Dish Towels

Again, these were Christmas presents that I finished a few weeks ago and couldn't share until now! I found these cute tea towels at Ben Franklin and decided to embellish them with some fun fabric from my stash and extra wide rick-rack. I measured the towel width, cut the fabric 1 inch longer in either direction, and ironed down 1/2 inch on each side. I stitched them down all the way around about 1/8 inch from each edge, stuffing the rick-rack in as I went. If you try this, make sure to wash both the towels and the fabric you'll be using ahead of time since they both shrink, but at different rates!

Birdie Pin Cushions

I worked on these earlier in the month, but couldn't post them because they were Christmas gifts! I found the pattern in an older issue of Quilts and More. They were super easy and fun to put together. The hardest part was finding a heavy enough wooden spool to keep them from tipping over!

Dyed Burp Clothes

I finished a few of these a couple months before Halcyone was born, and a few I put together last week. We use these ALL the time!

I got white Gerber cloth diapers from Babies R Us and used the following steps:

1. Wash the diapers (I did a few onesies too!) on hot once, wash on cold once, dry in hot heat. This sets the size and gets the diapers all fluffy.

2. Get the dye ready. I used Dylon for Hand Use from JoAnn fabrics and was super happy with the result... much better than Rit. Empty the dye into a pan, adding the hot water as directed on the package. Be careful with the dye; it's pretty fine and can easy float around. Stir, making sure the dye is dissolved.

3. Fill your sink or a large pot with warm tap water, dissolving the salt as the dye package directs. Add the pan of dye water, stirring until it's all combined.

4. Add up to 4 items to the dye in the sink. 4 is kind of pushing the limit for a dark dye, but I think 3 works out well. The fewer items, the more concentrated the color will be. Make sure the items are all well submerged and that there are no air bubbles hiding underneath. Set the timer for 15 minutes and let soak.

5. Stir when the timer beeps. Reset the timer and stir again 3-4 more times, dyeing them for an hour or so. The longer you leave them in the brighter they'll be.

6. Drain the sink and rinse everything well in cold water. I'd say it takes about 10 minutes of rinsing. Rinse until the water runs clear. (Note, with the reds I was never able to get the water completely clear, just a very very slight pink coming out.)

7. Wash again! Wash in cold then hot and dry.

8. Next up, prepare scraps of fabric to sew down the thick center part of the diapers. I had to measure each one individually because the centers were all slightly different sizes. I found that fat quarters were just long enough to work. Measure the width of the inner seams and the length. Add 1 inch to both and cut the cutesie fabric. Iron each edge under 1/2".

9. Pin the fabric onto the diaper in a few places to keep it tacked down. Sew with a zig-zag stitch, just inside the fabric, not on the diaper at all (except obviously on the back!).

Ta-Da! There you go! Super easy and fun.

Because Haly Needed a Kitty

I've been on the lookout for a stuffed kitty for Haly for a while, but haven't seen one that looked cute enough. Then I saw this cute bunny pattern on one of the blogs I follow. (Sorry, I can't remember which blog!) It linked to another blog where someone had given the bunny kitty ears and a long tail. So cute! I decided to try it. First I made the bunny, then the kitty. I had to remake the kitty ears because the first set I made where too tall, making her look more like a mouse! This is a pretty easy pattern to follow, and really doesn't take much time at all! The pattern suggests using old t-shirt fabric, but I didn't have any so used flannel scraps instead. It worked pretty well with my walking foot to keep the fabric from stretching.

Embroidered Bag

I've had this idea in mind for a while for an upcoming gift, but wasn't sure what bag pattern to use. I ended up finding on in one of my mom's quiting magazines that I ended up resizing to get it a little bit bigger.

I started by embroidering the little girl 2 layers of soft white canvas. The embroidery pattern is from the Pretty Maids I set by the designer of the Allsorts blog, bought on her etsy shop.

After trimming it to the size I needed I cut the rest of the bag pieces from some scraps of red Heather Bailey fabric and from a fun canvas table cloth I was given by a friend for projecting. I added a little bit of blue rick-rack as I sewed it together. If you've ever made a bag before, this is one of the simplest projects! It went together in less than an hour. This bag is about 20" tall by 15" wide.

Bright Quilt

I put this quilt top together about 3 months ago, quilted it a few weeks later, and just finally finished up the binding this week! My mom has been machine sewing her binding on, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's super easy and comes out looking decent if you're patient!

Fall Owl Quilt

My Mom gave me some of her cute fall fabrics to make a quilt with last week. She had made one from a similar pattern, so I came home and figured out some dimensions for cutting and went to work. I have now learned how to cut fabric with a rotary cutter while sitting down! It's not as easy as one would think. I decided that I wanted 30 blocks that are 8" once the quilt is assembled. I spent one day cutting, one day sewing, and 2 days basting, quilting, and binding. I think this is one of the fasted quilts I've put together! Tom and I both love the little owls in the bright fall colors.

Another Girly Dress

I used 3 fat quarters and a little bit of white lining fabric to make another one of these cute Oliver + S sun dresses! This time it took less than 2 hours from start to finish! The only change I made was to not use the piping because I thought the colors were vivid enough.

