T-Shirt Quilt is FInished!!

Now that Christmas is over and all of my gifts are delivered, I can post the finished t-shirt quilt.  I love it, and more importantly my husband loves it.  When I gave it to him, I joked that it was his Father's Day, Birthday, and Christmas gift because that is how long it took me to finish it.  Now on to the photos:

My sewing machine isn't the greatest so I decided to hand tie the quilt. I used navy blue embroidery floss in the intersections.  It took about an hour and a half and I love the way it makes the quilt fluffy.

The back was pieced with three different fabrics.

And for the close up:

I hope you enjoyed following my progress on my first large quilt.  Now onto planning more quilts for the coming new year.

Fabric Friday

Today I scored some great fabric from Hobby Lobby.  I went in and found some Rober Kaufman Boy Scout prints on CLEARANCE!!  They were $5 a yard and will be perfect for my boy scout camp t-shirt quilt.  Now that I found the perfect fabric, I will be able to finish my husband's quilt this weekend while he goes hunting.

I also found a great print for Caire's birthday dress.  She loves Cars the movie, so I thought it was perfect! I picked up some coordinating ribbon to make a few cute hair bows.

Progress on the T-Shirt Quilt

Last April/May I decided to make a quilt out of 10 seasons worth of camp staf t-shirts as a gift to my husband on Father's Day.  Well, we are now 11 days from Christmas and I have just finished the top.  It was a ton of work, but I am so glad that I finally finished it last night.

Here it was after I made a little progress in September (before the move):

And then we moved back to our home in central Texas, where it stayed boxed up for months.  My husband has been at annual training for almost two weeks now so I decided to start working on his quilt again.  The quilt is not a secret because I had to ask him if I could cut up all his t-shirts, but with him out of the house I was able to have the space I needed to work on the quilt.

On tuesday I went from a crumpled up mess to this:

 I stayed up till midnight and might have stayed up later, but my sewing machine was giving me problems and I was making too many mistakes.  So I put it up and went to bed.  This morning, I woke up and got back to work and finished that last few squares.

Now it is time to decide on a backing and how to quilt it.  So far I am thinking of stitching in the ditch, with some tracing around some of the graphics.  The quilt is gigantic and takes up nearly the entire living room, so we will see how much more ambitious I can be.  This may still end up being a Father's Day gift.

iPhone Charger Holder

Do you ever need the counter space where you are charging your phone? Or do you ever plug your phone into the charger and lay it on the floor?  With two iPhones in the house we are always fighting for a safe spot to charge our phones.  Here is a solution I found on Pinterest the other day. This was a great scrap buster project and took only 30 minutes from start to finish.  The only problem I have is that the pocket is to small, it needs to come up higher on the phone.

Jewelry Roll..the first try

I decided it was best that I do a prototype of my jewelry roll with some fabric from my stash before I cut up my nice fat quarters from the quilt shop.  Once I get a final version I will post a tutorial for people to make their own.

All folded up it looks nice:

BUt when opened up  I just don't like it:

And here it is with some jewelry:

I think I made it too big.  So for the next one I am going to:

•  Make the pockets smaller.
• Use some of the outer fabric on the inside to break it up and give it interest.
• Add a pocket to the top.
• Round the edges on the top more.  

I hope you all stick around for the next one.  Hopefully it isn't a failure like this one.  

Work in Progress Wednesday...a day late.

Yesterday was a very busy day.  In one hour I went from going to my husband's Army Dining Out this weekend to him leaving on Friday for a two-week training.  It as a very hectic day for us going to get our IDs updated and all of his stuff together.  My living room is now full of Army junk.

Now onto the fun stuff.  I have been working on a Christmas quilt for my daughter and all I have left is to bind it.  Here is a sneak peak with a full post on it coming soon:

Now on to my dad's gifts.  I have completed one tool roll and then my daughter promptly cut the ribbons that tied it together.  I will have to fix it and make another one.  I love the fabric, take a look:

Now on to the jewelry rolls. I visited my local quilt shop and found some great prints for my mom's jewelry roll.  Before I cut into the beautiful fabric I am going to test my pattern this weekend.

The only good thing about my husband being gone is that I will have time to finish up all of my projects before Christmas.

Russian Punchneedle Igolochkoy

A few weeks ago my mom and I went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  While there we met Gail Bird at her booth and she introduced us to Russian Punchneedle Igolochkoy.  It is an embroidery technique that creates a loop on the right side of the fabric.  If you would like more instructions or information check out Gail Bird's website.

I plan on creating a few holiday items in the next week to applique onto Claire's clothing and I can't wait to  start sharing.

Turkey Shirt!

