Ahoy, baby!

Well, something happens when you hit a certain age--you're suddenly surrounded by babies!  So far, babies have been the most compelling reason for me to quilt.  I can put down everything else to crank out a baby quilt. 

 

 

 

If you know me personally, then you already know that my husband and I led a young adult bible study for quite a few years.  Now, (not counting BabySchep) the first baby from that group is coming soon:

Well, of course Baby Anthony is getting a quilt!  I was short on time, so I needed something relatively easy.  I remembered how much fun I had making the Big Top quilt for a friend almost two years ago, so I pulled out my 10 degree wedge ruler again. 

 

I constructed this quilt top in the same manner as the Big Top quilt, but with navy and off-white, as Baby Anthony has a nautical theme going on in his nursery:

It's making me dizzy!

Like before, I appliqued a circle over the gap in the center.  This time, I embellished the circle with an anchor made of felt. 

 

Almost done basting!

I machine quilted the sandwich on my 9960 using a walking foot and Aurifil 50wt thread.  That, plus a brand new needle made for smooth sailing. 

 

I attached navy bias binding, and started on the label.  I tried out Sulky's Sticky FabriSolvy for the first time, and it was a hit!  I typed up the label on my computer, and printed it directly on the sheet on my laser printer.  It simply peels and sticks, and you're ready to sew!

I used three strands of embroidery floss with a simple backstitch to cover up the printed text.  Even with the white stabilizer, the white floss stood out just fine. 

When I was done, I simply submerged the label in water, and the stabilizer disappeared!  Amazing.  I will be using this stuff a lot.

 

Well, here's the finished product:

 

 

Love that Happy Home print!

Label turned out pretty nicely!

BabySchep, at 5 months old, modeling the quilt for the camera.

I think this photo belongs in a catalog!

I made a matching drawstring bag with the extra backing fabric.  Here it is amongst the other goodies at the shower:

 

So what do y'all think?  I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  Love the fabric?  You can pick up the Happy Home collection in my shop.  (My husband and I own the company!)  Want to recreate this quilt?  Get what you need here. 

 

Until next time, God Bless!

 

 

Handmade gifts for Princess Jocelyn

Well, did you know that #babyschep has a cousin? My parents' first two grandchildren were born a mere two months apart!  Here's a pic of Princess Jocelyn:

So sweet!

This is my first niece, so I had to make as many handmade gifts for her as I could.  Just one obstacle: the fact that I have an infant of my own to care for.

First up, a quilt, of course! It began with fusible appliqué secured with a blanket stitch by hand:

#babyschep in the background!

I chose a simple Riley Blake pattern that called for strips.

Below-the-panel strip set

Above-the-panel strip set

I thought that the Happy Home collection would be ideal.  Super girly, you know?!

I chose this super luxe minky to back the quilt:

Love that color!

Here's the quilt sandwich all basted:

Is it just me, or do quilt tops look better before they're quilted? 

I opted to simply stitch in the ditch with my walking foot on my trusty Quantum.  Minky is tricky.  It was very messy to cut, and very shifty in the machine.  There were several snags, but I just told myself that it added to the homemade feel of it all.

And the finished quilt:

Thanks to the hubby for holding it up for me!

I hope she enjoys it!

Next up, burp cloths!  I used Simplicity pattern 2924 for the burp cloths and tummy time pillow that follow:

Yup, that's more Happy Home fabric!  I have plenty, lol.  I made some of these for #babyschep, and they've come in handy--they are very absorbent. 

Yours truly with my fav model :)

I also made some tummy time pillows.  Here's the version I made for my niece:

The pattern calls for toys to be attached.

Here's what #babyschep's looks like.

And of course, I couldn't resist a pic of #babyschep passed out after some tummy time on his new pillow!

Next up, a teddy bear!  I used Simplicity pattern #9524.  This was my first time using a mainstream pattern to make a softie, and it has its pros and cons.

Hehe, a little sewing humor.

This bear came together in two pieces, that's it!  That made it a very quick sew, but I also feel like it made a bit rudimentary of a bear.  Now, the pattern I used assumes you're going to be using some sort of furry fabric, but I just used quilting cotton.  I felt like it could have really used some interfacing, if you go with a lighter fabric like cotton.  

The obligatory patio shot.  

From another angle.  

I added some hand embroidered details.  

Yet another gift:  an embellished onesie:

So cute!

This was pretty straightforward.  I used fusible web to apply the letter, and used a straight stitch to adhere it permanently.  Because I used a straight stitch, I opted not to use any interfacing on the inside of the onsesie.  

The flowers on the socks were made using this little gadget:

I won this Kanzashi flower maker as a door prize at last year's expo, and found good use for it here.  If I had more time, I would have figured out how to make a headband, but that'll just have to go on my super long to-do list for now.  

And last, but not least, my niece has an older brother.  I didn't want him to feel left out, so I stitched up a composition book cover with his name on it.

