Stroller Blanket Dimensions

Alright, so here is the dimensions of the stroller blanket for those people that were interested in making their own.  The finished size is 15 inches by 25 inches long.  The straps are 8 inches by 1 inch (finished).  So if your using solid fabric you would cut it at 15.5 inches by 25.5 inches and use fourth inch seams.  If you want to make the top patchwork style with squares instead of a solid piece of fabric you would need 15 squares 5.5 x 5.5 inches.  Once you get your straps sewn together and turned right side out all you do is sew button holes at the end of the strap and then sew your buttons on the top of the blanket and your all set.  I hope that makes sense.  It's just a simple blanket with straps sewn at the top.  But if anyone needs more info I would be happy to go into more detail.

When I was shopping at Walmart this morning I happened to walk past the fabric section and noticed they had over 100 bolts of brand new flannel in stock.  I almost never buy fabric at Walmart unless its a fabric emergency, but look how cute this lady bug fabric is!  I'm going to make a purple blankie for Maddy and a pink blankie for Macey.  I'm thinking of doing mini denim blankets for the girls . . . but we'll see, sometimes I change my mind.

Stroller Blanket

Necessity is the mother of invention. - Plato

And a stroller blanket, I believe, is a necessity.  I came up with this little blanket because I hate picking the blanket up off the ground and putting it back on the baby (yuck!). Maddy seems to be a little kicker and is good at kicking her blanket off every ten steps.  However I can't let her go blanketless or else her legs would fry in the Southern Utah sun.  Anyways, I made this while the girls were down for a nap.  If anyone wants to make one let me know and I'll give you the dimensions and such.  Yay for an easy and useful project!

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Library Bag

I have been thinking that I really need to take Macey to the library more.  I hate going there because I end up picking out the books while she sits and plays with the germy wood puzzles.  (Gag!)  So I made her her very own book bag to carry and put books in.  We tried it out this morning and she loved it.  It was two dollars very well spent.  (The bag was one dollar on clearance at Joanns and the fabric paint was one dollar.)  It was soo nice to have her pick out books and put them in her bag and she had fun doing it.  She felt like such a big girl when she walked up to the check-out desk and handed the librarian her (my) card and pulled all the books out of her bag.  And then after the librarian scanned all the books and handed them back she handed me the receipt which Macey intercepted and put in the outside card pocket.  Although, not as neatly as it is shown in the picture.  The front is just a freezer-paper stencil and the back is a vinyl pocket with ribbon sewn on the edges.  Easy, cute and functional, that's my kind of project!

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An Old Quilt Along

My favorite quilt blogger is starting another quilt along.  I was soo excited when I read about it.  Then I remembered I didn't finish the last quilt along.  Crap.  I can't buy more fabric and start another one when I haven't finished the last one.  After I started it I got morning sickness and then started on baby projects and just hadn't got back to it.  So last night I dug the box of scraps out of the closet and whipped out another three blocks.  There is supposed to be 70 blocks total (that's a lot of nine-patch blocks!).  I don't have a purpose in mind for this quilt.  It's not really a little girl fabric and it will only make a twin size quilt.  But I am having a fun time putting these blocks together with my patchwork foot and knee lifter.  It really makes a difference in efficientness (is that a word?).  Sorry, didn't mean to brag about my sewing machine, I am just loving it soo much it's hard to not talk about it.  So this is my project for now.  It's nice to have a little something to work on after the kids go to bed and the house is all cleaned up.

Made by Momma

Madisyn was blessed yesterday.  She looked soo adorable in her momma-made blessing dress.  It fit her perfectly.  That's not to say the dress is perfect.  It has some flaws in it. I just hope that when my girls are older that they will look back at their homemade blessing dresses and feel the love that their mom put into them.

Finished

Denim backside

Fluffy flannel front side.

Bring on summer.  I'm ready for picnics and camping now.

Fridge Magnets

As seen on TV.  Well, for about 3.5 seconds.  I entered these into a contest on Studio 5 (a Utah craft/lifestyle show) and made it onto TV, but didn't make it to the final 5.  The contest was you enter a picture of a craft you made for under $5 and if you win you get a Silhouette machine.  I wanted that Silhouette soo bad, oh well.  So anyways, I made a few more magnets so I could give some to my sister tommorow for watching my girls while I go to sewing class.  These are super easy to make, so I thought I'd share.

Step numer one: hot glue or crazy glue magnets to the back of the clothespins.  They are adhesive on the back but it's not strong enough to hold on for more than a day or so.  A pack of magnets costs 98 cents at Walmart and you can make a bazillion clothespins magents with one pack.

