I have had a little bit of time this week to work on something other than, gasp, sewing. Yes, I CAN do other things.  I decided to make a little “mini-scarf” or neck warmer. I used cotton crochet yarn because I don’t like wool up against my neck. This little scarf if just right to wear when you don’t need a big jacket:

my new mini scarf

It goes nicely with my favorite sweater

it's all single and double crochet, easy to do

Braid the ends, and make a tassle and you're done.

It was a fun little project to do while I was sitting waiting for other things to happen, and I got a nice little wardrobe accessory to boot!

To make this:

Chain stitches to be the lengtht you want (measure around your neck). # of stitches must be divisible by 5+3 stiches. I used 73 stitches.

Rows 1-3 Single crochet three rows. 4th row, *Double crochet three, chain two, skip next two stiches*,  continue to end of row, ending with double crochet three. 5th thru 7th rows, single crochet.

Cut 18 strands of yarn, 18 inches long each. Attach 9 strands on each end of the crocheted piece. To do this fold each strand in half, and pull the loop through with crochet hook. Once you have all the strands attached, you’ll have 18 ends on each side. (2X9).  Using two strands for each part of the braid, braid the strands into three braids. Then braid the three braids together. Wrap a piece of yarn tightly around the ends, about3.5 inches from the unbraided end, and tie tightly. Unbraid to the wrapped piece of yarn, then trim tassle to 3 inches. You’re done.

If you like to sew like I do, here are some quick to make sewing projects that make pretty nice gifts. Just click on the picture to take you to the project. If  you’ve got an hour, you’ve got time to make one of these!

Zippered Cosmetic Bag

One Hour Apron from Stop Staring and Start Sewing

Oven Mitt Pattern from Skip To My Lou

Soft Kitty Doll from Sew 4 Home

Harry Potter Doll Tutorial from My Paper Crane (MY daughter would LOVE this!)

Cute onesie with a tie tutorial from Brassy Apple

Even if you have never sewn in a zipper before, you will be able to make this cute little bag in about an hour and a half. To make it, you’ll need two fat quarters of fabric (18″ X 22″), two pieces of batting that measure at least 8″ X 10″,  one zipper at least 10″ long, scissors, thread, pins and a sewing machine.

You need two fabrics, some batting, and a zipper.

To get started, cut two pieces from each of the fat quarters that measure 8″ X 10″. Decide which one will be the outside of the bag. In this tutorial, the outside will be the puppy print fabric, and the inside will be the yellow prints.

cut two pieces of each fabric and two pieces of batting

Make a “sandwich” using one piece of each fabric and one piece of batting. Make sure the right sides of each fabric are facing out, with the batting in between the wrong sides of the fabric.

The sandwich, with the batting in the middle and fabrics right sides out.

Sew some lines of stitching through all three layers to quilt them. I usually sew from corner to corner in both directions, then do a couple more lines. It is up to you how much you want to stitch.

Make some lines of stitches to quilt the bag

When you are finished quilting both sides of the bag, set one sandwich aside for later.

This is what the quilted pieces will look like

Lay the remaining piece right side up, and place the zipper face down along the edge of the piece.

place the zipper face down, the fabric piece right side up.

Pin the zipper in place with a couple of pins. Then, starting at one end, stitch along the length of the zipper. Open the zipper part of the way to begin. After you stitch a few inches, close the zipper back up so that the zipper pull doesn’t get in the way of the needle and presser foot.

Start stitching with the zipper open

After stitching the length of the zipper, fold the zipper to the inside. Press with an iron.

Fold zipper to the inside

Go back to the sewing machine with the piece, and top stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the fabric.

Top stitch 1/4" from the edge of the fabric

This is what it will look like when  you have finished top stitching:

Top stitching keeps the zipper in place on the inside.

