Another Pinterest Inspired Project!

Lately, I have been addicted to making stuff out of things I already have and leftovers from other projects. I think it's a great way to clean out things I can before the New Year begins! With that in mind I made a pair of adorable little leggings for Aubree the other day after seeing these pants on Pinterest awhile back:

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Dori on Pinterest

While they follow pretty much the same "pattern" as most other tutorials to make baby pants/leggings, I liked the cute reverse applique, as it was one of those simple things that I probably never would have thought of on my own!

I have a TON of old t-shirts since my sister and I recently cleaned out our closets and anything that was stretched out or stained or not worthy of donation has made its way into my stash. One of those was a shirt my sister had probably held onto since middle school. I don't have any "before" pictures, and I am horrible at taking progress pictures. (I get in the zone and forget!) Here is my version before I put the waistband on:

And here is my chunky monkey trying them on for the first time:

I decided not to add any ruffles or "flair" to the bottom, as I think the print itself is busy enough. I just used the bottom of the t-shirt to be the bottom hem and it worked out wonderfully I think.

I apologize for the "deer in the headlights" look and the blurriness of the photo. Still need a digital camera, but my iPhone will have to do for now. Aubree is at that stage where I can't get her to sit still for a picture unless she can see herself on the screen-- and that usually results in funny faces anyway ;) The pants do seem to ride up a bit on the inseam, so next time I will have to remember to add a bit extra, but overall I am quite pleased as this was my first time attempting pants! (I did make a pair of boxer shorts for my mom in high school but that.... is another story!

iPod Touch Case

I was up late last night, (surprise surprise) and decided to clean the house. Our sink had been stopped up for the last two days due to the neighbors moving out and tossing who knows what down their drain. Since ours connects to theirs and the catch is on their side.... well, lets just say it was unpleasant :/ Dishes were piled everywhere... ugh... Anyway, all that is really unrelated to my reason for posting! Anyway, yesterday sink was finished, I was tired of the mess. I cleaned the whole house spotless last night. I was on a roll. Then I found my roommate's iPod Touch on the floor. Again. She also just tosses it in her purse constantly. I keep telling her it is going to get scratched or broken but she doesn't listen!

So... after I was done cleaning, I decided I wanted to make her an ipod case. I searched google for an ipod touch case tutorial but wasn't finding anything I really wanted to make. I thought about it for a second and then realized I really could figure it out on my own, so I just winged it. A mere 30 minutes or so later I had this:The "A" is because her name is Alicia. She had seen this fabric in my bin one day last week and mentioned she liked it, so I picked it out.

I quilted tiny pebbles around the A... Not bad, but I thought quilting something small like this would be easy, but boy was I wrong. I felt like I had less control! Also, at 2am I am sure my quilting skills weren't at their sharpest, but I still like how it looks!

By the time I got to the back I decided I was pebbled out, though, and decided to do a quick stipple!

The lining wasn't quilted in, I added that after the quilting, and finished it off with a snap closure. I then put her ipod in it and set it on the dining room table for when she got home. She loves it :)

And I am not sure why the color is a bit funky in the first and last picture... I still need to get a nice camera. This iPhone camera can only do so much :/

Fall fun!

You know you have quilting on your mind when normal things remind you of something you want to try. Although I have been walking into this kitchen more times a day than I can count for almost a year, I never really noticed the tile...

Snowball blocks!
Also, Cullen has these super neat alphabet flashcards, and he likes to bring them to me so I can tell him what letter it is. This one made me giggle:

I shouldn't be surprised. After all, I can't think of THAT many words that begin with the letter Q and could be used in a flashcard like this. Either way, it made me smile!

It has been a busy weekend, but I am hoping to escape for a few hours tonight to get some sewing done. Shouldn't be a problem, since I took the kids out of the house to let Shaine have some uninterrupted guy time on our big screen for the football game. I did do two new applique shirts this weekend for our family trip to the pumpkin patch. I am horrible at remembering to take pictures BEFORE I put them on my kids, but you can sort of see them in this horrible iPhone picture.


Also, here are a few more pictures from the pumpkin patch

Hope everyone else is enjoying this season as much as we are!

Fun With Applique

I still haven't found much time to finish any projects, and by that I mean I haven't even sat down at my sewing machine at all in exactly one week. I can physically feel the difference when I don't get to sit down and play with the sewing machine. Sewing and creating definitely keeps my blood pressure low! Since I have nothing new and fantastic to show, I thought I would share some quick but adorable applique I have done lately. I shared a picture of Cullen in his birthday shirt in my last post (I still kick myself that I didn't get a really good picture of the front and back before he spilled juice on it). Forgive me for the low quality pictures, I really need to find a better spot to take the pictures!

