Twas The Night Before Easter

On February 21, 2015 our first grandchild Cecilia Grace was born and has become the most important person in our life.  So of course I had to make her a little softie bunny for Easter.  Having an embroidery machine allows me to personalize everything and anything for her. I made her a few personalized burp cloths. Then I realized that they really needed functional burp cloths so I brought out the serger and made her a stack of tri-layer flannel ones that I just serged around.

Here she is at one month.  Her expressions are priceless!

My Version of the Hanging Kitchen Towel Topper

I have always liked those kitchen towels with a topper to hang onto the kitchen drawer handle. Now I know that it isn't that hard to make one with the sewing machine but I wanted to do most of the work with the embroidery machine. Heck I have a couple of embroidery machines so I might as well use them!

First I digitized the topper so that while it is hooped I stitch down batting, then the front fabric and quilt it, next the embroidered name and lastly, stitch on the back.  Once it is removed from the hoop it is turned right side out.

The kitchen towel gets cut in half and it is used to make two of the hanging towels. I took one half and pleated the cut edge to fit into the topper. You can just gather it but I decided to make pleats. Once I pinned the pleats I ran a straight stitch about 1/4 from the edge to hold it in place.

Now I put it inside the topper and topstitched it in place.

Next I made a button hole in the tab.

I sewed a button on and here is the finished product.

This was my first attempt and then I added quilting to the body of the topper. I definitely like the quilted version better. 

This is definitely a great hostess gift.  It only takes about 8 minutes to do the topper in the embroidery machine and depending on how adept you are at making buttonholes, the whole project is done within a half hour.  Below are some that I made.

Crayon Holders Made In The Hoop

Last weekend I went to my son's for a cookout and knew some young children would be there.  I had gotten an embroidery design for a crayon holder from Cassandra's Embroidery Designs http://www.cassandrasembroidery.com/CrayonChalkRollupWithBonus.htm quite some time ago but had never used it.  It is intended to hold the crayons and roll up but the pocket on the back was perfect for a small coloring book so I put one in for each holder. The only thing I changed in the pattern was that it called for water soluble stabilizer and I found that tear-away actually worked better.  This is a perfect small gift for young children and can be made in less than 1/2 hour.

Valentine Change Purses

On Valentine's Day my hubby and I met 3 other couples for lunch. I wanted to take a small gift for the ladies so I made the change purses shown above. They are so handy because you can throw them in your pocket with your credit card and cash and not have to lug your purse along.  I used the pattern for the strip zip version of Cash and Carry from Atkinson Designs http://store.atkinsondesigns.com/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details_ws.asp?Shopper_id=6044421648456044&Store_id=913&page_id=23&Item_ID=1033
and personalized it with their names. So my friends loved them but their husbands all complained because they did not get them!

Gotta love showers

I attended a bridal shower for my daughter's friend today. It was lovely and the nicest part of such events is seeing her friends' moms that I rarely have occasion to socialize with.  When your children are younger your social life revolves around their activities and their friends' parents. Once all the children are gone your social circle changes to include friends you make at your own activities. Sometimes it is such a surprise to your own children that you do indeed have a life of your own!

Moms and Daughters

 

 

I was giving a cash gift at this shower but I couldn't let the occasion pass without embroidering something for the couple. So I tried a new design that I know I will use again for a bridal shower or wedding.

 

 

 

Bridal Shower Gifts

For a recent bridal shower I made a fanblade table topper and coasters to match.  Then I bought a lovely bowl to place in the center of the topper.  I also like to always add the bride and groom's name to an item so I embroidered 2 kitchen towels with their names stacked on their last initial. The topper is made from the pattern I wrote about earlier in AQS Quilt Show and the fabric I used I had bought at Burkholders in Denver, PA that I visited during that trip.

 

 

Here is a pic of the lovely bride and her bridesmaids.

 

 

 

Sewing the last few weeks....

Well I have been busy sewing gifts for Christmas so I have not posted for awhile.  Obviously those gifts cannot be posted until after Christmas lest someone figure out what is for whom.  But I have made a few baby gifts that turned out so well.  Once again I made my favorite item, the baby bunting as posted previously the baby bunting.  Since it was for a winter baby, the inside is flannel but the outside a warmer cuddly fabric.

I made a baby quilt, Sunday Best, that has appliqued dresses, and it is a pattern that I have fallen in love with.  Who could resist this quilt?  The fabric had the characters of Beatrix Potter on it so I also made the Flopsy Bunny cloth book to go with it.

 

 

And I added a few more of my favorite items, the binky bib and some personalized burp cloths.

 

 

 

Baby Isabelle in Her Bunting

So often we make gifts and know they are appreciated but never see them being used.  One of my favorite baby items to make are buntings to swaddle the child in.  Earlier I blogged about this gift http://juliannasjourney.blogspot.com/2012/06/gifts-for-baby-shower.html and just received a pic of baby Isabelle in her bunting.  Isn't she just beautiful and doesn't she look comfy!

A Taggie for Maggie

It has been very hot this week so I spent a little extra time indoors sewing.  My daughter-in-law dropped off fabric for throw pillows so I figured I would whip them up.  Also my niece had a baby a few weeks ago and I wanted to make something personal for her.



A Taggie for Maggie

I got the idea for this taggie from a couple of posts on sewforum.com.  I used fleece for the center that I embroidered on and flannel for the borders and back.  Since she was 9 pounds and was born on June 9th, I was able to use the 9 for 2 stats - I am hoping my niece likes it!!

