Back in the swing of things, from Far Far Away

So glad school is started and... not.
It's been crazy busy the last 2+ weeks since the start of school and just before it :) But I'm forcing myself back into my sewing (should that require forcing? I think not!) with a baby shower gift! I've been dying to use this Heather Ross Far Far Away fabric that I got at quilt market last fall! And since my wonderful friend had a beautiful baby girl I was reveling in the perfect moment and put this together yesterday!

I love the fairy tale images Heather created! I really want to get some Far Far Away 2 I have a friend with some in home dec weight... aah! It's so pretty :D
It's a changing pad so of course I had to give it something soft and fluffy for the backing!

I've got a boy one I'm finishing up for my etsy shop and then I'll have to see about finding some more minky and chenille backing fabric!
*thinking in your best fairytale accent*
Alas, a girl's work is never done!
Fair thee well my good friends. I wish thee much joy and sewing! Or joy in sewing :) which ever comes first!

Jelly Rollin' Baby Blocks

I will be doing some different small projects I've found been meaning to try or have already done during this "Jelly Roll (end of the) Week"

*disclaimer~ My projects will not be made entirely of Jelly rolls but will utilize 2.5" strips so they will be jelly roll friendly. If you want you can call the Jelly Roll Friendly (end of the) Week but it just keeps getting longer and oh well! *

Today we have a project inspired by a Moda Bake Shop Tutorial (Sugar Cube Pincushion) I saw ages ago and wanted to adapt as toys for my little one.

My tutorial is a little different (mainly because I didn't have time to go search there's out :) ) and will give you an alternate method of construction if you don't feel like hand sewing the whole thing!

To start take your 2.5" strips and cut 6 squares of different, alternating, or the same fabric. Really doesn't matter whatever you think will look good!

I will be using 5 colors with the top and being the same color making up my 6 blocks.

You will want to cut 6 squares of heavy iron-on inter-facing that you will press to the back of your fabric squares. For your info that's a 15"x 2.5" strip of inter-facing.

As you can see I found this a good time to use oddly shaped, leftover pieces of interfacing :)

It's a good idea to mark the centers of your blocks at this point. just line up the corner of your ruler to 1.25" square and mark the corner.

Now line up your blocks like this with the top block in the center and the bottom block on top the rest are your sides.

Take the bottom block and add to the top of the formation and you'll have 2 strip sets ready to go!

Sew together each set and press open the seams!

You'll have 2 sets of 3 blocks.

Lay the end of one strip set against the center of the opposite set right sides together

Make sure the sides of the top block overhangs the seams by approximately .25"

(line up your edges this is set back simply so you can see where it lines up)

Sew down the end seam you just lined up.

Turn the top & bottom strip sets to line up again

Continue sewing straight along the edge. (I would recommend using the down needle position on your corners and not taking your project off the machine at each corner. I only did that for better pictures.)

You'll turn the top again to continue down the side. Try to line up your raw edges at approx. 0.25" outside the seams as you're sewing.

You may notice that essentially we are sewing around the edge of the top strip set. I want you to continue like this until you have only one edge left and leave that unsewn. Do a short backstitch and take your little block off the machine!

Before you turn your block I suggest clipping the stitching at the corners to help them push out more sharply.

Turn your block right side out. Use your finger or a pencil to push the corners out well!

Stuff as desired.

Because I made mine a toy instead of a pincushion I added a rattle noise maker by taking a plastic case from some of those .25 cent toy dispenser toys and added a couple tiny jingle bells.

Closed it up and put it inside the stuffing!

You now have only a little bit of hand sewing to close up your block.

Do a blind stitch by sliding your needle in a tiny stitch on one side, then across and take a tiny stitch on the opposite side, and again go across and take a tiny stitch. If that doesn't make sense feel free to close it in whatever way you like :)

Next you'll add buttons for fun texture and to help it stay square in shape

I found it easiest to work on the three sides of a corner instead of going straight across from one side to the other since I don't have any 3" long needles. My regular needle worked just fine if I squeezed the centers I was working on together. Sew your buttons with a heavy thread or a quadruple threaded needle.

