5 jars away and we went through the other 4 in no time. I think I may need to make more. I did use one jar to make a white cake with jam filling with a lemon glaze on it-yummmm!

My garden on March 28th

it has labels if you click it



Molly had me make earthhour tie dye shirts


Molly during earthhour.
She made salsa, i cooked corn in the fire. It was a fun time, it not a little dull.

-Long time no blog, i am horrible at this
-I have been to Graceland
-and i have been in the Atlantic ocean and pacific in the same month
- we drove 5080 miles in 9 days
- I have taught my self to knit socks
-i really do enjoy making them
- i am working on molly's gloves now
- i finally finished my sweater it is like the best thing ever
-my class is going well
-those kids keep me busy
- i have 11 but only ever 10 a day which is way nice
-we have a new kitten
-Bill in a Siamese kitten
-the other cats are not that big of fans of him
-Archie loves to play/bug him
-house sitting for like 14 days in a few days
-painting Eric the new pastors office this weekend a light grayish and a green, hope he likes it
-doing Christmas tree crafts again might be my last year, its getting pretty old
-my dad was in a pretty bad bike accident last weekend- doing much better then he thought he would be only 5 days latter and even went to work today
-I want to make a nativity for my class to play with before Christmas, need to find a good pattern and then work on them
-

-Going to Alabama in September to take some of Gramps Ashes, road trip with my mom and sisters, 11 states in 10 days, it should be fun
-we have come up with a point system to work on over the summer so that we can barter our way to better music and lunch choices and so on
-we also have to find out info on 2 states each
-I have oklahoma and arizona
-we are driving in a circle 40 on the way there- 10 on the way back
-we are also going to Oxnard hopefully- to a house right on the beach, that will be super cool
-we will probabaly get a house in GVL too, but i will have to work at least part of it, but GVL is close enough so it will be okay
- I am housesitting almost all of july
-I am moving in the middle of july as well
-we shall see how this goes
-I only have 3 Pre-K kids left
-and they are all borning ones
- the beans my kids planted are doing soooo well
-the boss is on vacation
-mom is in needles it is like over 110
-katie came home last night
-we shall see how that goes
-i have finished all of the front and back of my sweater, working on the first sleave now
-we are going to a Sound of Music sing along in Sept. that should be fun!
- 4th of july is all weird this year

Hey so I'm on twitter

a knitted kitty for a a group i am in Ravelry
Okay so i havn't writen in a while- i should have i know.

I have about 24 inches of the back of my first sweater done only 6 more!!!!!

I finished some fetchings last weekend and a hat and a head band time thingy (my camera is at work i will take pic later

One of the teachers at work left so i have been moved to the Pre-K room, i am loving it. the room has needed a lot of work and the kids have needed some manners work but they are great kids 8 boys and 2 girls, things are slowly coming together and its actually been a lot of fun doing it

Here is the yarn that my mom bought so that i would knit up a whole bunch of hot pads. we have a few out of this cotton yarn- doubled up so its nice and thick but she wants more. I finished one of the flap hats but i made it a little to big, I gave it to carly who is wearing it any way but i might try to felt it and give it to someone with a baby we shall see.

Okay so i stopped writing for a while, but I am back. I am working on a Prayer Shawl for my class- its out of the neatist Inca cotton I got at The Yarn Deli. Its a cream color and oh so soft and comfy. I got some more of the single ply yarn I used to make Kates hat to make some more ear flap hats, I think Carly and Molly would like them so that is on my list of things I want to work on. I have been wanting to work on my paper beads some more so i have started cutting them out and will work on them this weekend. They go together pretty fast so we shall see. I would love to sell them on esty, either just the beads or made into necklaces and such.

Those are the sequined balls that my mom and I have been working on for 2 Christmases now. We have a big bowl done and that many more to do.



Here is more of the baby blanket- there is more done and I hope to be done totally tomarrow as the baby shower is Sunday.



Here are the office decoations- they are now hung up at different levels over the table.

Here is the felt advent calender done! It took forever but I think it looks pretty good.

Here are some of the sugar cookies Carly and I made last Saturday- they were so good!

I started the knitted baby blanket but then relized that it was not wide enough so here is where i stopped and pulled it all out.

And here is what i nave redone of it so far- it has double the stiches across so it should be plenty wide

I was pretty productive last night. Here are the napkin holders done- I held them together with black cording and added a few beads I think they look pretty good- I want them to stand on the plates- I'll see how that goes.




I finished the first 5 days of the felt advent calender ornaments- they take about 30 min each- all of the embrodery on each one, and then adding the backs just takes a while.



The Picture below is of the Nativity Scene pattern- I am modifiying
it a little so that it will be a banner and not free standing and I am hoping in future years to add shepherds, 3 kings and an angel- so it will be a whole set but this year it will only be the holy family.



Here is my advent calender that I made on Veterns day- it was supposed to have shriky dink charms inside but they failed me- the holes closed up and they curled and got too small so now I need to modify it to make it something cool again- I am thinking about printing up little things to do and think about and sticking them under each flap.

Well I got a little done on the felt advent calender but the ornaments take a long time so that will be a slow process.

For our Thanksgiving napkins I made these fall leaves to use as napkin holders with a little black cording and a few beads I think they will look really neat.

I worked hard on the felt Advent calendar this weekend- the picture above is what it looked like on Saturday Morning and the below is what was done this morning when I left for work ( the candy cane goes down on the bottom by the lights but its not done yet)


So far it has taken about 24 total hours, and i think i have close to that much more, but its been a lot of fun.

While I was working on it this weekend, my mom was digging around in a drawer in the hallway and found a very cool pattern for a simple nativity scene- they are supposed to be stuffed and be ahnd puppets but I want to make them on to a banner, so another thing to work on this season.

I think I am going to try and turn this in to a crafty
blog- I need a place to write about what I am working on so I figure this would be the place to do it.



I made those paper beads a few weeks ago. I found a paper bead kit at Michaels that is put out by Martha Stewart, I made that kit up but then I made a template and have made many more beads in many differnt colors.

Things done so far this summer:
-Northwoods Inn
Mini Golf- Sally winning by one point

Things to do this summer:



-L.A.Zoo
-Watch a T.V.Show Taping
-Beach Train
-California Science Center
-Natural History Museum
-Junior University
-Griffith Observatory
-Hollywood Bowl July3rd and Aug 10th
-Los Angeles Public Library
-The Drive in
-Bolwing
-The beach
-U pick fruit
-camping?