Rainbow Quilt

Brandon has been asking me to make him another quilt for well over a year.  I found lots of different quilt ideas and asked Brandon to pick one.  He loved this one.  I LOVE the colors, but I still don't understand the whole puff quilt thing.  He wanted it very similar and loved the fabric colors, so I then started hunting for fabric in June.  Yes, I have been working on this for over 6 months.  The color fabric is all from Riley Blake Designs collection.   I drove to MANY quilt shops before finding some of the fabric in Pella, IA .  Although to be honest, I mostly went for the bakery and didn't actual think I'd find my fabric!  The white fabric I used on the front is from JoAnn's and it is white with white circles on it.  The back of the quilt is plain Kona white fabric.

So, here's what I did.  The color squares were cut at 4.5 inches and the white strips are 1.5 inches wide.  I sewed the white onto the top and bottom of each color square and then came back and sewed 1.5 strips on to each side.  Using a quarter inch seem, the finished size of each block ended up being 6 inches (the color is 4 inches, and the white is an inch all the way around).  

After laying them out and deciding on my pattern, I sewed them together from top to bottom (which is actually left to right in this picture).  Once I had all 11 columns done, I sewed them together making sure to like up seems as best I am able.   To sandwich it together, I used plain cotton batting.

I completely put this  quilt together with my plain old sewing machine.  I machine quilted a line straight across touching a colored square, once where the two white strips lined up, and once again on the top of the next colored square, so between each colored square there are 3 lines straight across (and up and down) on the quilt.  I used a 3 inch double binding and sewed it first to the back of the quilt and then used a zig-zag stitch to bind it on the front.  I ended up having the kiddos write their names on a colored block and I hand stitched them into the quilt.  It isn't the most readable, but it added a nice personal touch. The quilt is roughly 66 by 84 inches.  I love this quilt so much that I wish I would have made it king size for our bed, but Brandon is very thankful that this blanket is just for him.

Wool Dryer Balls

If you don't know, dryer sheets and fabric softener are like the worst thing you can do to your clothes.  Throwing balls in your dryer is a much better alternative without the chemicals.  I've been using tennis balls in my dryer for awhile now (which still has rubber and whatever else they are made out of) and decided that I should upgrade myself to wool dryer balls.  They are natural and will help dry your clothes faster, by moving the clothes around better as well as absorbing some of the moisture out of your clothes and have then be static free.

I wasn't sure what to buy for yarn, so I bought a couple to start and ended up going back for more.  The yarn on the left is 100% wool while the yarn on the right was part wool and part something else (I don't seem to have the package still).  They both worked just fine.  The most important thing you are looking for is yarn that specifically says that it must be hand washed and cannot be machine washed.  Both of these yarns said this.  I also made more balls out of a gray and white yarn which is also the same as the pink one pictures above.

All you have to do is wind the yarn up into tight balls.  When you get it to the size you want, you just use a crochet hook or something else to loop the end underneath other layers of yarn to keep it together.  I made my first ones quite large, so I ended up making these out of 2 more sets of yarn.  I used half a skein of yarn which seems to be a good size.  It's important to have a few balls in the dryer so they work together to move your clothes around and the more wool you have in there, the more it will aid in drying your clothes faster.

Then you put them in an old panty hose, or since I don't have any of those a large sock will do.  Make sure to tie off between the balls so they don't felt together.  On my last set of balls, I simply put 1 in each sock and that worked also, just as long as your ball of yarn is nice and tightly put together.  Now is the fun part.  Wash them.  Over and over again.  Hot wash water, cold rinse water.  I just left mine in the washer all day on laundry day and then put in the dryer with the last load.  My second set, I just washed on a extra hot load and then put them into the dryer and that worked well for them.


Here they are, the finished product. They will continue to felt more and more as they are in the dryer.  The most important thing is to just make sure that they are felting together and are hard to peel apart before you start using them.  I'm very happy with how they turned out and that I can now my tennis balls can officially become kids toys! 

