I’m excited to have another new project going on these days. A friend took the taggie blanket I made for her son to entertain her new baby daughter at brother’s Kindermusik class and the teacher loved the crinkly toy! She special ordered some from me to give as gifts to new babies born in her community. It was fun to take her logo and color palette when shopping and to research what sort of label to make. Melody at Mad Mad Graphics created an iron on label that will highlight the company name. Joann’s had the perfect minky and flannel colors. Now it’s up to me to sew the gifts!
Company LogoColor Palette
Melody also created a version of the So Sew Gifts logo for another label I can use on other projects. Fun!
I’ve been enjoying babywearing as a way to bond with our little guy and also get things done around the house or go out in the world with him safely nearby. There are lots of DIY babywearing ideas but I started with something simple.
I bought a used Beco Gemini carrier and I don’t love the print on the front. It also has black straps which really show the drool marks from baby’s new hobby of slobbering over everything. Time to make covers for the straps near his mouth, called Drool/Suck Pads.
Here’s the link to a pattern I’m going to check about using on our new Lenny Lamb carrier using wrap scraps: http://www.thebriefcaseco.com/lenny-lamb-pattern/
The challenge quilt for our guild this year is to create a small quilt using at least one 9 patch design and based on page 9 of a book. I wanted to use scraps from previous baby quilts and choose a book from our nursery. Turns out, I already had squares in my stash that look great together and remind me of the play mat baby loves, with it’s bright colors and patterns. Then, page 9 of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble references a red pebble and I noticed that there are red dots in some of the fabrics. Perfect!
We’re so excited to announce that Baby Boy is due in April!
Only two months away now and my sewing room is full of ideas and fabrics ready to make into something great for him. People also have been generous with handmade gifts!
My Aunt sent me this quilt that was in my Grandma’s linen collection. We’re not sure of it’s age, maker, or recipient, but it’s a great reminder of the heritage of quilts and will be displayed in our nursery.
(pictures coming soon)
One of the fun projects was at my baby shower. I prepared fabric, pens, and onesies so guests could decorate an outfit for Baby Boy. They were so creative and the final products are super cute!
(pictures coming soon)
I also have been making some items for friends with babies. Swaddle blankets, pacifier holders, and burp cloths are fun to personalize and quick easy projects to sew.
This Christmas season, I had a fun time creating a few gifts and special orders.
Lana requested a few infinity scarves, and I made an extra one to give as a gift at the quilt guild meeting. At the guild meeting, I received a handmade gift of a zipper pouch filled with notions and a few fat quarters!
Scarves for Lana
Xmas party scarf
xmas party goodies
Ellen requested that I copy a pattern for a kids apron she made for her son years ago, using fabric especially for her grandson and granddaughter. They turned out cute and I practiced using bias tape.
Apron
Apron
I made a tree skirt (free pattern here) for Asami and Matt. This turned out to be an easy and fun project, and using the big space for ironing and laying out pattern pieces at Sewing Saturday was helpful.
pieces ready to stitch
in process
label on muslin back
finished
under their tree!
I also made a table runner for my friend Jill at work. She just bought a new house and I wanted to give her something sunny and positive for her new space!
At school, we came up with the idea of a “Season of Caring” where each advisory class came up with a project. Ms. Lowe’s group decided to make no-sew fleece blankets for charity. Great job, kids!
I’ve been working on this baby blanket since after Ryan was born this fall. It’s finally done as his belated Christmas gift!
My college friend and his wife recently had a baby girl, and I had a great time making a baby quilt for them. The idea of a jelly roll quilt was appealing because of the number of fabrics that could easily be included, to give an “I spy” type quality to the quilt top. I used the Jelly Roll Inspirations book, Birthday Gift pattern and started with a Moda jelly roll that included circus theme (for one of the baby’s uncle who is in a circus), music theme (for another of the baby’s uncles who plays cello and piano), and modern bright colors perfect for a Portland couple. Deb at Quilter’s Corner Store helped me pick out the fabric for the back, white tone-on-tone, and yellow/gray polka dots for binding.
Moda Jelly Roll
Moda Apple Jack patterns
“Fireworks” looking fabric on back
Next step was to learn how to piece together the blocks using those 2.5″ jelly roll strips. Friends helped me decide the placement of the blocks to be the most visually appealing and one friend helped me put hundred’s of pins in to hold it in place for quilting.
Since so far, I only feel confident quilting in straight lines, that’s what I did, using a gray thread so it wouldn’t show up. Along the way, I found a “humility or truth block”, one of the white rectangles is sewn inside out, which proves it was done by human hands and indicates good luck for the recipient!
I put on the binding with Lucy’s company during the snow storm of 2014, and presented the quilt in mid-March to Imogen. Hope she and her family enjoy it…I surely enjoyed the creative process of making it for her!
A friend asked me to make a baby shower gift and another friend at work is pregnant, so it’s the perfect opportunity to learn to make Taggie blankets. Two colleagues at work said they’re invaluable for their newborns…soft, easy to tuck in the carseat or attach to a stroller, babies love playing with or sucking on the textured ribbons. So my friend and I went shopping at Joanns and found these cute ribbons along with matching minky and flannel fabrics to make the Taggie blankets.
On to find inspiration/information/patterns online. For this project, I used a few sources.
Taggie Blankets are popular so when you look on Etsy or Pinterest, you’ll find lots of inspiration. I used this tutorial which shows each step of the process.
First taggie is for a friend who is a speech language pathologist (hence the letters on the fabric). She’s having her first baby girl…congratulations! Second taggie is for a friend to take to a baby shower…and it’s a boy!
A night of little projects. I made this wine accessory bag to hold the wine bottle stopper set I got for Christmas. Fun to use a scrap of a past wine related project and some ribbon to make a custom organizer.
Also, finished customizing a package of baby burp cloths. Again, using scraps, the trucks on a road and bilingual color/number fabric will be just right for a Spanish speaking mom expecting a little hijo.
