a skirt for baby's crib

As promised, I'm back (less than three weeks later) with more baby stitchings!  This time up is a skirt for baby's crib.  Things started to get really real when I came home from work last Friday and the hubs had assembled baby girl's crib!  It actually made me tear up a little, seeing the crib we'll bring our little one home to, and eventually she'll be sleeping in.

As soon as the crib was assembled, I immediately took to making a skirt to give a little added flair.  I had pinned this tutorial, as I knew I didn't want anything with lots of frills or ruffles, and this simple single pleat skirt fit the bill.



I am super pleased with how it turned out.  Definitely recommend Oleander and Palm's tutorial if your in the market for a handmade crib skirt.  I even cheated a little and didn't make the second long panel, as I knew our crib would be against the wall, and that side of the crib would never be seen.  I will say I am a little bummed that by some stroke of misfortune, each and every one of my elephants seems to fall right behind one of the slats on the crib!  I don't think I could do that again if  I tried.  I'm still chalking this up as a success though, I'd rather have a hand made crib skirt that cost about $12 in materials to make and about 2.5 hours of my time, than a purchased $50 skirt that no one can see.

Crib Skirt Fabric:  Premiere Prints Elephant Slub White/Yellow



I even remembered to dig out my granny squares quilt that I made about a year and half ago and tucked away  for our maybe-one-day baby and it fits right in with baby girls bright and cheery nursery.  It needs a tumble through the washer and dryer still, but I'm certain this quilt (with the three others that are in the works) will definitely get lots of love in the coming years.

I'll be back next week with baby girls DIY curtains that I'm in love with, and hopefully another project I've been fiddling with using wooden letters, some scrapbook paper and modge podge.  Here's a sneaky peek:



Have a great weekend!

Drona gets a makeover

Hello bloggy friends!  I am ashamed that its been almost three weeks since we've met!  I can assure you that its certainly not because I've been sitting with my feet up watching bad reality TV...well, ok there has been some of that going on, but it's mostly because we are in full on baby mode at casa Kelly, and working on things like organizing the linen closet, painting walls, painting trim, and painting things we didn't even know needed pained (with low VOC paint in well ventilated areas, I assure you!) with other not-so-fun baby/house prep tasks thrown in here and there that just don't make for good blogging.  

I wish I had taken a before and after pic of the now nursery, as up until about 2 months ago the room was being used as a spare guest room, complete with a full size bed, extra furniture and lots of random crap (for lack of a better word) that there was no room for anywhere else in the house.  

I did find this Instagram picture I snapped of the baby's closet before it was cleaned out, so imagine this, times about a thousand for the amount of stuff that needed a new home in order to make room for baby.

Thankfully the end is near, and what was an old mis-mosh random spare room full of junk, is now a bright and airy cleaned out nursery, ready for all baby's things, and in a few short weeks, baby herself!

This weekend I made the trek out to our local Ikea, about 45 minutes away, as I knew I wanted an Expedit bookshelf for extra storage, with fabric bins to fit.  Of course while I was there I found about a hundred dollars worth of things I had no idea I needed, but clearly needed to come home with me, but that's neither here nor there.



I knew I wanted the white 8 compartment Expedit, and was torn on the bin color.  I liked the price of these fabric Drona bins, but the color selection left much to be desired.  While they did have a yellow option, the "yellow" bin that was available was more of a mustard yellow, and that really didn't fit in with the yellow and grey color scheme we have going on in the little lady's nursery.  I thought about getting pricier wicker ones, or plastic ones they had available, but wasn't sold on those options either.  I settled on the white Drona bins, thinking that even though they were white, and were destined to be destroyed, they were only $5.99 a bin, so it wouldn't be a huge investment to replace them when that time came.

Once I finally made it home, I immediately put the book case together, and while I was immensely pleased with it,  I couldn't get past the boring hum-drum white bins that were doing nothing for me.  So I started Googling "bins to fit Expedit bookcase" to look for other options, and then inspiration struck!  Silly me, with yards and yards of fabric downstairs, and a sewing machine to sew with, why not make covers for them!



In no time at all my boring white Drona fabric bins were transformed into fun grey and yellow bins that match the colors in the nursery perfectly.  I could not be more pleased with how these turned out, and for how easy and inexpensive they were to make, it will be a cinch to change them out on a whim.



Fabrics Used:
Premier Prints Ele Slub White/Yellow
Premier Prints Zig Zag Slub Yellow/White
Premier Prints ZigZag Twill Storm
Premier Prints Gotcha Twill Storm

In case you are interested in covering old bins you may be itching to change out, here's how I did it: (forgive my lack of pictures of the process)

1.  Measure the circumference of the bin you are covering, this will be your length measurement (for the Drona bins, this was about 55.5") I chose not to add any seam allowance to this measurement, as  I wanted a snug fit.