 

I'm adding this comment a month after the post.  I like the grey and white balls the most with how they have continued to felt and look, but that is really just a personal preference.  Also, It seems that the larger the ball, the better.  The little grey ones more often than not get stuck inside the sleeve of a shirt or somewhere.  I'm always taking them back to the dryer.  Whereas, the pink and white ones normally reside in the dryer.  If I ever make more, I would make 1 ball out of 1 skein of yarn.  I have found that my clothes have more static with these than with the tennis balls I was using, but my clothes are certainly getting dryer faster with the wool balls.  The dryer is always done 10 or more minutes before the washer.  I'm going to stick with the wool balls over the tennis balls! 

Superhero Capes

This month, I made superhero capes for family photos!  I made 3 for my boys, and 2 for my niece and nephew (for Christmas).  My mom was here to help me out, but I did all of the actual sewing.  We mostly followed this tutorial using broadcloth for the outside, and matching superhero flannel on the inside.  We did modify the length's of the capes for the different children.  For my oldest two (4.5 and 6), I made them as long as I could and used almost the whole yard of material.  For the other three, I had to make them smaller (2/3 of a yard would probably be plenty of fabric for theirs.)

I also wasn't a fan of ties for capes (as it isn't the safest and let's face it, I'm too lazy to tie them every time they want to put them on) and Velcro (it gets dirty or strings in it and then it just isn't the nicest anymore...perhaps I'm too picky...)  Anyway, while looking at my options at the fabric store, I stumbled across some magnetic closures.  They are quite stronger than I need, but the boys are perfectly 'cape'able to put them on anytime they desire and no one will be strangled while playing with them!  Yea!

So here is one side of my neck part.  I cut two small slits for the clasps to go through.  I used some liquid nails glue, (aren't I crafty) and put it around the wholes to make sure it won't fray and to also give the fabric a little extra strength.

 

Then I added an extra piece of flannel to give it just a little more strength. (Did I mention that these are some strong magnets??)  The metal was also a tad sharp, so I thought this would help make these capes last forever.  Once they were sewed and turned inside out, you can't tell that the flannel is even in there.

Oh...and to add the jagged edges on the bottom of Batman's cape, I started with the cape folded in half.  Then, I cut out a triangle template.  I started at center, and just cut the jags in all the way to the edge.  It seemed a lot easier to do that then all of the measuring and marking that the instructions did.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

I also used HTV for the logos on the back along with my heat press.  It was SO much easier than trying to cut it out in fabric and sew it on! 

I think the pictures turned out great!  I am so happy that I made these and didn't pawn these off to Grandma to make!  Thanks to It Happened On Mulberry Street Photography for the wonderful photos!  Click the link if you want to see more of my boys!

First Birthday Shirts

 This month Erin and Gail took a request from a friend to make 1st birthday party shirts for her son.  The cute sock monkey on the brown shirt was a full iron-on purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The white shirt we designed with the silhouette to match the invites and used heat transfer in red, brown, cream, and black to cut out and heat press.  We learned a few new tricks in creating the shirts so that's always helpful!

Quilted Place Mats

 
I quilted these place mats using a disappearing 9 patch that has been window paned.  I followed this video.  By all means, they are not perfect, but I'm really happy that I learned a lot about my sewing machine as I completely made this by machine; I even machine quilted them.

They were VERY easy to make since most of the squares came straight from this charm pack.  FYI - a charm pack is precut squares of fabric.  I did have to add a few squares of a different fabric and the  black to make these this size and to have 5 of them for our family.  I didn't take a picture of the back, but I used a mostly black fabric with dancing skeletons for the baking.  Now, I am looking for an awesome Christmas themed charm pack!

Baby Onesies

Here are some baby onesies I made up for a baby shower and a couple to have on hand.  I think these turned out great.  Once again, I vut out heat transfer vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo and pressed it with my heat press.  The tie dyed oneses are from the batch I made earlier this month.

