Escape From the Cold

Cold air has crept into our area this week . . . the kind of cold air that makes you want to stay inside in a cozy sweater while sipping hot cocoa and stitching up some colorful goodies. And while I did have to run errands the last few days, I spent the time I was home in a cozy sweater stitching at the machine. And what better to stitch on a bitterly cold day then a bright and colorful beach wall hanging. 

I found the instructions for this beautiful wall hanging in the book, Skinny Quilts and Table Runners by Eleanor Levie. The quilt pattern is called, "By the Sea" and was created by Karen Eckmeier. I couldn't wait to tackle a landscape quilt that would take me out of my comfort zone. Picking the fabrics is always my favorite part of a project and was especially fun for this one as I got to go buy some beautiful batiks. I hope to work with more again soon but I need to find more first!

Look at all those beautiful blues! Laying the project out was also a lot of fun. It was great to have a pattern that was more of a guideline and let you just go with the flow. 

Once everything was sewn in place I added some quilting and then got to have some fun experimenting as I added details. I wasn't too pleased with my sky fabric so I added some tulle in bunches to create clouds. 

I also used the designer's idea of creating seagulls out of cut lace. 

The sand was fun to add detail to as well. I had never thought to sew things within tulle until seeing the author's idea for adding the sea shells. I also had so much fun adding hand stitched beads and rhinestones as rocks along the shore line. 

I absolutely loved making this quilt. It was so fun to stitch and I enjoyed trying so many new techniques. And the book itself had a bunch of really great quilt patterns in it so I may have to try some more in the future. But for now, my husband has requested a second one of these wall hangings as this one was made as a thank you for my grandfather who made my beautiful sewing table for me. 

Can you believe how beautiful that work space is?! I will cherish this table forever and ever. I am so happy I was able to sit at it and create something to send to my grandfather to show my appreciation! 

Well, I guess I am off to sew a second one of these! Until next time . . . happy sewing!

Christmas Creations

Holiday madness certainly kept me from catching up on the blog. Well, some of it was the madness but most of it was the fact that all my makes in November and December couldn't be shared since they were gifts! But I can finally share some of my big surprises. I decided to make a very special quilt for my father based on his favorite team, the Chicago Cubs! Not only did I create their logo but I also included the iconic ivy covered brick wall from Wrigley Field. 

The ivy was the hardest part of the quilt. It took quite a while to cut the hundreds of leaves! 

I also quilted the words "Chicago Cubs" into the top of the quit. 

The backing was made of Chicago Cubs fleece to keep my dad warm and cozy. I think it is safe to say he was quite pleased with the gift.

I also worked on a special gift for my husband's grandmother using ties from her late husband, a project I have wanted to tackle for quite a while now. 

I was so happy with the turn out! But I was more happy to see how happy our grandmother was!

I also had some fun working on a few different versions of the "Feather Your Nest" wall hanging that was available for purchase from Sew News. One was for my mother. In hers I made the eggs out of fabrics that matched mine and my brothers' birth stone colors. Another was for our Aunt using the remainder of the ties from the earlier quilt. And the final version was for a dear friend of mine in California. I made hers using as many bright and sunny colors as I could in the nest! 

My final projects at Christmas time were two dresses for my baby girl using the fabulous Georgia Vintage pattern from The Cottage Mama. 

I love how versatile Lindsay's patterns are. I especially love the Grinch one. I took endless pictures of my little one wearing it on Christmas . . . she looked just like a little Who! 

I hope all of you out there had a wonderful holiday and very happy new year! Until next time . . . happy sewing!

A Thrifty Thanksgiving Dress

Oh my goodness . . . Thanksgiving is on Thursday! This was the thought that hit me hard this Sunday morning as I realized my baby girl has no outfit for the holiday. I had thrifted like crazy but found no dresses for the occasion. Everything I found was either too formal or too summery. So on our cold and snow covered Sunday I trekked over to my bin of thrifted goods awaiting refashions. And pulled out this shirt/dress (way too short for anyone to really wear as a dress) that I had bought for 69 cents purely because I loved the embroidered hem! 

