Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Make a Quick & Easy Business Card Holder - Tutorial Tuesday

I know I said my Quick & Easy Gift Card Holder was probably the fastest thing I've ever made. Scratch that. I think this just may be the quickest and easiest.
Quick and Easy Homemade Fabric Business Card Holder Sewing Project

For this project you'll need:
Looking for more small projects? Check out these other ideas!


Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Ready for the easy directions? Find the step-by-step how to tutorial for this quick and easy homemade fabric business card holder right here:

Monday, June 15, 2020

Day 89 - Case of the Mondays

On this chilly and rainy day, every man, woman, and kitten in this house has a case of the Mondays.
Might just be best to sleep through the day.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Day 88 - NASCAR Sunday

I’ve mentioned before about how I wound up watching NASCAR for the first time. Here we are years later having watched dozens of races on TV and even a couple in person. As we watched the races from Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on TV today, I’m reminded of our visit to the same racetrack a couple years back. It was Championship Weekend and the place was packed.
Us with the other 40,000 fans
After experiencing a couple days of in-person racing we decided we much prefer watching the races from the comfort of our recliners.

I have someone sharing the recliner with me today who agrees. Although I don’t know if Sage is cheering the drivers on or trying to do the wave. Whichever it is, he’s excited!

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Day 87 - A Messy Machine

The more quilting I've done on the Wrestling Quilt AKA the Fabric Headache Quilt AKA the Procrastination Quilt, the more my sewing machine has been making weird noises. So today I decided to take things apart, clean the machine up, and get some oil to it. Probably a good thing I did, too.

Here's where I started:
A fuzzy mess
Here's what it looks like now:
Pretty and shiny
I suspect my machine will now hum away just fine!

Friday, June 12, 2020

Day 86 - Foster Kitten Friday


On this Foster Friday we have some independent kitties. They are on their own schedules and are eating big, playing hard, and sleeping deep. Yep, they are basically running the show around here now.

Whether they are wrestling with the blanket,
claiming a cereal box as their own,
Thyme
stealing someone's shoes,
Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary
stealing the recliner,
Thyme, Sage, and Rosemary
or working on a blog,
Parsley and Rosemary at work with Sage sleeping on the job.
they work hard at wearing themselves out. 
Not a growl or hiss from Sage...just a yawn.

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

As they get tuckered out they find a myriad of places to sleep.

They love the lap
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary
and the couch
Rosemary
and the cat tree.
Sage
All four sweet babies
Eat/play/sleep and repeat days happening here in kitten land.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Day 85 - Quilt Wrestling

Ever heard of quilt wrestling? Just try and machine quilt this huge thing and the definition will be crystal clear.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Day 84 - More Pops of Color

On Day 33 I took a picture of the neighbor's tulips through the fence.
On Day 43 I took a picture of the neighbor's tree over the top of the fence.
On Day 44 I took a picture of neighbor's Bleeding Hearts popping through the fence.

Now on Day 84 Peeping Deb has yet another through-the-fence picture. Roses!
Don't worry, I'm not going out of my way to peep. Not even doing it on purpose, either. I'm either picking kale or pulling/spraying weeds in the garden, and since the garden is up against the fence these pops of color catch my eye. 

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Make Your Own Quick & Easy Fabric Cord Wrap Holder - Tutorial Tuesday

Today I have an easy-to-make cord wrap. Like, really  easy. And quick, too!
Homemade Quick and Easy Fabric Scrap Cable and Cord Wrap Sewing Project


For this project you will need:
Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Needing to hold more cords? Check out this project!


Directions? Yep, I got 'em. Click on the video to find the step-by-step how to tutorial to make this quick and easy home cord and cable wrap scrap fabric project:

Monday, June 8, 2020

Day 82 - A Scrappy Finish

My scrap fabric drawer is empty.

My scrap fabric project from last week is finished.

And my scrappy sewing room closet curtain is in place.
Not sure I love it, but I do like it. We'll see how long it takes before I change it out.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Day 81 - Not Just One Drip

With all the rain we’re having I was thinking I’d get to take a break today. No outside work, no weeding, and no painting. I was looking forward to even staying out of the sewing room. Make today into a day of nothing but relaxation. No worries and no problems. Sit in the recliner, covered in a blanket, with my feet up. (With kitties crawling all over me, of course.)

It was a great plan until I grabbed a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom cabinet.

What the heck? Hmm...let’s try a different roll. Yikes. Another roll? Crap! The rolls in the back? Dang. Every single roll under the cabinet was wet.

All those jumbo mega rolls were ruined by an under sink leak. Clearly it hadn’t been just one or two drips as they weren’t just wet but soaking wet. I thought I could just dry them and use them afterwards, but had to heartbreakingly decide against it. It wasn’t a fresh water leak, but was coming from the bottom of the sink.

The sink I wash our face masks in.
The sink I use to clean kitty faces of stuck on food.
The sink I use to give baths to the kitties who have made messes of the things coming out their bottom ends.
The sink I clean with chemicals every single day.

All those things are soaked up in the toilet paper. Yuck.
So goodbye to my entire mega roll toilet paper stash and hello to a new toilet paper purchase and a call to the plumber. And I think hello to a nap.