Anyway, last week I found some plain colored onesies in the closet that had been handed down to us for Aubree. Although in great condition and no stains, they were rather boring and the color a bit dull. I decided to dig out some scraps from the scrap cabinet (Yes, a whole cabinet!) and see what ideas I could come up with. First, the green onesie. I dug out some darker green batik scraps and made a stem with two leaves:

Aubree is going to be a flower for Halloween. I still have to make her headband and petals, but that shouldn't take too long! Well, that took me all of 10 minutes to do, including the stitching around the edges, so I grabbed the next one and decided to try a cute and fun design:

These are scraps from a baby blanket kit I had bought from Joanns before Aubree was born (a bad idea, since the satin unravelled through the seams after only a couple washes), and I made the "a" out of the busiest one, and used coordinating colors to mimic the designs in the main print. I absolutely love how it turned out, and she should fit it soon! I still have two more (a white and a darker pink), the white one I plan to do a cute fall/halloween themed one for our trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend. Cullen will also be getting a matching fall/halloween one as well! The best part of raw-edge applique is that you can use scraps that you already have to create something new and fantastic! Now, I just have to think about some cute ideas for their pumpkin patch shirts, and for Thanksgiving coming up! Any ideas?

Cullen's Birthday!

I have some new things I have been working on, but have had no time to finish any, so unfortunately I have no crafty pictures to share right now!

What has kept me so busy? Well, my sister came to visit all last week, and Cullen's second birthday was on Friday. All week was spent going to the zoo, and getting stuff ready for his big party we had on Saturday. The party was a huge success, and he had a blast! I used raw edge applique to make him a cool birthday shirt: It had a 2 on the front and his name on the back!

My sister made him a cool Halloween themed "cupcake cake":

And he had lots of fun with all of his buddies:

Poor guy still got a bit of sunburn, even with SPF 50 slathered on! (And Nevaeh is wearing the pillowcase dress I made for her a few months ago!)

I still can't believe my little man is two! Shaine and I were looking at pictures from his first birthday, and just marveled at how much he has grown, and learned, since then.
He knows all of his shapes, colors, most of the animals and the sounds they make, and we are working on numbers and letters. He says "please" and "thankyou", gives his baby sister hugs and kisses all the time, and helps mommy every chance he gets. He is easily the best little boy I could have asked for. While I can't wait to see him grow and learn more, this is such a fun age that I just want him to stay where he's at for awhile longer!

Hopefully, now that things are settling down and returning to normal, I will be able to get some things done. I have a few WIPs, and lots of pretty new fabric I haven't even played with yet!

Baby Blanket

I whipped this up yesterday during naptime for Cullen's newest little cousin!

I did some hand embroidery around the letters to make sure that the Heat N Bond would stay on through a baby pulling on it and the wash, etc. I know it SAYS permanent, but it was already seeming to peel, I guess it doesn't hold on flannel as well as regular cotton fabric!

I used this tutorial from Piece N Quilt, and it was SOOO easy to follow and make. I think the actual cutting took longer than the sewing, since I have such a small cutting mat. I even made a matching burp rag/towel this morning in less than ten minutes.

I also recently found out my little sister is expecting her first child! It is my first niece and Cullen's first cousin on my side of the family. She's only a couple weeks (well, she thinks she's only about a month... I am betting she's a bit farther along than she thinks...). It was quite funny when she told me. She tends to ramble on the phone, and I tend to --accidentally-- tune out sometimes.... All of a sudden I heard "I'm pregnant". She's said that before when she knows I'm zoning out to test me. So I said "No you're not," and she started crying! I felt so bad, and said "You're for real this time? I thought you were just testing me!" And then she started laughing while still crying.... I told her "Whoa, two pregnant chicks on the phone, we need to decide if we are laughing or crying because that's too many emotions for one phone call." Anyway, her husband is thrilled, and she's adjusting to the idea. I can't wait to find out what she is having and make lots of goodies for her!

Some more finished stuff and a giveaway with a CAUSE!

So I finished the last two Halloween totes... I played around a bit with the measurements on each one, so they aren't all COMPLETELY identical.And here are all three:
And my niece got the dress I made for her yesterday to celebrate her first day of preschool and she loves it! I am just so glad it fits (it ended up a little longer than I intended but thats okay), since it was a surprise, I couldn't just ask her measurements, and living several states away makes it hard to get them on the sly. Here she is enjoying her dress:

Okay, so usually I only blog about giveaways I enter that I REALLY want to win.... This time, (although I would really love to win the charm packs) it is more about loving what she's doing. Jennifer is having a giveaway here for THREE charm packs and a pattern.... but what I find more impressive is that she is also training to participate in the Nike Women's Marathon coming up VERY soon in San Francisco, benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society... Her info and support page is HERE. I am waiting until Shaine gets home to see if we can spare a little more to donate, but seeing as how we already donated to support my old Army friend, Reinalyn, who is preparing for the same race, he may say no.