What do y'all think?  Far from perfect, but the flaws are filled with love!


Until next time, God Bless!

Soft Play

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending another one-year-old's birthday party.  Remember the butterfly quilt I made a year ago?  Same sweet little girl.  I was at a loss when figuring out what her gift would be, but was inspired when looking at old issues of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. 

 

I saw these cute little hand-sewn balls that I knew I had to make with some of my scraps from the Happy Home collection (which I sell in my new shop!).  It uses EPP, which is by far my favorite quilting discipline. 

 

 

Check out those lovely pregnancy nails!

I had never made a three dimensional object with EPP, so this was a fun new challenge.  The instructions were very straightforward, so making them was a cinch.  I wish I had some toddler-safe rattles to put inside, but I found myself running out of time to finish them, so they were gifted sans rattle.  I used some fun glitter floss to hand embroider her initial and a heart:

 

 

I would definitely make these again!  What do y'all think?  I've finally gotten some sewing done for #babyschep, so I'll update y'all on that soon!  Until next time, God Bless. 

E is for Emma

About two months ago, I had the privilege of attending a party to celebrate sweet little Emma's first birthday.  It was a low-key, family and friends affair, but it was absolutely perfect.

Now my husband and I are best friends with Emma's parents, so of course, she was getting a handmade gift for her birthday.  I spotted a softie alphabet project in Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, and I immediately knew I had to make it for her. 

 

These were designed by Manda McGrory and they're quite simple to make.  You print your desired templates, use fusible fleece and scraps, and stuff them with polyester toy filling. 

So I cut out my templates and got started.  I got through the A, B, and C, before I realized I made them waaay too small.  Redo. 


Here's a sample of what they look like (and how I felt when I was finished):



Then I had to play with them:



I only made one of each letter, so I was surprised to discover that you can spell Lady Schep without repeating any letters!

 

What really makes this project stand out is the linen drawstring bag to store the letters in:

 

Next time, I'll applique the letters farther down on the bag, like Manda did on her bag. 

You can't really tell, but the bag says Emma!

 

It's still pretty cute, though!

This was my first time using the blanket stitch on my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960:

 

 

 

I used a high contrast thread to pull it all together, so I was stitching super slowly to it just right.  Not bad for my go-round with the machine blanket stitch!  I have to admit, though, that I stitched so slowly it would have been just as fast for me to blanket stitch the letters on by hand. 

 

I learned lots of things during this project, namely that you have to know when you will save more time by ditching what you've finished to that point and starting over, rather than trudging through a project that will only cause pain and suffering in the end.   Fortunately, I did that early on in this project, so I cut down on the agony part.  I'll have to make one of these for #babyschep, but I'll have to make them much larger for ease of turning. 

 

So what do you think?  I think it turned out super cute!  It was fun watching her pull the letters out of the bag, especially the letter T, which she immediately shoved in her mouth!  So cute! 

 

Until next time, God Bless!



Baby Bubble Bib!

Okay, it's confession time: this is a really, really late Christmas gift.  In my defense, we hadn't seen this particular recipient since football season ended (which for our team is always November!), so I wasn't in any particular rush to get it finished.  (In fact, these first few pics were date stamped for 12/15 on my camera!)


As you can see, I used Simplicity pattern number 2924, which is actually a collection of baby-themed items.  Little Emma here has already received a quilt made by yours truly, so I thought I'd keep it simple with a fun little bib instead.  The pattern calls for vinyl, but I opted to skip that, given the fun twist I had planned. 

I didn't like the idea of it only being 1-ply (does that term apply to fabric, too?), so I cut out two of the bib shape that I meant to layer back to back.

 

Side note:

 

Have you all encountered this type of marking at the end of a bolt before?  I bought this fabric at a big box store at 50% off because it was the end of the bolt.  What I didn't anticipate was this:

 

 

The marking is on the wrong side of the fabric, which would normally be fine, but...

 

It clearly shows through the right side as well!  Well, I was getting a little tired of this particular fabric (you can read about how I ended up with so much of it here), so I wasn't all that upset to have to cut around the marking. 

Confession #2: I am terrible at sewing bias tape.  I even have a bias binder foot on my machine, but when curves get tight, I fail miserably.  So bib #1 went into the garbage.  For this bib, I opted to keep it simple--with right sides together, I sewed a 1/4" seam and left an opening for turning.  I topstitched all around in a matching pink thread.

Now for the fun part:  Chalkboard fabric!  I've used it before, but I can't get enough of it.  What makes it even more fun is how easy it is the mark with....you guessed it...chalk.

I drew a word bubble that would fit on the bib and cut it out with regular scissors.  I used a plain ol' school glue stick to temporarily adhere the bubble to the bib and satin stitched around the edges.  When done, I attached hook and loop tape on the ends. 

Here's my first model:

But I think it looks way cuter on her:

 

This was a super easy make and pretty cute, don't ya think?  Got more stuff coming your way, so stay tuned!  Until next time, God Bless.