Meet Designer Garden.....

It's Treasures FIRST Guest Blogger!!!

 I'm so excited for you to meet Sommer from Designer Garden!!!

Make sure you stop by her blog and check out her furniture transformations!!

The "Green Beast" is my fav!!

Ok, here's Sommer....


Hi everyone!  For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Sommer and I am the girl behind Designer Garden.  I want to give a big THANK YOU to Angie for having me here today.  I'm so excited to share these great fabric pumpkins with you!



I found these on another blog but her tutorial was very limited on information so I made my own with lots of pictures for you to follow!  I'm hoping these will be simple and easy to follow instructions for our beginner seamstresses out there.


Let’s get started shall we? Here is your supply list...


3 or 5 fat quarters in different/coordinating fall colors and prints.  A fat quarter is typically a piece of fabric pre-cut 18x21in.  You can often find fat quarter bundles at your fabric store already in coordinating fabrics.


Scissors or Rotary blade

1 bag of Poly fill (stuffing)

As much or little coordinating ribbon, cording or other embellishments you might want

Here you see I have 5 different fabrics I found all together in a bundle at Walmart. 

Next you're going to want to cut these in half.  Some of them long ways and some short ways.  This will allow you to have pumpkins in different heights.  You can make them any size you want really. But you will need two piece of each fabric cut to the same size for the front and back of each pumpkin.

Now I left this off your supply list but you will need one extra fat quarter for your stems.  I chose a neutral color but you can have a green or brown as well.  I cut mine about 6x6 in.

Here you will sew them up in the shape of a long stem then cut the excess off from around the edges.  Turn right side out.

Now you will stuff them with your Polly fill.  I use a strait pin to close them off so the stuffing doesn't come out in the mean time.  Set these aside for now.

Now take all the pieces of beautiful fabric you cut earlier and fold them in half.  You will sew a pattern like you see below on the fold.  Then trim the excess.

This picture is a bit hard to see but when you open it up it will look like this.  See how it has a pucker?

Okay here is the tricky part but not too tricky.  Keep your seam ripper handy in case you goof.  Oh and the seam ripper is the little tool that looks like a miniature pitch fork kind of.


You will two identical pieces like you see above.  One in the bottom and one is the top.  Lay the bottom one down and place your stem with the open side facing the edge of your fabric like so...

Now you will lay your top piece on top, right sides together.  You want to remove the strait pin from your stem and re-pin through all three pieces of fabric to keep the stem in place.  I choose to free hand my pumpkin shape because that is kind of how they grow in nature but if you want to you can use your strain pins to make the shape of your pumpkin.

Start at the bottom of the pumpkin and work your way around with a strait stitch leaving a gap at the bottom.  This is where you will stuff the pumpkin.  Don't forget to back stitch when start and stop sewing to make your knots.

Now forgive this next step as I show 6 bags but I mis-counted because I was only doing 5 pumpkins heehee.  Mommy brain strikes again!

Once all your pumpkins have been sewn cut the excess and turn right side out.  Now you can stuff them.  When they are all stuffed up you will need to fill some snack size zip locks with beans or rice.  These will go on the bottom of the pumpkins before you stitch them up so they can stand up right =)

So go ahead and slip those beans into the bottom and hand stitch your hole closed.  If you are handy with your sewing machine you may be able to sew it up on there like I did.

Here is what you get when you're all finished!

I ran short on stuffing so I only have three to show you right now.

Do you love them?  I think they are perfect for any fall theme and being able to choose your fabrics makes them even better!  Now you can use your ribbon, cording, left over fabric or what not and tie them around the stems!

Thanks again for coming by to check out my fabric pumpkins.  I hope you enjoy them!

Sommer


Thank you so much Sommer for taking the time to put together that pumpkin tutorial!!

 You sure make sewing sound easy!!

The Story Behind Labor Day...

Do you know the story behind Labor Day?

I didn't, so I googled it.


Here's what I found out....


"For a lot of people, Labor Day means two things: a day off and the end of summer. But why is it called Labor Day? Labor Day is a day set aside to pay tribute to working men and women. It has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States and Canada since 1894.


Labor unions themselves celebrated the first labor days in the United States, although there's some speculation as to exactly who came up with the idea. Most historians credit Peter McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co founder of the American Federation of Labor, with the original idea of a day for workers to show their solidarity. Others credit Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J.

The first Labor Day parade occurred Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. The workers' unions chose the first Monday in September because it was halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. The idea spread across the country, and some states designated Labor Day as a holiday before the federal holiday was created.

President Grover Cleveland signed a law designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day nationwide. This is interesting because Cleveland was not a labor union supporter. In fact, he was trying to repair some political damage that he suffered earlier that year when he sent federal troops to put down a strike by the American Railway Union at the Pullman Co. in Chicago, IL. That action resulted in the deaths of 34 workers.

In European countries, China and other parts of the world, May Day, the first day in May, is a holiday to celebrate workers and labor unions. Before it became an international workers holiday, May Day was a celebration of spring and the promise of summer.

Membership in labor unions in the United States reached an all-time high in the 1950s when about 40 percent of the work force belonged to unions. Today, union membership is about 14 percent of the working population. Labor Day now carries less significance as a celebration of working people and more as the end of summer. Schools, government offices and businesses are closed on Labor Day so people can get in one last trip to the beach or have one last cookout before the weather starts to turn colder. "

Where I found the article

So there you have it, the reason why we celebrate Labor day.

Now start the barbecue, grab a cocktail and gather around the table for some fun with family and friends!!

Source of photo unknown

Enjoy!

Angie

Why didn't I think of that??

Making a list!

 I'm a Libra.

The scales HAVE to be balanced.

Without a list, all my "to do's" end up swirling around violently in my skull causing a major malfunction.

Mr. Treasures isn't a fan of the skull swirling malfunctioning after math, so lists are the perfect way for this Libra to remain balanced.

Besides remaining sane, there's the added bonus of the feeling you get when you accomplish something and cross it off the list!

Well, let's just say that my hard drive must have fried since returning to work.

It's been all about, how busy I am,

 how much I have to do etc. etc.

I completely forgot about the magic of a list!  That was until I saw this post from The Tip Junkie!!

Stop by and check out the great suggestions she has for starting off September right!!

Speaking of lists, look what I found while searching for an image of a scale....

A LIST of how to tell your a Libra. Check out #2,  thought that was kind of funny!

I'm off to make my list.....

Angie

P.S. stop by here to find your sign!!