Birthday Bugs

These colorful bugs were made for my niece's birthday in November. E turned 4 and I was looking for a relatively quick project that I hadn't attempted before. Poking around online I found sewing projects for toys of all kinds. Taking inspiration from several sources, I decided to create a colorful bug menagerie. I drew some templates on index cards.  The circles were traced from various jar lids and the butterfly wings were freehand.

Gave myself basic patterns

The underside of the bugs are single pieces cut from an upholstery remnant. This gave me a solid piece to sew the front layers to and it made all of the bottom sides of the bugs very smooth and soft.

Fabric for bug bottoms

The top layers of the bugs were cut out of scraps pulled from the collection. Some of these pieces were pretty small and it was a good way to use them up.

Mixing and matching for a variety of bugs

Layers of fabric were sewn onto the backing with a zig-zag stitches in a range of thread colors.

Edges were not finished, but upholstery fabric will not fray

Eyes, mouths, antennae, and legs were added by hand and were made from various found objects.

Snaps, beads, metallic thread, raffia ribbon add details

He's got legs

For the butterfly, I tried out a few rarely used stitches on my Bernina 1230 and used up some thread spools of various colors. 

Only one butterfly

All the bugs were tucked into an envelope and mailed to my niece. My sister said E named them all when she opened the envelope. I don't know if they'll remain an interesting toy, but they were fun for me to make.

Who let the bugs out?

Baby Play Mat

This was a project that K and I made for a co-workers new granddaughter. We started with a rough idea and took inspiration from several pictures online, but our mat ended coming together through a variety of twists and turns. Once we settled on incorporating flip-up tabs with pictures, we had fun cutting out pieces from both of our fabric stashes.  We decided to make all of the tops of the flaps with an assortment of pink fabrics that complemented each other and then the pictures underneath the flaps included a wide variety of logos, cartoons, writing, etc. The letters for spelling the new baby's name are also mixed in among fish, flowers, food, animals, Cubs fabric, and my favorite--a typewriter--because that might be the only typewriter she sees in her lifetime :)

The ribbon that secures all of the flaps is blue as that was what we had available.  I used my 201 to sew through the multiple layers of fabric, denim, and ribbon---it handled everything with no problems.

Originally, the background for the flaps was going to be a patterned fabric, but a trip to mom's house turned up a fantastic stash of denim that could be repurposed. I ended up cutting and piecing together a background from three pairs of jeans. We really liked the softness of the worn denim and the durability it provided. This mat will be easy to throw in the washing machine whenever that is needed.

Patchwork denim

For the backing we used fabric that had the alphabet and corresponding pictures. I basted the mat at home and then handed it off to K who did all of the quilting at her house.

Lainie helped with the basting

She did a free-hand squiggle and it added such a great texture. The flaps are not quilted, nor is the blue ribbon. K also left the little pocket in the background that I pieced in there.

Look at that fabulous quilting

For the binding, the mat came back to me and I made the binding from scraps of the pink fabrics we used for the flaps. Again, I used my 201 to sew on the binding and then finished it by hand.

Trimmed and reading for binding

Finishing the binding

After a good washing, the blanket was wrapped up and delivered to the baby's grandmother who would share it later.  K and I were so happy with how this project turned out. We made a great team throughout the process. Whether we met and were working on a step together or moved things along at our own houses, we communicated regularly and combined skills and creativity for top-notch results. I could definitely see us working together again.  I hope baby enjoys playing on the mat as much as we enjoyed making it.

Finished back

Baby Blocks

Blocks, view 1: fabric from Aunt Marlene's pillow, Grandma's shirt, Aunt Courtney's skirt

This project was so fun to put together. I was looking for something new to try as a gift for my niece or nephew who will be born in June. Before starting, I read several different tutorials online for various types and sizes of fabric blocks and then set out to make a set of my own. I used a wide variety of fabrics that were left over from previous projects-- items of clothing, upholstery, quilting, weaving, etc.  I started by sorting through my fabric stash and then pulled from Mom's stash as well. There are all sorts of patterns, textures, and colors mixed in to the blocks. Some blocks were fussy cut to get a specific pattern, some were pieced from multiple scraps, and others were just eked out of a smaller scrap.

