Handmade Gifting

Last year I don't think I made any handmade gifts because Charlotte was still so young - only 10 months or so and Gregory was barely three.  I had my hands full.  This year, I have a whole new motivation to crank out the handmade gifts- there's a little bit of pressure (i.e. looming deadline....) but I am enjoying it.

A few weeks ago, I had a Saturday with two holiday parties that included a gift exchange.  On the Friday night before, I made these two bow pillows.  I was inspired by my friend Annee's blog post here.  I did my pillows a bit differently than hers and will be sharing a tutorial soon.  The pillows were well received and it was a fun day visiting with friends from BMQG and my church.

I came home with these goodies from the parties: an adorable zip pouch and some pretty  fabric.

Later, I made another bow pillow for a friend who's moving, using some of my Jingle leftovers:

 Now I am on to doing lots of zip pouches, using this pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.  By using some double sided washable tape and this ingenious pattern, these are coming out awesome every time.  I had been so intimidated to do these and now I am laughing at myself for being so scared to try it out.

 It's also been a great way to use up some of those Moda 2.5" charm packs that I still have after attending quilt market in 2011.

My daughter is loving all the bags I have been making and deserves to have one of her own.  My sister did the Elmo cross stitch and I made it into a bag.  I regret that I didn't make the handles thinner but I don't think my baby will care.

Even though I have been quite ambitious with gift sewing, I decided to give myself a break and not go crazy for my son's love of pirates.  I considered making this doll, but abandoned the idea when I saw I could buy a cute pirate doll for about $2 more than the cost of the pattern alone.  I also considered making a pirate themed quilt but quickly realized that he would love a pillowcase just as much, if not more.

I still have lots I want to sew up in time for Christmas but the end is in sight.  Linking up with WIP Wednesday:

City Sampler Blocks 85-90

Time to catch up on my City Sampler blocks.  After this, only 10 more to go!

Number 85 might be my most favorite yet:

 85

 86

87

 88

 89

90

Thanks for reading.  Linking up with Sew Sweetness.

Frou Frou Bag

Okay, so I became a little obsessive about having three entries into the Sew Sweetness and Sew Mama Sew Bag contest.  The prizes are fantastic and I love making bags- so it's been great motivation to get them done.  It's also been a nice break from long term projects and Christmas sewing.

My final entry into the contest is this "Frou Frou Bag"- another free pattern by Sara found here.  Deciding on which stash fabrics to use was a difficult choice.  I nearly went with a floral but decided that flowers + ruffles really might be too much girliness for me.  I really loved Sara's version- she used a Tufted Tweets fabric so I decided to "go quirky" as well and pulled out this Storybook Lane fabric by Andover from my stash.  Luckily I had the perfect piece of powder pink solid to do the ruffles as well.

 Of the three Sew Sweetness patterns I have completed this week, I would have to say this was the most challenging.  I cut the main panel pattern piece WAY too big and nearly had a meltdown - believing I may have ruined my chances at using the Storybook fabric.  Sewing the outer square pockets onto the front of the bag was a royal headache too but it's such a sweet element of the design, I persevered.  Admittedly, I did get the error message on my machine, "Stop for safety reasons" at least twice.

I used the leftover pieces of the automotive headliner fabric from the Petrillo bag, lots of Pellon Decor Bond, and some fusible fleece.  I love the detail of adding D-rings to the strap.

The lining has four roomy pockets and features a favorite Remix print.  While I was making this bag, my iron completely died.  It was horrible timing especially because both my children had just fallen asleep at the same time and I had lots of sewing time on my hands!  I have borrowed an iron from my mom until I can shop for a replacement.

So here's the fruits of my labor from the past week or so: three awesome Sew Sweetness bags.  All made from stash and lots of interfacing.  I would have to say that the middle one is my favorite, for now.

I rewarded myself with some mindless sewing this morning, I made a few selvage blocks - the perfect easy sewing task that requires no measuring, ironing, and hardly any precision.

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the Sew Sweetness and Sew Mama Sew Bag Contest:

Sew Sweetness Petrillo Bag

 When Sara of Sew Sweetness offered a "buy one get one free" Black Friday deal, I knew I had to get the Petrillo Bag pattern finally.  I had my eye on this design since she released the pattern in March of this year.  This version, by one of her testers is so stylish and beautiful- it took some self control to not just copy her and make the same exact bag.  But I scored some super cheap AMH fabric recently and added some old Amy Butler (grey and white) fabric and made this combo instead:

 The pattern calls for either Annie's Soft and Stable (which is kind of pricey and not available to me locally)  but Sara also mentions that she had a tester recommend "Automotive Headliner fabric."  Touch the ceiling of your car- that's it!  I was shocked to see that my local Joann's carried it and even more pleased when I saw how well it worked and how user friendly it is!  I didn't break a needle once and it all came together really easily.

Another new-to-me notion the bag requires is an "invisible magnetic snap."  My Joann's does not carry this and I didn't want to wait for an online order of some to arrive in the mail.  I sent my husband to the hardware store on his way home from work to pick up some magnets and I sewed four of them into little pouches with some scrap fabric.  I attached them to the headliner fabric pieces as directed - making sure they wouldn't repel each other- and it worked great.

The interior of the bag features a padded pocket for an electronic device and an interior zippered pocket.  I used some Kona Berry I had in my stash for the lining.

I love how striking this bag is and what a unique bag it is compared to your average tote or purse.  I will definitely make this one again.

