Weekend Projects

I've been busy yesterday and today with projects.

Yesterday I made my first no-sew fleece blanket. It was very easy, and I think it turned out really cute.

I had some fleece that I had bought in the remnant bin at Jo-Anns almost a year ago and decided it was time I did something with it. I purchased the solid pink fleece at Wal-mart a few months back;  it matched great with the floral fabric. Here is the back:

I made a taggie blanket too, again with leftover fabric I had in my stash:

Here is the back:

While shopping at a thrift store recently I came across what looked like a small rug in the children's area for $1 so I bought it thinking I could re-purpose it into something else. I used it as the back fabric on this taggie blanket, and also made a small pillow out of it:

Not bad for $1!!

Today I made a zippered pouch for our nephew's girlfriend Christine. She picked out the fabrics (which just happen to be some of my favorite colors too!):

To use up this leftover fabric, I mod-podged it onto a wooden letter "C" that I purchased at Jo-anns:

Next up I think I will work on another rag quilt.

Have a great weekend.

It's All About Presentation

Saw this over on See Kate Sew and knew it would be a great way to package those ric rac burp cloths I made a few days ago.

I made one more burp cloth

and then bought a clear paint bucket at Michael's (using my Michael's card it was about $4)

I printed out the burpee bucket printable from Kate's post and played around with it on Picasa to change the color from blue to pink.

Then I rolled up the burp cloths and stuck them inside

And used double-stick tape to adhere the label to the bucket.

Voila! A cute gift that can later be used to store baby items in. Thanks for the great idea, Kate, I love it!

Semi-Fail Toddler Dress

Remember awhile back I said I wanted to try to make a toddler dress for a little 4-year old I know? I finished it the other day, and have decided to call it a semi-fail.

I managed to salvage it by adding ribbon  around the waistline where I horribly mangled the gathering of the fabric. Well, actually I managed to do the gathering part okay; it was the sewing of the gathering part that gave me problems. The shirt kept bunching up while I was sewing and I didn't realize it until it was too late.

Here is what I started this project with:

A shirt from Wal-mart and a half yard of fabric, along with instructions found here and here. 

Here is what I learned from this project:

1.  Sew very SLOWLY and CAREFULLY when you are sewing the gathered fabric to your shirt.

2.  If you use the sew-two-lines-of-stitching gathering technique - after you sew it to the shirt, you can remove those two lines of stitching so that you don't see it on the front. (My SIL told me this after I had already butchered it!)

3.  If you've never sewn gathers before, you might want to practice first on an old shirt and scrap fabric.

As you can see in the photo above, I have another one of these to make. Here's hoping the next one comes out better!

Giving Back

I've seen this on several blogs lately and decided to check out what it was all about. It all started with Cara, who drove by a shelter with a sign out front saying they desperately needed paper towels. Before she knew it, she was at the grocery store buying up paper towels and donating them to the shelter.

She has now started this challenge to encourage others to donate items to local shelters or other organizations that are in need. Many places need everyday items like soap, paper towels, paper plates, trash bags, etc.  Others need things like diapers, shampoo and other toiletry products.

I am off today to buy items from the Wish List at my local Ronald McDonald House. Won't you please consider seeing what the need is in your community and donating a few items? You'll be glad you did.

Baby Girl Bling

I've been wanting to make a cute baby girl onesie ever since I made the little tie onesies for boys:

So I came up with this:

I've seen these little necklace onesies all over blogland, but had never tried one before. It was so quick and easy to do.

I used Tulip  Soft fabric paint. For the pink necklace I used an eraser on the end of a pencil for the dots; for the purple one, I used the end of a paintbrush! The little cross is an iron-on I found at Jo-Anns.

I will definitely be making more of these!

Ric Rac Burp Cloths

This is a quick, easy project to make for a baby shower gift or whenever you need something hand-made fast!

I stole borrowed the idea from this post at Gen X Quilters. She had some cute little animal prints from a fabric panel, and she cut hers into 4 1/2" squares. I just used some extra flannel fabric I had in my stash and decided to cover the whole diaper.  I always pre-wash the diapers and fabric.

