My First Quilt- a T-Shirt Quilt

I finally finished my first quilt! I used my husband's t-shirts to make a quilt for my little boy to have while he's gone. It made it easier for my husband to go through and get rid of some of his old t-shirts.

Each of the squares are 15x15. For a baby it's huge, but he will grow into it. I used sheer fusible backing for the t-shirts and there is no batting because it's hot here and I want the baby to be able to use it all the time. With the fusible backing on the t-shirts and the actual backing it is still plenty thick. I used painter's tape to make my sideways lines while quilting it, and each line is A Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book apart. (You know you love my measuring methods!) I used a nice gray for the quilting after finding out that micro-filament is difficult to use.

Baby Shower Gift- Cloth High Chair

Three of my Aunts just had babies and I will be able to go and visit them soon! I wanted to give them something but they have all had other kids and other girls so I'm sure they have everything, with the exception of more diapers! If I have time to get to the store they will get some of those, but in the mean time I made a cloth high chair for each of them. You can find the cloth high chair that I got the idea from here.

I made some cloth high chairs for my baby's grandmas at Christmas time, and we all have decided that a plastic space saver high chair would be a better option to keep at their houses, especially as the baby began to self-feed. You can see my original plans here and my first cloth high chair here. My mom was able to replace her cloth chair with a real one, so I have been able to use the other one quite a bit when we go places. If you need a tray it works well with a pillow or phone book under the cloth high chair, and then push them up to the table (Although I would definitely never leave their side when they are like that!). You will enjoy the fact that you can eat next to them in peace!

I had to take pictures of an actual baby in the high chair because I never did that the first time! He was very wiggly and was trying to get out, but wasn't able to. It just goes to show that it does work, and most the time he isn't trying to get out because he's happy to be eating!

Sleeveless Onsie from Adult T-Shirt

I found this cute idea for a shortall on Pinterest. It's by Heather of Feather's Flights and she made a great tutorial and pattern. Check her's out here. I had some ideas of how I wanted to change it, so here's what I did.

I didn't use her pattern, although I'm sure it would be easier (I haven't had ink in my printer for quite awhile now, it would have been easier but at least it makes me think creatively!). I used one the baby already had and traced it onto tissue paper. I made sure to add quite a bit of space on each side, because I wanted him to have room to grow and for my seam allowance. I also was planning on making a tank top, so there was extra space on the sides of the neck.

The onsie I was copying didn't have the extra piece that Heather had on hers, it was just the front and the back pieces, the same shape. After cutting out the pattern I pinned it to the front of the t-shirt and cut it out of the shirt.

Next I cut the neckline and just cut a little bit off of each side and then pin it back together and sew it.

The sides also need to be sewn, put the two pieces with outsides facing in together, then pin and sew the sides, starting under the arm hole.

The next thing is to hem the legs and arm holes. I did just a single fold under and stitched it.

Next it is time to figure out the snaps. I used snap tape and sewed it on by first pinning one side to the bottom, but with both outsides facing in. I stitched one side and then turned it over so insides were both inside and stitched it closed. For the bottom snaps I pinned them outsides facing in and just stitched it once. Now when they snap the tape isn't very visible.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party Hat

My baby is almost 9 months old, time to start planning his 1st Birthday Party!

I know I'm setting myself up for failure by going all out on a first birthday of my first child, because I'll have to do that from here on out for every kid! I guess I learned it from the best because my mom, Raejean over at Easy as Pie! did the same thing when we were kids. Every party had a theme and everything went with it, but they were really fun. Other moms would tell her that she needed to be a party planner! You can check out some of her more current celebrations here.

If you read what we did for Valentine's Day you would have seen that we like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so that's what we chose for his "theme". (Ok, I chose it but convinced my husband that he should "choose" it for me. Like how that works? ;)

The inspiration for this party hat is from Sweet Love Creates Photography Props. She has the cutest knit hungry caterpillar set for newborn photo-shoots. Seeing that my little one's birthday is in the middle of summer in Arizona I don't think anything knit would be the way to go, but this is adorable and I wish I had seen it when he was littler!

