Belle Burp Cloths

 

We are half way there everyone.  After today it's a downhill slide to the weekend.  Until then I'm going to continue with my princess theme for this week.  But today I thought I would change it up a little bit and move from greeting cards to burp cloths.  Remember yesterday when I shared my new baby congratulations card I said that baby girls are our princesses?  Well why not have a princess themed burp cloth or two?

 

When I was shopping for some new flannel fabrics at Joann's a couple weeks ago I came across this gorgeous Beauty and the Beast flannel.  Of course I had to have some and so I bought a couple yards to play with.

 

I thought it would be fun to play with both a sketch and an applique for these.  After searching through the files at Thanks 4 the Adventure I settled on the Little Belle applique, and the Princess Belle sketch.

 

If you've never embroidered a "sketch" design you really should check out the ones that Thanks 4 the Adventure has to offer.  They are so quick and easy, and the possibilities are endless.  So pick out a design or two and give it a try....you'll thank me later.  😉

Sitting Bunny

 

Today I have a cute bunny burp cloth that I'd like to share with you.  This one features a relatively recently released applique from the Applique Corner titled Bunny Sitting.  The one thing that I really loved about stitching this one out was that it required only three pieces of fabric.  This made the creation process faster and the cutting so much easier.  Yes, I could have used my Embrilliance software along with my Silhouette and pre-cut my fabrics, but I still need to get the hang of that.  Right now I prefer to do it all myself.

 

For this cloth I used another flannel that I picked up from JoAnn's.  It's called I Love Mommy - although it clearly also says I Love Daddy.  Initially I purchased one yard of this fabric which has yielded about 2 1/2 cloths so I need to get back there and buy some more while it's still on sale.

 

And when I go back I think I'll keep an eye out from some French Terry fabric because I'm thinking about making my own baby bibs instead of using pre-done blanks.  Hmmmmmmm

Hey Look, It's Woody

I was strolling through Etsy the other day when I stumbled across this shop called Thanks4theAdventure.  The owner has all sorts of great designs for applique and embroidery and what I found most intriguing was that she has "sketches".  I've never stitched anything like that before but I was willing to give it a try to see how I liked it.

 

Knowing that I had this green, plaid looking fabric I needed to turn into a boyish burp cloth I searched for what I thought would be a good file to try.  That's when I found Woody.  I thought the colors needed would be perfect for this fabric, and after getting it all stitched out I'd say I was right.  🙂

 

I really liked the way that this sketch stitched out.  It didn't get lost in the fabric and you can tell who it's supposed to be.  Yep, I do believe I'll be stitching out more of these type files on my projects.  Best of all I love that it brings another variation to the crafting table.

A Bear and His Friends

I didn't get much sewing done this past weekend because I bought a new china cabinet to use for my fabric storage.  Before I could begin using it though I had to do a lot of clean up because the lady I bought it from had it sitting in her garage.  Then after I got it cleaned up I had to make room for it because it was a bit wider than her description said.

 

So while I didn't get much done I was still able to sew and today I would like to share one of the burp cloths I made.  For this one I decided to stitch out another new file from Stinkin Cute Applique.  This one is called Bear & Turtle Friends.  As soon as I saw it I knew it would be a perfect design to use with this green flannel I picked up.

 

This was another great project to stitch out, and I had a lot of fun with this burp cloth.

 

Speaking of fun, do you ever wonder where some of the fun fabrics I use for my appliques come from?  Several months ago we had a new fabric store come to town called TJ's Fabrics.  Best part is that you can order online and they have more choices available online.  And I have to say that after years of buying fabric from Hobby Lobby and Joann's this stuff is top notch.  Now that's not to say I won't buy from the others because I will.  It just means I'm more selective now.  And with cute projects like this Bear and his friends you gotta have the good stuff.

Rainy Day Duck

Today I have another burp cloth that I'd like to share with you.  This one features a cute little duck in her rainy day outfit complete with umbrella.  She's another great applique design from Stinkin Cute Applique titled Rainy Day Duck.

 

This was a fun and easy file to work with and I love how it stitched out.

 

If you've just recently found my blog and this is the first post you've read and are wondering how I made my burp cloth (that's right - it's not a pre-purchase burp cloth) let me share that with you.

