Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo - Page 634 of 661 - Living a simple, creative life in small town USA. Bryson City. A Lifestyle Blog.

Is there anything more pathetic looking…..

July 29, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

…..than our 8-year old, balding, 2.5 pound, grumpy yorkie Diesel after a bath? Poor little guy.

Okay, maybe the bee costume is more pathetic. Sienna kept telling him to “fly, fly Diesel” and I got worried that she would toss him off the counter…..

You might remember when I was asking for prayers back in April because we thought we were going to lose him? Diesel has been doing much better so thank you! He is still getting his teeth cleaned monthly (I, of course, haven’t been to a dentist in years), eating a homeopathic diet (with ketchup) and fighting with his sister Sienna (Diesel is winning). He’s starting to lose all his hair so he could probably use some more prayers 😉

Beanbag Tutorial – Learning to Spell

July 28, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

These beanbags were Sienna’s and my project yesterday afternoon. Who doesn’t love beanbags? We made one for each letter of her name.

How to make personalized beanbags 2 via liblueboo.com

Sienna doesn’t know how to spell yet but she loves counting them and we also play “bean bag horseshoes” with them….trying to toss them as close as we can to a target.

First, I made a square template 6 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ and used it to cut 2 squares from each piece of scrap fabric I had.

I cut 8.5″ x 11″ pieces of freezer paper to run through my printer (there is a file at the bottom of this post with the full alphabet that you can print). I printed out S-I-E-N-N-A in both capital letters and lowercase letters. Then I cut out around the letters and also cut pieces of blank freezer paper to place behind the fabric. I used a razor blade to cut out the letters to make a stencil.

Note: Freezer paper has a waxy side that adheres to the fabric when you iron it on. The non-waxy paper side should be on the side you are going to iron. Make sure to adhere all the edges and your paint won’t go on any area that you’ve ironed the paper onto! Just be careful not to use too much paint on each layer….or the freezer paper will start to unstick if it gets too wet. Do 2-3 light coats of fabric paint!

I ironed each freezer paper stencil onto the front of a piece of fabric (and ironed a blank piece to each back to keep paint from bleeding through).

How to make personalized beanbags iron via liblueboo.com

Then I used Jacquard Fabric Paint to fill in each stencil.

Note: Be careful not to use too much paint on each layer….or the freezer paper will start to unstick if it gets too wet. Do 2-3 light coats of fabric paint!

Once dry, I peeled off the freezer paper stencil and voila!

I placed each piece of fabric right sides together and pinned.

Then I started in the middle of one side of a square (do not start on a corner) and I sewed all the way around with a 1/2″ inseam. I stopped 1″ from where I started sewing to leave an opening.

I turned the square right side out and ironed flat (this also heat sets your paint).

Next I top-stitched around the edges of my square making sure to leave an opening where the previous one was (so that there is hole to put the beans through).

I had a great assistant helping to fill the beanbag with dried pinto beans…..

…..until she got a little out of hand and started “bathing” in them.

I filled the beanbag 3/4″ full and then sewed the opening shut!

One cute little beanbag finished!

We plan to do the entire alphabet, but 7 beanbags was all we had time for today!

Cherry Tree / Bonzai Tree Applique

July 27, 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’ve had a few requests for the applique pattern I used in my cherry tree/ruffle pant outfit so I’ve uploaded at the link shown below if you would like to download it. You can find the original post here with more photos of the outfit and pattern information for the pants.

Cherry Tree / Bonzai Tree Applique via lilblueboo.com

The applique was made by cutting out the tree from the lighter fabric and adding small round “cherry blossoms” using the pink fabric and small pink buttons. I hand-stitched the detail on the pink cherry blossoms using turquoise DMC thread. I used a white baby gap t-shirt because I like the weight of the fabric and the little scalloped edges.

Cherry Tree Applique*

*Copyright © 2009 by Ashley Hackshaw. All rights reserved. This applique is for personal and home use only. A limited commercial license may be purchased for limited production. Please email me at ashley (at) dc.rr.com for more information. Thank you for respecting my copyright!