Entering this one into the Sew Sweetness & Sew Mama Sew Bag Contest:

WIP Wednesday: Sleepy Time Animal Pals Doll Quilt

I purchased this adorable (and very affordable!) baby doll quilt pattern on Monday and finished it today.  It's so easy and quick.  The pattern is from Nana Company and it is called "Sleepy Time Animal Pals Quilt."  It is a Christmas present for my 22 month old daughter to accompany her baby doll bed.  I am entering this into this month's Le Challenge, participants are supposed to make something inspired by the word "precious" and what is more precious than a baby doll blanket?

I used interfacing to line up the little 2" squares in order to achieve accuracy in the piecing, like this tutorial on Oh Fransson.  I really recommend this - it's so precise and I think it's quicker too.

I purchased the trim at Joann's and used a scrap for the backing.  It measures 10 x 15.  This picture makes it look really wonky but I promise it's not that bad.

I started cutting pieces for another purse: the Frou Frou Bag- another free pattern from Sew Sweetness.  I bought the cuckoo clock fabric in CO last fall and was regretting my impulsiveness but now I think it's a really fun perfect fabric for a quirky bag.  I will share its completion on Friday hopefully.

Linking up at WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced:

Naughty Secretary Bag for Sew Sweetness Bag Contest

I have had the Naughty Secretary Bag pattern bookmarked for ages and it is how I initially became acquainted with the blog Sew Sweetness and its author, Sara Lawson.  I love the details of the design and like that it is a step above an ordinary tote bag.

I am glad that I waited a while to make this bag because I finally came up with the idea to use QAYG panels to construct the exterior bag.  I chose black, white, and gray scraps to make the panels and added a square of Echino Buck fabric in fuschia to match a yard of pink twill I had picked up at Joann's ages ago.  

QAYG is time consuming but it was fun and adds so much structure to the bag without fussing with lots of interfacing.  Here's a picture of the back:

Some side shots:

I made a few changes to the pattern to make this bag my own: I added a zipper to the top, peltex to the bottom of the exterior and lining, and spaced the handles a little farther apart than instructed.  It's a great bag!
I love that it all came from stash too: I only had to buy the zipper.

I am entering this into the Sew Sweetness Bag Contest at Sew Mama Sew:

Finish It Up Friday: Hexagon Quilt and Baby Shower Items

Another finish to share on this gloomy Friday.  So excited to have this one done, another completion for my 4th quarter FAL list.  Around 2010, I joined the EPP hexagon craze and decided to border them in some dark grey Kona.  SO much hand sewing but there was no way I was in love with it enough to make a full grandmother's garden quilt.  So I came up with the idea of making a giant flower on top of a whole cloth background:

It would've been neater if I had sewed all the gray ones together, but I just sandwiched them tightly together and appliqued them onto the background fabric.

Our town library has a "Be a Santa to a Senior" Christmas tree in the children's department: there are gift tags decorating the trees with names of local seniors and ideas of what they need.  I chose two tags that named "throw blanket" for two women, so I am going to wrap up this quilt as well as this one (Blockapalooza sampler) to donate.  Last year I made 10 pillowcases in honor of the Newtown tragedy- I am thinking I should have an annual tradition of doing some charitable sewing every Christmas season.

I finally used some of my vintage fabric for the backing and some leftover Hope Valley binding from this quilt.  As you can see, I decided to round the corners of the quilt.

I have also been busy with sewing a few gifts.  A friend of mine is having a girl after having three boys.  When I looked at my children's stash fabrics, I was a little surprised at how many boy novelty fabrics I have- I guess I let myself shop a little more when I just had Gregory.  Super Girls came to the rescue for these bibs.  I used a favorite tutorial on Sew She Sews.

I also made some large receiving blankets out of some Joann's stash flannel.  Don't you agree that store bought receiving blankets are just too small?  I always use 1.25 yards of prewashed flannel, round the corners, and do a simple double stitch around the edge.

Linking up at Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday.

Thanks for reading!  I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

QAYG, Knight Pillow, City Sampler 82-84

I decided to try QAYG (Quilt As You Go) finally- I missed that train when it was really popular sometime in 2010 I think.  Everyone was doing QAYG blocks but I haven't seen a lot of completed quilts via that technique.  I understand why- it's very time consuming.  That is why I am just trying it out to make a tote bag, per this tutorial.  

This was what I completed yesterday afternoon:

But this picture is more fun (I cannot claim credit for Charlotte's Hasselhoff look- she did it herself):

It's that time of year again: my sister is coming home for Christmas and I need to make use of the cute cross-stitch pieces she has made for my kids.  Gregory has been obsessed with knights and pirates lately and my sister whipped this up for him over the summer.  I made it into a simple quilted pillow with a zipper back using stash fabrics:

City Sampler blocks 82-84, I finally let myself use a lot of blue:

 82

 83

84

We decorated for Christmas recently and I am loving all of the handmade Christmas items I have to celebrate the season.   All of the handmade ornaments are especially nice, as they remind me of kind friends who did an ornament swap with me last year. Gregory is loving the advent calendar: I decided to have a simple activity with occasional treats and toys throughout the month and he is now waking me up every morning, begging to open the next pocket.

We got rid of our larger artificial tree last year because we thought we'd be moved by now, so we borrowed a tiny one from my parents.  It's so cute and small and really suits are small apartment quite nicely.  Next year we hope to be celebrating the holidays in a house and we'll go ahread and "splurge" on a real tree.... fingers crossed!