 

Before I began my burp cloth adventure I thought about using the Gerber brand diapers.  After all so many are made that way.  But then I decided that I didn't want to be like the "so many others" and decided that I would make my own cloths from start to finish.  So off I went in search of a pattern until I found this one from Simplicity sitting in the pattern drawer at Hobby Lobby. 

 

For my fabrics, I settled on using flannel and then using a soft batting in between to help give it some thickness and absorbency.  I found my batting at Hobby Lobby, it's a cotton batting and it lays out very well with the flannel.

 

 For this burp cloth I found this great nursery print baby flannel at Joann's.  Both Hobby Lobby and Joann's has some great choices for flannel and I will be building up my stash from both.  Especially as I find new designs to play with.

Cloudy with Dragons

I wanted to try my hand at making something new this weekend.  Something that would also help rejuvenate my lost love for sewing.  You see it's been an off and on love - hate relationship.  I'm just simply not that great at it.  As a child my mother used to sew everything.  Then in 8th grade I took home ec and somewhere in my high school years I was gifted with my first sewing machine.  But then I got married, started having kids and cast my sewing aside.  Heck with six blessings I cast any crafting I did aside - for a while.

 

As the kids started to grow my desire to get back to my crafting grew and one year my husband surprised me with a Baby lock sewing machine.  Unbeknownst to me, my mother was upgrading her machine and instead of selling or trading in the one she had she sold it to my husband.  I still have that machine - for now.  It's been giving me fits off and on and right now it's sitting in the local repair shop so I imagine it's not too long before I'll have to replace it.

 

Before it died on me though I was just able to complete this project.  My first ever baby burp cloth.  I didn't want to use Gerber diapers as my base for the cloth and so I went out in search of a pattern so I could sew my own.  That's when I found this pattern from Simplicity sitting in the pattern drawer at Hobby Lobby. 

 

For my fabrics, I settled on using flannel and then using a soft batting in between to help give it some thickness and absorbency.  I found both of these at Hobby Lobby as well.  The fabric is a cloud print and the batting is a cotton batting.

 

Of course this fabric required just the right applique to be sewn on it.  When I saw this adorable dragon from Stinkin Cute Applique I knew it would be perfect.  The applique was easy to stitch and I think the end result is beautiful.  I'm just thrilled that my machine held out long enough to get this one finished.

Nine Patch Quilt

I'm not the best at this quilting thing but I still enjoying trying my hand at putting one together every now and then.  So when I decided to do a nine patch quilt for my dad I had no idea that life was going to turn me every which way causing this project to take twice as long as it should to complete.

 

My dad is retired Air Force and I thought it would be fun to find fabrics that Air Force or military themed for his quilt.  Since none of my local, big box stores (JoAnn and Hobby Lobby) had such fabric I turned to Ebay and found more than I could have imagined.

 

Shortly after the fabrics arrived and I started to cut the patches for piecing together my granddaughter was born. Then work became extremely busy since it was budget and annual meeting season.  (I'm a licensed Community Association Manager by day.)  And then it was the chaos of the holidays and craft show season. 

 

 

I finally got it done though.  On Christmas Eve I was doing the final piecing when all of a sudden my sewing machine decided to quit working.  (Yes, I am a machine quilter - but only for the lap quilts.)  After letting it sit for a bit it worked again, long enough for me to finish at least.  And now I have to find the time to take my machine in to the shop so it can be serviced.  Geesh.  It's a good thing I have other hobbies. 

 

At the end of the day the quilt was complete and my when my dad opened his gift he said, "good, I needed another blanket because it's time to throw away the one I have."  So I'd say it was a pretty successful gift.

Sea Themed Applique

Much to my surprise my hubby upgraded my embroidery machine last week.  I mean I knew it was going to happen but I didn't expect to walk home with one in hand last week. 

 

After letting it sit for several days because I was too intimidated to even play with it I finally got brave and he and I sat down together one night and played.  We decided to start with something that if we messed up, we messed up - no big deal.  So we purchased a pack of receiving blankets from Walmart and chose a couple of appliques we wanted to use and got down to business.

 

 

 

My hubby chose the Whale Boy Big Eyes and I chose the crawfish which is a freebie that comes with the Big Eyes Sea Creature set from Applique Corner.  I was amazed at how easy it was to applique.  Okay, not "easy" but it was not as difficult as I imagined either.  Now that we've played and have a feel for the process we need to work on sizing and placement.

