Vacation Starburst Hotpads

Here are some hotpads that I made while I was on vacation and over Memorial Day weekend:

 

Blue and White



White and Blue

Summer Splash (All one color)

 



Hot Green and Hot Pink

 





 

Hot Pink and Hot Green

 



I have a few more colors what I have put together that I will be making into these hotpads soon.  They are not as difficult to make as it looks!  After they were assembled, I used my iron on the highest steam setting to make the whole hotpad lay flat.

Supplies:
Pattern: Starburst Hotpad Pattern by Kiley Jones & Loretta Schepp
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton #W272599 - Summer Splash and Lily's Sugar and Cream #00001 - White, #50215 - Robin's Egg, #01740 - Hot Pink and #18172 - Hot Green
Hook: US G

Buddy Bee Swap

I participated in another swap put on by the Freshstitches group over on Ravelry.  Here is what I made for my partner, Michaela (ToastyOat on Ravelry):

She had this amigurumi listed as a favorite so I had to make it for her in her favorite color orange.  I found the instructions to covert the gnome into a wizard from this blog posting from a fellow Raveler.

 

I also made her a pillowcase:

 

When I saw this fabric in my stash, it screamed her name so I made it for her.  I also added a placemat for her dalmation Zelda, 2 appliqued hand towels and a skein of Cascade Soft Spun yarn in orange.  She totally loved everything!  It was a pleasure being your buddy bee Michaela!

 

Supplies:
Pattern: Amigurumi Forrest the Garden Gnome by Stacey Trock

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Solid Worsted in #1382 - Yellow, #0208 - White, #0217 - Black, #1383 - Orange and #1202 -  Beige

Hook: US G

 

The Pink Owens

I was commissioned from a co-worker to make two monkeys in pink for her twin cousins.  Here they are:

Shocking Pink Owen

Baby Pink Owen

She loved them!  I wonder if they will make it to their final home since she loves pink as well!

Supplies:
Pattern: Amigurumi Owen the Monkeyby Stacey Trock
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Baby Pink, Shocking Pink and Buff
Hook: US G

T-Fal Iron Review

This iron, T-fal Ultraglide Easycord Ceramic Soleplate Steam Iron, is the second iron that I have owned in 5 months (but that is another story).  When I went to get the replacement for my first one, I read lots of reviews on the irons available at Kmart (that's where the first one was purchased and they were accepting it as a return).  Here it is:

 

I love how it sits on the cord.  I am a quilter so I was looking for an iron that produces a lot of steam to help take out the wrinkles from my fabric.  Another feature that I wanted was a smooth bottom.  This was the fabric did not get caught up in the recessed holes.

 

It is also a smooth ceramic plated bottom.  It glides over the fabric with ease!

 

The cord does not swivel but moves up and down so it is not in your way when you are ironing.  It also has a large opening for filling with water.

 

Overall, this is a great iron for only $39.99.  It has not leaked (yet) and is working like a charm.  If you are in the market for a new iron, for quilting or every day use, I would recommend this one!

Herstyler Grande Hair Professional Curling Iron Review

I was approached in by someone in the mall recently to try out some new hair product by Herstyler, a clipless curling iron and a ceramic flat iron.  I really liked the results but the cost was obnoxious, $150 for one for $200 for the set.  So when I got home, I googled it and found the same clipless curling iron on Amazon for $25.  Here is the one I bought:

 

 

I have poker straight long hair of medium thickness.  Here is the back of my hair naturally:

 

 

I have always wanted curls and/or wavy hair but the curls never take or stay.  I am also hair challenged and I have never been able to use curlers or a curling iron with positive results, plus I am impatient.  So I used the Herstyler curling wand for the first time the other night when I got home from work after it arrived.  Here are my results:

 

 

I found this to be relatively easy to use!  I was able to accomplish these results in about 20 minutes with little effort.  All I did was wrap about 1 inch of hair around the barrel with the tip pointed down so that the barrel could not be seen.  This produced nice tight curls instead of waves.  I did not anything to my hair before or after curling it.  I did this around 5:30 at night and when I went to bed at 10, it is super wavy.  By morning is was still a little wavy and would have needed some major touch ups.

 

I would highly recommend this clipless curling iron!

Hubby's Pillowcase

Well, since I made myself two new pillowcases for the bed, my hubby wanted one too!  Here it is:

 

His pillow is a king size so instead of cutting 27" of the full width of fabric for the body of the pillow, I cut a 36" piece.  It is now long enough!

These are so easy and quick to make, once you know what you are doing.  I think I am going to dig through my fabric stash and see if I have enough material left from my red and yellow log cabin quilt to make pillowcases to match.

My New Pillow and Pillowcases

This weekend, I bought myself a new bed pillow.  It is from Bed Bath and Beyond and it is the Brookstone Bio Sende Memory Foam Classic Pillow with Better than Down Cover.

It was rather pricey for a pillow ($59.99) but I love it!  I love memory foam pillows but sometimes they get too hard (even for me) without a down cover.  When I got home, it was too thick to use in my normal pillowcase, it looked like a sausage, so I had to make some for it.

 

Here they are:

 

 

And:

 

 

I had enough fabric of both the white and brown so I decided to make opposite pillowcases.  I really liked how they came out.

Have you seen how to make these?  Check out this video!

My Completed Jitterbug Quilt

OMG, I just realized that I never posted a completed picture of my Jitterbug quilt from the class I took at Meeting House Fabrics in Wales, MA in February:

 

 

Here is the back of the quilt as well:

 

 

I am very happy with how well this quilt came out!  It was finished just in time for spring since the color make you think of spring all year round!