Happy New Year!

My yearly "what I hope to be crafting" list for this year. I've tried to link what I could (and yes, some of these are carry overs from last year).

1. Toddler Sewing Basket
2. Rag Quilts for each kid
3. ABC Scrapbook for Chaos
4. Burp Cloths for Sprout
5. Tie Fleece Blanket for Sprout
6. Felt Playhouse
7. Valentine's Day Table Runner
8. 2010 Family Scrapbook
9. 2011 Family Scrapbook
10. Wild One's Baby Scrapbook
11. Sprout's Baby Scrapbook
12. Quilted Placemats (or this one)
13. Remote Caddy for Basement Couch
14. Handprint Ornamant for Wild One
15. Happy Birthday Banner and Merry Christmas Banner
16. I Spy Quilts
17. Button Turkey
18. Turkey Hairclip
19. Glitter Christmas Ornament
20. Felt Landscape
21. Felt Racetrack
22. Felt Kitchen
23. Wooden Baby Blocks
24. Felt Mr. Potato Head
25. Advent Calendar
26. Quilted Growth Chart
27. Mini Christmas Tree Skirts for Pinky and Chaos
28. Tutu bedskirt
29. Hairbow Holder (my own design)
    
30. Child artwork ornaments (2 types)
    

What do you hope to accomplish this year?

Busy Quilting!

Now that my sewing machine is back (and sewing like a dream!) I can finally buckle down and work on Wild One and Pinky's birthday quilts. These quilts are both very bright and vibrant.

I finished the quilt top of Wild One's Sock Monkey quilt in one afternoon. You have to love strip quilts! Quick and easy! The fabric I used is Moda's Funky Monkey line.


I plan to back this with a combination of these two fabrics from the same line:


And bind with this (also from the same line):


Since I had to order the backing and binding fabric I had some downtime. I decided to get a head start on Pinky's rainbow quilt. Here are the first two stacked coin rows. I still have 3 more to go, then I will sash it with purple fabric (her favorite color). I haven't decided on a backing fabric yet. Any ideas?


I hope to have completed pictures soon!!

Felt Crayon Rolls

I posted earlier in the summer about the crayon rolls I wanted to make from Skip To My Lou. They were SO simple to make that I ended up making extras and giving them out as gifts to Pinky's friends.




I managed to wrangle one back from the kids so I could take a picture of how they turned out. This one belongs to Chaos. I chose to skip the applique on the front (for time constraint reasons) and just added a simple looped ribbon with a button for closure. These would make great stocking stuffers this Christmas!

You can check out the tutorial HERE.

Finished!

I put the final page in Chaos's baby scrapbook album. I am so happy to have it finished before the scrapbook retreat. Now I can focus on Wild One's album. Maybe hers will even be finished before she turns 2!


The last page - a month by month collage of his sock horse pictures.

No Sew Fleece Blanket

I spent Chaos's nap time yesterday making Wild One a tie blanket. I love how it turned out.

Front


Back. The color is actually a soft purple. It looks more blue in this picture.

I used a yard and a half of each print. I think that makes the perfect size blanket for kids. We use these a lot to cover up in the car during winter car trips.

Wild One is having some tummy time on her new soft blanket as I type this. I think she likes it!

Felt Food!

Join the felt food craze by stopping over at Helping Little Hands Felt Cook-Along. Lots of great tutorials and pictures!

The Best of Intentions

I set out today with the intention of crossing an item off of my crafting list. I had the urge to make a glass tile necklace for myself. Since we're (still) in the process of moving rooms around, my craft stuff is in a very disorganized heap in my new craft area in the basement. While searching that giant heap for the supplies I needed, I came across some old scrapbooking paper that I had completely forgotten about.

One sheet that caught my attention was a full mock up of the Candyland board game. Now, I have NO idea what my original intention was when I bought this paper, but I'm so glad that I did. Pinky loves Candyland - more specifically she loves Princess Frostine. She loves her so much that I spend most of my day pretending to BE Princess Frostine. Princess Frostine has been to our house for tea parties and sleep overs; she's joined us for shopping trips at Wal-Mart and rides in the car, and she tucks Pinky into bed every night. She's become an obsession.

So, being your average forget-about-having-something-for-me-the-kids-would-love-this type of mom, I set to work to make Pinky a Princess Frostine glass tile necklace. I ended up with two tiles - one of Princess Frostine and one of her magic wand. I think Pinky is going to love these! I bought the ribbon necklaces (pictured in this previous post) on etsy to string the tiles on.