2.  Measure the height of the bin (for the Drona bins the height was 12.5") and add 2" (total height was 14.5").

3.  Cut fabric using measurement #1 as length and measurement #3 as height.

4.  Along both long edges fold raw edges up .5" and press.  Fold another .5" to enclose raw edges, press and top stitch both long edges in place.

5.  Now we will attach the short edges to each other to make a continuous fabric tube.  With right sides together, fold in half lengthwise (folded measurement should be 27.75" x 12.5" using Drona measurements).  Pin short raw edges (12.5" edges) together and stitch using 1/2" seam allowance.  Press seam open.

6.  Turn the fabric "tube" right side facing out and slide your bin into the fabric tube, covering all four exposed sides of the bin.

Really its as simple as that, you don't even need pictures of the process!  I promise it won't be 3 more weeks until my next post, but I can assure you it will likely be baby central in these parts, as were down to the last 8 weeks before our little lady is due to make her appearance!  Stay tuned for more nursery themed posts to come :-)

patchwork pretty:: a quilt top

I just can't seem to stop!  This little lady of ours is going to have more quilts than she knows what to do with when she's born, but you know what?  I'm really ok with that.  I have been eyeing my bundle of AMH voiles that I picked up from Westwood Acres and trying to decide on a quilt layout for some time now.  I knew I wanted something fairly simple to let the gorgeous prints be the focus, but nothing I came up with seemed to sit just right.




While perusing my blog list one day, inspiration struck as I read about Rita, of Red Pepper Quilts' postage stamp quilt!  I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do with these prints, just random enough to perfectly patchwork-y but not overly done so that the prints are really what stands out.  I followed Rita's tutorial, cutting my strips at 3" to end up with 2.5" finished patchwork squares.  This quilt came together quite quickly, and I even have enough strips left over to make a second quilt, with fabric to spare.  A very good friend of mine is also due in October, about a week before our little pumpkin is slated to make her arrival, and I think she will just love a quilt like this for her little lady too.



I am debating how to quilt this.  I am thinking something nice and simple, perhaps echoing the seam lines 1/4" on either side.  We will be headed to the beach soon for a family vacation and I'm toying with the idea of basting this and taking it with me to hand quilt with perle cotton thread.  I've done a little hand quilting here and  there, but nothing as large as an entire quilt, I'm afraid I'll get half way through and then abandon ship, and these fabrics are too pretty to end up in the WIP pile of abyss never to be seen again.

What do you think??  Try out a little hand quilting, or stick to what I know (and what I know I will finish)??

Block Tutorial: Hexagon Star Paper Piecing Templates

Happy Monday everyone!  I am finally posting the tutorial for my Hexagon Star block I designed for the last round of the 4x5 bee!  Only 3 months later, but who's counting.  I hate to admit, but my sewing machine has been completely neglected this past week, she's probably suffering from some sort of abandonment issues, but for good reason, I think I'm in full on nesting mode!  

I'm finding closets to organize and things inside them I didn't even know we had!  Last weekend we did a major purge via the neighborhood yard sale which felt great, and lately I think the drop off boys at Goodwill are getting to know me by name.  While unfortunately these things are eating up my sewing time, it does feel nice to be making room for baby (and organizing the heck out of our house in the meantime!).  This past weekend was spent painting the nursery, and I'm itching to get decorating in there! 

Anyways, onto what this post is really about, a free block tutorial for this glorious Monday! 

As was the same with my Wonky House paper piecing tutorial, I don't have step by step piecing instructions for this block included in this post.  If you are new to paper piecing, or need a refresher, there are so many awesome tutorials out in blogger-land, like my favorite from Faith of Fresh Lemon's Quilts, her paper piecing tutorial can be found here.

The Hexagon Star Paper Piecing Block templates can be found here.  Block size is 12.5" unfinished, or 12" finished.  Please be sure to download the templates to your computer before printing, as I've found the block sizing to be off when printing directly from Google Documents.  Also be sure to set your page scaling to "none" or select "Actual Size" from the page scaling options.



This block comes together quite easily, each template is labeled with a section "letter" and then the order to piece each section is indicated with a number.  Once your (6) sections are pieced and trimmed, piece sections A, B and C together, and then piece sections D, E and F together, using the above picture for reference.  Press seams open.  Lastly sew the two block halves together to form (1) 12.5" unfinished block.

