Hoot Hoot

 Chick has become somewhat of a designated sub for my Bunco group. And last Monday was no exception this month. 

So off we went. 

At the end, prizes were given out. Once everything was done, a friend who was sitting next to me leaned over and whispered something. She had received a prize but, unfortunately, it had some scented things. She whispered that her husband was highly allergic and told me to meet her outside for a hand-off because she couldn't take them home.

As it happens, Chick is a big fan of candles. So she went outside to put them in the car while I helped clean up.

As sweet as it was of her to think of us, I felt bad that she didn't have her prizes anymore. 

I knew that she liked to wear aprons while cooking though. And I just happened to have some fall fabric on hand. So, I thought I might make her a fall apron just for kicks. I used a preprinted pattern I had from my home economics class in junior high. We won't talk about how old it was but you can guess. But I followed the directions here. 

I wanted to make the ties long enough to wrap around the waist and tie in front. As it turned out, I had just enough fabric to do that.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture before Chick carried it off and gave it to her so I can't share how cute it turned out.

There were several things she passed along so I wanted to add one other thing. I came across this little fella and decided to make one for her as a fall decoration. You can find the free pattern here.

Again, I didn't grab a picture before he got carried off but then I decided to make one for me too.

I think mine turned out pretty cute. 

Rugrat has already asked a couple of times about making one for her as well. I might try  to make a larger one for her but I haven't decided yet.

The hardest part of making these is getting the bottom on. You have to put a little bag of whatever you are weighting it with (rice, in my case) and then hot gluing the bottom on.

But, seriously, if that's the hardest part, I'm up for it. I would like to get a fat quarter bundle that coordinates so I could make three different ones that all either share a back or tummy fabric to set out. But I haven't yet done that.

Let me know if you decide to make one. I'd love to see yours.

Another Soft Toy

 I attended one of the many baby showers we will be having in the next few months at our congregation last Sunday. In this case, it was for the mom of one of my Sunday school students.

Since I teach the four-year-olds, there is going to be somewhat of a gap between the brothers. And it occurred to me that he might be feeling a little left out of everything. Not to mention that his life was going through a lot of changes that might be hard for him. So I kind of wanted to get him a little gift.

One of the things I knew about this little man is that he is a BIG fan of trash trucks.

Mmm hmm. Trash trucks. He loves them! In fact, his mom told me that his grandmother is making him some trash truck sheets to encourage his move from the toddler bed to a regular sized one (so they can use the crib mattress for the new baby).

So "love" is not an understatement. 

I had gotten a typical gift for the baby but I first thought to find a toy trash truck for my student. Guess what. Not so easy to do as it turns out. Especially with a time crunch as I had left myself.

But then I remembered my little partial role of printable fabric (left over from the making of a certain weatherman doll). I looked up a little clipart of a trash truck and, without too much fussing, was able to print one that looked pretty good. I reversed the image and printed another.

Then I put 'em together, front and back.

It actually turned out a lot cuter than I expected. 

I was still a little afraid it might be kind of silly so I handed it off to Mom after service that morning.

I was informed at the shower later that he LOVED it! It apparently went to lunch with him and was carried around until she had to come to the shower. She thinks it may become his soft toy for preschool too.

It made me happy I went to the little bit of trouble it took to make it. And I'm also glad he didn't think it was silly. :)

Halloween Hot Pad

 I mentioned that I practiced using my new free motion foot and ruler on a piece of Halloween fabric to make another oversized hot pad with. 

You can see the quilting in this closeup. I thought it looked really good.

The practice was so I could get the hang of it before trying to quilt the baby blanket I was making.

Which I then realized was much too large to do that with on my little machine setup. And gave up on.

But, once I got the baby gift bundle done, I came back to my new hot pad to finish it up. That began with trimming the edges nice and straight for binding it.

Then, I just needed to add a binding. I made that out of some other Halloween fabric I had. I think it turned out quite cute.

These were both yard cuts I got from the clearance aisle at Walmart after Halloween one year for a couple of dollars each. Not too shabby, huh.