Here's the all important Princess Frostine necklace (these were nearly impossible to get a good picture of with my camera and my frustration got the better of me before I got around to the second necklace).


I'm sure I'll get around to making myself a necklace some other day...

My Second "Year of Crafting"

In the spirit of New Years resolutions, here is what I hope to be crafting this year. Almost all of these are linked to a tutorial I have found. In no particular order:

1. Toolbelt for Chaos
2. Valentine's Day Table Runner
3. Fabric Travel High Chair
4. Crayon Rolls
5. Car Caddy
6. Fabric Dollhouse - a barn for Pinky and a garage with cars for Chaos
7. Pinky's Rainbow quilt
8. Wild One's Sock Monkey Quilt
9. Glass tile necklace for me!
10. 1930s 9 patch Quilt
11. Circle Quilt
12. Tie Fleece blanket for Wild One
13. Shadow Boxes for Wild One's nursery
14. Christmas stockings with hand embroidered names
15. Busy Books for all of the kids
16. More felt food - particularly cookies on a cookie sheet, pasta, crackers, eggs, pancakes, pop tarts and lollipops
17. Tea towel apron to go with the felt food
18. Glass block night light
19. Photo coasters
20. ABC Scrapbook for Chaos
21. Chaos Baby Scrapbook
22. 2009 Family Scrapbook
23. 2010 Family Scrapbook
24. Wild One Baby Scrapbook
25. Handprint ornament for Wild One
26. Happy Birthday Banner
27. Sippy cup leash
28. Felt mustache
29. Felt Mr. Potato Head
30. Chalkboard placemat
31. Playsilks
32. I Spy Quilts
    

What do you hope to accomplish this year?

A Year in Review

Happy New Year! While my family and I are enjoying the day, here is look back at what I have accomplished from my (very lofty) goal of a year of crafting. Some things I originally wanted to complete became not necessary or changed slightly as the year went on. Some items I just didn't get to. But you know what? I'm still glad I tried. I'm even working on a new list for this year.

Wherever possible, I added a link to the post with the completed picture or to the original set of instructions for those crafts I did not finish.

Crafts to Finish:
1. Pinky's Baby Quilt - currently a work in progress
2. Sun dress for Pinky (and the matching doll dress) that I started last summer. Half isn't bad, right?
3. Baby doll quilt - I need to upload some pictures for this one
4. Jewelry holder made from an old screen

Crafts to Try:
5. Christmas Stockings for the whole family - a current work in progress
6. Cloth baby shoes (think Robeez style)
7. Burp cloth
8. Premade scrapbook pages.
9. Baby stacking rings
10.Taggie blanket I did make a taggie football. That's close enough for me.
11. Baby blocks
12. Handprint canvases
13. Framed fabric art for bathroom I didn't make this one, but instead we found a beautiful framed art piece on clearance. So...crossing this one off too.

Gifts to Make:
14. Eye Spy bag
15. Felt food Donut, Sugar Cookies, Cupcake
16. Crayon roll up. This will be a great diaper bag item.
17. Superhero cape for dress up and...
18. Superhero mask
19. Tutu
20. Fishing game (the tutorial for this one is no longer available)
21. Cloth house (in a garage version with cars for Chaos and maybe a barn with animals too. Depending on Pinky's interest I may also make a doll house for her)
22. Soap balls with prizes inside Pinky and I made soap shapes and balls, no prizes though.
23. Scrabble tile necklace Glass tile necklace, but same process and idea
24. Kid's artwork collage

And last, but certainly not least:
25. Pottery Barn knock off craft desk We went for the less expensive Ikea version instead, but I still love having an area in our newly finished basement to work on my crafts!

I Spy With My Little Eye...

FUN FABRIC!

Check out this awesome fabric I just bought from etsy seller SewTogether.

It includes 2 squares each of 50 different I Spy fabrics. I plan to make two matching quilts - one for Pinky and one for Chaos. I Spy is one of Pinky's favorite games. My thought is that if I make 2 quilts Pinky and Chaos can play I Spy together - each asking the other to find something on their quilt. I do plan to put the squares in a different order on each quilt to make it a bit harder.

The finished size on these will be less than 2 feet square so they should make for a great travel or diaper bag game!

Finished Christmas Present!

Well, nearly finished anyway. It came down to the wire, and I wasn't able to to top stitch or add the velcro (I wanted to measure it first anyway). I'm fairly certain the kids didn't notice though. They turned out pretty well.


