Baby A's Blankets

My sister-in-law just sent me a picture of cute little Baby A using both blankets I made her.I made the yellow quilt the day she was born (February) and crocheted the quilt two months before she was born (and before we knew she was a girl) . She's just so cute. I just love her!

Bowling Shirts

My brother got married this last weekend. He's a super funny kid and I just love the crap out of him and his new wife. She's just too cute and they're beyond adorable together. Anyway, because I'm me, I can't just get them something like a toaster or set of dishes (though that was part of their gift). I had to make them something, and it had to be funny. So this is what I came up with.

Bowling shirts.

Why, you ask? Easy. My bro loves bowling. (I personally hate bowling. I'm a terrible bowler and I'm too competitive for my own good, which keeps me from enjoying how bad I am at this game.) He even took a bowling class for credit at his university. My poor sister in law is dragged bowling fairly frequently, but she loves that little puke, so she is okay with the whole thing. Well, on with the story. I was at Kohl's looking at their clearance racks when I found these wonderful short sleeved button up red shirts. The fabric and design just looked like a bowling shirt. It was perfect. And it had to happen. Home I went with my clearance shirts in tow, and out came the felt. I freehanded the pattern with my scissors (because I'm crazy like that) and ran to Ben Franklin for some spray glue. Guess what? Spray glue does not work for bowling shirts. Lame! So then I just had a sticky mess that my sewing machine hated. So that meant stitching by hand and then running them through the washer/dryer. Not a super big deal (luckily Friends repeats were on the TV), but a bit time consuming. Totally worth it, though. Because, yeah, they totally have personalized bowling shirts now. I wish I'd take a picture of the finished shirts before we gave them to my bro, but I finished at 2 in the morning and had to be up at 5 to catch my flight, so that didn't happen. What you can't see in the pics is the personalized name badge on the front. Yeah, these are legit bowling shirts. And I'm pretty sure that's the coolest wedding present EVER!
My bro is showing off how the shirt is to be used. Nice form, man! And, in case you were wondering, they loved them. I thought my mom would pee herself laughing. And my new sister in law said I should make them for the whole family so we can all wear them together sometime. I'm not sure if she was joking or not, but I'm seriously considering it now...

Baby A's gifts

I'm not going to "how to" this one unless someone leaves me comments wanting to know how I did what I did. Anyway... here's what I made Baby A.

All three of these have the same material: yellow on one side and pink on the other. All three are also quilted with batting in between each layer. What you will not see is the beanie I crocheted her. It was my first beanie and it was... well.. at least the thread stayed together! It was not pretty, but I sent it anyway... more as a joke, and to give the cat something to play with.

This cute bib will hopefully keep the drool and spit up in some kind of designated area.This little burp cloth also holds the same destiny, except it won't be tied to her while being used.I hope this quilt helps keep her nice and snuggly and, if I get my way, it'll become her favorite blankie.
Look at her, using the blanket. Aww! What a sweetie! You can tell from the look on her face how much she appreciates it... and loves being awake. :) I gave her the onesie as well, but I let someone else make that one. After all, a girl can only hand make so many goodies for her cute niece in one night to send in a surprise package!

