Another Taggie Blanket!

Howdy!

Taggie blankets are by far my favorite baby shower gift.  (can you tell?)  This one is for my best friend who lives in California.  Her daughter's name will start with an "M" hence the "M" applique.  However, I wasn't really thinking and now looking at the picture it looks like "W" and "M".  I should have angled both letters and had the top of the "Ms" closest to the center.  Oh, well.....

I asked what colors they liked and they came up with pink, turquoise, and grey.  HOW FUN!  So I used my very favorite Kona solid.... I can't remember the name of the grey, but I just can't get enough of it!!!!  I found the flower fabric in my stash.

I almost put the letter on the grey, but then I remembered the jar of yo-yos I had.  Don't yo-yos make everything better????   I think they do!  I don't know how they'll hold up in the wash, but at least it's cute now!!!

I hand stitched the yo-yos on.  In a brief moment of stupidity I thought that I could machine sew them on and have them look good.... not the case.  ha!

I LOVE doing the blanket stitch now!!!  I have a clear applique food (#39) that I just ADORE.  Also, I put the needle all the way to the rightmost position which makes it soooo much easier to ride along the edge of the fabric!  (That was a very helpful tip from the applique class I took at Thimbles.  Thanks Tory!)

There's just no reason to make a taggie blanket if you aren't going to put minky on the back!!!  Don't you love how I'm always making things last minute and I don't even take the time to clean off the 'trash' on my cutting table?  Oh, well.  Someday I'll be organized!!!

Do you want to make a taggie blanket?  Check out my tutorial here!

What do you like to make for baby shower gifts?

ttfn,

Andrea

Taggie Blanket & another Pillow

We all know that I just love making taggie blankets.  They are so fun and happy!!!  I made this one for my best friend's new baby.  I added his initial for fun.  I am just loving applique right now!!!!

 

Since the taggie blanket is really only around 16" square it doesn't really need quilting.  However, I tacked down the center and a few other places using some fun stitches.

 

As always, minky on the back!!!  =)

 

My blanket stitch works like a dream.  Also, I love my new applique presser foot.  It is clear and short and fabulous.  By putting the needle all the way to the right I can get the most perfect blanket stitch ever!  (That was a valuable tip I learned from the applique class I took last month at Thimbles!)

 

Do you want to make a taggie blanket?  Well then visit my tutorial here!!!

 

I also made a "big brother" reading pillow for the new big brother in the family.  He's 3 and just loves the movie Cars.  I found this minky type fabric in the remnants bin at Jo-Ann's.  I grabbed a 27inch pillow form and make a huge pillow!  It was a big hit!!!

Cute Crochet Knotted Headbands!

My little sister texted me a picture of these cute headbands about a month ago.    Her friend found them on pinterest.  She asked me if I could make her friend one!!  

Luckily the picture did link to a great pattern.  You can get the pattern and info here from All About Amy.   

Well, I've been busy, but I finally made them!  This is an awesome quick pattern!  Not to mention that its super cute.  I'm definitely going to be making some with flowers soon!!!

Yay for happy and easy crochet headbands!!!  =)

Clothespin Magnets for the Fridge!

I get tired of boring magnets, especially ones with boring phone numbers or ads on them... you know, you get them for free and then they end up on the fridge.....

I decided to spice things up a bit!

These are crazy easy to make!!!

First!

Get your basic supplies:  

Bare clothespins

Thin magnets that are sticky on one side

Good old Elmer's Glue (or your favorite glue)!

Second!

Go to Target and get yourself some fun packages of 'washi tape'.  They come in packages of four by color.  I use them for everything now.....

Lastly!

Gather up anything else that might be fun to decorate your clothespin.

~ Yoyos ~

~ Flowers ~

~ Scrapbooky fun papery things (none pictured)~

~ Rhinestones ~

Directions to make them!

First, stick your desired tape onto the front of the clothespin... depending on the width of your clothespin you may need to trim the width of the tape.

Second, trim and stick your magnet on the other side!

(Pretend the picture below doesn't already have a yoyo on it.)

 Lastly, DECORATE!!!!

I used Elmer's glue and it worked great, although I had to sit there and 'hold' the yoyo and flower onto the clothespin until it was tacky.  I'm pretty sure that hot glue would have worked better, but that seems like more work... I mean you have to plug it in and get the glue stick... yep, I'm lazy.

I'm going to be making more today!!!  =)  These make great holiday gifts too!  Quick and easy.

Kid's Apron and Chef's Hat!!!!!!

 

I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!  This set is quite possibly one of the cutest things I've made to date.  =)  When I was up north at my Grandma's we were looking at kid aprons and we found these.  I was so excited because I wanted to make one for my niece.  While looking around for apron patterns we stumbled upon a chef's hat.  HOW CAN ANYONE PASS UP A CHEF'S HAT?  I do realize its possible I'm more excited about this than my niece will be, but I'm okay with that!  =)

Here are the fabulous patterns!!!

Apron from Living with Punks; Mini Me Apron Set

Chef Hat from Stardust Shoes for Michael Miller; Chef's Hat

The patterns are very well done and don't need any extra explanation.  I only did a couple things differently.  For the apron I edge stitched the entire apron, not just the bottom.  Also, I didn't have any elastic thread on hand so I just sewed on some flower buttons to the pockets.  For the Chef's Hat I finished the inside edge with my serger rather than the binding and it worked great.

I just can't get enough of the Michael Miller cupcake fabric!  It's too cute!  I used some other pink fabrics that I had in my stash to complete the set.  For fusible interfacing I used Pellon 911FF for the Chef's Hat band.  It was what I had in my craftroom and it was perfect!  Exactly the right weight, in my opinion.

 The apron is lined too!

I love the pleats!

