WIP’s This Wednesday

I was debating on what to chat about today… Since my surgery, I wasn’t getting a lot of sewing time in, until just the other day. I have finished a few projects, but I’m not ready to share. And then I remembered all those confusing WIP Wednesday posts I used to see on other quilting blogs. WHAT are they talking about??? I don’t know if I should even admit how long it took me to realize what WIP means…

Works in Progress!

Hello???

I’m super excited about how my project for the Modernista Homemade swap is coming along. My son, once again, helped lay out the pieces!

And I got a pile of fabric today! I was asked by my son’s preschool to help with a few auction items. One is the Decorations for the main event. But also my son’s class project is going to be a quilt this year. I got to design it! There are going to be a white block that the kids make with a Kaleidoscope like block between each white one. I think it’s going to be cool!

quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker, image via The Long Thread

 

Have you seen The Long Thread’s Kaleidoscope Quilt??? It totally inspired my idea! I think it’s just fantastic!! I’ve been watching the progress, but watched, not read, is key here. I mean it’s totally eye candy!  I just actually did read about it and it was for her child’s school auction too! How funny!!!

Another Kid Designed Momma Made Project

Did you see the last Kid Designed, Momma Made project I did? That one was for my son’s auction… This one is a baby gift!

Last week I was invited to a good friend’s baby shower brunch. It was totally last minute. And it was planned during a week that I was still recovering from surgery and unable to drive. I knew that I couldn’t just run out and buy something. And honestly, I’m not real good at that. SO the other night we were out and my son started drawing….

As he got a little way through his drawing, I knew exactly what I was going to do! This baby coming is the third child in the family. His soon to be middle sister has this little tiny blanket that she carries everywhere! Between that and the drawing, I knew I was going to make the baby brother a little blanket kinda like his sister’s.

The drawing continued, but I knew which part of the drawing would be the one I made. I told my son that I was using his drawing to make the baby a present, but that I wasn’t doing the whole drawing. He was very relieved and said that ‘If you use the whole drawing, it might scare the baby.’ Since the drawing is an alien fighting a ball of fire….

The striped part became the blanket, and the face and hair is stuffed. So it could be a pillow, or it could be a stuffie… It’s up to him to decide! And the ears are just soft little quilted pieces to love on, like the tag dolls that kids love so much!

I love turning kids drawings into reality. Only this time, when my son saw it, he was horrified! IT was NOT AT ALL like his picture, according to him. The hair is not hair, but part of the hat and it’s NOT SUPPOSED to be polka dot!!!! AHHHH!!! Well, I think it looks pretty close to the original drawing and it just so happened that the polka dot was the only soft coordinating fabric that I happened to have on hand… I’m happy with it!

What do you think? Does it look like the original drawing???

 

Shared with these Link Parties!

Beaded Bookmarks!

We seem to be having a hard time keeping up with bookmarks. And we seem to be reading at least one chapter book at a time. Which means, I’m constantly trying to remember where we left off….

So when I saw these adorable bunny bookmarks by Small for Big, I was so excited to make them! Have you seen this? The project has been featured all over the blog world! It’s just so adorable!

I wanted to try making them out of pom poms, since I knew for sure we had different sized pom poms around this house somewhere… The key word in that sentence is somewhere… I couldn’t find them anywhere… So we used the beads that we have at the house. I loved the wood colored originals, but we had colored beads and I think they turned out nicely.

I showed my son the picture of what we were making and proceeded to pick every shape we had, except the circles, for the bunnies! Then he decided that, no, no bunny for him. He was making a little square-headed kid! OK! Well, I stuck to the directions and made a bunny!

I had grand expectations of this project. We were going to make a BUNCH of these for Easter gifts. Then the kiddo left me. Alone. Beading my bookmark. I didn’t have the needle the directions described and our yarn kept separating, so I had to keep adding tape to the end of the yarn in order to bead the beads. So, it was a little slow going and the kiddo lost interest.

He’s so excited to have his bookmark in our book tonight!

Now I have to find something to read to use mine in!

Shared with these Link Parties!

Birthday Girl Shirt Tutorial by Design, Dining + Diapers

I’m so excited to Taryn from Design, Dining + Diapers over today! I found her blog last fall through our Seattle Blogging FB group and fell in love. All her projects are so light and airy and that totally stands out to me in this somewhat dreary place that we call home! I’m so honored to have her visit today. Be sure to check out her blog after you read about her fun project!!

Hi All! I’m Taryn from Design, Dining + Diapers and I’m so happy to be here today at Feelin’ Crafty!

