Halloween Costume Memory Lane

It's time for a little trip down Halloween costume memory lane!

This is the first costume I made, and I believe it will always be my favorite. It was made for Timothy's first trick or treat when he was about one and a half. He was the cutest lion of all time and this is my favorite picture of him in his costume even though it doesn't show the full thing and he looks sad. I still love it!
The following year, Lily came home from the hospital on Halloween day. She wore this funny little one piece outfit with the jack-o-lantern bottom. Timothy was a kangaroo that year but we don't have any good pictures of that costume. It wasn't terribly successful anyway. The ears wouldn't stay up.
The following year, Lily was a fairy. I had fun making her wings, a beaded headband, sparkly star wand and skirt with little silk flowers inside. She was just learning to walk.
Because we had just moved and I wasn't able to make two costumes due to the chaos, we borrowed this cute Hershey kiss costume for Timothy to wear. My sister-in-law had made it for her son.

The next year, both kids decided on their own what they wanted to be. Timothy asked for a dog costume and Lily decided on a clown. Lily will be wearing the dog costume this year.
Then last year, my favorite lion costume made a reappearance as Lily wore it! Timothy asked to be a black cat.

I do wish that they would be a little more creative in their costume choices so that I could have more fun creating them but they look adorable nonetheless!

I will post costumes for this year once we take pictures! Even Penny will be dressed up!

Pumpkins!

We carved our pumpkins tonight; one for each member of the family. In the top picture, my son's pumpkin is on the left. He drew the face himself and for the first time, helped carve it too. He did the eyes and nose before he asked for help finishing up the mouth. I wanted one of the odd, peachy pumpkins this year with the strange growths all over it. Then I had no idea how to carve it! I decided on a mouse and Swiss cheese. I don't really know why. It just popped into my head and I decided to go with it.
In the bottom picture, we have my husband's two faced, happy/sad pumpkin that got broken in the kitchen sink while he was rinsing it out. It is held together with toothpicks here and will hopefully stay together through trick or treating tomorrow night! Then comes my daughter's pumpkin. She drew the design and my husband carved it for her. It looks a little robot like. And finally, my husband carved the littlest pumpkin for the baby. It is made in her likeness with two bottom teeth. Yup, she has two teeth already! Our barn cat, Licorice, decided to pose for the picture. He must have known that black cats and jack-o-lanterns go hand in hand.
Happy Halloween!

Horsing Around Jumper Take Two

I made another jumper following the tutorial that I posted a little while ago:
Horsing Around Jumper Tutorial. Since I wrote it after the fact, I did make a couple of mistakes. Basically, the straps have a 1/4" seam and I neglected to mention that. And the waistband piece should only be about 3" wide. I am going to make those changes on my older post.
This time I added about 5" to the length of the front and back piece of the skirt and did not make a ruffle. Instead, I added ruffles along either side of the bib. I realized that the bib might look a little bit better about one inch shorter, top to bottom. I made it this size in order to accommodate the horse design on the first jumper. So, you might prefer to cut this bib piece 8 1/2" x 9 1/2" but remember to add an inch or so to each strap to compensate. Leaving the bib this length does leave more room for growth though and the possibility that she can wear it again next year which is always a plus!
I used some cute little flower buttons that I cut off a shirt of mine years ago. I was happy to find a use for them.
I made the jumper in time for Lily's birthday only to be informed that she doesn't like it all that much. She conceded to wearing it to school and church a few times for my sake!

Lily's 4th Birthday

Today my little girl turns 4! Over the weekend we had a horse party in the barn for her birthday. We have a huge old barn on our property, circa 1920. It was used to raise Morgan horses back in the day. Now that we live here, there are just two barn cats and lots of uninvited wildlife roaming around in the barn. Perhaps someday, when the kids are old enough to help, we will have more animals.
Lily is into horses right now so my husband vacuumed the entire second floor of the barn and installed some lights. We set up some party games and the kids had a good time. We had horseshoes, of course. I sketched a bull's head and my husband cut it out of wood and made a lasso and the kids took turns lassoing. My three year old nephew caught the bull right away. I couldn't believe it! We had a little homemade pinata full of bags of jelly beans at Lily's request. Pictured above is the pony swing my husband made out of an old tire. He found directions on line. I sketched the pattern and he cut and assembled. It was a little harder than anticipated because in true male fashion he assumed that bigger was better and got a truck tire. I actually had to stand on it while he pushed the bolts through. A car tire would have been easier; he now admits. The perk is that two kids could ride at a time. And finally, the hit I think, was find the pennies in the haystack. We spread hay on the barn floor and hid a 100 pennies and the kids got to find 10 each. They loved it!

