In Everything Give Thanks

I decided this year I wanted to find a fun way to teach my son about gratitude. I remembered seeing a countdown calendar with activity cards a few years ago and thought that would be perfect. And then I saw this pattern with patchwork pockets and I fell in love. Patchwork has my heart, it's my favorite.

I had to enlarge the pockets a bit to get the cards to fit and I also made the rows have 5 pockets each (that was a boo boo on my part, but I went with it). Of course I changed the embroidery to reflect the holiday and I also added a rod pocket on the back for hanging. The muslin I used ended up having a more open weave so I backed it with interfacing to help stabilize it better. 

Now that I've made one I think I got all the kinks worked out. I plan on making a Christmas version for both my son and my niece, so you will be seeing more of this cute pattern.

Pattern: Quilted Advent Calendar by Sew Sweet Violet
Activity Cards:  Thanksgiving Countdown Cards by Everyday Celebrations
Fabric:

• Cream cherries: Unknown designer (found in my local quilt shop's scrap bin)
• Taupe pumpkins: Home for the Harvest by Heather Mulder Peterson for Henry Glass
• All others: Welcome Fall by Deb Strain for Moda
• Background: muslin found at Hobby Lobby
• Stabilizer: Shape-Flex SF101 by Pellon
• Backing + binding: Postcards from the Lodge by Pela Studios for Windham Fabrics

Embroidery Floss: DMC 498, 729, 367, 920, and 898
1/2" wide cotton twill tape found here (color: natural)
Stamp set and fabric ink: found at Hobby Lobby (use a coupon!)

Grandpa's Shirts Turned Pillowcases

Remember Grandpa's quilt? Well, I still had quite a few whole shirts leftover and some of my mother-in-law's siblings who wanted a little something of their father's too. I decided on making pillowcases for the siblings (since more quilts would be a bit much for me) and came upon this inspiration on Pinterest.

click here for tutorial

It was a really quick and easy project, and I ended up making 7 pillowcases total. I still had 3 corners of the white handkerchief used in the quilt plus my mother-in-law gave me another blue handkerchief, so all 7 pillowcases had a corner of a handkerchief sewn into the front pockets.

All 7 of the pillowcases

All of them got the same tag as the quilt

3 of them used scraps from the quilt backing

Stuffed with an 18" square pillow form

She flew to Iowa for spring break and delivered the pillowcases to her brothers and sisters. They all loved them, which makes my heart so happy. I think at this point I only have a few shirt fronts left since the backs were used to make the quilt. So I may make a few more of these pillowcases using the quilt backing scraps for the back piece. And then all the remaining shirt pieces will end up being cut into squares for future projects. But for now everyone has a little piece of Grandpa so there's no rush to whip up another big project any time soon.

Wedding Tree Quilt

A couple at my church recently tied the knot and of course, I wanted to sew a quilt for them. Being an avid pinner, I saw some really neat quilts that were made to look like carved initials on a tree. Here is my inspiration:

via

via

Neat right? I've never seen anything like it before. The hardest part was picking out the backing fabric. The wedding colors were purple and silver, which is a hard combination to find in fabric at the moment, but their invitations were silver and yellow. Perfect! That color combo is everywhere. So I waited until the right fabric came along and snatched it up along with a purple fat quarter and a grey/white polka dot for the binding.

There wasn't any tutorials or instructions out there, but to be honest you don't need any. It's a very organic and flowing stitch pattern. I just sketched it out directly on the fabric with a water soluble pencil after I appliqued the hearts.

Yep, I said hearts. :) I did something different from the inspiration quilts, I had 2 hearts. I did their initials and wedding date on the front and then added a Scripture verse on the back using the purple fabric. For the front heart I simply stitched a bunch of lines around the perimeter of the heart, leaving the edges raw. I was going for that rugged/hand carved look and after a few washes the edges should fray beautifully to achieve it. For the back heart I did a traditional zig zag stitch to applique it. A bit more of a polished look befitting the Scripture verse.

After a little wiggling to get everything lined up it came together beautifully. Only downside was that my 'good' machine (ie the one with all the tools for quilting) busted so I ended up pulling an all nighter on my other machine to get it done. I literally started it after 9pm and finished at 8:30am - the day of the wedding! But it was sooo worth it, they loved it and that's the most important part of any handmade gift.  I just wish I remembered the take a photo of the quilt prior to giving it to them. :)

The front

The back & the newlyweds :)

Crib Bedding Set

In addition to patching up my husband's jeans and making my son big boy undies, I have been working on a labor of love.

One of the Bible teachers at our church is due in September with a little girl. I originally was going to make her a quilt, but when I found out she didn't have bedding I decided to add a sheet and dust ruffle to the mix.

