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embroidered baby quilt

There is something in Nebraska’s water. The past few months and the next few months seem to be filled with babies, babies, babies! So, expect to see lots of cute things for my friends’ wee ones here on the blog.

embroidered eyelet baby quilt

This is a really basic blanket, but the eyelet fabric makes it extra special. Bonus: the eyelet fabric was already quilted, so no need for batting!

embroidered eyelet baby quilt

I added an embroidered monogram to make it a little bit more fancy. I love the contrast of the dark pink on light pink!

stash: Eyelet fabric was from someone who was selling her grandmother’s fabric stash. Pink check fabric was the very first fabric I purchased when I got my sewing machine. Monogram letters from Sublime Stitching.

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embroidered sun pillow

handmade embroidered sunshine pillow

A few months ago, my daughter was drawing at her easel while I was making dinner. She said, “Look, Mom! A sun!” Not only was it a sun, but it was her very first face, complete with two eyes, a nose and a smile. Since then, she’s drawn lots of suns with faces: fat ones, small ones, some even with freckles. This one is special, though. This one was the first.

handmade embroidered sunshine pillow

I decided to share her sun with her grandparents for Christmas. I took a photo of her original artwork, printed it and traced over it with a marker. Then I taped it to a window, taped the fabric over the paper, and traced it with disappearing ink. After embroidering it, I sewed it up into a pillow cover.

handmade embroidered sunshine pillow

I hope to make one for myself this year. Maybe a smaller version for her room? She loves her sun and has the printout taped to her wall. I’ve got the original tucked away for safe keeping.

stash: Everything except the pillow forms came from my stash. The upholstery fabric colors were perfect for this project and I used quite a bit of yellow embroidery thread.

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handmade gift bag that’s also a gift

Yesterday we went to John Deere-themed birthday party for a four-year-old boy. My husband asked, “could we just buy a gift? Does everything have to be handmade? Can’t we get something from the store?” I agreed, as long as we didn’t buy him an actual tractor toy. I figured every four-year-old boy must have at least some kind of tractor, right? How would we know what to get? What if someone gets him the same tractor? Let’s get him some books about tractors instead. And maybe some tractor stickers, too. As my husband bought into my reasoning, I was secretly planning a handmade, tractor-themed, re-usable gift bag.

reusable gift bag

I admit I was planning to buy some John Deer fabric to make this. Just before I left the house, I decided to dig through my stash and I found two fat quarters of tractor-green fabric! I think it’s a polyester blend and it feels way more durable than quilting cotton. I figured I could make my own tractor-themed artwork with my new hobby.

tractor embroidery

In the end, my husband and I were both happy with our gift. I hope my daughter’s friend will be, too.

recycle: I bought a big stack of colored cloth napkins at a garage sale awhile ago. I think they were napkins. They kind of feel like the fabric used to make restaurant napkins, except they were every color of the rainbow and only a few matched. Whatever they used to be, they are nice and sturdy. I think they’ll be great for storing all kinds of tractors and trucks.

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handmade birthday gifts: embroidered
tea towels

Back in June I tried my hand at cross stitch. It didn’t turn out very well. I had a really hard time getting all of those little x’s lined up. In hindsight, I think I needed to use different fabric—something with more of a grid-like structure. I really loved the idea of a customizable tea towel so I didn’t give up!

embroidered tea towels

These are birthday gifts for my brother- and sister-in-law. They have very diverse interests: he’s a city guy who loves playing his guitar and she’s a country gal who loves riding her horse.

Embroidery is so cool! It lets me make matching gifts for two people with completely different favorite things. Seriously. Where can you find matching music/horse anything?

Here’s a close up of the guitar. The artwork is from Sublime Stitching. All of Jenny Hart’s stuff is so cute!

sublime stitching jenny hart guitar teatowel

Here’s a close up of the horseshoe. The artwork is from some clipart on my computer. I had to simplify it a bit before I could use it for stitching.

sublime stitching jenny hart guitar teatowel

Aren’t those french knots cute? Now I am totally in love with stitching and I can’t wait to try something else!

project notes: Tea towel pattern from Linen, Wool, Cotton. Guitar from Sublime Stitching. Linen fabric and embroidery thread from my stash.

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wardrobe refashion: dressing up a pair of flip flops

What kind of shoes should a three-year-old girl wear to a beach wedding in October? Will the weather be warm or cold? Should the shoe be casual or dressy? Should you invest in sandals that will probably be too small by next Spring? Where are you even going to find sandals this late in the season?

I decided to take some simple, casual flip flops and dress them up. Here is the before picture:

dress up a pair of flip flops

Step 1
I took four strands of embroidery thread and weaved them through the existing stitches with a needle.

dress up a pair of flip flops

Step 2
I crocheted a flower and stitched a button on the center. Then I sewed the flower onto the strap.

dress up a pair of flip flops

Step 3
I tried to get my daughter to wear them, but she wasn’t interested at all. In fact, she wound up wearing her sporty little sandals with her cute frilly dress. I guess I can always remove the flowers and put them on another pair of flip flops next season.

dress up a pair of flip flops

refashion: I used embroidery thread, cotton yarn and vintage buttons from my stash. The flip flops came from Once Upon a Child. The crochet flower pattern is from My Crochet Stuff.

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my creative space

linen tea towels and wool knit gloves

Today my creative space is filled with gift making. I’m embroidering, sewing, and knitting and having so much fun! Unfortunately, I can’t show you more until after the gifts have been delivered.

I can tell you that I am making more tea towels and really need to get practicing with that rolled hem foot again. I’d really like to make some more towels and napkins for my family. They don’t need to be fancy, but we should be using them more than we use paper towels and napkins.

Visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.