mommysew

Polaroid Pillows

I had seen the polaroid quilt blocks popping up on blogs, flickr and pinterest over the past several months, and I thought they were such a cute idea! I knew I wanted to do something with them, and when I started thinking about Christmas gifts, I thought of how much my kids LOVE pillows. I thought these would make great gifts for both my kids and my niece and nephew.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561169545/player/7da85f726e

I started going through my scraps and choosing prints for each kiddo - things I thought they would like.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561311076/player/660f8fa096

Then I cut all the white pieces for the frames and sewed those to the fussy cut centers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561214214/player/63be86f9ca

I decided how big I wanted the pillows to finish, and then added grey sashing around the frames.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561185035/player/63def9804c

I tilted my ruler as I cut them down to size, so the pictures would appear tilted. Then I sewed them together in rows and made the pillow top. I didn't want to quilt them, so they would still be soft, but I wanted to prevent some fraying, so I sewed a muslin back onto the pillow front before I sewed the envelope closure on the back.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561189285/player/89cb108b41

I used a bunch of stash pieces for the backing and just did simple envelope closures. I think they came out pretty cute!

Christmas Making

Way back when we were iced in, we made this felt tree when we couldn't get out to get our real tree. Thank goodness for a stash - I had a large enough piece of green felt. Daddy made the star for the top of the tree and Samantha spent hours coloring and creating other ornaments (there is a huge family of gingerbread men), stockings and presents. It was a great activity for a day we were stuck inside!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11297055506/player/3f7d47865e

We also used the same idea to make a small snowman the kids could 'build' out of felt pieces, but I failed to get a picture of it.

For classmate gifts this year I made peppermint playdoh for the little's class, and Samantha and I made these snowmen ornaments for her class.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561247315/player/5a27665a3f

I had seen the idea on Pinterest, and I didn't end up with enough time to embroider details, but I think they are still cute. Samantha chose all the buttons from my button stash, and I sewed them onto a piece of red felt (again from the stash!), and then blanket stitched another piece to the back to cover the sewing.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561241995/player/9d4c12dc58

I also made Henry a stocking for the mantle. I used this cute vintage print that I picked up at MadTosh. I winged it, by tracing one of the other stockings, making two quilted panels, sewing them together, and finishing the top with bias tape. Voila!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nevitt/11561397546/player/00fffa6b8a

Finally, the week before Christmas I saw someone post on Instagram a picture of the cutest flannel they had picked up at JoAnn. I had to stop by there anyway, so I looked for the flannel. They only had two cute prints left (and barely enough) - the snowglobes and the penguins. I debated what to do for the third pillowcase when I remembered this nutcracker flannel my mom had given me a few years ago. The kids LOVED them, and rushed to put them on their pillows right away. A good reminder that sometimes the simple gift is best!

There was much more making - I will have to split it into multiple posts!

Working working working

I have been busy cutting stacks of fabric into pattern pieces for Christmas presents. There are about 50 things on my 'to-make' list. I have about 15 done. Based on the behavior of my children and the napping schedules, I may finish by Christmas 2016.

Granny Square Quilt Take 2

Last Christmas I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my mother in law, and I had enjoyed making my first Granny square quilt so much, I decided to make it again. I used all DS prints from JoAnn's, and kept the center square red in each block. I added white sashing and grey cornerstones. I really love this quilt, and she did too!

The white is Kona White, the cornerstones and binding is Kona Ash. I didn't get a picture of the backing and I can't remember what I used! I was glad to finally get a picture of this one, since I didn't get one before it was gifted.

Hunter's Race Car Quilt

My nephew recently turned three, and moved into a big boy bed. I asked my sister if he needed a big boy quilt to go along with that bed and we got our wheels turning. Literally! He is big into race cars, and Lightning specifically. My sister found this quilt and another like it on Pinterest and asked if I could make something like that. Turns out they used a pattern from Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and I had the book! Hubby blew up the template pieces for me at work, and my sister ordered a bunch of fabric with race cars on it. We used a Michael Miller black and white pindot for the road, and a big rainbow dot print for the back.



This was my first time making a template with curves. I found it difficult to cut them out without cutting the template. After too many nicks in the template, I finally decided to trace all the pieces and cut them out with scissors. It definitely took longer, but was less stressful in the long run.



It took much longer to pin all the curves together than it did to sew them together, but all the pinning was worth it! They came out great and laid flat with no clipping and very very few puckers (that were entirely my fault).

When I trimmed the blocks down I did find that some parts of my road no longer matched up - the large corner curves didn't always match the 'straight' curves. I couldn't finagle them to fit either - the blocks are so large that moving one enough to make the road match meant that it didn't match up to the next side.



With hubby's help, we figured out how to lay out the blocks so that it was one continuous road. I had to make two more corner pieces for it to work, but that was no big deal! I quilted it with a wavy stitch to mimic the curves of the road.



I made a label using a Sublime Stitching transfer and put his and my names on it, with the year. I hope he loves it, and that my sister doesn't blame me when he is up past his bedtime driving cars on his bed! :)

Quiet Games

Several weeks (months?) ago I pinned this pin. I thought it would be perfect for car rides and other times when the kids needed to have a quiet activity. When my niece's birthday rolled around a few weeks back, I thought of this as a gift, since she was having a baby sister soon (who was born last week! Yay for being an aunt again!), and would need something quiet to do while mommy fed the baby and rested.

I bought a bunch of wool felt from Madtosh, (which is so nice - I now will only use crappy felt for things that may be torn up - ie: costumes and such), and planned out which activities I wanted to do.





