Valentine’s from Cam

 

Better late than never, right?  Here are the Valentine’s Cam and I made for our friends this year.




We used this MADE tutorial and changed it up just a bit. We used plain ol’ construction paper and I used my Cricut to cut the hearts, so they were really accurate. (Boy, was that nice). Then Cam finger-painted the hearts and mommy wrote on them using plain ol’ magic markers.



I handstitched the hearts closed and, while it took awhile, it turned out so nice and gave it that extra handmade touch. I stitched them to a certain point, then filled them with candy and stitched them closed. Easy peasy!



These Valentine’s were not necessarily fancy but they were super simple and really cute, plus Cam got to help and I love projects like that!

Happy (late) Valentine’s from me and Cam!

Messy Argyle Tutorial

This project is based on my friend’s wedding cake. I loved how the argyle was randomly scattered over one corner of the cake. Using similar colors I embellished a sweater vest I found at a thrift store for a dollar.

 

Start by cutting a few different sized squares out of a knit fabric. I choose knit because the edges will  be unfinished and knit won’t ravel. Lay them out on your garment to find a configuration you like.

If you are layering your argyle then you are going to start by sewing the bottom most piece. I used the free motion foot on my sewing machine to sew around the edges of the square. I chose this foot because I wouldn’t have to turn it while sewing.

 

Don’t worry about the stitches being perfect. They aren’t supposed to be.

Using a very narrow zig-zag and a contrasting thread, sew an X across the square. Note that the Argyle in the picture is WRONG. The X on the argyle is supposed to be through the midpoints of the sides (I wasn’t thinking and went through my corners on the first square. Seemed like too much of a pain to rip so I just kept it) You could also make the X with the free motion foot. I have two machines so I just went back and forth between the two. 

Place the next layer of squares, sew around the perimeter and make the X.

 

Just for fun,  I decided to do one of the X’s in a bright contrasting orange. I really like the way it came out. 

I think that little boys are so adorable in collared shirts.

 

You could use this process on a t-shirt or to embellish a plain jacket or even to patch up a pair of pants. It’s simple and cute and quick. I hope you give it a try.

By the way, I threw my friends a wedding brunch and made cloth napkins with the same technique.

I hope you are having as much fun as I am with CELEBRATE THE BOY. I’ll be adding this to their flickr group

My Heart Beets

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. This year Asher is going to a little party and there will be a valentine exchange. Instead of giving away chocolate he is going to be giving away one of his favorite snacks, beet cookies.

I found this recipe on Weelicious. When I make it I use the grating attachment on the food professor to grate the beets and then use the blade attachment to pulse the rest of the ingredients together. I also use powdered sugar instead of flour to roll it out (especially handy if you forget to add the sugar) It’s a great recipe to do with Asher because he loves pressing the buttons on the food processor and helping me roll out the dough.

For the Valentine, I used these three fonts: My Heart (2peas heart’s delight) Beets (Roughage) For you (Sketchy). These fonts are free. If you want to download them use the links. I printed it out on card stock.

 

Each valentine has a felt beet stitched on it. I just cut a lopsided heart shape out of a Burgundy felt and a leaf shape out of a green felt. As you can see no two are the same.

Using a wine colored thread and my free motion foot on my sewing machine I stitched the beets to the cardstock. I used a contrasting thread in this picture so you could see the stitches better. As well as stitching around the beet shape I also randomly stitched horizontal lines about 2/3s across to add more definition to the shape.

 

 

 

 

 

To finish off the package I filled a snack bag with a handful of the cookies and stapled the valentine to the top.

    

These cookies are great to make ahead. I assemble all the valentines and the stuck them in the freezer. They’ll be ready to go on Valentine’s day

Happy Valentine’s Day

Kimonos for Emma

My Sister-in-law just had a baby. I am insanely jealous. There are so many adorable patterns for little girls.

This week I whipped up a couple of cute kimonos to send her.

The pattern is free from Habitual. You do have to email her but she was very quick to send me the pattern.

 

Both of the kimonos are the 6-12 month size. The pink one is the pattern as written. I added a little yellow strip of homemade bias tape on the gray one before sewing it together and I love the result

Overall I thought the pattern was really well written. The only part I was confused about was sewing the interior tie strip into the side seam. It seemed unclear to me how to sew this into the seam without having it show on the exterior. I managed to make it work but I’m sure there is a better method than sewing it into the seam allowance a couple of times and then cutting it a millimeter short of the actual seam. When I figure that out I will definitely make some more.

Welcome to the world Emma. I can’t wait to meet you!