My hat is currently made from construction paper and laid over another party hat (thanks, sis!) until I go get the cardstock I need. I have a few months, but I wanted to do this one so I knew what I needed to go and get. Anyway... Here's how to make it!

Materials:
Red Cardstock
Green Cardstock
Yellow Cardstock
Blue or Purple Cardstock
Elastic
Skewers
Glue
Tape
Party Hat(to use as template)

Directions
1. Use another party hat and lay it down on your red cardstock. Trace it and then cut it out. Also cut the slits where needed. Put it together, and tape if necessary. (Party hats hate me, so I tape them!)

2. Cut out yellow circles. You need 2 per hat, and they shouldn't be perfect circles, make them messy looking!

3. Cut out smaller green circles, you need two per hat as well. Glue them to the yellow circles. Once they dry, glue them to the hat.

4. Rip out a nose shape from the blue or purple cardstock. Glue it to the hat.

5. Cut out antenna shaped like the ones in the book, messy is fine, that's kind of the Eric Carle look (Dear Eric Carle, that's a compliment!). These you need 4 per hat. Two for the front and two for the back. Glue them to your skewers, one on each side to hide the skewers. Shorten the skewers first if you need to, like in this post. You can also cut off the points just in case kids pull them out and start trying to sword fight!

6. Cut a small hole in the top of the party hat, one on each side and slide the skewers in. The skewers won't poke anyone's heads if they don't go down far enough (unless you have some party goers with cone heads) but if you want to make it extra safe some foam and glue would be good in there.

Now I just need to go shopping and make a whole bunch for the party that's ONLY 4 MONTHS AWAY!! Haha I hope this adds to your Very Hungry Caterpillar parties, and stay tuned because I will be creating more fun things in the next few months to come! Thanks for reading!


Disclosure: The infant model posing in this hat was well paid in cheerios for wearing such a goofy thing!

Baby Playmat

This is going to be an unusual post. I am just going to tell you not to do this project, and I will tell you what was so terrible about it, so that you don't make the same mistakes I did. Hopefully it will give you ideas to do something like this but a billion times easier!

I found a playmat at a yardsale and got it for fifty cents. I didn't realize until I got it home that the bottom was torn up pretty badly and was not worth fixing. Being the crafty gal I am, I decided to make a new bottom for it.

I knew I wanted the bottom nice and cushy like a blanket, but I noticed that even crib sized batting was expensive so I decided a puff pillow would be neat and I had a pillow of fluff that could fill it for a tiny bit of the price.

This was at the time my sewing machine was broken, so most of the squares were hand sewn together and then whip stitched closed. I did get to use the machine for some of the squares, but when the squares are finished they all have to be whip stitched together. And that was the nightmare. I started this when I was pregnant, and did alot of the work when I was on bedrest, but it still wasn't finished until the baby was almost too big for it! It was very time consuming and very frustrating. Not to mention that I dreaded doing it, so a week at a time it would just sit until I would pick it up again the next week.

I also recovered the poles that went over the top. Those were fun and easy to sew, I just copied the originals. By this time my sewing machine was working, I wouldn't do these by hand, they get pulled on and eaten too much!

If I were to do it again I would do a few things differently. 1. Buy one already made, new at a store. 2. Find a Joann's coupon and just buy the batting. 3. Make it with an existing quilt. 4. Sew thick straps to go corner to corner and put blankets I already had over the straps.

Number four is my favorite idea, I wish I had done that! Well now you see a cute project that took FOR-EV-ER and know what not to do. Thanks for reading!

Starting a Tradition

I'm catching up this week on everything I wanted to post last month! This year for Valentine's Day we got the baby a new book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We love this book, but thought that a board book version of it would be best for the next year or so.