The tutorial comes from this great site (as did the applique patterns). These were actually very simple to make. The hardest part (for me) was the stitching around the applique. It's not something I've done before and took a lot of practice. It's not perfect, but I'm glad I tried it.

I think these will be a hit and certainly better than the capes they were using (those are pillowcases):


As for the other Christmas projects I had intended to make...well, let's just say I'm working on some great birthday and Valentine's gifts already. If all else fails, there's always next Christmas right?

Pinky's Rainbow Quilt

Okay, I've finally made a decision on my next quilt (and it involved buying more fabric -I'm developing quite the stash). Pinky has repeatedly told me that she wants a "rainbow blanket." After a lot of searching, I finally bought this fabric from ebay:

The fabric is called Pizazz, and I love that it has 18 different colors. I am going to do my own version of a stacked coins pattern (I got the idea from here). I am still debating what color fabric to use for the sashing - white or purple (Pinky's favorite color). I'm leaning towards purple right now, but will hold off making my decision until I have the fabric and am able to lay out all the strips.

Wish me luck!

A Project For Pinky

Pinky is currently in a ballet class that she LOVES. Next week is the last class of the session and the parent observation class. As a special treat (and a surprise), I made her a tutu to wear for class that day. It was so, so easy! And it's very cute! I know she is going to love it.

I got the instructions from a great detailed tutorial at Vermillion Rules.

The instructions were to cut all the rolls of tulle into 20 inch strips. That was way too tedious of a job for me. Instead of cutting each one individually, I first cut a strip of cardboard 20 inches long.

My measuring strip. (Glad we had some cardboard in the recycling bin.)


I secured the start of the tulle with tape at the top of the cardboard, and then wrapped the entire roll around the cardboard.


When finished, I cut each end. Voila! With only 2 cuts, I cut the entire 100 yard roll into strips. This does take some sharp scissors to cut through the thickness. You could do half at a time if you are having trouble getting through all the layers.

Cutting 225 yards (2 large rolls and 1 small roll) of tulle took me less than 10 minutes (not counting the time to dig the cardboard out of recycling). I followed the tutorial and in less than an hour and a half, I had this beautiful tutu.

The tulle colors are magenta, light purple and dark purple (accent color). The light purple though was so light that it looks pink when paired up with the magenta. It still needs some fluffing, but I really, really like it!! I know Pinky will flip for it. :)

Finally updated with pics of Pinky in her tutu. She was playing dress up and for some reason, refuses to look at the camera. LOL!

My Latest Project!

After a lot of thought (and guilt), I decided that Pinky's baby quilt probably will not be finished anytime soon. I've made a lot of progress on it (the quilt top is about 50% finished), but I really don't think I can go any further working with Minkee fabric without a walking foot on my sewing machine. Right now, sewing isn't a huge priority for me, and I just don't want to spend over $100 to buy a walking foot when I'm not sure how often I will use it. Maybe someday, if I really decide to dedicate some time to sewing, I will finish it. For now though, it will sit in my unfinished projects file.

BUT - I have not abandoned the idea of making both kids a quilt. I just recently discovered "charm packs." For those that don't know they are bundles of precut 5" fabric squares. They are adorable and very reasonably priced. I decided to buy a few and make very simple quilts for the kids. I went out today and picked out fabric for both kids. The charm packs were on clearance (YAY!) and cost less than $7 each.

Here are the fabric samples.

For Chaos, "Alien Invasion" by Moda. I love the cute little space guys!


For Pinky, "Candy Kisses" by Moda. I was afraid this fabric would be too Valentine's Day-ish, but in the end, the cute pink factor won me over. She is a girly-girl after all. (These fabrics are much more vibrant in person!)


I'm going to start with Chaos' quilt in hopes of having it done by his first birthday. Tonight my goal is to lay out all the squares and choose an order. Then tomorrow I can start sewing. Wish me luck!!

Handmade Birthday Present

For my mother-in-law's birthday, I knew I wanted to make something special. When I saw these glass tile necklaces I knew they were perfect. I made one with artwork Pinky had drawn(and cut out a portion of it).

Here's how the necklace turned out:


For a gift box, I turned this:


Into this:

A completely handmade birthday gift. I really hope she likes it! The Altoids tin was my first altered tin ever, so it was very hard to give it away. I think I will have to make one to keep for myself.

Sewing up a delicious meal!

I'm so excited that I actually *made* something this weekend. I've been surfing around on a lot of different craft blogs, and I've fallen in love with felt food. If you haven't seen it yet, go do a google search for "felt food." Go on. I'll wait...

