Playhouse

 

I found this tutorial for a felt playhouse about two years ago.  Over the summer, Joanna unwisely volunteered to help me make three of them for the oldest four of our granddaughters.  They turned out really cute.  Joanna did all the hard sewing; I made the fruits and vegetables.  She was happy with how they turned out and so am I.  And I think the girlies like them.  (It goes over a card table, if that's not obvious.)  The top picture is the front.  The door is like a flap that lifts up.  You can open the mailbox to put letters in.  You can pick apples from the trees, flowers from the window boxes, carrots, corn and lettuce from the garden.  The windows have mesh behind them so it looks like screen.

 

I think this might be my favorite side.  On the original pattern, there was a dog and doghouse, but I didn't want that.  I wanted a cat.  So Joanna designed and made this cat modeled after a cat we used to have.  On the other side of the bush is a little mouse.  

 

So, between Joanna and Sarah, they accomplished all my sewing projects for Christmas.  Thanks, girls! 

Sleep Sack

Old                                      New

Russell sleeps in a sleep sack every night thanks, in part, to the awesome garden level apartment we live in. The only time he minds is in the morning when I haven't taken him out of it and he tries to get around with it still on. Anyway, He has already outgrown the sleep sack/swaddle that Emily let us borrow when he was first born and then another sleep sack that had sleeves, so I knew we'd be needing another one before long. I looked all around for one that was relatively inexpensive and big, but they do not exist. Before Russell was born, I came across this tutorial and thought it would be nice to make some of his own. Well, extreme laziness kicked in and I never got around to it until this week. He will be getting a nice new warm and cozy sleep sack for Christmas.

It was actually quite easy. I kind of used the tutorial, but also just used the old sleep sack for a guide. I didn't make special binding-just turned the edges under. And, no zipper. Thanks to the good old snap press at mom and dad's it'll be getting nice little snaps up the front to keep it closed.

The total cost of this project? Cheap-o. I'm sure I used a coupon on the fleece at Jo-Ann Fabric and it took less than a yard, plus the free snaps. Awesome!

I may start taking orders for those interested due to the complete ease of the project, but I'm sure anyone could whip on of this out in less than a day.

Bird Blocks

Mom commissioned me (for free) to do some Christmas sewing for her. Sorry, Mom, but I'm not going to volunteer next Christmas. After several urges to throw my machine out the window and some quality time spent with my seam ripper, I finished the project. (Now that I think about it, I have seam ripper bonding time with every sewing project I do.) If your baby is the lucky recipient of a set of these bird blocks, you should definitely examine the seams before giving the toys to your baby. I can't be held liable for babies eating stuffing or anything else that comes undone from these things.

The bird blocks are made of fleece. The legs have that crinkly paper stuff in them that babies like, and the bodies either have a rattle or a squeaker inside. You have to squeeze pretty hard to make the squeaker squeak. Each baby will receive a set of three, a flamingo, a penguin, and an owl. I made the flamingos first, so they're the worst. And even after 18 eyes, I still can't make a French knot.

The trial I ran with Camille and the flamingo seemed to go well. The crinkly legs received lots of chewing, and she enjoyed holding the legs and swinging the bird all over. And it didn't fall apart after one play session. Don't worry, I hid it away so she'll forget about it until Christmas.

Sarah's Ruffle Skirt

Here's a skirt I made from pre-ruffled fabric. It was very easy and quick. The hardest part was finding the fabric at a decent price.

Apparently you have to turn your head to see this the right way.

All I did was measure the widest part around my hips, and use that plus seam allowances as the measurement for the top of the skirt. I cut two slight A line (like maybe an inch or two more than the hip measurement) pieces, and sewed them together making sure the ruffles matched up. Then I sewed wide elastic to fit my waist around the top. No hemming required.

Looking at the top picture, it looks like one side has more of an A line shape than the other side. I don't know whether that is just how I laid the skirt out, or whether one side really is more flared. And I don't really care.

Two teenage girls complimented me on it when I wore it to church. I'm not sure whether that is a good thing or not.

Janet's Cute Skirt!

Look at the cute skirt my Mom made me!  It kind of poofs out a little right below the waist.  I haven't gained that much weighed since being married. 
Thanks Mom!  I wore it to church today!

I have been doing a little sewing/crafting for our expected arrival, and I am pretty pleased with how these turned out. I had some plain white Onesies leftover from a project I did quite a few mothns ago, so I embellished them to make them a little more cute. 

This first one took about four minutes. All I did was twirl some fabric strips into rosettes, then used hot glue to hold them together. I sewed them onto the Onesie. I like that it's feminine without being pink.

I think this one is my favorite. It's really more gender neutral. Don't look too closely at the sewing around the appliques. My sewing machine was doing something odd.

 And some appliqued sea creatures.

Thanks!

Thanks to all who have participated in the 2011 sewing challenges! It was fun to see how creative you all are and to enjoy sewing with you. I encourage you to keep up this fun hobby (okay, maybe I'm one of the few who thinks it's fun.) The winner of the December challenge is Emily Franzen. It'll be in the mail, Em.

Now that the year is over, I would like to leave this blog as a place for you all to post pictures and ideas of crafty things you do. I'll start with this craft. Janet helped me and we made six of these this year. It's a nativity block with vinyl cutout on each side. After applying the vinyl, we sprayed it with acrylic sealer (or you could Modge Podge it if you're not a Scoresby who can't Modge Podge.) You could cut the vinyl yourself if you are the lucky possessor of a Cricut, but I bought mine from here.
Love you all and happy crafting days to you!

Little Emily's Christmas gifts

First off, this is Aunt Emily posting for little Emily.  Apparently all the effort she put into her projects left her too pooped to post!

Emily made this jacket for Erin. It is made out of pretty red fleece.  Emily also made 8-10 scripture totes as a personal progess project to be given to Primary children as gifts.  Plus, she altered some jeans of Erin's that she didn't want anymore into some "skinny" jeans that Erin can tuck into her boots.   No wonder she is too pooped to post!  (no pictures of the scripture totes because Emily forgot to take a picture before she gave them to the Primary, and no pictures of the skinny jeans because Erin was too pooped to model!)

Aunt Emily's Christmas gifts.

Here is what I made for my gifts.  I made 2 skirts, one for Emily and one for Erin.  They were supposed to be for Christmas, but I gave them to the girls early!

Emily's is the gray and Erin's is the taupe.

 

I found the fabric at Walmart.  They quit carrying fabric and all but the basic sewing supplies several years ago, but out of the blue they had several bolts of fabric.  They were marked $5 a bolt, with each bolt having about 5 yards.  But when I checked out, they were only $4  a bolt, so the fabric was less than $1 a yard.  Yippee!

Emily's fabric is a pretty gray silky fabric.  She chose to have the peplum.  The skirt has a zipper at the back .

It also has this nifty vent at the back.

Erin's skirt is a taupe print silky fabric.  She chose to not have the peplum.

Erin's skirt also has a zipper at the back and the nifty vent.  That's because I used the same pattern!  You will have to use your imagination to get rid of all the wrinkles.  The skirt has been hanging up in her very crowded closet.

I also made two velvet bolero-style jackets, one for each girl (sorry, no pictures!) and started a pretty red dress for Erin.  Alas, the dress isn't finished.  I made a bridesmaids dress this summer for a young woman in our ward and decided to use the same pattern for Erin's dress.  I, however, had forgotten what a pain in the heinny the pattern was--french seams, completely lined bodice, etc.  So, it will be a first week of January present for Erin!