had to take a break from the quilts for a birthday gift

this little car wrap is the cutest little gift for the little guy in your life, this one will be going to my nephew for his 2nd birthday. Thanks to Jill and her very easy tutorial here

little bits

pieces cut...and assembly line in place to work 2 twin size quilts at once. I have assembled one panel of the "little bits" strip and love it. My neck and back won't allow me to sew the second tonight but will finish tomorrow, this quilts comes together nice and quick!

it's time to quilt.....

this will be my first "real" quilt, I have made tie quilts, picnic blankets, baby blankets, etc. but never a real pieced, quilted, and bound quilt. Mt twin boys are getting ready to graduate to "big boy" beds and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make the "little bits" quilt from the Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts book, check out the flikr group, I plan on displaying my quilt here when finished.

So follow me on my journey of "little bits"

first the fabric.....

fell in love with the All Star collection from My Minds Eye by Riley Blake

since I am making 2 quilts I am planning on using the same main fabric and accents for the "bits" but contrasting backgrounds to be different for each boy.

fabric came today soooo excited to start

next post will be of the "little bits" panel, see you soon

t-shirt re-fashion oops!

re-fashioning clothing is all the rage right now, I had some shirts that my twins had out grown and thought I would make the sleeves longer so they would get one more season out of them. Here are the shirts and fabrics I plan on using.

This is the second time I have tried to use thermal material and again without success!

The fabric stretches and gets out of proportion, so it did not work, I used a stretch needle and a stretch stitch so I don't know what happened but as you can see it did not turn out well.....

so....I decide to stick to t-shirt materials, using a long sleeve boys shirt and an old whit t-shirt I make new sleeves and a band for the waist, success!

neck roll

the perfect gift for anyone......create a warming neck roll for those cold days when you have worked hard and want to relax, just pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes and then rest it on your shoulders and warm up as you relax your muscles.

cut 2 pieces of fabric 5x19" each. I used a cotton top and a fleece backing, sewed Velcro in the top for ease of washing and then sewed the three sides up. Fill with dry beans, rice, wheat, flax, buckwheat, you can even add some herbs like lavender or rosemary.

peggies

As you may know I love to give handmade gifts. I wanted to give a family gift that small children would enjoy as well as adults, so I had the idea of a personalized game. I made the game in cloth book form and found little peg people on a clever etsy shop naked peggies. You can buy the peggie people in natural wood or have the artist create a personalized set for you.

handmade christmas count down

sew mama sew is one of my favorite sites to visit, they have posted a handmade holidays master list. This list is wonderful for finding ideas for the right person...check it out.

I adapted this Toy Bucket into an Art Bucket by adding a crayon roll type pocket to the front instead of the toy pocket. Following this tutorial it sewed up quickly and the instructions were accurate, I think I will be making some more, and will definitely be tucking this pattern in the quick gift ideas box.