Rainy Day Thank Yous

Wow, today is a fall day! Yesterday I used my car's air conditioning and today I used its heater! I was hoping for another nice day to sit outside at some park and read in the sun, but oh well! Instead I spent a few hours making baby shower thank yous!

A Little Dress for Haly

A few months ago when my mom and I were at Pacific Fabrics looking for diaper cover supplies, I discovered that they had a cute Oliver + S pattern on their clearance rack! I had been admiring their cute little girl dress patterns on their site for a few weeks, but didn't want to pay full price. Since I've been granted some sitting-up privileges by my doctor, I've spent a few hours over a couple days cutting and sewing the Tea Party Dress together.

The pattern came with 5 sizes, so I started by tracing th pattern onto a pattern sheet so I can use other sizes as I want them. I decided to go for the 6-12 month size this time, hoping that it will fit Haly next summer. If not, then I'll put a onesie under it and call it a jumper! This was a pretty basic pattern to cut and sew. The hardest part of the instructions to understand was the part about the yellow piping I added. If you've sewed much before, you should be able to figure it out without really needing the pattern instructions. One change I made was to not use buttons or make button holes. Instead, I again used my amazing 16mm snaps from the Snap Source.

My favorite part about this project is the main fabric I used! It is a cute little Strawberry Shortcake print from 1980 left over from something my Grandmother made, most likely for a cousin. I've had it in my stash for years and loved it, but never quite knew what to do with it. I still have more that I'm trying to find some cute project to use more of it.

Halcyone's Hexagon Bib

I saw a picture of a bib someone had made with hexagons that I got my idea from. I have no idea where the picture came from, but here is what I ended up with!

I started by making hexagons. This meathod is called English Paper Piecing. This video is an excellent tutorial if you want to give it a try! Here are the steps I followed:

• Make evenly shaped hexagons out of cardstock scraps.
• Cut fabric scraps to go over the paper. I'd recommend a little more than a 1/4" allowance.
• Baste the fabric over the hexagons.
• Lay the hexagons out to make sure you have the colors set up in a way you like.
• Whip stitch the edges of the hexagons together at the edges.
• Iron once they're all sewn together
• Remove baste stitching and pull out papers. If the papers don't look too worn, you can save and use them again.

Once I had the hexagons all sewn together, I cut a piece of fabric and sewed it across the top. I used a piece of an old skirt for the back. To get the pieces to stick together for when I cut out the pattern, I very lightly spray basted the backing, a piece of warm and natural cotton batting, and the hexagon piece together. After it dried, I pinned a pattern I made (I traced a Carter's bib, making the neck space a little bigger.) to the fabric stack and cut it out. I machine quilted the layers together. For the binding I used some bias cut binding made from more scraps I had. To finish it up, I used some great 16mm snaps (no sew!) from the Snap Source. Now I can't wait to use it!

Halcyone's First Sweater!

I started this sweater for Halcyone last Tuesday and finished sewing up the seams today! I love the way it turned out! I picked up the free pattern a little over a year ago at Ben Franklin when I saw the one they had made with some of my favorite yarn. While looking through my stash of yarn last week, I re-found my yellow Lion Brand Recycled Cotton yarn and decided to give it a try. You can still get the Nature Baby Kimono pattern free at Ben Franklin in Redmond, or download it here with a free account.

This is one of the easiest non-scarf knitting patterns I've ever done. The whole thing is made with basic knit and purl stitches, a few easy "make-1" stitches (knit one in front and one in back of the same loop), and knit 2 together stitches. I made the smallest size of the 4 given in the pattern using size 8 straight needles. This took 2 skeins of yarn (didn't use much of the 2nd skein). I think if someone used a smaller size needle for a newborn size that 1 skein would be enough.

Paddington Quilt

A couple years ago I found a couple fat quarters of this cute Paddington Bear fabric. I added to the collection as I found different pieces of it on sale. My mom also had a few pieces that I was able to use to complete this quilt!

I finished sewing the pieces together and quilting through the layers about a month ago. This is the first quilt I haven't "stitched in the ditch" on. Instead I sewed about 1/8" on either side of the seams. Tom and I both like the way it turned out, and it was much easier to keep strait. After being put on bed rest I was able to hand stitch the binding down around the back side. Hopefully Halcyone likes this quilt as much as Tom and I do!

I'll try to update this blog a little more often! I've been working on lots of hand held projects over the past couple weeks. A few of them are almost finished!

Chalkboards

A few years ago I got a can of this fun spray paint, and have since been waiting for the perfect wood panels to paint. Last summer I thought I'd found some free cupboard doors in downtown Snohomish, but when I walked back to pick them up they were already gone! About a month ago as Tom and I were pulling apart our crib for the dumpster (don't worry, we were supposed to... it had a significant recall so we mailed in its hardware for a new crib) I realized that the back side had 2 very nice panels. Tom saved them for me.

A few weekends ago I a spent the day sanding them and starting to paint. Last week I finished painting the first one and finally got it hung in our dining/living room! We love it! The second one will have a light blue frame and will hang in Baby Haly's room.

