not your traditional baby quilt . . .

A close friend was just blessed with a beautiful baby girl.  And because she told the name before her due date, I was able to get a head start on a personalized baby quilt for her.  She was born yesterday morning, and the quilt was already delivered to the hospital room.

The fabrics are mostly from Carnaby Street from Art Gallery Fabrics, with a couple coordinating prints from my stash.

The quilt design is strips pieced together on the diagonal, cut down into rows, and sashing strips added.  The baby name was done with fusible web, and the edges are machine stitched.  The backing is a couple strips of minky from my local fabric shop.

The baby's mama is not much of a pastel person, so she loved these bolder colors and prints, and the grey mixed in.  And the quilt is still girly enough that it won't get claimed by one of her three big brothers.

twin baby quilts . . .

Two precious baby boys were born into our congregation, and a good friend and I made them matching baby quilts.

The fabric is from Riley Blake's Maritime Modern line, and the backing is a soft minky from our local fabric shop.

The pattern is just a simple patchwork, and the letters were appliqued with fusible web and finished off with a machine stitch.

Tomorrow is a quadruple baby shower for these twins and two other new babes.  I'll show the other two quilts as soon as I get some pics of them!

easy applique letters . . .

After scoring a couple unopened packages of steam-a-seam on a local swap site for $5, I've been incorporating some applique into some recent projects.

It's really as simple as printing off a letter from your computer, tracing it onto the paper (make sure to trace letters backwards), ironing it to your fabric, cutting it out, and then ironing it to your project.  All the instructions are right on the package.

I like to use a buttonhole stitch to finish off the edges and avoid fraying.  

The addition of a letter, word, or shape quickly makes a plain project look like you put lots of work into it :)

 

bits of sewing . . .

I'm not very good at keeping up with clothing trends, but it's hard not to notice that maxi skirts are everywhere right now.  And after seeing this tutorial and scoring some beautiful ruffle fabric from Christina, I thought I'd give it a go at making one. I wore it to church the next day and it was really comfortable.  I'm thinking that there will be more of these made this Summer . . .

And here are my May blocks for the Joy quilting circle of Do Good Stitches.  The blocks are all going to be cut in quarters and reassembled to make a Bento Box design.

Next on my to-do list is to finish up some baby quilts for a baby shower next week, hoping to share those soon!

Upcycling - something old into something new

This is a sponsored post today, and the topic is upcycling.  I thought I'd share a couple projects with you.

My girls love flowers and planting, and so we turned half barrels into a planter for each of them.  Now every Spring, they each get to plant and care for their own flowers.

And here is a clothing upcycle - I had this blouse with a great ruffle trim on it, and turned it into a top for my toddler.

Honey Nut Cheerios has upcycled their traditional cereal and added oat flakes and nut clusters to create Honey Nut Cheerios Hearty Oat Crunch.  And they would like to give a coupon for a free box to 25 of my readers! Sorry, the're all gone! But don't worry, if you didn't snag a coupon, you can get another chance by submitting your 'upcycle tip' on their facebook page.

And keep your eyes on General Mills - there are going to be 7 new products released soon!

Disclosure – I am participating in the Honey Nut Cheerios Hearty Oat Crunch Blogger Campaign by Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills, and received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.

tween aprons . . .

Some fabric arrived at my house recently - bright beautiful prints from Cynthia Rowley's new collection called Paintbox.  And the fabric was sent to me directly from Michael Miller Fabrics!  The first project that I thought of making when I saw them is aprons.  Can't you see a table of kiddos concentrating on art projects wearing these prints?

So today my oldest daughter was my assistant as we made a couple aprons for birthday gifts.  I've deemed these to be tween size, and am trying to deny the fact that my oldest daughter is entering this stage.

Of course my little guy had to jump in the photo op, so here is a picture of my big kid and my little kid.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!  I'm off to Sports Day and hoping for some sunshine.

Our little getwaway and a WINNER . . .

Last week the hubby and I escaped for three nights on a mini cruise.  The food was AMAZING, the scenery was breathtaking, and to top it all off - I spent a few hours in the spa getting pampered.  I also stumbled upon two great quilt shops in the towns we visited.