This past weekend was a whirlwind for our family, we celebrated both my husband’s and my daughter’s birthdays with two separate parties. Whew! My daughter turned 2 (I’m still in denial) and I threw her a very girly train party. It was a blast. For her party I made her a custom “Birthday Girl” shirt that screamed ‘Girly’ to the fullest. She loves her pink and sparkles. Today, I’m going to show you how you can easily make your own custom shirt, with your own custom design. I’m serious, it is SO simple. You will be addicted 🙂

Supplies Needed:

– Basic white tee (I picked mine up at Fred Meyer on sale for $2.99!)

– Piece of white paper (Coloring book pages, printer paper, anything will work)

– Hot pink Ink Effects by DecoArt

– Paint brush

– Iron

– Jewels

Start by printing out your design onto a piece of basic printer paper. Or you can also paint directly onto the paper if you have a steady hand. Just remember that the image will need to be the mirror image of what you want to appear on the shirt. Then paint the design using the Ink Effects.

The color that appears on the paper is not necessarily the final color. The Hot Pink that I used looked more fuchsia on the paper and when I ironed it on it was a true hot pink.

Now if you thought it was easy up until this point, it gets even easier. Simply cut out the shape of the design and lay it flat onto the shirt.

Iron over the image, putting pressure onto the design and making sure that all corners have been covered. I spent about 60 seconds going over the design.

Peel off your paper and your design will be transferred! SO easy. What I like about using the Ink Effects is that it doesn’t leave the plastic feeling that transfer paper has. It is really soft and blends right into the fabric. The only issue I had was that I saw a few iron marks on my design, but they weren’t as noticeable once the I put the jewels on.

I topped the design off by added some fun jewels along the edges and a few pink bows. Every birthday girl needs some bling!

The party turned out great and my daughter loved her sparkly shirt. If your kids have a birthday coming up, give this technique a try! Its so easy and can be done in an afternoon.

Thanks so much for Louise for having me over today. If you want to view more of my projects you can take a look at my project gallery here.

 

Shared with these Link Parties!

Weekend Whims- Cute Women’s Clothing from the Blogosphere!

Big news here! I did something last week that I have wanted to do since high school. I kept blowing it off as no big deal. That is until Thursday morning, the morning before my scheduled surgery, I woke up freakin’ out. A nervous Nellie I was FOR SURE! I wasn’t questioning what I was doing, but all of a sudden it hit me that what I was doing wasn’t just a little nothing thing to ignore! I had a breast reduction! I’ve wanted and needed it for a long time. I’m sitting here writing this between naps from my pain medications! The surgery went well, but like with any surgery, there’s the painful healing time….

 

I’m so excited to not have to deal with the pains of the big boobs. I soooo don’t understand wanting big boobs.. They just hurt! And they don’t make too many cute clothes for those of us that do have them. This year, one of my goals was to make more of my own clothes so that I didn’t dress so blah. But now I had this and am so excited to be able to have my pick of patterns that will look cute!!!

These are some I’ve had my eye on….

1. This easy peasy shirt from Lemon Squeezy Home via Sewing In No Man’s Land is really cute! I had it pinned thinking would be good for the before boobs, but it’s going to look really cute for the after boobs!

2. I just found this pattern for the Amelia Dress on Sew Mama Sew today. Very cute and it would never have fit me before!

3. I think this Front Tie Spring Dress by Make It Love It is totally cute! And before it probably wouldn’t have fit me since I wore the size 5T pattern she has it in, but like she says it could be for kids or adults!

4. I want to try again with the Wiksten Tank. You might remember that I tried it before and wasn’t real excited about it… I don’t think I ever wore it again after those pictures…. I’m excited again!

5. And who doesn’t love the Washi Dress by Made By Rae??? Before I knew there was no way to get the girls in that dress. But now I can try this one too!

6. I’ve been wanting to try out these t-shirt patterns from Sewing the Littleheart Collection.

7. And this dress is cute, too. The One Hour Elastic Dress via Make! I just can’t believe that I might be able to wear a sleeveless dress again… Wow!

I still some work to do on the ‘ole figure, but just knowing that I will have more options this summer is helping pull me through the recovery process. OK, now to take another nap…..

Follow all the Super Hero’s to Go To Sew!

Today’s my day at Go To Sew!

Be sure to click on over to learn how I (finally, as my son would say) made him the super hero shirt and cape that ‘he’s always wanted.’

It’s pretty Super Duper! hehehe… get it? Super Hero… Super Duper… Ha! I crack myself up!

 

Shared with these Link Parties!

Quilting with the Kiddo

Today was a busy day, but I had a wonderful moment of parenting bliss!

I wanted to lay out the star quilt  with the wonky stars I’m doing for the do. Good Stitches group. My son was home and being very helpful with everything I asked. Yes, sounds kinda like I’m making it up, right? I’m not really! So I knew I wanted to get started on the quilt, so I asked him to join in. He loved it!

