Christmas Projects - 2013

This Christmas, I made a whole mess of aprons for gifts.

Here's the kid's collection:

I made four girl's aprons but they were all pink and purple just like those, and then the three boys "Monster Smocks."

The girls patterns came right out of my little head.  Maybe I'll have to write it up some day to share.  The boys "Monster Smock" pattern I found at JoAnn's a while ago.  The mouth is a pocket!!

So Cute, huh!! 

Next up is the men's collection - for three brother's in law.

(What a handsome model! work it, Work it!)  ;)

And the women's collection:

For three sister's in law... and one for me, of course.  

I loved them all but I kept the orange and blue one for me.  ;)

Yes, I made up that pattern too.  

It's actually a simple variation of the men's pattern that I bought years ago.

Here's some more of those adorable pot holders.

These two sets I made for my Mom and sister as part of their 12 gifts of Christmas set.

This is their 12 Gifts of Christmas!

-slippers

-magnetic note pads

-note cards

-ornaments

-hot pads

-Lindt chocolates

-glass magnets

-eos chapstick

-Hersheys candycane white chocolate bars

-gloves

-framed picture

-silicone basting brushes

-tic tacs

I know that's 13 items but two of them I wrapped together.

I did 12 little packages all inside one big box.

It was a lot of fun!  I think I might do it again next year with some other fun goodies.

It was a Merry Christmas!

Red and White Table Runner

I needed a gift for a friend's daughter recently so I decided to make this table runner again. 

 I made it for myself some time ago and I love it. 

I was told red and white were her kitchen colors.

Here are all of the pieces cut out and scattered so I could sew them randomly.

 Don't you think it looks fantastic?!  I do!

 For the back, I used some red and white stripe and some scraps left from the front in a brick pattern.

Here I am

Since my last post - remember... busy! busy! busy!... - well, life has only added to it.  Now I could add a few more BUSY's to the list...

I turn to my sewing machine whenever I need just a touch of solace, peace, respite, mental regrouping, me-time... whatever I wish to call it at the time.

Soooo...

I made some journal covers again this year for the kids to give to their teachers at the end of the school year.  They really have had wonderful teachers.  I couldn't thank them enough.

I used gray linen on them and I really liked the way it looks.

I used the tutorial for these on Bloom.  (Love her blog.)

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Also, this is the blocks swapped in the Block Swap Adventure in May:

This is the one I received from Debra in Australia.

 She wanted a wonky house or tree.  I decided to put them together into one block.  I've never done wonky before and it was a challenge.  I'm used to following a pattern and having nice, straight lines... whoo wee.. it made me sweat!  I think it turned out cute though.  I hope she liked it.

Happy Stitching!

More Mosaics and Some Springtime Birds

With Spring and the end of the school year colliding right now, I'm finding myself running in circles.

Busy -- Busy -- Busy!!

We're trying to get our yard and garden growing and looking good.

We've got kiddo activities left and right.

And then there's sewing... I try to squeeze some in whenever I can but it has only been a little bit lately. 

So this post is just to catch up on a few small finishes lately:

These are Mosaic Color Play squares from an IFQ swap.

This one came to me from Ann...

I this is the one I sent her.

 The next one came from Shirley...

 And this one I sent to her.

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I've also dabbled a bit more in fabric post cards.

These cute little birds were inspired by a little note card that came with one of my swap blocks.

I had some fun with it

 I made some more bookmarks to match.

Most of them I shared with the great ladies in my reading group.

They're so cute!  

Maybe I ought to use one myself to mark my books instead of that silly scrap of paper I picked up off of my desk.

Ticker Tape Parade and Hot Air Balloons

At our PQA meeting this month we revealed and exchanged our Mercy Border Blocks again.  It is always so much fun.  It's like Christmas.  We get to see the new borders that everyone has added to the blocks and we get so excited. There's always lots of ooh-ing and aahh-ing and some squealing too.  It's really pretty silly.

Anyway, this time I got Shannon's block to add to.  This is how I received it:

She started with a Ticker Tape center.  Rainbow colors on a white background.  She did a great job on it and then the borders that were already added were great too.

I added a Ticker Tape border!  Yeah, crazy!  I know!  A lot of work... but I really liked how it turned out and I think Shannon did too.

If you want to see the rest of our gorgeous growing quilts, you can go to the Parma Quilters Anonymous blog.  They are all amazing.

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One of my favorite blogs to visit is Quilted Delights.  Leah is quite a fabric artist and does wonderful work.  She makes some amazing fabric postcards and I have perused through her creations more than once.  I wanted to give it a try.

This is what I came up with for a first time:

I stitched along each cloud with silver thread but the picture doesn't show it.  I really like how it turned out.  I may have to try some more.  In fact,  I thought I'd do a smaller version so it would easier to share with friends.

This is what I came up with:

Book Marks

Cute, huh!

Don't you wish you were my swap partner this month.

Well, until next time...

Always look for silver linings.

Kid Builders

For Christmas, we gave each of our kiddos kits of wood pieces.  And with our help, they would assemble a book shelf.

We let them paint it however they wanted.

 Cute, huh!

 And then we mounted them on the wall beside each bed...

 ...to hold all of their books for bedtime reading.

 They did a fantastic job.  Aren't they great!!

The plans and inspiration came from Ana White.com.

Hooded Towel with Pleats

I went to a baby shower recently for the mother of twin baby girls who will arrive in a few weeks.  I pulled out a favorite gift/project to make for them and I thought I'd try a tutorial of it for anyone interested.

Supplies:

1 bath towel

1 wash cloth

pins

ruler

thread

  ** I found some towels and matching wash cloths at Walmart.  You can use any combination that you like.

Find the center of the long side of the towel and mark it with a pin.

Use your ruler and measure 2 1/4 inches from the center and mark this spot with a pin.

This point will be a fold.

Fold the towel over with the second pin as your fold marker. 

Then fold the towel back with the fold point near the center.  Pin this first pleat in place.

Your folding should look something like this:

Use your ruler again and measure 2 1/4 inches from the edge of the first pleat and mark this point.

Repeat what you did to make the first pleat, to make a second.

You don't want the edges of the pleats to overlap because it will be too bulky.  They should be just next to each other.

Now, do all of this over again on the other side of the center pin, folding it toward the center.

With matching thread, sew along the edge of the towel to keep the pleats in place.

Go carefully with all that extra bulk.  I broke two needles with this project trying to hurry it.

It should look something like this:

This is the front of the towel.  You'll need to know that later on.

Set the towel aside and find your wash cloth.

If your wash cloth has more of a design or picture you want to show, you can adjust this part to fit your needs.

Place the wash cloth with the right side up. Fold down the top about 1/3 of the way - right sides together.  

Now, fold down each top corner, like this:

I pinned it on the inside because I turned mine right sides out to sew but you can pin it and sew it on either side.  Which ever is easier for you.

I turned mine right side out and sewed along the edge of the cloth.

Hopefully, you have something like this:

Next, lay out your towel so the sewn edge is closer to you and the back is up. (The front has the pleat folds right up to the middle.)

Lay the wash cloth over the edge of the towel about 1 1/2 inches or so and pin it in place.

Sew it along the edge of the wash cloth (from the black pin, following the red pins to the other black pin).  Try to keep the pleats in place but they don't have to be perfect.

Next, turn the towel over and sew across the edge of the towel.

That should do it!  I hope this made some sense.  Please let me know if anything is unclear.

Enjoy your little ones wrapped in a new towel.