Another Rag Quilt

This little number was a baby gift. I always try to make something as a gift, and this particular day, I was feeling the need to make a rag quilt!

The fabric was all scraps of flannel I had.

I kind of like the random mismatched squares.

My First Rag Quilt

Wanting to make something homemade for a baby gift, and fast, I dug out all of my "boy" scraps and made this rag quilt.

It is all out of simple cotton prints.

I could have added batting to the individual fabric sandwiches, but I didn't since the baby is a summer baby and will outgrow the blanket before it is cold enough to need it.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty cute and it cost me nothing and took me only about 2-3 hours.

Sweet!

Toddler Tie

Way back for Easter, I made Jake a "Lil Guy Tie" using Ashley at Make it and Love it's pattern.

You can buy the pattern HERE!

We get lots of compliments at church, and I think he looks pretty cute as well.

:)

Abby Cadabby Tutu

On a whim one day, I decided to make a tutu.

I cut fabric for Hobby Lobby, and I get a lot of questions about how to make the tulle tutus that everyone is doing right now.

Since I don't have a girl, I didn't know.

I now know one way to make a tutu and I have answered many questions since.

I used two yards of tulle and cut it myself with my rotary cutter, but I do have plans to use the spools very soon in a Fourth of July variation!

Deciding that this tutu would be for my niece who is a Sesame Street fan, I made it in Abby Cadabby colors. Complete with a fairy wand!

This is the tutorial I referenced. Mostly for the wand.

(I corked those ribbons in the oven, another test I was running for customer questions.)

Jake was good enough to try on the tutu for me.

Just once.

My husband was not happy.

Farm Themed Carnival Party

This post is WAY overdue, but here it is none the less.

Jakey's Birthday was a big success.

I wanted Jake's birthday party to be a big deal, but not cost very much and I accomplished that!

These cakes were made by my friend, Kelli, who is just awesome!

I had to share Jake's birthday breakfast.

Before turning one, Jake was really into farm animal noises.

Any time you opened a book with farm animals and made the corresponding noises, he would giggle. We took that love and ran with it.

Mr. Pancake Piggy

He approved.

I made this shirt by simply using double sided interfacing to place the one (That I drew and cut by hand) on the shirt. The I stitched around it with contrasting thread. He wore it on his actual birthday, not party day... but I had to share.

Oh, and one more thing before we move on. I don't have any food pictures and if you are wanting to throw a giant, farm-themed, min-carnival extravaganza for your own little one, but then decide against it because you don't have a clue what to serve at a shin-dig such as this.... I would be really sad. So, this is what we did. Our motto: Keep it simple, keep it cheap.

Hot dogs, chips, lemonade and apple slices.

(And, I asked my family members to bring some of those things!)

Pheew. That was close. Crisis averted.

Okay, moving on to actual party festivities.

The location. Does it get any better?

Here is the paper mache cow that my hubs made. (It really was all him, don't let him tell you otherwise!)

At the party.

This cow had a hole where utters would be and we milked it by filling rubb

er gloves with water, poking holes in the fingers and hanging them in the open cavity. The kids loved it!

Another station was the Saddle Photo Op.

We borrowed the saddle and bought some hay for it to sit on.

Then, again, with borrowed cowboy gear, and had the kids dress up and their parent's took pictures.

I made this banner. And, it can be used again and again.

All it is is stiffened felt cut into pendants. Then I glued on the letters.

To string them together, I used some double fold bias tape.

There you have it!

This fishing game was made of wood we had in our garage. Hubs cut it into three sections and put on some hinges. I called upon my more artistic friend, Melinda, to paint me some fishies and there you go.

Well, actually, we put paper clips on little candies and prizes. Then, the kids had a fishing pole with a magnet on the end. The magnet attracted the paper clips so that they could retrieve their prizes!

This petting zoo was my baby.

I learned how to make 3D animal patterns and I was off!

I worked on these animals for about 2 months before the party.

See!? The kids loved the cow.

This is my nephew milking it. :)

For signs, I bought pre-cut poster board to save time.

Then, I printed online images representing each station.

I had Melinda color them during movie night (or SYTYCD or something)

Then we taped them to dowel.

At the party, each of these signs were put into a small hay bail (I bought at Hobby Lobby).

These are the treat bags we gave out. I would love to take credit, but my friend, Tiffany, is all to blame. I knew I had brown paper sacks (free!) to use, and I bought the ribbon (like 3$ total), but other than that, I gave her the stuff and let her go at it! This is what she came up with as far as presentation.

The stuff in it?:

Bubbles

Homemade coloring book with online free images

and each family got an i-spy bean bag made by my Aunt. They had farm animal buttons in them.

Thanks to all my awesome friends and even awesome-er hubby. I couldn't have pulled it off without you! Not in a million years!

Christmas T-Shirt

I saw this basic idea a couple times while surfing around cyberspace, and made one for my little boy.

Sorry this picture is blurry, it is the only one I have of him in it!

He isn't one for standing still much.

