How to Turn Tab Top Curtains to Back Tab Curtains...

Hi everyone. We're just finishing up on 2 rooms that have new floors, baseboard trim and new paint on the walls. The final step is window treatments and I've been on the hunt for new curtains for 3 large windows for a while. I would love to sew them myself, but with 3 windows, that's over 18 yards of fabric and 18 yards of lining...that would be hundreds of dollars. Financially not possible right now.

Sometimes when you can't find exactly what you're looking for, a little transformation of one thing can lead to just what you need! I found tab top curtains at Ikea for $19.00 for TWO panels!! Yes, you read that correctly. Two panels per package for $19…unheard of these days.

I wasn't looking for tab top curtains, but the color was perfect and the 98 inch length was the yardage I needed. So, this is what I turned them into with just 2 straight lines of stitching…

Pop in to see how easy…

Organizing...Ideas For Ikea Plastic Bag Dispenser

I know there aren't Ikea stores in every state, but if there is one near you, it's worth the trip. We don't have one here in Rhode Island, but there is a store an hour away in Connecticut and another an hour and thirty minutes away in Massachusetts.

We've bought things from small to big there…cork trivets to coffee tables. The prices are awesome!! (this is not a paid endorsement either…I just love the store!! My husband, not so much. I think it's because we spent four hours there on our first trip. Scared him away forever. Lol)

One thing I pick up almost every time I go are these plastic bag dispensers. They are only $1.99 each. A little pain in the butt to snap together, but you can use them for so much!!

When you buy them, they are flat and you just have to curved them into shape and snap in the clips on the side.

I use them for plastic bags and lots more too…

Super Cheap Polyester Fiberfill...

Hi Everyone...some of you may remember when hubby and I went to Ikea last fall. Click here if you want to read all about it. It's not like reading Gone With The Wind, but it has cinnamon buns in it. LOL !!

On that trip, we bought 2 pillows for 99 cents each. Yes, 99 cents!! My original thought was to buy them for pillow shams on our bed. However, we have used them to sleep with. They are the most ridiculous pillows ever. The fiberfill is bunched up and separated, but for some reason we love them. You can mold them any which way to fit your neck. We've tried all the expensive pillows too....down feathers, memory foam etc, but these are what we use.

Ok, focus Karen...that isn't the point of the post.

I was lying there in bed thinking...this is polyester fiberfill, just like the kind we all use in crafting. 

The pillows are 13 ounces of fiber fill for 99 cents. That ladies is the cheapest crafting fiber fill ever. I just looked online and it can run from $2-$13.00

Uses for pillow stuffing...

• stuff handmade children's toys
• pincushions
• Christmas ornaments
• cut the bed pillow down to a square and sew the edge up for a square pillow form. Those forms are expensive
• pillow sham forms

Here are the dimensions and info I found on their site.

Product dimensions

Length: 20 "
Width: 26 "
Filling weight: 13 oz
Total weight: 14 oz

Length: 51 cm
Width: 66 cm
Filling weight: 365 g
Total weight: 390 g

Unfortunately you can't order the pillows online. If you live near an Ikea or any store that sells cheap pillows, check them out.

Shop for fiber fill with a "Sew Many Ways" mind...thrifty!!

Take care,

~Karen~

A Trip to Ikea...

My husband and I had a great day on Saturday...believe it or not he suggested a trip to Ikea. This Ikea in Connecticut is an hour away and we've never been. We spent 4 hours in there. They are a smart company though...they have a restaurant in there. Their motto must be "feed them to keep 'em shopping". It worked!!!




We came home with a new sisal rug for the family room. It's about 7' x 11' for only $149.00!! This is Hallie who made a new home under the coffee table on the new rug as soon as we laid it down. She started to pick at it like it was a scratching post, but I sent her running upstairs when I screamed at her. She came right back though...hasn't picked at it since.



These are a few other things that we didn't need, but the price was right. Little juice glasses, apple slicer, cork hot pads, candles, tin containers, mini cupcake papers and finger puppets. (The puppets are for a future post, so stay tuned!)

