GivEaWaY and a new modern boy quilt pattern!

   This is a story of Little Baby Brother Buddy Dude.  Seriously, do you love him? Do you want to bite his cheeks?  From the very bottom of my heart I really didn't think I was missing anything by not having a son. My four daughters filled my heart. I thought a boy would just be for my husband. I knew I would love one, but absolutely did not know how much I would adore him!

He came into our lives 1 year ago. He reminds me of Big Baby on toy story. He is giant. 98% height. Super bald. And pure perfection! Finally getting a boy meant tons of new decorating options...which brings me to this quilt...

I named this quilt "Mod Tweet",  sort of the modern "Sweet Tweet". (My original pattern that has been very good for our little business...)  Anyhow, when I thought to decorate a boys room I didn't want to do the blue and brown thing. I feel like I have done that, and I wanted to different than what was being done in most boy nursery's. So I thought and thought and finally came up with gray and aqua. I LOVE how this quilt turned out. Within a month I will be posting this guys nursery and it is darling!

Plus, check the minky backing. Have you seen anything so magnificent? L-O-V-E !

I went back and forth about making it a pattern or keeping it original for my baby. In the end I sold him out for a little extra cash...(that is the kind of person I am...)  So here you have it...

If you buy this pattern, just think of Big Baby Brother Little Baby Buddy Dude. Please. Click here if you are interested in purchasing this pattern.

Last but not least. We are giving this pattern away to 5 different commenters here and on QuiltStory.

* Leave a comment and tell us which is your favorite pattern of ours, 1 entry.

* Become a follower or subscribe, 3 entries. 

(Just tell us in a new comment if you are already a follower/subscriber) 

* Hop on over to QuiltStory and repeat, 4 entries.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Oh and YES, we are linking up to some fabulous parties, so make sure to check them out too!

How to make a tie shirt

After having my second little boy I knew that I'd have to get creative if I wanted to make things for my little boys!  I can't remember where I first heard of or saw tie shirts, but I love them.  They are just nerdy enough to be perfectly adorable!

I searched through blogs and etsy observing how everyone else made their shirts, and finally settled on the way that I love :)  I will share with you here how I make my tie shirts, and hopefully you'll love them too.

Materials needed:

-plain t-shirt or onesie
-heat n bond or some kind of fusible web for applique
-fabric for tie (scraps)
-sewing machine

Step 1:
Trace the tie pattern onto the paper side of your heat n bond.  I separate the two pieces, the knot and the tie.  I like the pattern of the knot to be in a different direction than the pattern of the tie.  I have included my templates for you here, in sizes 3-6 months and 2T.  Using a ruler you can make these shorter/longer and wider/thinner.  My suggestion is that the tie is within 3-4 inches of the bottom of the shirt.  I find if the tie ends too high on the shirt it's just nerdy enough to be down right nerdy.  Roughly cut around the pieces and iron to the wrong side of your fabric, like so:

Step 2:

Following the directions of your heat n bond, cut exactly around the tie, peel of the paper and iron to the shirt. It's now ready for you to sew around. Sew.

Step 3:

Stand back and admire! They're that easy. I think the trickiest part is picking the right fabric stripes and plaids work amazingly and the right size and length for the ties.

Step 4:
Adorn cute cousin boys with matching tie shirts.  Perfection!



As always, we will be linking these cutie pies to some linky parties, so check them out.  Seriously you can find some amazing talent at these parties!

Two Blankets, Two Ideas

I've recently made two pieced blankets for friends, and when I finished I thought they were the perfect patterns for a variety of blankets!  I am going to give you a semi tutorial.  Meaning if you've had a little experience on the machine, you'll be able to make these too.

(They are not difficult to make in the least, however, I am not doing a step by step how-to)

This was for my sweet friend Sara's new baby boy Simon.  I had a few 1/4 yards of fabric and was thinking and thinking of how to piece it and not have it look weird or like leftovers (which they weren't!).

My favorite part is the middle strip.  It'd be cute left alone, or with a variety of applique's.  I considered argyle diamonds, spelling out "sleep" or "Simon"...and ultimately settled on stars!!

On a side note, I made this ball to go with the blanket.  I always feel like I have to have a little something extra to go with "main" present.

