Repurposing Pharmacy Bottles and Using Orphan Blocks.

I try to recycle, up-cycle, and re-purpose as much as possible. There are projects to re-use plastic drink bottles by gluing, sewing, and crocheting. I decided to use pharmacy bottles in a similar manner. 

There are so many uses for pharmacy bottles. They can be used for disposing of diabetes testing items. They can be used for keeping spare change organized. They can be used for storing seeds, beads, sewing items, or other small things. Wash the containers well first. 

 I sewed a sleeve with a drawstring closure that fit over the container. The lip of the container prevents the sleeve from slipping off. It can be removed for washing. The container on the left does not have the safety cap. The glasses inside were too long, thus the need to make something that could hold and protect the glasses from being crushed. 

 I made two. One can keep my reading glasses safe in my purse. The other can keep my other reading glasses safe in the house. 

I also wanted to share what I am doing with my "independent" blocks. I think "orphan" blocks sound sad so I call them "independent" blocks. I will make pet quilts to donate to the local pet shelter. This one would have been donated, but our dog, Jedi, liked it and wanted it. Of course, I gave it to him. :)

Lattice-Pie Potholders. Tutorial link included.

I made some lattice-pie potholders. It was fun and easy. I used a top layer of fruit fabric, a layer of Insulbrite, and a bottom layer of crust-colored fabric. I do plan to make more. In the ones above, I didn't have matching thread and had to use a darker color. 

I have included the tutorial link below. 

http://artthreads.blogspot.com/2012/08/wednesday-sewing-pie-potholders.html

Mason Jar Cover

Here are my mason jar covers. We buy bulk honey from the health food store and put it in canning jars so we don't need the plastic containers that they offer. 

For the project, I used a large mouth canning jar, gold fabric, and black fabric. Ignore the cat. She wanted to investigate my project.

This jar measured 12 1/2 inches. With seam allowances and wanting enough room to hold the jars without the cover being too tight, I rounded up to 14 inches to cut my fabric.

The jar's height measured 6 1/2 inches. With seam allowances, I rounded up to 7 1/2 inches to cut my fabric.

I started with the handle. Cut a strip 4 inches wide by 16 inches long. Fold in half lengthwise and press. Open and fold the sides to the inner pressed seam. Press again.

Then fold your strap over again. Your strap should now look like the above photo and it should measure 1 inch wide. 

Sew along the sides to hold the strap closed.

Since I wanted to make my jar cover look like bee stripes, I cut strips 1 1/2 inch wide by 14 inch long. I cut 4 strips of the black fabric and 3 strips of the gold fabric. Sew a yellow strip to a black strip. Set the seam with a hot iron. 

Press the strip open to the dark side. Sew the rest of the strips together alternating the black and gold strips. You should end up with a block of fabric 14 inches by 7 inches. 

Cut a piece of batting 14 X 7 inches. Cut a piece of fabric for the bottom 14 X 7 inches. 

Layer the top and bottom fabric right sides together. Add the batting on top of those pieces and pin all layers together. 

Sew the layers together at the top. 

Fold the back piece over and press in place. You should now have a finished top edge. Fold in half, right sides together, so the raw edges of the sides meet. Sew and you should now have a circular tunnel shape with a finished top edge. Do not turn. Leave so the right sides are facing in. 

To create the bottom, I used a wide mouth canning jar. The lid is about the same width as the jar. I drew a circle and added about 1/2 inch seam on the outer edge. 

Layer the top, batting, and bottom together. Place the circle on the layers and pin in place. Sew around the circle. 

You should have a circle on the fabric like the photo shown above. I do this extra step because when I am working with so many layers, pinning can be difficult. If I sew the bottom section, I don't need to worry about the layers of that section slipping.  

Cut out your circle. Do not cut through the stitching line. This is your bottom piece. The bottom piece above was cut with 1/8 of an inch border outside the stitching line. 

Pin the bottom section to the circular tube. The right sides should be facing in. Sew together. Do not turn inside out, yet. 

Sew the handles to the bag. The inside of the bag is still facing out (right sides together). Pin and sew in place on both sides of the cover. After sewing the handle in place, turn the jar cover inside out. 

I reinforced the handle by sewing a box and then an X inside the box.  

You now have a finished jar cover. You can use jar covers to create a theme for gift giving. Imagine giving hot chocolate, teas, or other jar gifts with a fabric cover that adds to the festivities. 

Cat Bed with Cardboard Box Frame Tutorial

This is Lathandar sitting in his new cat bed. Below is the tutorial. 

Start by measuring the box bottom and cut fabric with 1 inch seam allowance on all sides. Cut top fabric, batting, and bottom fabric. I used fabric that was already layered and quilted. 

I placed my box on my cutting board and then used my rotary cutter to cut my fabric layers. 

 Measure the height of your box. Double that measurement and add seam allowances so the wall of the bed can fold over the box. My box measured 5 inches. Doubling that would make it 10 inches. Then I added 1 inch seam allowance on the top and 1 inche seam allowances on the bottom. The total width of the wall fabric will be 12 inches.  

 Measure the sides of the box. My box measured 52 inches. With a 1 inch seam allowance on each side, that measurement now becomes 54 inches. So with the 12 inch width, I need to cut 3 pieces (top, batting, bottom) that measure 54 X 12 inches. 

 Sew the sides together to form the walls. That means, sew the 12 inch sides together. I should have attached the binding at this time, but I forgot. 

 Sometimes, cats will chew on strings. My goal was to reduce any raw edges. So with the raw edge above, I covered it with binding.

 I could have saved a step if I fastened the binding on the same time I sewed the sides together. I made the binding by cutting 4 inch wide strips, folded it over, pressed. Sew the raw edge of the binding so it matches the raw edge of the seam. You should have a finished edge that can be sewn onto the other side to hide and cover the raw edges of the seam. 

 Pin the binding over to hide the raw edge of the seam and sew in place. 

 Sew approximately 1/8 inch from the finished edge to secure.

 Sew the binding with the raw edge to the raw edge of the top of the sides (top, batting, and bottom layers). 

Fold over the binding to the other side and sew in place.

 Here is a picture of the top of the wall. On the right is the front side. On the left is the back side. I used thread that matched my main fabric, so it blended. 

 Pin the bottom of the bedding (top, batting, bottom) to the bottom edge of the side.

 Pin the binding with the raw edges matching the raw edges of the bottom. Sew the bottom to the sides. 

 Fold over the binding to hide the raw edge. Pin and sew in place. I had to hand sew this part of the binding. 

 Place the bed over the box and fold down the sides.

Give to cat. In our house, that isn't very hard. I placed the bed on our bed and left to find a cat. Before I got back, Lathandar had claimed the box. 

Mini pies from muffin tins

My husband likes pies. I'm not much of a pie maker, but I find the smaller pies fun to make. I used the large muffin pans and got a deep dish style of mini pies. 

For these pies, I used canned pie filling and pre-made pie crust from the refrigerator section. Above, there are three Country Apple and three Blueberry. I experimented with different designs on the top crust. 
  

This photo shows three Apple pies and three Triple Berry pie. One can of pie filling filled three mini pies. 

My husband tasted one of the warm Country Apple with ice cream. He thought it was fine, but he likes home made filling better. He plans to take the pies to a pot luck at a friend's house tomorrow.  

I may have filled these pies too full. The crust on the apple pies lifted up. The triple berries leaked. Next time, I'll fill them a little less and seal them better.