Feeling Behind

Last week I felt as if I didn't have much to say and I was so busy and overwhelmed with life that I guess I didn't have time anyway but now I feel like I am behind and I have too much to share for one post.

First item I have been meaning to share it my first attempt at edge binding.  I decided to sew a kitchen towel because it is fairly small therefore inexpensive and will get dirty and ruined eventually so I figured it was a great solution for trying something new that I figured to be a challenge.  Well apparently I underestimated that challenge because in the end I didn't make a kitchen towel I made a baby burp rag.  LOL seriously I did, which isn't helpful at all to me but it has now inspired me to create a "hope chest" of sorts for a future kiddo cause I can't give it away since my edging is terrible.  Well here are the picture to prove my sewing mishap.

 Here is an example of my binding completely missing the edge of the "towel"

If I'm going to sew so crazy I better start matching my thread to the fabric.  LOL.  Also, I was advised to use longer stitches as it helps it to look more decorative.

Here is the result.  A burp cloth.  I didn't make it long enough to hang as a kitchen towel and as you can see the binding is all over the place... so I guess it is spit-up worthy.... maybe one day.



And I haven't even shared photos from Phil's 31st b-day party and the cake I made.  But I'll make that another post.


This weekend I accomplished my goals from last week which were to enjoy the awesome weather and to finally do my wine bottle project.  My friend Brittany joined me for the event as she also had a wine bottle project she wanted to complete.  I had two goals, one was to spray paint some bottles to make a few inexpensive vases and the other was to cut the tops off of the wine bottles so they looked more like a vase and less like a bottle.  My project instructions were provided by a Pinterst pin via Crafty Scrappy Happy blog.  I documented the event.

 First you wrap yarn around the bottle where you want to cut it.  

(Note: I tried kitchen string...it didn't work)

Wrap around about 5 or 6 times for a good burn... you want to make sure your glass get nice and hot.

Then slip the yarn off still in it's wound state.

Place it in Finger Nail Polish Remover. Soak for just a few seconds until all is saturated.

Place the yarn back on the bottle.  At this point I rinsed my fingers of the nail polish remover for fear I too would be caught on fire.  Better safe than sorry.

Sorry about the dishes in the sink this project required homemade hummus for a snack and I didn't clean up.  I was too excited!

Then holding the bottom of the bottle furthest from the yarn I lit it on fire!

OH YAY!  At this point your slowly turn the bottle to make sure it is evenly heated. 

 Let the yarn burned for 20+ seconds and til it looks nice and hot.  You might notice some sizzling on the glass.

Have your sink filled with cold water.  I ended up adding ice later and it seemed to work even better.

Dunk the flaming yarn and bottle into the cold water.

Viola!

It cut the neck of the bottle right off.  Now with a little label removing or spray painting it will be a cute vase.  Don't forget to sand the edges with sandpaper so you don't cut yourself.

Now it's Brittany's turn.  This time with a green bottle.  She was a little nervous about the fire part. ;)

Can't imagine why.

She did just as I did but that darn bottle wouldn't break.  We tried several times and ultimately we did get it to break but it wasn't a clean break.  We aren't sure why this is.  Maybe green glass is tougher (is that why they say you live in a green glass house??? j/k) Anyway we recommend (just from our testing) wrapping the yarn tightly around maybe 6-8 times and adding ice to the water if you want to cut green glass bottles.

So that was the project.  More on spray painting our wine bottles later.

Oh and this weekend I made French Toast Waffles... I know you are all dying for the recipe so I will get that up soon.