Sewing/Crafts
January Quilt Blocks for the Fresh Comfort Quilting Bee!
I recently finished up my first two blocks for the Fresh Comfort Virtual Quilting Bee. Katie asked for blocks designed around anything related to trees. The first block I designed myself using traditional flying geese blocks for the trees and piecing together the remaining parts of the block to resemble tree trunk, sky and grass.
For the second block, I used a the Maple Leaf tutorial at Quilter’s Cache.
As I was sewing these, it occurred to me that I’d love to have copies of each of the blocks that I sew for the bee to make a quilt to keep. So, using the same patterns, I sewed up these two quilt blocks with fabric from my stash:
A New Purse for the New Year
I’ve really needed to sew up a new bag for me for quite some time. My old one had seen it’s better days. I love being able to say, “I made it myself!” when people comment on my bags, but, um, I didn’t want to say that about my old one anymore. Before I started on my new bag, I did a little browsing and brainstorming for what exactly I wanted. Once I had my list ready, I went to work!
The Shade Garden fabric by Michelle Engel Bencsko just makes me smile, so I used the last of what I had in my stash to piece together this bag. I really liked the look of the “tied” handles that are popular right now, but it took some work for me to figure out how to actually make them look nice. I also added an elastic and fabric-covered button closure that is perfect for keeping things contained but still allows for quick access–it looks really cute, too!
The inside is much like my old bag with a middle divider and a divided side pocket where I can keep my cell phone, a pen or pencil and my favorite lipgloss.
Of course, I had to add a matching wallet and key fob, too.
I’m so happy with how the whole set turned out! When oldest daughter saw it, she asked me to sew one up for her right away. I think she might get one for her birthday in a few months instead. Shhhh . . .
Handmade Christmas – Christmas Pajamas
Just one more Christmas post before I move on to other things. It has become a tradition for me to make our kids new Christmas pajamas every year. I love having the kids in matching pjs on Christmas morning, and since my kids range in age from almost 20 to 2, I really have no choice, but to make them! I used several different patterns this year, some of my own and some purchased.
For my youngest two boys, I used my Patrick Curved Raglan top. I did modify Jamie’s to add cuffs to the arms. For Jamie’s pants, I used my AJ Bottoms pattern with cuffs added the same way I did the shirt. Allen’s and Samantha’s pants were both just traced from a ready-to-wear pair of PJ pants. (Knit pajama pants are very forgiving and tracing a pair that you know fits well works great!) Samantha’s top is my Emmy pattern which is her favorite.
For Morgan and Sean, I used Kwik Sew 3144. Morgan asked for a long nightshirt, and Sean wanted the v-neck style top. (I did modify the top a bit to make it more masculine for Sean. I just made the sleeves a little wider and longer and squared off the bottom and hemmed it.)
I always try to get the tops done as early as possible so the kids can get as much wear as possible out of them. They wear them with jeans to Christmas parties, get-togethers and, of course, to visit with Santa.
Handmade Christmas – Quilts for My Big Kids
Morgan asked me to make a new twin-size quilt this year for her bed in her college dorm. The flip-flop quilt that I made her many years ago has seen it’s better days, and she needed something a little more grown up. She loves the beach and the ocean, and her favorite colors are blue and green. I set out hunting for the perfect fabric many months ago and had about given up when I ran across Hoffman’s Beach Babes fabric. I knew it was just right, but because it was a popular, discontinued fabric, it was hard to find. Fabrics by the Sea came to my rescue! I saw that they had a few sets of the various fabrics, so I contacted the owner, Barb, and she worked with me to put together exactly what I needed to get this quilt done! (She even included great goodies in the package–a quilted coaster kit and salt water taffy!)
Morgan loves her new quilt, and I was even able to squeeze enough extra squares out of the leftovers to piece together a pillow sham and toss pillow for her.
I made a new twin-size quilt for Sean last year, but he needed a smaller, easy to drag around lapquilt. Like most teenage boys, he loves football, and I was able to find some really cool realistic cotton football prints to put this quilt together for him.
I like to make my lapquilts without batting and back them with minky. It makes for a nice warm, comfy quilt that folds up compactly, so it’s great for travel. I think Sean really likes his!
Now that Christmas is over, I’m looking forward to our new baby arriving in about a month, and doing lots of baby sewing. Pictures are coming!
Fabric-Covered Journals, Board Games & Dinner with Young Friends
We had three of Morgan’s friends and one of Sean’s friends over last night. It was such fun! We enjoyed an early dinner, then visited two different living nativities before coming back to our house for a devotional, gifts and homemade doughnuts.
I made fabric-covered journals for the girls using the Journal Cover Tutorial at Moda Bake Shop for the basic construction.
These go together really quickly, and the girls loved them! I also included a nice pen and some hot cocoa, microwave popcorn and chocolate.
I had a much harder time coming up with a gift for the college-age guys. Some brainstorming for ideas and a few minutes spent roaming around the toy department, though, and here’s what I came up with:
Each one got a travel-size version of a classic board game (perfect for storing in the dorm) along with popcorn, hot cocoa and chocolate.
I’m pretty sure that everyone enjoyed their gifts as much as I enjoyed putting them together for them!
