My loot from a recent fabric sale – cottons and wools.

Shades of gold and brown.

Pretty trim… I might use this for scrappy pincushions someday.

Jenn : )

….Done!

I finished my pennant banner for our friends daughter Robyn’s, 1st birthday.

Y was my favorite letter to make – the flannel is so soft.

We recently started a set nap schedule here and I am loving it!

(Wish I was the one taking the naps – haha!)

While the baby slumbers I’ve been able to catch up on a few projects, take some custom order requests and start some brand new projects, too!

I’ll have more to show you soon!

Jenn : )

Friends of ours have a little girl who’ll be having her first birthday in February.  I’m feeling very party-ish these days, but alas, I’m in no position to throw a party myself (hm…there is the first episode of the new LOST season coming up…I may take that back.) I’ve volunteered to help plan and set up for Robyn’s special day.  I want to contribute something handmade, but with a little one to watch over, this project has to be something easy and interruptible. I decided to make a pennant banner.  It’s the perfect project for me right now: it uses fabric (I have a ton of that!) and it can easily be worked on in stages (good for those days when I have only 20 minutes here and there).

Pennant banners are all over the place – you can find loads of how-tos all over the internet.  I’ve been surprised at how easy this has been to work on so far.  It’s a great project for using small-ish pieces of fabric and even smaller bits for the letters.

I used Heat N Bond, an iron-on adhesive I bought at Joann’s, to affix the fabric letters to the pennant triangles.  Then I had to Jenn Maruska it up with embroidered outlines.  I used a simple back stitch.

I think that makes the letters stand out better.

Above: before

Below: after

(Hmmm.. whose little feet are casting a shadow on my work table?)

Isabella’s!

Now I’ve just got to hunt down the right ribbon or bias tape to string the pennants together.

I’ll post a photo when it’s finished.

Here’s an even simpler banner tutorial over at the Purl Bee.

Party on!

Jenn : )

…make me happy!

Even the selvages are cute:

Leaves

Skulls

Butterflies

Ladybugs

Jenn : )

I recently discovered a new use for taskets =

holding baby accessories!

Until now I’d never thought of how a soft, portable basket could come in handy in a nursery.  But they sure do. I’ve been keeping this one right in the co-sleeper.  It stands on its own, but it’s soft, so no worries if baby bumps it.

I think I’ll be making a line of baby tasket sets in the future.

I’ve already gathered these sweet fabrics from Superbuzzy:

Bright and colorful elephants, owls and deer.

Cute airplanes, balloons and forest friends.

LOVE the colors of this one!

This one is subtle, with sweet forest animals.

Now I’m off to find some dotty cottons and rick-rack to match!

Jenn : )

1 1/2 feet of new fabric from Superbuzzy.

Tiny cotton feet from Petit Bateau.

“Pantalon à Pieds” = “Trousers have feet”

Slip-on Converse All Stars – my feet’s new best friends!

_____________________________________

P.S. Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes!! : D

Jenn : )

A shop update:

New tasket sets!

Pom Pom Fawn

(I only made one with this small pom pom trim.)

Our House.

Pretty Forest.

Dotty Birds.

Happy Thursday.

The weekend is almost here!

Jenn : )

It seems like lots of friends and co-workers are having babies these days.

Two girlfriends of mine have babies who are less than a year old.

Being a fan of Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing,

I recently purchased another of her books: Simple Sewing For Baby.

So far I’m loving it!

It’s filled with projects that are practical and fun.

Some of the more whimsical items may not match your personal esthetic,

but they could be easily modified to “make them your own”.

The first project I tried from the book was the Tag Blankie.

And I’m so happy with how they turned out!

It was fun to choose fabric and then ribbons to match.

The sewing was very easy.

This one is for little Robyn.

I double stitched the edges to make sure those tags stay on.

And this one is for little Mylo.

I hope he likes robots (as much as I do)!

I washed both blankies together on gentle with woolite, tossed them in the dryer and they both came out looking great! This is a wonderful project because these sew up very quickly (and isn’t it satisfying to start and finish a project in the same day?), and they make a lovely handmade gift for a friend, or your own little bundle of joy.  I’m also proud to say that I had ALL the supplies on hand to make these – no trip to the fabric shop was needed.  I’ve been saving scraps of ribbon in the hopes of finding a project to use them for and this worked perfectly.  I used satin-y ribbon scraps that I hadn’t washed before – and they came out of the washer/dryer just fine.

My next Lotta project will be the Soft Rattle toy.  Again, I’m going to only use materials that I have on hand.  I’ve already had a learning experience washing cotton velveteen to use for this project.  I was very nervous about how to go about washing/drying it, as I have very limited experience (ie: none) with this material.  But you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss.  I just stitched up the raw edges and threw it in the washer, then dryer, and to my delight – it came out looking better than when it went in.

I’ll let you know how those rattles turn out!

____________________________________

Have you tried any new projects lately?

Experimented with a new material or technique?

Tell me about it!  : )

Cheers – Jenn : )

No longer a wip – these three hotpads/trivets are finished!

Machine quilted with hand sewn binding.

Washed and pressed.

With a twill tab on the back.

Now to get some really good photos,

and then they’ll be in the shop.

Jenn : )

So, what’s been going on with those Japanese fabric scraps I blogged about awhile ago?

Well….

I got out my favorite Clover pins.

(Technically these are for light/sheer fabrics,

but I’ve used them for many fabric weights.

You can buy them on Superbuzzy, but I’ve also found them at Joann’s.)

Did a little chain sewing…

…see how you can save thread if you’re

sewing lots of pieces together at once?

Gave them a good ironing with my Clover Iron.

(Also purchased at Joann’s.)

Stitched them all together with a bit of linen in the center.

Ironed on a little teapot sketch.

Got out my smallest embroidery hoop.

And embroidered this steamy little fella.

Time for a tea break!

Be back soon with the finished piece!

Cheers!

Jenn : )