It's raining crowns...

I love, love, LOVE these little crowns....

I just think they are so sweet.  I tried a few new things this time.  A doily...

And, some ribbon...

I love how they both turned out.  And, who knew, but JoAnn Fabrics carries colored elastic!!!  I picked up some of that for the next batch of crowns I make so it won't just be a normal white elastic on back.

And more pencil cases...

Gotta love how quickly these little pencil cases come together...

Teapot Cozy

Have I gotten my sewing mojo back just in time for Christmas?  Here's hoping!

I sewed up a few teapot cozies recently.  The first one, for me...

The second one for a family member.

And since I only had a few strips of those flowers left, I made that family member a smaller patchwork-y cozy as well and finished off the scraps.

You can find the pattern here.

Loon Quilt for Mom

This is a Loon Quilt I did for my mother in 2004.  I LOVE the jewel tones throughout as well as the way the pictures are on point.

Darn those old printed photos!  At least I'm digitizing them all now...

9 Patch Quilt

While I'm on a kick of showing you old pictures, here's another one!  A pretty 9-patch I made for my sister-in-law when she went to college in 2004.

Quilt for my sister

This is my second ever quilt - for my sister, in colors that reminded me of her.  It's a simple log cabin, quilted with invisible thread in a starburst pattern.

Back (again, sorry for the picture quality):

First Quilt

Way back in the early 2000's, my family got together and gave me (and my sister) a sewing machine for Christmas.  It took a year or two, but I eventually found quilting - and I LOVE quilting.  I pulled out a few of my VERY old photos, and found my first ever sewing project.

This is a small lap quilt (4' x 3') that I had NO idea how to put together.  I had no pattern and no directions.  I gave it my best go, and it turned out alright!  I figured a bunch of squares would be easy to put together - I was wrong.  Lining up a bunch of corners - especially before finding out about rotary cutters - is really difficult.

But here you are, my first quilt, from 2004:

And the back was plain maroon flannel - the photo is terrible, sorry:

Rainbow Jello Treats

Last week, for Miss A's FIFTH birthday, we made these very cool looking layered Jello treats for school (I found them here):

Yes, they do look VERY cool, don't they?  They also took 4.5 hours.  Each layer has to set, and, as a word of caution, don't just dump the next layer on.  Oh no, you have to veeeeery gently pour the next layer over top.  And those cool whip layers?  Take a little bitty spoon and veeeeery carefully spread it on each and every one of your treats.

I originally tried to pipe some of the cool whip on top to make a neat swirl like the picture in the blog where found the instructions, but decided it looked a bit too much like poop to give to a bunch of preschoolers.  So I spread the cool whip out a bit and liked that much better.

They were a big hit, but I'm not sure they were worth the effort!  16 of these babies later, and I'm not ready to think about Jello again any time soon!

Spiderweb Tablerunner

Two years ago, I ran across this spiderweb table runner tutorial on The Crafty Cupboard, thought it was about the cutest, easiest thing I've EVER seen and whipped one up for our house.  It is, by far, my favorite Halloween decoration. 

I don't know about you all, but we do nearly all of our arts and crafts at the table, so I usually keep a piece of plastic over the table.  Glue spills?  No problem.  Sharpie accident?  No biggie.  Yes, it's very 1950's housewife, but for now, it works.  I promise it's the only piece of furniture in our house covered in plastic.

This project was very simple, it just took a bit of time and some very tiny, very sharp scissors.

LOVE!

Travel Bag

The problem with knowing how to sew is that you can't help but re-invent everything you see to suit your needs better.  Take my new travel bag, for instance.

I wanted a good size bag to use as a carry-on for an upcoming trans-atlantic flight.  I LOVED this bag from Luckycann.  Unfortunately it was a little undersized for what I wanted, and it lacked a cup holder on the outside.  I really, REALLY wanted a cup holder.  So I made one.

Front:

Back (love me some zippers):

I also have a long removeable shoulder strap that clips on to the sides of the bag for hands-free carrying.

Inside (with perfectly sized pockets for my Kindle and sunglasses! - the top zipper closure is tucked out of the way):

An inside zipper pocket for my wallet and a divider.  On the left you can barely see a key fob.

I made a cup holder for the inside and outside ('cuz really, where would I put my empty teacup?).

This is a closeup view of the top of the bag from the outside.  I wanted a zippered top that wouldn't get in the way.  It's a separating zipper on flaps that cover most of the top of the bag.

I love my new bag!  Unfortunately the hardware alone cost me nearly what it would have cost to just purchase the bag from Luckycann.  Too bad the Luckycann bag wasn't a smidge bigger!

Crown

For a special little girl on her birthday:

Ever heard of a 5 year old not loving rainbows?  Me either.

Happy Birthday Willow!

Awesome-r Lunchboxes

This year, I decided to get some EasyLunchboxes and associated Container Boxes for the kids since they'll both have lunch at preschool.  Unfortunately, the lunchboxes are B-O-R-I-N-G.  So we colored them.

For my train-obsessed little man:

The train was from Crayola's website.

I let my daughter color her own:

She was SO proud of her creation, and I love that!