Vote!

Please go place your votes for the Sew, Mama, Sew Scrap Buster Tutorial Contest! I submitted the "Scrappy Armrest Pincushion" which is part of the first group (should you be so kind as to place one vote for me!). There are lots of great ideas there. click here to vote

More Stencilled Shirts

My son was invited to another birthday party. This time, the little girl sent out pink unicorn invitations. I found a pink sweatshirt on sale for $5 and made a freezer paper unicorn stencil. My daughter wished that she had one too so I made her a similar tshirt since I already had it on hand. They are just a tad too pinky pink for me (though I really like pink) but are apparently just perfect for the age 4-6 crowd!

I also made a birthday tshirt for Lily because she is turning 4 next week! It was inspired by children's counting books with the number followed by objects of the same number. Here is the 4 accompanied by 4 small cherries on the shirt pocket. I hope she likes it.
Now I have two onsies to paint for Penny but am trying to decide on designs. One has to incorporate yellow so that she has something to wear with the super cute yellow cable knit pants I bought for her on clearance. Ideas??

Knit Scarves

I first saw the idea for this scarf on the Rosey Little Things blog. She had followed a tutorial posted on Joy Beadworks for this knit scarf. I knew I had to try it. It is such a simple concept but the scarf looks very classy I think. I bought a yard of knit and made two scarves. If I had bought a yard and a quarter, I could have made 3. I will remember that next time... I made these for Christmas gifts. They go together quickly and aren't difficult though the flowers are a little fussy.

It Hangs!

I made a sleeve/pocket on the back of my quilt. My wonderful husband cut some wood to size, attached an eye hook at either end, screws in the wall and ta da! It hangs!

Peanut, the Wee Elephant Step by Step Photographs

Today, two twin elephants joined the world (fraternal, not identical). I made these two elephants as gifts following the pattern for "Peanut, the wee elephant" by Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls, as published in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. The last time I made one of these elephants (these are my third and fourth), a reader of my blog asked me to take pictures illustrating each of the steps the next time I made an elephant. It is with permission from both Hillary Lang and Joelle Hoverson, that I am sharing these photos:

Step 4. Assemble Body
Belly

Under-Trunk, Belly, and Back

Sides

Step 5. Close Trunk

Step 6. Turn Right Side Out
I didn't photograph this step but my hint for a successful elephant is to stuff and stuff and stuff some more. There is nearly always room for a little more stuffing. I also stitch back and forth a couple of times at the opening.

Step 7. Make Ears

Step 8. Make Blanket
After three elephants, I decided that this was the most difficult step of all. The blanket is simply too cute to skip but if you iron under the 1/2" seam on your two blanket pieces and then line them up, you will find that it is very hard to make this precise. For the fourth elephant, I decided to put my blanket pieces right sides together and stitched about a 1/2" from the edge, leaving an opening. I turned and hand stitched the opening. I think that the blanket looks a lot neater and I am more happy with it this way.


Step 9
For my tails, because I don't have a lot of yarn but do have a lot of embroidery floss, I use 12 strands of embroidery floss per tail, divided into groups of 4 for braiding. Here is a close up of the tail shot (mostly because it is cute!)

