Homemade Christmas Present Roundup

This year, I decided I was going to try to make as many homemade Christmas gifts as possible.  In typical Gemini form, I completely underestimated the time it takes to actually make homemade gifts.  Nevertheless, I was able to churn out a set of placemats (from a pattern from Amy Butler’s “Institches”) and matching napkin rings (my own creation) for both my parents and my mother-in-law, and a few aprons (again from Amy Butler’s book) for my sister and sister-in-law.  I guess everyone else is going to have to wait until next year, when I get my homemade-making-act together a little bit earlier.

Here are some nice shots of the placemats I made for my mother-in-law on display on her kitchen table.  You have got to love Amy Butler.  She puts the adorable and easy in make-it-yourself sewing.  “Institches” is a truly great sewing pattern book — definitely the first book I’ve picked up where I actually want to try every last pattern!

Yogalates, Yogalates, Yogalates

Back a few years ago, before the tv show “The O.C.” jumped the shark, there was a very funny episode that forever embedded the term ”Yogalates” in my everyday vocabulary.  In an effort to actually practice Yogalates, in lieu of walking around just saying Yogalates (try it, say “yogalates”, it’s addictive isn’t it? can’t stop, can you?), I decided to make a yoga tote for my unused yoga mat. Suffice it to say, that I have actually only used the tote (and therein yoga mat) once since I made it.  But I look pretty cute wearing it when I’m walking around the house saying “yogalates” instead of practicing it…

Don’t ya just love the hippie batik print?  It’s so very Boulder, CO.

Baby Blanket Bingo

The “Minky Binky Factory” as my fiance calls it, is offically up and running.  Here are a few new blankets I made this past weekend.  I am finally on my way to mastering mitered corners (after much experimenting, I came up with a new novel way to do them), and have substituted my former straight stitch for a zig zag stich — much cuter and much more forgiving! 

The very adorable butterfly pattern blanket –I am proud to announce– is my very first special order.  I made a blanket for Willie, the baby girl of some good friends and they liked it so much, they asked if I could make one for their friend’s baby girl who is expected to arrive this month!  The sweet lavender flower and green minky blanket is for Maryn, the baby girl of good friends who arrived around Christmas time.

Stay tuned for more from the “factory” — under the careful tutelage of my fiance, the consummate entrepreneur, I am currently working on a logo and hope to get some fabric labels printed up soon for my fledgling business!

Everybody loves a blanket

So now that I am addicted to sewing, I decided it was time to start making baby blankets for all of my friends and siblings with little ones.  I’ve always loved those baby blankets with the satin bindings — you know, the kind that little fingers like to wear thin over time.  But what to use as the blanket fabric? 

My sister-in-law enlightened me to the existence of a fabric called “minky” or “minkee.”  For those of you not in the know, minky is a very soft fabric akin to the feel of a Gund stuffed animal that comes in countless colors and textures (polka-dotted, striped etc.).  So for my first project, I paired some bright yellow minky with a great novelty flannel I found at Joann’s and some satin binding, and voila!, my first blanket was born. 

Well, not quite.  My first attempt at sewing the binding on the two layers of fabric resulted in a good deal of puckering and the throwing of various sewing accoutrements around the room in frustration.  To avoid a needle in the eye, the fiance actually made me take five on the “time out” couch before a total meltdown ensued.   

After some time to reflect and some quick internet research, I realized that the top of the binding was feeding slower than the bottom of the binding.  This is apparently a common problem when working with stretchy knits and slippery satin bindings.  Luckily, there was a simple solution — a trip to my local sewing machine shop for a walking foot for my machine.

The walking foot worked beautifully and finally, my first baby blanket was born.  This one is for my best friend daughter who is turning 3 years old in about a week.  The flannel side of the blanket has a “girl power” theme — perfect for the discerning 3 year old!  I am still working on mastering the mitered corners, but overall, I am pretty happy with how it came out…

Here’s a shot:

A Gift from the Bag Lady

My sister-in-law, Rachel (who you may have noticed gets a lot of lip service in this blog due to her crafting prowess), made this cute handbag for me recently.  She whipped it up in 3 short hours from a pattern and has since declared an interest in becoming a “Bag Lady” – in the maker of bags vs. the homeless with a shopping cart sense of the word.  You may notice a similarity in the fabric patterns in this bag to the fabrics in the quilt I just made.  They were both made from fabrics by Moda.

The Quilt is Finally Finished!

After several visits to the local quilting store and numerous stops and starts, I finally finished the rail fence quilt.  Here are a few lessons I learned along the way that might be of interest to other “newbie” quilters. 

1.  If you plan to wash your quilt in the future, make sure to pre-wash the fabrics you use. 

2.  If all of your squares are not the same size once you go to sew them together, find the smallest square and cut all the rest of the squares down to that size.  It will make for much cleaner corners once you put the quilt together.  Thanks to my sister-in-law, Rachel, for this tip. 

2. Make sure to follow the pattern’s instructions regarding which way the seams should be pressed, and consider pinning those seams down when sewing the quilt cover together.  I ended up with a lot of seams sewn down the wrong way because I neglected to pay attention to this important instruction.  The result -  a lumpy quilt cover.

3.  Borders are kind of a pain to do, but they really frame the quilt.  Don’t take the easy way out and skip this step unless your quilt pattern specifically calls for it.  Thanks again to Rachel for this tip.

4.  If you plan to tie-off your quilt, consider a thread or yarn appropriate to the fabric you used in making the quilt.  The chunky yarn I used to tie-off this quilt looked great, but it was a wrestling match complete with the use of pliers and several bent needles just to get the yarn through the fabric.  And to think I was considering doing a blanket stitch all the way around the edge… 

4.  When doing the binding, if the strips of binding materials you have are too short to cover one entire side of the quilt, just sew them together.  Cut each piece on a 45 degree angle at the end and then sew them together leaving a little dog-ear on both the bottom and top.  These seams will barely be visible on your binding once finished.  The thanks for this tip goes to the owner of the Prosperity Quilt Shop in Boulder.

5.  Be proud of your finished product despite its inevitable imperfections.  They give a lot of character to your work.     

Here are a couple shots of my debut into the world of quilting: