Baby Quilt: Pink and Orange

One more baby quilt to share. This one is also for a friend who is due in about a month. These fabrics are Anna Maria Horner prints that I had in my stash along with some solids.


Like I mentioned before I want to keep trying new things with each quilt so I decided to add a little hand embroidery for the quilting. First I used my sewing machine to 'stitch in the ditch' and then used thick embroidery floss to add detail. I just tried to do some straight stitches around different portions of the patterns in each piece. It really added a handmade feel to the quilt. I think in the future if I decide to do this again, I'll try to add even more.


The pattern is the same as this first quilt. I really love this pattern because it is super quick and so fun to pick out prints since it is designed for six fat quarters. The back is an Anna Maria flannel and I tried my hand at making and attaching binding again. This time the binding went much better and I feel like I'm understanding the process much more. I think my favorite thing about this quilt is the colors. I must confess that I wanted to keep it. I hope little Alli loves this quilt to shreds.


I have one more baby quilt finish that I'll share once I get pictures of it. And since I have more friend's expecting there will probably be more quilts to come this year. I really love making this size quilt. It is just fast enough to feel satisfying and keep me interested in each individual project.

Baby quilt: Pink and Black

Here is another baby quilt for yet another friend about to have a baby, a little girl. I had all these pink fabrics already and the black and white came from my mom. She probably had the black and white check since I was a little girl. The pattern is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. I really like how easily it all came together.


My goal has been to try a little something new with each quilt since I'm such a beginner still. So this time around I decided to tackle making and attaching binding. It came out alright for my first try. I think the fabric I used was a bit thin and something a little sturdier would work better. I used the same check fabric for the back and since it is a bit thin I added some cotton batting so it would be a little warmer. Hope you enjoy Baby O.

Hearts and Needles

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a weekend of heart shaped food including toast with hearts cut out and filled with eggs. We call these birds in a nest but I'm not sure that's an official name for this food. We also made homemade pizzas in heart form.


Today is a no school day for Sydney. The girls have been having a fun day playing together. While Vi was napping I decided to work on a little hand-stitching.


It is so lovely to look down at this fabric (from Anna Maria Horner). But so much better to look up to find Syd has joined me with her own project. She knows how to make a mama feel so loved.


The only thing that would make this day better is having my Valentine here with me. But alas, a day of love is not a holiday for the movie making folk. :) I'll just have to wait until dinner.

Blue Crocheted Granny Square

This was a wedding gift for yet another wedding this past year. One of Shane's closest friends from college was married a week after my sister. This blanket is just a giant granny square with a couple different shade of blue and some cream too. I liked how simple yet soothing it looks. It is a perfect size for a lap blanket.

I also made another one of these for our landlord for Christmas. It was a dark hunter green and this same cream color in big large stripes. Of course, I was finishing it up right until we gave it to her so I forgot to take a picture.

Appliqued shirts

A few months ago I made these two appliqued shirts for a couple of our favorite little boys.


This penguin was a birthday gift for our friend Ryken.


And this little owl onesie is a just because / surprise gift for a cousin's son.

I do love making these. They are easy, quick, and it's fun to use fabric from my stash. I hope to make some more this year. I also have some other ideas to applique these little birds on some other projects. Do you have any fun ideas?

Crocheted Halloween Costumes

I have wanted to make Sydney's Halloween costume since she was a baby. This year I finally got the inspiration to really go for it. She really wanted to be Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon, which of course made Shane really proud. We actually looked around for a costume for her but couldn't find one anywhere. We did see some girls wearing pre-made ones on Halloween so they must have been available but maybe just sold out. Either way, with Shane's encouragement, we decided to make Sydney an Astrid costume ourselves.


First I picked out some yarn and crocheted the vest/shirt for her. It is two different yarns, one aqua color and a tricolor, that I crocheted together. I just chained enough to fit around her waist and slip stitched to the first chain to make a large loop. Then I just did rows of double stitch up her torso. I was worried the double stitch would be too big and not tight enough for a shirt but because of using two yarns and a H hook it worked out great. Once I made the tube big enough for her torso I just winged it to go up around on shoulder and then attached it to the back. Then I crocheted the other side. I was in a hurry so I didn't keep track of stitches or anything like that. Basically the poor girl had to try it on every hour or so as I went to make sure it was going to fit correctly.


The skirt is a faux leather I picked up at Joann's. I just made myself a little template and cut out all the pieces by hand. Then sewed them onto a waist band piece. I didn't really have the time to finish the skirt well so we just cut belt loops right into the waist of the skirt and put her brown belt on the inside of the skirt. It worked perfectly. Plus, this method means it is adjustable so she can wear it again next year if she wants. The skirt also includes a basic tube of brown cotton fabric for the bottom layer. The 'studs' are just silver buttons I found and sewed onto the skirt. The little skulls and the studs on her shoulders are clay Shane mixed up for me that we baked in the oven until set, then we just hot glued them into place.


The shoulder pieces are made for cardboard, hot glue, spray paint, and more of the clay for the spikes. And to finish it all off I made her headpiece from a scrap of the 'leather', extra buttons, and verco. Viola! Astrid.


Next up was Violet. We thought it would be cute if she was a little dragon. We talked and sketched some ideas for a little beanie and spikes as well as other details but in the end time limited her costume to just wings. It worked out because at 15 months she wasn't really liking the idea of a detailed, cumbersome costume. I just used some Red Heart soft green yarn. Once again I just sort of winged it without a pattern (sorry for the pun.) It is all double crocheted as well which made it come together quickly. Shane helped me add wire (from a wire hanger) then I just added a couple buttons to attache the harness.


I was happy with how they turned out and I look forward to making more costumes for them in the future. It was also good to try my skills at creating something with no pattern to even base it off of. Definitely a stretching experience.

First Quilt

I have been wanting to make a quilt for years and finally worked up the nerve to give it a go. This first one was for a close friend who had her first baby this past November. I used this super easy and fun pattern from Kate at Two Little Banshees, which uses six fat quarters for the quilt top. It was a great first pattern for me. I love the colors and fabrics. The back is a flannel from Anna Maria Horner. The front is cottons and mostly from her too. I learned a lot on this first quilt and know there is a lot of growing and practice still needed but overall I was happy with how it turned out. It definitely has given me the inspiration to make more quilts and do more sewing in general.