How to Make an Easy Sew Decorative Pocket Tissue Holder - Day 167 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

Another day, another dollar.

Another long day at work and another day of a tutorial. I'm not sure why I started doing these tutorials. But I'm really not sure why I decided I should do them on Tuesdays, the day of the week I always work.

Actually, I do know why. Because Tutorial Tuesday sounds better than Tutorial Friday or Tutorial Sunday.

As I'm starting to rethink my scheduling and balance of work and home, I'm starting to rethink this Tutorial Tuesday thing. I do like doing them (even if no one watches them). I'll work on them for at least a couple more weeks then I'll be re-evaluating whether I'll continue. (The tutorials, that is. The daily pictures will absolutely continue.)

Today's video tutorial is pocket tissue covers. Something I wish I had with me at yesterday's funeral. Unfortunately, I only had McDonald's napkins to offer our daughter. They sufficed, but some pocket tissues would have been much more gentle on the nose and eyes.

They are really easy to make. Just a few minutes and you'll have one. 

For this project you will need:

• Main fabric
• Lining fabric
• pocket tissues
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

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 Now available in my Etsy store as a digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, and link to the tutorial video. Click to find out more!

Looking for more quick and easy projects? Check out these ideas!

Find the step-by-step how to tutorial to make your own homemade decorative fabric pocket tissue holder right here:

Here are some pocket tissue holders dellareya made after watching the tutorial. Here's what she said: I can't believe how fast these many went together.    Thank you again.  This is the first project I've gotten done a head of schedule in a long time.  

 

Wow, she was busy! 

And Diana made some, too: I want to thank you for the wonderful Pocket Tissue Holder Tutorial..Its was fast, fun and easy!! I love it..I made 2 tissue holders in minutes, These are going to be given to my 2 granddaughters. Thank you so much.

Do you have pictures of anything you've made after watching one of my tutorials? I'd love to show them off! 

Day 166 of 365

I don't do weddings and funerals.

Never have. I make it a practice to stay far away from both. I've been to five weddings during my lifetime - and one of those was my own and a couple others were ones my daughter was part of when she was little. As for funerals, I've been to three- and all three were my husband's relatives.

I avoid funerals at all costs. But today made number four. Today should have been my husband's first day of school, but instead it was the day he buried his mother.

She had been in a care facility for some time now. A couple years back she started showing signs of dementia and when it became clear she couldn't be left alone, she was placed in a care center. My husband used to call her on the phone when she resided there. But soon she became confused and agitated and he was asked by his family to stop calling.

So then he visited her. The last time my husband and daughter visited his mom in person, she thought our daughter was his wife. Then the visits stopped. So while his mother was buried today, the mother he knew left a long time ago.

Today was a rough day anyway. He handled it all well, and I think he is relieved it's behind him now.

When we got home, I had a nice surprise waiting in my mailbox. A freebie pay it forward from someone on the quilting website I visit. A small quilt top with some extra matching pieces. I'll add some of my pinks and I'll have another charity baby quilt soon.

Day 165 of 365

Our daughter used to steal our batteries. I think I had something to do with it.

When I was pregnant with her I used to listen to the stereo all the time. My first choice whether I was reading or cleaning or cooking was to listen to the radio. I never put headphones up to my tummy, but the music was always on in the house. (Even when I was a teenager TV wasn't important to me but my records and cassette tapes were.)

When she was young she wanted to be a dancer. She loved turning up the music and singing and dancing around the living room. When she got a bit older we bought her a Walkman.

Something she loved as much as singing and dancing was rocking in a rocking chair. (That one came from her dad.) She would rock for hours, listening to her Walkman, belting out songs.

She would listen to that Walkman so long she'd run the batteries down. Instead of asking for more batteries, she'd go into our battery-storage drawer and take them. Again and again and again. So we eventually cut her off. No more batteries from us.

But then we started noticing things around the house weren't working when we needed them. Clocks stopped working. We'd need a flashlight but it would be dead. TV controls didn't work. I'd like to say we caught on quick to what she was doing, but alas, we did not. We were quite stumped.

No ghost, no electrical interference. Just a battery thief. A battery thief who would replace our working batteries with old, they've-been-used-up-in-the-Walkman batteries.

The day she moved onto an iPod was the day our battery drawer stayed permanently full.

Today our battery thief is returning home for a few days. Her grandma's funeral is tomorrow, and our thief is sticking around to earn some money by helping us catch up in the gardens.

The focus of today's picture requires no batteries, but is certainly helping herself (or is it a himself?) to the garden.

Day 164 of 365

I wish I could say I've regrouped, but I can't.

I wish I could say I have an eating plan set with less sugar and salt and smaller portions, but I can't.  I wish I could say I figured out the exercise thing, that I spent hours today in the rose garden, and that I feel very organized today.

I can't.

Because today was a day where I just vegged. No productive thoughts, no plans for how I'm going to balance home and work. Just a day home, doing laundry and working a bit in the sewing room.

Am I trying to put off the inevitable? The notion that maybe I really won't be able to maintain and focus on myself and others because work will infuse my every thought? The notion that, after 164 days of writing and taking pictures, I might lose what I know to be important?

Today was a day of more questions than answers. So I did what I do when I'm frustrated, confused, or am trying to avoid things.

Retreat (okay, hide) in my sewing room.

While I may not be making progress right now personally, in that room I can make progress on sewing projects. Like my latest baby quilt for charity. On Day 46 I had put the top together, but it took all the way until today for me to finally get around to finishing it.