(Badly Needed) Pillow Covers

This is one of my couches. When the hubs and I got married, my mom and dad gave us these babies so we could furnish our apartment. I remember having these couches before my 16 year old sister was alive. I wish I had a copy of the family pictures we all took on these couches wearing all denim - super sexy. Regardless, they are comfortable as all get-out, but they look a little... well... they could look better. I'm going to cover the couches eventually, but covering the pillows that are in the same pattern was what I had the energy for this week. Here's what I did:
Time Needed: 2 hours
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: 4 yards of fabric plus 1/2 yard of accent fabric (variable by pillow size), sewing machine and thread, scissors, ugly pillows
Directions: Measure your pillows. Mine were 17x17. Then measure out how much fabric you'll wanna use. I cut out swatches that were 38x19 because then I had a 2 inch allowance for my amazing skills and because that's one less seam I have to sew if the front and back are already attached. Anyway... Go back to your original color and cut out a rectangle that's about the width of your pillow and add about 5 inches or so onto the length. As you are sewing all your seams all the way around the pillow, you're gonna add this to the side hems. It'll hang in the front, and the accent fabric will draw it together. Before you sew, grab your extra fabric rectangle, flip it inside out, and sew some tubes. Flip 'em right side out, sew them shut, and stick them on your piece that you'll be gathering. Now enjoy all those hems - on the extra fabric rectangle, on the sides of pillow, and on. Now, don't sew these shut - instead, sew flaps so you can stick the pillow in and so that when you get bored with these covers, you can make new ones and switch out the pillows without destroying your work. And voila! My ugly couches at least have cute pillows until I can cover those suckers.

Grocery Bag Holder

Time Needed: 1/2 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: canvas rectangle (about 18"x8", or whatever you desire), scissors, glue gun, elastic, safety pin, felt, ribbonDirections: Cut your canvas to the desired size. Run on over to your sewing machine and flip the fabric inside out. Sew a hem on the bottom big enough to thread the elastic through. Cut your elastic to somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the width of the fabric. Then use the safety pin to thread it through. Sew the ends into place so they don't go anywhere. Stitch the top and sides together and flip right side out. Then, because it'd be boring without it, add a ribbon to hang it on your fridge (or wherever) and add some cute little felt flowers. Attach with the glue gun or the sewing machine, whichever suits your fancy. Stuff with those grocery bags, and you are set to go. Make two and give one to your best friend and you can be matchie. Aww, cute!

GIANT embroidered wall sign

I've been working on this every day for a week and, I'm SO excited to unveil it to you!

Time Needed: 6 hours
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: giant frame, printer, pencil, fabric, quilting batting, embroidery hoop, needle, embroidery floss, pins, scissors, Elmer's glue, paintDirections: Go find yourself a big HUGE frame. The one I have is 24x36 (that's half as tall as I am)! If you want to do a crackle frame, paint the whole thing with Elmer's glue. Then, while it's still wet, paint it with the color you want to crackle. As the glue and paint dry, the bottom color will show through. Way cheaper than real crackle paint, trust me! OK back to the embroidery part. Once you've chosen a phrase you'd like to embroider, play computer for awhile. Play around with fonts until you find one you love and that's reasonable to embroider. Look online to find free download-able fonts, too. That's where I found mine. Then, blow it up as big as you need to get it to fit (I used 300 point font - yeah, that's huge) and print that sucker out. Lay it out on the cardboard backing that came with the frame to get the look you want. It'll look something like this:
Then, trace on the pattern onto your fabric with your pencil. Do this lightly, and it'll more or less rub off when you're done. That'll look something like this:Back the fabric with your quilting batting and pin it down. I don't ordinarily pin these things down, but this is a big BIG project that wouldn't stay together otherwise. So pin your heart out all over the edges and throughout the middle to keep things where they need to stay. Stick your embroidery hoop on, and get started with embroidering. If you don't know how, check out the tutorial I have here. It should look something like this:

Halfway through! Lookin good, huh?

Once you're done embroidering all the words, lay it out in the frame to double check the look. This'll also let you know if you need a little sparkle or design added in.
I ended up thickening some of the edges of my red words and adding a few vines into the edges because it needed something. From there, secure the sign to your cardboard backing, stick it in the frame, and hang it on the wall. And then enjoy how COOL you are because this is an AWESOME project!
PS: In case you're wondering why I chose the quote I did, well.. it's kind of corny. The hubs puts up really well with my crafting and creating and messmaking. So when choosing a fun, cute quote, I actually took one out of a techno song. My hubs loves techno, so it was kind of a fun tribute to him. Aw, cute! :)

Owl Stockings

Time Needed: 2 hours
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: sewing machine, buttons, needle and thread, felt, 1/2 yard flannel, ribbon

Directions: Cut out the shape you'd like the stocking to be in. Then, cut out the owl, his beak, his wing, the branch, and the leaves. Pin them together and sew them on the top layer of the stocking. Leave the buttons off for now. Then, fold over the top of the stocking and sew down so that the lip is pretty. Pin the two sides of the stocking together and stick the ribbon to where the back seam will be. Sew together with the fronts touching and then flip right side out. Stitch on your button eyes and button holly berries. Hang over your fireplace (or in my case, closet) and bask in the glow of your wonderful creativity.

