ROCK N ROLL BIRTHDAY GIRL

Made these for the cutest girl turning 7 in April that I know! Also sent her a pair of jeggings to wear with these fun tops : ) I'm in love with the black and white one. Thinking of making myself something like it that would go great with some killer black boots!

SCD: BABY BOY SETS

The perfect baby shower gift!
(3 burp clothes, 2 pacifier clips, 1 tie onesie)
After a little splurge on fabric, I've got myself lots of things to work on. I spent a few evenings ironing out wrinkles, cutting to proper sizes, and am finally getting to the sewing part. It actually makes it all much easier to conquer when making a lot. I really like all the fabric I've picked out locally, but next time I may order some online for more options. I've also worked on some "pee pee tee pees" or "caution cones" for preventing getting showered on when changing your baby boys and have a co-worker testing them for size (I made 2 different sizes) and absorbency.

Vowing to myself to be more prepared for the next craft show and to really set up my Etsy shop with items. I've got a list of things that I think are sellable. Need to make myself a schedule to make sure I don't forget anything.

Also in the process of knitting some hats and making mittens as special orders. Also have a fun Valentines present made up to share later!

FINISHED: BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR "MISS A"

One of the few jobs I have is watching an adorable nearly 1 year old and her very silly 2.5 year old brother a couple mornings a week. Little "Miss A" has a birthday coming up in November and here's what I came up with for a gift.

Got the onesies at Walmart for $2/piece and spent an evening sewing on some fun images! Hoping I can find some more solid colored onesies, didn't want to stop sewing these!

FINISHED: TWEED/SILK SCARF PURSE

Well, the pattern is called that anyways. . . pretty sure my fabric from JoAnn's is not tweed, nor is the scarf that I got at Target, but it looks pretty good! I made it for someone else, but I'm a little in love with it -- I'll have to make myself another. The pattern is from the perfect handmade bag (recycle and reuse to make 35 beautiful totes, purses and more).

BABY "K"

Customized Baby Shower Gift

- "Onesies" for Baby "K"
- Pacifier clips
- Burp clothes

MITTEN MANIA

As I previously mentioned, there's a project I've been working on that I'm a little obsessed with. A wonderful lady that goes to the same quilt group I attend shared her own mitten project (she brought like 15 to the meeting to show off!). Shortly after that we had a "sew in" day, which is to come work on a yearly group charity quilt or something of your own or to see someone else demo a technique. Right before Thanksgiving she brought extra mitten patterns to sew in day.

They are made of "old" wool sweaters. Once they're washed, they shrink, fusing the fibers together, making it better for cutting apart and sewing . . . and the end result of keeping your hands warm! The insides are lined with fleece.

With the long Thanksgiving weekend, I packed my sewing things to bring along to Great Falls with Mission: Make Lots of Mittens all planned. I checked out the second hand stores for their sweater selection, but didn't find many that were cheap as I wanted them to be. Another quilter suggested checking out the many thrift shops in Great Falls. I think I kinda cleaned them out. Of the 3 I visited, I ended up with about 20 sweaters! I wasn't able to make many that weekend as they need to be washed and dried. I got around to that right when we got back to Bozeman.

Over a week, I'd come home and work a bit on them. One night I spent cutting things apart and matching up the tops to the upper and lower palms and wrist bands. Another night I spent cutting out the fleece linings. A couple nights of sewing the outer shell and linings together. And finally adding the wristbands and having many nice sets of mittens!

The first round of mitten making was just in time for Christmas. I made 12 pairs to begin with and gave away as gifts. Unfortunately in all my crazy cutting and sewing I neglected to take pictures. I've got lots of sweaters left to make more though : )

So, round two begins . . . this time also smaller mittens for kids with the left over pieces that are big enough. I'm still in the matching things together stage and have got them all over the guest bedroom. What am I going to do with all my mittens? No idea really, but I think I'm in mitten love . . .

ALPHABET PHOTOGRAPHY

This is something I've been meaning to post on for awhile. My boyfriend is a great gift giver. He always remembers things I've mentioned wanting and also loves coming up with something that I would have no clue where to start with guessing. As we were on vacation for Christmas, he saw this idea and thought it was great -- it's personal, inexpensive (made for his family and mine), and easy to bring along. I can't find the pictures that he actual took on the computer, but these are from the site alphabetphotography.com -- there are many similar sites out there.

You find things out in the world and if they resemble a letter, take a picture. I forget how, but I actual found out about the gift before I received it. He was going to ditch me because it was a nice day and he needed to get out to get some pictures. I asked if there was anything I could help with and since he was doing this as a gift for many people, I got to go along and help search for letters. It was a lot of fun and you get to exercise being creative and seeing things a little different. The playground was a great spot, as well as many old historic buildings. Great idea for a child or newlyweds!

AMY BUTLER BAGS

I had an odd car problem which resulting in these fun bags -- sometimes it doesn't want to start. . . mostly when I have to run a quick errand and need to restart it within a few minutes of last turning it off. A couple weeks ago, I stopped at The Beatnik to drop off more of the bobby pins I make and sell there. Not thinking that I would be in-and-out, I shut everything off, ran in and came back to a car that still needed a few minutes.

Luckily, there is a very nice quilt shop across the street! Most of the time I will go to JoAnn's for my fabric since I get their coupons in the mail . . or even WalMart if I find something great. But this little shop is so nice and cozy and ORGANIZED!! I tried to limit myself to $10, but ended up spending $20. I bought 4 half yards of some amazing Amy Butler fabric to make these bags for my friends Kelly and Holly. Obviously it's the same pattern in different colors. And I have some of the fabric left over for another project when the right one comes along.

This is the same pattern as a previous bag I made from Bend the Rules Sewing. I LOVE IT!

BABY SHOWER THANK YOU'S

Have you ever needed something for a baby or bridal shower, but the mothers and brides to be insist that they really don't need anything (or they do and you don't want to shell out a bunch of cash)?? I think a perfect gift is thank you cards. It's not something that everyone always has on their mind after such an event. This way they are on-hand for them to use and is one less thing for them to worry about during a busy time.

I just attended a baby shower and brought these. The baby is unknown, but I found out the nursery is yellow and green. Each set that I made contains 10 cards and envelopes. I packaged them in clear vinyl boxes (from U-line) that I use when I make card sets to sell and tied ribbon around to keep the package together.

Another great idea is to make a couple extra for yourself to keep in your ready to go collection!

WELCOME CHARLIE

The family I nanny for just had their third child. His name is Charlie. As a baby gift, I made a small album for his parents to document little moments of his first year month by month. This is a DCWV 5x7 mini album. The inside paper and letter "C" on the album cover came from K & Company's Addison Collection. Each page has space for journaling the little things he learns that month.

Another Album Idea:

I did a previous album for another friend, but forgot to take pictures of the album. It was an 8x8 album with 20 pages. The beginning pages were space for immediate birth details, a page for his mom, dad and sister, 12 pages for each month, and the last page left blank for mom and dad to write a note on his first birthday.