The Star Wars T-Shirt Quilt That Took Four Years to Make

 

This post was originally published on Crafting a Green World way back in 2016.

Back in 2012, I showed off my Star Wars T-shirt quilt top to you. I told you all about how I'd constructed it over the past six months from thrifted Star Wars T-shirts that it had taken me years to collect. I shared details of the log cabin style that I'd used to piece it, and the color scheme that I'd selected that would enable me to best utilize my stash fabric. I told you that for my husband's birthday, I planned to back the finished top simply with flannel, then quilt it. 

When I said "birthday," I meant "anniversary," and when I said "planned," I meant that I would do it four years later. 

Four entire years later, here is the finished quilt! 

This quilt top has sat in my WIP pile for four years. We moved in that time, and I took it with me. We got a bigger bed, and I put off finishing it, dreading having to enlarge the quilt from a queen to a king. Several birthdays and anniversaries and Christmases passed, and I always found something else to give my husband. And then the new Star Wars movie came out (and if you haven't seen it, it's WONDERFUL!), and suddenly, there was all this Star Wars fabric in the fabric stores! 

Want to know a sure-fire way to get someone to finish a years-old WIP? Tell them that they get to buy themselves some new fabric to do it! 

Although the rest of the quilt is sewn entirely from thrifted and stash fabrics, it turned out that some new fabric was just the inspiration that I needed to finish this project up. I toyed with the idea of using my new Star Wars prints in flannel and cotton to add a border around the quilt, thereby resizing it to fit our king-sized bed, but everything that I tried looked janky. Finally, I decided that I'd rather have a quilt that I like the look of, even if it's too narrow to fit our bed, than a quilt that fits well but gets on my nerves every time I see it, and I used that new fabric, along with some stash, to piece the quilt back.

Because I want to use the quilt in the summer, I didn't use any batting between the layers. I put the front and back right sides together, sewed almost all the way around, then turned it and edge stitched the entire perimeter.

The quilt isn't even technically a quilt, because instead of quilting it, I tied it at all four corners of every T-shirt piece.  

Four years, my Friends, and in the end, this Star Wars T-shirt quilt took one day to finish. I can't wait to see what I'm going to accomplish in another four years!

How-To: Kid-Made Puzzle Piece Valentine

 

This tutorial was originally posted on Crafting a Green World way back in 2013.

Missing some pieces of your jigsaw puzzle, but still have a few mitchy-matchy ones? 

Your kiddos can create one handmade Valentine from just two perfectly fitting jigsaw pieces. Give them most of a box, and they can make all the Valentines for their class party. 

It's a fun upcycling project that won't cost you a cent. Yay for an eco-friendly Valentine's Day!

Here's how:

Big or small, edge or middle, this project relies on two linking puzzle pieces. Have your kiddos sort the remaining pieces from an incomplete jigsaw puzzle into linking pairs (save other orphaned puzzle pieces for more crafty upcycling projects!), then let them paint each pair a fun background color. My kiddos chose every color from red to green to black, and made themselves a glorious happy mess while they did so.

Set the pairs aside to dry, taking apart the pieces first so that they won't adhere to each other.

When the puzzle pieces are dry, fit them together again and show the kiddos how to paint a single heart onto the middle of the pairs, so that approximately half the heart rests on each piece. The kiddos can continue to decorate the pieces as they wish, with glitter and stickers and the other gaudy accouterments of kid-made greeting cards.

Once again, separate the pieces and let them dry. When everything is dry and set, the heart puzzle will be able to be taken apart and put together again. The kiddos can use the back side of their Valentines to write their name and some sort of horrible, punny Valentine greeting.

May I suggest "I love you to pieces?" Okay, I'm going to go vomit now.

The Best Homemade Christmas Present: Painted Building Blocks

The putting away of childish things is progressing, but it is a LOT harder than I thought it would be. The existence of the kids' playroom has allowed me to ignore all the once-beloved but long-ignored toys that they possess, since they're all stored tidily on shelves and not in the way.

But with one teenager headed off to college very shortly, I've promised the other teenager that we can remodel the playroom into a private bedroom just for her. It's long overdue, since the kids have shared one small bedroom for their entire lives without (much) complaint, but even I admit that I can no longer expect two nearly-grown adult children to continue sharing their decade-old IKEA bunk bed in their single tiny bedroom during college breaks.