Fall Applique Shirt

Time Needed: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: intermediate
Materials needed: t-shirt, brown and orange felt, brown, orange, and green embroidery floss, scissors, needle, pins
Directions: Cut a circle out of the orange felt. Cut a dent in the top and bottom to make it more pumpin-y looking. Then, cut a stem out of the brown fabric. Pin them to place on the shirt and embroider around the outside the same way you would stitch a pattern (like in the "I love you" or the "buon appetito" signs). Make sure you use extra thick thread this time to ensure it stays on the shirt and make sure your knots are tight. Then, make the pumpkin look more like a pumpkin by adding 2 curved lines down the length of it. Take the green floss and make yourself a curved vine. And.. there you go! You can wear it from now clear till Christmastime because it's a plain pumpkin and that means fall. If you wanna make it Halloween-y, take some black felt and make eyes and a mouth and sew them on. I left it as is because I want to be able to wear it longer. Have fun!

"I Love You" embroidered sign

You may be thinking to yourself: Self, this looks all red and covered in hearts and... um... it's October. Doesn't this girl realize it's more Halloween than Valentine's day? Well, dear reader, let me assure you that I get it. For those of you who don't know, my last name is Valentine, so I get to do this kind of craft whenever I feel like it. :)

Time Needed: 1 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: picture frame, scissors, embroidery thread, needle, embroidery hoop, fabric (both colored and plain), Fray Check, quilt batting, pencil, computer and printer (optional)

Directions: Use your computer to print out the design you want to embroider. Then, trace it on to the fabric. (Or, just free-hand your drawing on the fabric.) Take your colored fabric and cut out a heart. Line the edges with Fray Check and let dry. Put the batting behind the fabric and put it in the embroidery hoop. Then, use the embroidery floss to trace the outline you drew on the fabric. This is done by poking the needle through the top of the fabric and then poking it back down a few millimeters forward and pulling the thread through. The next stitch will poke through a few millimeters ahead of the completed stitch and work backwards to where you've previously stitched from. This gives a clean, thin, even line. Continue until done. Lay the dried heart where desired and sew on using a fat stitch. Don't worry if the stitches are uneven - it makes it look really cute if they are a little off. Tie off the thread when done. Then, use the cardboard form in the frame to back the finished stitched product and put it in the frame. Or, use the glass as your form and let the fabric be on the outside.

Helpful Hints - Design Transfer

When working with fabric, you're often left trying to transfer a design from paper to the fabric. I haven't tried this idea personally, but one of my coworkers swears by it. What you do is you buy cheap laminating paper at the craft store. You put that in your printer and print your design on it from your computer. Regular ink works just fine. Anyway, then you put your newly printed design face-down on the fabric and you use an iron on a cool setting to transfer the ink to the fabric. Then, sew or paint or whatever on the fabric, and then send it through the wash. Supposedly, the ink comes out in the machine with just regular detergent. Now how's that for an idea!

Hand Embroidery - How To

I was reading that last post and realized that, if you've never done stitching before, those directions are hard to follow. So, I've created a picture tutorial of how to "trace the line" with your embroidery needlework. Let's see what we've got here:

We start with the fabric already drawn on and in the hoop, like this:
Then, draw the thread up through the fabric at the beginning of the design:

Move a few millimeters forward, and pull the thread back on through the fabric:

Now, on the back of the fabric, move a few millimeters forward still and that's where you're gonna pull the thread through. Think of it like this: From here on out, you'll be working backwards. Only that first stitch goes forwards:To connect the line, work backwards and poke the needle back down where you ended your previous stitch:Once it's pulled all the way through, it'll look like you've traced the line, like this:
Continue the process until you finish tracing your design.