So, my baby blanket didn't turn out quite like I was hoping for.

However, I still got a cute little Halloween hot pad out of it. And how timely! The weather is just beginning to change.

A Baby Gift

 Our congregation has gotten larger in the last few years. And one way we can tell is the nine (count 'em, 9) babies that are due in the next few months.

One of the staff suggested that our sewing ministry might start making a gift for each new baby. It was a project we could get on board with. So we were each assigned to make a bundle of  two or three things to give from the sewing ministry.

Mission accepted.

The most obvious gift was a baby blanket. However, I am not a quilter. I stink at it. So I was trying to think up some other things.

I pulled out this little nursery rhyme fabric I had and went to work. The fabric was perfect because all but one of the new babies are boys. I almost feel sorry for the one little girl. Ha.

First up was these sweet burp cloths. I made one side of the pretty little fabric and one side out of diaper cloth. The diaper cloth should be more absorbent than the cotton would be. I used the pattern for these found here. They are a little different than a pattern I already had but I think they turned out quite well.

Next up was a bib. I also used the pattern for the same site found here. I decided to use a panel of the diaper cloth on it as well just for absorbency again. I treated it like an applique and just used a zigzag stitch around it.

With a little snap up top, I think it is quite cute. I would have liked it better without the panel, I think, but I wanted it to be useful and I think it probably needed that.

I still had a large enough piece to make a blanket, but I wasn't sure I could handle it. However, I recently got a free motion foot and ruler for my sewing machine so I thought I might give it a go. 

I decided to try it out on another oversized hot pad using some Halloween fabric I had. I loved the way it looked. But once I started doing it on the blanket, I realized why so many of the videos using it that I've seen have sewing machine tables rather than just a portable machine. Suffice to say, an oversized hot pad is still a lot smaller and easier to handle than a baby blanket. 

Fortunately,  I had only done one long line of it so I could chop that off and still have enough for a baby blanket. My mom suggested I make the sandwich and then just get another lady in the sewing ministry to quilt for me (my thought was preferably one who owned a long arm machine for quilting). 

But, as I made the quilt sandwich and began to even off the edges, it occurred to me that I had some yellow flannel. I could probably just have the fabric on one side and put flannel on the other for a super soft but cute receiving blanket of sorts. It would just be a little larger -- perfect, in my mind, for laying on the floor for baby to work those tummy muscles or sleep on at Grandma's. Sounds like a plan to me.

 I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's also pretty light, which will be nice for the babies born in the next few months here. I even got a little fancy and used one of my decorative topstitches (my simple little machine has like 3 total, lol). 

So, there was my bundle. But I had one other thing I wanted to add. It only took a scrap of fabric to make but they are so useful.

It's a pacifier clip. Or you can use it for keeping baby's favorite toy attached too. These are incredibly easy to make! And so very helpful! I found the pattern here. The suspender clips are inexpensive and easy to find. And it can be literally made from scrap fabric in a snap.

 

I really wanted to make a bag to hold it all together too. I still had the strip of quilted blanket I had cut off so I thought I might do something with that. Once I started putting it together I realized it needed a different bottom though because the yellow strip just wasn't wide enough to still show without something extra. I ended up with a tote bag of sorts.

This did not work out at all. It was quite wonky. The bottom wanted to stay up but not the top. And despite using the same measurements, I ended up with a lining that was short. I think I may have just been done with it at that point. I probably should have taken a break. 

But I had a timeline. Unfortunately, what I didn't have was more fabric. I was down to bits and pieces at this point. What to do now?

I went back to my trusty drawstring bag. But I knew if I wanted everything matchy matchy, I would have to figure out how to do that. Looking over some pictures on the internet gave me the idea to just make some blocks and alternate them with the solid cream color I had used on the tote. So I went to work.

It isn't my best drawstring bag ever. But I don't know that the mom will even keep it or use it either. I didn't have enough to cover the back so I just used a solid cream color panel for it. It still turned out alright even if I was thoroughly annoyed with the whole thing by the end.

