Best bag ever! aka The every day bag

Let's not talk about how old this post is... let just say that these were once xmas gifts - when I was actually on my game and gave handmade gifts. 

I originally made this bag here and I still love this bag a LOT. So a while back (ahem) I made these 3 bags for my Grandma, Cousin and Aunt 

I switched it up on the blue one and added binding on this version- which I love! 

Both of these fabrics were hand printed .... somewhere... and I bought it at the quilt show in Jacksonville. Love the way they look together!

This one was for my cousin. The fabric is bright and happy and reminded me of her. 

And for my aunt. Blue, green, circles, flowers... all things that when I see I think of her.

Maybe someday I will get a tutorial up on this. It is seriously so fun/easy to make and it is the perfect size for tossing stuff in a running out the door. It isn't meant to be a purse... more like a pool bag or gym bag or I carry to many changes of clothing around because I have kids bag... 

The hard part about making gifts is I want to keep all the things I make for people... now my stripped ones I love look plain and boring... haha

Savannah's Baby Shower Gift

 I didn't do the invites this time- and I wasn't able to attend the shower either but I did have to send back something to a super sweet Mom-to-be. 

Jacksonville is getting to be a very crafty group and not only that but she is related to a lot of crafty people. So coming up with a gift was just a touch hard. It finally hit me I should make her a doll.... totally useless to the new mom but hopefully fun too. 

Meet Miss'E' and her dog Mayberry. 

She is Black Apples doll pattern with alternate pattern pieces I pinned on pinterest (not sure where these are originally from... they link to Martha Stewart also but aren't what that post links to)

 Bella was sure this was her in doll form- I mean the world does revolve around her right? But this was actually just my guess at what coloring their daughter might have and Mayberry is supposed to be the miniature and not in anyway exact tiny version of one of their real dogs that is a standard poodle. 

Bella's dolls are naked.... a LOT... so I gave Miss'E' permanent undergarments and made her shoes permanent (because who wants to find and put on tiny shoes all the time?? Answer is not me...ha) Her shoes were made from some leather I had in the drawer. 

Her hair and flower are wool felt. All the detail work was hand embroidered. 

For now she has one little peasant top dress and a very small version of Mom's baby bibs (which I knit myself because I have finally learned how to do a very, very limited amount of knitting-- don't worry I won't be sending anyone scarves!)

Mayberry is also made of wool felt and hand sewn together. His (Her?) pattern was made up by me... super straight forward and simple. I wanted to be sure the baby could play/chew on this and there be no worries. 

To be practical a couple of felt hair clips and toy bags were also sent... because why not... I have such a hard time not making ALL THE THINGS for new babies.... 

Now who is having the next baby?? I am all out of pregnant friends!

For Matt

More water color - this time it was for Matt... he doesn't get many things done specifically for him. But everyone loves a little Dave Matthews Band- and we just went to see him this last summer in Jacksonville. So I made this for him when we found out about the new job. Now it is hanging in the living room. 

I don't post much about family life any more... but Matt is a pretty awesome guy. 

Eden Rose

Randi (the mom to be) does just about everything crafty you can think of. So thinking up something to make for her that she hadn't already done for herself or didn't have plans to do was hard. And then I ran across one of these organizers at Joann's. I hadn't seen one in years (and haven't seen any since... where can you get these things?!) It was actually one of the first baby gifts I did followed by this one, and this one (I never even found these to do for my own kids!)

Seriously love me some embroidering! 

Tiny felt flower hair clips (why won't Bella wear these... or stop cutting her hair... lol)

And a screen-printed onesie with one of my first graphics on it. Apparently I revisited quite a few of my first projects on this one. 

Pretty wrapping never hurts... 

I just love making stuff for new babies! 

Going away gifts ... Part 3

Mom asked for me to do something with water colors and the phrase 'and they all lived happily ever after' so I made this for her and gave it to her before we left. Actually I had Bella give it to her so she would have an easier time with it. Kids are good for that! 

At some point I will get a good scan of it and print one for myself!

 P.S. Corinnea here.... Making it easier on me by having Bella give it to me actually means, Mom wouldn't dissolve into hysterical crying in front of Bella there by making it easier on her... It worked, for the most part. 

Superhero bags

 I've seen some really fun Superhero projects on pinterest but so far we aren't really into super heros and Matt has no special interest in any of them. So, when I wanted to make something for some of my young cousins and I found out they do like super heroes it seemed like a good time to pull one of those pins out. (specific one here)

 I apologize for the absolutely awful pictures. But I forgot to photograph them at all so last minute pictures are all I have. 

They are both paper pieced ... Paper piecing is a really cool way to do complicated images  but not something I would really want to do a lot of... ever...

