ONE:

Does anyone remember “the incident” from a few years ago?  Fast forward to today and this fun new rotary cutter shows up in the mail, and my husband says “do they know you’re not to be trusted with those things?”

Well apparently OLFA does trust me to use a rotary cutter because they sent me one of their new models. Besides the fact that it’s so pretty, it has a much better system to change the blade.

No more washers! Just click the lever on the back and the blade pops off.  Easier, and quicker, which is good for me (as I’m a klutz).

TWO:

If you’ve ever been wanting to try a class at Craftsy, now’s the time. It’s Craftsy Free Class Day !

I love the Craftsy format, you can take the classes at your own pace and go back and review them whenever you want.  I’ve got a long list of “want to take” classes.

THREE:

Last weekend was the Lulu Life Soiree! I had so much fun teaching with Gretchen and Natalie of LuluBelles. I so admire them for taking the leap into bringing creative events to the Louisville area.

Everyone had fun making their banners and I loved seeing all of the different combinations of embellishments that they chose.

FOUR:

Speaking of teaching, I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I’m teaching at the Sewing Summit this year!! I went 2 years ago and had such a fabulous time! I’ll be teaching a beginning English Smocking class! I love to smock just don’t blog about it too much,  you can see read about it a bit here.  Registration is open and if I’m not mistaken there are still a few seats left.

FIVE:

Last weekend was also my oldest daughter’s prom. I know I’m totally biased but doesn’t she look amazing? She picked out the dress and I’m so happy with it. I think it’s timeless and the way it compliments her complexion just makes me smile.  She’s graduating this year, so between turning 40 and having a high school graduate I’m sure I’m due for a mid life crisis soon *wink* (I’m kidding of course, well maybe).

The post Five things on a Saturday appeared first on The Polka Dot Chair.

This week I turned 40 years old. To be honest I’m really not sure how I feel about that, it could take up a post all in itself.

For my 40th birthday gift, my Mom sent me the cutest thing! It was such a fun and unique idea that after I had opened a couple of the packages I thought “I HAVE to stop and take pictures of this!” It was such a nice idea that I wanted to share it with you here today.

Last week 2 big boxes showed up in the mail.  I set them aside to open on my actual birthday.

Inside each box I found individually wrapped and numbered gifts.

The gifts were numbered 1-40. One gift for each year.

The first few gifts were framed photos of significant times in my life, my wedding, my kids being born and a few of me as a baby.

The rest of the gifts were all things that I had done or liked to do. There were paint brushes, crayons, kitchen gadgets, travel charms, notebooks, candy and all kinds of other fun things.  I was seriously so touched by all of the effort and thought that she put into the gift.

The last gift was 40 one dollar bills that were bound together like a notebook (you can get them at the bank like this).  Something tells me this will get spent on fabric :)

After I opened a few gifts I waited until the kids all got home so they could help me open the rest. They got such a kick out of seeing what was in all of those packages!

The post 40 Gifts for 40 Years appeared first on The Polka Dot Chair.

Are you ready for summer! Oh man am I!!! Here’s a fun sunglasses case for you to sew!

There are two things you should know about me 1) I ALWAYS have a pair of sunglasses with me, I can’t drive without them, the sun hurts my eyes.   2) My purse is a MESS.   All  of the sunglass cases I had before were to heavy so I didn’t carry them around with me.  I made this simple case to be lightweight enough to not weigh me down, and the pom pom attachment will make them quick to spot in my purse.

If you’d like to make the pom pom zipper pulls too click here for a free tutorial to make them.

This sunglasses case comes in two sizes. The first one I made (the smaller one) was perfect for my daughters glasses, but my big over sized ones needed a slightly bigger case.  You can pick which size you’d like to make.

You’ll need:

• 2 Fat Quarters – the fabrics here are from the So Happy Together Line from Riley Blake
• 1/2 yard 1/4″ foam
• 7″ zipper
• Scrap of colored canvas
• Wonder Under
• Pattern Piece download it here

Print and cut out your pattern piece. Make sure you page scaling is set to NONE in Acrobat.

From pattern piece cut 2 pieces for case front and back and 2 pieces for lining front and back.

Using a light box (or a bright window) trace the word “sunnies” onto your piece of wonder under. Make sure the words are REVERSED.

Press onto a piece of canvas.

Cut out.

Remove backing and press to case front.  Stitch through center of letters to secure.

Cut out 2 pieces of foam using your pattern piece.

Layer wrong side of case front onto foam piece.

Place zipper right side down on top of case front piece.

Place lining piece right side down on top of zipper (the wrong side of the zipper).

Using your zipper foot, stitch all layers together.

Repeat for case back piece.

It will look like this.

Press top seam well and top stitch along zipper. This will keep the lining from catching in the zipper.

Unzip the Zipper.  (DON’T forget this step)

Pin case front and case back pieces together and lining front and lining back pieces together.  Using a 1/4″ seam stitch.   Leave a 3″ opening in lining piece to turn right side out.

Clip your curves and corners well. Trim down all seam allowances.

Turn right side out an press. Handstitch opening closed.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Make sure you  check out the tutorial for the pom pom zipper pulls that I attached to the case.

This post first appeared on the Riley Blake Fabrics Blog.

——————————————————————-

The post “Sunnies” Sunglasses Case appeared first on The Polka Dot Chair.