Day 25 - Sew In Sunday for Box Cutter Boy

Ed is definitely not the fix-it guy around here. Never was, never will be. And why he thought he should try and cut up a box for recycling without me being there, I'll never know. What I do know is where he placed the box when he was cutting it. I also know the aftermath of cutting a box in such a place.

Our old Coleman camp chairs have been through a lot with us. Spring Break Oregon Coast trips and Idaho mountain trips when our daughter was young. A cross-country Idaho to Maine and back tent-camping road trip. The chairs were put to use when we needed to sit and rest when painting walls or staining fences. When pruning roses and shrubs. Recently they have been put to good use for our pizza picnics and for sitting in the sun, soaking up the warmth.

Long since faded and covered in years worth of paint splatters, they are pretty sorry looking these days. But they do the job so we haven't even looked for new ones. Although, thanks to Box Cutter Boy, we probably should. The evidence of where he put the box when cutting it is clear.

Right across the seat. Seriously???

My Sew In Sunday task today was trying to figure a way to fix the chair. The fabric is in bad shape so there would be no restitching of it. But thanks to some duct tape and a couple cut up Boise Hawks seat cushions,

a bit of Velcro, and some of his favorite Cincinnati Reds baseball fabric, we have a seat cushion to cover his messy cut-up mess. 

He's a happy camper now. Happy camp chair, too.

Day 24 - Face Mask with Nose Wire Sewing Tutorial

The popularity of my face mask tutorials has made me determined to make them even better. Thanks to lots of good feedback, I think I'm getting pretty close to a perfect fitting mask. Today I delved into using wire for the nose section. It's a great fit, and now hopefully Ed will be more willing to wear his out in public. (Not that we go out in public, but just in case we do.)

And yeah, today's not Tuesday but who really cares?

For this project you will need:

• 8" x 14" piece of cotton fabric
• 7" piece of 1/4" or 1/8" elastic, cut 2
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• 7" piece of flexible wire
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Check out all my other face mask tutorials:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

You can find the step-by-step how-to tutorial for the cloth fabric face mask with nose wire right here:

Day 23 - Ladybug, Ladybug

Another sunny 70 degree day and my list was a long one.

• Wash outside windows
• Scrub screen doors
• Hang laundry outside
• Thin volunteer sunflowers
• Spray weeds
• Get the BBQ set up
• Figure out a story to tie into the broken winged ladybug who landed on Ed's hand

It was a great to-do list and I had every intention of checking everything off of it. But the sun felt so very good as we sat in camp chairs in the backyard.

And just like that the window washing, screen door scrubbing, sunflower thinning, and BBQ setting up was pushed to another day. Added in? Another spontaneous pizza picnic like the one we had last month. Camp chairs, little metal table, and a cheap pizza in the backyard. This time we tried Little Caesar's with their free delivery on orders over $10. Total bill, including tax and tip, was $12.20. Not bad for two people and we have enough leftovers for another meal tomorrow.

Something removed completely from the list? I didn't need to figure out what to say about the broken-winged ladybug as I had my own ladybug visitor today. She looks mighty fine, just like our day.

Day 22 - Sunshine on my Sunflowers

On a beautiful and sunny 70 degree day the windows in the house are finally opened. Getting fresh air inside the house is such a wonderful thing. Being able to breathe fresh air outside isn't too shabby, either. Lucky me getting to soak up the sun, and lucky that my sunflower quilt is finished, too.

Sunshine + blue sky + fresh air = aahhh...

Day 21 - A No Pleat Face Mask Tutorial Day

Due to the overwhelming popularity of yesterday's pleated face mask tutorial, I've decided to go ahead and show off the other version I've been working on. No pleats required for this one.

Today may not be a Tutorial Tuesday (heck, do we even know what day it is anymore?) so we'll just have to pretend it is.

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 

Click here to see all my tutorials!

For this project you will need:

• 9" x 14" piece of fabric
• 12" piece of 1/4" or 1/8" wide elastic, cut 2 
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you sewing and crafting content.