Finished quilt size is about 36.5 inches by 38.5 inches

Backed the quilt in pink minky and added an embroidered tag.

I love these fabrics together. So sweet for a little girl

The blue fabric is my favorite

I did pleats on the two longest side and left the short sides plain

I ended up doing a double pleat because I miscalculated and had too much fabric

The sheet is made with the same green fabric in the quilt

I found a pink minky that closely matched the bumper, it's only a shade darker

The one and only time you'll see pink in my son's room

All bundled up for her baby shower

 The only thing I did not make was the bumper, I actually found that at a thrift store. I originally went in looking for one to recover but the Lord provided and gave me this pink one. I was/am so thankful for Him! :)

I hope she likes it. Her surprise baby shower is this upcoming Sunday. :)

Here's the list of tutorials I used to create this set:
Quilt: Momfetti
Crib Sheet: Dana from 'Made' guest post on luvinthemommyhood
Dust Ruffle/Crib Skirt: Hibler House (she has directions for 3 different variations)

Linking up here:

Big Boy Underwear

My son is two and half, and he's getting to that age where people start to ask if he's potty trained. And it certainly doesn't help that he has the build of a 4 year old (thanks to some tall genes from both Mama AND Daddy!).

I decided long ago that our next baby would be in cloth diapers and that whenever Alex was ready to potty train, he'd be in cloth trainers. I absolutely refuse to buy Pull-ups or any other related 'generic' brand of this glorified diaper. I honestly can't justify spending that much money on it, I'd rather do more laundry (which wouldn't cost me much anyways since I make my own laundry soap).

But I digress, so when looking for cloth trainers I wanted something that was padded. Didn't have to be super duper padded, but enough extra layers to hold a little accident.

I came across this tutorial on Pinterest:

For full tutorial click here

And I thought to myself that this option could work for my son. Now Heather from It's a Long Story has used cloth diapers with her daughter, so she has a one up on us. From what I understand this a pretty good advantage when transitioning to potty training, hence why we're doing this next baby. But I figured it was worth a shot and I'm hoping that Alex will learn pretty quick.

Anyways, I went to Joanns and bought my fabrics. You only need 1/4 yard of the PUL which is roughly $3.75 (a full yard is $14.99) and then I found two remnants of 100% cotton flannel, and if you shop at Joann's then you know that all their remnants are 50% off. So in the end the fabric didn't cost me much.

I found the training pants at Walmart and Target, and they both had the same price. I think $7.69 for 3 pairs of the white, and they come in 2T and 3T. I ended up buying 6 pairs so my overall cost jumped up a bit but I wanted to make sure to have several pairs ready to go in case of emergency changes. If these work out I plan to buy more, I have plenty of PUL and flannel leftover to make at least 6 more pairs if not more.

So anyways, without further ado here's my boy version of Heather's DIY training pants:

I think they came out pretty cute. But don't look too too close at the stitching, it didn't exactly line up in several pairs. Oops. Oh well, not like it matters it's underwear after all.

Heather used white flannel but I found this solid green and a green stripe in the remnant bin so that's what I used. Personally, I think it matches the dinosaur PUL perfectly. So cute! :)

Now here's hoping that my son will learn to use the potty by age 3! :)


Linking up here:

Quick Blanket and a Happy Accident

My poor little boy was sick most of this week. In an effort to make him more comfortable I fished this remnant from my stash and finished the edges.

This remnant is actually a full yard and I found it in the remnant bins at Joann's. It's the 'cuddle' version (aka the super duper soft stuff!) of my favorite dog print that I've found at Joann's to date.

The cuddle version: Buy it here

The cotton version: Buy it here

Anyways, I was originally was going to hem the edges but that would've taken too long. So I did a quick zig zag around the edges to prevent fraying. In the process I accidentally created a lettuce trim on the two longest edges which made it just that much cuter.

See the waves? That's called a lettuce trim

A happy and cute accident!

Like I said, I didn't originally intend to create a lettuce trim but months ago I did find a tutorial for it on Pinterest. If you have a serger click here to learn how to do it and if you don't have a serger then click here. For the record, I don't have a serger (although I'd love one) and it was super simple to do on a regular machine with a zig zag stitch.

The two shortest sides (the selvage ends) didn't get the lettuce treatment for some reason, I probably didn't stretch it like I did on the longer sides. I may end up going back and redoing those sides later, we'll see. For now I can't tear this blanket away from my son, and it's so soft I like snuggling in it too. :)

Linking up here:

Maxi Dress -- Nearly Done

After a year plus of just plain procrastinating my maxi dress that I mentioned way back here is nearly done! To be honest, this project has taken so long because it was really intimidating.

