Book 'em, Dano!

Well, I guess we are supposed to get some snow later today. Originally, it was supposed to be this afternoon and there was speculation about when it would start and whether there would be another snow day at school. Some schools are planning to dismiss early, mostly south of here, but our school district is made of hardy stuff and they are sticking it out...

This is what it looks like in the northeast when they want to let everyone know about school closings.

Surprisingly , my kids aren't at school today. Nature Boy came home early yesterday quite ill and his sisters, apparently, did not sleep well last night either (Sugarbaby had slightly high blood sugar this AM also), so I gave them the day off. Nature Boy is slowly regaining his appetite and the girls are still resting.

Remember the hike that I took in search of mushrooms this summer?

Well, Mr. U sent this photo to me yesterday, while hiking the same trail, via his I Phone (you might need your magnifying glass to see it on the blog!)


The mushrooms are sleeping under a blanket of snow until next summer!

Now, I was not a huge fan of Hawaii Five-O,

but I always remember the expression, "Book 'em, Dan-O"

We love books at our house. Nature Boy isn't much of a reader but when he finds a book, he likes, he reads through it quickly. But it is appalling to see him using a piece of scrap paper as a bookmark!!! Can't have that!

So, I made a bookmark for him this morning,
and it is happily tucked into the pages of his latest book...

Now, I am going to show you all how I made it!!! Book 'em Dan-O!!!

I start with double-sided fusible Peltex interfacing which I buy at Joann's

For each bookmark, I cut a piece 2 inches by 8 inches..

and then cut the main fabric slightly larger than the Peltex....

To add interest, I slash my piece of fabric (I am making 3 bookmarks here so don't be confused) asymmetrically (since I like to be askew!)

and gather some coordinating scraps of fabric to add between the slashes..

Using 1/4 inch seams, I add the scraps...

so they look like this on one side...

and for variation, this is what they look on the other side...

On one short edge of the finished pieces, I trim a straight edge..

so they look like this...

I use narrow grosgrain ribbon in my fave polka dots and cut pieces about 5 inches long to be used at the top of the bookmark...

Now, I lay one side of the bookmark, right side down, on the ironing board (and yes, no one should have an ironing board cover that looks as gross as this one!)...

Lay the fusible interfacing on top of the fabric with the straight edges even...

I take my piece of ribbon and loop it...
hold it at the straight edge with some of the ribbon below that edge (does that make sense?)

and place the other side of the bookmark on top with its straight edge also matching the other edges (the back and interfacing).

I give the one side a good amount of heat (pardon the steamy photo)....

flip it and press the other side.

I trim the two long sides and the end without the ribbon (that is why the straight edge must be all ready in place on the end with the ribbon or you would trim off the ribbon!)

See what I mean?

All trimmed...

Next, I like to add some fancy stitch along the diagonal strips...

like this...

and I used a slightly narrower stitch for the narrower strip.

This is what it looks like on the other side...

I then take the bookmark and using a wide but short zigzag stitch, I sew around the edge overlapping the edge...

I go around the edge twice to fill the stitches in (so the fabric doesn't show underneath the stitching). You probably could go around three times but I don't have the patience for a third go around.

Et voila!!!

Great stocking stuffer too!

And just before I sign off, I want to tell you about a little swap I did with my flickr friend, Sarah.

We both love to make houses and both love log cabins, so Sarah challenged us to make house ornaments! We made one to swap and one to keep! Here are the two hanging before I posted Sarah's in the mail...

Sarah hails from Florida and so I thought she could use a good ol' northern style brick house. We also are both very fond of polka dots. The dots on the roof are supposed to be the snow falling. I am sure she won't be making snowmen with her kids this winter so I shared one of mine and I love skating and she has two dogs, so what better than a skating dog!!!
On the back, I included a log cabin window...

And I beaded a string of green and red 'lights' across the house. (I haven't beaded my house yet... on my to-do list!)

Well, hope you all have a very healthy, snowless, productive weekend (that is what I am wishing for!)

P.S. Supposedly, this is my 199th post! Hmmm...