Carseat Covers

I have two sister-in-laws having babies this spring, so I made carseat covers for them. The one on the right is supposed to be for a boy. The one on the left is supposed to be unisex, but it was so hard finding fabric that could go either girl or boy! I ended up thinking the mushrooms were a little girly, and the other was a little too boyish, but oh well. I love how they turned out either way.

 I found the pattern on Etsy. I love that it has a button front so you can peek in, but still keep the little ones covered if you want. Her pattern was great, but I made a few changes. She used Grossgrain ribbon everywhere, but I decided to pipe it. I'm getting more confident with my piping skills. For the red one, I made my own bias tape and covered store-bought piping to make it a little more special. (Thanks to my sister for the idea)

 Buttons! Sometimes it's the embellishments that end up costing the most. 

Hope they liked it. This was a relatively simple pattern, so if you're a beginner, this might be a great start.

Quilted Pot Holders

I recently whipped these babies up for a friend's birthday. These would be great for a beginning quilter to practice.

They are kind of addicting. I think I ended up quilting about 20 or so pot holders for my friends for Christmas this year. I used all scraps. Just piece it however you like. I went with a sort of wonky log cabin, but it could be super simple. One piece of fabric even.

After that just use some Thermolam heat resistant batting stuff, and essentially make a mini quilt sandwich. I added little tabs for them to hang.

And striped binding. Of course. 

Another Camera Strap Cover

After seeing Laura's tutorial for a camera strap cover, I decided to make one of my own. I followed the same basic instructions, but I quilted mine (of course I had to quilt it). I like the idea of re-covering as opposed to replacing because it can be washed or changed out if I get tired of it.

First, I measured how wide my strap was. This will be different for everyone. Then I just added .5" to my measurement for seam allowance. 

I gathered scraps in varying lengths, but cut them all to the same width--around 1.5" You could do this with one big piece of fabric, but I wanted it to feel scrappy.

I sewed them all together until I had enough to cover the length of my strap (about 20"+).  After those were all pieced, I cut a strip of thin batting that was 1.25". I wanted to limit the bulk in the seams so that's why I cut it smaller than my fabric. 

 This is me making sure that it will fit. It should be about half the width of your batting, so when you fold it it fits snugly after seam allowance.

I chose to quilt in straight lines down the length of the whole thing. Then I just folded the raw edges on the ends over and stitched them for a finished look. Here's where I skimped too much. I wish I would have added a bit of wiggle room as far as the length goes. I ended up maybe .25" too short. But it's hardly noticeable. 

Here's what the finished piece looks like before you sew it to make the tube.

 I sewed right sides together and turned the whole thing. The easiest way for me to turn is to attach a large safety pin to one side of one end and use that to thread back through the tube. You could use a real turner thing, but I don't have one. It took a little work, but the finished piece looks great. 

After doing this, I think another easy way to do it is to just iron down your edges .25" and top stitch the whole thing, wrong sides together.

Thread it on, and there it is. 

A softer more stylish strap. 

Candy Jar Baby Quilt

I've been eyeing this pattern for a while now. I just found an opportunity to make it happen. This Eleanor Burns quilting book is a little older, but I thought I could make a really cute baby quilt if I updated the fabric. I love how it turned out.

 I didn't buy any fabric. This is all stuff I had in my stash. 

Kind of dying over this backing. The ultimate girly fabric. I splurged and paid a little more for it, but I think it was worth it. 

I'm becoming obsessed with rounded corners. It's so much prettier than my mitered ones. I think it looks a little more feminine too. I actually have begun cheating and machine sewing my binding lately. With my new walking foot, I think it looks great. And it's so much faster!

 Back to the stippling quilting. An old favorite. 

All ready for its new home. My friend paid me to make this for a new grandbaby. I think they'll love it. I do.

I Vowed Never to Do Piping Again

But then my friend asked me to make some bumpers for her nursery, so I attempted it once more. It really is a sweet story. They adopted two little girls, and they recently found out they were expecting their first little girl. So exciting for them.

The friend who I made them for is quite thrifty herself, so she actually found some really nice boy bumper pads at a yard sale and bought them before she found out what she was having. I ripped the whole thing apart and I used the existing piping and ties and recovered the pads to come up with this. It really cut down on the work (and the cost).