On the inside of the book I put in a sticker I created. It has to and from and a happy valentine's day so he can know where it came from when he got older. It also will make us stick with the tradition or else he will ask about it later! It also is much better than candy or a card, and he will get plenty of that from everyone else.

You can also check out the tradition of the rhyme we use for Christmas, click here!

Diaper Bag Replacement Purse

Don't you hate it when you clean so well that you can't find anything you need? Well I think I did that. I can't find the pattern I made for this purse anywhere. It was just a piece of tissue paper so it might have accidentally been tossed. It's so frustrating. Well I created it, so I can probably create it again when I need it. My mind is already onto a new pattern, so I won't be recreating it any time soon. I will show off the finished product.

My new purse turned out really well. Some women go shopping for clothes or purses when they need a little pick-me-up, and I go fabric shopping instead. I stayed up really late the night I got my fabric, first I was just watching White Collar (my new favorite addiction!) while cutting out the pattern. Then I just had to stay up a bit longer to sew it all together. I was going to add on to it, but I think it is good the way it is!

I designed this with the features I liked from my diaper bag, but made it much cuter. It has a little less space than the diaper bag, but I can still fit a ton in there!

The next time I will be sure to put a stabilizer in the strap though. As you can see in the pictures it tends to fold up and crinkle. It could also use a top stitch around the opening, but when you have stuff in it, it doesn't really need it. Hope this gets you excited for someday when I create a tutorial, thanks for checking it out!

Car Seat Strap Covers

My little guy had red marks on his neck from the car seat so I had to hurry up and make some covers for the straps! I used scraps I had and some velcro so they really didn't cost much.

Materials:
Thick Fabric (mine reminded me of a Santa suit)
Cuter Fabric
Velcro

Our straps are 1 1/2 inches thick, so all of the measurements are for that size. Also, don't forget that you are doing everything listed here twice, because you need to make a set of two.

1. Cut your thicker scraps 5 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. I just used one for each side but if you want to have more padding you can add another layer or two.

2. Cut your decorative fabric, 7 inches by 7 inches.

3. Center your thick fabric in the middle of your cute fabric. Fold the edges of the decorative fabric over twice and iron it in place. Sew the edges down.


4. Cut your velcro strips to 5 inches and sew them on.

You're finished! Now you can velcro them onto the car seat straps and have better car rides! Thanks for reading!

November In Review

This month has been full of work, crafting and fun. I want to record all of my projects so that I feel like I was productive! You can click on the pictures for the full post.

I did some crafts for fall and thanksgiving:


I worked on some gift ideas: (Hair Scarf, Reed Diffuser, Knit Hats)


I made a few height charts:


I went out hiking with the baby:


What did you accomplish this November?

Nursing Cover / Bath Apron

I'm just going to say it, I think I'm a genius.(Thanks to my friend Shenanigans and my husband to making me feel justified in thinking it!) Why am I? Well I have an awesome nursing cover (I really do love it, and use it all the time) that my aunt made me. It's a blanket with a strap. When I was packing light to go hiking I didn't pack it because of space. I did pack a blanket, and if I would have made this strap sooner it would have been perfect. This strap clips onto any blanket or thing that you already have. Receiving blanket? Nursing Cover, done. Large shirt? Done. Towel? Bath Apron, done. See, I told you I was a genius.

You can make your own, or you can just pick one up at my etsy shop. Make sure to get one for all of your friends too. Any suggestions, comments or agreeing with me on my genius-ness? Leave a comment for me, I'd love to hear it!

My Memories Suite- Giveaway and Coupon

My Memories gave me the opportunity to try out their My Memories Suite. It is a digital scrapbooking software that is really neat.

You really have alot of options of what you can do with it. I made some flags using their background papers. It was tons easier than when I made my 4th of July Flags. (My printer was running out of black ink, let's pretend I did that on purpose to make them look spookier for halloween!)They have cute backgrounds with tons of color choices already loaded on the program.




I did a few layouts using their picture layouts and adding the backgrounds and accents. I was then able to do an auto-fill of my pictures and adjust them from there. It was super easy!

