Not Idle

I haven't posted much lately, but I've not been idle. I spent two weeks working on a diaper bag for LeLe. And since I had some of the awesome fabric left, I did some other things with it. I bound a fleece blanket, and created a bib and burp pad.

I love love love how they all turned out. And I hope LeLe does too. I documented part of the diaper bag process, and will post that sometime in the future.  I quilted the bag, and the bib on my regular sewing machine. I loved the process. I used already quilted backing, so it was very easy, but one of these days, I'll do it the old fashioned way.

The blanket gave me a few moments of angst, as I intended the top and bottom to face a certain direction, and I failed on one end. It still looks ok though.

I added the branches and birds by using wonder under and zig zagging around them. I thought about adding some more zig zagging for smaller branches, but decided against it. I didn't want to take a chance on messing anything up.

For the bib and burp cloth, I used  patterns I found on Home Made By Jill. It was extremely easy, and her patterns were easy to enlarge or make smaller. 

I haven't washed the cloth yet, to make it fray. I love that feature and am anxious to see how it gets all fuzzy.

So, that is what I've been busy doing. I also made some nursing cover-ups for LeLe, but haven't taken photos of those yet. Will post soon.

Couch Organizer

In my effort to nest/get organized this year, I decided to try out this simple tutorial. Mom had given me some pieces of white cloth she had purchased that were already sewn up on the ends. She called them something but I can't remember. They resemble small table cloths. Anyway, I put two of them together to make a couch organizer. I had to do some finagling because the ends didn't exactly match up, so I had to turn the sides under in certain places before I sewed them up. It turned out pretty well. I wish I had had some iron-on transfers at home in addition to a full cartridge of ink so that I could do something on the pockets, but oh, well. It serves its purpose and allows me to put my fingernail files, lotion, devotional books, chapstick, and odds and ends in the pockets.

I was featured on Craftster!!!

Check it out!

More Gifts

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to make for my sister-in-law. Well, Mom suggested I do something with dish towels and bought me some at the Dollar Store (she's a lifesaver). I found this tutorial and whipped up a few tonight. They are cute and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Christmas Progress

I finally made some headway on my handmade Christmas gifts this weekend. Here are a few things I made for my 2-1/2 year-old niece:

Placemat Colored Pencil Roll from this tutorial

Scrabble Magnets on a Cookie Sheet via here

Mom and I also worked on some coasters for my brother's girlfriend (tutorial here or here). I made a set for myself because one of the tiles was chipped (plus, I needed some anyway). I'm going to make two more sets sometime this week but I have to get more tiles. Cheap, easy gift idea (the tiles are about 16 cents a piece and you can use scrapbook paper, wallpaper samples, or gift wrap and stickers).

Mom using Modge Podge on the tiles

Me focusing intently on the tiles. Ha. Pay no mind to that double chin.

The tiles with scrapbook paper and stickers for Katy

Mom and daughter, working together. Fun!

My travel-themed coasters

All Christmas Projects Completed

The last of my Christmas projects is done, and I'm a little lost. I finished the blanket Friday afternoon.

It turned out better than any of the others, and I suppose that is due to practice. But, today I have no pressing projects.  So, I thought I'd take some scrap fabric and see if I could create a quilted bib. 

I took a bib LeLe gave me for my birthday (ha!) and used it as a template. I cut out the front and back, and then cut out another layer out of the old quilt my grandmother gave me. It was the one I used for my reindeer quilt. There's still a lot of it left. I also cut out the letter W from some coordinating fabric, to use as an applique on the front. After using Wonder Under to secure it, I zig zagged it onto the front of the bib, then sewed the top to the back with the quilt in between.

It needed a little quilting, so I stitched around the letter, and around several of the circles. I then attached some hook and loop to the top, to connect it around the baby's neck.

It's my first try, so I'm fairly pleased with it. It has some flaws, but I don't think the baby will care.

Deer Quilt

I finally finished the quilted wall hanging of the three reindeer. Yay!

Am I satisfied with it? No. Is it perfectly square and even? No. But the only person I have to worry about is me. No one is going to go up to it and pick it apart.....well, no one that ever visits my home anyway.

 I started out fusing fabric to Wonder Under and cutting all of the individual pieces out in preparation to attach them to the background fabric by pressing with an iron.

I then zig-zagged the edges to keep them from fraying. I learned about using an old quilt for the inside "stuffing" from another craft blogger, and used an old quilt my grandmother had years ago for that.

It worked very well, and I even decided not to use any backing, to keep the bulk down and make it easier to quilt.

Since I didn't have time before Christmas to get hand quilting done, and don't own a quilting machine, I just used a basting stitch on my regular sewing maching. It was tricky twisting and turning the entire thing around to get all the corners and curves done, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

When I finally had it all quilted, or as much as I was going to, I folded the seams under and sewed them. Then attached little loops to the top corners, to hang it on the frame already on the wall.

It took a little work to get it to hang just right, but all in all, I'm pretty pleased with it. It adds just the right touch to my living room decorations.