Happy Halloween...and Thanksgiving...

Well let's start at the begining I suppose.

The little guy was a viking for Halloween. For him I sewed up some faux fur boot covers and fur vest. It was raining and yucky out so we did not stay out long although he was pretty warm. He even had on a fake red beard and hair under his horned helmet.

Sorry this is the only decent picture I got that night; you can't really see the boot covers or the vest over his coat.  

 

Then I got started on sewing for Christmas...

5 Imke's for the neices/nephew and son.

This is after cutting but before sewing them up, of course, I have already wrapped all of these up. It is the same Imke pattern that I have used in the past but this time with long sleeves and made of fleece.

 

Then I had to pack up the entire sewing dining room for Thanksgiving. We had just over 25 people at our house and everything was fabulous. I tried out a few new recipes and they were really good.

I did my own homemade cranberry sauce which is SO much better than canned. It is also so easy so I don't know why I never tried it before. I also made corn casserole--also YUMM-O!

 

 

 

Okay so then black friday happened which was a little like this:

 

 

No not really...BUT I did go to two different Kohl's and JoAnn Fabrics as well as a few other stores. Yeah, I am that crazy.

 

 

Then back to the sewing.

I made a stinkin' adorable kimono pj set for my nephew, Baby Eric as my son calls him.

 

 

It is from the Amy Butler book.

Little Stitches for Little Ones.

It is actually the outfit on the cover. I made it with some of my JoAnn's $1.99 flannel from Black Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I made my neice a coloring book dress for her birthday. It is a reversible dress with a very light purple on the inside because it is her favorite color.

 

 

 

 

Last and not least I made some hanging dish towels.

 I used kleiosbelly pattern. That link takes you right to the PDF.

 I used another Black Friday score to whip these up. The towels themselves are The Big One hand towels from Kohls that I cut it half.

Total cost for each set $1.99 because of stashed fabric usage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that I only need to sew up some new PJ's for the little man

 and this mama is done Christmas sewing.

 

What are y'all making up for Christmas??

Finished Apple Jack Bento Box

This is the finished project. It measures 60"x60". The fabrics used were Kona Natural and Apple Jacks by Tim Beck for Moda. It is the Strip peiced Bento Box pattern found HERE on Quilts of Love.

I quilted using  my Brother SE400 and a Flynn Quilt frame. I just did a stipple pattern--

1st FMQ adventure Woohooo!

This quilt was made for my Nephew that will be making his appearance in June. It was gifted as a baby shower present:)

Quilting the Bento

I finally got the bento quilt top done and sewn together. It is using the Tim Beck for Moda "Apple Jacks" line and is made with a Jelly Roll (or 2 1/2" strips cut from yardage).

 

 

 

 

Then I had to grow some cohones and try to figure out how to use the Flynn Quilt frame I bought after Christmas. For those of you that do not know what it is HERE is the website. I was scared let me tell you. I watched the video like 3 times and then took my laptop into the sewing room to watch while putting the contraption together. I'll do a full review on that  later though.

I'll just say it was not for the faint of heart.

A Simple Easter Gift

 

Every year for Easter I make special baskets for my Niece and Nephew.This year, my older brother is engaged and his fiance has two daughter's. This year I get to make for THREE girls -- SQUEAL!!! :) Being that I have a boy I rarely get the opportunity to sew for girls so I opted to make each of them a cute chevron skirt for their basket.

I just got a new machine and it did not go as smoothly as planned but by no fault of the machine.

 I bought the Brother SE 400.

Which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. It so unbelievably quiet compared to my old machine not to mention smooth as butter. It is reasonably priced and I (so far) would recommend it to others. Embroidering on knit though...there's a learning curve. That is where I ran into problems and had to buy a replacement shirt.

The three (yeah, THREE) lesson's I learned here:

1) Always use larger than your hoop size stabilizer

2) Make sure your fabric is taut and not hanging loose on one side.

3) Never get up during embroidering to look for a camera.

In the end the outfits turned out lovely and I hope all the little ladies love them!

I love how they are all chevron and match but are still unique. 

      AND by the way..the whole GFC thing...   Follow me on Bloglovin' instead:)     Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Another finish!

I've finished a quilt that I have been dragging my feet on. I always seem to do this. I love to start the quilt tops but hate the actual quilting process.

This one is a present so I can not show the whole thing but here is some snippets!

I decided to go out on a limb here and use a wide double needle for the quilting. It worked just okay. 

This is a picture of the front in the left lower hand and my hand made bias tape. On the top right hand is what the quilt looks like on the back using a double needle. I kinda like the zigzag look there.

For a tutorial on how to make bias tape go HERE.

As much as I drag my feet finishing a quilt I jumped right into another. While my sewing machine cooled down I started using up MY jelly roll to make these.

I used the some of the fabrics that are in my GIVEAWAY . It is only going on for ONE more day and if you were looking for some inspiration....go and enter:) Low entries here so you have a good shot at winning!

I used this VIDEO posted by MissouriQuiltCo. This was made by 3 Dudes Quilting originally though I believe. The only thing that I did differently was that I only used 3 strips vs. their 4.

Simplicity 4760

Pattern Description:

Boys' and Men's Pants and Shirt. This is a basic button down shirt pattern but not a "dressy" shirt.

