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!

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?

T-shirt Memory Quilt

This is the top I pieced together out of Shaine's old army t-shirts (and one of mine that snuck in there!), and some old uniforms that were torn:


When I first asked him for the shirts to make him a memory quilt, he said "What would we do with it?" And when I explained that it would be around the house and he could take it with him for training, and that it also serves as a show-off piece (the desert camouflage, for example, hasn't been issued for a long time, and shows that he deployed in the first waves, the jungle camouflage started getting phased out in 2005, and he has the digital ACUs as well), and then he really started getting into it! When I sketched it out as far as which squares would go where, he actually had input, and the uniforms were his idea and he chose where each one would go. I am going to applique a few of his more important patches onto it, and back it with some simple black flannel, and do some straight-line in the ditch quilting lines. Shouldn't take too long to finish! I love that he likes it so much!