Here are the measurements for this blanket.  The finished size is 38" x 23".  The measurements in the diagram below are what I cut the fabric, prior to sewing.  My seam allowance is 1/4".

Here is my pieced blanket #2.  This is a car seat blanket.  Heather and I discovered these about three years ago when we were making blankets for our soon to be babies, who were born only two days apart!  It is so nice to have a small blanket to squish around your newborn, instead of a full size blanket that you have to fold 8 times to get around them.

The same story for this one as well, it would be adorable without any applique at all...however an initial, heart, crown, etc. could make it so sweet too!

They can be finished by binding the edges or just simply turning inside out with a finishing stitch around the outside.  Either works. 

And when the baby gets older, it's a great little blankie to play peek-a-boo with :)

I always have to try and sneak one of my boy's in a photo shoot.  Guess it was Ollie's lucky day!

The finished size for this blanket was 24" square.  Once again, the measurements below are what the pieces were cut to, prior to sewing. My seam allowance is 1/4".

There you have it!  Two basic patterns to make a variety of easy pieced blankets!

If you are feeling adventurous and want to give one of these a try, please link us!  We'd love to see your finished project.  If you are a little nervous but would like to try it out, contact us because I'd love to answer any questions.

Happy Mother's Day!!  As for me?  Looking forward to snuggling on the couch with my oh so busy husband and watching a movie of my choice.  Mmmm can't wait.

What did you do?

Linking up to a few parties today: The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, It's So Very Cheri, Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou, Sew Can Do, Soft Place to Land, Today's Creative Blog, Sew and Tell w/AmyLouWho and Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

Mini Makeover Part 2 & a tutorial

Part two of mini makeover: I've seen these cute little blockies around and just had to make some for my Oliver.

Wanna make some to?

Here's how to make adorable lettered fabric blocks for your baby.

You'll need:

• Six 3.5" squares of fabric per letter (36 for me)
• Heat n Bond
• Scrap fabric for letters
• Letters traced or printed from your computer
• Batting
  

1- Trace your letter onto Heat n Bond and cut out roughly around the letter (remember to do the letter in reverse).

2- Cut out six 3.5" squares for each block you want to make.

3-Following the directions on the Heat n Bond packaging, iron each letter onto one square.

4- Sew around each letter.

5- Sew 4 squares sides to sides together.

6- Pinning the top and bottom squares to the ends of the "coming together" block, make sure to match the corners and then sew around. This can be tricky, it kind of takes trial and error to learn how far to go to on the corners.

7- Leave a small opening to turn your block right side out with, and then stuff it with batting. Hand sew the hole closed.

If you wanted a crisper more square look to your blocks, I bet if you added some interfacing to each square it would give you that effect. I wanted a softer more playable look for these.

There you go! Now you have some cutie-patootie soft blocks for your baby.

How lucky am I that OLIVER is six letters? As always, let us know if you have any questions!

Partying with AmyLouWho and My Romantic Home.

*Tear, sniffle*

Heather and I like to keep things light on our blog, but today I'm going straight up serious.

June 20, 2009 was our son Sawyer's 2nd birthday. Around 2 am that morning my husband was driving across many states to catch up with me and the boys while we were vacationing in Utah, and to make it to our boy's big day.

I was sleeping at Heather's house. Around 8 am she knocked on the door where my now 2 year old, 6 month old and I were sleeping. She was standing there, a phone in one hand holding onto the door frame with the other. She was shaking like crazy and whispering for me to come to the door.

When I got to her I remembered my husband had been driving through the night. The first thing she said was, "He's okay, but Ernesto's been in an accident."

He rolled. He flipped. He crossed the median into the other lane of traffic. He landed upright. A mother and daughter were the only other car on the road, and they came to his side and called 911.

He was taken in an ambulance to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center in Wyoming. They did all kinds of tests, and miraculously he was okay.

A reunion more special than Sawyer knows.

I vividly remember seeing my boys awake a few minutes after hearing the news and their huge brown eyes staring back at me. For a moment I allowed my mind to go to the place where my husband wasn't coming home...it made me realize more than ever before that he is irreplaceable to us.

