Happy Mother’s Day! This is a great day to thank your Mom for all that they do for you! I am 40 years old, and my mom still worries about me as much as she did when I was a baby :). Thanks for everything Mom!
Mom and GrandsonFive Years Later...Still on Grandma's Lap
Now that I’m a mom myself I finally get what she means when she says “you won’t understand until you have children of your own.” My little guy is only five, but already I am thinking about how sad I am going to be when he moves away from home! It’s so silly, but I am going to enjoy him as much as I can while I still have him all to myself :).
Happy Easter everyone! This tutorial might be a bit late, since you can’t make these for an Easter Basket, but I really wanted to post this cute little rabbit I made from some socks bought at Target for a dollar! My plan was to make up my own directions, but I figured someone had already done something like this and a quick Google search turned up a free sock rabbit pattern at Clubhouseb.com. Download the pattern and cut out the sock pieces per the directions listed. This tutorial assumes you have the pattern handy for reference.
Step 1 - Plain Sock
As you can imagine, you start with a plain sock. Turn the sock inside out and arrange the heel so that it is facing you. Following the directions on the downloaded pattern, draw lines on the socks for the ears and legs. Stitch around the lines (per the pattern) and cut the ears and legs apart.
Step 2 - Stitch along lines for ears and legs
Turn the whole thing inside out (there will be a opening in the crotch for this). Use a point turner to poke out the tips of the ears and the corners of the feet.
Step 3 - Turn inside out
Stuff with fiberfill. The socks I used were children’s size, so the rabbit will be about 7″ high (the ears add about 4″ more height). Be careful when stuffing – you don’t want to overstuff and you don’t want the sock to run near the raw edges between the legs. Whipstitch the opening shut with matching thread.
Step 4 - Stuff and stitch
Next, make a running stitch around the base of each ear, pull to gather, and tie off (the pattern indicates doing the running stitch across the ear, but I did it around in order to make it easier to gather and tie off). Figure out where the neck is going to be and make a running stitch around the neck, pull to gather, and tie off.
Step 5 - Make the face
For the face, take two buttons with shanks and sew on according to the directions. If you try to use buttons with holes you will find that the eye indentations will not look correct. Rabbit eyes are positioned more to the side instead of the front, so using the shank buttons makes the indentations appear on the sides of the face, instead of the front. Create the mouth and nose per the directions. I didn’t statin stitch a nose since the pink diamond from the argyle pattern is positions perfectly for a nose – what a happy accident!
Step 6 - Make arms
Take the other sock and create two arms. For my arms, I cut off the toe of the sock and stitched down the middle (like I did with the ears) so that the arms would be pointed on the end like paws.
Step 7 - Sew on arms and add bow
Stuff the arms lightly and whipstitch them into place at the neck. Tie a bow around the neck to complete the look and you have an Easter Bunny! If you have the inclination, you can also embellish him (or her) further by adding a hat, shirt, dress, basket, etc. If you want to get really fancy you can sew a running stitch at the wrists and ankles to make the paws more defined.
The birds are chirping the flowers are blooming, and spring is finally here (I think). Last week we had a blast of winter weather and we are supposed to be in the 30’s tonight. But after that, it is supposed to be consistently in the 60’s and 70’s for spring!
Nest of Easter Peeps
Here’s a cute spring project – a nest of Easter Peeps! The original pattern from Liberty Rose was a much larger chick that could be used for a pincushion. I downsized it and stitched it up in some yummy spring colors! You could also make some cute Easter Rabbits and use brown floss to add in the distinctive Rabbit Peep face – 2 small dots for the eyes and one for the nose (note: writing this on my to do list).
Easter Pillows - Photo Transfers
This spring pillows were also inspired by Liberty Rose! These are really easy to stitch up and are great accents for your spring decorating. Pick out a few vintage images (we used postcards) and then transfer them to fabric. You can buy the photo transfer fabric at Jo-Ann’s (bring your coupon). Cut out, sew on a backing, and stuff – viola! The neat thing about this is that you can use any image – there are lots of goods ones the internet, just do a search for “vintage ____ images”.
My son is at that age where he gets invited to lots of birthday parties, so I am always on the look-out for fun little things to make for party favors and little gifts.
This first favor is one I made for my son’s Pirate themed party. The pattern is the Child’s Coloring Bag from Clothesline Quilts. What’s great about these bags is they don’t take up a lot of fabric and you can easily make 8 in about 90 minutes (which includes the time to quilt the fabric). Next, go to the Dollar Tree and pick out some crayons and other little things to go inside!
Pirate's Booty Party Favor
The next favor is a Zipper Critter by Indygo Junction. The pattern comes with three different sizes and three different types of of animals (dog, cat, pig). It’s great for using up scraps and any old zippers you have laying aroud. What’s nice is that you can personalize the fabric choice for each child, or do it all based around a theme. These critters also make nice package decorations – especially the smaller one that is attached to a lanyard. One of these takes about 30 minutes to make (although you can speed things up if you want to make several by cutting them all out at once and sewing them assembly line style).
This is a quilt top that is currently on my UFO list because it still needs to be quilted. However, I thought it would be appropriate for today’s post :).
This split applique is very easy to do – I learned how to do it in a class taught at Plain and Simple. Basically you create a heart template in 3 sizes – small, medium, large. You get scraps of red fabric and cut out one of each heart for each block you want to make. You begin by sewing small heart on top of the medium, then sewing this unit on top of the large heart, and then sewing this onto your applique background.