Back To School

 
Parker has a Spiderman backpack and Aiden has a StarWars backpack, so I put their names on their backpack using Heat Transfer Vinyl.  It looks great.  The only problem I encountered was that it did melt the internal padding, but I'm not worried about that with these backpacks.

Aiden also needed his name put on his rest time towel.  Since he has an Angry Birds towel, we downloaded an Angry Birds font.  He picked the bright blue glitter HTV.  I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but it was great.  Now I'm going to add the other boys names to their beach towels!

Tie Dye Shirts

 
 After dyeing stuff last month, I wanted to have some fun and tie done clothes with the boys.  I did some research on what dye is the best to use and found this kit.  I followed the instructions in the kit.  You are suppose to let them sit for 12-24 hours to make sure the dye adheres correctly.  I was impatient and only wanted 5.  We'll see how long they hold up, but as you can see, they turned out great.  Nice bright colors and nice crisp white.  I think we'll be dyeing more things in the future!

Bread Basket

A friend of ours just moved into a new house, and we will be going to visit them the first weekend in August and I thought I should make them a nice housewarming present.

I didn't have colored reed that I wanted, so I dyed the reed (and a bunch of t-shirts).  For the dyeing, I filled a stock pot about 2/3rds full or water, then added 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of salt, and 1 package of RIT navy dye.  I brought it up to a simmer and started putting stuff in to dye.  It only took about 5 minutes to get a nice rich color into the reed.

Then, I weaved this bread basket.  I let it dry and then I stained it using Early American Minwax stain.  I am so thrilled with how this turned out that I want to make another one to keep....perhaps another month!  I cannot wait to give this to my friends!

Falcons Apron

My friend, Lisa, made these aprons for her husband and son.  She wanted to add a little something to them, so I added the large falcons using Heat Transfer Vinyl.  I already had the design in my Silhouette library, so I just cut each layer out and used my heat press to stick it down.  I have a feeling that this father/son duo will be grilling outside together every Sunday this fall!

Preschool Handprint Quilt

Parker's preschool teach went on maternity leave and had to return for this last week of school.  All of the kids in Parker's class made hand print animals on 9" quilt blocks for me and then I sewed them together and made a baby quilt to give to her.  I gave it to her today on the last day so that the kids could see what all of their hand prints turned into.  Ms. Rachel and all the kids were very excited to see it.  It turned out a LOT cuter than I even imagined!

For anyone interested, I had 9 inch white blocks with 2 inch strips between.  I used a 3/8th inch seam (simply because I didn't realize my machine was set up on 3/8th instead of a 1/4th when I started..oops..)  I hand quilted it together "in the ditch" and followed with a 2.5" double binding.  This all sounds fancy, but it's not...I swear...it just takes time.

Split Letter

I used my Silhouette and designed this split letter for a paying customer!  The R is in Anabel font.  It's a pain to use as the cut lines aren't quite right always, but I am getting better at using the software that I've found some ways to adjust cut lines as needed.  I used Oracal 631 vinyl as it is sandwiched in between 2 panes of glass and isn't meant to be used outside

Crochet Washcloths and Cat Toy

 
I had some extra yarn after some of the baby blankets I have made, so I decided to use the last little bit of yarn up to make some nice washcloths and gave them to the babies for bath time.  They were quick to do and fun because I was able to play around with some different stitches to just see how they look in a finished project.


Brandon's Grandma use to make some pot scrubbers out of cotton yarn, so I also made a few of those.  She made them 1 layer and crocheted in the round.  I decided to make this one a multilayer one to see if it helped clean dishes better.  I haven't found out since the boys love to have this in the bathtub to scrub themselves clean!

This was suppose to be a second layer on one of my scrubbers, but instead the cats have decided that it is a fun little toy for them to bat around.  I might need to make more and lace them with some catnip!

Pink and Brown Baby Blanket

I made this blanket for a good friend of ours and their new baby girl.  I used the same pattern as the purple and pink one.  The yarn had a different type of variegation and makes the blanket look a lot different.

I think she likes it!