Pile of fabric waiting to become blocks

The blocks were sewn together on my Bernina 717. This machine handled the range of fabrics beautifully. Ten of the twelve seams on each block were machine were sewn. The last two were left open so that I could put in the foam later. I intended to leave myself fabrics that would be friendly for hand sewing at the end, but I did forget and leave one leather/lace piece that would have benefitted from being sewn by machine.
I had planned to purchase foam from Joann's, but when I went to check out their selection one of the sales people said that she was sure I could get a better price online. They had very large sheets of foam, 3-6' in each direction, and it was going to be costly to cut off the smaller size I would need. I was able to find a smaller piece of foam online and it was sent to me in about 4 days.
When the foam arrived a friend offered to share her electric knife so that I could cut it into blocks.

Classic avocado green

The blocks were measured at about 3 7/8" square so that they would fit in the 4" cubes. The knife cut the foam like butter and I was able to get 9 full blocks cut with some partial pieces leftover. After inserting the foam into the block cases, I finished the last two seams on each block by hand. Most of these fabrics have a story or project associated with them and I had great time with the memories they invoked. It will be some time before my niece or nephew is able to appreciate the fabric stories but hopefully, he or she will enjoy the colors, patterns, and textures before then.

Blocks, view 2

Some of the fabrics included above: denim from Dad's jeans, Grandma's pants, sleeve placket from Grandpa's plaid shirt, chick from Aunt Courtney's sewing machine cover.

Blocks, view 3

More fabrics included: Uncle Phil's boxers, Aunt Marlene's upholstery fabric, Aunt Courtney's dress

Spool Birds for My Niece

Baby on the way...

No, not to this house, to my sister's house in Minnesota.  My fourth niece is due to be born in February, and we're eager to meet this little one.  When I started thinking about my gift for the new baby, I tried to think outside the box.  I come from a family of talented quilters, knitters, weavers, and sewers so this baby will have no shortage of made-with-love items to welcome her home.  For my gift I wanted to challenge myself to try something new.  I was looking at ideas for nursery decorations, toys, and crib mobiles.  Several times I came across a version of a crib mobile or nursery decoration that incorporated birds and each time I liked the idea of working with birds.  The pattern I decided to use is for Spool Birds designed by Michael Fulkerson.  These birds were designed to be sewn by hand, and I thought it would be a nice break from machine sewing for awhile.  The fabric I decided to use was from an estate sale this summer--yay, I found perfect project for the vintage fabric!  I decided to make the birds in three sizes, and I started by printing out the pdf pattern.

Only 2 pieces per bird

I used nylon thread to make seams invisible

I decided to make eight total birds and that meant I didn't have to use any of the fabrics more than once. It really was delightful sewing these up.  I was picturing my niece looking at the fabrics and shapes in a few months as she lay in her bed. I chose not to put eyes on the birds, but I think the shape and fabrics are endearing as they are.

All of the seams get done except for the end of the tail and then the birds are flipped inside out and stuffed.  I put quilt batting in my birds, and I had a bit of supervision during this process.  Stewie yielded to the siren call of a warm and fluffy sleeping surface.

Yes, this quilt batting is good for snuggling

The final seam is put on the tail and then the birds, themselves, are finished.

The flock is growing

The birds were finished one day and then next day T and I went for a walk around the neighborhood in search of the perfect perching branch.  I carried home several possibilities and now we have a pile of second, third, and fourth choices in the back garden.  The chosen branch was hung from the dining room chandelier and then the birds flew up to secure their roosting positions.  There is a pair of love birds that chose to sit together, a group of chatterboxes meeting for a circle gab session, two kids hopping about on the various branch levels, and one lone bird singing to himself on the end.  The birds chose their spots and then I just secured them to the branch so they didn't have to worry about falling off.  When everyone was comfortable, we moved the branch out to the yard for a few pictures.

Here's the whole gang

Kids hopping on the left and the gab session on the right

Lovebirds

I have done a little reading about birds and it turns out they're good omens.  So, my dear niece, you'll have some powerful friends and protectors in your nursery. 

 "In fact, most things associated with birds tend to spell good fortune, such as when birds fly to your home and start making nests in and around your house. While bats bring abundance, birds bring good news and opportunities. The next time a flock of ravens, pigeons or magpies come to your home, feed them with bird seeds. Birds are also said to be powerful protectors and guardians."   WOFS.com

The birds travelled to Minnesota this week and hopefully, I'm posting this after my sister has seen the finished project.