Hulk actually looks quite different then the original. I thought he needed an actual nose and eyes. 

I put them onto drawstring bags... I wanted the gifts to be useful... possibly not the most appropriate place to put something that took so much time to create but hopefully it means they will get a lot of use out of them! 

Olivia's Quilt

When Jessica and I started brainstorming about my niece's quilt, we went back and forth on several ideas. At some point we realized we'd both pinned this quilt and then it was decided. Apologies for the less than quality photos. I need to not wait until it's too late and then just having to make do...

We loved the way our inspiration quilt made the secondary pattern of X's. Jess was in charge of making sure everything was in the right place. I was in charge of sewing and trying not to mess that up. This did cause one issue, in that, to get the desired amount of x's without having to make even smaller HSTs, we had to go bigger. As in the biggest baby blanket ever. Good news, it's so big it will take her straight through her toddler years and then some.

My sis-in-law picked out this duvet from Pottery Barn Kids for the little Miss's room. We stepped up the colors just a notch.... It was so fun gathering this variety of fabrics, picking stuff up here and there and pulling from our stash.

The duvet was used for the backing with plenty left over for room accents. We did simple straight line quilting on point. The binding is a deep purple.

The solid fabrics are all Kona Cotton. Aurifil thread was used for both pricing and quilting. The batting is Pellon's Nature Touch that we purchased from Joann.
We had such fun making this and of course it is full of love and good wishes for this little one as she starts her life.

Going away gift... Part 2

So I forgot to get completed pictures of these gifts... But I will show you what I have! 

This watercolor was for Hannah. After a lengthy discussion with her husband we landed on these lyrics from Augustana's Sweet and Low. It looks better matted and framed. 

Hannah is Micah & Bella's other Mom. Seriously. People think they're hers when we are out together... mainly because they look like her. She might as well be my younger sister. She was always game for any adventure (or just hanging out) It's very boring without her and her husband around! 

She is coming out this week for a visit and I am beyond excited to see her! I may or may not let her leave.

Going away gifts... Part 1

We moved recently... Matt took a job transfer back to California. So we left my parents and a lot of very, very close friends back in Jacksonville. Lots of ugly tears were cried. We are beyond excited to move back to the west coast and for opportunities we have here, but we are equally or more sad to leave this bunch of people that we love so much. 

One of our friends demanded a going away gift. No gift=no leaving. LOL. She took the news especially hard..... So, since she is a die hard Hello Kitty lover, and she and her husband are both Gators, I thought it appropriate to mix the two and appliqué this graphic that I found online onto a quilt. 

The back is a super soft double sided minky (not that that matters since it sandwiched) but it does make it super fluffy. Its almost a twin size. 

It took me a bit to find a photo of Thaoly that she or her husband wouldn't kill me for posting. She is well known for posting/taking possibly embarrassing, but aways awesomely funny photos. She also taught Bella how to pout and eat Oreos at inappropriate times; scheduled girls shopping trips when she hates to actually shop for clothing, and filled Bella's vocabulary with things like 'California sucks'.  lol. They were one of the first people we had to our house after we moved to Jacksonville 9 years ago and are super amazing people. 

We miss them so much! Hopefully we will get them to come out and visit soon...

I have a couple more going away gifts I will try to get them up soon- do you all make things for people when you leave? 

The Wedding Quilt - Things Got a Little Fishy

My sister's son married a sweet girl this summer. We couldn't be there, so we decided to make them a quilt, hoping they'd know how much we love them in spite of not being able to make it. They are fishermen (people?) and artists. We tried to encompass both of those things with the quilt we made. 

Oh, and by we.... I mean I did the background and Jess did all the epic stuff. I do like my background but I LOVE what Jess did.

The lure was taken from a painting that my new niece, Shelby, did of a lure Tayler made. The fish is from one of his photos. Jess did an amazing job translating them into the quilt. I believe she may post some details of her process.

We chose batiks to help give it a water feel. I had some anxious moments trying to figure out how to get what was in my head to work with the fabric. I'm sure I could have found a tutorial somewhere but apparently I need to torment myself sometimes..... When it finally clicked with me, it was a lot of fun and I want to do it again.

The fish and lure are both raw edge appliqué. The trout also has painted details.

We backed it in a lovely plaid flannel, perfect for cold winter nights. 

Quilt details:

Approx 60 x 70

Fish and lure - Kona Cottons 

Background - Batiks from JoAnn Fabrics

Backing - Flannel from JoAnn Fabrics

Thread - Aurifil 50w

Batting - Pellon's Nature Touch 100% cotton

I've added our quilt to the Blogger's Quilt Festival in the Art quilt catagory.