If you happen to make a Hexagon Star block, I'd love to see your version in the SewCraftyJess Flickr Group!

I am itching to get back behind my machine, and show Bertha a little love, so hopefully this week I will dig out some time, in between closets I've found to organize (I'm looking at you, linen closet...) and stitch up something pretty with these amazing AMH voiles I picked up from amanda at Westwood Acres.  I'm thinking of some super simple patchwork, can't ever have enough!!

ziggity zag

I have had this quilt top in pieces on my design wall for what feels like eons, and it feels great to finally turn it into a quilt top, and not just any quilt top, but one for Baby Girl!  Aside from a few receiving blankets and burp clothes, and my granny square quilt I've had tucked away for this "hopefully sometime" baby, this is the first quilty sewing I've done for our little lady, and it just makes me smile thinking of all that baby girl cuteness playing on quilts that mama made for her :-)




As soon as we found out we were having a girl, I knew I wanted to make her a quilt using this Joel Dewberry Notting Hill fabric in the magenta color way.  All of those pinks and oranges just scream girly girl to me.  I went with a half square triangle layout using print on print HSTs and print paired with white HSTs for this fun zig zag quilt.  I love that the print zig zags are wider than the white, and these prints play so well together that they all sort of blend together into one when looking from afar.



I am thinking I want to back this in fleece, as I love how soft and cuddly my Scrappy Trip Along quilt is.   I may put this aside for a little while though, as the thought of doing anything with fleece while we are having temperatures in the 90s every day this week makes me cringe (and sweat) just a little, although perhaps I should get to basting while I can!

voile.

Oh I'm in love.  It's official.  My first time stitching with voile and I don't want to stitch with anything else.  It's silky smooth and feels like butter, and I can't imagine wrapping baby in anything more soft or luxurious feeling.  I have no idea if using voile is a good idea or not for whipping up a few burp cloths (using chenille as the underside) with the left overs, but I'm doing it anyways, as baby girl can't have enough hand made goods made of this stuff.

I picked up the voile fabric from Hawthorne Threads:  AMH Little Honey in berry, Valori Wells Shine in aqua, AMH Little Honey in gold and Joel Dewberry Tile Flourish in amber.  The flannel I picked up at Joann's on sale, I just love that grey bike print!  The pops of aqua and red are perfect.  I used the same self binding receiving blanket tutorial and backed these in flannel in the same way I made these flannel receiving blankets a few weeks back.



I love that these aren't quite as heavy as the flannel on flannel versions, and that the snuggle quotient is through the roof.  I just grabbed this AMH voile fat eighth bundle from Westwood Acres to make baby girl a voile quilt, as I already know she can't have enough of this silky goodness in her life.



I was a little nervous to start sewing with this stuff, as its quite slippery, but with many pins and using my walking foot, I had zero problems.  I can feel baby girl kicking away as I'm typing this, so I'm assuming that's her seal of approval!  Good taste even from inside the womb :-)

more kool aid drinking

I'm now 24 blocks in with the Tula Pink City Sampler Sew Along and I just can't seem to stop making blocks.  It's something about turning the page and seeing just one more itty bitty 6" block, and I say to myself, oh I can whip up just one more block...and this cycle continues until the three blocks I was initially planning on making turns into 12.  It seems to be working for me, I think I'm a little ahead of the sew along now, but I'll set aside these little guys with the first 12 blocks, and come back for 12 more blocks in another few weeks...or sooner.



These three little guys were the last of the cross blocks.  I'm loving how this sew along is really making me use the entire rainbow of colors.  It's very easy to fall into using colors in your "comfort zone" repeatedly and for me that's blues, and anything I can match with blue.  That green block in the middle almost made me cringe, with those muddy greens and yellows, but  turns out its one of my favorite blocks!



I'm also a fan of the quickest and easiest way to piecing these blocks, and look for short cuts when I can.  I took a deep breath when I saw block #17, all those teeny tiny 1/2" strips, but strip piecing was my friend, and in no time block 17 was complete.



I will say these blocks are trying my purple and pink stash and scrap bins.  Purple is by far the color I have the least of, and it seems that every other block has some sort of purple to be included.  I may be exaggerating, but it really is alot of purple. I'm really trying not to repeat fabrics, so hopefully I can hold out without having to buy more!



It would not have taken much convincing to make "just 3 more" but I reigned myself in and stopped at 12.



I pulled up last weeks TouchDraw drawing and inserted the newest 12 blocks into the layout, and this has me giddy enough to want to run home from work and make 12 more blocks to see them in the layout.  I'm becoming incredibly tempted to really push to get this done for our beach trip next month...that's not crazy, right??