To finish your album you have the options of printing it at home, professionally printing it (as a book or a calendar!) or keeping it digital. Below is a digital copy of what I made. They had options of high quality ones, but I chose to keep it low, so it would load easier for everyone.



For my readers I have a code to give you $10 off of the My Memories Suite Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.comstore.Just enter STMMMS90802 when you check out.

The Giveaway:
My Memories Suite Software Worth $40

How to enter:
Visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack and leave a comment on my blog telling me.

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Subscribe to My Memories' Blog- blog.mymemories.com

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Good luck!

Repurposed Onsie

My son wore this onsie twice. It wasn't because he grew out of it this time!

Check out what I did with it at Arizona Mama!

Incedibles Costume T-shirt

Every year at work we dress up for Halloween. There's a theme for everyone in the clinic. This year our theme is superheroes. I will only be working a couple hours that day so I wanted something easy and comfortable. My sister suggested Elastigirl.

This same T-shirt could be for any of the Incredibles, I might do one on a red onsie so that my baby can be Jack-Jack.



Materials Needed:
Red T-Shirt
Black Scraps
Orange Scraps
Yellow Scraps
White Scrap
Ribbon

T-Shirt Instructions:
I used an old T-shirt of my husband's and tried to put it together to fit me, but it would be much easier to use a shirt that already fits.

First I added the black neckline. I used another old T-shirt for this, but any type of black fabric would work. I cut the neckline out of the shirt and sewed it on, but if I was using a T-shirt that fit, I would have cut out black fabric and folded it over the existing neckline and sewn it on that way.

Next, I cut out the pieces for my logo. I googled the logo and copied it from there. You could print it out and cut it out if you needed a pattern. For the fabric I used scraps I had, but if you have more choices than I did, I would choose knit fabrics so that the edges don't fray (like mine did).

I cut the black out of the other t-shirt. I just cut a big oval. I used the black oval to figure out the outside line of the orange. I guessed the inside cuts of the orange and pinned them to the black. I cut a rectangle for the bottom of the i and then cut off the top with a slant. I used a can that was slightly wider than the bottom of the i to trace the next piece of yellow. I used another circle lying around my kitchen for the white in the i.

To sew the patch I started with the black piece with the orange pinned on. I used black thread (I didn't have any orange) and a small, dense zig-zag stitch. I sewed the edges of the inside of the orange. I then pinned on the i pieces and did the outside of the yellow. I then switched to white thread and sewed the middle of the i on.

Once the patch is finished, it's time to sew it on the shirt. On a smaller shirt you may have to take the shirt apart to sew it on, mine I didn't need to. I switched to red thread and did the same zig-zag stitch around the edges.

Mask Instructions:

If you want a model to work with, you can make a quick mold of your face using tin foil. I used a knit black scrap and just started cutting, comparing to my model. I folded it in half to try to make it a bit more symmetrical. I hot glued the ribbon to the middle of the edge on each side, and had plenty so I could tie a bow in the back.


I loved the way it turned out, but next time I will definitely use knit scraps for everything! I will probably just wear both of these with jeans, but it would be easy to use a pair of red sweatpants with black undies over the top if you were brave!

Cloth Height Charts

I was stuck in a recliner for awhile on bed rest, and I wanted to make a height chart for my baby boy that I was waiting for. I had been taking up a little bit of hand embroidery, and I thought that a cloth one would be perfect, and I could work on it right then.


This is the first one that I did. Click on the picture so you can zoom in to see it better. I was allowed to do stuff while sitting. So I cut the fabric, while sitting. I then ironed the edges under, while sitting. I cut fabric for the tree, while sitting.

I then stitched on the tree trunk and treetop, while sitting, what else? My sister helped with those, while sitting next to me. Those and the clouds are all done with a very simple running stitch. We also added a bird, he was stitched with a running stitch but then I used some back stitching for his legs, a french knot for an eye, and the satin stitch for the beak.