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Day 80 - Before and After

I’m a huge fan of before and after pictures, particularly when it comes to home improvement projects. This week's project pic has me comparing the outside steps before and after my paint job.

Man, they were ugly.
Not anymore. They are things of beauty now. Dang, I did good!

Friday, June 5, 2020

Day 79 - Foster Kitten Friday


TGIFF! (Thank goodness it's Foster Friday!)

My Simon & Garfunkel kitties (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme) are now hitting five weeks old and things are changing. First up, they are no longer bottle babies. So exciting! They've also finished up with their gruel stage and are completely on canned food. They even are doing well with the newly introduced canned food/dry food combo. They are growing fast and are beginning to eat, pee, and poop me out of house and home. Four kitties eating like like crazy have required multiple replenishments of food and litter. (Another reason I like working with Simply Cats - they supply everything for free! Just a quick email to them asking for more supplies and I can pick up the food, litter, or whatever, the next day.)

This week the kitties have also found playing and running and jumping and climbing are fun activities. These little ones never stop. Couch to floor to windowsill to bookshelf to chair to scratching post and back again.
Sometimes I think they are playing
Follow the Leader.
Toys have become important, too. They have a favorite one they fight over and drag around the living room.
Sage has it now, but looks like Thyme is gunning for it.
Yep, Thyme got it all to himself for a short moment.
It's Rosemary's now.

But what about Parsley? When is it her turn? She does play with it sometimes, but not much. At least not yet. When she came here a couple weeks back she was the smallest by far at about 9 ounces. We've worked hard at putting weight on her and she finally hit the one pound mark early this week (yay!) but she's still smaller than the rest. She prefers watching the others play instead of playing herself. Her participation has been increasing and she will even take a swat at one of them and then try and run off. Like kitties when they first start to play, she is still running a bit sideways.

Parsley was also the last off the bottle, the last off the gruel, and the last one ready to eat canned food. Even now, while the others eat nice and neatly, Parsley is messy. With a capital M.

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

Looks like a regular kitty eating from a bowl, right?
Look closer to see what she does with her paws. IN THE BOWL.
Try and take her paws out of the bowl and here's what you get. Someone giving you a glaring look and sticking out her tongue.
What about if you take the bowl away instead? You get the pouty look.
Might as well let her finish her messy eating because then you'll get a happy camper ready to clean her own face. (Well, not exactly. She still requires additional face/paws/body-cleaning support from Foster Mama.)
Welcome to my adorable kitten world.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Day 78 - Hugs

Need a little love from a little kitty? As soon as Thyme wakes up I’m sure he’ll give out some hugs.
Yep, all ready!

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Day 77 - It's a Birthday

Today is kiddo's birthday. Usually she and her husband head off to the mountains to go camping with friends, but with the pandemic it's not happening this year. Plus she's knee deep back into work with little time off right now. Side note: As you're out shopping in the retail stores, please be kind to the employees. They're doing the best they can to keep you safe by following CDC guidelines and company policy. They don't need jerks mouthing off to them about the long lines and closed fitting rooms. I know you’re frustrated things aren’t the way they used to be, but please don’t take it out on store employees.

So today she's having lunch with some work friends. Maybe stopping by our house for an outside social distancing visit. While I'd love to give her a hug and kiss today, I know I can't. But I can tell her how much I'm proud of her. How much I love her. Maybe that's all a married thirtysomething needs from her parents anyway. (Although I did pick up some Dr. Pepper and granola bars for her to take to work.)

Happy Birthday kiddo!
Roses outside Simply Cats.
I snapped the photo when I picked up supplies today.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

How to Make a One-Handed Elastic Face Mask - Tutorial Tuesday

Most cloth face masks require two hands to take them on and off, but today's mask tutorial shows you how to make one so only one hand is needed. It'll provide independence to stroke patients and others with only use of one side of their body, like my husband. And if you have use of both hands, this one works great for you too because it keeps the elastic off your ears and puts it around your head instead.
Easy to Sew Cloth Fabric Face Mask Project for People with One Hand

For this project you will need:
Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step-by-step how-to tutorial for the cloth fabric face mask for one handed people right here:

Looking for a different mask? I have several other tutorials to choose from:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

Monday, June 1, 2020

Day 75 - Presto Chango!

On Day 59 I complained about my old stove with not all burners working. About my oven hood fan that made a horrible racket. And about my nonstick pans that Mr. E made into stick pans because of his preference for metal utensils.
Nothing worth seeing here.
Then on Day 71 I solved the oven hood fan racket by installing a new one. All by myself.
Super noisy fan problem solved.
Now we have a presto chango event. 
So pretty
And all the burners work on this one.  Yahoo!

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Day 74 - Scrappy Sunday

What do you get when you clean out your scrap fabric drawer and run the sewing machine all day? 12 different colors of scrappy blocks waiting for a project. A non-quilt project.
Next up comes the white fabric strips. Or maybe muslin strips. It's still a work in progress so I haven't quite decided yet.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Day 73 - The Early Bird

Not only does the early bird get the worm, it gets kitties fed and a 6 AM sunrise picture taken through the kitchen window.