My first hurdle was the bodice. I got the top portion done no problem but when it came time to attach the band I could not get it to lay right. So I stopped and put it away, thinking I would come back to it with fresh eyes a little later. Yeah, um...so a year and some change is still qualified as later right?

Well this past spring I pulled it out again, hoping I could get it done in time for summer but that didn't happen. But the good news, I got over the first hurdle! :) But after that was another set back and it wasn't until just recently that I pulled it out again to fix my mistakes and get it to the point it's at now.

Take a look. :)

The dress nearly complete - just need to hem the bottom and add the zipper

See that little pointy part on the band? That was the first hurdle

I did french seams on both the outer and lining fabric - no raw edges!

French seams just look so much prettier - it's my new favorite way to finish seams

Didn't want raw edges so made my own bias tape for the seam where the bodice attaches to the skirt

All that is left is the zipper -- my next hurdle!

I think I figured out how to get the zipper in there but it's being a big pain. The original pattern didn't call for a lining for the skirt (only the bodice) but because the outer fabric is slightly see-through for me I added a lining in a cream, unbleached muslin. Only downside is that it's another piece of fabric I gotta sew to the zipper and it makes the dress overall a bit heavier than I envisioned. But I'm hoping that when I hem up the lining to above the knee it won't be as heavy as it is now. Also, when I started this dress last year I was 15 pounds heavier. So now I have to take in the bodice to fit me again. But that's another hurdle that's intimidating me so I may just give up and let someone else do that part. haha We'll see, my mom has a seamstress friend that may be able to help me navigate alterations. I'll keep you posted with the final result!

Whipping up a 2nd birthday

My son turned 2 this past Sunday and I was busy the entire week prior whipping up some birthday goodness just for his special day.

I made him a shirt just for the day. I couldn't find any cute train shirts that had a number 2 on them so what's a crafty mama to do? Make one herself of course! lol The train is actually a clipart from Microsoft Word and I just used a font that sorta looked good with it for the 2. The clouds I free-handed and the stitching was hand done. My machine couldn't get into those curves and it was too late at night to even attempt it. lol

I also made the cupcakes and some cute little cupcake flags from train scrapbook paper. I wrote some cute little train phrases along with the typical 'happy birthday' on them with a fine point Sharpie. The cupcakes were healthy, made from a yellow cake mix along with pumpkin puree and organic banana yogurt. The recipe came from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook and it tasted awesome!

But my biggest accomplishment was the present I made Alex. I was working all week on this cute little kitty just for him on his special day. The face was hand embroidered and I embroidered a special message on its collar, "For Alex on your 2nd birthday. Love, Mom". Truly a labor of love and I love that he loves it too! :)

For those interested, the kitty pattern came from this link: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/party-cat-plush
It only gives you the pattern for body and the head, the rest is pretty simple. For the arms and legs I cut out rectangles that were 1.5 inches wide by 4 inches long (2 for each leg) and then shortened them where necessary. The ears are simple triangles except I cut one side longer than the other so it would stand up more like a cat's ear. Also to made the kitty stand up, I simply cut 2 more ovals from the base pattern out of muslin and filled with a bean filler (it's in the stuffing aisle in craft stores). Put that at the bottom and then stuff with Poly-fil on top of it.

If you're interested, I'll scan my pattern pieces for the legs, ears and belly for you to use. And I'll show you exactly how where I inserted the arms and ears (the bottom legs and tail were simply sewn into the seam).

Linking up here:

Christmas Gifts

I was sewing up until the very last minute and by that I mean I crawled into bed at 2:30 am Christmas morning. But I got everything done and wrapped and mailed out on time. Best part is that everyone liked their gifts. :)

My sister got a spa set made from a set of towels. The largest towel is a wrap, the wash cloth is a little pouch and the hand towel is a toothbrush and face wash travel case.

Both my nephews both I-Spy bags, monogrammed with their initials. They have slightly different things inside each bag, so I took a picture of the toys inside and then made a list as well. I got them laminated at Office Depot for under $2, perfect for rowdy little boys.

Alex got the road map quilt that I mentioned in this post. The back is made up of various scraps I had in my stash except for two fabrics, which I got just enough for this project. The binding is a green polka dot I found at Walmart, gotta love that store!
I used an invisible nylon thread and quilted along the train tracks and the road that goes down the center. Originally I was going to use matching thread but I decided to use invisible thread instead, I'm so glad I did. It came out great.
The tag didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I printed it out on the printable fabric that is supposedly washable (and it won't run) but God had other plans for me. I love this little tag but I'm thinking I may end up taking it off and embroidering a tag instead. I'd probably use the green polka dots for the new tag, but that project will be for another day. I want to embroider a tag for his first birthday quilt too, so this tag will be sticking around for a while until I can muster up the energy to do both.