Table Runner Tutorial
I really like having something simple to decorate our table — something that isn’t too big to leave on the table when we serve our guests. I just finished sewing up this quick and easy table runner and thought I’d share the instructions with you. It’s a really fast project that will give you years of enjoyment! You could make a different one for each month or for every holiday.
You can even make it reversible like this one that I made for a friend. She’ll be able to use one side for fall and Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas.
Here’s the link to the pdf tutorial for you: Table Runner Tutorial. I’d love to see what you create with the tutorial! Please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions.
Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner!
Wow! You guys have some great ideas for who you’d bless with an I-Spy Quilt. I really had a great time putting Jamie’s quilt together. I encourage you to start collecting blocks so that you can sew one up. You might even get together with your online or local quilting group and do an I-Spy Quilt Swap. It definitely makes collecting the squares faster . . . and more fun!
Now for the winner . . .
Congratulations to Tricia L.! Tricia says that she’s going to sew this I-Spy quilt up for a friend’s baby. I hope she’ll post pictures of it when she’s all finished! You can check out Tricia’s blog at The Crafty Procrastinor.
100th Post Giveaway Winner Announcement!
Thank you all so much for taking the time to comment on my 100th post! I really enjoyed reading about everyone’s favorite patterns. I’ll be taking some time off from creating any new ones to enjoy our new little guy who is due in just two months now. Keep checking back in, though, because I have some fun tutorials in mind, and I have lots of Christmas and baby sewing to finish up and post!
Without further ado . . . .
. . . the winning commenter is Megan! Congratulations, Megan! I can’t wait to see what you create with the patterns and fabric. Megan has a great blog that I always enjoy reading at http://nadaletfam.blogspot.com/. I was just over there checking out her latest post and now I’m craving PW’s steak bites–at 7:30 in the morning.
Don’t forget that you’ve still got today and tomorrow to enter my Sew Mama Sew I-Spy Giveaway.
Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is Here!
I had so much fun participating in Sew Mama Sew’s Giveaway Day last year. I couldn’t wait to join in again this year. It took me a bit to decide what I wanted to giveaway, but I finally came up with something that I hope you’ll be excited to win!
I’ve really enjoyed spending time this year quilting for my family. A quilt sewn by someone who loves you has this amazing way of warming your body and your heart at the same time. My favorite of the quilts that I’ve finished recently is this I-Spy Quilt that I sewed for 2-year-old Jamie. It’s such a fun quilt–great for rest or play, and my little guy loves it!
I have quite a few more I-Spy squares in my stash, so I thought I’d share some of them with someone else who might want to make a similar quilt for a little one! The giveaway set consists of 30-6 1/2″ squares. To enter the drawing, just leave a comment here sharing who you would sew an I-Spy quilt for if you win. The drawing will remain open until 9 p. m. central time on Sunday, December 6th. While you’re here, be sure to check out my 100th Post Giveway, too: 100th Post!
100th Post Giveaway and a Chance to Give!
Wow! Just over a year of blogging, and I’ve reached my 100th post! I love sharing my family, my ministry and my sewing with each of you, and I especially enjoy hearing from you and getting to “know” each of you. It’s exciting to watch how my number of blog readers is continuing to increase. (Of course, our family size is increasing a bit, too, as you can tell by the size of my belly in the picture to the right.) Christmas is quickly approaching, so I want to offer a gift to each of you, a chance to win an even bigger gift and the opportunity to know the joy of giving something to a family in need.
First, a way for you to give a gift to a poor family in Asia and maybe even mark off a few names on your Christmas list at the same time: Having trouble coming up with a gift idea for that relative who already has everything? Perhaps a gift in his or her honor for the poor in another country would be the perfect thing! 
As Gospel for Asia staff members, my husband and I often get to hear the incredibly heart-warming stories of how blessed people are to receive the gifts given through the GFA Christmas Catalog. Because I love to sew, the ability to give the gift of a sewing machine to a poor family in Asia brings me great joy! You can read for yourself a few stories on the GFA website about how much the gift of a sewing machine can help out a family in need: Christmas Gifts Warm Body and Heart and Stitching Her Garments with a Grateful Heart. If you’d like to check out how you can give a sewing machine, or other gifts like chickens, blankets, even a water buffalo, visit GFA’s Christmas Catalog online.
Second, a gift for all of my readers: This week only, from November 30th through December 6th, you can use the code “BlogPost100” in my store to receive a 15% discount on any pattern order. I’m even adding a preorder option for the new Little One Jammies Pattern which should be ready to ship by Monday, December 7th.
Finally, the big giveaway! In celebration of my 100th post, I am giving away a full set of all eight of my patterns and 5 yards of knit fabric to sew into beautiful clothing for your little one. The winner will get to choose from one of the two sets of fabric shown–either the boys’ set or the girls’ set.
For your first entry into the drawing, just leave a comment on this post with which of my patterns you like the best and why, or leave a comment about which of my patterns you’d most like to try and why. For an additional entry, blog about this post or blog about GFA’s Christmas catalog and email me the link to your post. You can enter anytime between now and noon central time on Friday (December 4, 2009). (Please note that I will cover the postage if the winner is inside the US. If you win and you live outside of the US, you’ll need to cover any postage cost above $10.)