I want to shrink these children back down to ages four and six just for a few hours, just so we can play blocks again while listening to Amelia Bedelia books on tape.

Anyway, we've already handled picture books and toy animals--

--we organized the LEGOs back during the pandemic lockdown, around the time that Matt got rid of almost all of the Barbies and their stuff (and no, I still haven't started speaking to him again...), and a couple of weeks ago, with a present idea for my toddler niece in mind, I decided to take care of the blocks.

The kids have a vast, well-loved, much played with building block collection. They wouldn't even be embarrassed to tell you that they played with blocks well into their teenaged years, because blocks are freaking AWESOME. Included in our collection were lots of scraps and seconds, though, so, first I sorted through all the blocks to cull the ones that the kids had had fun playing with, but weren't worth saving. Then, Matt helped me wash the blocks that we were keeping--and WOW, was that water gross!

We put most of the squeaky-clean blocks into storage bins--and I even separated the marble run blocks from the building blocks, a chore I'd been wanting to do for the entire time we've owned the marble run and yet somehow never got to--but first each person in the family picked out several blocks for a very special project:

Matt and Will each painted a few blocks, but Syd and I got VERY invested in our individual block-painting visions and spent most of the weekend just like this:

Syd designed her block set to resemble the work of one of her favorite artists, Mary Blair, specifically to mimic the Disneyland It's a Small World aesthetic. Here's how her blocks turned out!

I love how her blocks allow one to connect a line or continue a color in interesting ways.

I wanted to paint a set of triangles with a connecting rainbow on one side--

--and a complete color wheel on the other. Here's how that turned out!

I like how you can mix them up:

These are the ones that Matt and Will painted:

Obviously, we couldn't pack them up and mail them to our favorite toddler until we'd made sure that they work properly!

They work great!

Not gonna lie--I am VERY likely to dig some more building blocks out of storage so I can repeat this project, either for my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop or just for fun. It was QUITE satisfying, and I was left with the feeling that there's lots more to explore regarding block painting and pattern building.

How to Clean and Refurbish Old Wooden Building Blocks

This tutorial was originally posted on Crafting a Green World.

Wooden building blocks are an heirloom-quality toy... IF you treat them correctly. 

Which my children did not do! 

For at least a full decade, I collected--and created!--wooden building blocks for my two children. For that same amount of time, my kids played HARD with their blocks. These kids built with them inside and outside, in the sand and snow and mud. They painted them and printed with them, mixed them into potions and put them into slime. They forgot them outside, spilled juice on them, and absolutely loved them dearly. 

And it shows! 

One of my teenagers is weeks from moving off to college. I'm helping the other prep their long-disused playroom into a new bedroom that she won't have to share with her sister during college breaks. This means that I've had to finally start confronting all of these childhood toys that are no longer played with. It's time to decide what the kids want to keep for posterity, what they want to donate, and what we might want to upcycle. 

Regardless of what choices we make for my kids' HUGE stash of old wooden building blocks, they all still have to be cleaned and refurbished first. One can't simply toss blocks sticky with old slime into storage, or donate muddy blocks, or upcycle blocks stained with who-knows-what-please-don't-tell-me.

Perhaps you, too, have some old blocks that you'd like to make look new again. Perhaps you've obtained some blocks of uncertain provenance, and you want to make sure they're clean and safe to play with. Or perhaps you've bought some scraps or seconds that you want to ready for play. 

Whichever it is, here's how to deep clean wooden building blocks and simple wooden toys. Here's how to refurbish them, and even how to polish them up so they look beautiful and fancy and like the high-quality heirlooms that they are. 

To completely deep-clean and refurbish most wooden building blocks and toys, here's what you'll need:

• cleaning solution. I hate that I love Go Clean Co.'s homemade all-purpose cleaner so much. I used to be a straight up vinegar-and-water gal. That first wave of the pandemic got me panic-cleaning with a lot of less-natural cleaners, and I haven't yet entirely weaned myself off of them. In particular, that Tide+water+bleach combo is SUCH a dang good degreaser and stain remover--ugh! For a much more natural cleaning solution, sub your favorite natural laundry detergent for the Tide, especially if you think it does a good job fighting stains without a lot of extra spot treatment. That's why my frenemy Tide is such a solid all-purpose cleaner! Unless your building blocks have been through some shocking scenarios quite recently, they shouldn't need the addition of a disinfectant.
• large storage bin.
• large blanket.
• sandpaper. Moving through the different levels of sandpaper annoys me. Fortunately, 150-grit sandpaper is rough enough to remove most stains and marks with not too much elbow grease, while leaving the surface smooth enough for play.
• wood polish (optional). This isn't necessary to refurbish your building blocks, but it does make them look even more high-quality and feel that much more luxurious.