Mini String Quilt

I found some time to try something that I have been wanting to try for awhile now; string quilt blocks using paper piecing. I followed the great Film in the Fridge string quilt tutorial. It worked like a charm and was so easy, quick and fun!
I used fall colored scraps to make this mini quilt. I cut my paper squares to 6 1/2" so that I'd have 6" finished squares. The finished mini quilt measures approximately 12 1/2" x 24 1/2". I am using it for a mat in the center of my table. The backing as well as the center stripes are unbleached muslin.
The only tricky thing was the quilting. There were a lot of seams and I had to keep lifting my presser foot up to get over them and then putting it back down, in order to prevent bunching. I was using a free motion presser foot. Any suggestions?
I really like trying out new blocks in mini quilts or table runners to get the feel for them and see if I want to make something bigger. Next I want to try a spiderweb which is approached very similarly.

Scrappy Armrest Pincushion Tutorial

Ever since I first visited Karen Griska's inspirational Selvage Blog, this project has been brewing in the back of my mind. Sew, Mama, Sew is holding a scrappy tutorial contest for the month of October so that gave me the extra push I needed to get it done.

This pincushion hangs over the armrest of your couch or armchair while you sew. The side pockets hold scissors, measuring tapes, thread or bobbins. For this project, I used many kinds of scraps, including the scrappiest of all scraps, selvages. All seam allowances are 1/4".

1. To begin, we will create the selvage pockets. I cut two 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" squares of muslin and drew a few diagonal lines across them in pencil to help while lining up and sewing the selvages. I chose to sew the selvages along the diagonal rather than horizontal rows because this allowed me to use even the tiniest, short, little selvages. I began in one corner, with the raw edge of the fabric facing the center of the block and the selvage edge in the corner. I stitched along the selvage edge. Then I layered the next selvage on top of the raw edge, stitched the selvage edge, and repeated until the square was complete. Turn the square over and using the muslin square as a guide, cut off the excess. Then set your two selvage pockets aside.

2. For the bottom of the pincushion, you will need 3 very scrappy 6 1/2" square blocks (finished size 6"). I made a nine patch, a split log cabin and a log cabin, all using many small scraps. Sew the three patchwork squares together with a 1 1/2" strip of fabric dividing them. Next cut a piece of solid colored fabric 6 1/2" x 19 1/2." As you will see, I even pieced this section together with my seams in the center where they will not be visible. Find a scrap of batting the same size and create a quilt sandwich. Quilt as desired. I used a simple stipple. Set this piece aside.
3. To create the pincushion, cut two pieces of fabric and one piece of batting to 7 1/2" x 10". I used unbleached muslin. You can embellish this piece if desired. I used a favorite selvage and appliqued it onto the muslin. Then create a quilt sandwich and quilt as desired. I used my walking foot and made a few straight lines. You don't want a lot of quilting here because it will get in the way of the pins when you are putting them into your pincushion. With right sides together, stitch the 7 1/2" edges to eachother, and turn.
4. Create about 65" of binding. There is no reason why this binding couldn't be scrappy too, though mine is not. Attach binding to the top edge of your selvage pockets. Set aside the remaining binding.

5. Assemble your pincushion by pinning the selvage pockets to the solid colored side of your quilted piece. Then center the pincusion in the center and pin along one edge. Stitch along this edge and then stuff. Once stuffed, stitch the other edge and trim excess material. Finally, bind the edges.

Enjoy your scrappy pincushion!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's Blogger's Quilt Festival time again! I really enjoyed seeing everyone's quilts last spring and I didn't think I was going to have a quilt ready in time for this round but I finished it just in the nick of time!

I made this quilt to hang in my upstairs, back stairwell. There is a large beige colored wall there and a lot of echos throughout the hall. We are hoping that the quilt will both brighten the wall and also muffle some of the echos and make for a happier sleeping baby. As it turns out, our baby is a very light sleeper and as the youngest of three, that isn't a good thing. My quilt measures about 51" x 64" and consists of stacked coins and half log cabins or split log cabins (thank you to Pat/Silver Thimble Quilt Co. for telling me the proper name for those modified log cabin blocks). I used many fabrics from Hoffmans' Papillon collection, a couple from Windham Fabrics' Songbird collection and a couple of quilters neutrals. The sashing is a Kona solid called Bone. Many of the fabrics were actually purchased as scraps at my local quilt shop, as they appeared in the scrap box over a 6 month period. As a result, I only had little pieces of certain fabrics and bigger pieces of those that I bought by the yard.

