The handmade gifts continue....

I can't believe I have been doing this for almost 6 months and I am still sticking to it! Although, I am a little concerned because I have my grandmother's birthday, brother's birthday, mom's birthday, and father's day all in the next month. The worst part is that I don't have anything picked out to make for any of those occasions (suggestions welcome!)

This week, well next week...but I couldn't wait so I gave my gift early, is yet another birthday to celebrate! This project is one that I found early on and knew it would be a good one for me. I used two different tutorials, one for a potholder and the other an oven mitt.

I started off easy with the potholder (from a pretty cool life). I found this fun fabric that I thought would be perfect!

Be careful if you make these that you get insulated batting so that no one gets burned! I found some at JoAnns.

I decided to not quilt the entire potholder. I like the way it turned out with only 3 lines (there is a picture of the complete one at the end).

Then I got started on the oven mitt. This tutorial was the easiest I found.

This was my first attempt (well, except for the minimal attempt with the potholder) of quilting. You have to quilt two separate panels. This took quite a bit of time, probably because I had never done it before and I am terrible at trying to sew a straight line! At times, my line kind of curved but I figured when everything was put together, you would hardly even notice :)

These are my two panels pinned together. I chose a soft fabric for the lining, which I luckily had enough of in my leftover bin! Also important to use insulated batting for this one too!

After the layers are pinned together, the tutorial provides a PDF to cut out, trace and then sew. You cut the fabric after you sew the mitt.

Finished!

Here they are together! I am so excited by how this project turned out. Hopefully they will keep the cook's hands burn free!! :)

Baby gifts

I have a super sweet pregnant friend, Katie, who is having a baby shower this weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend. So I spent some special time with her and gave her my handmade gift for baby Frances (she is baby Frances because I have a friend named Frances- remember the cupcake pin cushion). Baby Frances is already a rockstar in my book because she has amazing parents. I knew her present had to be special. It was my first attempt at baby gifts so I started out slow. But I already have a sweet idea for my "welcome to the world Frances" gift (this is not a normal thing I do, but like I said her parents are some of my favorite people so she totally deserves it)!

Back to the projects.... I wanted to make something for baby Frances that would match her nursery. So I conspired with the husband to figure out the fabric being used in the nursery and made a little stuffed elephant. I started this project on sew-turday back in February. It probably could have been completed in one afternoon but I chose to take several weeks :) The pattern came from the book One Yard Wonders.

The beginnings of the elephant

Body

The pattern has really great instructions until you start to put on the head. I had to hand stitch it to the neck, which was an adventure in itself.

Ta Da!!! no wait, there is something missing

EARS! Isn't it sweet?!

I made sure to make the eyes out of embroidery floss because I fully expect baby Frances to love on this elephant!

I also played around with making bibs. They were super easy and took less than 30 minutes, plus I used some scraps from a different project! I followed this tutorial, which I highly recommend!

I didn't really measure my fabric before I sewed it together. After sewing, fold your new block in half with right sides together.

This is the easy part... you literally trace around a bib you have, sew along the trace line (be careful to leave an opening so you can turn it, and THEN cut.

Cut and snip the curves. Turn right side out and top stitch all the way around. This also closes up the space you left open to turn the bib right side out.

Then just add a snap or velcro and you are finished!

Check out the tutorial before you get started... she did a much better job walking you through this project than I did :)

I can't wait to meet baby Frances...but she has a little more time in the oven before I can love on her!

Another finished project

I am so excited! This weekend I finished 3 projects... wahoo!! I was on a major time crunch for two of them....but one has a little time before I give it away.

Yesterday was the birthday of one of my favorite people! She is a nurse that I work with and I am so thankful to have her to turn to on rough days! Besides being a nurse (and all around fabulous person), she also has a photography business called Shutterbug. So when thinking about what to make for her birthday, my mind immediately went to cameras! I had seen a few tutorials for a camera strap cover...so that was a given. I even tricked her into bringing her camera to work just so I could make sure she had the kind of strap that matched the tutorial (he, he, he).

As for what would go with that, well I thought about making an applique of a camera on a tote bag. That, unfortunately, did not work...so I had to drop back and punt and go onto plan B... a screen print. The screen print didn't turn out like I had hoped and it took two attempts to get my pattern to go through. But Vikki is so great, I know she will love it anyway!

Camera Strap (mid-project). I followed this tutorial and it was super easy!

I was actually very proud of my camera drawing.

Nope folks, I didn't trace... it's ok to be impressed :)

To do the screen printing, I followed this tutorial. It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Maybe it was a little more difficult because I was trying to print on canvas. As I figured out with this project, everything seems more difficult with canvas!

Finished print

I even added a side pocket to the tote, which buttons over the top. I got this idea out of a Martha Stewart magazine. I really love it because the button gives you a way to sort of keep the top closed.

Finished and matchy-matchy :)

Hopefully the strap will fit!

With these projects, I learned:

button holes

screen printing (well...sort of learned)

working with interfacing

Next project reveal coming soon!

Happy Monday and happy birthday Vikki!!!!

drum roll please....

So this past weekend on of my favorite people celebrated her birthday...and if you read my blog a few weeks ago, then this means I gave my first (of many...) homemade gifts!! It was so fun and luckily I got it finished before my vacation, so I wasn't stressed. She was a great sport at being the first recipient...let's just say I hope my skills get better as the year goes on (basically, the Christmas gifts will probably be the best)!

I didn't have a difficult time trying to figure out what to make. And since she is one of my besties...I knew it had to be special. So here is the run down of what I made :)

Project # 1

Finished product.... a cupcake pincushion!

This project was not easy for a beginning knitter. I wouldn't have been able to complete it without my knitting friend Rhi (a complete lifesaver...especially when I had to rip out 4 rows and then was COMPLETELY lost in the pattern). It was a free pattern I found through Ravelry (an ah-mazing resource for knitting patterns) and can be found on the Spud & Chloe website.

Project # 2

Finished product...a travel sewing organizer

Complete with multiple pockets, a pin holder, & spool holders

And it rolls up neatly when you store it!

This project had me working on my sewing skills (which are a bit dusty since I haven't done much sewing since...well... high school home ec.). The pattern for this came from the book One Yard Wonders. I am sure there will be more homemade gifts that come out of this book before this year is over! During this project I think I ripped out more seams than not and I learned how to add (and remove) snaps. Just a tip, be careful if you are adding snaps that you don't break them...they are not too easy to remove :)

I think she liked her gifts and I am pretty proud of my first accomplishments! There will be another homemade gift coming soon!

You can probably tell that I am also trying to experiment with and hone my blogging skills, which is why there are a few crazy collages thrown in here (just wish I knew how to make them bigger) and a new blog header. Any and ALL blog advice is welcome! Oh and thank you to those who leave comments! It makes me very happy to get them (hint...hint...)! :)