James' Baby Blanket (Rag Quilt)

A lot of sewing, and a lot of thread.

My sweet nephew James was born in September and I wanted to make something special for him.  My sister asked my dad to donate some of his Aloha shirts for the project.  Here is the batch she sent me.

I cut the shirts apart (I used 8 shirts total)

And then cut them into 6" squares

 I laid out the squares into a 8x11 pattern. I thought that would be a good size for a baby.

I needed 88 squares for the front, back and middle. I used flannel for the middle and minky for the back.  I needed about 2.75 yards for the flannel and 2.5 yards for the minky, since it was wider than the flannel.

Finally all sewn together!  I used 2 1/2 spools of thread as well!

Here you can see the seams before they are clipped to give the "ragged" look.

And the seams all clipped.  The minky and cotton shirts didn't curl up as much as I'd like, so it doesn't have a very "ragged" look.

All done! And I think it turned out super cute. 

I'm glad I could make him an heirloom that hopefully he will treasure forever.

Nursing Straps

Tutorial found here

These nursing straps are so quick and easy to make!  I've made nursing covers before, but this is an alternative that uses your "regular" blanket as a cover.  Basically you sew fabric that is 18 x 4.5 around drapery rings.  SUPER easy (and cool)!  The full tutorial from "I am Momma Hear me Roar" can be found here.

T-Shirts for Max

Finished Shirts!

I made these back in April for a friend of my daughters. He did get them on his birthday... I just haven't blog it until now!

I searched the internet for some graphics that would work on shirts.

 

I used freezer paper and then painted the design with craft paint.  

I think the shirts turned out looking just like the originals, although it was harder than I anticipated.

Of course it would have been easier to just give him 3 store bought shirts, but I like the idea that he now has 3 one of a kind items!

Edison Quotes

Finished Art

I made these three art pieces for my Dad's birthday which was in June.  He received them in August when we went to visit, but I'm just blogging about it now.  

I originally wanted to buy this from etsy, but the $70.00 price tag (plus shipping to Hawaii!) wouldn't work for me.  So I settled and bought this wooden board from Hobby Lobby to use for my quote.  

Each board measured approximately 8x10.  Knowing I was going to put this in a suitcase to take to Hawaii, I didn't want to get much bigger than this.  Because the 8x10 was a lot smaller than the original piece I wanted to buy, I decided that one wasn't enough and I bought 3 boards for 3 different quotes.

There were about $2.00 each, had wonderful edges AND the holes in the back for hanging!

I painted each board black.

I used the Outdoor Opaque, since he lives in such a wet climate, I wanted to make sure the boards were durable.

I used the silhouette, and cut out my 3 quotes with cream vinyl.

(The vinyl is not smeared or fuzzy, it's just my camera)

I was a little sad, that the vinyl didn't stick like I thought it would.  I don't know if it was the paint I used or the vinyl itself.  My dad said he would spray each board with a clear coat of some kind... something I didn't want to do before packing the boards in the suitcase.  

Quote 2

Quote 3: The original inspiration

My dad LOVED the gift, and each quote had a special meaning for him.

Appliqued Shirts

Finished Shirts!

While browsing my favorite blogs, I found this post with a lot of really cute appliqued shirts.  I made these in July before my trip to Hawaii.  They are for my sister's baby and I wanted to take them with me, so I wouldn't have to ship them.  I knew the first one would have an elephant on it because my sister loves elephants.  

I found this clipart of an elephant

and changed the trunk a bit.

Into this.  

(I wanted to add a little heart above the trunk and thought this design would work great.)

I cut the entire thing out of blank paper before cutting it out of fabric.  This would give me a better idea of how it would look without some of the details on the internet version.  Sometimes I have a hard time visualizing the end product so this helps.

I used Wonder Under to attach it to the shirt and then zigzaged around the edges.

I added a button eye.

and here's the super cute tail in the back!

I love birds, and since I'm not an artist, I had to scour the internet for a clipart that would work. 

I found these cuties.

I enlarged the green bird and printed it out.

Here's the finished bird!

Of course when I gave these to my sister, I received lots of love, which is another benefit of delivering them in person!

Polka Dot Elephant

 Polka Dot Elephant

I made this for my sister's new baby, and delivered it to her during my December 2010 Hawaii trip. 

I used Simplicity 2613 with polka dot minky fabric for ultra softness.

I also added the "p.s. I love you" tag

My sister loved it so much, I'm not sure the baby is ever getting to play with it!

Piggie and Gerald

Elephant and Piggie

Hannah LOVES these Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems.

so we set out to make our own Piggie and Gerald

 Here's Piggie...

 and Gerald

 of course they are not exact, but I am not creative enough to design something myself, 

so I used the Simplicity 2613 pattern.

I think they came out pretty close 

don't you think?

 Hannah has her own set, but these were a gift for a very special girl who turned one a few days months ago!