Weekend Sewing Projects

I got quite a few sewing projects done this weekend, but still have more baby stuff I have to do. The newest addition to the family that I am sewing for, baby Evan, is a month old already!

I made him some cute onesies:

I just love the tie one, isn't it adorable?

And some burp pads made from cloth diapers:

I have crocheted him a blanket, hat and sweater too. I need to make some bibs and small receiving blankets then I think I will be done.

I also made some more pillows this weekend (big surprise, huh?). My younger sister came over last night and I walked her through how to make an envelope closure pillow step-by-step, so I am hoping she attempts one soon. I gave her my old sewing machine when I got my new one and have been encouraging her to sew.

These pillows only required 2 fat quarters and a 16 X 16 pillow form. The nice thing about them is you can sew up a bunch in your decor colors and then change them out when you want a new look. You could also buy themed fat quarters for the holidays and have one pillow that you switch out for every holiday with a new cover.... the possibilities are endless!

I'm off to do more sewing... have a great week everyone.

Easy and Inexpensive Felt Flower Pillow

Somehow or another I came across this blog and absolutely fell in love with the felt flower pillow that Brandi made.  It was one of those projects I knew I had to make right away.

I purchased some really pretty embossed felt from Hobby Lobby (around 80 cents a sheet) and some inexpensive muslin and got to work. I used Brandi's method of attaching the felt flowers to the front of the pillow with fabric glue. To make my semi-circles more uniform, I got out my biscuit cutter and traced around it on the back of the felt, then cut out the circle and then cut that in half - it worked great!

I sewed the pillow and made an envelope closure on the back. Here is a side view so you can see the layers of felt:

And here is the back:

I absolutely love making pillows! This was my first time making an envelope back closure and I really liked it - it was simple to do and you can remove it to wash the pillow cover if needed (although obviously you wouldn't want to do that with this particular pillow).

I gifted it to my sister-in-law Becky - I have made her so many pillows her hubby is ready to kill me!

Thanks so much for the inspiration Brandi, you are so talented and creative. :)

Valentine Projects - Picture Frames

I usually don't decorate for Valentine's Day, but I have been inspired by all of the neat Valentine projects I've seen in blogland for the past few weeks.

I came across this post the other day and knew it was something I wanted to try. Here is what I started out with:

A simple frame from Dollar Tree (it only cost me 50 cents!)

and 2 bags of conversation hearts (1 large, 1 small)

Here is how it turned out:

I found the cute heart ribbon at Wal-mart for $2.00.

While at Dollar Tree I spotted this:

14 sheets of red felt - I knew I could use it for something. I bought another frame ($1)

And hot-glued felt around it, then some of the heart ribbon, and added some cute buttons.

So easy and so cute!

I may have to make some other things, since I have plenty of felt, ribbon and candy left!

By the way, those cuties are our youngest nephews, Kael and Jayden. Aren't they both adorable?

Larri from Seams Inspired responded to my previous post with a great tutorial for a little girl's dress that I am going to try. She used a top that her daughter had outgrown and sewed some fabric to the bottom to make a cute twirly dress. It seems like something I can handle (I hope!!) so I will try to make it this week. I'll post pictures when I get it finished. Thanks again for your help Larri!

 

Help Needed!

I need help from those of you that sew. I want to make a dress for a little 4-year old girl that I know. I have very little experience in making clothes, so I need a pattern that will be easy for me to do. I don't know her measurements (and she is not nearby for me to measure) all I know is she wears a 5T.

Any pattern suggestions?? Have you used a tutorial from a blog that you would recommend?

Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks so much!

Baby Quilt Update

I have been hard at work on the baby quilt and I am almost finished! I just have the all the sides to do and then I can bind it.

Here are some photos:

The blue and green stripes are all around the edges  - I am outlining every one of them in black thread.

An up-close shot .... yes, I know I went "outside the lines" in a few places, but I figure the baby won't know.. or care!

Can you see the lion's face?

A machine quilter's best friend - a pair of quilting gloves. They have grippy stuff on the inside to help you grip the fabric better. I wish I would have gotten these when I first started it, rather than 3/4 of the way through. If you don't want to buy these (I only paid about $4 for them at Jo-Ann) I'm sure a pair of gardening gloves would work good too ... just make sure they fit your hands real good; not too tight or too loose.

My other SIL is going to help me with the binding and finishing. I will see her this Friday when we go up to Phoenix for the big Sewing and Quilting Show (yay, can't wait).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trying My Hand at Quilting

Since I started sewing again (last May or so) I have wanted to try my hand at quilting. I knew absolutely nothing about it, I just loved the way it looked. I finally got the courage up to try it (with some help from my SIL Becky).

I purchased a fabric panel at the quilt store along with some backing fabric. I already had some Warm & Natural cotton batting (since this will be for a baby that lives here in AZ I didn't want anything too thick). Here is what it looks like:

It is hard to see the backing fabric in the photo, but it is a really neat black and white flannel that I think goes perfectly with the front panel. I am using my sewing machine to outline all of the animals in black thread. So far I have finished the elephant, lion and the pink plant.

Our plan is to use the extra backing fabric for the binding .... Becky will help me with this step once I am done with all the quilting.

It is kind of tricky, as I'm not used to sewing so many curves! But I am enjoying the process, and I can't wait till it's finished.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Changed Again

I changed my background again ... some people were having trouble viewing my other one, so I'm back to using one of Blogger's templates. I don't know about you, but I sure miss the old way you used to do it in Blogger.  :)

New Year, New Look

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Among other things, I got a Sidewinder, a rolling Sewing Machine case, and the book "Stitch by Stitch" by Deborah Moebes for Christmas. I can't wait to use all three.

I decided to change the look of my blog; I hope it shows up okay! I found some neat backgrounds at thecutestblogontheblock.com.

I haven't done much sewing lately, although I really need to. Our niece had a baby boy named Evan on my hubby's birthday, Dec. 23, so I need to make some onesies, burp pads, etc. for her. I've gotten a onesie completed so far:

Right now I'm trying to clean and organize my house and put away all the Christmas decorations. It is taking longer than I thought .... I had one day where I was raring to go, and ever since then I just have not been motivated to do anything. Hopefully today I will at least get the Christmas tree taken down and some cleaning done.

Have a great week!