Project: A Quilt for Baby Taylor

Several weeks ago I shared with excitement a stack of beautiful quilting squares I had waiting to be transformed into something even more beautiful:

  Then I posted photos of my favourite part: quilting by hand with my Oma:

Any now, without further ado, here is Baby Taylor's first handmade quilt.  I wish I could show you how perfectly it matches the nursery.  My sister-in-law has phenomenal decorating taste!

Pretty blue buttons.  :)

My first attempt at mitered corners.  A success...hurrah!

The 'girliness' of this quilt looked so at home in Baby J's room, that I almost had trouble gifting it.  

I'll just have to make another!  You never know....  ;)

Happy Sewing!

I plan to link up to these great blogs:

Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Thrifty Decorating, House of Hepworths, My Simple Home Life, Homemaker in Heels, WhipperBerry, The Blackberry Vine, Kojo Designs, Debbiedoo's, Simply Klassic Home, Six Sisters Stuff

Project: Here-we-go-a-quilting!

Oma and I spent the morning stitching together my sister-in-law's baby quilt.  I enjoyed learning the proper quilting process, and actually really enjoyed hand-sewing!  I did not expect to have a positive response to this; however, found it to be quite therapeutic.  I suppose this could be put into the same category as running, rowing and cycling - repetitive, almost mind-numbing sports.  (I just referred to "sewing" as a sport, didn't I?)

Here are a few photos my handsome hubby, "Mr. vL" snapped while we were working:

All that is left is the binding, and I will have completed my first (tiny) quilt!  More photos to come, of course.  :)

Happy Sewing!

A Stack of Pretty Colours

I have the honour of sewing a decorative quilt for my sister-in-law's second baby girl.  

During Baby J's nap today (which was nearly FOUR hours long!), I was able to cut all 63 of these beautifully coloured squares.  My sister-in-law sure knows how to pick 'em!  Cutting is not at all my favourite part of any sewing project; however, the end result of a nice, neat stack of quilting squares is satisfying enough for me.

More to come over the next week as I piece these pretties together, and my Oma teaches me how to hand-stitch (!!!!) the quilt.  

(Sidenote: the yellow is definitely my favourite!)

Happy Sewing!

Gift: Notebook Cover

This is a gift that I put together for our friend's daughter.  She turned 6 just yesterday, and I remember my love for writing (and notebooks) beginning around that age.  I still have all my little diaries, full of nonsensical thoughts, describing friends, feelings and the weather.  Many girls in her kindergarten class are currently on a writing kick, and apparently, so is she!  Cute notebook cover - you have a purpose.  May you be well used!  :)

{Elastic & Button Closure}

{A Little Spot for Stickers}

{Personalized}

Happy Sewing!

{Notebook Cover Tutorial}

I plan to link up to these great blogs:

Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Thrifty Decorating, House of Hepworths, My Simple Home Life, Homemaker in Heels, WhipperBerry, The Blackberry Vine, Kojo Designs, Debbiedoo's, Simply Klassic Home, Six Sisters Stuff

{DIY} Toy Crate Covers!!

Two months ago I created these labels: Cars & Trucks, Music and Animals

At that time I also snuck off with three very ugly-looking, well-used milk crates; two from my father-in-law, and one from the basement (thank you hubby for letting me empty it for my own purposes!)

I had purchased three lovely bits of fabric (see above - SO cute!), and had such great intentions of sewing covers for my most unfortunate-looking crates.

But....

Time passed.

Other projects came and went.

Baby J made a lot of beautiful messes (and many not-so-beautiful messes too)....

And then finally it was time to clean up the mess.

(The beautiful mess, not the not-so-beautiful mess....those get cleaned every few hours).

I present to you a small organizing victory!

Covered Toy Crates!

I used the fantastic tutorial for "The Undercover Crate" found here, altered it to fit my crate, and worked until they were complete!  

The toy labels will be added once Baby J realizes that food is for eating and toys are for playing, not the other way around.

I am really enjoying the extra pop of colour in our living room, as well as the organization factor...but mostly the colour.  :)

Create your 'space' and love it!

