I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE

I got an idea to do something that I've never done before.  I'm going to do a giveaway.  (Because, why not?)  I made a purse, because, well, it was already cut out and ready to be sewn together and I've been trying to complete more projects lately, but truthfully, I have no need for it.

I have made similar bags to this before, so a few of you may recognize it.  This one is lined in a simple white fabric, so although it is technically reversible, you probably won't want to reverse it.  The picture kind of makes the straps look short, but really they are just normal.  The bag is probably 16-18 inches across the bottom...hopefully that helps you judge the size.

If you want to win this bag, simply click on the rafflecopter widget below for a chance to enter.  My only stipulation is that the winner must live in the United States.  If you win, I'll mail the bag to you.  Plus it might be interesting for me to see who actually reads my little blog!  The giveaway ends on Saturday and I'll contact the winner on Sunday (or a day or two later...but I WILL contact you!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GETTING BACK TO CRAFTY

The house is currently silent.  This morning we hosted Mason's birthday party, and I can't believe so much time has passed that he is already turning three.  He partied and ate too much sugar all morning with friends and relatives and we were successfully able to get him to take a nap this afternoon, so I thought I would take a minute to show you a project I did a few days ago - one that gets back to my Craftnight roots.

This project is a direct result of me being a hoarder.  It starts like this.  I moved into this house just over four years ago. Prior to that, Byron and I lived in the townhouse I lived in when I was single.  It was just after we got married (over 6 years ago) that we got our dog Minnie.  And sometime when she was a puppy, she chewed up some throw pillows.  Those pillows, until recently, were in my basement.  WHO KEEPS CHEWED UP PILLOWS IN THEIR BASEMENT FOR SIX YEARS?  Oh right, me, Katie, the hoarder.

So anyway, I came across these pillows recently, and thank the Lord I convinced myself to throw away the chewed up pillow covers.  But the inserts...well I surely could find something to do with them, right?  Spoiler alert:  I did (see above).

I spent the first year of Mason's life taking photos of him weekly, each time on a different background.  This left me with a lot of fabric left over, just waiting for the right project to come along.  Enter this fabric:

I cut that sucker up, sewed it into some new pillow covers, and voila!  Enter style and softness to my front porch.  Next time we want to take a sit on the porch (yes, another slightly inappropriate inside joke within my family) we'll be nice and comfy.

BUNNY BAG

My sewing machine had been silent for awhile, and recently I just had the urge to create something. Somewhere in the online realm I came across this bag and I knew I wanted to make something like it for Mason.  I figured out a rough pattern and a about an hour later (generally spent 20 minutes at a time spread over three sessions) I had this!

I didn't take any photos along the way and this is by no means a tutorial, but if you are wanting to make something similar, here are a few tips.

1.  Embroidering the face is one of the first steps you will do.  It probably helps to use an embroidery hoop, but I do not have one so I just went for it.  To secure it, I used a fusible lining that I ironed on to the back.

2.  If I were doing this again, I would have stabilized the sides and bottom of the bag with something sturdier.  I used a few scraps of fusible lining, but it was pretty light and just what I happened to have around.  The ears actually stand up by themselves, but since the bag is not structured, they tend to fall over.

3.  When you are sewing it all together, pin the crap out of that bad boy to help all the seams line up properly.

Even without a pattern (or much of a plan for that matter) this project was super simple and now I have the urge to keep creating!

BINDING

I started making a quilt for Mason before he was born.  Now, as he is approaching 15 months old, I am nearing the final stages.  I've made yards upon yards of double-fold seam binding.  I swear, I think I made ten yards of this stuff, which is a little bit of overkill considering my quilt is baby sized.  I guess I have plenty now to use for a future project. Or several.
I have to say, I love it when quilts are bound in something unexpected, which is why I generally make my own.  This print isn't actually found anywhere in my quilt, but because of all of the different blues and greens, I think it works nicely.  I hope to share pictures of the finished product in the near future.
I am no expert on making this stuff (by far!), but I generally watch this video in order to help me think through the whole process.  This helped me as well when it came to sewing the stuff and I know this site is really helpful as well.

Pieces

A project that has been in the works for awhile now is a quilt for my sweet baby.  In the six short weeks of motherhood I've experienced, I have learned that quilts are a very valuable tool to have in my toolkit.  When I lay the quilt on the floor for Mason to lay on, they stop spit up from making its way through to the rug, as opposed to blankets, which just soak through.  Of course being a spit up catcher is not the only reason I love quilts.  I also love them just because.  And I wanted to make one for my boy so he had something made with love from his mama.