Looking for a different mask? I have several other tutorials to choose from:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

You can find the no pleat cloth face mask step-by-step how-to tutorial right here:

Thank you, volunteer model!

Remember, wash the maks after each use. And wash those hands and keep social distancing. Stay safe out there!

How to Make Easy to Sew Cloth Face Masks - Tutorial Tuesday

For today's Tutorial Tuesday I have a cloth face mask sewing project. With so many of us being asked (and in some cases, required) to wear them these days you may want to make several.

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 

Click here to see all my tutorials!

For this project you will need:

• 7" x 14" piece of cotton fabric
• 8" piece of 1/4" or 1/8" wide elastic, cut 2
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you sewing and crafting content.

Looking for a different mask? I have several other tutorials to choose from:

Looking for other travel accessories ideas? Check out these projects!

You can find the easy to sew pleated face mask step-by-step tutorial right here:

Check out all my other homemade cloth face mask tutorials here.

Remember, wash them after each use. And wash those hands and keep social distancing. Stay safe out there!

Day 19 - Even More Sunflowers

My sunflower wall quilt project isn’t the only place you’ll find sunflowers around here. Look what I found in the garden today.

After a standard winter of cold weather and last week full of nothing but rain, today the sun came out. And so did the volunteer sunflowers, sprouting from last year's leftovers.

Day 18 - Sunflower Sewing on a Sunday

After putting the sewing room back together and after getting my fill of The Waltons on TV, I got to work on a new sewing project.

We've had an old wall quilt we picked up at the Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store years ago. It cost us no more than a couple dollars (cuz cheap is how I roll) so we didn't feel like we were wasting our money by hanging it outside. It has been on one of the walls of the front porch every summer, getting a little bit of rain and a whole lot of sun. Being it's now pretty well faded, Ed's been bugging me to make a new one.

I thought I'd only get so far as picking some bright new fabrics for a new one, but once I put on my headphones I really started to get to work. (Yay me for having batik fabrics to work with.) I knew I wanted to change the design so I looked at patterns in books and on the Internet. Even Ed got in on the action, sending me photos of ones he liked.

I went with none of those ideas and went with my own design. I still have more work to do, but I was able to make some good progress on a Sunflower Sewing Sunday.

Day 17 - A Leaky Faucet = A Messy Sewing Room

Well, what a topsy-turvy day it was. Or a mixed up room it has become. Or maybe it’s just a doggone mess I have on my hands. All thanks to the dang shower faucet.

This one...

The hot water side has leaked almost continuously for the past couple years. I’ve replaced it a couple times, had periods where I kept a screw driver in the shower so I could easily pop off the cap and tighten it (see the rust?) and even had a plumber come out to try and fix it. But he couldn’t get it. 

He did have a recommendation, though. A big expensive, $1,600+ recommendation. Thankfully today we were able to work around the high price tag, but not around the hard work. The day started with my sewing room being torn apart so he could access the shower - from the wall of my sewing room.

Since he was already tearing things apart in there to contain the leak we decided to upgrade to a single faucet handle. Pretty, isn’t it?

What’s not so pretty? The mess I have to clean up and the work I still have to do to make the wall look somewhat normal.

Oh yeah, and then I still have to put everything in the sewing room back in the right place.

What. A. Mess.

Day 16 - Back and Forth Sewing

It was a back and forth day of sewing. My mom and I did some back and forth texting about sewing, that is. Measurements, suggestions, and photos went both ways as we worked our way through our sewing project.

(Although I didn't send my messy photo. Probably shouldn't even show the mess I got myself into.)

What were we making? Face masks for ourselves for those times when we have to go out in public.

My mom used cotton fabric on the front and an old sheet as the lining.

I used the same fabric for both the front and the lining. My red and white floral one with the red binding doesn't fit as well so I'll give myself an F on that one.

I think I'll make a couple more of the good ones. If so, I'll turn one of them into an upcoming Tutorial Tuesday.

Stay safe out there. Wash your hands and keep those hands away your face. And wear a mask if you think you need to. Just don’t take them away from medical personnel and those who truly need them.