New Pillow Covers

Last year I made some pillow covers for our couch pillows. We loved them and used them to death.  The pillows that I covered with them are actually a red suede and after a year of use, they were starting to change the covers a light pink instead of a crisp white that they should have been.  So it was time to change it up and make some new ones.  

So that is exactly what I did.  Nothing fancy, and I don't even have a pattern to share with you because I just made it up really.  I think the larger pillows were 20" and the smaller ones are 17".  I just made a flap that overlaps in the back.  Actually very simple... and I adore the end results.

The Plethora Continues - Project 2

I finally finished this chenille blanket that I started, um... well, lets just say it has been a while, and I'm glad to be able to cross it off the WIP's list. And I'm also glad to finally have had the opportunity to take some photos of it since it has been waiting and waiting for it's turn in the spot light. 

I was inspired by this chenille blanket found here. These blankets look simple enough, and in fact they are, but all those straight lines of quilting gets really old, and really fast.  Which is probably why I finished half of the quilting and then set it aside for several months before picking it back up again. The end results are just so adorable though, it almost makes it all worth it.

I used five layers for this blanket, all flannel fabrics. I layered the owl print on the bottom, a layer of pink then three additional layers - red, pink and yellow.  I didn't pre-wash anything and I was really worried the red would bleed.  I used a trick I found at Crazy Mom Quilts, which is to add 1 cup of table salt to the wash to keep it from bleeding.  Works like a charm!  I will definitely be using this trick in the future.

I quilted the lines 1/2 inch a part. After finishing all the quilting and all the cutting, the blanket squared up to measure 40 X 40, a nice crib size blanket. And with all those layers, it is super warm. 

For the binding I used a red and white polka dot cotton print that I've used before (like here and here).  I just love this fabric, it is one of my favorites. Plus it ties in really nicely with the owl print.

Just looking at all of those lines makes my eyes go wonky, but truly the end result is so worth it.  This is probably one of my favorite baby blankets that I have made (which is why this one will be sticking with me).  Maybe after a few months of forgetting about all those straight lines, I might even be tempted to make a second one. 

There is a really simple tutorial on how to make one of these, if you are interested - but don't say I didn't warn you about all those straight lines - you can find it here.

Weekend Sewing Resulting in a Giveaway

I finally caught a crafty bug (that didn't revolve around a knitting project), and decided to honor it by spending the weekend sewing.

I've been inspired by a few checkbook covers (seen here and here) and decided that if I must pay bills, I should probably do it in style.  So I whipped up a new checkbook cover!  Once it was finished, I decided that I wanted one that would hold the checkbook cover you get from the bank (you know, the plain jane plastic ones) because it holds my stamps as well.  So I made a second one, a slightly larger version of the first.

I love them both equally, but really... I only need one.  So I've decided to give the other one away to one of you lovely readers (if anyone really wants it)!  You just have to promise not to judge my sewing skills to harshly.  If it is not a quilt, I really struggle to make it look good. 

The one up for grabs is the brown and red one... complete with the most adorable red polka dot lining.  It fits a checkbook, very snugly I might add, and adds a little happiness to the boring task of writing checks.

Just leave a comment on this post anytime before Monday, December 27, and I'll draw a winning name at random.  Sorry, but no international shipping, which means US residents only. 

Merry Christmas!

Pillow Covers

Previously, we had these red colored suede/microfiber pillows on our couch. They were really nice, but so hard to keep clean. Dustin decided that I needed to make covers so that we could wash them easier. He even made it a priority to visit my favorite fabric store and picked out fabric all by himself. What a guy! I actually finished these a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to taking the photos. I used a really simple tutorial found here. I think it took me less than an hour to make all three of these covers. The larger pillows are 16' square and the smaller green check pillow is a 14' square pillow. It was actually so simple and I love the new pillows. I think I might make a few more in the future just to give us more options. Maybe next time I'll try a little applique on the front of one!

Kitchen Towels

I got this fabric from Jo-Ann's when it was on the sale rack a while ago, not really knowing what I should do with it. (I was in one of those moods where you really need to buy something but don't want to break the bank.)