Kismet Quilts was full of designer fabric, and had this long-arm machine on display.  Wish I could go back and watch them quilt on it . . .

And the other shop was Undercover Quilts - a little shop that was packed FULL of fabric and completed quilts, and had some great pricing.  I walked out of there with some nice yardage for my stash.

Thank-you to everyone who checked out my beach bag tutorial!  The winner of the fat quarter bundle is Colleen!  I'll send you an email.

Beach Tote Tutorial and a Giveaway!

I have a new tutorial going up on the Fabri-Quilt blog for this oversized beach tote, and the generous people at Fabri-Quilt have sponsored a giveaway of this Belle of the South fabric - just enter through the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

bee quilt in progress . . .

I was hoping to have the new Fabri-Quilt tutorial ready to post today, but will be aiming for Monday instead.  I do have something fun to share - these lovely quilt blocks that keep arriving in my mailbox.  These are for our latest quilt from the Joy circle of Do Good Stitches.  Didn't all these women do a fabulous job?  The backing fabric also arrived in the mail - it's a 60" wide from Wholeport.com and it goes great with the color scheme.

Life has been busy and consuming lately - a new full-time babysitting job of a one-year old has me more tired than usual, and also more in a routine of housework, cuddling on the couch with little ones, and having afternoon siestas to help catch up on energy.  I've also found myself emotionally distracted by things in the media like the search and loss of a father, the loss of two parents (one a prominent woman in the online crafting community), and this unthinkable crime.  I'm ready to cut myself off from the news for a few days and make some memories with my family instead.  Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and happy weekend!

a personalized pillow . . .

Well another birthday girl invitation came home (seems to be a recurring theme lately, must be birthday season). My oldest daughter always has unique requests when it comes to what to make for her friends, and this time she wanted a name pillow.  I had picked up a couple bolster style pillow forms for a good deal recently, so I didn't even need to make a trip to the fabric store.

The letters were appliqued using a fusible web and finished off with a blanket stitch.

The fabrics and zipper were from my stash.

I'll have to keep an eye out for these pillow forms on sale again, they make a fun quick gift!

Winner of SMS GIveaway . . .

Congratulations to Marcia!  These fun fabrics will be shipped out to you.  I'll be in touch with you shortly.

Next week I'll be linking to my new tutorial on the Fabri-Quilt blog, and also hosting a giveaway of a fat quarter bundle of the fabrics I used.  But today I am enjoying a quiet house all to myself while the kiddies go Mother's Day shopping.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

SMS Giveaway Day!

To celebrate Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, I have a fat quarter bundle of these prints ready to send to a lucky winner!  Just use the rafflecopter below, and I will ship internationally.  Giveaway ends May 10. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

some bag making tips . . .

A request for a book bag from a birthday girl produced this tote last week.  Below are some tips that I've learned over the years that have helped my bag-making to go quicker and look more professional.

I wanted this bag to have lots of structure, so a fusible interfacing was used for the outer fabric, and a fusible fleece for the lining.  I prefer this method, because it gives the outer fabric more structure, but the overall bag is still soft.

For the straps, I like to cut them four times the width of the finished strap.  Then I iron them in half, and iron both halves again to center (for this bag, 6" wide straps were cut, producing a 1.5" finished width).  I don't like to interface my straps, and find this thickness is great; but the real trick is to do lots of stitch lines to make it feel nice and strong.  I first sew close to each long edge, and then sew about every 1/4" after that, just using guides on my presser foot to line up the rows of stitches.

After the bag has been turned right-side out, I press the top edge first.  Then, for top-stitching I use my walking foot, a longer stitch length (3.0 on my machine), move my needle to the right a bit, and then line up the groove of the presser foot against the edge of the bag to keep in a straight line, while also keeping close to the edge of the bag.

This is a very basic bag, but I hoped it showed the finished look of some of the tips I listed above.  Bag-making is something I really enjoy, and I haven't carried a store-bought purse in years.  There is so much inspiration and patterns available online, that it's always fun to pick which one to make next.  Plus it's a great way to tote around some favorite fabrics!

If you have any other tips to share, please post them in the comments below!