Paper Dolls Quiet Book Page

The paper doll page was also in Grace's quiet book. I love this paper doll fabric and it is my older girls' favorite page. I actually made these pages first and when I went to assemble the book I realized that some of the clothing was missing. They just would not leave it alone!

You can read more about how I made this page HERE.

It is inspired by THIS tutorial, but I find it easier to make a dresser pocket instead of an armoire. The girls had fun picking out these cute vintage buttons from the bag of vintage sewing goodies our friend Eddie gave me a few years ago. I have awesome friends.

OK, so maybe I like dressing up these dolls, too. Nerd alert!

Yes, this quiet book page has been done before, but it doesn't get old for me. I promise the next one is totally original and I think it is gonna' knock your socks off! Stay tuned...

 Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

 

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

Pie and Ice Cream Quiet Book Pages

Let's start things off with a little bit of a food theme here, shall we? Yummm...

I made a pie page like this for Grace's quiet book and the "pie filling" is actually leftover fabric from an apron that I made for Naomi a few years ago. So, I had to make another one. It is super easy.

I thought the pink gingham was a little bit "tableclothy."

Whoops! I sewed the page on upside down. Oh well, it will still work just fine.

The ice cream page was actually the very last page I made for the book and was very last minute. Shocking, I know. I could NOT figure out what to make. My sister, Loni, talked me out of doing something with organic molecule building (my other sister and I are both chem majors.) Eventually I decided on ice cream, which is also appropriate since both of my sisters were Dairy Princesses and Naomi's parents have a dairy farm.

Plus, we love ice cream!

The ice cream carton is just a pocket that is stitched onto the background. Then, I made a white rectangle and stitched the top edge above the pocket to create a lid.

I made an ice cream cone out of a tea-dyed muslin scrap and stitched diagonal, crossing lines on it. There is a layer of tan felt behind there for some added thickness. I stitched a strip of white velcro- the fuzzy side to the background fabric and stitched the cone below that, just overlapping the bottom edge of the velcro a little.

For the ice cream scoops, I stitched some velcro squares to white felt, then used heat'n'bond to fuse scraps onto the other side of the felt. I stitched around the edge of the ice cream scoop template I drew and then trimmed 1/8" away from the edge the whole way around.

For a last-minute thing it turned out pretty well!

 Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

Getting Ready for Fall

This summer is really flying by! There has been a lot going on around here.  I have been working on a lot of new things for my etsy shop. I plan on expanding things quite a bit this fall. I am working on some fall decor items...

I finally got some of my bird art pieces listed:

I haven't been sewing much this week since I finished Naomi's quiet book, but I did whip up a crocheted baby hat the other night. I really love these colors together! I think this will be a nice hat for fall.

My crafting time has been drastically reduced now that we are starting to get some veggies out of the garden. We are up to 19 quarts of green beans so far. I think we are a little over halfway there. 

The zucchini is doing very well  now and I hope to add some more zucchini recipes to the blog- if I can manage to snap some pics of zucchini dishes before they are devoured by my hungry little children here.

How is your summer going? 

Bunting Personalized Quiet Book Cover

I am doing another quiet book series! I made a quiet book for my niece since she liked Grace's so much. I do really like making these books, so it was a fun project.

I debated how to make the cover and I didn't feel like doing it the same way as I did Grace's (see it HERE). I came up with the bunting idea and it isn't exactly the way I pictured it, but it works.

I cut triangles out of random scraps that matched the book colors well and used heat'n'bond to attach them to the book cover. I stitched around the edges with a straight stitch about 1/16" away from the edges. Then I hand embroidered the letters on them. It was difficult because of the adhesive and was super hard on my hands and wrists.

But it is pretty.

Then, I used a zig zag stitch to sew the ric rac over the tops of the triangles.

For the binding, I made a bias tape and hand stitched it down on the whole thing- fronts and backs. I folded the top edge over the pages and around the back, tucking it under the back of the binding to keep things neat and tidy. I hope you can see it OK here...

Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I really can't wait to show you the rest of the book! I will be posting a few pages at a time now so it goes a little faster, but it is still too much to smoosh into one post. Some of them are very detailed = lots of pictures. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Stay tuned...

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

 

You can see the rest of Naomi's quiet book here:

Grace's quiet book can be seen here:

Strawberry Shortcake Doll Dress

Last year, I made my niece a Strawberry Shortcake dress for her birthday.(See it HERE!) So, this year I decided to make a matching one for her 18" doll.

I just took the free T-shirt pattern from Liberty Jane (found HERE) and shortened it. I used an old, white T-shirt for my fabric. Then, I used freezer paper stenciling to make the Strawberry Shortcake logo on the front. Those tiny pieces were a PAIN to cut out!

I assembled the shirt, then cut a skirt from leftover fabric I used on my previous girl-sized Strawberry Shortcake dresses. I made sure the waists matched and cut the skirt in a wide, A-line shape. I left a little opening in the center of the back and hemmed it inwards so that it goes on and off easier. Then, I just sewed the skirt to the shirt. I did a narrow hem at the bottom. 

It was a quick project and a nice distraction from the craziness going on around here these days. Now, I need to get back to making actual strawberry shortcake!

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

Rag Edge Flannel Baby Blanket Tutorial

These rag edge flannel blankets are my go-to baby gift. Sometimes I make bibs, burp cloths, and taggy blankets to make it a complete set. With just two layers of flannel, it is a nice weight without being too heavy. The rag edge is soft and popular with babies, too. :) This is what it looks like after just one washing, but it will get more frayed over time.

These are so simple to make. Here is a little DIY tutorial for you:

For this blanket, I used two different, yet matching flannel fabrics. I got 1 1/4 yard of each to make the blanket relatively square. You can make it larger or smaller. Whatever you want...

Tape your backing flannel to a flat surface with the right side down. I prefer to use my kitchen table and I use masking tape. Make sure to get all of the wrinkles out.

Lay the top layer over the bottom layer with the right side up. The wrong sides will be together. Smooth it out really well and use curved safety pins to baste. Start in the middle and place pins every few inches in a grid form working your way to the outside.

Remove the tape. I spread the blanket out on the floor to give me a little more room to work at this point. Trim off any selvage edges.

Square up your blanket by folding it in triangles. Check each side. Mine didn't turn out quite square. Whatever...

Trace a plate or something round on the corners. Rounded corners are a little easier later.

Use a washable marker to trace diagonal lines and lines going through the centers of each side.

Now for the sewing... 

From the very center point make a few small stitches and then increase your stitch length. Sew from the center to the outside on the line you drew. Repeat for each line, starting at the center each time.

Sew around the outer edge of the quilt about 1/2" from the edge. Then, sew around the edge of the blanket again about an inch from the edge. I like to use two different colors of thread and a fancy stitch on my machine. When you are done, snip the edges of the blanket every 3/8" or so. Try not to get too close to the first stitching line.

Wash the blanket and put it in the dryer on low heat. It will make the edge fray out nicely and get rid of those washable marker lines.

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

Vintage Modern Charm Square Star Quilt

Finally! Another quilt finish! :)

These pics are a little dark since a storm was rolling in... I am gonna' call it dramatic.

I used the Storybook Stars pattern from Moda Bake Shop HERE.

I did straight line quilting on my sewing machine. It is OK. I like wavy lines like I did HERE better.

It is backed in some more Vintage Modern fabric and I used red Kona for the binding.

I don't even know what I am going to do with this quilt, but it is finished! Hooray!

Link Parties where I sometimes hang out...

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Anything Goes Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays,Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party,Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Saturday Sewing, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.