I love this turkey shirt made from Claire's hands.  From start to finish it took 20 minutes to complete and Claire loves it.  If you would like instructions head on over to Treasures for Tots blog. If you are looking for a last minute project, I highly recommend this project.  I had everything on hand, which meant it cost nothing but a little time.

I made a few minor changes.  I had sew on goggly eyes, so I sewed on the eyes instead of glueing them.  I also made a tiny bow and sewed it on.

Now on to another project on my long list.

Work in Progress Wednesday

This year I am making quite a few Christmas gifts for my family and I need to get started if I want to get them all done.  Here is my list of on going projects and my progress:

Husband:

T-Shirt Quilt in progress

       I need to finish the t-shirt quilt I started for Father's Day.  I have a long way to go. I still need to piece about 60% of the quilt.

Mom, Mother-in-Law, and a tester for me:

      A travel jewelry roll. I have picked out fabrics from my stash and then I need to design and create a pattern.

Daughter:
 
     A christmas quilt, turkey shirt, and christmas dress. For the Christmas quilt I have a Moda jelly roll and backing.  After much deliberation I have chosen a pattern and will begin cutting this week.  I have brown fabric for the turkey shirt and I need to settle on a design soon.  And I have nothing for the dress.

Dad:

     Two roll up tool holders.  My mom and I picked up some cute fabric and I have the tool dimensions.

This year Claire was Princess Pea from Super Why! for Halloween.  Claire is obsessed with princess dresses, so I picked out a princess from her favorite show.  The dress was fairly simple, I began with The Party Dress from The Cottage Home.  Then I started to adjust it to make it more like Princess Pea.

The first thing I did was make it longer. The original pattern hits Claire just below the knee, I extended it a few inches to hit her lower calf.  If I had to do it again, I would shorten it just a bit more to make it easier to walk in.

Then I added a second layer of gathered chiffon. I used the same dimensions as the satin skirt to make it nice and full.    

The final addition to the skirt was to make the satin slip on top.  I draped the fabric over one side of the dress and cut two.  Instead of hemming the slip I folded the green satin in half and sewed it to the edge.

I also made bias tape out of the green satin and edged the arm holes and neck hole. Then I added a felt star to the front and a cape to the back.

The costume turned out great and we had a great time trick or treating in the neighborhood with her dad, the monkey.

Recent Projects

I am going to be playing catch up for a few days to post all of my recent projects including items for a Cabbage Patch newborn doll and a Halloween costume.

So for project number one this fall:

I started to use up scraps and make some clothes for Claire's baby. I found a great and versatile pattern at Art Threads.  I used the nightgown pattern to create a shirt and paired it with a simple gathered skirt.

Also pictured is the new quilt and pillow I made for the doll to match the bassinet I made earlier this year.

It is officially my first completed quilt. It was nice to practice on something so small and I made some ugly mistakes. I am glad I made my mistakes on a small scale and now I am ready to take on my larger projects.

New Projects to come!

Claire is now two and a half and ready for potty training.  We have had a lot of changes over the last few months and I did not feel like pushing her.  Well, I think the time has come.  She has stripped down naked the last few times I have put a diaper on her.

I have decided that one of my next projects will be training pant covers.  We have a bunch of Gerber cotton training pants, but we need some cute covers to help contain the mess.  After searching, I have found that there will be a new line of diaper making products at Joann's, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock Fabrics.   All of which are within a 30 minute drive of my home.  I can't wait to get started, the prints look great and I like all of the accessories you can buy to embellish. 

Check out their Facebook page for more pictures and to keep updated on when they launch their line.

Projects from the summer

This summer my husband and I worked at a Boy Scout camp.  We took Claire and I made her some staff dresses so she would match the rest of the staff.  The dress took less than 30 minutes start to finish and is a great way to makeover T-shirts.  I will probably make a few t-shirt dresses out of some old (or new) Longhorn and Cowboy's shirts. It is a much cheaper alternative than buying a dress.

Back to sewing...working on the quilt

It has been a few months since I touched my sewing machine.  I was able to do a few simple projects this summer, but there just wasn't enough time.  We are settled in our rental home for the time being and the sewing machine has been unpacked.

I spent the day working on the T-Shirt quilt.  It is time consuming and more difficult that I expected.  I am hanging in there though and made some great progress.

I am piecing out the quilt on a bed sheet with the hopes of keeping everything sorted while I am working.  I still have a lot more cutting and sewing to do before the top is finished.

Top Left Corner

Top Right Corner

So much left to do.

No more sewing for awhile.

