Quilt Update

In the world of blogging, I'm small peanuts. After all, this is not my job, just a hobby and I do it because I like doing it.  "It" meaning both sewing (a little crafting) and blogging.  I enjoy reading other sewing blogs and getting ideas from them, so I thought maybe somebody might like to get some ideas from me... the point of blogging, right? I don't know why it still surprises me when I find that people are using my blog to make their own creations. But it does!

Reading the comments on Pinterest about things I've sewn could eat up several hours for me. Seriously addicting.  My husband says, isn't it weird that you and our kids are all over the internet for people to comment on? Maybe. But so far it's been a positive and encouraging experience. Could my kid's image be on a billboard in some foreign country selling something sleazy? Maybe. However, 99.9% of the feedback I've seen has been positive and seemingly helpful to fellow at-home sewers. Which brings me to the point of this post...


Remember the quilt I made for my nephew Levi?

Apparently it was pretty popular in blog-land and inspired a few to try it. Awesomeness!


I found Kelly on QuiltingBoard.com.  Check out her blocks!  Love these fabrics and everything looks so crisp. Last I asked, she was 22 blocks in. Can't wait to see the final product.

And then Michele emailed me her finished quilt.  She made this for her aunt's 80th birthday and hand quilted the whole thing! Love green and pink together and the green binding. Perfect meaningful gift for a person who has everything.

Thanks ladies for showing me your stuff and great job!  You actually inspired me to get going on my Summer Beach Quilt.  Yep, that one.  It's still in the works (and taking up a good chunk of my dining room table). Maybe it will inspire a few more.

Let's be friends!

Entry Table Makeover

So I'm kind of in a house funk. Ever been there?  We've lived in this house for 7 years and out grew it about 3 years ago (understatement).  We've been ready to move for a long time and it finally looks like that dream may be within reach by next year (we'll see). Because I am over this house and already planning my non-existent dream house of the future, I'm not excited about putting any money into current house projects.  That said, my foyer was drab and dark and bugging me. I had $20 bucks and 1 nap time. Let's get crafty.


Here's what I started with. A cute little foyer table from Target my parents bought me as a house warming gift when I bought my first tiny house way back when. The knobs are already removed here.

The frames (from IKEA) and pictures were already there. Well, not already there as in, there when we moved in. Those are my kids, I put the frames there. But I put them there a few years ago, before the great house funk of 2011 started. Glad we're clear. (That baseboard could use a touch up, eh?)

I took the table outside (on the coldest day of the year I might add... we live in Florida, it wasn't that cold... but still, I had to wear a jacket).

Sanded the whole thing with fine grit sandpaper. (I did put a mask on shortly after this)

Then it looked like this.

After the sanding, I wiped all of the dust off and got some paint. Gloss... oooohh, shiny.

Then I gave it a light coat all over.

And then the top did this...

Ummm, Houston, we have a problem.  The legs and sides were fine... the top went all crackly on me.  The only thing I can think of is that I clean the top often with a furniture spray... and not the sides or legs.  Maybe there was a lot of residue left on the top and I should have sanded more? Hmmm, what to do?

Get coffee.  Helps with the thinking.  I decided to let crackle-tastic coat 1 dry, then re-sand the top before applying coat 2.

I did that, and after 3 coats, it still looks like this.  I've decided to name it the "rustic finish" and call it a day. :)


The colorful frames are from TJ Maxx clearance (I think they were $5 and $6), I had the lamp (which I think originally was from Home Depot), the vase was an anniversary gift, and most of the branches are from my yard. So for less than $20, I revamped my sad foyer... even if it is a little more "rustic" than I planned.

Let's be friends!

Valentine's Day Cards for School Friends

Happy Valentine's Day!


After 30 takes and 2 trips to CVS, I made it (errr, them) in time. The kids will have Valentine's to give out to their friends today at day care.  I'd love to take credit for this super cute idea, but I found it on Pinterest. When I first saw it I thought, "easy, I can do that".  Then I tried to take their pictures.  Not easy.

First, you have to get the kid to look at you and smile (challenging enough and most of the time you look like an idiot... it's all good... other parents understand).  Next, you have to make sure their hand is far enough away from their face so the lollypop won't be on their face when it's all done. You also have to make sure you leave enough space around their hand so the lollypop isn't hanging off the picture. Combine all of that with a good expression, no sun in their eyes, no boogers/dirt on their face and you get 30 outtakes and one salvageable picture. Phew! My advice would be, start taking the pictures in early January.


To get my 2-year-old to cooperate, I told him to hand me imaginary things... "Do you have Dinosaur eggs for me?!"  Which seemed to hold his attention for 30 seconds while I got some shots.  Most of the time his hand was over his face so I'd run around him to get him to turn.  The 4-year-old was much easier and understood "move your hand over".


