Family Room Updates

I mentioned in my 2011 Home Decor Goals post that I wanted to update the fabric & accessories in our family room. Well, after a bit of time behind my sewing machine, it's (mostly) updated! Just a few new fabrics to replace our curtains, couch pillows, and hearth cover.

Our previous curtains were a dark reddish-burgundy from Pottery Barn Outlet (love that place!).

Our new curtains are a simple quilting fabric from Joann's (on sale for $3.99 a yard!). Tiny white dots on red fabric, which really brightens it up. It's called "Small Dots on Lipstick"

Here's a comparison - new curtains on right, old curtains on left. So much brighter & cheerier!

Our old pillows (under Little Man's head) had to go...

 They were replaced by these new yellow & red pillows I made. These are both heavier-duty fabrics, canvas I think, which is great considering they take a lot of abuse. That yellow-stripe fabric came from Ikea and they only charged me $0.99 for the yard! I should have bought more! The solid red fabric is a remnant I picked up somewhere and the polka-dot is leftover scrap from a quilt.

The hearth cover (made by my in-laws & is a safety God-send with a very active toddler) needed to be updated as well. I ran across this fabric at Joann's - it's an outdoor fabric from the Better Homes & Garden's line. Again, sturdy and can withstand the daily abuse. Plus the navy background pulls our navy leather furniture in perfectly.

Here's a close-up, so vibrant & fun!

Little Man also loves it. He immediately made a bed out of it...silly boy!

So the only thing left to do with my fabric update is the curtains for the backside of the room. I have the fabric but need to pick up two short matching rods (from Target - they were out last week). I think it will really tie it all together! 

Contoured Burp Cloth Tutorial Mash-Up

Anyone else a Glee fan? I love a Mash-Up, so I had to use it in my post title.

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For the Sip & See, I needed a simple, yet useful baby shower gift (actually we've had a baby BOOM lately & I've needed lots of gifts & some I'm not done with yet, but that's besides the point). I knew I wanted to make something (because I love handmade gifts!), but I wasn't quite sure what. I had bookmarked several baby-gift tutorials, but finally decided on contoured burp cloths.

I combined this tutorial with this tutorial to make something that was just right!

I started with a few flannel receiving blankets (regular flannel yardage would work too, but these colors were perfect for our shower theme), a yard of chenille, and some batting I had leftover from a quilting project.

When I finished, I had three contoured burp cloths with batting, making them extra absorbent.

They fit perfect over your should and contour around your neck while still giving you plenty of coverage for spit-up.

 The burp cloths, a package of those sweet Pampers Swaddlers diapers, all wrapped up in a cute personalized tub was quite a useful gift. Fashion & form - gotta love it!

More Quilt Productivity

It's been 3 months since my last productive quilting time, but I've finally had a bit more productiveness in my version of this Raw Edge Circle Quilt. My circles have been cut out, sewn on the larger squares, cut into fourths, and matched up to make larger blocks. Now it's time to sew the small squares into one large block. It looks so random, colorful, and fun - I just can't wait to get the top pieced together! Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before that happens...  :)

Got felt?

I promise I have more going on in my life than coupons, groceries, & cooking...even if my blog posts don't reflect that. I have an entire shelf of sewing projects waiting to be worked on, as well as Little Man's ABC Quilt I need to continue hand-quilting. And let's not even think about the bathrooms that I constantly avoid cleaning.

What is intriguing me most right now is the huge pile of felt that I got at a crazy cheap price at Joann's after Thanksgiving sale. I'm planning to make a lot of felt food to go with Little Man's kitchen he'll be getting for his birthday (in July - I'm a planner). I'm also planning to make a felt playhouse similar to this. I'm looking for some other felt crafts, so if you read this & have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Last of the Handmade Holidays

Here is my last post of my handmade holiday items for 2009. I have really enjoyed this & will probably try to be more organized to get things done in a timely fashion next year. 


You don't know this, but I come from a family of giants. I am the shortest child & I'm just short of 6 feet tall. Both of my brothers are over 6'2, my dad is 6'4 & my husband is 6'5. See, GIANTS. Sometimes people stare if we're all standing together in a crowd. Or maybe they're just trying to see over us. Not gonna happen people. Anyway, since we are giants regular blankets just don't cut it for us usually. My MIL made a 6' fleece blanket (made of fleece from our alma mater) for us a few years ago & I'm pretty sure we've used it more than any other gift EVER. Seriously, we use it everyday...it's wonderful. I thought it would be great to make one for both of my "little" brothers. The littlest bro's school does not have fleece by the yard that you can purchase (or at least that I could find), so I had to go with camo. Perfect since he's a hunter & general outdoorsman. The middle bro's alma mater is regularly available, even though it pained me to purchase it - I did it anyway. That's love people. LOVE. Of course, he loves me too - he took this picture with me right after we beat them for the 3rd year in a row in football. See lots of love in our family. Anyway - I purchased 2 1/3 yards of each, hemmed them up & here are some pictures. 

Told you they were big! This is hanging over a door.

We decided to do a "service exchange" with my BIL, the Reddneck (I promise this is not derogatory, he likes this name & has it as part of his business title - including this spelling which drives me nuts!). He might be a Reddneck, but he has a heart of gold & always helps us whenever we need him. And he loves Little Man to pieces! The only thing I really wanted from him was to detail my car. He did this once & oh my goodness. It looked better than when it was new! Since money is pretty tight, we thought it would be perfect to do a service exchange - free & exactly what we each want. He's a single dad & has his boys every other week, so I thought the following were perfect "coupons" for him:

Now, my wonderful husband couldn't think of a service to offer, so who knows what he'll end up doing with this coupon:

I made these "coupons" on my Digital Scrapbooking software. I can't remember where I got these kits, but I'm sure they are from a generous person who has free kits on the internet. If you recognize them, please leave a comment & I'll be happy to give credit where credit is due.

To recap, we gave away 20 jars of pickles to friends & coworkers, created 4 "Garden Goodies" Baskets for grandparents & friends, made one Kid Toolbelt for a friend who is getting a tool table for Christmas (now I need to make one for my own Little Man), sewn 2 HUGE fleece blankets, and made one set of service coupons. I am way more excited about these items than the things I bought in the stores, although those items are nice too.


And a follow up...Little Man's girlfriend LOVED her apron & chef hat. She put it on immediately & trotted around the house saying "Tank You! Tank You!" 

It's all adjustable, so it actually fits better than this picture shows. She just wouldn't stay still long enough for us to tighten it up.

And she loved pulling the hat down over her head...she's just too funny!

Happy Handmade Holidays to you & your family! I'd love to see your handmade presents, please leave a comment with a link if you've made some.

Project Completed: Kids Chef Hat

Yay! A finished a sewing project tonight that I've been really excited about. It's a kid's reversible apron & matching chef hat. It will be a 2nd Birthday present for my little man's best little girlfriend (whose mom happens to also be my best friend). 

I used these two tutorials to make these:

1) Chef Hat

2) Reversible Apron

My little man will be getting a wooden, blue kitchen for his 2nd birthday (in July!) & will be receiving a boy version of this along with a bunch of felt food that should be going on my "To Do" right after the holidays.

Yay! One more completed project during this busy holiday season!