'Make Life' Hair Pillow

Once upon a time, I ordered my very first fabric jelly roll.  Make Life.  I loved it and had this vague plan of what I wanted to do with it to make something really nifty for my mom.  I started sewing things together (thank goodness, not cutting anything!) and very quickly realized that I wasn't feeling the project.  It was just kind of wrong.  So I put it aside.

Then my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and my mom and I discussed using the multi-color text fabric to make her something really awesome for her healing room.  It turned out that the colors she used in there worked perfectly to make something really pretty...but by then no one had any more of that fabric (who was willing to give it up without me signing over my firstborn), so I tried to figure out what else I could do.

When my sister started losing her hair and decided to shave her head, someone said something about a hair pillow.  I was given a little baggie with a handful of my sister's gorgeous auburn hair in it.  When it came time for clean-up, I bagged the rest as well.

Eventually, the Make Life hair pillow was born.

Front:


Back:

Quilting:


Finished!





Two issues with the finished project:

1 - I made it a little too large.  With the way the hair compressed, the finished pillow is plesantly squashy, but a little thin.

2 - The hair pokes out of the pillow!  I'd hoped that the quilting would prevent that, and it does to some extent, but I probably should have put another layer of fabric inside as another barrier.

Prickly or not, I'm thrilled that she really likes it. :)

Skirt in Action

So it turns out that my niece likes the skirt I made for her birthday.  (Yay!)

She was wearing it when we went over the other day and I tried to get a picture...but three year olds rarely stand still...

Felt Eggs and a Sort-Of Tutorial

I've been in love with play food for awhile.  We started collecting it when Bug was about eight months old.  (We got an awesome crocheted set of fruit and veggies from my friend Crystal at Loin Cloth.  I highly recommend asking her for a set.)  When Bug got his play kitchen for Christmas last year, we added a fairly good selection of wooden food.  We've never managed any felt food, though I've been eyeballing it for awhile.  It's just so cool looking!

After having read a million and four tutorials on making felt (not felted...still out of my league) play food, I decided to take the plunge and try to whip some up in time for Christmas.  I'll split what I make between Bug and his best friend back in Texas, who's been really into his kitchen and store set-up.

Here's my take on eggs.  And I aplogize if I'm essentially repeating someone else's tutorial.  I've read a lot of them and absorbed a lot of tips from different places but ended up winging it.  Not trying to steal from anyone. :)

I started with two sheets of off-white and one of yellow-orange poly felt.  I would have preferred wool, but it was outside of my budget.

On one sheet of off-white felt, I drew egg-y shapes.  I managed five, though with better planning I think I could have gotten six to fit.  Sorry, no photo of that step.

I found a round lid that was a good size for the egg-y shapes, and cut circles out of the yellow felt.  Pinned them in place on top of the single sheet of off-white.



Because I thought it would look nice, I used a zig-zag to stitch the yolks in place.



When the yolk pieces were almost sewn into place, I paused and stuffed just a tiny bit of stuffing beneath.  I was thrilled to discover bamboo fill but, again, the poly stuff was in my price range.  Wool roving or small fabric scraps would also work.  Or you could just leave them flat.  That looked nice too, but I wanted them a little puffy.



Once all the yolks were sewn into place, I pinned the second off-white sheet of felt to the back (to add a bit of thickness and make them a tiny bit more stiff) and stitched just inside the lines I'd drawn. When all of the eggs had been sewn together, I cut between the stitching and the drawn lines and...voila!  Eggs!

Finished: Set of Pajama Pants

I actually should have posted this one a few days ago.

A friend of mine contacted me awhile back and asked about getting some pajama pants made for her family for Christmas.  Three matching sets - for herself, her husband and their two year old son.  We talked about it a little bit, it got put on the back burner for awhile, then was revived and turned into a real project.

She picked the most awesome fabric and Joanne's had it for next to nothing...until I went to the store the following morning and discovered that the sale had ended the previous evening.  The fabric was going to cost four times as much as we'd expected.  It took a week to hunt down the fabric in the proper amount for three pair of pants and, after talking to the store manager, another two or three days before we were able to get it at a reasonable price.  (Lesson learned?  It doesn't hurt to ask!)

I only managed a decent(ish) picture of little E's pants - and even that one was taken at around midnight so the lighting is terrible.  I loved how the pants turned out though (and I LOVE her fabric choice!).  She received them quickly and seemed very, very happy with them.  (Yay!)  I can't wait to hear how they work out.

A Gift for Grandma

So that charm pack that I received with my mug rug?  It's already been chopped up and rearranged and sent to Texas as a Christmas gift for my grandmother.  Initially, I thought that a set of placemats and coasters would be a great idea...but I was limited to the charm pack and some Kona red.  I considered a couple of hot pads and coasters, but that seemed...small?  So I decided on the table runner.

I tried a disappearing nine-patch for the table runner - three sets with the blocks rearranged more or less at random.  There was a pattern, but I certainly couldn't explain it verbally. 



Close-up of part of the front.  Pretty prints. :)



I quilted around specific blocks, which is easier to see from the back.



Twelve squares were turned into a set of coasters.



I LOVE the way this turned out and have been eyeballing charm squares to make another...

Mug Rug Received

A few days ago, I received an awesome little package from Hope (GoingSewCrazy) from the scrappy mug rug swap.  It was amazing!  The mug rug is super duper cute, and she included some amazing goodies.



The mug is super cute - Richard said we need to find three more to make a set - and the fabric!  Bug was so excited to see it in the box that he snatched it out of my hand and kept asking "Is it fabic?  Is it mine?  Can I have it?"  He ripped the wrapper off before I could get a picture of the charm pack all together.  It's Moda's "12 Days of Christmas".  I don't usually go for holiday themed fabric, but these were awesome all together.