I had the prints done via our local CVS and did 4x6's for their friends and 5x7's for their teachers. I cut little slices near their hands with a razor blade and let my 4-year-old help me put them together.  She loved sorting the lollypops into "boy colors" and "girl colors".


This took effort... more effort than just buying the princess cards or the Mickey Mouse cards at the store (which I'm not knocking.. I was close to getting them) but I'm glad I did it. After all, my little loves are growing up quick. Pretty soon they're going to be getting real Valentines from their boyfriend or girlfriend (eek!) and I'm going to miss the days when they sat at the kitchen table with me sorting lollypops.

Let's be friends!

Baby Boom!

Wha... what?!  More baby stuff?  Yep. Having a bit of a boom lately. Happened to me with weddings... I was in 3 in one year once... Now everyone is having babies.  This time, my brother and his wife are expecting their first boy, Blake.  Baby Blake is due any week now too... just like Lexi... who, as of today, is still baking in her mama's oven. Can't blame her... warm and cozy in there.


So what'd I make?  All kinds of stuff.  First up, a "BLAKE" blanket just like I made for Alexis.

I did everything exactly the same except there is no strip of fabric behind the name. I saved the stripe fabric design for blanket #2.

Cute receiving style blanket with rounded corners this time.  I think if I make this style blanket again, I'm going to try and make it reversible.  This one is just folded under twice and hemmed.


Then I made some burp cloths.  Why didn't I have an interest in sewing when I had kids?!?!  I could have made so much cute stuff.  Probably because I wasn't sleeping and breastfeeding 24hrs a day.... yep, that's probably why.  Never mind.

No Heat N' Bond on these.  Just washed and dried everything before I started... Burp cloths shrink and shrivel up a lot when you wash them.  Just press everything before you start sewing.
Blake's nursery theme is Lion King so I was excited to find a fabric that had little lions on it. I used a blanket stitch to hold him on.

And the last thing I made, which is a GREAT first time quilter's project, was a changing pad.

I used the same flannel from the blankets and cut it to size (about the size of a baby?) using cereal bowls to trace the rounded corners.  Then I cut a piece of batting the same size.  Pinned everything together and did some meandering or free-motion quilting.  I used the same technique in the quilt I made for baby Levi. It's really not hard!  And, this is so small it's the perfect thing to practice on.  After all, the baby is going to poop all over this... does it really have to be perfect?

 See the quilting?  So soft.

Last thing to do is add bias tape. 


I played with all of the decorative stitches again.  So simple and makes it look so finished.

Done. Cant wait to meet my new nephew!

Let's be friends!

Baby Blanket and Burp Cloths

I have a group of friends from college that I'm still pretty close with.  All of us are married (or just about married) at this point, but for a while there I was the only one with kids.  What can I say, my husband and I were quick to get started.  Now everyone is catching up and having babies and I love it (mostly because I'll get to hold the baby and marvel at it's cuteness but not have it attached to my boob 24 hrs a day while not sleeping... ahh the joys of newborns).  Since I know #3 is not in the cards for me, it's fun to get excited and make gifts for friend's babies.  


Little baby Lexi should be arriving in the next couple weeks and like any good friends, we showered her mama with all kinds of baby goodies a couple weeks ago.  I decided to make a receiving blanket with her name and some custom burp cloths, because wiping up barf should be stylish too... right?

I made the blanket with a yard of pink polkadot flannel I got at JoAnne's.  Then I cut a rectangle from the cotton bird fabric the same width as the flannel and pressed the top and bottom edges under about a 1/2 inch.  Once that was pinned in place I did a blanket stitch all the way around the bird-tastic rectangle. You can see the stitch below.

After that was attached, I hemmed the blanket all the way around by folding the edges under twice and sewing with a straight stitch.  Above you can see the back and what the hem looks like.


After that, I printed out the letters for ALEXIS on regular paper and cut them out.  Then I applied Heat N' Bond to the pink gingham fabric. I laid my letters on the paper backing of the Heat N' Bond (that was now attached to the pink gingham) and traced them. (Remember to trace your letters backwards since you're tracing on the back of your fabric)  Next I cut out my fabric letters, peeled off the paper backing, and adhered them to my blanket using my iron.

Once they were stuck on I sewed around each one with a blanket stitch.  You can use any stitch really, I just liked how this one looked.

For the first time making something like this, I think it turned out pretty good.


The burp cloths were made the same way except I did not use Heat N' Bond.  The fabric pieces I attached were pretty small so I felt the stitching would hold everything just fine.

I did a lot of experimenting with all of the different stitches my machine can do for this project.  It wasn't hard at all and makes everything look so much nicer :)

That's it.  I hope baby Lexi arrives soon... I need a quick newborn fix. : )

Let's be friends!