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).