Bib and Zig

I found out in February that my cute twin sister is expecting her first baby girl in July after having two boys. I was so excited to get working on a little quilt for her. I have been deprived of baby girl sewing for quite some time and my fingers were itching to do something pink!

I had started making squares using the string quilt technique even before I left Washington about a year ago for new quilts for the girls bedroom. But I never finished. So there sat beautiful Amy Butler fabric squares with no new home. I decided I would have to make something brilliant for Bryn. I agonized what to do for a quilt for her, because I just wasn't happy with lining up all the squares and sewing them in a straight line. After days of walking into my sewing room, rearranging squares with white fabric, walking away, coming back, rearranging more, etc, I dug through my boxes to find my one and only quilt book. I saw a pattern for a big zig quilt. Bingo.

I cut all the squares into triangles and used that pattern as my inspiration. But we all know how big chevron anything is right now, so it's not like this is revolutionary. I am happy to say that I worked it out to accommodate what I already had, and I loved the final outcome. I am not a big "quilter" so I just ran a zig zag running stitch through each chevron strip and called it good. I'm a less is more kind of gal anyway. We are short on fabric stores here, so I went to Joanns and found some subtle ticking strips in the perfect pink for a dainty backing fabric.

With a few extra squares, I made this totally impractical bib. I had to add some fabric flowers since the fabric flower craze came well after my little girl was born. Oh how fun it is to sew for little girls!

I gathered some adorable little outfits, a hot pink stuffed elephant, little Sunday shoes and sewed up some burp rags in coordinating fabric to send off just in time for her shower. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to keep everything for myself! There is no one else I would rather send it to though! Can't wait to meet my new little niece!

Please excuse the poor quality of pictures. Not enough light, not enough time, and certainly not enough creativity to come up with anything more fancy!

Easy Canvas Backpacks

I, for one, absolutely hate my girls Easter outfits thanks to the months and months of seeing them at the top of this sorry blog. Blek! So for the sake of so many (and by so many, I mean the 7 maybe that might come back every now and again to see if there is anything new) I am adding a recent project.

I try to make something homemade for my kids for Christmas. I saw these backpacks near the beginning of school, but refused to pay $38.00 a piece for canvas backpacks. I guess I filed them away in my head subconsciously, because when I needed an idea a few months ago to help keep my kids happy during church with my husband no longer sitting with us, I remembered these babies right away and thought they would be the perfect Christmas gift to sew after having a baby. Simple, quick, and easy.

Luckily I had also filed away a tutorial for these cute, Valentine chair backers and thought I could adjust for what I wanted. I am so happy with the results. But how hard was it? I mean really. I copied someones overpriced (although extremely cute) idea and pretty much copied someones tutorial. There wasn't a lot of creativity or originality involved, but at least I sewed something for Christmas that my kids love. And they were cheap-cheap to make...my favorite kind of project.

I put inside some Color Wonder books and markers (love those for Sunday clothes and no mess). They also got a small notebook with one of those pens that have the four colors to choose from. My girls think those are the greatest pens ever. And that's it. Less is more when we're at church. I've found that if they have a few markers and a pen with a notebook things go a whole lot better than when I have a duffel bag full of everything but the kitchen sink. I keep the bags up in my closet until Sunday, and put them right away when we get home. That way, hopefully, the novelty won't wear off. But what works for you at church? I'd like to add a rotation of a few things to keep them from getting bored. Any ideas out there?