See? It's adorable isn't it? I'm hoping to make some felt food for our play kitchen (maybe as Easter or Christmas gifts this year). I decided last night to pull out the craft felt I have lying around the house and see what I could come up with. I found this tutorial for a doughnut pattern. It seemed simple enough so I gave it a try. Here's my finished project:

Not too bad for a first time. There are definitely some things I would change. Next time I will use my machine to sew. I did this all by hand because I didn't feel like lugging out my machine (reason #124,529 that I need a dedicated craft room). It was a fun, mindless project to do while watching The Pelican Brief with my husband, but I certainly could have done it much faster with my machine. Second, the overall doughnut needs to be larger and the center hole needs to be smaller. The pattern I used called for a 5 1/2 inch outer circle. I only had a 4 1/2 inch ready made circle to trace, so I used that. The center hole though started as a tracing of a 2 liter pop bottle lid. It sort of grew with cutting and sewing. I also didn't have embroidery thread for the sprinkles (some people also use seed beads, but I wanted this to be kid friendly) so I used regular thread, and it's stuffed with cotton balls (which worked surprisingly well) instead of batting.

All in all though, I think it turned out pretty well. Pinky immediately recognized it as a doughnut, so that's success enough for me.

I'm already making progress!

I'm pretty proud of myself today. I accomplished three things: I learned to blanket stitch (a skill I need for the fabric garage I am going to make for Chaos), I finished the sundress for Pinky's baby doll, and I ordered supplies for the Scrabble tile necklace. My husband was impressed with my new sewing skill (even wanted me to show him how it was done) and Pinky was VERY happy with her baby's new dress. She loved that I made a headband from the leftover fabric too. However, now she keeps asking when I'm going to finish her sundress. Baby steps. I'll get there.

Here are some pictures from today's achievements:

My blanket stitch, learned from this tutorial. It's not the easiest to see (I had trouble getting a good enough picture), but it's around the blue and yellow circle on the top right. You can click on the picture to see it larger.


The baby doll sundress:

This material was on sale last spring. I think I paid less than $5 for 2 or 3 yards of it. It was already elastic-y at the top. (Forgive me, I have no idea what the technical term is for it. My sewing skills are not great.) I didn't do anything with the bottom seam of the dress since I figured it was just a doll dress after all. With Pinky's I'm thinking of adding some ribbon along the bottom edge. I'm not 100% sure though.

A Year of Crafting

Since I'm already on the topic of handmade items, I thought I'd share my one and only New Years Resolution. I've decided to make 2009 the year of the craft. I'm notorious for starting and never finishing a craft - or, even worse, bookmarking a really cool project and meaning to get back to it, only for it to get lost in my saved files forever. I've vowed that this year will be different and have adopted a top 25 list of crafts to be completed this year (and, of course, documented on my blog). Here's my very ambitious list:

Crafts to Finish:
1. Pinky's baby quilt (yes, I bought this fabric when I was pregnant with Pinky - yikes!!)
2. Sun dress for Pinky (and the matching doll dress) that I started last summer
3. Baby doll quilt. I have the quilt top (made from baby washcloths) finished. I just need to add the backing fabric and quilt it.
4. Jewelry holder made from an old screen. Hard to describe, but I have the screen and have wanted to make it for Pinky's dress up jewelry for a long time.

Crafts to Try:
5. Christmas stockings for the whole family (and I'll never have to worry about matching stockings again)
6. Cloth baby shoes (think Robeez style)
7. Burp cloths. No real need for these, they just look cute. Maybe they'll come in handy for baby #3
8. Premade scrapbook pages.
9. Baby stacking rings
10.Taggie blanket
11. Baby blocks
12. Handprint canvases
13. Framed fabric art for bathroom

Gifts to Make:
14. Eye Spy bag
15. Felt food. This will be cute for pretend kitchen play.
16. Crayon roll up. This will be a great diaper bag item.
17. Superhero cape for dress up and...
18. Superhero mask
19. Tutu
20. Fishing game
21. Cloth house (in a garage version with cars for Chaos and maybe a barn with animals too. Depending on Pinky's interest I may also make a doll house for her)
22. Soap balls with prizes inside
23. Scrabble tile necklace
24. Kid's artwork collage

And last, but certainly not least:
25. Pottery Barn knock off craft desk

I have links and templates for nearly all of these, and I will come back and add them later. I just wanted to make sure I got my list out there for people to see. I figure if I make it known that I plan to be productive, then I will be more likely to follow through. Can't wait to see how far I've gotten by December 31st.