I chose the color palette from stash fabrics and settled on blues and greens with some linen fabric added in to balance it out.  I wanted the pattern to be simple, but I knew I wanted to follow an actual pattern rather than just making a random quilt like last time.  After sketching out a few ideas, I decided on a simple brick pattern.
I cut my pieces 6.5 in x 3 in, which was somewhat based on research and somewhat on a whim.  Ultimately, I don't think it really matters what size the pieces are for this quilt as long as I liked them and they were uniform.
So after I cut and cut and cut and cut and cut, I finally have all my pieces cut and am ready to start piecing the top.  As long as I can find the time for it while juggling caring for a newborn, this step should go pretty quickly, and it is also probably the most gratifying too (next to finishing) because the pattern really starts to come alive.  I can't wait!

Because these fabrics were mostly chosen from my stash, I love the stories that are connected to each piece.  Several of these came from my grandmother's stash, are leftovers from projects I have done in the past, or even projects that never were.  My favorite story in this quilt, though, is that one of the fabrics (unfortunately it isn't pictured in any of the photos) came from one of Mason's grandpa's shirts!  I just think that is such a fun part of this.  When Mason is older, I can tell him all about what went into this quilt.

Just a Little Something I Whipped Up

Friends of ours are having a baby girl next month, and although I have already attended two showers for them, I couldn't resist making one more gift.  I have fabric stashed in all corners of this house, and occasionally if I am cleaning something or looking for something, I stumble across some that I had forgotten about.  In one of these missions, I found a little bit of flannel that I had gotten for some baby gifts I made a few years ago, and happened to have just enough left for one more quick project.  So despite all the other things I had going on, I dove right in.
For awhile, this was my go to baby shower gift - the Birdie the Cat free pattern from Amy Butler.  I've added special stitching in the past, but for this one I went with the quick and dirty approach.  I used fusible webbing for the face, sewed the body together, stuffed it full of stuffing, and hand sewed the opening closed.  It probably took an hour altogether, but here is the cute little guy I ended up with.

Best part is it was free since I already had all the materials on hand.  That is seriously a first, I think!

Tutorial: Alphabet Blocks

This could be a really long post, filled with tons of pictures, but I hope that in the end I can break down the process so that you can repeat this project.
1.  Cut out squares.  If you are doing the entire alphabet, you will need to cut out at least 156 squares.  I say at least, because I went for a random pattern and used up fabric from my stash, I needed a few more squares so I didn't have repeats.  The squares are 4" x 4", but you can size them however you want.

2.  Cut out the letters.  I used felt, so that I wouldn't have to treat the edges, and I affixed fusible interfacing to the back of the felt prior to cutting out the letters.  I printed out the letters on my computer.  You could use just about any font, but I would definitely recommend something simple.

3.  Iron on the letters.  Don't forget to peel the paper backing off the fusible interfacing.  I may have done that the first time I used it.

4.  Sew the four squares together that will make up the sides.  When you do this, leave a 1/4" seam allowance (or just smaller).  Also, leave a 1/4" gap of unsewn material at each end of the seam.  This will make it easier when it comes to turning corners when sewing on the top and the bottom.  Remember to iron open all your seams.

5.  Pin on the top.  I used two pins per side, and I angled the direction of the pin toward the center of the square, again, making the corners easier.  I started with the top piece so that the hand sewn seam would end up on the bottom.  That is not a requirement, but in my opinion, it makes it look nicer.  Sew all around the top, leaving a 1/4" seam, and overlapping your starting and stopping points.  I also like to remove the pins as I go instead of trying to sew over them.  That is up to you.

This is a close up of how I did the corners.  If possible, I tried to stop exactly between the folds, then pivot the whole thing.  Most of the time I just got as close as I could.

6.  Pin on the bottom, just like the top, and sew.  The difference here is that you will leave an opening so that you can turn the block, stuff it, and hand sew it closed.  The opening should be about an inch wide.

7.  Turn the block inside out through the opening.

8.  Push out the corners.  I just used my fingers.

9.  Fill the block with stuffing, then hand sew it closed.  And...done!

Repeat this process 25 more times.  This is where I am going to share a couple of personal thoughts.  The entire alphabet, when you are as busy as I am, is a big undertaking.  That is why it took me several months to complete.  If you have tons of time, are more dedicated than me, have no time table, etc., then this is a great project for you.  If you don't, I might suggest choosing a word, like a baby's name.  It will take you way less time.  However, in the spirit of not wanting to be totally negative, I also want to say I am really proud of myself for doing this project without instructions, and I am extremely pleased with the outcome.  I'm sure there may be similar projects out there, but I didn't reference them.  And in the end, I think it is a really cute gift.  And the blocks will be PERFECT for throwing, especially for those out of control baby hands.  I think I am even crazy enough to try another set for myself.