Now, to bring it all back to crafting, where ultimately everything must go :) When he was taken to the ER they cut all of his clothes off him. He was wearing a nice brown button up shirt that was cut to shreds. When we got all of his stuff I knew I wanted to somehow use that shirt as a reminder of all the emotions from that time.

The brown border and "families" are from his shirt.

I started with a piece of muslin and traced "are" and "forever" with pencil onto the fabric. I embroidered those words. I printed and traced "families" and used fusible web to attach it to the muslin. I hand appliqued this because my machine skills are not that great on such small letters. Then I pieced the borders to fit in a 8 x 10 frame ($3 at Walmart). I put a thin piece of quilt batting and didn't use the glass.

I love how it turned out. It makes me happy every time I see it. I stressed a lot about how I would use it, what I would say, I wanted it to be perfect. But ultimately I went simple, and for this project I think that was just right.

We're at these linky parties: A soft Place to Land, Skip to My Lou, Amy Lou Who,The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, Cottage Instincts, Twice Remembered, Sumo's Sweet Stuff and Between Naps on the Porch.

C is for celebrate

Earlier in this crazy month, my co-crafterson Heather celebrated her birthday! I made this cute banner for her, and considering she has four daughters, I'm hoping it will be put to good use :)
These come together pretty fast, and they are also cute just plain without any letters. Use a ruler and cut out a triangle from an old cereal box to use as your template. Use pinking shears (zig-zag fabric scissors) to cut the triangles from your fabric, and they won't fray. Then all you have to do is sew the banner to a ribbon and you've done it! One thing I discovered with this one, I overlapped each flag a little and I like how it hangs a lot better than others I've made.

Won't that be great at birthdays and events? I don't even have one :( That's on my craft list. Happy New Year everyone !!! We're partying at Between Naps on the Porch, The Girl Creative, and A Soft Place to Land.

A Holiday Runner

Heather and I are many things, but when it comes to our crafts, one of those things is not humble. How cute is that runner? And even better, you can make it, and we'll show you how! Our very first tutorial to show you how to make a holiday or winter table runner!

And what else is great? Choose fabrics accordingly and this can last you all winter, or it can be a spring runner. Endless possibilities I tell you.

To start, materials needed:

*1/3 yard green fabric for center

*1/4 yard aqua fabric for sashing

*1/2 yard pink fabric for border
*3-5 Fat Quarters for circles

*1/4 yard brown fabric for tree

*1/2 yard hot pink fabric for binding

*2/3 yard for backing

I totally dropped the ball here, there is no photos of me putting the background together. BUT you can do it! If you can read, sew straight and iron, you can make this, promise.

STEP 1: Start with 1/3 yard green fabric for center, using a rotary cutter, board and ruler, cut the piece to measure 10.5" x 36.5". Then cut 1/4 yard aqua fabric for the sashing into 1.5" strips.

Finally take 1/2 yard pink fabric for border and cut it into 3.5" strips.

STEP 2: Using the aqua 1.5" strip, match up to one side of the green center fabric. (You will have a good amount of sashing hanging off one end). Sew together, trim to match and press. Repeat on opposite side and then top and bottom.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 using the pink 3.5" strips.

Step 4: Make 75" of 1" bias tape using the 1/4 yard of brown fabric for tree.

Now, I used a bias tape maker that you can get at most fabric stores, I got mine at JoAnn's. It is cheap and easy, you feed fabric through one side and it come out the other where you starch and iron it, and then the ends are turned in! Ta-da! You could also make your bias tape using a fusible web (we'll use that on the circles in a minute) or you can purchase it.

Step 5: Using the main picture at the top as your guide, cut and place the tree and branches to your liking. The length of the main part of my tree is 33". Using a temporary hold glue, I used Aileen's from WalMart, paste it in place. Sew all the way around your tree and branches with invisible thread (my preference) using a tight zig-zag stitch.
Time to make circles! I've uploaded the template I used here, there is a 5" circle (cut 3), 4" circle (cut 4) and a 3" circle (cut 2).

Step 6: It is a good idea to make temporary circles from printer paper as a trial to make sure you like the size and placement, like below in photo 1.

