Burp cloths and aprons

Even though I haven't been blogging a lot, there's been a lot of sewing happening.  My sister was going to a baby shower and requested a pack of neutral burp cloths since the mom wasn't finding out the gender.

 Aren't these fabrics the cutest. I got these at one of my LQS. I recently learned it is closing (Sew Smart in Doylestown for any locals) and I'm so sad. They always had the best selection of everything, but in particular, adorable baby and kid fabrics.

Some closeups.

My sister also requested a set of matching aprons for her and her son. At first I thought no problem! But then I realized how tough it was to find appropriate fabrics for mom and son to wear (son being 7). Sew Smart came through for me with this fun mushroom print.

For the pattern, I used a combination of this free Michael Miller reversible apron pattern and a favorite apron of mine for sizing.

Here are the two aprons together. They both seem happy with the results!

Nautical Quilt - take 2

Many of you will remember this nautical quilt that I made for my sister. She has it posted on Project Nursery right here. Through that site a lovely woman contacted me and asked me to make one for her coming baby girl. Unfortunately, that quilt is made with Neptune, which is of course hard to find. I have some, but not enough to duplicate it. Fortunately, Tula Pink designed Salt Water recently. It has the same feel so I started with that as my main focus. I'm really happy with the results!

I did a bunch of customization for her. The boat flags are a Polish and American flag for the parents and I hand embroidered the baby's name on it.

I used an off white for the background for more durability for a baby quilt and since Salt Water has a a bit of off white throughout it.

The quilting I did the same way as my sisters.

She wanted to hang the quilt initially so I added corner pockets so a dowel rod could be inserted. I'm hoping it works well, I've never used this method on such a big quilt.

The binding I pulled from Prince Charming. It went so well I couldn't resist.

She also asked me to make her two coordinating pillow covers. I made one sailboat like the ones on the quilt.

The other I made an anchor with some patchwork.

I hope she's as happy with everything as I am! I can't wait to see what she does with the rest of her nursery.

 

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Nautical Baby

Pattern: Ships Ahoy, Rhoda Nelson

Fabrics: Tula Pink's Salt Water and Prince Charming

Finished size: 46"x57

Finished: 5/20/13

The reader participation post

I could use some opinions again! Remember that Neptune Honeybun I posted the other day? I have all my blocks finished and need to decide on a background fabric. Nothing is jumping out at me so I'd love to know what you think. It's going to be a baby quilt so the Kona Ash might be in the front for me because of that.

White.

Grey.

Here they are side by side.

What do you think?




And while I am asking for participation. Maybe you can help with a personal crusade? I entered Evan in the Gerber baby contest and I'd really appreciate if you could vote for him! The link directly to him is here. Or you can search for him as entry ID #348145. Thanks so much!

Feeling lucky

It's been a bit of a rough summer around here. My husband was laid off a few months ago. And as I've mentioned, my son is a terrible sleeper. I haven't slept more than 4 straight hours since his birth. Those of you who have dealt with a bad sleeper know it makes you slightly crazy. I've been quilting to keep myself sane and have some fun stuff to show in a while.

But, I had a bit of luck last week and won 6 yards of Denyse Schmidt Chicopee from Pink Chalk Fabrics. It came directly from Free Spirit Fabrics, and they send me 1 yard cuts of 6 fabrics!

As someone who generally buys 1/2 yard or fat quarters, I'm feeling overwhelmed with a whole yard! I'm thinking maybe some bags? What do you do with large cuts? Or am I the only one who doesn't buy full yards?

A few weeks ago my friend Susanne of 3 Beans Studio came to visit with her camera. She took some absolutely gorgeous photos of my baby and a few with me.

I mean seriously gorgeous right!?  She's just relocated to the NY area. So if you want photos done, check out her site. She's amazing.

When she was here, she loved one of my quilts and I sold it to her cheaply as a thank you for the photography. I guess she felt it wasn't enough and this package of loveliness arrived on my doorstep from her!!!

Yup, that's Tula Pink's Birds and Bees! I totally thought I was going to miss out on this line because I'm on a fabric diet until hubby is back to work. I'm totally overwhelmed by her generosity. And feeling so lucky to have such a sweet friend. I definitely got the better end of the deal on this one. Amazing photos and gorgeous fabric. I'm a lucky girl.

An adult sized tunic

I have to start this post with my little "quilting hostage". I know he won't be napping in his swing for long so I had to capture this set up. After he is bound and gagged swaddled and binked, he hangs out with me in the afternoons while I sew. He's three months now so I'm going to start working on getting him in his crib for naps. Wish me luck!


At any rate, a while ago I posted this little tunic that I made for my daughter.