Alphabet Blocks, Part 2

Remember these?  These were the alphabet blocks that I started last summer for a baby shower gift.  And then the gift turned out to be A-B-C-D-E-F-G.

Meanwhile, the baby was born in September and is now several months old.  And I haven't come back to them in, well, several months.  Until now.  I've sewn up H through V so far, which means only four letters to go.  I unfortunately ran out of stuffing, so I'll have to pick some up and then of course, hand sew them shut, but still - I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel with this project.  And then I can move on to others, like checking off items on my 30 before 30 list.
Oh, and guess what else...I'm even coming back with a tutorial for how I made them.

Seeing Red

I am in a sea of red.  Literally.  Or at least I was yesterday.

Have you ever seen this much fabric?  It was everywhere.  This is only one side of the room.  So here is the back story.  For one of my other part time obligations, I coach a high school colorguard squad.  Their first performances are coming up, and we are in need of a new set of flags.  There just so happened to be this huge red fabric monster in their equipment closet, and since I can sew, it is now becoming our closing set of flags.  In order to manage this hug beast, I cut it down the seams into 8 strips.  Each strip was about 42 inches wide, and I don't know how long each was but I'm pretty sure it is longer than the width of my house.  So needless to say, that's a lot of fabric - cutting it apart took around 3-4 hours alone!  Fortunately my sewing room didn't look like this for long.
At first I was only going to have to make 8 flags, but now, we took our show in a new direction, so that means I have to make 24 flags.  By the 18th.  And did I mention that I am going to be out of town for work a couple of days in there?  I have recruited Byron to help me as much as possible, and so far that has meant ironing.  Regardless, it looks like my sewing machine (and my free time, for that matter) is going to be all work and no play for the next week or so.  I hope to be able to work on other things around the house too, but they might just be put off until I make my deadline!

At Last, the Shower

After long last, and a few weeks of stressing on other topics, I can now present to you the baby shower that I threw my dear friend Andrea a couple of weeks ago.  The theme I chose was Cute as a Button, and I found the idea here.  I loved the idea and how she carried it throughout so many different aspects.  I wasn't able to do quite as much, but still, it made for a fun time.  I also liked that the idea could be gender neutral, since Andrea is not finding out her baby's gender ahead of time.
THE INVITES

To start with, I handmade the invites.  I designed them in plain old Word and printed them on my own home printer.  I took them to the next step by sewing a sleeve and a button on each of them.  I must give a special shout out to my mom for her help in the assembly line!

THE MENU
I told Andrea to be sure to bring her sweet tooth to the shower.  We had fresh fruit and chocolate covered marshmallows (one of my easy go-to items, this time embellished to look like buttons...which they did, if you squinted and used your imagination), but the pride and joy of the shower were the cupcakes.  Oh, the cupcakes.  They. Were. Amazing.  Triple Chocolate and Lemon Velvet, ordered from my new favorite place in Valley Junction, Carefree Patisserie.  I can't say enough wonderful things about these cupcakes.

THE SHOWER
All in all, I think everyone had a great time.  We didn't play any shower games, but rather just had an enjoyable time to chat and tell stories.  I didn't have much to contribute in terms of advice, but many of the other gals did, and they had funny stories, too!

THE GIFTS

As a hostess trying to make sure all of the details of the morning were flowing smoothly, I failed at taking pictures of the gifts.  I can, however, share my gift to Andrea and baby.  The first thing I got her was this print.

I have had my eye on this for a long time for myself, but since I didn't have a reason to buy it for me, I knew Andrea would like it (plus I cleared it with her husband behind her back!).  The second thing I gave her was a handmade creation - I made fabric alphabet blocks.  I totally winged the process sans pattern, but I really like how they turned out.  (Stay tuned for a future post where I explain how I made them.)  Here is the first batch.

Overall, I had a really great time throwing the shower for Andrea.  I will say, thanks to Byron, my house had never been so clean.  I also owe a huge thank you to our friend Wynn who helped tremendously with the shower.  I couldn't have done it without her!  Now I can just sit back and wait until I get the chance to meet Baby Davey in person!