Step 7: Using my template or your own, trace three 5" circles, four 4" circles and four 3" circles onto the paper side of the fusible web. (I used Heat n Bond lite found hanging next to the sewing notions at WalMart.) See below photo 2.

Step 8: No photo for this step. Roughly cut around the traced circle (not the actual circle, maybe 1/2" or so outside of it). Place the non-paper side of the fusible web on the wrong side of your fabric and iron. Once cooled, cut around your actual circle.
Refer to the directions on whichever type of fusible web you purchase, they may differ from my directions.

Step 9: Peel the paper away from the back of the circle and place exactly where you'd like it on your runner. Iron. Ta-da! See below photo 4.
You're almost there!

Step 10: Sew around the edges of your circle. I chose to do mine a little more decorative for fun, I sewed in about 1/4" with a hot pink thread. You can use the invisible thread again here if you'd like, it's up to you.
And....you did it!

Step 11: Stand back and admire. Show anyone within the walls of your home. Jump up and down. Giggle. Now compose yourself, you look like a fool.

It's just a runner.

:)

Don't hate me, you're thinking, man this is awfully thin?? Well there are a couple more steps to completion. It needs to be quilted. And I quilted mine on my own, bless my heart, there will be no tutorial for that. I recommend hiring a professional, my aunt always does ours but she's hundreds of miles away and I just wanted mine done immediately. You can find affordable women with long arm quilting machines who would do an excellent job. I'd ask at a local quilt store for a recommendation.

Shortly after handing it over, you'll receive the blessed call that it is ready. You'll pick it up and can't believe it's even more gorgeous than it left. All that is left to do is bind it, which is actually one of my favorite parts, because you can watch TV while you do it. I'll be posting a tutorial on how to bind a quilt (or table runner) in about a week! Stay tuned!

Please, if there are any mistakes or clarifications, let us know! Leave a comment or drop us an email! Happy quilting :)

PS We've linked with a few parties, we love them! A Soft Place to Land, DIYblogspot, the shabby chic cottage, 320 sycamore,and Today's Creative Blog so check out all those other amazing things. Also, See Mommy Sew is having a tutorial contest all of November, so go enter yours, and amylouwho for sew and tell fridays!

Boo!

I want to make lots of monster creatures.

I made this little guy for our mom, and I guess I kinda invented him. He's crocheted, and I used this free ball pattern for his body alternating colors every four rows. His arms started with a chain four and increased to eight I believe for probably 5 inches. His eyes, mouth and ears are all made of felt and stitched onto his face. I was happy with this quirky little guy!

Our mom loves to host a Halloween party with loads of grandchildren. So I wanted to add to her cute decorations, and I love me a banner.
Using a cardboard template and rotary cutter I got my perfect triangles and sewed them to a ribbon. Using fusible web I traced the letters and ironed them accordingly. A good tip: If you aren't the best with your applique skills (me) it's awesome to use invisible thread. I think colored thread can make more of a statement, but until I can sew straight better, I'm sticking with invisible thread.


And there you go! Happy Halloween everybody, can't wait to check out all the goodies and eat a few too.

Let me know if you need any more specifics!

We're crazy

We're crazy, it's official. I have to say, the patterns from the ladies of LizzieB Cre8tive really were the first quilts we saw and thought that quilting isn't all for grandma's. The first applique project we EVER started, thanks to Heather, is their pattern Piece, Love and Applique. Notice, I didn't say finish. I have a few squares done, here they are:



Like I said, it's the first applique and one of the first quilts I started doing! Since starting this I've probably made 15 quilts in between, so who knows when I'll finish this.

The BEST part, Heather decided to do the applique all by hand. Seriously.

A New Quilt Pattern

This is the greatest quilt for a little boy! My Oliver loves the ear and tail that hang from the doggy, it is so cute. There are so many cute quilts out there for little girls, and now finally one for your little Mr! The applique is pretty simple and easy, the pieces aren't too intricate. The quilt features snails, a snake and a dog. My favorite squares, the argyle. We love argyle, it's underrated. And the pattern has a really easy to follow instructions and diagram on those squares. I especially love it for little boys as you can see here in my boy's bedroom.

We hope you love this quilt, we sure loved putting it together!

AND it's ready for purchase now :)