Archive for the ‘Sewing/Crafts’ Category

My baby is two years old! We celebrated Charlie’s second birthday yesterday with cake and a few little presents and, of course, a new mama-made outfit!

I sewed up my Buttons & Buckles Overalls using Ann Kelle Cool Cords in Whale Print and Argyle. I just love the weight and feel of these corduroys! They’re so soft, and they’re not overly heavy or thick. That makes them easy to sew and great for layering in the winter or wearing alone in the spring. I even have a few more yards set aside for summer shortalls.

I can’t believe how fast my little guy is growing! I thought I’d make the 3T so he’d have room to grow, and it almost fits him perfectly. Sigh. They don’t stay tiny for long, do they?

Pictures of Samantha’s birthday room re-do are coming soon! I just have a few little things to finish up.

Multitasking

Birthday Quilt In Progress

In the Office with Mama

Samantha’s Artwork

HELP! Jedi Have Locked My Head in a Box!

Bare Feet and Grass Stained Knees

Daddy & Daughter Birthday Celebration

From 2012 Project 365

Have you heard about the wonderful things happening over at Hopeful Threads? Kristy has such a heart for people in need, especially children, and she is doing a fabulous job of encouraging those of us who love sewing and are blessed with much to take a few minutes each month to give back. On the first of every month, Kristy posts a new charity sewing project on the Hopeful Threads blog. Participants from around the world join together in contributing their time, talents and fabric to help those who need what we can give.

Last month, I set aside a day to sew up a dozen bloomers for the January project. Annabelle’s Wish had a special request for bloomers to go with the many dresses that are donated during the summer months to the little girls in China’s orphanages. One day of sewing time and a few yards of fabric was an easy thing for me to give even on a tight budget. This month, Kristy is encouraging you to find a fundraising project that you can contribute to, whether it’s by creating a handmade project to be auctioned off, bidding on an auction or by skipping that latte and giving the dollars instead. (That last suggestion was not really from Kristy. It was all me, and really for me.)

Also, this month, I’m joining in as a Hopeful Threads supporter! (Kristy and I are working on a really exciting plan for a project that we’re hoping will happen in a few months, too, but it’s a secret for now. Shhhh . . . ) In addition to asking you to skip over to Hopeful Threads and start using your sewing talents to give back, I’m giving something to you: three chances to win two of my patterns! You have to go read Kristy’s post to find out how to enter: FD Giveaway.

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that He has given you. Deuteronomy 16:17, ESV

Why, yes, I am a little behind on my 52 Projects already. I’ll be making up for it over the next week with Samantha’s birthday present! It’s going to be so cool! In the meantime, though, projects #2 and #3 are new winter PJs for Charlie and Jamie.

They’re apparently very comfy PJs! At Fall Quilt Market, the folks at Shannon Fabrics stopped by my booth and asked me if I’d ever tried sewing my knit patterns with their Cuddle Fabric. I hadn’t, but I was willing to give it a try. They shipped me a box of some of the cutest prints last month! You really have to jump over to their site and see their selection: Cuddle Fabric Prints.

I started out with my Charlie Tee pattern and my AJ Bottoms pattern. I did have to make some minor modifications to get them to work with this fabric. It does have stretch to it, but it’s not quite as much as a cotton knit. (Cuddle Fabric is a polyester plush fabric similar to Minky, Moda’s Snuggles and Joann’s Soft & Comfy.) Once I widened the necklines and narrowed the neckbands on the tees and lengthened the waistbands on the pants to allow for the difference in stretch, they turned out really nicely. My boys certainly think so!

My friend, Leigh, issued a challenge over at my home-on-the-internet, Make-Laugh-Love, to complete 52 handmade projects this year. Since I sew all the time, that’s not really a problem for me. I have noticed, however, that I sew a lot for business and sometimes overlook sewing things just for my family. That realization motivated me to jump into the challenge, but I’ll be working towards completing 52 handmade items this year specifically for my family.

Project #1 is a pattern that I’ve done zillions of times, but it’s what was on my list. Jamie got a pack of 24 twistable crayons from his big brother for Christmas, and he asked for a crayon roll to store them. These are so nice for little ones (and for mom) because they can see which crayon (or marker, or pencil) that they need right away, and they make cleaning up after creating quick and easy!

Jamie begged me to buy this football fabric for him the last time I took him to one of our local quilt shops with me, and he was really excited that we found something to sew with it!

One project down, 51 to go! This is going to be fun!

. . . and all through the house, no more projects were waiting, at least not for now!

