Pixel Quilt

 My son needed a new quilt for his twin bed.  His birthday was coming up, so I gave myself a deadline and got to work.  I let him choose a quilt design from my Pinterest page, that way he had some say in the design and I got to make something that I liked.  He finally decided on THIS quilt because it reminded him of pixels, like in a video or computer game.  That's my boy.

There was a lot of cutting and fiddling with placement, but after that, it all came together really quick.  It's basically a patchwork, just with more purpose in placement of the squares.

Trying to decide on design.  I made myself a little "key" out of graph paper squares, you can see it just a little bit in the top left corner.

Sorry for the funky pictures, they were cell phone pictures I played around with to post on Instagram.  Next time, I'll make sure and get some normal camera shots too.

 Ahh....that's better.

 Quilt top done.

 I cut 5 and a 1/2 inch squares, after sewing with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, each square measured 5 inches even.

 

Pieced together a backing and started quilting with a rainbow quilt thread.  I still haven't tried free motion quilting, I'm completely intimidated by it.  Maybe I should take a class or something.

 My nine year old on a step stool isn't quite tall enough or has enough wing span to show a twin quilt properly....yet.  Maybe this time next year.

The quilt is 60 x 90 inches and fits his bed perfectly.

 He loves his quilt and brings it out in the living room to snuggle in during morning cartoons.

 

Pieced backing.  Some leftover pixels and a cool maze-like grey fabric.

My son actually got a bit frustrated with me for dragging his quilt outside and getting it dirty on the deck.  I threw it in the wash as soon as I finished taking photos though and all was well again in our home.

My son picked out the binding himself.  I probably wouldn't have chosen it since the greens don't match, but he loves it and when it's all put together, I think it works.

 I think I'll wait a bit before tackling a twin size quilt again.  They are hard to work with because they are large!  This was a lot of fun though and it was worth every ounce of trouble because the recipient is so happy with the finished result.


 

Dino Baby Gift

Possible baby gift to expectant mothers in our Relief Society.

Pattern and instructions can be found HERE

The ribbon details are my favorite.

 

 This button blends in too much and we are concerned about them eventually popping off and kids getting them in their mouths.  We will probably heat transfer vinyl the eye on or do a little hand embroidery.

I love how cute this dino turned out and it took less than an hour to make, that's my kind of project.

Fleece Blanets with Binding

I didn't do a lot of handmade Christmas gifts this year, but I did manage to squeeze in these great blankets.  The baseball one is for my new nephew and the blue one is for Austin's autism preschool teacher.  She is always talking about how each child with autism is a lock and if you can find the right "key" they will begin to open up and be able to live more fully in the world around them.  I saw this key fleece fabric and knew it would be perfect for her.

I saw this tutorial HERE and was blown away by such a simple and great idea.  Just take a piece of double printed fleece and sew a fabric binding around the edge!  I rounded the corners and used fabric that I cut on the bias so it was stretchy.  My strips were 3 and 3/4 inches I believe.  Reminder to self:  next time 3.5 inch strips would probably be perfect.  Rounding the corners and making my bias tape probably took about an hour.  Sewing the binding on one side and hand stitching the other side probably took around 4.5 hours.  I love to hand stitch the binding on the back because it gives me an excuse to sit down and watch a movie or two.  They are really fun to make and much faster than a full pieced quilt, give it a try!

Sisters Baby Shower

My sister in law is due with her first at the end of this year.  Her sister is due soon as well and their mom decided to throw them a double Sisters Shower.  I can't make it to the shower due to hundreds of miles of Nevada desert between me and the party, but I got to do the next best thing...make decorations and invites for it!

Paper Ball chains from MADE.  So easy to make if you have a circle punch and can sew a straight-ish line.  I only "fluffed" the first few balls on the chain so they wouldn't get crushed in the mail.  

Welcome sign for the front door.  We don't know the gender of one of the babies yet, so we are going with polka dots in neutral colors.

Food labels.  I wrote out what I knew would be served (brunch, yum!), but sent a bunch of blank ones as well, just in case there were menu changes or additions.

Banner for the fireplace.  I didn't string it together for mailing purposes again.  It was fun to coordinate everything with the same polka dot theme.

 The invitations.  The girls' mom came up with the little saying at the beginning and I took care of the rest.  I've had the digital scrapbook paper and embellishment on my computer for while now, sorry I don't know the source.  I'm sure it was free though, I don't normally pay for digital scrapbook stuff.

 

 We also included a little insert with the invitation explaining group gift options and registry information.  I hope you have a wonderful shower Tiffany and Katie!  Wish I could be there!

Little Irish Girl Quilt

One of my son's autism tutors recently had her first baby, a girl!  Knowing that the mom loved her Irish heritage (her wedding colors were even orange, green, and white), we decided a little tribute to Ireland for the baby was in order.

I do realize if this was a flag it would be upside down.  I already gave her the quilt before I realized my mistake and couldn't retake the pictures.  Luckily, this is just a loose interpretation and can just pretend it's a color block quilt instead, right?