Here's how to clean up and refurbish the dingiest of building blocks!

 

Step 1: Sort the winners from the losers.

If your building blocks are well-loved, and/or consist of hand-me-downs, thrifted finds, and scraps or seconds, first sort through them and see what blocks actually deserve the spa treatment, and what blocks may just want to move on with their lives. 

My own losers' pile consists of blocks that have large knots or other flaws, oddly-shaped seconds that look more like scrap wood than toys, and the occasional piece that's clearly part of some other toy set, like wooden railroad tracks, that we didn't keep or never owned. 

My kids loved and played with all these blocks just the same as they did with their "nice" blocks, but there's no need to store them for future play. Instead, I'll keep some for woodcarving or other craft projects, and we'll roast s'mores over the rest. All the rest of the blocks that you want to keep, upcycle, or donate should be cleaned. That's the next step!

 

Step 2: Wash those filthy blocks.

As you can see, you can wash even blocks that have been painted. You can wash natural blocks like tree blocks, even ones with the bark still on. Vintage blocks are washable just like new blocks. You can even wash carved wooden toys, like peg dolls and stackers. 

The only blocks that I do not put into the communal wash solution are the ones that we've already highly embellished. These consist of blocks that my children painted as "art blocks," blocks that I've decoupaged with paper or fabric, and blocks that we've wood burned and stained. I hand wash each of those blocks individually with regular dish soap. 

The cleaning solution is dead simple. All you need are a small amount of stain-fighting, degreasing laundry detergent, and lots and lots of hot water. Also remember that a little bit of laundry detergent goes a LONG way, especially when you don't plan to rinse. Avoid oily additives like tea tree oil, because the goal is to get these blocks squeaky clean with no residues. 

Soak the building blocks in the cleaning solution for a couple of hours. Stir them around every now and then to make sure all the blocks have their turn getting nice and clean. Do NOT soak your blocks for several hours, because water and wood aren't actually friends. An old plastic tub works great to hold everything. Although don't do what I did and add so much water that you can't lift it back up to the sink to drain it. SIGH!

Dump the clean blocks out on an old blanket (or the back side of a vintage He-Man bedspread, ahem...) and let air dry.

 

Step 3: Sand stained or marked blocks.

To clean up blocks that have an old yellowed finish, or are stained or marked, sand them with 150-grit sandpaper. You can also sand the blocks to remove unwanted paint or varnish, although PLEASE use lead-safe practices for this! Use a palm sander to speed up the process. 

When I'm sanding blocks to refurbish for more block play, I also round all corners and edges on each block. I don't know why historical children got to play with so many pointy things. Today's toddlers prefer to keep all their eyeballs intact, thank you!

 

Step 4 (optional): Polish with a natural wood polish.

When I'm refurbishing blocks for more block play, I often paint them and seal them. But there's a lot to be said for providing children with simple, natural, unfinished wooden blocks as well as brightly painted ones! Kids don't always need every single sense stimulated to the max, and wood is already so beautiful on its own. If you leave your blocks unpainted and unvarnished, a nice way to shine them up and make them look marvelous is simply to polish them with a natural wood polish. Your clean and dry blocks can now be stored as heirlooms, embellished and upcycled into fun, new playthings, or donated to someone who will love them all over again.

A Dragon Quilt for a Dorm Room Bed

 

I almost had this quilt project well-organized.

I mean, I started it in July, with the intent to give it as a Christmas gift!

And then I finished about 90% of it, still in July! I did all the taxing piecing, and basted the batting and backing fabric to the quilt top. All I had left to do by the end of the month was applique/quilt the dragon to the quilt, then stitch the back-to-front binding.

So obviously that's what I was doing in a panic on December 24th...

Why, yes, completing a project in the same month that I begin it IS one of my 2023 New Year's Resolutions! I'll keep you in the loop about how it goes!

