TEA AND CRUMPETS APRON KNOCK OFF for the wedding

These are the aprons I sewed for the servers at Rachel and Jake's wedding:

For the first three I took my inspiration from Antroplogie's Tea and Crumpets apron:

I think I did alright.  I scoured the internet for a good tutorial and didn't find one that met my needs.  So I just winged it and I think it was okay.  

I also made this apron:

But only because I was sick of sewing ruffles.

I also made fabric flowers to pin on.  And by "I", I mean my awesome niece Madi and my mother in law.  Here is the full on apron, with flower, in action, on my friend Steph.

I am thinking of doing a tutorial on knock off apron myself.  Except for reals - do you know how long it takes to make a tutorial?  Those women should all be thanked when they do it.  It takes FOR.EVER.  I know because I have about 4 in the making.

PICNIC SET FOR TWO

 

This is the picnic set I sewed up and purchased at Target for Rachel.  I used placemats to make the silverware rolls and placemats to make the bag.  (Sadly, she has since lost the bag.)  The silverware roll has a napkin, a small garbage bag, a straw, and a fork, knife, and spoon.

I found it somewhere on the blogosphere and copied it and now I can't find where I got the idea.  If someone has seen, let me know.  I'd like to give credit.

WHATERR YOU WANT TO CALL THEM ...

My husband's cousin's wife is an amazing photographer.  Check her out here.  She is doing all of Rachel's wedding stuff and Ben's senior pictures.  So I thought I'd make her a couple of camera critter, lens pets, whaterr you want to call them.

Here's a lady bug with scary eyes.  I should have put more white on there.  I wanted it all black, white, and red to get newborn's attention.

 

And seriously - my owl will NOT LOAD STRAIGHT!  I don't know why.  This one was just for fun. I showed it my kids and one thought it was a peacock and the other a duck.  So maybe it's a stretch calling it an owl?

I pretty much just googled images and then drew my own pattern from what I saw, cut it out of felt, and sewed it on to those awful scrunchies from the 80's that WalMart still sells.  (At last!  A good use for them!)

LDS GENERAL CONFERENCE NOTE BOOKS

Six months ago I made these for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference and vowed to make them earlier this year.

Well, here it is, the day before the night before General Conference and I am just getting started.  I used someone else's pictures last year and they were okay, but some pictures were color and some were black and white and it just wasn't okay. Tonight I redid the pictures and you can just click and copy the images and print them out yourself, following the instructions on the link above.

 

When my 9 year old saw me making these, he said, "Yes!  I LOVE doing this!"  So, yeah, it's a huge success.

BABY QUILT

Our dearest babysitter from back in the day was expecting her first baby!  They knew there were going to be some concerns and issues and they are just so positive and full of faith. They are inspiring!  (He is now born and cute as can be.)  We are so excited for her and her hubby!  I made this blanket for the new baby.

I used this pattern from the Moda Bake shop.  It was fun to make and quilt. But most of all, we are super happy for the new parents.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PILLOWS

 These two are my favorite.

I had to explain to my sister that this one doesn't say "get lucky", just lucky.

I used old tshirts for the top two and for the lucky I gathered ribbon and then freehanded it onto the pillow.  I also single stitched some shamrocks in the background.  If I never do the gathered ribbon thing again, it will be too soon.

LUCK O' THE IRISH

I wanted to make St. Patrick's Day shirts for the kids and since the iron-on stuff here DOES NOT WORK (ACK!!!!! so many ruined projects!) reliably (is it the humidity?), I had to sew.  I went to Cafe Press for some inspiration and found what I was looking for.

Today I made the Littles these Sham Rock shirts for St. Patrick's Day (and good news!  they are Mardi Gras appropriate!)

 

I bought the shirts at Old Navy (on clearance) and then cut up one of Rachel's Guarantee Girls cleaning shirts (Larry says that's very "sustainable" of me).  I used Old English Text MC and made the letters about 3" tall and traced them, reversed, onto Wonder Under.  