He really stood back and looked at each one. Thought about where it should. Laid it out. Then rearranged it! Again and Again. The fun part was that I let him lay out all the blocks. Then we both sat down and rearranged a little here and a little there. Too many of the same size in a row. Bad. Two greens next together. Welllllll… Maybe, maybe not… What about this one here? Well, then, we need to move this one here.

picasion.com gif creator online

I had to take a few videos of the process and you’re welcome to take a look! They are on flicker here and here!

He hasn’t quit grasped the concept of white space yet. The holes of no stars were kind bugging him. I still have to make mine and he let me know the sizes and locations that mine need to be inserted!

It was just one of those moments where you totally have one of those ‘melty heart, I want to stay right here’ moments. Unlike other projects where it’s hard to let go of control, this one I totally put him in the driver seat and it was fantastic watching him be inspired by the colors and sizes and create something very special!

What do you think of our final layout??

Shared with these Link Parties!

Weekend Whims- Doll Clothes

I used to always do Weekend Whims posts, where I write about fun things I see online, but I haven’t in a long time! Since I’m obsessed with Doll Clothes at the moment, I thought I’d share some of the cute patterns I want to make.

1. I want to make a purse pattern myself, but until then, this is a really cute little one by Karatootie.

2. I’ve recently fallen in love with how simple and easy making t-shirts is and it’s as easy to do for dolls too! I loved this little outfit by Strictly Homemade because it also has the pattern for the hat!

3. Pants are pretty simple too! Loved these polka dot ones by Fleece Fun.

4. This is another shirt by Nap Time Crafters. Love the little pocket!

5. Now this Circle Wrap Skirt by Simple Simon & Co. isn’t really for dolls, but someone else on Pinterest pinned it for dolls. Easily translated to a doll pattern!

6. These shorts by akimbo are perfectly adorable!

7. The other thing about doll clothes… Easy to use your stash of scraps. This Scrap Saver Skirt by Daydream Doll Boutique is perfect for that!

8. And the other day I was thinking a straight skirt would be cool to make. And looky here! I don’t have to make a pattern because Daydream Doll Boutique already has!

 

OK, hopefully soon I’ll make a cape pattern and a purse pattern to share! I’m officially on the doll clothes making roll!

 

Dressing the Dolls!

As you all know, I have a son. No girls. I’ve made some fun toys, but we don’t have “dolls” at our house. Stuffies, now that’s a different story! But Dolls, not so much!

But we have a bunch of girlfriends and they all love the American Girl dolls. And the American Girl and 18″ dolls are, as I’ve found out, are extremely popular. And of course, what girlie doll doesn’t need new clothes?

Our friend K just had a birthday and she got tons of clothes for her doll, including some from us!

I decided to go with a dress up outfit and a casual look. (Can you tell I’ve been watching too much Project Runway episodes??)

I’ll show you the casual look first! We started with these upcycled Hello Kitty prints with coordinating solids. I know, it doesn’t look like it, but the actually Hello Kitty is orange and matches the orange solid perfectly. Not sure what happened in the pictures. I’m also not sure who the Hello Puppy is, but it’s cute and it looks like Hello Kitty! Or is it a kitty? I don’t even know! Anyone??

I used the free Liberty Jane Trendy T-shirt pattern for the shirt and I made the skirt up as I sent along! I was kinda loosing steam when I got to the skirt and I didn’t finish the hem. I don’t recommend it, I like the finished hem better. Next time!

And now the outfit that I’m in LOVE with! I even woke my husband up to show him how cute the little dress turned out!

This used the pattern for the Trendy Tank dress, but just made it longer and added the ruffle along the bottom. How cute is the ruffle???

I LOVE the pink silk dress! DO you remember when I made a similar cape??? Last year I made a cape for K, this year her doll got a coordinating one!

The cape pattern I made myself as well. Hopefully I can get a tutorial together here soon and I’ll share with you!

So what do you think about my first try at doll clothes??? It’s so much fun! We have more girl friends birthdays coming up so I might be making more… Do you have any favorite patterns?

Shared with these Link Parties!

Wonky Stars!

I love wonky stars! In case you haven’t noticed… I did a tutorial, I made a sewing machine cover, I made a bulletin board…

And now I’m making a quilt! My month for the do. Good Stitches was February. I had everyone try their hand at the wonky stars last month and then this month I put them all together!

Loving seeing them all showing up in my mailbox. I even bought some yardage of white felt to make my own inspiration board to start laying them out and getting the quilt designed! There’s a few days left for them to keep coming and then I’ll put them all together!!