When you're through adding buttons, ribbons, or other decoration, knot it well under one of the buttons.

And there you have it!

A pincushion masquerading as a baby toy!

Make a few as a baby gift or pair with a handmade changing pad or burp cloths for a shower gift and very happy mother to be!

Why are there teeth marks on my arm?

It's the grip of summer!

I swear!!! And a little school starting! LOL!

I've had to rip myself from it's jaws but it's ok, you can get excited now because today you get to see my first completed attempt at my own pattern!

Yay!! This is the full view of my "You Are What You Eat" quilt that I have hinted about before :) I know it's been a long time but it's so cute! I've really been enjoying this project! I'm now in the process of revising the directions and making another sample.

But I think we should all get to enjoy this! and I'm loving that you can see the 3D tail in this next shot!

This one is a close up of some stitching detail and my cute little giraffe's head :) He makes me smile :D big!

This has been so exciting, working on a project that I care so much about! Along with a major learning experience! And I'm still learning! I'm excited to be soon bringing this project to a close... if I can keep my nose out of to many swaps, other wips, and blog surfing, and other life events... HA! All I can say is I'll try :) and I can't wait to have my first patterns up and ready I've got about 5 in the works and ideas for more! Hurray!

Pampered Pooch Project... complete!

So excited I finished a project! You know I get this way everytime. Finishing just feels so good!
I made this adorable changing pad so you could roll it up and stick it in your diaper bag with no problems!




I decided to finish the edges in baby blue and a scrappy binding :) It's a happy little thing!




I love the back that is finished in a soft fabric with raised bumps across it. So cute!

Hope your having a great day!

Lookin' Sharp For Sunday!

So doesn't every little boy need some full moon forest by Tula Pink! I promise I'll never tell him it had anything to do with Pink!

Isn't it cute though?! My sweet boy is 5 months old and I finally made him a tie! (Don't worry I'm not trying to kill anyone, it's got velcro on either end of a 6" string of fabric so the tie only goes across the front of the collar and is not a choking hazard! :) )

This has been in very slow progress since I finished Bloom by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms 2 weeks to realize I wanted to do it, 2 weeks to cut the interfacing and iron it on, 2 weeks later carry it upstairs to iron, cut, figure out how to do it, etc., 2 weeks or more of it sitting on the table (back downstairs now :) ), finally sewed it up this morning! Yeah for my cute boy! I dressed him up and spiked his hair and he was the sharpest lookin' little boy at church... if I do say so myself :) Can you tell I'm a mom :D

Soon to be a WIP :)

So does this look like a project waiting to happen or what!

My little boy Jack is just big enough to sit in a highchair I pulled it out and remembered that after the use of 4 girls in it I had thrown away the fabric padding for it!  

It was necessary trust me :) 

 So I'm wanting to make something new for it and I'm not sure what fabric to use.  It's got to be very boy!  

Am I stuck with solids, polka dots, or boy applique?  

There are some great applique projects out there!

Alex would love bicycle's but that is so hard to come by!

Any suggestions for me?  I need 'em!

My "morning of" project!

I had another baby shower to go to the other morning.

It was kind of a last minute notice thing but we all love this girl and wanted to do it, so here we are :) I found some fun fabric and the morning of (there was a little more notice than that but

obviously I'm a procrastinator :) oh well) I made an adorable changing pad for her.

It was inspired by a Moda Bake Shop project.

I didn't have time to go look over the instructions so I just took the p

icture in my head and went with it! The pocket at the bottom holds a wipes box and a diaper. I Successfully completed my first attempt at free-motion quilting.

And took some horrible pictures (this one is of the chenille backing)

before adding a velvet style ribbon & a piece of velcro to close it. Wrapped it up and went on my way! Happy baby shower Britney!