Wedding Gifts

When I read  Project:Organization  by Marie Ricks last summer she had a chapter on wedding gifts.  Marie says keep your life simple by deciding ahead what you give out for family wedding gifts, friend wedding gifts and acquaintance wedding gifts.  A set gift or amount for each category, then there's no wasted time and aggravation with worry.

Marie Ricks gives garden hoses. It's a great idea.  Something useful that everyone has to buy for themselves.

                     I have given quite a few sets of Christmas stockings to newly weds in the past.

This year I branched out and made a Christmas tree skirt for my favorite babysitter.
 Definitely more time consuming. If I was to do this again, I'd need a pattern, because there was a lot of trail and error just going for it.

Daniel likes to give his male friends tools or guns when they get married.
I think I'm going to start giving out sewing kits.

These are sewing kits I made for my newly wed sister 'n law Sally and Luke's Kristina for Christmas.
The trick would be to make them assembly line style and have them ready to give out when announcements come in the mail.  

Christmas Pillowslips

My Mom made Christmas pillowcases for the boys last year, and Henry took his to Helen's last month for our Thanksgiving holiday.  "I want my children to have Christmas pillowcases"  Helen said.

Okay, it would be my pleasure to make that wish come true.  I decided to make some for my nieces over in England too and because I had to get UK gifts in the mail, their's are what I have to show you today.

I couldn't decide which fabric to use, and then the thought occurred to me, I could make them like mini quilts

    I mixed in a little bit of the minky fabric that is so popular, and I love the soft pinks and blues side by side

                                Hopefully these will help produce sweet dreams of sugar plums

Christmas Tree Skirt

I 

I love ruffles.

                               Maybe with a tree this big, I should make a bigger skirt.

                               I love creating something beautiful out of scraps of fabric.

American Flag

Last summer I made my own version of the British flag for my family room to hang on the wall.

This summer I wanted to make a similar version of the American flag.  It took while to figure out a good combination of fabrics, and then what order they would appear in as stripes.  I like it well enough on its own,

but next to the British flag, its not strong enough.  I think I need to redo it in only three fabrics.  Oh, well.  That's what happens with sewing sometimes.

Pink Doily Blanket

Remember when I bought pink doilies from Brambles?  Here is the blanket I made with them.

I am so pleased with it, I think I will be buying more of these doilies next time I see them at Brambles, 

$3 each.

Eyemasks

For our journey to England last Christmas, I made eye masks for the boys. I hoped they would help my boys block out all the commotion in the airplane, in order to get so much needed sleep.

 Six months later, the eye masks are a regular feature in their beds. After prayers I hear Arthur or George often say "where's my eye mask?"  I think they made my boys feel cosy and sleep deeper.

 I used an Amy Butler pattern and choose Dr. Suess fabric and thick grosgrain ribbon. They are a fast satsifying project that uses very little fabric. Fun to customize and great way to use your scraps.

Lots of Baby Blankets

Earlier this year I was requested to make blankets for Daniel's clients whose wives were having babies.

first there were twin girls

but then we realized there had been a mistake. Oops that was a bit embarrassing, twin boys!

Next we got it right, twins again.  One boy, one girl.

Then there was our good friends from Chicago, John & Heather.  They had a baby girl and named her Georgia.  I used a scarf I had taken on our trip to Italy four years ago and a sweet sailboat fabric because her daddy is a sailor, then I embroidered g's on the sails.

 The last blanket was made of the same girl fabric as the first twins, that ended up being boys, except one side was all cream sweaters sew together.  After it was assembled I did tons of hand stitching with embroidery floss, some in long straight lines, and other stitches on the brown fabric to create a ripple effect.  I didn't know what I was committing to when I started.  The finished product had an old fashioned feel to it and I was pleased.

For Myself

It doesn't happen very often, but I have just made myself a skirt to wear on Sundays. I used a very textured wool and have made the hips a bit roomy in order to fit me in the coming months. I have been wanting a warm skirt and the snow will still be here for another three months. Then next winter I can easily alter the size for a smaller me. I have taken the picture with my Christmas silk still on the mannequin, so now it looks like a blouse for my skirt.

I have also solved my search for a duvet cover in the master bedroom. Bedding can be expensive and making it usually is also costly, because it requires so much fabric. My solution was to buy two sets of sheets and sew the flat sheets together. Now I have two sets of fitted sheets and pillowcases, which I alternate week to week so they don't wear out, and a reversible duvet cover! I am pleased.

My Creations

My favorite babysitter, McKenna left for college and I wanted to send her with a new duvet and cover for her dorm room. Her favorite color is yellow so I chose to randomly piece five different yellow fabrics plus a tan cordoroy on back.

I finally, finally made a mosiac table with my broken dishes! I am pleased with the colors and have put it in the front room.

I have started making Christmas tags and ornaments. I love glitter!

Sewing projects

Here are a couple pictures of my sewing projects in July and August. Blankets and Christmas stockings.

I also made a fantastic shower curtain for my sister Emily. I took the idea from Anthropologie, cascading ruffles. I alternated the ruffles cream and white and trimmed with a few simple beads on the top layer. After it was pressed and hanging up on a hanger to give away, it felt like a wedding dress. I was so pleased.

Two Blankets in March

Here are a few photos of the baby blankets I made this month. One girl, one boy. You can see the fabrics I used and then how I packaged them with a matching Ralph Lauren babygrow.

I just discovered fusible batting, which is great because I prefer to machine quilt. I usually do straight lines, but I have started picking out flowers in the fabrics and stitching around them.

Two Blankets Made in February

Here are pictures of a baby blanket and throw I made as gifts. There is one picture to show you the fabrics and one to show you it all wrapped up and ready to give away.

I used the standard Kimberly stripes: three different fabrics on front and a different one all together on the back. I was pleased with the results.