Pattern Sizing:

Boys S, M, L and Mens S-XL

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

I think so.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I had no problems following along.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

It is a basic shirt which is just what I wanted. It is for my 3 yr old nephew and I know it will be trashed within a few wears. I did do a few special things to punch it up but nothing that was to crazy.

Fabric Used:

Thrifted Ikea 100% cotton top sheet. $2 bucks for SO much fabric!







Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

 

I did do a fancy seam on the shoulders and down the sides of the shirt. I don't know if it has a name but I folded the seam allowance to each side and stitched about 1/4" away from the seam. I don't think it is a flat felled or french. Anyhow I think it is pretty








Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Yes I still have a bunch of sheet left so I will make one for my little guy as well.







 

I like this little yoke on the shoulders with the seams I did for a little bit of interest. 

On a solid white shirt the detailing is what makes it special.

I specifically made this pattern so that my nephew could wear it with a little bow tie. 

My little guy loves them and has this same bow tie:)

Pinspiration post #2

The Original

post that got me started:

Came from a fun blogger named Jenn over at

www.cleanandscentsible.com .

She has a lot of great ideas on her blog so you should definitely set aside some time to check it out.

My Supplies:

Paint

Cheap o' canvas from Big Lots. A whopping $5.00 for 2 canvases.

Paint brush/foam brushes

A little one to steal their hand prints

Picture frames (or you can use them without, tit is hard to find deep enough ones to fit the canvas)

Sticky sayings from the scrapbooking section (or if your handwriting is nice you can just write your saying. Mine sucks sooo stickers it is)

I have a 2 1/2 yr old and he must have big hands. 

The canvas on the left is 11 x 14 and the right one is 8 x 10.

My little guy does not like having dirty hands; AT ALL!

 I may have had to bribe him with a batman cupcake.

Paint Laced Bag Tutorial

A quick tutorial

Supplies:

Elmer's Craft Bond (or similar)

Tulip Fabric Paint

Tote Bag Blanks (I got mine at JoAnns)

Not pictured:

Paper doilies-10"

Sponge dauber thingie

COVER your work surface with newspaper or paper bags! This stuff is SUPER sticky and will stick to your table for a VERY long time.

Take one paper doily and spray the back with craft bond. Do yourself a favor here; it is not more-the-better. Use just enough to make it stick. The first one I did I used way tooooo much and the doily ripped when I was taking it off and I had to remove bits of paper with a pin.

 

Place the doily sticky side down firmly

Starting from the edge of the doily start applying the fabric paint with the foam dauber thingy. 

Then fill in the rest and while paint is still wet gently remove the doily.

Ta-Da!

I am going to go back and put a letter in the corner of the bag to personalize the gift but it really isn't necessary. I also had a thought; what if you did a second layer of lace but in another color like a grey closer to the corner?

My 1600 Quilt

My 1600 Quilt...ONLY 15 months in the making.

Yea. I bought this fabric a LONG time ago and I've had it sandwiched but not quilted for 

many, 

many, 

many months.

It's done now though:)

I thought I would share it with y'all.

The front.

The pieced back.

My lovely handmade binding! See my post on how to make it in my post Bias tape? Anyone?

Here is my little man helping 

Daddy hold up the quilt. Good thing Daddy is tall!

Bias Tape? Anyone?

Yeah, you read that right. I am going to show you how. I have Christmas presents to finish and I'd rather not spend money on tools so necessity is the mother of invention (or so I hear).

So herrreee we go and I hope you don't mind this MILE long post with a lot of pictures!

First you need 1/2 a yard of fabric.

Wash, dry and iron it (if you must). 

I'm not saying you have to or anything, 

because honestly, I don't do it all the time. 

I ironed it before I got started using steam...

does that count??

I use a Clover erasable marker to mark my fabrics. I like it because it goes away when it gets wet. The only draw back for me it is that 

the ink is very light.

Okay in person not so much in pictures, hence my red arrows:)

You should be cutting off a triangle here people!

Measure twice--Cut once right?

Here is the first tool that I don't have and made myself--

a Bias Tape Ruler.

First use masking tape to mark the first section. For 1/2" double fold bias tape you need and original strip width of 1 7/8". I used the masking tape to make the first section 1 7/8" solid tape. Then take the ruler and line it up with the edge of the fabric and tape again at your marker pen line on the fabric. Repeat on the whole ruler.

It is hard to explain here but I will try:

Take the ruler's first taped section and line it up perpendicularly to the angled edge of the fabric and mark with pen and each side of the ruler.

THEN

Now if that was not confusing enough for you...
there's more...

Fold the fabric right sides together-it's wonky but then off set the lines as shown here:

Pin the long edges together getting the lines you drew on as close as you can. Don't worry if they are off a hair (ignore the little OCD monster if you can).

It is going to look CRAY when you are done but sew it up anyhow.

Lay one side as flat as you can and start cutting following the lines, starting at the offset bit (remember).

Now it is time to make the strip in to finished bias tape.

 Then you feed the end of the tape through the pinned section folding then edges to the middle and iron as you go. Then you fold the tape in half again and feed/iron it again.

This is a slightly tedious process. I'm not going to lie.

However, I do not have a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker, so this is what I came up with to fold and iron with out burning the CRAPLES out of my fingertips. I would love to have one but I just don't (donations?? Haha)

I was very proud of myself for coming up with this! It works beautifully.