Next, repeat all the steps for sewing the zipper with the other piece of sandwiched fabric. When you have finished sewing in and topstitching the other side of the zipper, the bag will look like this:

The bag will look like this when you have finished the other side of the zipper

Next, fold the two pieces so that the outside pieces of fabric are together, on the inside. Match up the edges, and pin. Make sure the zipper is open half way before you start to stitch.

Fold so that the outside of the bag are facing each other

Stitch along the three sides of the bag, starting at the zipper edge and ending at the zipper edge on the other side. Be careful not to stitch over the hard pieces of the zipper. Stitch the beginning and ending few stitches back and forth a couple of times to reinforce the stitches so they won’t come apart.

Trim the zipper ends, and the corners at the bottom of the bag at an angle.

Stitch around the entire seam again with a zigzag stitch to prevent ravelling of the seams inside the bag.

Stitch along the seam again with a zigzag stitch

Turn the bag inside out, and press with an iron to set the stitches.

The inside of the bag

This little bag can be used for so many things! I use one for manicure supplies, one for jewelry, one for holding toothbrush, toothpaste and floss, etc.

What a cute little bag!

What is your bag going to hold?

Way back on February 12, I said I was going to show you how to recover those cornice boards that are in RV’s everywhere.  I really did think I was going to do that project the next day, but…..one thing happened and then another, and I didn’t have the right screwdriver to get mine down off the wall with, so it took a very long time for tomorrow to get here.

The old cornice boards just don't "go" with the new look.

Today I finally decided it was time to get that thing off the wall and finish my RV bedroom makeover. To start, I had to get the cornice board off the wall. It was held in place with two long phillips head screws. The shade was also attached to the cornice board, so I had to figure out how to get it off of the cornice without tearing it up. The shades also have the string mechanism attached to the wall down near the mattress.

This is the cornice off the wall, showing one of the screws holding the shade onto the cornice

I decided to take the cornice down by taking out the two screws. I then detached the two smaller screws that held the shade to the cornice. I left the shade laying on the bed in just the same position it was in when I removed it from the cornice, and left the strings attached to the wall. That way, I would know how it went back together.

recovering a cornice board on the tailgate of the truck

Once the cornice was off the wall, and the shade was off the cornice, I took the cornice outside to the tailgate of the truck. I knew it was going to be a messy job getting all the old fabric off, plus it was a very nice day outside.  The first thing I needed to do was figure out how to get the two pieces apart. I found out they were held together with staples, so I got a long flathead screwdriver and pushed in between the two pieces, slowly, so I could wiggle the staples out. Once the two pieces were apart, I had to take off the decorative “button” on the outside piece in the same way:

remove any decorative pieces carefully so they don't break

After I had the pieces apart, I removed all the old fabric, and used it as a guide for how to cut the new fabric pieces. Once the new fabric was were cut, I stapled them onto the wood pieces. I don’t have a staple gun, so I used an ordinary office type stapler opened all the way out. It worked for the purpose, but I would suggest buying or borrowing a staple gun if you are going to do this project–it will certainly save your knuckles.

I used duct tape on part of this project

The first piece I covered was made of balsa wood, so the staples went in fairly easily. However, the second piece was laminated, and that made it very hard to staple with just that office stapler. So, I used duct tape on the inside to hold the fabric in place. It isn’t going to show, and did the job very well.

When you have both pieces covered with the new fabric, you’ll need to fasten them back together. I just put the outside piece on top of the inner piece, and felt with my fingers to find the large staples that held them together. I placed a scrap piece of fabric over the area where the staple was, and hammered it down with a hammer. The last thing was to re-attach the decorative piece to the center of the cornice board. I also covered this wooden piece with some scrap fabric when I hammered it into place to prevent making any marks on it with the hammer.

I think this finishes off the room quite well!

It took me about two hours to complete this project. The hardest part was getting all the screws back in and getting the cornice back on the wall, mostly because my arms aren’t long enough. The shade went back on very easily, though.

Don’t you think this just completes my bedroom? It looks sooo much nicer to me.

Re doing an RV bedroom is quite easy!