Baby Quilts for Christmas

Friday, January 9, 2009

This Christmas, I gave quilts to my two nieces. They were my 2nd and 3rd quilts ever! I machine-sewed them from my own design, with a lot of inspiration from the web and all those wonderfully creative quilters out there. I learned some valuable lessons while making these quilts.
-First: It is not a good idea to use clearance bin Fat Quarters unless you know how much of that material you will need. I ran out of some material and then couldn't buy any more of it.
-Second: Applique should be done with a stabilizer. I didn't know what a stabilizer was, let alone that I needed to be using it until my applique wrinkled up and then I saw it mentioned on Sew Mama Sew.
-Third: Binding isn't that hard to make, it just takes a little practice and the right instructions.

This was my first time to add my own label. I like it how it turned out, but I may keep experimenting with it.

I found this awesome fabric(sorry, I don't know who it is by)! It is Mother Goose, and it is perfect for a little girl quilt!


This ladybug turned out really cute! The pattern came from How Stuff Works "Fly Away Ladybug Block".



I love this dragonfly! The pattern came from How Stuff Works "Gossamer Wings Quilt Block".

Big applique letters sounded like a great idea when I started, but they proved to be a big challenge! I found out that I need to work on my skills in machine-sewing curves.





















The finished quilts!






















Now, maybe I'll try that 4th quilt. It will be my first queen-sized quilt! So if anyone has any tips, please share them!

My Hand-Made Christmas

This Christmas, I didn't go all hand-made, but I did try to make some of my gifts. Maybe next year will be an all hand-made Christmas!


I made some ornaments for my sister-in-law. She got a reindeer, snowman, gingerbread man, and an "H". They are like the ones I made last year, except for the letter "H" which was a new design I tried this year.


I also made a baby quilt for each of my neices. I am new to quilting, so they are my 2nd and 3rd quilts to make. I tried to work on some new skills with these quilts, so they each have some appliques.

I also made my own binding for the first time, which turned out pretty nice. I had a lot of help from these tutorials: You Go Girl!'s "No-Snit Binding", Heather Bailey's "Continuous Binding", and Quilts and Creativity's "How Much Binding Do I need?".


My two year-old neice loved her quilt! She immediately laid down on the floor and pretended to be asleep!

Ornaments of Christmas past

Monday, December 22, 2008

These are my handmade felt ornaments from past Christmases. I had been looking for an easy ornament that I could make myself, and these are what I ended up with. I have done other designs, but most of them were given away as gifts. They are very easy to make and mostly just require finding a good pattern. From there, it is just cutting out the felt peices, stuffing them, and sewing them together. Easy!

Last year, I gave all of my husband's side of the family one of Santa's reindeer. I did it by age, so my my husband and I are Comet & Cupid.




This reindeer is my favorite!


My husband even got into the fun! He gave me this one for me for Christmas. He made it by tracing a Ford mustang emblem. He's so sweet!

My first real post!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Hey guys!
I've been following SewMamaSew for a little while now and have loved finding awesome projects to do. It's actually the reason I started this blog, so I can show off all my craftiness.

A recent project I've done are these cute accent pillows made from placemats. I got this awesome tutorial from Schlosser Designs: Quick and Easy Accent Pillows
They are so easy to make. They only cost a total of $25 for 5 pillows and took about an hour to make. It should have taken only 30 minutes, but my seam ripper and I do NOT get along!



Hey!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

This is my very first day to start this, so please bear with me! I will be updating this with real stuff soon (well, as soon as I get the hang of this)! Thanks!

Also, if you have any tips, please let me know.