For the lines and numbers going up the side, I put the cloth in an embroidery hoop to make it easier. I measured and marked the lines with a tape measure and stitched them with a split stitch.

For his name I wanted it to be bigger and more special, so I used a bold chain stitch.

I didn't worry about finishing off the edges because most of them were stitched over at some point. For the top and bottom I basically hemmed them with hot glue and slid the dowels in. The top just has yarn tied to it.

I showed off my masterpiece at work, and my boss wanted one for his little girl. I told him he was crazy because it took me about 6 hours to make this one. He offered to pay me for one hourly so I made this next one.

I did this one a little bit differently. I knew I didn't want to stitch all of the lines, that was the most time consuming, so I bought a fabric paint pen.

With using a fabric pen, my edges wouldn't be finished as well, so I ran them through the sewing machine first.

The design is also majorly different, I had fun cutting out the pieces and arranging them. I pinned them all down and started on the bottom pieces first and continued to the top layer of pieces until everything was sewn on. Sometimes I had to move stuff around to get to the pieces underneath. With this one, I used too many little pieces and that was really time consuming.

I did a tiny bit of embroidery on the ladybugs, using a french knot for the spots and antennae ends. I made a long stitch to separate the wings and for the length of the antennae.

Once everything was sewn on I used the fabric pen to make the lines and numbers. This one was shorter because the girl it was for was a lot taller to begin with than my unborn child so I made it to start at 18 inches. She also had a less of a chance of reaching six feet, so it is a few inches shorter there too.

On this one I sewed the hems for the dowels, because if they were to fall apart in years to come I didn't want to fix them.

I still did the embroidered name, using the chain stitch as before.

With the two different versions that I learned from, my next one will be even simpler by using a simple design like the tree and by using the paint pen. Thanks for reading!

The Wild Olive is a good place to learn the basic embroidery stitches if you want to make a fancy one of your own. Thanks for reading!

Linked to:
Somewhat Simple

How I Made Bassinet Sheets

Quick Disclosure: I am not a professional seamstress, yet. I make it up as I go, and it is probably wrong, but it works and might help others, any advice on how I could do it differently next time is appreciated and can be left in the comments, thanks!

I am borrowing this cute bassinet from one of my neighbors. It's in my bedroom not the Baby's Room.


My neighbor didn't have sheets to go with it, I think she said it was hard to find ones that fit, but she might have said something completely different. I looked at target and only found pink ones and I still wasn't sure if they would fit.

Finally my super-smart husband looked at me with the "you are such an idiot" face and asked why I didn't sew my own. Duh!! I've been on a sewing everything kick lately, and didn't even think of it. Seriously!

The one it came with is a really easy layout.


First I laid it out on my fabric (I used a Christmas woodland creatures print that was a hand-me down with no other uses) and I traced around it, but about 5/8" outside of it to accommodate the seam, this makes piece A.


I then cut it out, and used it to trace out the next piece (B). I just guessed at the size of B, but I used the original to compare and it has to be straight. I pinned the two of these pieces in place against A.

For the next piece (C) I really confused myself. Use the first piece (A) to trace this one too, but remember that the part you can't see (its under the one you're using to trace) is the part that you are going to be using. I then pinned the two of these pieces in place against A, and pinned the edges that are touching of B and C together (not to A). You should still be able to lift the edge of B away from A enough to sew the edge, the same with where you have B and C pinned together.


The first stitch I did was a zig-zag stitch to hem the edges and to sew B and C together. Using a serger would work well here too. I went from under 1 down to the 2 only sewing together B and C. I did the same thing on the other side with 3 to 4.

I then did a straight stitch around the edge of A (including the pinned on B and C)keeping my 5/8" seam line. I then zig-zag stitched that same edge just to keep my fabric from fraying. (I don't believe in hand-washing laundry, it takes too much time, effort and energy!)

Lastly, I zig-zag stitched along the inside of the C pieces to keep them from fraying also, and that was it. Hope this helps!