I've heard that the ice cream one is her favorite!



For the tree I made several different colors of leaves, so the tree can have seasons as she gets older and understands that.



I think the rainbow is my favorite!





I really like the flowers and butterflies as well.

I didn't use a pattern for any of these - for the ones I was worried about coming out the right size to fit on the half sheets of felt (I cut all the backgrounds into half sheets), I made a paper template first (butterfly, tree trunk). I added embellishments I thought a two-year old could handle. And if tiny pieces get lost, they are easily replaced!

I packaged each set of pieces into snack size ziploc bags (the butterflies did have to use a sandwich isze bag - their wings were too big for the smaller bag), labeled with what pieces belonged in them. Then I put all of the backgrounds and small bags into a gallon sized bag. This way she can have out one activity at a time. And some of the backgrounds have things glued down - the tree, the butterfly body, the sand, the ice cream cone, while the others have mostly moving parts. I tried to glue something on each background so they could tell which activity it was.

Samantha has already requested a set for our house - guess I need to buy more wool felt!

Teacher Gifts

Teacher appreciation week was just a few days ago, but our last day of school is tomorrow already! I can't believe it, and I'm not sure I'm ready for being 35 weeks pregnant with three kids home all day every day, but we'll make it through!

I didn't get my teacher appreciation gifts posted here before the end of teacher appreciation week, but these would make great end of the year gifts for the teachers in your life too!



I used Teri's pattern from Pretty in Patchwork Holidays to make these. I also didn't use fusible fleece or fusible interfacing, because I didn't have any. I used quilt batting and sew in interfacing, and they worked just fine. I also used regular elastic for the closure instead of a hair tie. Cute pattern - and these came together pretty quickly! I couldn't find lined notepads, so I used plain white 'scratch' pads instead, but I think they're fine!



For their end of the year gifts I chose to use Poochie Bag pattern, which was fast and easy! I did topstitch around the top of my bag because I love topstitching! I filled these with homemade chocolate chip cookies and a reusable water bottle with those small packets of iced tea. I hope they will find their treats enjoyable!



The best thing about these gifts? All of my kids will have different teachers next  year so I can make these all over again! :)  But I'd love some new ideas - what are you making/giving for teacher appreciation gifts?



PS - How are you all feeling about the new Flickr makeover? I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures which Flickr chose to upload most of sideways. Argh!!!

Easter basket Dolls

I always like to have a handmade item in the kiddo's baskets each year. I thought for a long time about what to do for them this year (in all honesty, I started thinking about it right after Christmas! I am nothing if not a planner). I finally settled on something that 'went together' so that there would not be fighting (Samantha really wants everyone to have the same thing). I've had Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls book since it came out (I LOVE her blog and her darling patterns), but had been intimidated to try to make anything (just like I am whenever I try something new!).



I finally settled on three dolls that I felt suited each kiddo's personality and what they like in dolls/stuffed animals. I chose Eddie, the Take a-long Doll and the Bunting Baby.



I used what I had in my stash, so Eddie doesn't have fur hair, but I think he's pretty cute anyway. I really like the way their faces came out - and so simple! That is one area of making any stuffed creature that I worry over the most.  I also changed Eddie's called for knit shirt into cotton fabric with a car print, since Ben is obsessed with trucks and cars.



I did have to get another bag of fiber fill (I used all I had on those dino tails!), but otherwise this was a stash project!

The dolls came together really easily and the directions were very clear - I will be making more of them! Best of all, all three kiddos seemed to really love them - they are already sleeping in their beds and getting drug around everywhere - sure signs of winners!

Sampler Quilt

When I joined my local Modern Quilt Guild last spring, they were in the midst of working through the Sew Mama Sew Modern Block of the Month. I decided that I needed to join in and grabbed some Kona solids one day to use. (I didn't realize until I got home that they were sort of Mardi Gras colors - totally unintentional). I started doing the blocks in order, and quickly found some frustrations. I didn't like all the tiny cutting for each block - it was difficult to do from yardage of the fabric. Also, one of the first blocks is an improv block, and I have not had a lot of experience doing that. I also am a big lover of geometry, symmetry and clean lines - so this block made me twitch a bit!

I stalled out for a while, but was determined to finish (I can have 20 million knitting projects, but don't like lingering sewing projects - I'm strange).  I thought it would go well in my brother and sister-in-law's living room, and they like modern and vintage things.



I sashed the blocks with Kona White and used the leftover yardage of the gold and purple for the backing (I bought two yards of each color and I still have leftovers!) This was one I was glad to be finished with! I did enjoy some of the individual blocks and may make them again for different projects. Also, if I had really done one block a month, instead of four or five at a time, I might have enjoyed the process more!

Sewing gifts

I drew my sister-in-law's name in our annual gift exchange, and she loves to sew, knit and embroider, so I knew I wanted to make her something!

I made her a zip pouch for her knitting, but really wanted to make her something for her embroidery/cross stitch. I remembered that I had pinned (and bought vinyl for!) this tutorial and decided to try it out!



It was so easy! I 'made' my own quilted panel for the middle and used up what bias tape I had in the stash. I also left off the strap/handle. I didn't have the 'right' kind of snaps, but I think these work fine! I think I'm going to try to 'upsize' it and make one a bit larger for me!

I also made her a simple needle book to keep inside her new bag. I sewed two pieces of fabric together with a layer of batting in the middle and top stitched the outside. I cut two rectangles of felt and sewed them in the center - voila!

Finally, I made her a pincushion. I don't have a picture of hers, but I used the same tutorial (but different fabrics) as this one I made for our guild's gift exchange.