Vinyled Container

 
I had some cookies to drop off at school for the PTO lunch, but when I got to school I realized that my name was NO WHERE on my container and of course I didn't have a Sharpie in the van.  I ran home and decided I could do better than a Sharpie, so I pulled out my Silhouette and my huge PILE of vinyl and cut out a WHOLE bunch of different sized circles and my saying and stuck it on.  Of course, it took longer than expected with a toddler at my feet, or climbing on the table, or whatever else he thought he should be getting away with while I tried to get this done.  It turned out GREAT!  I want to vinyl everything!

Valentine's Day Superhero Suckers

 

I made these cute superhero suckers for Aiden and Parker to take to school for their Valentine's.  I found the idea here.  I took the files she used and turned them into a jpeg to bring into my Silhouette software.  I added all of the circles to cut out using my machine since I do not have a 2" circle punch.  I also added the small holes on the Valentine's sayings circles so I wouldn't have to hole punch them later.  I used the print and cut feature of my machine to cut these out.

For the capes, I cut rectangles, that were about 2.5 x 4 inches, our of stiff felt (Less than a dollar a sheet at Joann's.)  I then folded the rectangles in half and cut a small triangle out of one corner to make them have a little more 'cape' shape.  While I was at it, I also cut a little slit about a quarter of an inch down for where the sucker goes through the cape.

Assembly - I hot glued the superhero logo on the back side of the capes, and the to/from heart on the other side.  I put a sucker through.  I then tied plain present ribbon around the stem of the cape.  It wasn't needed to hold the cape on, but it kind-of looks like the strings that would be used to tie a cape on and it made them look a little better.  Then I added the Valentine's Day sayings.


They turned out great and my superhero boys are thrilled to be taking these to school!  Added bonus is that tootsie pops appear to be a very allergy friendly sucker.  Everyone in there classes will be able to have these treats!

Pink and Purple Crocheted Baby Blanket

 
I crocheted this baby blanket for my niece, Leah, who was born on February 3rd.  I started this blanket in November, so it has taken me awhile to find the time to crochet it.  It's a very simple pattern using only 2 main stitches, a double crochet and a front post double crochet.  Alternating every other, gives this blanket a waffle texture and depth,  I tried to take a close up of the blanket so you could see the texture, and it also is a better representation of the colors of this blanket.  The edging on the blanket is 4 rows of single crochet followed by a row of crab stitching.  The blanket unstretched, measures about 48 inches x 28 inches.

T-Shirts

 
First, I made these two for my nephew, Holden, and his little sister Leah.  I hear she is a little diva already, at 3 days old, so I was super excited that I used some pink glitter HTV!  The crown and the tiara are shapes from the silhouette store, but I designed the text and how it is curved or placed on the shirt.

Also, I ran across this shirt on facebook and couldn't resist making it for Gail for her birthday.  I traced the biohazard symbol, but put the rest together myself.  Hope you had a great birthday, Gail!

Winter Decorations

 
Since I need to start putting away my Christmas decorations, I decided that I needed to use some of my excess vinyl to make some winter decorations.  I found different snowflakes that I liked and the phrase online and just used my silhouette software to trace them.  I re-sized everything to get a variety of snowflakes and to get the words just the right size for my glass door.  I used almost a full 12x12 sheet of blue vinyl and a sheet of 8x10 blue frosted glass vinyl.  I tried to get pictures taken in both daylight and night light for you to really see what it looks like, but pictures just do not do it justice.  It turned out really well, and now I think I need to do this every month, and boy, do I have the vinyl stash to do this!

Christmas Ornaments

 
I bought clear glass ornaments at Hobby Lobby.  I squirted floor cleaner inside the ornament and then dumped out the excess.  Then, I put a bunch of extra fine glitter inside the ornament and shook it up.  The floor cleaner causes the glitter to stick to the inside of the glass ball.  Once that was completed, I used my silhouette to cut out the vinyl and I stuck in on the ornament.  I had plans to make a whole bunch of these this year, but somehow I only got this one vinyled.  Perhaps next year, I can make one for each of the boys.