Cut some strips of scrapbook paper. Just wing it, I didn't measure exactly what size they are.  You can draw an outline of the clothespin and then cut a little smaller than that and use it as a template.

Brush some Mod Podge to the top of your clothespin and then put your paper on top of that and brush another coat of Mod Podge on top of that to seal it on.  Let it dry.  And your done! I told you it was super easy.  You could add some matching flower on top or buttons or whatever ya want.  So cute, easy and cheap.

I'm making some progress on my denim blanket.  I got the "sandwiches" sewn together.  Now I've got to sew them together in rows.  This is going to be the tricky part.  I've never made a rag type blanket before and I'm kinda nervous!

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Denim Quilt Progress and a Wipey Case Cover

Since Monday all I have got done on my denim quilt is to cut out the squares.  What really took forever was cutting the denim into squares.  The batting and flannel was a piece of cake. 

The clothespins are clipped onto units of 10.  It makes it soo much easier to keep track of where I'm at when cutting up the fabric. Don't be fooled though, I really have no clue how this blanket is going to come together.  I'm just winging it.

Since Maddy was born I have lost wipes cases like crazy.  Up until yesterday I have been carrying around a full size wipes box in the diaper bag because I lost my last one.  So when I went to Walmart yesterday and bought another wipes case I thought I would do the "popular" thing and hot glue batting and fabric onto it, maybe that way I will keep track of it better.  Ok, maybe the logic isn't all there, but it's worth a shot. Only problem is I put a little too much hot glue onto the part where it hinges open, so it only opens at a 45 degree angle.  Whoops.

Mastering My Machine

That's the name of the sewing machine class I am taking.  After I bought my machine the lady at the store said that they offer free classes on how to use your machine.  I signed up thinking that since I bought a more basic model that I wouldn't really have that much to learn and that the class was probably for the more fancy models.  Boy was I wrong!  Yesterday was class number two out of seven and I have already learned so much more than what I could have ever learned on my own.  In the class it's mostly more "mature" women with machines that cost more than my car.  But there is one other girl that is about the same age as me and she has a machine that's close to my model. The older women in the class just upgraded their machines and it is their first time taking a Bernina class.  They have commented more than once that they wish they would have taken this class when they bought their first Berninas, they didn't know they could do so much.  So the way the class works is we get a workbook at the beginning of each class and a glue stick.  As we go through the book the teacher hands out the squares of material that we will need for each page. 

This is one of my favorite ones so far. We learned how to sew a stretchy seam on knit fabric with a special stich that the machine does.

This is another one of my favorites.  We learned how to make a shelled edge of tricot fabric. The same presser foot that makes the shelled edge on slippery fabric can also do a rolled hem on cotton.  How cool is that? I know!

This is my favorite presser foot! It has a bar the guides the fabric on the right so you line the fabric up on the inside of it and you get a perfect 1/4th inch seam every time.  My machine also does a quilters backstich  which really isn't a backstich, it's 6 tiny little close together stiches, so that there isn't bulk in the seam when you press it open. The machine does soo many cool and useful things that my old one didn't.  I am loving taking this class!

Check Book Cover

I saw this tutorial over at Crazy Mom Quilts awhile back and didn't think much of it,

(because my husband did the finances at the time.)  But now that the bill paying duty has been passed off to me I decided I needed to make some cute check book covers.  It will take the pain out of paying the bills, right?

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Dish Mat Tutorial

Oh how I love to make these dish mats! This is my last post about them, I promise! This is a simplified version of the dish mat tutorial on Fly Through Our Window.  When I looked at the dimensions of her mat it was HUGE! I guess you would want a big one if you are doing all your dishes by hand, but I just want a smaller one to put sippy cups on after they get out of the dishwasher. 

So, step number one: cut a piece of terry cloth 21"x16"

Cut three strips of fabric 5.5"x16

 Cut two strips of coorinating fabric 3.5"x16

Sew it all together.

Iron your seams so the the two smaller pieces are pressed towards the three larger pieces.  This makes it look like they are inset. Next you are going to put the right side of your pieced fabric to the right side of your terry cloth and with a half inch seam sew around the edge.  Be sure and leave an opening big enough to pull it right side out. Pull it right side out and then hand stich the small opening shut.

Now your are going to topstich with a triple stich (I'm soo happy my new sewing machine does a triple stich!!) a fourth inch seam on your three larger panels.  You can do a regular stich, but the triple stich gives it a little more substance.  Once you do those six lines you are going to do a half inch top stich around the edge of the mat to give it a more finished look.  And your done! Soo easy and way cuter than an old dish towel on the side of your sink!

I had the best Mothers Day yesterday! I love being a mom to my two little girls! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mothers Day as well!

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