Here's a picture of just the mug rug.  Check out the cute cloud quilting. :)


(And now I can say that my little robot mug rug went to Kendra.  You might recognize the name from a June bee block post.  I thought it was super cool that, from a pool of something like 120 people, I was paired with someone that I "know".)

An Awesome Gift

The ladies from the Live Laugh Bee completely surprised me this past week.  They made a quilt for Boo!



It was such a sweet gift, and such a surprise.  Knocked my socks off.  And made me cry.



Love that polka dot binding!

We ALL love the quilt, and it's getting plenty of use.  Boo has napped on it.  Bug has slept under it and periodically steals it.  I curl up on the couch with it.  (Well, with it over my legs, anyway.)  My sister even got to use it at her most recent chemo treatment.

This quilt is loved.

More Goodies

I got more good mail today. :)

In addition to some fun fabrics for bee blocks, I received...another block from the 3x6 Bee!  (I'm amazed that half of my group is sending things out at the halfway point.  Boy, do I feel like a slacker!)

This pretty came from Jennifer:



I was way too impatient to press it before taking a picture.

And look at this!  A bib for Boo!  It arrived at the same time as my sister's cancer diagnosis so I was a little distracted and didn't blog about it then.  Bad of me, because I really love it.  It's so cute!



I espcially love the squirrel fabric.



This was a surprise gift from Christine, who is also involved in the Sew Bee Wonky bee.  And, today, after I mentioned how much I liked the squirrel fabric, I received a second package from her - with the fabric scraps that she had left!  She even told me what it was ("Squirrels Treasure Map", from Timeless Treasures "Frolic" line) and where she bought it, so I can get more.  How awesome is that?

Good Mail, Bee Blocks and a Completed WIP!

Lookie what came in the mail yesterday!



It's "los novios" from Alexander Henry and I wasn't expecting it at all.  I *might* have squealed when I opened the envelope.  It came from one of my partners in the Sew, Mama, Sew! fat quarter swap.  I am absolutely in love with this fabric.  It's so bright and wonderful and just a little bit crazy and something that I've admired from afar but would probably never actually buy for myself.

Now to decide exactly what to do with it...

I also managed, despite having had a really busy day with Richard and Bug, getting my June block finished for the Quilt Block Swap.  Or "blocks", rather.  My partner requested a log cabin in batiks.



I liked the way the first block turned out (and Richard said it might be his favorite yet - wow), but I wasn't convinced that it looked terribly log cabin-ish.  So I put together a second block.



I hope that one of them will suit her needs!

Then, I actually finished the secret, wonky green log cabin project!  Yay!  I'm terribly excited about it, but don't want to show pictures and give up the surprise just yet.

Perhaps just a sneak peek...



There are also two outings that I want to blog about, but I think they deserve their own posts.  And no way is Bug going to let me get into that tonight.

And Christmas Begins...

You read that right...I said Christmas.  Please don't get disgusted and run away just yet!  I know how it sounds.  Really, I do.  I haaaaaaate when Christmas pops up in June.  (Seriously, I refuse to go into Hobby Lobby unless I absolutely have to now because, a few years back, I went in on June 6 and they had their *entire* Christmas section already set up.  It was heinous.)

But, I'm having a baby soon.  And I have a two year old.  And if I want to continue with the trend of keeping Christmas gifts about something other than cheap, crappy gifts that were bought in the spirit of consumerism (which isn't what Christmas is about at our house!), then I really kind of need to get started on it now.  Or, at least I need to start THINKING about it now.

So, I thought about it.  And I formed an idea that was starting to keep me up nights, so I figured I needed to act on it before either the idea disappeared or I turned into a zombie.  Either outcome being likely, of course.

In my head, I've termed it the Four Cousins project...because I basically plan to duplicate the idea for both of my kids and both of my sister's kids.  Easy-peasy, I think they'll like it, and goodness knows that similar-but-personalized gifts are good for siblings.

I browsed fabric (and spent litarally HOURS over at the Fat Quarter Shop) for two days before making up my mind.

For my newphew, I fell in love with Beep Bots.  For my niece, I really liked some of the On A Whim 2 fabrics.  For Bug, Robert Kaufman's Playday.  And Boo gets the Summer colorway of Moda's Love U line.

Now, what is all of this fabric going to become?  I'm afraid I'm not ready to spill the beans on that just yet.  But I'll post some sneak peeks after the fabric arrives. ;)

Quick Little Project

My house looks like it's exploded.  Seriously.  My cousin moved in yesterday and, things being what they have been around here lately, we weren't able to get the room completely cleared out until...yesterday.  Which means that everything is more or less hanging out in the living room tripping everybody up.  It's a little stressful.

I know it's temporary.  Most of it's sitting in the living room and lined up in the entryway because it's stuff that needs to go to the studio.  Very little of the stuff in that room needs to be rehomed elsewhere in the house.

It's still stressful.

So tonight, after an entirely-too-early start to the day, and dragging the toddler and my big, pregnant belly out in 100 degree heat, I came home and really needed to just do something that I *wanted* to do.  Recharge my batteries, if you will.

So I baked banana bread, with Bug's help.  I love making banana bread and this was the first time that Bug's been able to help.  It was a bit messy, but satisfying.  And, when Richard got home, the guys went for a walk - Bug on his very first bike ride!  So, I took the opportunity to sew.




They don't look like much right now, I know.  They're untrimmed and crazy looking.  But I think I love them.  And I think the finished project is going to work out really well.  And I think the person that I made them for will love them, too, which makes me happy.

Unfortunately, because she reads the blog from time to time and I'd like this to be a surprise, I don't dare explain any further.

But I think that my emotional batteries are feeling a bit more full, now. :)