And, for kicks, I made a cutesy little one of my tags to go on it telling what was inside. 

I may have to work on some of these to see if I can get better at making them. I really want to be better at it.

It's That Time Again

 Only one more of these first day photos to go. Time moves so quickly!

Roll Up Pen Holder

 I mentioned before that Rugrat loves to collect ALL the colors of the markers and pens she loves. I recently noticed this little gem on one of the sewing groups I follow and thought it might be just the ticket.

It was fairly simple to make. Three rectangles of the same size make up the inside, outside, and pocket. The pocket piece can be the same fabric or a different one (which I think is cuter). Then it's a matter of what you want to use for the tie. In this case, I used a piece of skinny bias tape that I just sewed shut. I was afraid a ribbon might fray with too much use.

You also need some interfacing and a piece of batting. So the ingredient list is pretty small. And even the rectangles aren't too large. You could use a couple of fat quarters to make this. They usually have some really cute ones to choose from.

Rugrat carried it off as soon as she saw what it was. It isn't nearly big enough for all her pens and markers. But I did tell her it would work nicely for trips in the car or other times when she really shouldn't take all of them with her.

It was quick to make and fairly easy too. I didn't even change out the foot on my sewing machine for the 'quilting' part as I usually do.

This is the tutorial I used. I didn't remember how similar mine turned out to hers. LOL

If you make one, share a picture. I'd love to see how it turned out!

It's the Little Things...

 We are in the last week before we start school again so I haven't been posting much. But I've still been sewing.

Gotta finish up that Summer Sewing Series with a bang, right?

So what have I been up to?

Well, I made another zipper bag. I know, shocking!

I actually really like this fabric for it. I'm surprised I haven't used it for one before now.

It's fully lined with boxed corners and a tag/handle/loop... whatever you call that thing.

I don't honestly remember which tutorial I followed to make this one but they are all pretty similar so you could probably just pick out a video that looks good and whose host doesn't annoy you to use. I think that was what happened with this one.

Because I had just finished this Zola Pen Pouch and I was pretty annoyed with it.

I think I just don't jive with this pattern maker person very well. I tried another of her patterns and I didn't enjoy it either.

I may give up on her site. If you find that her patterns are the stuff of your dreams though, go for it. She has a lot of cute ones there.


You may remember that I made some pad holders too. Well, I decided to make another sample just for kicks and giggles.

I think this one is really cute. I wish I had tried this fabric for some of these sooner.

 In fact, I decided I might try another zipper pouch in it. Don't worry, I won't bore you with it yet. :)

This tutorial can be found here.

Finally, I got around to something I've been needing but putting off doing. 

The black cord there is kept in my car. I use it to plug my phone in for trips or using the Android Auto app. I have purchased multiple shorter cords but they seem to wear out very quickly -- or, at least, stop working. So, I end up going right back to this 6 foot (I think) cord for something that only needs about 9 inches. 

As a result, the cord ends up hanging over into the floor of the passenger side, getting stepped on, wrapped around feet and purses, and generally being bothersome.

But that hasn't happened since I finally sat down and took the few minutes to churn these out. I keep thinking "why did I not just go ahead and make these?"

These are another thing that take almost no fabric. I literally throw away pieces that are this size when I am cutting out fabric for another pattern.

The fastener is the biggest decision you have to make. There are several ways to do it. I saw patterns for velcro, snaps, and, of course, this button and elastic. There was even on that used a ponytail holder. It seems there might be a few others too.

There are also lots of ways to make these. A simple search can bring you tutorials for pocket type cord keepers or a roll up organizer for cords. You can find different styles and decorative ones too. I saw one that had a kitty head on it. 

Here's a tutorial similar to what I made. I can't remember which one I used before. If you'd like to try a different type of fastener or style, just google 'sew cord keeper' and you'll have enough options to make your head spin.

So, that's what has been keeping the sewing machine busy at our house. How about yours?