bring on the baby boys

Here are a few of the blankets I have made for the sweet baby boys of my friends.  Thank you friends for having these babes.  I love sewing and quilting for them.

a blanket for jovie

Even though I am done having babies (as far as I know!), I love that my sisters are still adding to their families.  It's so much fun to be an aunt!  My sister, Caitlin, had a baby girl this week and they named her Jovie Quinn.  What a beautiful baby and a beautiful name.      

  

About a month ago I finished this quilt for her baby because I was really excited and of course, I love any reason to make a baby quilt. 

 

The center fabric is by Alexander Henry.

The back is a soft pink corduroy fabric that I have been hanging on to and finally found the perfect project for.

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 I machine quilted it going diagonal and really like this look.  I will have to remember that for future quilting!

still here and with a new baby blanket

I don't know why exactly I go through spurts of blogging frequently and then seem to stop all together. I am usually still sewing and crafting behind the scenes, but life gets busy and I don't have time to sit at the computer and document it. The kids have been out of school for two and a half weeks already and I am still adjusting to the new schedule. Not to mention, I am fighting for computer time! It's a bit odd to go from a very scheduled life to one with only a schedule I produce myself (with the help of the kids, of course). But, I did want to blog about this baby boy blanket I made last week.

I have had this Alexander Henry fabric for a few years and started the quilt around this fabric. I also had cut up a sheet and that's where I got the blue and white ticking.  

The back is navy and white seersucker which is a great summer fabric.

The quilting is just random spaces lines. I tend to keep it pretty simple on the quilting since I don't have much talent or experience in that area. I liked having 4 or 5 lines per strip of fabric because it added so much texture to the quilt.

just a few totes

I know that I am not reinventing a pattern or using too many creative juices when I make a tote bag and with a quick project like this, I prefer not too.

I even avoid adding pockets and too many details to a tote, so that I can get it done quickly and add the goodies inside.  I don't think one can have too many or that I could ever make too many!  If my kids ever get invited to girl birthday parties and I have time, I make a tote like this one and fill it up with coloring supplies.

My mom made my daughter a really cool tote with clear vinyl and fabric and filled it up with glitter glue, markers, coloring pads, etc. and that thing goes with Mallory every where.  So, I can't deny a little girl a chance to draw.

 I know boys draw too, but my boys are older and I don't want to send them to a party with a tote full of art supplies and be embarrassed.

 I love totes and versions of a tote, like this kidlet.  This one is going to be filled with baby bath supplies or baby books to give to a mom who just had a baby she named Benson. 

baby girl quilt

 I have been waiting to post this for awhile and now that I have given the quilt to my good friend, Angela for her baby girl, I can share it with you.  I am starting to love piecing baby quilts.  Of course, I understand that the work on them is quite small compared to the larger quilts, but it is good to practice my quilting skills on these little pieces of work. 

I attempted to make very random blocks with all the pink, green and turquoise fabrics that I had for a little girl.  As I made each block, I wasn't sure if it would be a big ol' mess or turn in to something unique and sweet.  I just kept going until I had twelve blocks done and then laid them out on the floor until they looked as though there was a little pattern to my madness.  I used strips of a pink and white fabric I had picked up from Joanne's to separate the blocks and I think it helped break up the madness a bit.  

 The back of the quilt was a solid pink on pink fabric that had silhouettes of boys and girls that I have had for awhile and can't remember who made it.  I don't have any left or I would look for the source.  But, I think it was cute to have a children on the back of a baby quilt. I free motion quilted and made the pattern rather large swirls.  I like it, but wish that I would have done them closer together.  I was afraid to go wild with the quilting, but I think next time, I will just have to be a little more "free" with the free motion!

a few baby gifts

I have been sewing quite a bit lately - mostly small projects(pjs for the boys and the little girl, an Easter dress, baby gifts), but just haven't taken photos of the finished projects with the exception of these gifts for the babies.