I used this shamrock from a blog (and I can't find it!  Rats! If you know where I got it please tell me) that I had saved to my images folder.  I made it into a guitar.  First I ironed on the letters and then I top-stitched around everything and put the knobs and strings on the guitar.

  

It took longer than I thought to do all that sewing,  but in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result.  I like it so much, I'm going to make a pillow ... sham.

MY LAST LOVE

pillow love that is. 

 

I am sorry to say I can't remember where I saw this - I've seen it only canvas, wood, and fabric, with the letters painted, vinyl, and fabric.  So really, I guess no one place.

I used my favorite t-shirt (which was showing the love with a few holes and a bleach spot) behind the red letters.  It was a good way to memorialize my shirt.

FAVORITE THING I'VE EVER MADE

well, okay, second favorite thing I've ever made (to my kids)

I made a Dresden plate pillow!  This is my first ever Dresden plate anything.

No ordinary center would do, so I layered 6 pieces of flannel and then sewed it into a bulls-eye and cut through the top five layers down the middle of the seams and rubbed it with my fingers and Viola! Faux chenille!

I love it SO much.  I love the colors.  I love the pattern.  I love the (faux) chenille center.

Sigh.

I'm going to go look at it now.

It holds still when I look at it, unlike my other six favorite things I've made.

RUFFLE PILLOW

When I was here checking out the heart pillow I noticed the ruffle pillow in the background.  LOVELY!  Sew I got out my ruffler foot (am I the only person who gets so aggravated with that thing?!  It's probably because I try to go too fast.)  Anyway, I did a ton of WOF double thickness ruffles and put them on the pillow front.  I kind of wish now that I had scooshed them together more, but I do like it the way it is.  I also put warm and natural behind the front before I sewed on the ruffles and to line the back piece, too.  I like the extra structure it gives, but it is still super soft.  I made the back an envelope so I can slip the pillow form out and bleach it.  Let's face it - it's not going to stay white.

BATH TOWEL WRAP

A few years ago I made Rachel a wrap around towel for after her showers.  It's worn out and she needs a new one so I made her and Sari one.  They are super easy!

Sari's is just like this, except it's turquoise and has the letter "S".  Crazy.  I know.

The initials are on the outside pockets.

I ran the washcloth to the inside of the towel and there is a pocket there also.

I sewed a strip of fabric together and made a loop so it is easier to hang.  The top has elastic in a casing across the back and velcro in the front to hold it on.  (Verrrrrry important.)

Making it is the easy part.  Getting to the post office to mail it ... that is the part that gives me a hard time.

ps I LOVE YOU

I found this cuteness on Flamingo Toes and had to copy.

See how she did it here.

What I did different - I put a piece of warm and natural behind the white fabric before I sew anything - on the machine or by hand.  That makes it so the threads are hidden and I like the extra weight.  I hand wrote the words with a pencil and sewed over them.  I also added the heart.  I used red flannel and white cotton for the flowers.  I sewed them together as I wrapped them up.  I also added the heart.

GATHERED HEART PILLOW

I saw this pillow on V and Co. and made one for myself.  I did mine a little different but the overall concept was the same.

You can go here to get the instructions.

I knew when I sewed it I would hate the ruffles on the edges and I totally cannot take it another day!  I've torn it apart and I'm redoing it.  Pic to come ...

WHITE ELEPHANT AMIGURUMI

Our friendshad a White Elephant Gift Exchange Party back in ,ahem, December.

I made this guy out of chenille yarn (he is deliciously soft) and Erika of DRY Ink took him home.  She also took this great picture of him.  I just sort of followed the free pattern on LionBrand's website.  Beware of the trunk.  It's terribly unruly.

CHRISTMAS PILLOW

Twin Stitches showed this pattern on some website that I can't remember.  I love the occasional back-stitch only embroidery.  (Don't ask me to do anything else!)  True to me, I just finished this.  I am so prepared for 2011!

Close up of the pattern:

Remind me to tell you about buying the fabric sometime... ugh.

You can buy your pattern here.