It has been about 2 weeks since I touched my machine and it may be a lot longer until I get back to it.  My husband and I have moved out to a boy scout camp to get ready for the summer camp season.  We have been working really hard and living in a small 2 room cabin. There is just no space or time for a sewing. 

When I am able to post, I will just post some things that inspire me or things I would like to finish when I get back to my sewing machine.

Father's Day Quilt, Planning Stages

The other day I decided to make a quilt for my husband as a Father's Day gift.  I wanted it to be special and made just for him. My husband is now the camp director for the local boy scout camp and has been on staff since 2003. We have tons of old staff t-shirts that just sit in drawers and take up space.  I decided to use up all of the old shirts and make him a quilt for Father's Day.


I searched online for designs, and I could not find one I liked.  I want a modern quilt that will display a variety of design sizes and showcase each of the shirts. I finally found the design I liked in a magazine.  I have done my best to replicate the design below on an excel spread sheet.  The next step is to fuse all of the shirts to interfacing and cut out my squares. Hopefully I can get that done today.

 

Spring Dress!

I love the spring fabric at Joann's. The Tutti-Frutti collection has been my favorite. The collection is full of bright colors and fun prints.  I chose to combine the lady bug print and the purple stripe fabrics and create a simple dress for Claire.  Simplicity pattern 3511 was very easy to follow and I spent one evening putting the dress together.

Back to Blogging and the Party Dress

After a long time away from sewing and my blog, I am back with a new project.  It was a very simple dress that took a few hours to put together.  However, it took around four hours to decide which of my fabrics I wanted to use. 

I used The Party Dress tutorial and pattern from The Cottage Home.  I hope everyone enjoys the pattern as much as I do.  I am keeping it book marked for the future.

Happy Birthday Claire!!!

Claire turned 2 this past week. I made her a cute little dress with  some fabric I got from Joann's awhile back. I used McCall's 6060 as a pattern for the dress.  It was my first zipper and it turned out great.  I added leggings and a t-shirt because it is still a little cooler out here.   Winter is over around here and I want this dress to be worn for awhile.

A little late...no maybe a lot late...Week 3 Sewing Challenge

I am way late on the sewing challenge.  Week 3 was to create something to fit in the theme "Picture Perfect."  It could be anything for a camera. Unfortunately I was away from my sewing machine for the week.

Claire and I were visiting Jay in Oklahoma at Fort Sill for the week.  We had a great time exploring Lawton and the surrounding area.  It was so nice to spend time with my husband for longer than 36  hours.  Since we were stuck in a hotel room there was no sewing, but I did take some awesome pictures on Valentine's Day.  I made the dress, so it counts as sewing.

This is my favorite picture.  It is of Claire and her Dada at the top  of Mt Scott, in the Wichita Mountains. The other photos are from the rest of the day and our visit to the Fort Sill outdoor museum.

Week 2 of the Blog Sewing Challenge!!

I am a little late on posting and will probably post a week 3 announcement very soon.  The week two challenge was anything inspired by Valentine's day or P.J.s of any kind. 


I chose to do a cute Valentine's Day inspired flower bow to go with DD's Valentine's dress and skirt.  I hope you like. 

Discount on My Etsy Shop!!!

To clear out some of my Etsy Inventory, I am offering a 20% discount on my Valentine's Day hair bows and bracelets until Thursday at 2:00 pm CST.  I will ship Thursday at 4:30 pm. 

Coupon Code: VDAY2011

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cgomez113

So shop a little and I will ship quickly with a discount!

Week 1 of the Blog Sewing Challenge!!

The blog sewing challenge just kicked off!  A group of ladies from the Baby Center Community have decided to come up with two project every week and complete one.  This week our choices were a Crochet Needle Case or a Sewing Machine Cover.

Everyone is invited to take on the challenge and spark up some of that creativity.  Please link your projects and blogs below to share your projects. 

I will be heading to Joann's Fabrics to pick up some fabrics to start my sewing machine cover.  I can't wait to get started.  I will add some photos when I am finished.

So I am back and I have finished my sewing cover.  I used Sew4Home Tutorial but made some adjustments.  I don't see a need for a pocket so I left that out. I also made the center fabric larger because I love the pattern so much.

I also made a matching Cricut cover.  I used the same concept as the sewing machine cover so they would match.  I think I am going to use the two fabrics for some other things, like a ribbon board and some other things so I can use it as a backdrop for my Etsy shop.

Post Your Pictures Here:

Heart Felt Bracelets

Nothing too exciting today.  I have been meaning to finish up some heart bracelets for my shop and Claire.  Check out my bracelets and more to come at my Etsy shop (links on the right)

Now on to figuring out what I am going to do next.

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