With a double baby shower this week, I got to make a few gifts for a future little boy and a future little girl. As usual, I stuck with quick projects that I know well. Someday I will branch out, but until that day, I will be able to swiftly put together a package for a new baby.

The gift for the little girl was a one yard flannel blanket using purple and white striped flannel on one side and a flannel patchwork pattern of vibrant colors on the other.I used a piece of turquoise flannel to applique a heart on the purple and white side for a pop of color.

I just sewed the blanket right sides together leaving a 6 inch opening for turning it right side in. Then, zig zagged stitched all the way around the perimeter.The gift for the baby boy was a set of four bibs using two different rocket ship fabrics, flannel and terry cloth. I used the bib pattern found here at juicy bits blog. I use industrial snaps at the top instead of Velcro because I like the look of the big shiny round snaps on something so delicate!

sweet baby quilt for baby boy

One baby quilt at a time - that's my progress timeline with quilting. I like to quilt, but just a bit! A few years ago, I printed off this Sweet Baby Quilt pattern by Jackie Clark at Windham Fabrics online. I forgot about it until I was going through my big binder of sewing ideas and found it. I thought it would be a great easy pattern for me to go beyond the last two baby blankets I made with just strips like here and here. I changed up the sides a little because I didn't have enough fabric to do a solid strip on all four sides, so I added another fabric to help. The back of the quilt is a soft grey corduroy that I got at WalMart a few years ago when they were getting rid of their fabric department. I just used a very lose chain pattern for the quilting to keep it simple!

simple silhouette applique for the baby girls

Sometimes the simplest touches have a big effect. I love to applique (that's no secret) and sometimes my favorite things to applique are simple silhouette shapes. If you choose the right fabrics and use great colors, they can really POP.

For my friend's baby girl, I made a receiving blanket with 1 yard of hot pink flannel on one side and 1 yard of bright aqua flannel on the reverse.

To add a pop or color, I appliqued a butterfly on both sides in the reverse colors.

I used the butterfly shape found in my Photoshop Elements program and enlarged it to fit a 8 1/2"X11 sheet of paper.

Keeping with the butterfly theme, I appliqued tiny butterflies on to a onesie using shapes from the Martha Stewart template link found at the bottom of this post.

I used it once before on a shirt for my daughter here.

Since baby girls seem to be popping up all over, I made another blanket for a friend's baby girl using a bunny shape I found on the Internet(just Google "bunny silhouette" and make sure the images are royalty free).

I appliqued a white bunny in felt to the hot pink side of the blanket and a pink and white dot bunny to the pink and white polka dot fabric. Both pieces of fabric are 1 yard each of flannel.

I made a matching bib with flannel using the pattern from here from juicy bits blog.

Another friend's baby girl was born last week, so I appliqued a different bunny silhouette using a vintage pillow case as the bunny fabric on to a onesie.

Since the white bunny on the white onesie wasn't showing up (surprise!)I stitched around it in hot pink thread. I did highlight the nose with a pink satin stitch and add an eye with a french knot.

Here are a few ideas for silhouette images:

*The shapes feature in the Photoshop Elements Program
*Martha Stewart templates- bird, and butterfly
*Hummingbird Applique at Juicy Bits Blog
*Any free SVG images on the Internet - they are for Cricut machines and are usually simple silhouette graphics
*Rabbit Silhouette here on free clip art blog
*Check out any free clip art on the Internet for shapes

another baby quilt

I completed another baby quilt this week. I used vintage fabrics and a vintage sheet along with fabric from Girlfriends by Jennifer Paganelli and yellow seersucker. I added 2 inch white strips in between the printed fabrics to help the colors pop. This quilt is for a baby girl, but I think the mom of this little girl is more of a cool mama instead of a girly mama, so I kept the colors cool and not too bright. I just stitched in the ditch for the quilting which made long horizontal quilting stitches. My mom was here visiting so I had her help me (or completely do) the binding. She likes and uses the binding tutorial from Heather Bailey's blog and as I watched her, it seemed much easier than the way I bound the last quilt.