And now you know how to do a simple trace with your embroidery designs. Yay!

Also, for your information, it's typical that embroidery thread comes 6 strands thick. Usually, unless you want a really thick line, it's standard to take two of the strands out, thread those through the needle, and use only those. But, do whatever you want to make your project how you'd like it to be. After all, these are just ideas for you to run with. :)

Cute Kitchen Sign

Time Needed: 1 hour
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: picture frame, scissors, embroidery thread, needle, embroidery hoop, fabric, quilt batting, pencil, computer and printer (optional)
Directions: Use your computer to print out the design you want to embroider. Then, trace it on to the fabric. (Or, just free-hand your drawing on the fabric.) Put the batting behind the fabric and put it in the embroidery hoop. Then, use the embroidery floss to trace the outline you drew on the fabric. This is done by poking the needle through the top of the fabric and then poking it back down a few millimeters forward and pulling the thread through. The next stitch will poke through a few millimeters ahead of the completed stitch and work backwards to where you've previously stitched from. This gives a clean, thin, even line. Continue until done. Then, use the cardboard form in the frame to back the finished stitched product and put it in the frame. Hang and enjoy!
Hint: when cutting your fabric to size, leave at least an inch extra on all sides to be able to fold around the cardboard when you're done. If you cut it exactly to the size of the glass in the frame, you're gonna have a REALLY hard time putting it in the frame without jaggedy edges or blank spots showing up. This extra inch or so gives you room to pull the fabric tight around the cardboard. I usually tape mine firmly into place on the back to make sure they don't go anywhere.
(PS - Don't judge that the wall under the picture frames is wet. I just did dishes and decided to wash down the wall as well. Promise it's clean!)

Guest Post - Aleisha's placemat purse

My cute friend Aleisha made this fun purse and put it up on her blog. With her permission, I'm going to re-post her post here so you can try this out, too!

What to do on a June 8th day in Hurrican Utah? Make a cute little placemat purse with zipper and side wristlet handle!
Inspiration from vintage buttons and tin box from grandma and placemat on hand!
Items needed:
1 placemat
1 zipper as wide as the side of your placemat
length and width of webbing, cotton or nylon for strap/handle (I literally wrapped it around my wrist to measure what was comfortable to hold)
contrast fabric for strap/handle (at Wal-Mart I bought a fat-quarter for $1)
cute buttons for embellishments

Well now isn't this one of the cutest placemats you have ever seen? I bought it at K-Mart for $1.50 because I just knew it would make a cute purse.
I hand sewed the buttons on the center of the flowers using red thread. I have loved the red and turquoise combination since 5th grade. I used to think those were going to be my wedding colors:) Now I just use those colors together whenever I can.
The first thing you do is sew the zipper in. I am using my mother-in law's sewing machine, a singer 630. I had to look on the internet to learn how to thread it. It also has the knee peddle (read aaagh), not the foot peddle, thus, my lines are not as straight as they might normally be with my bernina. Folding the placemat in half, you are basically making a tube, sewing each of the shorter sides to the zipper.
At this point you could add a flat bottom by flipping the purse inside out and sewing a straight seam perpendicular across each bottom side of the purse. I decided against doing this because it interfered with my buttons on the outside of my purse.
Making sure you have unzipped your zipper half-way, sew up one side of your purse.
Make a tube of fabric to cover your webbing. You don't have to worry too much about the edges of the handle because they will be on the inside of your purse. Place handle on the right side of your purse (the side that will be the outside of your purse). Sew up that side of your purse. Flip it inside out, and voila! Cute, easy zipper clutch wristlet combo purse!