So I finally pulled it out, ironed it, and measured it the size of a kitchen towel. I sewed a quarter inch seam around all the edges and Viola! New kitchen towels! This is another project that took less than an hour to make. I actually think this took less than thirty minutes! And the best part is that it cost me less than two dollars to make these!

Coasters

Ever since we moved to North Carolina we have become acquainted with this thing called condensation. I never understood why people had coasters, or better yet.. actually used them. Seriously, condensation is not a problem in Utah.Well, after six months of using napkins, paper towels, or placemats to keep our drinks from leaving water rings on my table, I finally made some coasters. And I must say, I Love Them! Perfect in practically every way. And they took me less than an hour to complete (all four of them). I did the suggested quilting pattern on these and I really enjoyed it. I might have to give it a try on a larger quilt sometime.I got the pattern from this book, but if you don't have it you can also get the pattern online for free here.

Yo-Yo's

My mom has been making yo-yo's to make a quilt for as long as I can remember. I can't tell you how much patience it takes to make a quilt out of little tiny circles of fabric. Way more patience that I have. But I still think they are super cute. So I asked my mom if she would make a few for me. I had this brilliant idea to make them into hair clips. I know, super cute right? Well, I think so. And super easy, especially since I didn't make the yo-yo's.
Thanks mom! They turned out super cute and I love them!

Handmade Christmas Gifts

I only had time to make a few Christmas presents this year.  I wish I could have done more, but I guess there is always next year.  Cutting your finger off doesn’t really help in the process of getting Christmas presents done on time. 

I was able to make some dish cloths and hand towels for my sister and Dustin’s cousin.  I really like the way they turned out and hope that they like them.

 

All of the fabric I bought at Joann's.  I ended up purchasing enough of the red polka dot fabric to make some of these for me.  I just love this fabric so much.  And I also bought more of the waffle weave muslin.  I just love this fabric.  It works so well for washing dishes.

I didn’t have enough time to stitch all the binding down by hand, so I just did it by machine.  It definitively does not look as nice, but I think it might hold up a little better in the washer. 

 

Just In Time For Christmas

  I didn’t think that I was going to be able to get the elf stitchette I  have been working on done in time for Christmas.  But I did!   I love, love, love  it!  I’m thinking of making one of these for every holiday season. 

I got the pattern for free here.  I love all of her designs. 

I used the MacKenzie Christmas fabric line by Anna Griffin to make this stitchette into a wall hanging.  I then quilted it in free motion (more practice) and I stitched the binding down by hand (more practice).  I think these wall hangings are perfect for practice.  I even had time to make a tag for the back. 

One more item to check off my list of projects to complete.

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Happy Birthday to my step mom, Kathy. I hope she has a great day!

I made her these for her birthday. Dustin loves the ones that I made for us and thinks they are the greatest things ever. He thought she might like them too. I think it is the waffle weave muslin that is the secret that makes these so fantastic. They really are so scrubby, and they just get better with time!

I also made her a couple of hand towels to go with the dish cloths. I just used a regular muslin and doubled it for extra thickness. Last time I made the hand towels out of the waffle weave muslin and they were so rough on your hands. So I switched to just regular muslin.

I love this red polka dot binding. I think I might go get some more of this fabric and make some for me (because we all know that I need it!) This is probably one of my new favorite fabrics.

Oh – if you wanted to make some too, I got the pattern from here.

Back In Business

Congratulations to Britten who guessed 40 unfinished projects between me and my sister. This was the closest guess. It is kind of embarrassing to say but we have 38 unfinished projects between the two of us. Maybe my New Year’s resolution should be to finish some of my unfinished projects?

I got my bandage off on Monday (Yay!) and now I just have a really ugly looking finger that is mostly healed. But hey, it works (it is still really sensitive and I can hardly use it, but I’m trying). Which means I’m am back into the crafting mode!

I purchased a Klutz Glove. Yes, you read that correctly. A Klutz Glove! I don’t think they could have come up with a better name for this glove. I tested it out last night and it works like a charm! I want to keep all my fingers from now on so I’m going to be wearing this every time I use my rotary cutter. I highly recommend it.

*I've also had a few questions regarding the receiving blanket tutorial that I did a while ago. I've tried to answer them on the post (here). I hope it helps.