Backing was a simple yellow floral print.  We didn't know the gender at the time I was making the quilt, otherwise we may have thrown in a bit of pink here.

There is the correct way for the flag!  I quilted a lot of small width straight lines with a couple of wider strips down each color, for some visual and textural interest.

I'm not going to lie, it took a while to sew all of those lines, but it was a worth it in the end.  The quilt washed up beautifully and is super soft.

Congrats to the Nelson family!  Can't wait to see more pictures of their little Irish girl!

Elephant Chevron Quilt

My dear friend, Stefanie, is expecting a baby any day now...we are so excited to meet their newest addition and I have a had a lot of fun scheming and dreaming up a beautiful nursery with her.  We were inspired by THIS and THIS, going with an elephant theme in grays, white, and yellows.  We don't know the gender of the baby, so we will finish the rest of the nursery with some teal or pink...I'll take pictures once the baby is here and we have finished decorating.

This quilt was so fun to make.  We found some gorgeous gray fabric that kind of looks like elephant skin, paired it with a monochromatic dot white and a pop of yellow along the edge.  I loved learning how to do rounded corners for the first time and made my own bias tape using THIS tutorial from MADE.  Love her blog.

Used a black, gray, and white toned thread and followed the chevron lines.  Sorry for the date stamp on all of these pictures, it's a new camera and I'm still learning the ropes.

The back is a solid piece of smaller scale gray and white chevron.

A little heat transfer vinyl in the corner so this baby knows which "auntie" loves him/her the best.

Outtakes.  Trying to get some pictures of the quilt with two of my boys holding it up.  My five year old, who has autism, wanted in on the action.

He actually confiscated the quilt for a while and snuggled in.  Hey, if he hunkers down for a good cuddle, then you know did a good job.  He is a bit of a blanket snob.

Packaged up and driving it over to the new nursery.  This quilt was so much fun to make....no more twin size or larger for me!  Baby quilts are the way to go, they are so much easier to handle due to their smaller size and you get to see the fruits of your labor so much faster.  Can't wait to make another one.  Congrats to Stef and family...we are waiting for the call from the hospital and the cell phone picture announcement!

Strike Two: iPad Case

iPad case #2 for my mom.  She loved the fabric and the idea, her only request was a "c" next to her first initial.  I can do that, easy.

NOT easy.  I will be writing down my instructions or taking pictures IF I ever make one of these again.  You think it would be straight forward.  It's not a wedding dress for goodness sake.  Maybe I was really tired, maybe I have some spatial reasoning issues, maybe I'm just not that good of a seamstress.  Probably all of the the above.  This thing was picked apart three times and finally as I am sewing on the velcro, my needle snaps in three pieces, one of which flies at my face and hits my eyeglasses (good thing I was wearing them and not my contacts).  I believe I stood up at that point and said out loud to myself, "That's it!  I'm done!"

The kicker...it still doesn't fit.  I am not making another until I have her iPad in front of me.  The dimensions I am getting off the internet must not be accurate...or I just don't know how to measure.  I'm banking on the latter.

iPad Case for My Mama

I made this iPad case for my mom for Mother's Day.  She is going to England with her sisters and mom (yes, completely jealous) and thought she may want a case with some padding for her iPad.  It has interfacing and a couple of layers of quilt batting.  Now, she can put it in her carry-on or purse and not have worry about it being scratched or bumped.

A little heat transfer monogram, in one of her favorite fonts (Zephyr).

A burst of stripey color inside.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fit the iPad.  I made it to fit the dimensions of an iPad 2 and she has the original, which is slightly wider and thicker.  I wanted it to be snug, but it's a bit too much.  Back to the drawing board.  Luckily, it didn't take very long to make and now she can pick out the color/fabric since she already knows the gift.  I was doubting my dimensions, so I mailed it to her early to test it out.  Good thing I did, her trip is right after Mother's Day, so now I can get another one shipped off before she heads overseas.

Happy Mother's Day!...I'll be mailing you another soon.

Purses for Christmas

That's right, I made these adorable purses for Christmas.  Or I guess, technically they are "totes", but you know what I mean.  Used the free pattern HERE at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar.  Great blog and really great step by step instructions.

This one went to my sister in law.

Inside shot with a double pocket.

Made two of this style: one to my mom, the other to my mother in law.

Detail.  I gots to get me some more of this fabric.  And thanks to my lovely gift certificate that I received for Christmas this year....I think I will do just that.

Inside detail with one large pocket.  Need some more of this yellow too.  Love it.

This one to a dear friend.

 

And I made one more for my son's autism preschool teacher.  It was purple and gray, with this same yellow fabric on the inside...and I forgot to take a picture!  I guess I'll just have to make another one so I can show you.  These were really fun to make.  I think I may be slightly addicted.  Oh, and if you invite me to a party or shower in the near future...this will probably be your present, just warning you.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  A couple more small projects from Christmas to show you, coming up.