 

It's adjustable so she'll be able to grow into it!

I might have to make one for my husband!!!  =)  As soon as I showed him the hat he started doing an impression of the the Swedish Chef from the muppets.

Ghastlies Table Runner

Hello!

As usual, I'm running around performing and teaching!  It's been a wonderfully busy couple months!  I've sewn a few things!  AND I have some VERY exciting news coming up this week!  Stay tuned!

Don't you just love Alexander Henry's Ghastlies?  I mean, its the best Halloween print ever!  My mom especially likes to decorate for Halloween so I made her a table runner using the Ghastlies fabric!!!!  

This is quite possibly one of the most awesome table runner patterns in the world.  It is called Divided by 3.  Here it is on Keepsake Quilting's site.  I saw it at Thimbles in Lockport and bought the fabric to make it!  I have another one already in the works.  It's a great runner to showcase fabrics that you love!!!!

I chose to make the borders all black.  In hindsight I probably should have used the pink fabric as the small border between the pictures to make everything 'pop' more.  Oh, well!  Pardon the binding clips.... 

This is the right side of the runner.  I had a great time picking out the scenes from the fabric to display.

 

I love the detail in the print!!!!

 

Here is the left side!  

 

These three kids are my favorite!  The girl on the left is holding a hammer!!!!

 

Close up of the angry pregnant mommy and the wanna be flapper!

 

The back!!!

I just quilted in the ditch.  I still haven't really mastered quilting... so I thought it best to hide it!  =)  I finished hand sewing the binding on the train and then delivered it right to mom.  I still need to get a final picture!

Thanks for stopping by!

More Aprons and Towels

 More Showers!!!!  They are so fun!  The bride to be is a family friend and is decorating in greens and browns.  My awesome husband took these pictures for me because I was running late (as usual).  He's the best!!!

I made an apron for her in her colors.  I really do love this apron pattern.  I like the fabrics/colors of this one. I think its simple and fun at the same time.  Again, a GREAT pattern!!  Thanks Lori Holt!  Take a look!!

 
Close up of the pocket ( hubby is so good at knowing what to take pictures of!)  You can get a good glimpse of the brown fabric here.  I really liked it.

I also bought some of the towels from her registry and added some of the apron fabrics to them.  It's too bad that the brown fabric didn't capture well.  It's a very cool brown, with some green, and bronze.  I may have bought some extra for myself.

Her fiance is an avid outdoorsman and likes to cook.  So I found some camouflage fabric and made some potholders for him!!!  

This is the back of the potholder...
I was experimenting with bindings... I think I like the way I did these.  It gets a bit tricky because for these potholders I used two thicknesses of Insul-bright and for extra help I put a piece of warm and white between them.  Plus the camouflage fabric was more like canvas.  They should work well.

And a potholder in the same fabric as the apron.
Have a great day!

Apron from Bee in My Bonnet plus some towels!

Hello Everyone!

I'm so excited to share with you my new favorite apron pattern!!!!  It is a fabulous pattern from Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet.  She design fabric for Riley Blake and always has fun patterns as well.  I made the One Yard Apron and it was super fun!  (She even included a recipe at the end of the pattern... I haven't tried it yet, but soon I will!!)

I made this apron for two very special brides.  They both have the same tastes in colors so I was able to make them the same apron.  Again, always making things at the last minute I don't have very good pictures.  

The pattern was very easy to follow.

The above picture is before trim and ribbon ties.

I used some sparkly blue ribbon on the pockets.  It turned out cute and sewed nicely.  I used a fun flowery trim for the bottom.  That was VERY annoying to sew on, but it was worth it in the end.

Finished!!!  

I followed the directions and everything worked great.  The only thing that I added was that I serged the whole main fabric of the apron, and I serged the pocket sides and bottom.  I figured after some washings those raw edges would start to fray.

It's always fun to have more things to open, so I bought a little extra fabric.  I just turned the edges under to encase the raw edges and then I topstitched the rectangle down onto a kitchen towel!  

I have a ton of fabric that I'm going to use for my kitchen.  Soon I'll get those done!  Wahoo!!

Baby Shower Gifts

Hello Everyone!

School's almost out!!!  My dog is behaving!!  It's time to start crafting/blogging again.  I have been making things... just haven't had the time to post.  Today I have some shower gifts to show you!  A good friend of mine is pregnant with her first baby and she and I are both musicians.... I found some very cute music fabric!  =)

Burp Cloths

These are made with flannel on one side and chenille on the other.  After looking through many tutorials I decided on the size of 8 inches by 18 inches.  I simply sewed them right sides together, and rounded corners.  I left a hole for turning.  Turned them inside out and topstitched!  wahoo!

I know its kind of a 'pukey' green color, but I couldn't resist the monkeys!  I figure if he pukes peas on it then it will match.  =)

 

Pacifier Clips

I think I finally figured out how I want to make these.  I basically did the same thing as I do for my tote bag straps.  See the tutorial here.  I did put some interfacing inside for a bit of stability.  I also basted the loops before folding all of the fabric up.  I cut the fabric about 10 inches by 3-3/4 inches.

 

I love these clips!  They are plastic coated on the inside.  I completed the finished strap, slid the clip on and then stitched it down.

I think they came out pretty well!!!

Taggie Blanket

I whipped up another Taggie Blanket.  See my tutorial here.   I bought this adorable panel this summer.  I was very excited to use it.  I sewed some mustardy fabric I had to frame the panel. 

Blue swirly soft furry fabric for the back always works perfectly.

 

Yes, the pictures were all taken in a hurry.  It was raining so my skylights didn't help with lighting.  AND I didn't have time to clean.  yuck.  Someday my craftroom will have a photography 'area' or something.....

It's still rainy today.  Seems like a good day for sewing!

Toodles!