Thanks!

Wow, thank you all so much for all your opinions on which quilt you like best. I finally decided to go with the orange and yellow zig zag quilt. It was a tough decision since they are all my favorites. But in the end it got a lot of votes and a lot of people have it as a favorite on flicker. It is for a contest that is going on at the Make Baby Stuff website. Go here to see all the entries and vote for your favorite. If you want to give a comment or rating on my quilt, it can be found here. I'd really appreciate it, but I won't blame you if you choose to comment on other quilts since there are so many good ones. I'm seriously thankful I am not a judge, that would be a hard job.

I am so excited to show you what I did with the cupcake that I embroidered. I just figured it would be a practice but it was too cute not to use. So... I made it into a label for the Dutch Pinwheel Quilt. I used an embroidery machine that was donated to the quilting guild (my mom, and two aunts) so I volunteered to be the first to use it. It works great and I love all the fun stuff you can do with it. So on craft night last week, my sister taught me how to sew on a label....by hand! Now I can do all my binding by hand and hopefully it will look a lot better. But isn't this tag the cutest thing ever!?
Over the weekend I got a whole load of baby bibs and burp cloths done. Mostly to stock up for all the ladies that are pregnant, but one in particular was for my neighbor who just had a baby. They named her Grace. Awe! So I used the aforementioned embroidery machine and stitched her name on the bib. I also did a tulip stitch on the green one that has, coincidentally, tulips on it. These are just a few of what I made. I ran out of light to take pictures. But I think I should have enough to keep me satisfied for a while.

Weekend Finished Projects

The weekend went by super fast, but somehow I managed to squeeze in some time for crafting. I think mostly it has to do with Sunday Football. I don't really enjoy football but I love all the time that I get to myself to do some crafting while Dustin is watching football.

I am having a hard time believing that it is already the end of September. Which means, Christmas is coming up way faster than I would like. So, when I saw this tutorial by Crazy Mom Quilts, I thought it would be an excellent present for the in-laws. Dustin wasn't so sure about it, so I told him that I'd make some for us and see how they worked out. If he liked them, then I would make them for his family. If not, at least we would have some more dishcloths. I guess I went a little crazy, because I made four dish cloths and one hand towel for us and nothing for his parents, even though he said that he liked them and I should make some for them. I guess I'll get to that later. Amanda Jean does warn you in her tutorial that this project is not ideal for those people who do not like binding. I guess, I didn't realize how much I hate binding. I think I need to learn how to stitch it down by hand, and then I'd be more happy about it. Maybe this would be a good idea for craft night.

I also had time to start and finish a new receiving blanket. I'm really trying to stock up on my baby stuff to give away since so many people I know are expecting. This one was super simple. I just stitched it together and did a decorative stitch around the edging. I used the leaf stitch that is on my new sewing machine and went around twice: once in purple and once in green. I'm actually really pleased with the way that it turned out. Hopefully, I will be able to part with this one. And, I also started a new embroidery project. I know, just what I need. I swear this new hobby might be the death of me. But I counted up all the projects that I have finished this year, have started but not finished, and have waiting to be started. My list of finished projects is ahead of the other two categories (although, not by much), so I figured it was okay to start a new project. I'll post more on it when it is done.

I'm In Love!!!

I'm am proud to say that I have tossed out the cheap-o $5 iron that I bought when I first went to college (yes, it really has been that long ago) and now I am the proud owner of this beauty!

Rowenta, where have you been all my life?! I promise to never, ever, ever, go back.

I'm so happy!

Baby Bibs & Burp Cloths

I've been busy making more baby shower presents. I love the pattern from ChickPea Sewing Studio. It is super easy pattern to make. I found that a fat quarter can make one bib and one burp cloth and I will still have enough left over for my scrap fabric stash.

I used a cotton print for the front and white flannel on the back. I did a decorative stitch around the edging of the burp cloths and bibs. If my machine does these fancy stitches, I figure I might as well put them to good use. My machine also sews the button holes and sews the buttons on for me. Yes, you read that correctly, it sews on the buttons! LOVE that feature.