The back is pieced; though that wasn't exactly planned. I was sleepier than I realized when calculating the yardage for the back. I purchased the incorrect amount of the polka dot that I used for the backing. Then I pieced borders with fabrics remaining from the quilt top. I used just about every little piece of fabric that I had. It was close! I like the result though so I will consider it an happy little accident.

I decided that I wanted to quilt this top with free motion quilting since it was so linear. I wanted to give it a little feeling of movement. I didn't want to stipple again though so I decided to quilt free form leaf shapes based very, very loosely on the leaves in the "3 Birds and Flower" Songbird print. I quilted in vertical rows, or more aptly, "vines."

Now I just need to sew a pocket on the back for a rod and get my husband to help me hang it up!

Thank you for visiting my blog during the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I can't wait to take a look at all of your quilts too!

Shhh, it's a secret!

My son learned to ride his bike without training wheels this summer. He is still super excited about that fact and is adding new things to his bike riding repertoire, like riding up the hill and back down to the driveway, etc. I made him a freezer paper stencilled shirt for Christmas with a bike on it for this reason. I managed to make it without him seeing it. Now I have to hide it away...and not forget about it!

Turtle Booties

Just because every baby should have booties to coordinate with their quilt....

I had some flannel with the most adorable little turtles all over it leftover from a baby outfit I made for my son nearly 7 years ago (Gasp! I am practicing saying that so that when he turns 7 this winter I don't cry). I cut the toe piece in such a way that I was able to center the turtles but used two different turtles so they point in different directions. The rest of the booties are light green with white polka dots. I added pink and white polka dot bows. The inside of the booties is a warm, off white colored fleece.

Fall Colors

Although I love fall's deep reds and oranges and golds, I adore pink and miss it in the fall. Lucky for me, I was given these fall blooming crocus. They are blooming right now and have been for about a week, here in New England.

And to satisfy my need for purple, I have this fall blooming Purple Beauty Berry Bush. The birds like the berries but fortunately, they haven't found my bush yet!
And last, but not least, we had another Praying Mantis spotting in our yard yesterday! This was by far the largest one we have seen since they hatched a few months ago. Now we are on the look out for their egg sacks. We'd like to save a few in the refrigerator until next spring when we will place them on the rose bushes to hatch. They did a great job keeping the aphids off my roses and I like them so much better then spraying chemicals.

Simply Sweet Baby Quilt

I finished the baby girl quilt that I am donating to the PTO for a raffle at my son's school. I am having a little bit of a hard time parting with it because I really like it! Hopefully others will too and they will purchase raffle tickets!

Though this quilt is very simple, it is sometimes nice to have someone do the math for you so I am going to share a mini tutorial for this quilt with you.

The finished quilt measures approximately 32" x 43" which is perfect for the craft size batting or using pieced batting scraps.

I started by cutting a bunch of strips from scraps that measured 2 1/2" wide. I then sewed them together length wise, randomly. It's a great way to use up scraps. I stitched these lengths into 4 different groups and then cut them all vertically into 2 1/2" strips. Then I randomly sewed sections together to create 6 strips of 22 squares each.

For the sashing, I cut 6 strips that are 2 1/2" x 42 1/2" and one that is 8 1/2" x 42 1/2".

I used the same material for the sashing and the backing and a pink polka dot for the binding. The quilting is a simple stipple.

Most importantly, it passed the baby test.

Freezer Paper Stencils

I'm hooked! I tried freezer paper stencilling for the first time and it is so much fun. I have a couple of onsies and some tshirts ready to stencil for my own kids but this one is a gift. My son is going to a birthday party this weekend.

I followed this tutorial http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/how-to-make-a-stencil.html and it was very clear and it worked well for me.

The edges of the stencils are nice and crisp. My only disappointment is that I added white to the blue paint to make the centermost shark a different shade of blue. The blue looked remarkably different as I applied it but after drying, the color difference is hardly noticeable.

I can see so many possibilities! I am looking forward to trying some more as soon as I can settle on design ideas. For those of us who find ourselves making more for our daughters than our sons, here is a craft that could help to even the score.