Trick or Treat Bag! (and in just one naptime!)

So I finally got around to making the trick or treat bag I said I was going to! Here it is all finished:
(I know I still gotta work on finding some beautiful background spot for showcasing my finished projects!)

There are TWO great things about this bag.... 1- I made it with the Halloween Night fabric I won in a giveaway at 44th Street Fabric and some leftover black linen I had from the laptop bag I made my sister (which means I didn't SPEND anything!)... and 2- I finished it all except the top stitching around the top during one naptime!

I am going to make two more, each using a different print of the Halloween Night fabric, one for each of Cullen's little friends, since we are planning on taking them all trick or treating together.
Cullen likes it (sorry the picture is so dark! Probably better that way, since as you can see the room is still "under construction" and getting ready for the new baby, so its a bit of a mess!) It's the perfect size for him to be able to carry around, especially since there's still another three months to go :)

Here is an in progress picture that I took, you can sort of see the angled wavy lines I did for the quilting. I used flannel in place of batting, simply because the only batting I had on hand was super puffy extra loft, and I like how flannel still allows the bags I make to be "quilted" and flexible, without being TOO flimsy (like the first pieced bag I did, with only super light interfacing).The "C" is raw edge applique, and was supposed to be "drippy" (think the old titles of the Goosebumps books), but I am not 100% pleased with how it turned out, but after fusing it on, and stitching it, I decided to stick with it. Anyway, as always, the first one is a "test run", and I made a few mistakes while "flattening" the bottom, but it still works, and only other "crafters" would ever notice. I know what I did wrong, though, so the next two will be perfect. I am really pleased all my measurements worked out, since I sketched it all up this morning on the sketch pad I FINALLY bought myself. I also sketched out the layout and measurements for the I Spy quilt I want to make. Who knew it would be so hard finding diverse scraps worthy of an I Spy Quilt??

What I get done when the hubs is gone...

Usually it isn't much, but I have seen some great tutorials lately that I just had to try!

First, it was the Magic Baby Quilt I found over at Piece N Quilt. I used the Botany Jelly Roll that I still hadn't decided what to do with it. I still have to add a border (I plan on doing mine a bit different than the tutorial, but I just haven't decided yet), then of course quilt and bind it, but here it is so far:

Then with the leftover strip pieces, I made this coupon clutch on MBS by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. It was SO easy, and fun to make. I am making another one to send to my sister :)


And speaking of my sister, she just started her new job at the bakery about two weeks ago, as a cupcake maker. She asked me to make her an apron, because she didn't want to pay 20-25$ for something I could make for alot less. Here is what I threw together yesterday:

That's an applique I did of a cupcake on the bottom right. Not the greatest, but it was my first attempt, and it was freehand (no pattern or stencil). She saw the picture this morning and loves it! She wants me to make her a skirt with the same fabrics LOL (I planned on making a reverse second apron for her in case she loses one, the dogs get it, forgets to wash it, etc, with the blue as the main part, and the pretty brown batik for the borders!)

Beginner stuff...

So I figured since this blog is supposed to be about my "quilting progress," I should post a few pictures of where I am at so that every few months I can look back and laugh at my progress...
This first one is from a kit I bought, and was my first foray into any type of quilting at all. You can see how the corners don't quite match up, and the edges just aren't quite right, haha. Ah well, little man doesn't seem to mind!


This was my first time I actually picked out and bought fabric, followed a pattern I found in a quilting book, and did the whole thing from start to finish. The fabric colors and patterns seemed good together BEFORE they were actually sewn together, but now that it's all done I am almost embarrassed to even show it. I haven't even bothered to do any actual QUILTING to it.


This one also isn't quilted, but it was my first try at binding. I am actually quite pleased with how this one turned out, especially the binding. Alot better than I expected to do, and the colors work much better together than the last one!



And last, but not least, this is my current WIP, and my first attempt at quilting (although that was done AFTER the picture was taken). Unfortunately, I sort of blundered through it and thought I could machine quilt without a walker foot (a purchase I am not allowed to make yet LOL!). Big mistake. I have done about half of the circles and it just looks horrible, so it is now folded up on the table. I am going to try to salvage it by taking out all the horrible machine stitches if possible, and just hand quilt it. I love the top too much to leave it messed up, or continue on messing it up worse.
Side note: The top was done by following this circle quilt tutorial and just changing the sizes of the circles and such that I wanted to do.

Anyway, try not to judge too harshly ;) I tend to sort of fly by the seat of my pants with many things that I do. Sometimes it works out and sometimes not so much. At least we can see a bit of progress already, right?