I didn't have a pattern for the burp cloths but I have seen quite a few on flicker (here, here, here and here)and figured it was easy enough that I could just wing it. So I did. I made these 18 long by 8 wide (rectangular in size). Since I don't have children or the need for burp cloths, I am hoping that these will work out okay. I started with the girly fabrics so I'm hoping this weekend to get some boy ones made. Although, I'm not quite sure about the orange flower one in the picture above. I guess I figure it should be for a girl since it is flowers, but it is orange, brown and green. Those are more boyish colors to me. What do you think? Could it go either way?

TA DA!!! TA DA!!!

The quilt retreat weekend is over (sniff, sniff) but we had such a blast. I can't wait until the next one! Everyone made such cute stuff (be prepared for lots of pictures).

My Aunt Katherine, Aunt Ellen, and Grandma were the teachers and spent all of their time helping everyone learn how to applique and then unpicking stuff that we (mostly me) messed up on. It is so much fun! I have always been scared to try it but I'm so glad that I learned how. We spent Friday - Sunday at my Aunt Katherine's house. She has a screened in back porch that we used. Tons of space, although we were thinking we might need more. We each brought our sewing machine and cutting mats and then just sat around and sewed out little hearts out.

(There is grandma on the right unpicking some of my mistakes, Mom and Trish in the center working really hard, Carrie, Aunt Joan, and Aunt Ellen in the far back working hard too. Me, I was taking the picture!)

Here is what I made. This pattern originally called for two inch squares but I decided that was way to much work (too many seams and sewing) and so I switched it up and used nine patches and sashing instead. I like the way it turned out. I am going to add a small yellow border around it but I didn't get to that before the weekend was over. Isn't it cute!?

And that is my mom's quilt. She did six different applique bugs. They are adorable! She only has the embroidery left (another skill I am going to learn one day). The lady bug is my favorite! This is her Ta Da photo. She later put on a yellow border and then she will put on a smaller border around that.

My sister is super talented and is doing a bedspread with all hand applique! HAND APPLIQUE! The whole thing by hand! Crazy, I know, but it is beautiful. And she isn't even going to keep it! I'd never attempt such a thing because I definitely would not get it finished. But look at how gorgeous it is.

My Aunt Joan made this adorable duck! I love this one, and almost made it myself but decided against it because she had to make a million flying geese (they border around the duck.) It took her all day just to sew and square up the flying geese. I'm more of a fast and easy project type of gal. I love the pink cheek and the fishes in the blue of the puddle. When she is done, she embroiders rain drops above the umbrella. Okay, he is so cute I might end up making one of these two (since I know how). Doesn't he just look like a happy, friendly duck?! I almost want to go play in that puddle with him.

My cousin, Trish, made a bug quilt like moms, but different. I loved all the fabrics she used. She was really good at doing the super small circles on the bugs antennas. I stuck with the straight lines of the stars. She went home on Saturday and did the embroidery on hers and they are so dang cute when they are finished. (Hint Hint Mom) This is her TA DA! All she needs is the borders, and a few pinwheels in the corners. It will be adorable when she is done. Okay, I might attempt to make this one as well. They are all just so cute, I don't think I can stop with just one.

Carrie, (another cousin) who is going to have a baby girl in October, made this adorable lamb quilt for her baby. Isn't it cute? All the fabrics she chose worked so well with this pattern. They all had swirls and circles that looked like the fluff in the sheep's fur. I can't remember if this one gets a border or not, but I think it looks good just like it is.

Aunt Ellen was working on one also, but she didn't get much done since every time she sat down someone would need help. Hers was even smaller than the two inch squares I was too lazy to make. I think she only got two strips sewn all weekend. Very busy gal. She did make this beautiful doll quilt (and a baby size one as well) for my Aunt Joan's granddaughter. Isn't it cute?! I love this moon. She has a really nice machine that does all this fancy embroidery on it. One day... one day.... that is what I keep telling myself.

Well, that is it for the Ta Da's! What do you think? Everyone's quilt turned out so cute and I loved all the fabric and patterns. I definitely will be making more applique stuff in the future. It was a fun weekend filled with lots of chatter, food (lots of food), and sewing. I can't wait for the next one.