Chore Chart

With our big girl nearly 5 years old, and very responsible, and ASKING for one, we made a simple (and free) chore chart.  I found this one on Pinterest (the picture is about halfway down the page on the link), and we made our own version.

It's a piece of cardboard decorated by Miss A, and some clothespins I already had.  She liked the pretty butterflies in the example we found online so she drew some on her clothespins.

We hung it on a low rack we have by our door for the kids' hats, coats, and backpacks.

It works great, and it's SIMPLE.  And you can't beat free!

Crowns

A few weeks ago, I was in charge of VBS.  And to be sure I was easy to spot in a crowd full of strangers (and kid-friendly), I thought I'd wear a crown.  I have been loving the felt crowns I've seen people make for kids' birthdays, and figured I'd make one for myself.  For fun!

And you know, crowns are the bread and butter of 4 year old girls...

I had Miss A design her own crown and cut out all the embellishments herself.  She did a great job!

Fancy Letters

So....completely out of my comfort zone....a friend taught me how she makes her fancy letters this week (thanks Lisa!!)...

They are VERY sparkly.

My favorite part has got to be the little butterfly on the 'G':

Pencil Case

I'm so thankful to be home!  My sewing space looks like a tornado hit it hard - so sad.  I cannot wait to get back in the groove.

We had a birthday party yesterday so I whipped up another pencil caddy, and embellished some of the fabric with embroidery...

Preeetttty butterflies.  Plus it sparkles, and what 5 year old girl doesn't like sparkly butterflies?

Another nice thing is that I'm pretty comfortable now putting zippers in bags like this.  No fear!

Doll Carrier

Oh man, I was totally set to whip up my own pattern for an Ergo-type baby doll carrier (like this), when my daughter informed me she'd have none of that, and preferred a simple pouch sling.  Secretly bummed, I went ahead and made a quick little sling for her baby doll.  I sort-of used instructions from Jan Andrea (a great site for DIY baby slings).  Did you know that JoAnn's has Brave fabric already??  It isn't actually upside down....her sling is on backwards in these photos.
 

I guess it does look pretty comfortable...and easy to put on...

At least I got away with lining it with some white minkee.

I was thinking I should have taken in the sides a bit more, but it turns out Miss A likes using the loose fabric on the edges to cover her baby like a blanket - you know, so her baby can sleep.

Great reward for a 30 minute project!  Now I'm wondering who else needs one of these...

Fairy Wings (or Bug Wings, depending...)

I saw this video tutorial on making fairy wings out of wire clothes hangers from Threadbanger recently and figured I'd have a go.  Of course, with three little ladies staying at our house last week.....I had 5 (FIVE!) sets to make.

I ran out of hangers on the last pair so in the middle you can see my little dude got 'bug' wings.  He didn't seem to mind.

Since these are for little kids, I cut each hanger into two pieces and followed the directions from there.  I imagine for an adult you would want the whole hanger for each part, but for kids half the hanger worked perfectly.

Instead of twine to bind the parts together, I used duct tape.  Worked like a charm.

Also, I used knee-highs.  More than enough stocking to go around.

And, it would have been nice to have ordered some different colored knee-highs, but alas Walmart only had the black ones (or tan) the day I was in.

We let the kiddos decorate however they wished.  They LOVED this project.  I now have glitter everywhere.

Recouperating

Sorry I haven't been posting lately!  We were out of the country and I'm just now getting my mojo back.  Next up is a project for ME.  Well, after a birthday present and some more curtain linings.  And maybe some bunting for the guest room....

Kids Fanny Pack

We got our 4 year old a camera for an upcoming overseas trip, so that she could take her own pictures...and really 'own' the experience.  Of course, you know she needs a camera case.....which got me thinking "what type of camera case could I give a 4 year old that she couldn't drop".  A fanny pack!  TOTALLY.

I found a pattern here, but really only used it for the dimensions.  I will post a tutorial sometime on how I made Miss A's, since I think my way was a lot easier.

Gotta love it when 4 year olds pick out their own fabrics!  How great is that?!?!  She likes it so much that she's worn it for the past 12 hours straight.

Birchbark Lodge Quilt DONE!

She's ALL FINISHED!  Again, the pattern is from the Moda Bake Shop here.  I ended up using a few fabrics I had on hand with some I got at JoAnn's.  I like the deep blues in it.

I used a very loose free motion quilting method on this baby.  I really wasn't sure how to quilt it in a way that wouldn't detract from the overall design. 

I had a little fun on the back side.  I love how people are putting a little something on the backs of their quilts these days (or maybe they always did but I just didn't know).

Birchbark Lodge Quilt Top

Quilt top finished!

I'm working on this quilt as a gift.  I was looking for a semi traditional American quilt - without it being 'American Flag'-ish, and my friend Sarah over at My Spare Time found this pattern at the Moda Bake Shop.  Dang, there are a LOT of pieces!  And a LOT of points to match up.  Not all mine match, but they are close enough.

Next up, the quilting!

Wetbag

I used to cloth diaper Miss A when she was a baby, and I have this stash of PUL (waterproof fabric)....I figured I could put it to good use and make up a little wetbag!  Dinosaurs on the outside, white PUL on the inside...easy peasy.  And can you ever really have enough waterproof storage in your diaper bag?