Baby Boy--Tie Onesie

    I have been working on a gift basket for my friend who is having a baby shower tomorrow.  She is having a boy. I think that baby girl things are so much easier than baby boy things.  No pink, no ruffles, no bows....what to do?!?!   I have seen cute tie onesies for boys lately so I decided to give one a try.  I ironed wonder-under on the fabric I was using and then just hand drew my tie onto the back of the wonder-under before cutting it out.  I made 2 parts, one is the "knot" and the other the tie hanging down.  After you have the tie cut out you just peel the backing off the wonder-under and iron the tie on to the onesie--so easy!  I then sewed around the edge of the tie to keep it stuck to the onesie.

    I have heard good things about the wonder-under, but I have to say I wasn't impressed.  I found it hard to get the backing off and then I had trouble getting it to stick when I ironed it.  The project turned out fine, I just wasn't impressed with the stuff.  Maybe I did something wrong??

   I can't wait to give this to the mom-to-be!

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With Love to Mom--Part 2--Table Runner

I promised a picture of the table runner I made my mom.  Click here to see Part 1 where I shared the place mats and history of the fabric/project.
Here is a picture of one of the quilt squares I used for this project.

And the finished table runner...(My table is shorter than my mom's so it will look a little better).

And one last picture of the table runner and place mats. (yikes, someone should really use the iron on projects before taking pictures!)

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A student wrote this last week in her journal while I was subbing.  I will just ignore the fact that she wrote basically the same things about her friend the day before. ;)

Can you see that I am totally rocking the purple braids in that picture?!?!

Something Special Sunday--pin cushion

I love this little pin cushion one of my sister-in-laws made for me.  She gave it to me a few years ago for Christmas, but it was sitting begging me to take its picture the other day while I was sewing.  I love well thought out gifts and I use this one all the time.

With Love to Mom--place mats

Here is a little sneak peak to part of my mom's birthday gift.  I haven't mailed the gift yet so hopefully she doesn't come on here, but she knows I can't keep a secret so she will understand. :)
When I was in college I decided I was going to make a quilt.  I bought all the cloth and slowly started cutting squares.  Well, 6 years later, my fabric container had 3 finished squares and a bunch of uncut fabric from that quilt.  I decided that I was never going to finish the quilt and tried to think about how I could use the fabric.   The colors of the fabric are a perfect match to my mom's dining room and style so I decided to make her a table runner using the finished squares and extra cloth. Then I made 4 place mats to match the runner.

Today I am only sharing the place mats. I am hoping to have a post with the whole set in a few days.  It is just so hard to photograph!

These are very simple to make.
1. Cut 2 pieces 20" x 14.5"  (I used 2 different colors, but you don't have to)
2. Cut piece of batting also 20" x 14.5"
3. Pin the layers--batting on the bottom, fabric #1 facing right side up, and fabric #2 facing right side down.
4. Sew with 3/8" seam.  Be sure to leave a few inches not sewn so you can turn the fabric right side out.
5. Turn the place mats right side out.
6.  Iron
7.  Topstitch around at about 1/8" (this closes the few inches you left open before).
8.  I also topstitched a second line about an inch in.

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No pattern brown shirt

A few weeks ago I tried out making my own shirt (not upcycling) from knit fabric.  I didn't take pictures along the way, because I was experimenting and ended up doing a bunch of seam ripping along the way.   I didn't use a pattern, I just took a shirt that fits me well and laid it on the fabric and used it as a pattern.   Most of the shirt went smoothly, but the neck was supposed to be gathered and that caused a little bit of trouble.  I think I ripped the seams out of the neckline 2 times if not 3.   But now I am very happy with it and proud of myself for sticking with it!

This picture makes the shirt look pretty plain, but I really like how it turned out.

Trying to get a shot of the little bit of gathering (it has separate gathering at the front, on both sleeves, and the back)

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