Here is a link to the only tutorial I actually saved. That is SO unlike me. :)

I used:

Ribbon

(I got the whole 6 pack of 18" lengths from the Target 1$ section!)

A toddler t-shirt

(I bought it at Target and then used my seam ripper to take off the pocket.)

liquid stitch

(you could sew them on for added durability.)

Fray Check

Scissors

Seam ripper

(to remove the pocket)

My Target purchases.

To make the tree, I just cut the first ribbon color to about one inch and slanted the cut. I fray check-ed the edges of the ribbon and then used liquid stitch to glue the ribbon to the shirt. I could have sewn them on, but I figured the shirt would only be worn once anyway.

After that first cut, I cut each ribbon one at a time slightly bigger.

Not exactly a science.

I took this picture with my supplies after I had gotten started.

I continued cutting each of the six ribbons in the same way.

Then, when I got to the bottom, I used some brown ribbon I already had to make a trunk.

After all the ribbon was secured, I knew I needed a tree topper.

I thought about this gem, but thought better of it since I have a little boy and the gem was looking a little too girly.

I opted for the understated button.

It turned out so fun, and it didn't take me long at all! Maybe 15-20 minutes.

Quiet Book

For my niece's second birthday, I made this quiet book. I used this tutorial by Homemade by Jill as a reference. I love her! I hope to add more pages, but for now, this is what I have.

The Front

- A pocket for quick stuffing of random pieces as need be. -

An Apple Tree with velcro apples.

see?

Button flowers and snap fish

Color matching gum balls and hair for braiding and such.

Dress up doll

see?

Fabric Barn

Today while waiting to the glass man to come by and replace my windshield, I made this little barn. I found the instructions on UK Lass in US via UCreate. The tutorial is Here. I had a little trouble (Me and the seam ripper were best friends!), but for my first attempt, I am pretty happy. Now, I just need to decide if I am crazy enough to make cloth animals, or if I should just head over to Walmart for some Chinese imports. :)

Here's the outside, front.

The back, showing mostly my "silos".

The back, showing my tree and tree swing.

And, the inside. All I have is a path, pond and stack of hay. (yes, that is supposed to be hay.)

I ran out of ideas and my fingertips were done being burned. :)

Maybe next I will attempt a doll house!

Ribbon Belts

I made these two belts out of 1.5 inch ribbon and (2) 1 inch D-rings. I was inspired by this tutorial at Make It and Love It, but I didn't really follow it! I bought the ribbon without reading her measurements first and didn't have enough to double the thickness. Oh well! They are cute. Now, I just have to put them on my baby boy and see if they fit. :)

Baby Toys

I got a sewing bug last night... and made these! Fun little toys! I just used fabric I had around the house, and it was really fun. You should do it too!

I have been reading a lot of Make it and Love it. I love her! She makes the cutest stuff, and it is pretty simple to do as well.

I used this tutorial to make this block.

I am waiting on some more fabric, and then I plan to make more colors.

I added a little ribbon tag because my baby loves tags and I saw it somewhere else.

And then I used this tutorial to make these letter bean bags.

I used felt. Don't enlarge and look at my poor sewing. :) I had a little trouble, but by the end I was doing a lot better.

And, lastly, I used this tutorial to make this giraffe. The front is flannel and the back is corduroy. The flannel frayed a bit while I was hand stitching and was a pain, but I love this fabric! I think it works well for a giraffe. What do you think?

Some Girly Burpies

After my burpie post, I made these girly burpies. Had to share!

Baby Tag Toy

I made one of these toys for my baby before he was born. I don't remember where I got the original idea, but he loves his. He chews on the ribbon tags all the time. I take it in the grocery store where it is a toy and an emergency burp cloth if needed.

Here is a pink one I made.

I don't have a finished picture of the red one I am going to show you in the step by step directions and I don't have pictures of this pink one being made.

Use your imaginations!

Cut the shape you want (A square, circle, whatever) out of two pieces of fabric.

I like to use a plain cotton and something soft. The pink one has minky, this red one has fleece.

Truth be told, I have never bought anything to make these before. I just use what I have.

Cut some cute coordinating lengths of ribbon at about 4 inches.

I have three of each kind of ribbon cut here, but I didn't use them all.

Fold the ribbon lengths in half and pin them in between the two pieces of fabric.

Make sure to put them with the folded end facing in.

You can adjust the length of them in your end product now by allowing more of the un-folded ends to be sticking out at this point.

It is up to you!

After you have all sides situated with ribbon, sew around the fabric shape.

Be sure to leave a small section open!!! Just stop about 2 inches before you get back to where you started.

It is also a good idea to sew around twice. I don't always do this, but it is a good idea for extra durability.

Next, trim off the corners of your square at a diagonal. If you did a circle, clip in from the edge of the fabric to the seem (avoiding clipping it!!!) about ever inch all the way around.

These steps help the finished product turn correctly. After trimming, turn the whole project right side out! I like to stick a pen or my scissors in to poke out the corners.

When the whole thing is turned out correctly, hand stitch that little 2 inch section you used to turn your toy closed.