 

 

And then there's the having to pay attention and make sure that the fabric is 'square' and/or centered in the frame so that our projects don't come out crooked.  That's what happened when I did this Anchor Banner applique.  I thought I had it straight but something happened because it's slightly off.

 

Needless to say, we'll also be taking classes - yes, my hubby is doing this crafting venture with me every step of the way.  This weekend we'll be attending one to learn more about what stabilizers to use and when and all that sort of stuff.  I'm really excited to delve more into this side of crafting.....

Re-Fashioned T-shirt Collegiate Scarves

Today I wanted to share another fun twist on re-fashioned scarves.  This is the Braided Infinity Scarf.  Not only are these fun to make but they're easy as can be.  Plus it's a unique way to re-fashion a t-shirt that's too worn out to wear.

 

As for me - I love a good find at the thrift store or a yard sale so when I can get collegiate or other fun t-shirts for a song I'll buy them up so I can re-fashion them.  I do the same thing with sweaters.

 

 

 

Be sure to click on the link above so that you can check out the tutorial on how to make these yourself.  They make great homemade gifts for friends, family and teachers.  And with the holidays coming up why not give it a try?

Repurposed Necktie Scarf

I thought I'd take a quick break today and share a different kind of project.  Lately I've been addicted to vinyl and have created and shared so many projects.  In the process I've neglected my poor sewing machines and so today I thought I'd pull out a tie from my stash and create another repurposed necktie scarf.

 

A while back I found the idea for these neck tie scarves on Pintrest and while I've pinned several styles I've yet to find a "pattern" for any of the styles other than this basic one.  I think these are pretty cool and I wish that I could pull off any kind of a scarf when it comes to being fashionable, but I can't.  So I just create for those who can.

 

I've made several of these and I still have more ties to go.  At first I was purchasing them from the thrift store, but then my brother-in-law decided to clear his stash of ties and donated many great ones like this to me.

Necktie Scarves

I found this  cool idea for repurposing old neckties over on pintest the other day.  So while hubby was playing Call of Duty I decided to sit down and try my hand at making a couple of these necktie scarves.

 

 

They were pretty easy to do and I found that while the directions called for using an industrial/commercial sewing machine my Babylock stitched them just fine.  The hard part for me was finding the right embellishment to use to finish of the scarves.

 

 

 

Not too shabby for a first try and now I can't wait for the weather to get a bit cooler so I can wear some of my button up shirts and sport my new scarves.  I even had an old Christmas tie in my stash - perfect for the upcoming Christmas holiday season. 

 

 

 

Georgia Bulldogs Coffee Sleeves

I haven't been able to get much done in the way of papercrafting lately but this coming week is the week for challenges so be on the look-out for some new designs.

 

In the meantime, I have been working on special orders and gifts that I need to complete.  Today's post is an order that I made for one of my husband's co-workers this week.  And just in case you didn't notice he's a GA fan. 

 

After seeing the Auburn sleeve I had made for my husband's coffee cups his co-worker asked if I could make some for GA.  Well of course I can and with finding the fabric on sale at Joann's this past week it made it all the nicer.

 

And now that this one is complete it's time to get back to finishing the Alabama hats and scarves I started.  I'm down to just one hat now.....

'Prairie Primer' Quilt

It's been about 8 years in the making but I have finally finished my Prairie Primer quilt.  Years ago when I used to homeschool my children I belonged to a yahoo group dedicated to all things related to the study of the Little House on the Prairie books.  Now, if you're asking yourself what one could possibly have to study that would turn these books into schooling - you'd be amazed.

When my children and I used these books for our schooling one year we learned all sorts of things.  We studied the gold rush, learned about various Indian tribes, learned how to make butter/jerky/other foods, learned a variety of 'crafts' such as sewing and making soap, we learned about homesteading, the Civil War and many other history items and we learned a variety of science related items about the human body and nature.  It was a great year and I think one of the most enjoyable of our homeschooling.

Now during our time in this group the ladies got together and decided to do a quilt block swap.  We all designed a block that told who we were and what state we were in and the fabric was related to something studied in the Prairie Primer.  Once I received my blocks I decided to make a Jacob's Ladder block to intertwine with mine and then put my quilt top together.  Well that was as far as I went all those years ago.

Fast forward to a couple months ago when I came across my quilt top and decided it was high time that I finish putting it together.  A month later I am happy to say that she is finally done and ready to be enjoyed!