I began by cutting the cups from the top of the dress and then I unpicked all of the elastic thread that was creating the ruching in the empire waist. I then measured up from the hem and cut across where I wanted the length of the skirt to be. 

Unfortunately, the remaining two pieces from the waist area would not be big enough to fit the front bodice without piecing it but a seam down the middle wouldn't be too terrible to do. Plus, I had some beautiful crochet lace left on the cups of the shirt. It just needed a really good press. 

I turned to one of my favorite patterns for completing the bodice and a sash, The Cottage Mama's Party Dress pattern. Sign up for her blog and receive the pattern for free. Believe me, it will quickly become one of your favorites! I cannot get enough of her fabulous patterns. 

After a while, I had the perfect dress for my little girl to wear at our Thanksgiving dinner!

The sash was added using a tiny bit of some embroidered fabric I had found at Goodwill a while back for $2.99. What are the odds that the colors would match so perfectly?

It felt so good to tackle this project that I decided to attempt one more dress that same day. Because once again, despite a lot of thrifting, I had not found the right dress for the kids' photo with Santa Claus. There's no time like the present to get to work. I dug a little deeper in my thrifty finds bin and pulled out this dress that I also got for 69 cents. 

It was an outdated juniors dress but I had loved the fabric and the flower. I actually bought this back when I was still pregnant with my little girl in hopes of creating something beautiful for her. Once again I cut up from the hem at the length I wanted her skirt to be. I had the same issue on this one, the remaining fabric just wouldn't be the right height for the bodice. Unfortunately, due to the stretch on this one I could not turn the pattern to make it work so I had to get a little more creative. I took the same bodice pattern piece as above and drafted a variation of it so that I could incorporate some red velvet that I had also gotten from the thrift store for $1.00. I used less just a small corner of my fabric.

And I created a two toned bodice. I must say, I am kind of in love with the look and will probably incorporate it into her Christmas dress next month. 

I assembled the rest of the dress using as many bits of the original dress as possible.

It is going to be adorable with some white tights and black dress shoes!

Until next time . . . have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Back to Scrappy: Quilted Burp Cloths

Now that Halloween is behind us it was time for me to get back to quilting. And what better way than with a small scale quilting project? If you remember my Great Adventure Quilt, then you will recall it was made for a very dear friend who was expecting her first baby. Well, her beautiful baby is now here so I had to make some goodies that I could send to compliment her quilt. I created some burp cloths using the scraps from the quilt!

I figured I would share my process in case anyone else wanted to use their scraps in a similar fashion. I began, of course, with a few scraps. I decided to stick with 3 strips to keep all uniform but I varied the width of my strips between each burp cloth. I cut my strips to be just as wide as the burp cloths. 

I pieced all three together and pressed. 

\

Then I laid a store bought burp cloth (or diaper cloth as I believe they are labelled) out upside down on my ironing board. 

I stitched my quilted fabric with the right side facing the back of the burp cloth and the bottom edge along the bottom edge of the burp cloth.

 I then pressed the top edge of the quilted piece down by a 1/2 inch. 

Then I pressed the quilt piece down onto the burp cloth with the wrong side of the quilted piece against the right side of the burp cloth. 

At this point I folded the edges of the quilted piece under and pressed so that they were even with the edges of the burp cloth.

Then I topstitched around all the edges. 

To keep with the quilted look, I stitched in the ditch of my quilted panel. Though this would be equally cute with some free motion quilting. 

Finally, I wanted my burp cloth to appear completely uniform so I flipped it over and followed the stitching lines that run vertically across the back over my quilted areas. 

Which left me with this finished burp cloth!

Of course, I could not stop at one. I had to make a full set. But this was a wonderful way to create a coordinating gift set for the baby! 

Off to start Christmas presents! Until next time . . . happy sewing!