V and Co: Toasty rice Hand Warmers with Lavender

This is a post I did a few years ago. I actually had to make some more of these because my kids requested some and so did the husband…it's been a little chilly here so I thought I would reblog this in case anyone needed to make some more or if you missed it the first time around! :) 


the other day my son came in with a pink nose and yelled "MOM! I'M FREEEEEZING! do you still have that rice bag thing you made? can you heat it up?"
yeah i still have my rice bag feet warmer i use it all the time, because i'm like always cold.
so i said "yeah, i have it, hold on." i heated it up, gave it to him. as that son was warming up with oohs and ahhs coming out of his mouth, another one of my sons walked in from outside with pink nose in tow, and complained "hey i want that!"
they proceeded to fight over it...
and well at that moment the light bulb went off.

"stop it. i'm going to make you each rice hand warmers."

i started and then couldn't stop making them.

trust me you wont be able to make just one set either, you'll be making a mountain of them because of how cute they are, but also because you'll need to make extras for extra little(or big) hands that will seek shelter and warmth from being in the cold.
it's already been known to happen over here. true story.

*these are also great last minute neighbor and teacher gifts. :) 

ready to make your own?
materials needed for one set of hand warmers:
*grab some rice (i used white long grain, because that's what we eat)

*scrap of fabric (it just needs to be enough to fold over to cut out 1 strip (double fold) at 3 1/2" x 6"
*those strips of fabric cut again in half at 3 1/2" x 3"

to assemble hand warmers:

1. place right sides together for both sets of squares.

 2. using a 1/4" seam allowance sew along one side of your squares.

 **instead of doing each hand warmer separately, *chain* your squares.
to chain your squares sew your first seam and then instead of cutting the threads, place your next square to be sewn. you will end up with a couple of stitches that will not sew onto any fabric, hence making a chain.

this will be helpful is you are doing a lot of hand warmers.

 3. after you have sewn one side on all your squares, you can cut your *chain* like the picture above.

 *here is a picture of all the squares having one side sewn and then had the chain cut.
4. sew three sides of your squares (using the chain method for each side)
5. the fourth side sew your seam and leave a 1 1/2"  opening in the middle of your seam. (back stitch at the opening so it does not rip open for the following steps.

 6. once all four sides are sewn, cut at an angle your corners making sure you do not cut through the "X" your seams make.
7. turn inside out, and using a pin pull out your corners as much as you can.

 8. for filling we are using rice, so you will want to get your rice and if you have a funnel use it to get the rice inside the opening. (i made my own out of paper shaped into a funnel)

 8. fill up your hand warmer at least 3/4 full.

**add some lavender for a calming smell.

 9. and hand stitch closed.

WARMING INSTRUCTIONS:
*warm in the microwave for 15 seconds.
*hold in your hands and warm up your digits.
*can also be used as eye packs (freeze them for cool packs, or warm them for warm packs)
*i do not recommend heating them up for longer amounts than 15 seconds as it may cause burns on skin.

so far these have been a huge hit at our house, and at the neighbor's house, and with my kid's friends that have come over.


 i am including this Warning with these little guys:

**WARNING**
i can not be held responsible for boys using these as hacky saks and or pelting mechanisms. because trust me...mine have and yours probably will too. 
ALSO:
in cases where some of the hand warmers go missing...please go look in your daughter's playhouse...because they make really cute barbie pillows.

consider yourselves warned.
i hope your house enjoys them as much as our house has.
we'll talk soon

V and Co: happy valentines day

Source: stylemepretty.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

happy valentines day.
here is a pretty picture


and then here's what my real life looks like:

the daughter brought this home and she explained it says:
"i love bows."
"i love hearts."
and last but not least:
"i love flowers."

sorry sweetie:
 that says "i love fart."
but we'll let you think you wrote flowers. for now.

i'm keeping it in her keepsake box to bring out when she's a teenager and brings home boys.
happy valentines day!

edited: the husband bought me roses and had the florist write "...wanted to make sure i got you some farts."
i think this is going to stick.

tomorrow i will have  the how to appliqué your dresden plate and what to put in the middles.
we'll talk soon!!! :)

V and Co: how to: french knot heart pin cushion

pincushions can be a little bit like an extension of you and what your style that gets to hang out with you while you sew at home and travels with you when you sew at someone else's house or at a quilt group. 

so why not make it adorable right?

some of you don't know this but before i used to make quilt and bag patterns i used to make embroidery patterns.
that was my first love...and i feel like i've neglected it for quite some time. so the other day i decided to get out some lovely embroidery floss:

 from sublime stitching  and i wanted to make something that made me happy that i could carry with me while i do what i love. so a pincushion it would be. ...but what to make?
i though a big V would be cute. and then i thought a heart. and with my favorite stitch the french knot.
i love how the french knots give you texture, and i love how when you put a lot of them together it looks fluffy. so i started to make my pin cushion.
here are the steps to make the same little pincushion if you so incline, and here are the steps to learn to make a french knot. maybe we'll make something else with this little knot later on, but for now lets make a whole mess of them okay? okay!!!

what you'll need:

 -embroidery floss: i chose from the flower box collection # 804
-1 square cut to 4" x 4" of linen, muslin, or any cotton fabric. mine was linen.
-1 square of fabric for your back cut to same size.
-1 square of batting placed behind your linen (same size as linen and back)
- pincushion filler (crushed walnut shells, sawdust, crushed clamshells...and so forth) i used walnut shells.
-1 small square of paper folded in half with half a heart drawn on it. (just like you did in elementary school!!)
-washable pen to mark your heart.
-needle large enough to let your thread (2 floss threads of the 6) fit through the head.