The pillows were made with outdoor canvas from Joann's.  The plain one were made from the method I described in an earlier post Decorator Pillows and the one with the sash I just added a rectangular tube of fabric and neatly sewed a button to the center after I added a pleat. I must add here that I just love sewing buttons on with my machine; I simply hate sewing buttons on by hand and with the sewing machine they are so much more secure. The pillow with the 4 buttons was just a strip of fabric that I finished both short ends; of course I sewed those 4 buttons on with my machine also.

Gifts for a Baby Shower

I recently made some items for another baby shower.  The nursery theme is pink and purple butterflies and the baby's name is Isabelle.  I made the baby bunting from Simplicity pattern #2165, as I did for a gift in a  previous post.  But this time I added the baby's name on the inside of the upper back, along with a butterfly.

I made a blanket of two different flannels, one side with butterfly print and the other plain so that i could embroider the name on the top.

I made 2 types of hats, both that I had not previously made but adorned both with butterflies.  I also bought a onesie and added a butterfly.  Lastly I made 2 burp cloths with flannel left over from the other items, a pacifier bib and a case for baby wipes.

Monogrammed Robe

My son wanted to give his wife a lightweight robe as a gift.  So I monogrammed it using the Fancy Monogram Font 1 from embroitique.com.  I used a cut away stabilizer to maintain the shape of the fine lines and also fused a piece of Solvy Tender Touch on the inside for comfort. 

Embroidered Golf Shirts

I was at Penney's today and found these 2 Xersion shirts for $14/each.  They are Quick-Dri, stretch and semi-fitted short sleeve shirts for sport activities.  Since they will be perfect for golf, and it has been unusually hot thus far this golf season, I bought a white and a mango one.  I thought they might look cute with a golfer emblem and decided to adorn them. The golfer stick lady design I had saved in my stash and, unfortunately, do not know the source.




For the first one (mango) I used a layer of No Show translucent mesh 1.5 oz. Wunderstitch stabilizer in the hoop and floated a sheet of Stitch and Tear underneath. Afterwards, I ironed a piece of  Sulky Tender Touch on the underside.  I found that fusible does not work well on this thin fabric, as it shows through.  So I removed the Tender Touch and it looks much better.

For the white I just hooped a piece of Wunderstitch 1.5 oz. mesh cutaway and am much happier with the result. This fabric is too thin to just use tear away on because the design would not keep its shape. The design on the mango one is 2"X2.33" and on the white it is 1.6"X1.9".  Although both are acceptable I prefer the smaller design.  Both look nice on and I think are just a little cuter with the design on them.

Baby Shower Gifts

Here are my latest creations; gifts for a baby shower.


I embroidered these designs on onesies for the fall holidays- baby due in July so I figured the 3-6 months size would be good for the fall.  I got the designs from  Planet Applique; all their designs stitch out so well.  I personally like the Halloween one best!

I made this bunting from the Simplicity pattern #2165.  This is the first time I made this bunting but it will now be a staple for a baby gift.  The instructions were easy to follow and it came out perfect the first time and is truly just too adorable.  If you used a solid fabric for the outside you could personalize with some embroidery also.  It only takes 7/8 of a yard each for the inside and outside fabrics.  I used flannel for both since it will be used for the summer and fall.  If you were making for a winter baby you could use fleece or minky for it.

I also made this personalized blanket for the new baby and pacifier bib and baby wipes case.

The blanket is made of fleece with the top embroidered portion made of flannel with another applique that I think I had downloaded from SewForum but I cannot find the exact source.  The back is made of the same flannel that I used for the top of the front and also for the inside of the bunting.  I found the pattern for the bib that has a tab to hold a pacifier on the Internet as a freebie; it was made by Nicole Scott but I do not have the link any longer. The embroidered lion on the bib is fromSewforum by Robin. I actually made the bib and case from receiving blankets that were on the baby gift registry.The case for the baby wipes was a free pattern from simplicity.com Baby Wipes Case.  I hate making binding but it did not turn out too badly, although I need a no fail way to sew binding on.

Embroidered Kitchen Towels

I wanted to do some small projects the other night so I made a few kitchen towels.  I try to keep some blanks available for fast gifts or for when I just feel like embroidering.  So I keep several white kitchen towels on hand - I like these white ones from Walmart - 70% poly 30% cotton - they wash up so nice.  I made these for 2 daughter-in-laws and a friend. I found the design on embroideryDK.com and wanted to use it on something; so I changed the colors to match their kitchens. The design is one of 10 variations under the category of Food and Drinks, so you could use several and make a set.  If you use this design on these towels be sure to use a wash-away topping because the cup will have small streaks of white show through if you do not.

Personalized Burp Cloths

Back in the day when I had babies, burp cloths were old diapers and receiving blankets or whatever was handy when the baby needed burped. Today there are burp cloths that are adorable and personalized. I looked over tutorials online to make burp cloths and found one can make them out of three layers of flannel or out of flannel layered on a diaper.  Since my niece just had a baby, I decided to try some of each. Here are a few pictures.  This is becoming my favorite gift for new moms because the possibilities for creativity are endless.

Personalized Badge Holders

My daughter needed a few personalized gifts for her nurse co-workers so I ordered a few blank badge holders and embarked on my first badge holders.  I chose a Curly font for the initial and then used small squares of fabric. I chose thread that would contrast with the fabric and set to work.

First of all I embroidered an initial on the fabric using the 4x4 hoop; initial is .76 x .78 inches.  As you can see below I was able to do several in one hooping.

I then removed the hoop and proceed to cut out the initial by placing the clear plastic circle on the fabric and just cutting around it. I took the cutout initial and trimmed it to fit perfectly inside the indentation of the badge holder.

 

Next I popped on the clear cover and the badge holder was done.  Because I am never certain that the cover will stay on indefinitely, I put a few dabs of super glue around the edge before putting the cover on.