I basically just sewed a huge tube of fabric, added piping and ties, on one side, and voila. 

She loved them. As in, almost went into tears when I gave them to her at her baby shower. It's always nice giving something away when you know the person you're giving it to really appreciates it.

More Color

In a continuing attempt to bring color into my home,

I turned pretty fabric into "artwork".

I appliqued the bird onto the blue fabric,

covered a canvas board with the fabric,

and perched it on a blank wall in my living room.

Next I plan on coving the background of my bookshelf with some bright fabric...I just need to find the right fabric.

Valentine Bunting

 I'm kind of obsessed with banners like this. 

I loved making this one. I picked fabric that felt a little vintage, and I love how it turned out. 

I originally found the inspiration here. She stenciled her letters on, but I liked the look of applique better.

Here's the cool part: I ran the fusible web through my printer with the paper side up so I didn't have to trace the letters on by hand. I felt so smart with this idea. Make sure you print the letters backwards though!

 I did this mock up to practice my blanket stitch length, and to make sure my proportions were right. Good thing I did this first. I put the Wonder Under on the wrong side :) Just iron it all on, and stitch around the heart and the letters. I chose a straight stitch for the letters and a machine blanket stitch for the hearts. You could zig zag, or do whatever you think is cute. 

Then I sewed bias tape on, and that was it. I made my own so it would match that coral pink, but you could make it easy on yourself and just buy some. 

All done. Love it.

Scrappy Fabric Letters

I got the inspiration for these babies on Pinterest, of course. I have a friend that is pregnant with a five year old and a three year old. She's pretty sick, so I'm sending her a package to get her through these initial yucky days. I wanted to add something for the boys to play with, and these fit the bill. I thought they would be great because the younger one can learn the letters and the older one could practice sounds, sorting colors, matching, etc.

I printed off letters. I used Helvitica size 370 and the letters ended up being about 4" tall. Cut out the letters. 

Trace them onto fabric (Kelli, you could use felt). I used the Mark-B-Gone side of this pen. I think you can find them at Wal-Mart. If you craft or sew with fabric at all, it's a great investment. The purple side disappears and the blue side comes of with a dab of water. You could use an iron on embroidery pencil too.

Make tons of mini fabric-batting sandwiches. They definitely don't need to be precise. I loved using up my scraps for this.

Then pin and sew away. These went super fast. I got them done in less than an hour. Make sure you back stitch at the beginning and end. Ease around the curves slowly. I used my walking foot for this, just because I thought it fed the fabric through better, but you could use a normal foot too. 

Let your baby roll in fabric scraps while you sew.

Cut the edges with pinking shears, and you're done. You use those special scissors so the edges don't fray, not just to look pretty... If you can't fit the shears into the small holes (like on the 'A'), just use normal scissors. I dabbed mine with water and threw them into the dryer on low for a few minutes to fluff them up.

And that's it! Totally washable, fun, and pretty simple to put together.

Bowtie

I am dieing over here. Look how cute this kid is with a bowtie.

The tutorial here.

Makeup Pouch

I followed the link from Mary's gathered clutch (I love that word: clutch), and found another awesome tutorial for this makeup bag found here.

It was really easy and I love finding two fabrics that complement each other. Linings are such a fun suprise when you open a bag.

Except I am going to use mine for crayons instead of makeup...

Here are some tips I found while making my bag that will help you, especially if you are a zipper virgin (which I was):

1. I couldn't find any 8" zippers so I bought a 9" zipper and cut my squares 10.5" x 8". No problemo.

2. When you get to the point where all four pieces are sewed onto the zipper, you have top stitched next to the zipper, and you are ready to sew it closed:  line up your zipper flaps and START YOUR NEEDLE AT THE ZIPPER. Sew down the lining fabric. Back stitch at the bottom middle spot where your opening will be. Then start your needle at the other side of the zipper. Again sew down the lining fabric and back stitch the other side of your opening. This makes the zipper ends line up gracefully. I love grace.

3. Now sew the exterior fabric closed. But before you do - OPEN THE ZIPPER! It will make flipping right side out a billion times easier.

4. When you box the corners of your exterior fabric, also box the corners of your interior fabric. That will make the fabrics lay together more harmoniously. I love harmony.