I got so much done in July because I was able to take advantage of Matt and one teenager swanning off to Peru for two weeks and the other teenager having, you know, an active social life and a part-time job, etc., leaving me, with no social life and no part-time job and no vacation out of the country, home alone in silence. 

Mental note that when my second kid leaves for college, as well, I should probably try to make some friends.

It was good, though, that I had so many uninterrupted hours to work, because some of these techniques were new to me. Here's the link for my dragon quilt inspiration. This was my first time using fusible interfacing as a template--

--which involves cutting pieces from my fabric stash--

--then ironing them to the interfacing--

--then zigzagging them in place--

--and then cutting and ironing some more!

Spots was, as usual, of great help:

She's pissed off because it's a drive-in night so she wasn't allowed outside. That's where the mean cars live!

My photo editing software automatically organizes my photos in chronological order, and it must have access to the timestamps for each photo, as well, because a funny thing happened with my catalog of these photos. I lent Matt my nice camera for their trip, so when he got back all those photos just fed into my program along with all the shitty cellphone pics I'd been taking, to such an extent that when we were clearly taking photos simultaneously, our photos interlaced in the catalog!

So while I was finishing up piecing the dragon's body onto my template--

--my teenager was sitting on a curb somewhere in Peru and eating an ice cream cone:

By the time I got that wing finished, several hours later--

--she was standing on the shore of Lake Titicaca!

And late that evening, when I'd finally gotten all of those interfaced scraps pieced together and had only the dinosaur's spikes left to cut out--

--she was enjoying a delicious dinner:

Here is exactly where I was in the process on the day they came home from Peru:

And there the project remained until December 24th. In other news, WHY does my sewing machine always do some random funky wonky thing every single time I'm panic sewing on a deadline? Do not look at the stitching that I used to quilt this dragon, because from the backside it looks like shit. I kept adjusting the freaking tension, I rethreaded the needle forty times, I changed the needle, I did everything but pray to the goddamned sewing machine, and I still have no idea why it wouldn't give me nice stitching on the back.

Whatever. It's far from perfect, but it IS finished!

Syd thinks it's cheezy that I chose a piece whose print looked like the dragon's eye, but I love it!

...and that's all the photos you get of just the quilt without the dog walking all over it.

She is very helpful, yes?

Fortunately, she only walked all over it in snowy paws, not muddy paws, so all I had to do was toss it in the dryer when I was done.

And that's the last big project until I drive my kid to Ohio, unless I get around to sewing her the matching laptop and ipad and phone cases that I bought the zippers for back in October... which I'm NOT going to get around to doing, ahem.

After all, I'll need something to fill my lonely hours while she's gone!

Team Mouse on the Christmas Tree

 

The Nutcracker battle is fought not just on the stage, but also on the Christmas tree this year!

And Team Mouse is finally winning!

I bought these super cute felt Mouse and felt Officer patterns thinking that they'd make adorable gifts for the other Mice and Officers in my teenager's Nutcracker casts. I only thought that because I sew by hand so rarely that I had completely forgotten how time consuming it is, oops!

First, you cut out all the tiny pattern pieces:

Then you figure out what color you want everything to be. I still have plenty of felt wool scrippy scraps (I just checked my gmail, and I originally bought this felt way back in 2017--definitely time to finish using it up!), and this kind of small felt figure is the exact perfect use for them. Wool felt is much more beautiful than acrylic felt, and has such a nicer texture, that it's worth it to use it in a project where both of those features are really highlighted.

Cutting out all the little felt pieces wasn't super fun because I was too cheap to go out and buy a proper pair of tiny scissors, but I did get to use my favorite heat-erasable Frixion pens to trace most of the patterns, and that's never not thrilling:

Finally, just spend a million hours hand-stitching the cutest little Mouse Soldier in the world!

Um, I did NOT end up making felt Mice and Officers for every kid in my kid's casts. I did make a different present for just the Team Mouse kids, but it was a lot quicker and easier than hand-sewn felt ornaments!

I do think this sewing would go a lot more quickly the second time, now that I know what I'm doing, and I DO have another Mouse and an Officer already cut out and ready to go. Frankly, though, I think I need to have an appointment with my optometrist first, because I'm not sure I've got the eyes for hand-sewing anymore...