I finally finished the one for me. I used a voile for this and I'm so glad I did. It's super soft and drapes really nicely. The fabric is Joel Dewberry, Tile Flourish from the Heirloom collection. One word of warning with voile. Order extra because it's rather sheer. You will need to make a lining for the front of your shirt. Or wear a cami under it.

Again, Amy Butler's pattern went together very easily and quickly. I even managed to get the part around the zippers correct this time. oohh.. so professional.

There are four lengths in this pattern (shirt, long shirt, tunic and dress). Because I'm only 5'3" I went with the long shirt rather than the tunic and I'm glad I did because it came out long enough.

It's pulling around the chest a little, but that will go away once I'm not a nursing mama. I think the whole thing will lay better once that happens. One question for all you stylish people out there. I need something to cover my arms with when I wear this. What would you wear? A really long sweater?? (also, I will not be wearing it with those pants, I was too lazy to change.)

This or that? Opinions wanted

Hi all, it's been nice and quiet around here. Spending my time loving this little guy.

And of course his silly sister too.

I have snuck into the sewing room for a few minutes here and there. Managed to do a quick rearrange of the QST quilt. So here are my two options.
Color wash:

Or random:

Now, keep in mind random was done in about 2 minutes. I kind of just slapped everything up there as fast as I could. I would definitely tweak it before sewing.

But I've looked at these too long. I think I'm leaning one way, but I'd love to know which version you like best.

              

Guess who...

decided to make an appearance this morning after all? I'm so proud to introduce my little boy Evan.

 

I set up my wip post yesterday to auto post. Then last night my water broke and we were on our way. Evan joined us at 9:07am. He's 7lbs 4oz and perfectly healthy! 

We are both resting up and I'll respond to comments when things quiet down. Just wanted to let everyone know.

Eeek, there's a monster in my mailbox!

A while back I pinned this picture/tutorial from The Boy Trifecta on Pinterest.

I haven't a clue how to crochet, but I just thought this was the cutest thing ever. And now that I'm venturing into boy world, I have to find ways to torture my son. haha!

 Next thing I knew, my sweet bloggy friend Susanne was making me one! She is a woman of many talents. She just redesigned her blog where you have to check out her photography, her awesome sewing (especially her QR quilt) and she has her own pattern out! And apparently she can crochet too...

The other day, not one, but three hats arrived in my mailbox.  First there is the little newborn one.  She lined them in felt which will be great for cold Pennsylvania winters.

Isn't he cute!? Then she made me a bigger one in Phillies red.

And as if that wasn't enough, an even bigger one in blue! This one fits my daughter and she has claimed it as her own already. Except she keeps running away when I try to take her picture in it. :(

 Look, I have a little monster family!

Thank you so much Susanne! I'm blown away. These guys are just too much fun.

A bib fail and Merry Christmas to me

I mentioned before that I had some leftover FQ's of the Richard Scarry fabric I used in my son's nursery and I wanted to make a bib. I have Amy Butler's Little Stitches book and there is a bib pattern in there that I thought I would use.

It didn't go so well.

Let me say, it could very well be my baby brain. I seem to be terrible at anything that requires a lot of thought these days!!  I also think that my second mistake was trying to use the iron on laminate from Pellon. Not the products fault, but my fault. I should have made one without it first so I knew what the heck I was doing!

The pattern was listed as a difficulty level #2. So I'm pretty embarrassed about that one. But I have to say, the directions were really lacking. Because she has two different patterns on there, one with a pig and one just with fabrics, there doesn't seem to be a lot of detail. No instructions on when to turn your project right side out. If I read it correctly, it has me adding the bottom pocket inside out!? 

So I wound up just using the pattern piece to cut everything out and then winging it. HA! There's my problem. Here's my final result.

It's a wrinkled mess due to the laminate. And the neck straps don't reach each other.

Apparently I was sloppy attaching the pocket and this corner had raw edges sticking out. I had to topstitch it. :(

The back is cute though - lol!

So I think I need to find an online tutorial. Clearly I need stuff spelled out for me at this stage of the game.  If you have any you want to recommend, I would love it!

On a more fun note, I bought myself a little fabric Christmas present. I knew hubby wasn't getting me anything fabric/sewing related so I got myself some of the yummie Half Moon Modern fabrics that I've been loving. I got some at my LQS and others from Pink Chalk Fabrics. They came Christmas Eve!

And I had no idea how big those dots and chevrons actually are. That's a quarter on that dot on the top print for scale.

I'm thinking these will be great for a quilt back or a large bag. And the colors definitely make me happy. Hope you had a wonderful holiday too!

Happy New Year!