Little Booties

A few weeks ago I found out that Anna Maria Horner's new book, Homemade Beginnings, had released! I ordered it at a nice discount from Amazon and when it arrived, started looking through it for fun ideas. It's a book full of maternity, baby, toy, and nursery patterns. I haven't decided which ones I'm going to make for Baby Luce yet, but I do have a friend's baby shower coming up. I made two sets of these cute little booties in size 3-6 months this evening. For the most part, they were pretty basic to cut and sew. This is the second time I've felt that Anna Maria Horner's patterns have an awkward way of assembling a lining, but in the end I made it work! I used flannel to line the burgundy set with, and am super happy with their fluffiness.

Local Yarn Shop Tour 2010

This past Thursday through Sunday was the yarn shop hop in Western Washington. I participated last year, making it to 13 stores. This year, Baby Luce wasn't as excited about visiting yarn shops as I was, even though I promised to find things to make for him/her. I managed to make it to 4 on Thursday, and Tom drove me to 3 more before church on Sunday. There were a few more I would like have made it to, but they were all a significant drive. Making it to my favorite local ones ended up working well! The patterns the shops gave out this year (each shop creates a free one skein project and discounts the yarn they use) were not as impressive as last year. However, I did end up with a super cute crocheted scarf pattern to try.

I found a few projects to start working on in the near future. I'll post again as I finish them, but for now here are the ideas.

This yarn is for a little baby hat. If Baby Luce is a boy, then this hat will have to be a gift for someone else.

I've also recently started following the Spud & Chloë blog and keeping an eye out for their cute patterns and yarn. Hilltop Yarns East in Bellevue happened to have them! The yarn was even their project discounted variety. I picked out this cute polar bear pattern and some blue yarn to make the middle sized teddy out of.

Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek had quite a few samples of baby sweaters knit and displayed around their shop. One of my favorites is found in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, which I bought for a good deal.

Lastly I found this un-spun wool at Acorn Street Yarn in Seattle. I've been looking for some for a while to use with Wool Pets, a book my sister got me for Christmas!

Giraffe or Horse?

I made this cute horse with some giraffe patterned minky last week for a cousin's baby shower. I'm still not sure if it's a horse or a giraffe! It was a simple pattern I found at Ben Franklin. It takes about a fat quarter off a minky bolt, a few buttons, E6000 glue, yarn, a dowel, some kind of ribbon or strap for the bridle, and of course stuffing. The only problem I had with it was working around the minky stretching. Because the base of the head is turned under and gathered, it ended up not mattering that it didn't quite match.

Wedding Invitations

I made these a few months ago, and figured I can finally post them without having to edit info out since the wedding is over! These were for my sister's recent wedding. Her colors were (of course) purple, teal, and brown.

Softie Blocks

Today I went to a baby shower for my neighbor. I was looking around on etsy a few weeks ago for some fun baby gifts, and ended up deciding to make my own. I found a couple people who were selling soft stuffed baby blocks in various patterns and realized I could make them quickly and easily!

Directions:

• Cut 6 - 3"x3" squares for each block.
• Using a 3/8" seam allowance (no smaller if using minky) sew 4 squares into a loop. Start and stop seams 3/8" from edges.
• Pin 5th square around the top and sew to all sides, being careful not to make tucks where all 3 seams come together.
• Repeat with 6th block, leaving a 2" opening for turning in the center of one side.
• Turn, pushing corners out to a point.
• Stuff with a fluffy filling of your choice.
• Sew closed with a discreet whip stitch.
• Optional: Cut 2-3" pieces of sturdy ribbon or binding, fold in half, and sew into seams to create loops. Add a squeaker or bell to the center of the stuffing, making sure to leave a big enough opening for turning to fit it through.

Turtle Trio

A few months ago I bought this cute little stuffed turtle pattern from Heather Bailey.

I thought that because they were so tiny, they'd probably be a little tricky and involve quite a bit of hand sewing (not my favorite thing!). However, they only needed a couple little whip stitch seams after turning the body and shells right side out! They were pretty basic cutting, sewing, and quick to make.

Here are my three little turtles!

Valentine's Cards

A few weeks ago I noticed a few fun ideas while looking around one of my favorite stores, Impress Rubber Stamps. I bought some red and pink velvet ribbon, a greeting stamp, and made a mental note of a few paper punches to look for on a sale at Michael's. Since finishing the string of crochet hearts, I've had the past couple days to pull all my paper craft stuff out and create!

Some of my favorite products right now are alcohol based Copic markers, punches and these super fun grass cutting scissors from Martha Stewart.

I hope you enjoy them! I've even listed a few on my Etsy shop!

String of Hearts

I started working on this string of hearts about 2 weeks ago. I got the idea when I saw one similarly made with crochet snowflakes before Christmas. I made the snowflakes, but didn't have time to get them strung so they're tucked away for next year! I found this crochet heart tutorial, printed it out, and started working away. I used a variety of hook sizes and yarns. Once I had the pattern down, I could make a heart in about 20 minutes!