All I did was cut my fabric (it's about 4 1/2 inches wide X the length of the diaper), fuse it to the diaper with Wonder Under and then sewed 1/8" from the edge to secure it even more.

Rather than turning my ric rac under at each corner, I just cut it and then used a lighter to seal the ends. I then sewed it on with a straight stitch.

You could embellish them with ribbon if you didn't have any ric rac on hand.

Thanks so much for the great tutorial Annemarie!

I'm Back!

Oh who was I kidding .... I knew I couldn't stay away from sewing/crafting for very long!!

I've been busy working on baby things. I made a blanket for our neighbors who are fostering a little boy named Chase:

And I made my very first Rag Quilt:

It was surprisingly easy to do, just very time-consuming... all that cutting of squares, then sewing together of the squares, then the snipping! I went to Jo-Ann's halfway through all that snipping and bought me a pair of Fiskars specifically made for snipping rag quilts (using 40% off coupon they only cost about $12). They were worth every penny!

This is my "practice" rag quilt, as some of my squares did not come out exactly 8" while cutting and it is noticeable. I will definitely be making more of these as baby gifts in the future. I used the video tutorial/pattern found here.  I searched all over the Internet and this was the best explanation I could find; the video tutorial is a huge help. Here is a more up-close shot:

This one is about 42 X 46 and only required about 2 yards of each flannel (I already had it in my stash). Let me know if you make one of these, I'd love to see it!

Brief Hiatus

I've been feeling like this the past few days - feels like nothing I am making is turning out right.

Guess I must be in a crafting funk.

So for now I will take a brief hiatus and not craft for a few days. Hopefully when I start back I will feel more positive and refreshed.

Easy Baby Blanket

I came up with an easy baby blanket the other day that I wanted to share with you.  If you need a baby shower present in a hurry, or just want to make a quick blanket for a little one, this project is for you!

I used a package of flannel receiving blankets from my stash. You can easily find these blankets at Target or Wal-mart, they come 4 to a package and are color coordinated and are usually around $10 or so. Mine were 30 X 30 in size. You could use these pre-made blankets or buy some baby flannel at the fabric store and cut them to size; I just used what I had on hand.

After choosing two I liked, I decided to personalize it by appliqueing baby Evan's name on it. I used my handy-dandy alphabet letters I found at Hancock Fabrics:

and some red cotton fabric I had in my stash. Once I fused the letters onto the front of the blanket, I simply zig-zag stitched around the letters to secure them:

Once that was done, I put the blankets pretty sides together and stitched a 1/4 seam all the way around, leaving an opening for turning. Make sure you trim your corners.

I then turned it, pressed it good with a hot iron and top-stitched all the way around using red thread (this will close the opening you made for turning).

It did not take me very long to make and I think it came out really cute. Here are a few more photos:

Sometimes these pre-purchased receiving blankets are not really square, so you may need to square them up before you start sewing.

If I left anything out, or you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail (azbelle3@yahoo.com).  Happy Sewing!

I'm linking up to:

More Baby Stuff

It was cold and rainy out yesterday, so I spent the day inside sewing. I decided to spiff up the diaper burpcloths I showed you yesterday and added some ribbon to them:

I made some washcloths:

And I made my very first diaper/wipes case using the great tutorial I found here.

I have been wanting to make one of these for awhile now, but I never found a tutorial that I liked until I found this one of Christie's.  She includes pattern pieces for you to print and cut out, and gives great step-by-step instructions along with plenty of photos. Thank you Christie, I can't wait to make more of these!

I cut out my bib pieces last night, so I just have to sew that together. After that I will finish putting together the sweater I crocheted and then all of baby Evan's things will be done.

Next I will work on finishing my baby quilt and then maybe start on some UFO's and old projects that have been sitting around for awhile that need done. Oh, I also want to organize all my fabrics too... lots to do around here!