This is rough edge applique, meaning that you don’t need to prep the pieces to turn the edges and you don’t need to hide your stitches. You just sew around the rough edges of each shape, about 1/4″ in from the edge. After completing your blocks, you cut each one into fourths. Then you randomly select 4 pieces and sew them back together as a new heart. I really enjoyed this project, and it’s a great for people who are just learning how to quilt.
I haven’t quite decided how to quilt this yet, because I don’t want to quilt over the hearts. When this is washed, the rough edges will ravel and the hearts will look like they have a bit of a ruffle or fringe around the edge. It’s a nice effect for something like this.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! Now that the gifts are all given, I can reveal what I made for gifts this year – Snuggies!! Each person received a handmade Snuggie (aka Slanket aka Blanket with Sleeves (the boring name)) in a fabric of my choice, with each fabric print specially selected to complement the recipient’s tastes.
Christmas Snuggies
Everyone graciously agreed to have this picture taken and posted on my blog. Thanks everyone – this will be my most popular post yet!
I found this great tutorial online for making Moravian Stars. I used 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper to make my strips. I made two different sizes. The strips for these small ones are 3/8″ wide by 12″ long.
Small Moravian Stars
The strips in this larger one are 1″ x 24″ wide (I had to tape two strips together in order to make it long enough).
Large Moravian Star
Here’s how they compare in size to each other.
Moravian Stars
I was looking for paper that was the same color on each side, however, I was able to get nice variations by arranging the strips differently before folding them. In one of the smaller ones, I folded the strips in half so that the wrong side of the paper was facing out. This created a pattern where the centers on side were patterned, the center on the other side was white, and the outside points alternated between pattern and white. On the red star, I used two strips that were right side out and two strips that were wrong side out. This created the pattern seen in the picture above.
These are a lot of fun to make. If you have trouble with the tutorial pictures, check out the video at the bottom. The only step that can be difficult to understand in the last one where you create the center points of the stars.
You can use these for all kinds of things – package tie-ons, ornaments, and garlands. I’ve also read you can dip them in wax (which is a nice way to preserve it and make it one color).
My friend wanted to make some little peace doves to give as gifts this year, and asked me to help her since she knows I love to sew! She emailed me a few pictures of some stuff birds she liked, and I was able to find a great FREE pattern at Spool Sewing for these birds (the free pattern is available for download in the right hand sidebar).
Little Blue Bird Softie
I stitched together a quick prototype on my sewing machine so we had a better idea of the finished product. It took no time at all and you could easily create a dozen of these in an evening. You can embroider little eyes using french knots, or you can attach a beads (be sure to do all these embellishments before stitching and stuffing it). Another idea is to embroider designs on the body, or create little wings in a contrasting color and sewing them on.
I don’t have a picture of my friend’s, but she used white felt for all her pieces, and then hand sewed them together with a blanket stitch (in white). It would have also been cute to sew around in contrasting color like red or blue. I plan to make some of these as well, but wanted to get this posted in so you can get the pattern and start making some yourself.
We used the pattern as is, and then used copper jewelry wire to make little feet. I pocked a hole in the bird body with a little awl, stuck in a dab of hot glue, then pushed the feet inside. Since the birds are pretty light, they stand up pretty well on the feet. You can adjust the feet after you get them glued in.
Aren’t these the cutest little patchwork stockings? I found the pattern FOR FREE on Connecting Threads about 2 years ago and have made quite a few of them. The directions show you how to make four little stockings (all the same patchwork pattern, but you can add variety by using different cuffs, bindings, and backing). It’s a great stashbuster since you use 10 different fabrics for this.
Mini Patchwork Stockings
This is done with a clever strip piecing method and takes very little time. I estimate that you can knock out all four of these in about 2 hours if you were able to work without interruption! These make great teacher gifts, gift card holders, candy cane holders, and decorations! One day, I plan to personalize some of them by embroidering a name on the cuff.
Mini Homespun Stocking
You can make different sizes by changing the size of the strips – imagine a set of miniature stockings that were half the size! Enjoy this pattern – there’s a lot you can do with it.
Introducing the Snowman Family! Here are some snowmen and women I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. I had an idea in my head about how to create some snowmen, but wasn’t quite sure what the end result would be. I didn’t want something too primitive – instead I was looking for something more retro and nostalgic. Vintage postcards provided the inspiration for the faces, which were painted on.
The Snow Family
I started by created a ball out of canvas, which was then painted off-white. I played around with some ideas for faces and created two different looks – the “sweetly sleeping” and “happy jolly”. The “sleeping” look was more feminine looking, which is why it was used for snow women.
Husband and Wife Snow-people
The first set was a snowman and wife. The top hat was made out of muslin and then painted black. The ears muffs were created from wool yo-yos and a strip of wool. After the headgear was glued on, they were painted with a coffee wash to lend an antique look.
Frosty the Snowman
Frosty was fun to make! He has the same top hat as the other guy, but also earmuffs (so he is double warm). Muslin was sewn together in a small cone to create the nose and then wrapped with string to give it a carrot texture. The face was painted on (eyes and mouth) and then the nose was stitched one. Next came his earmuffs and hat, then he was also brushed with coffee.
Candy Cane Snow-woman
This last one is my favorite one since it looks so different from the other ones. I knew I didn’t her to have an antique look – I wanted to keep this one more retro. I thought about adding the Santa hat when trying to think of another type of hat that wasn’t as involved as a top hat or bonnet. When the hat was placed on her head, she reminded me of a candy cane! This inspired me to paint her candlestick a cheery red and white. I just need to figure out a better way to paint on the white lines so they don’t look as wobbly. Any suggestions are welcome!
Keep it Thimble 