Handmade Christmas tree ornaments wrap up my list of handmade projects. These are simple, inexpensive wood blocks adorned with scrapbook paper and digital pictures printed from my home printer. We followed the guide for these at How Does She? These will be great fun to hang on our tree year after year!

Of course no Christmas is complete for a sewing mama without handmade Christmas jammies for her little ones. I suppose that means you get 13 projects for the price of 12 . . . a baker’s dozen! (Isn’t this Cowboy Santa fabric perfect for a Texas Christmas?)

Praying that each of you is blessed with a Christmas packed full of joy and overflowing with many wonderful memories! Enjoy this beautiful telling of the Christmas story by Linus as a little Christmas gift from me to you:

This sweet giraffe is for my granddaughter, Katie. All of my little ones have had loveys that they’ve played with, slept with and just loved on, and I’d love for this on to be hers. (I have learned over the years, though, that children decide for themselves which lovey is theirs!) I used Bit of Whimsy’s Juju Giraffe pattern with just a few minor modifications. I added a dress with sleeves by cutting the body out of a second fabric for the dress and adding shortened arm pieces trimmed in underwear elastic for the sleeves. I also cut the back of the body in half and added a seam allowance so I could sew the tail into the seam. Since it’s for a baby, I wanted to be sure the tail was secure. Little ones tend to love playing with stuffed animal tails!

I sewed this bowling set for Charlie, but I may have to make up a second set for Jamie. He told me while watching me handstitch the stuffing openings closed that Charlie was going to love it, but he’d love one, too! He does have a birthday coming up in a few weeks. I used the I Heart Bowling pattern designed by my friend, Berritt, of Birdiful Stitches. Such a cute pattern and really easy to sew!

My Lego-loving boys are getting these great drawstring playmats/storage bags for Christmas this year. I first saw the Lego Sack Tutorial during Celebrate the Boy month in the spring and immediately added them to my sewing list. I think these are going to get a lot of use around here!

A quick side note on these: The long drawstrings made me a little nervous so I tacked each one down in the center of its casing so that can’t be pulled out. I’ll also be sure to remind the boys of the safety rules when using anything with a long tie like this.

My art-loving daughter, Samantha, asked me recently to sew her a wrap for her extensive set of markers, so she’ll be excited to find this on Christmas morning. I used my Art-on-the-Go Kit Tutorial, extending the width and leaving off the art pad . . . easy peasy!

I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a handmade project for my husband’s mom. I know that she loves real hard-copy pictures of the kids, though, and I know that I’m terrible about sending them to her. I was roaming through the craft department at Walmart and was struck by a great idea when I saw this unfinished wood photo carousel.

I had already planned to make some wood block ornaments with the kids. (Pictures of those coming soon!) I figured the same basic method of decoration would work for this, too. I started by painting the whole thing white, then I used Mod-Podge to apply scrapbook paper to each side. While that was drying, we cut letters out of old magazines to spell out “MawMaw’s Babies” ransom-letter style on the top. Once those were decoupaged on, we let the whole thing dry overnight.

The next morning, I sanded the edges of the scrapbook paper to smooth them out and the corners of the photo carousel to rough them up. Then I rubbed a light coat of wood stain over the whole thing, wiping it right off. When that was dry, we just added pictures, wrapped it and shipped it off!

Earlier this month, I attended a Mom’s Night Out with the other mothers from my local homeschool group, and we did a Chinese-auction-style gift exchange. I wanted a simple idea that would work for anyone, but since I’m all about practicality, it needed to be useful, too. Here’s what I came up with:

This is the “Natural Moms’ Cold & Flu Season Survival Kit”. Simple washable cotton velour tissues, oranges, tea for sore throats and congestion and antibacterial soap. Each tissue is two pieces of cotton velour cut 6 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, then serged with wrong sides together. (The velour needs to be at least 80% cotton for it to work well as a tissue.) This would be a thoughtful gift to give anytime you hear that there’s a bug running through a friend’s home this winter, too!

My 16-year-old niece is studying culinary arts through a charter program at her high school, and she asked me for a full apron in zebra stripes and purple to use for her cooking classes. I think this fits the bill nicely!

The zebra-striped fabric is a lightweight twill with stain releasers that I found at our local Hancocks Fabrics. A great fabric find for an apron! I used McCalls 2233 which I used for my sister’s apron last year. It’s a sized pattern, and I think it’s a great choice for those who need an apron in a size that’s larger than the standard size 6-10.