I plan to link up to these great blogs:

Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sew Much Ado, Polka Dots on Parade, Thrifty Decorating, House of Hepworths, My Simple Home Life, Homemaker in Heels, WhipperBerry, The Blackberry Vine

Princess Cape Tutorial

In light of beginning "The 'Green Clothing' Challenge," I thought it would be fun to share a tutorial on the Princess Cape I made for my niece from recycled fabrics.  My husband and I both love to make homemade gifts (for example, our Christmas gifts found here and here).  Hubby creates things out of leftover wood from other home projects, while I prefer to sew!

Our niece is a little princess.  She loves everything pink and sparkly.  So when my friend (who is doing the challenge with me) came home with 3 boxes of vintage fabric for $30, I was ecstatic to be able to pick through with her!  

I left with a score of shiny pink satin fabric.  Perfect for a princess.  Match that with some scraps of white, sparkly gold cotton that came from who-knows-where, I had a great combination to create a cape fit for a princess.

For this project I used the following materials:

• Computer & Printer
• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• Pins
• Coordinating thread
• Fusible webbing (e.g. "Wonder Under" or "Heat N Bond")
• Fabric for cape: 31 in. x 31.5 in. (based on height of the child) - 31 inches is my WIDTH
• Two strips of fabric for trim: 20 in. x 3.5 in., 31.5 in. x 3.5 in.
• Scrap fabric for the letter applique
• Small square of Velcro

Part A:

1. Print your desired letter applique as a mirror image.  Cut around the letter and glue it to the paper side of your double-sided fabric adhesive (e.g. Wonder Under).  
2. Iron your letter onto the wrong side of your fabric.  I used glittery white fabric (the stripes underneath are from my ironing board).
3. Cut out your letter along the outline.  Leave the paper backing on for now.

Part B:

1. Cut a piece of fabric for your cape.  Mine measures 31 in x 31.5 in.
2. Gather the top of your fabric using a basting stitch (i.e. the longest stitch on your machine), sewing approximately 1/4 inch from the edge.  Now, holding the bottom thread, pull the top thread to gather the fabric so that it measures 12 inches in length.  
• Next, cut a strip of fabric for the collar.  Here mine measures 20 in x 3.5 in.
3. Lining up the centre of the collar fabric strip to the centre of the gathered edge of your fabric, pin your strip to the cape, right sides together.  
4. Since my fabric was very slippery to work with, I used a LOT of pins.  This is not necessary.  :)
5. (Showing the other side of the gather).
6. Sew the two pieces of fabric together; try to avoid sewing over your gathering stitches.  Carefully pull out your gathering threads.

Part C:

1. Iron the collar upward, away from the cape.  Also iron all of the edges 1/4 inch inward.
2. Fold the collar over in half and iron.  Pin in place if desired.
3. Topstitch (1/8 inch) around the three open sides.

Part D:

1. This part is very similar to the collar.  Centre the strip of fabric trim on the bottom of the cape, and pin in place with right sides together.  Sew the two pieces together.
2. Follow steps 1-3 from Part C, ironing the edges, folding in half, and topstitching along the open edges.

Part E:

I apologize, I did not take pictures of these last few steps.  I will try to be as descriptive as I can.

1. You now want to sew two squares of Velcro to the collar (one square of 'hoops' and the other of 'loops').  I simply straight stitched around each square.  When you are doing this, make sure that the Velcro pieces are placed in such a way that they connect when you 'close' the collar!
2. And now for the last finishing touch....ironing on your letter applique!  Iron your letter near the centre of the cape (you can see in the photo on the right below that I could have placed it higher).  Follow the instructions on your fusible webbing when doing this.  If you have the type that does not need to be sewn, than you are finished!  If you have 'sewable' webbing, you will want to do a zigzag stitch around the edge of your letter to secure it in place.

Finally, admire your beautiful Princess Cape!

Happy Sewing!

I plan to link up here:

Tip Junkie, Someday Crafts, Skip to My Lou,

The Girl Creative, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sew Much Ado,

Polka Dots on Parade, Thrifty Decorating, House of Hepworths,

My Simple Home Life, Homemaker in Heels, WhipperBerry