I also purchased a little adjustable chair for my new sewing table (which isn't finished yet...more to come with that too. You can see a little peek behind the chair there)

Oh yeah...they also sell hot cinnamon buns on the way out of the store. I guess they think we needed a sugar rush to make it home. They are $1.00 each or 6 for $4.00. Couldn't help myself. There's only the 2 of us at home too. What was I thinking. We each had a low fat frozen yogurt ice cream cone for the ride home and left the buns in the back of the car. Too tempting to have them up front.

I looked at the label when I came home. Yikes. What was I really thinking. Do you see the serving size? HALF a bun. Who on this planet eats HALF a cinnamon bun. If I ate the whole thing it would be 480 calories and 14 grams of fat. "IF" I ate...not if. I already did. It was yummy!

They're big too.

Also bought my first jar of Lingonberry Preserves. Should have bought more of this. It's now my absolute favorite. Just thought of something. How bad would it be if I spread some of this on a cinnamon bun? Maybe we shouldn't have gone to Ikea...my pants aren't going to fit any more!

Have a great day,

~Karen~

Miscellaneous Monday...

Hi everyone.

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Here in the northeast of the US we were hit with a big snow storm...over 12" in our area with another 4" more this afternoon. I want spring!
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Since we're all home and not going anywhere, thought I would share a few pictures today of miscellaneous things that have nothing to do with each other.
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These 2 pictures are of my fabric rack. When I buy fabric, I wash and dry it first. ( I know, 2 different thoughts on that subject) If I am going to start the project right away, I iron it, fold it twice then iron the folds. I then hang it on a hanger so it stays neat all the time. When I'm ready to rotary cut, I actually leave it on the hanger, cut what I need then hang it back up again. It's always ready and ironed when I need it again. I store my fabric in an armoire that has a hanging rod in it. I keep most hanging and the rest is folded.
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Like my new hanging lamps from Ikea...my sister bought them for me to hang over my cutting table. Too cute, stainless steel, only $15.00 and they plug in so no wiring...yay!!



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These next 2 pictures are a continuation of the eyeglass case tutorial. Two super ladies emailed me about the cases. Deb from "Patchwork Sanity-A Women's Piece of Mind", had a great idea to use the case to store your rotary cutter in. So what did I do, made more with some Amy Butler fabric and snapped a picture for you. Thanks Deb for the great idea. You have to visit her blog, she has the most spectacular applique work ever and beautiful quilt picture too!!
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Nancy, from "Blogging, Near Philadelphia", has been sewing up a storm. She read the tutorial and made a dozen the same day. She had a great idea to use them as little gifts for her quilting retreat. She is placing one at each dinner place setting with the napkins sticking out. Then she'll tell them they are for glasses, (for those of us who can't see!!) or rotary cutters. Go visit Nancy too...great pictures of beautiful quilts!!
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You ladies are the best. Thanks for emailing me!!

What's out your window??? Jodi, don't look to close at my windows...I haven't used your window tutorial yet. Thankfully, it's gray out so you can't see my streaks!!! We have over 12" of the white stuff with more to go.

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Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer...my new best friend. No affiliation with it, I just love it and wanted to pass it along. We had 2 additions put on our house a few years ago so my parents could move in with us. By the end of a very, and I mean very long process, when it came down to shower choices, we put in 2 of the one piece, fiberglass tub/shower combos. The shower in my dad's bathroom is all tile and walk in for wheelchair access, but when it came to the end for ours, money spoke and the one piece was a whole lot cheaper. However, not easy to keep clean. The soap scum comes right off with this stuff. I left it on for about 15 minutes in our shower and used a scrubby pad and it looked brand new. I sprayed it in my daughters' shower, forgot to go back to it for hours and it was still perfect. Give it a try if you have soap scum...I hate that word, but we all must deal with it, or do we??? Do you have soap scum??? Wow, this was a crazy paragraph!!! I took the picture outside, because there is no bright light inside, but doesn't the snow look like scrubbing bubbles? Looks like the can left a trail!

Well, I'm off to sew a little wall hanging that I'll share later with another top that I finished yesterday. Hopefully, my daughter Courtney will start her Underground Railroad quilt today, since there is no school. Maybe I'll have pictures of that too...don't count on it though.

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Have a great day,

~Karen~