 -first cut out your heart and then use it as a template to draw your perfect little heart. (hint: if you fold in half your linen and press with your fingers to make a crease you can see where the middle of your square is and where you will need to place your heart.

 -next i took a close up picture of the embroidery thread with two of the 6 threads pulled from the bunch. i normally use two threads when embroidering but i do use one at time as well.
for this project we are using 2 threads.

normally you would use a hoop when you do embroidery but for this little project i didn't feel the need to use a hoop.

-thread your needle and make a knot at one end.

-come up through the batting and linen so that your needle comes up right at the point of the bottom of the heart.

-pull the thread all the way through till it catches on the knot you put at the end of the thread.

-next we are going to do three loops around the tip of your needle like the picture above. 

 -carefully place the needle tip right next (almost on top of) where you came up through the fabric.
-with your left thumb (if you are right handed.) secure the extra thread so the loops do not unravel as you push the tip of the needle through the fabric.

 -as you gently pull the needle through and have all the thread follow through the center of your loops a knot will appear.
-you just made your first french knot.
now we're gonna make a whole slew of them...so many you'll become an expert on french knots after this little project!

 -next you are going to come up next to your first knot you made. and you are going to repeat the steps you just did to make the first knot.

 -if you end up with a few gaps here and there don't worry you can alway go back and fill it in with another knot. i like to do the really close so that i don't have to go back and fill them in. :) but remember i have a lot of practice in the french knot department!

 -continue to make knots around your drawn heart outline.

 -here's your out if you want. see you've already made such a cute little heart in french knots that if you are already tired of making them you can at least say it looks like a heart. that's why i alway outline first. well that and it makes it easier to stay inside when you fill it in with more knots.

-okay if you have not had enough and think you wanna keep making the knots so you can have an equally as awesome little heart like mine...

continue to make knots till you wanna swear like a drunken sailor that you never want to make any more knots again.

 no really, i like making these, so i don't curse while i make them, i find it therapeutic to make it while watching tv. also it gives me something to do while i suffer through the TV shows my husband likes and i don't.

 okay now lets make this little guy into a pincushion shall we?
-with right sides together place your back fabric (featured here is simply style, my new line to hit stores in july 2013) and your linen with the heart making sure that all four sides are nicely placed on top of each other.

 -take it to your sewing machine and with your 1/4" foot (in BERNINAworld it's the #37 foot) sew all three sides down.
-on the fourth side leave an opening around 2 1/2" wide (backstitched at each side of the opening) so you can easily turn it inside out and fill with your pincushion filling.

-turn inside out, putt out the corners with a pin and stuff with your filler as much as you can

-pinch closed and then hand sew your opening shut. 

 and now you have an adorable little hand embroidered little pincushion that you will love to stare at even if you were swearing at how many little french knots it took to make it. :)

now go make one for yourself :) i'm going to make a couple more i think. they are just too cute and they would make great sewing friend gifts.
k.

i'm also making some other fun stuff here at home so i'll show it soon. :)
we'll talk soon!

V and Co: how to make: 3 minute walnut fudge

 so here at V and Co. we've made 3 minute fudge, and then last year we did 3 minute mint fudge, this year i made 3 minute walnut fudge.

still trying to confuse those around me and on the internet that i can actually be somewhat of a cook...well at least in the dessert aspect of things. when in actuality i am anything but a great cook. it's okay i can't be it all...good looks, crafty as hell, and an awesome cook would just make people mad at me. so i'll just go with the reality of short hairy colombian girl that has to wax and shave a lot, likes to sew and makes lots of mistakes to get to the final product but when she gets there likes to teach others how to do it too, and doesnt really like to cook but will, and if it looks good and comes out tasting good? bonus!

welcome to my blog i get lucky 48.8% of the time and this is where i put that 48.8% in pictures.
okay so enough about me. lets talk about this yummy fudge.

ingredients needed:

 2 packages of 11.5 oz chocolate chips (one dark and one milk chocolate)
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 small bag of chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons of butter (i forgot to add it to my first batch and it made the fudge kind of dry)

- first place in a microwaveable bowl your 2 packages of chocolate chips, your condensed milk, and your butter.
-next place in the microwave for 3 minutes

 -meanwhile get you bag of chopped walnuts and...chop them a little more.
-put some aside to place on top of your fudge

 -once your 3 minutes in heaven is done in the microwave, stir in walnuts, then pour into a square pan. mine was a 9x9 pan. if you want thinner squares do a 9 x 13 pan.

let it cool, then cut into squares.
do what you want with the fudge, but i suggest you give some of it away...cause it can be dangerous to just have it in the house.
we'll talk soon.