Site Moving!
I’ve decided to take up craft blogging again, but this time through a hosting site called tumblr. You can now follow me at http://handmademother.tumblr.com/ . The first few posts will be copies from this blog and then the new blogging shall begin in earnest. 🙂
Spumoni Quilt
Last week I made my first full size twin quilt.  It’s called the spumoni quilt and the idea came from the book “Sew Darn Cute” by Jenny Ryan. I say ‘came from’ because I didn’t follow her directions at all, but I thought the idea was cute because I like spumoni ice cream and its a good way of incorporating pink into my daughter’s room without having it take over (as some of you know I don’t like pink). For those of you who have never heard of spumoni, its an Italian ice cream with three flavors: chocolate, strawberry, and pistachio (hence the brown, pink and green).
I even had some left over fabric to make a pillow cover too. For the pillow case I decided to add a couple of buttons to the back to help keep the fabric closed. It was the first time I have ever made a button hole on the sewing machine… which if you have never made one before, is actually difficult. It is a little sloppy but it adds charm, right? I used two vintage pink buttons from my mom’s old collection and it looks nice.
On a different note, I have to thank my sister who after reading my last post bought me the ‘Patchwork and Quilted Gifts’ book. I guess I should be more careful what I say in my blogs. But really, I do appreciate it and now I am going to have to make her something in return.
So… on with the next project!
Quilted Puzzle Ball
Here is my latest project. A quilted puzzle ball which is a perfect baby toy (or dog toy if you sew it out of tough materials). I got the pattern from “Last Minute Patchwork Quilts + More” by Joelle Hoverson. You may recognize this title from my last project, the pincushion. What I love about her book is that there are many ideas that only take a couple of hours or a day to complete. Great for moms like me who only have a couple of hours every day to do stuff like sew. Anyways, the basic idea of the puzzle ball is that you take 12 light colored eclipse shaped fabrics and 12 dark colored half circles and sew them together to create triangle wedges that you stuff. Then you take all twelve wedges and sew the eclipse points together to create a ball.
Basic supplies:
Two tones of fabric: one light + one dark
A circle template (I used a bowl lid)
Batting
Embroidery thread
Safety pins
I don’t want to copy the pattern because it probably infringes copy right laws, but at least you have the basic idea and supply list. I actually don’t even own this book, I just keep checking it out from the library. But considering I’ve already made two great projects from it and want to make one of the quilts too…. I should probably just go ahead and buy my own copy.
I hope this has inspired you and as always, Enjoy crafting!
Asian Inspired Wall Vinyl
I’ve been inspired by watching HGTV to makeover our master bedroom a little bit. I used my wall vinyl technique from an earlier post to create an interesting focal point behind our bed. I also hung a kimono with an obi on the wall that I got when we lived in Japan. Our room is turning into an Asian Inspired space (mostly Japanese). It’s a continual work in progress, but I thought I would share a photo of how it looks now. Enjoy!
Pincushion
Here is a pincushion that I made in just little over an hour. It’s a great project, super easy, and makes a wonderful last minute handmade gift for a friend. This project is also nice because I didn’t have to buy any new materials. I was able to use fabric scrapes from a different project. It doesn’t take much time or materials. I got the pattern from yet another great book called “Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts” by Joelle Hoverson. This book has a lot of cute gift ideas, some of which only take a couple of hours to make. So check it out some time and enjoy creating!
Kimono Top in an Afternoon
This afternoon I sewed a kimono top for my daughter. It took me about 4 hours to complete and it turned out great. The pattern was super easy and I’m thinking that I’ll make another one in short sleeves as it is getting warmer out. I got this pattern from a great book called “Little Stitches for Little Ones” by Amy Butler. I have made her simple floor quilt from this book as well. I love Amy Butler’s ideas. She uses a lot of modern fabrics and everything is pretty simple to make. So, if you are interested in sewing check out her books. I really enjoyed this pattern and I hope my daughter will fit into the kimono for some time.
My Mom
My mom has been battling breast cancer for a long time. Three years ago her cancer came back, this month it spread to her brain. Even though she can’t think straight, tired, and shaky, she spends her last days knitting baby hats to donate to the OB ward at our local hospital. It amazes me that someone in her condition is still being creative and knitting for other people. She told me that she woke up in the middle of the night and was thinking about all the yarn she has and what colors she wanted to use next. My mom is a great inspiration for me. She is a very Godly women who, in a time of her life when most people become self absorbed, she is thinking of others and is using her last remaining abilities to create. I cherish the remaining time I have with her, and will always remember sitting next to her rolling yarn balls and picking out colors.
Baby’s First Birthday
This past week we celebrated my daughter’s first birthday! Although it has been very hectic (hence no posts or activity on the blog), I have managed to create a couple of fun things for my daughter.
The first of which was a cloth photo book that I made out of old onesies. I took some onesies that my daughter grew out of over the past year, cut squares out of them and sewed them together to create a book. Then I used printable fabric and printed out pictures of her family and sewed these into the book. So not only was it a good way to reuse her old clothes, but it also was a way to create a fun family photo book for her to play with.
The second thing that I made was a party dress. This was the first time I have ever sewed an outfit from a pattern. I’ve been mostly sticking to quilts, stuffed animals, and other such sewing projects. But I thought, what better reason to learn to sew clothes than having a little girl to sew them for. I was actually surprised at how well the dress turned out and I learned a lot from the experience. I am definitely going to make more outfits for her in the future because it is a lot of fun and very rewarding seeing her wear them.
And the last creative project I did for her birthday was making hand prints in plaster of paris for the party. It’s not a very original idea, but I will enjoy keeping her print as a keepsake. I made play dough and had the kids make there hand print in that. Then a used a strip of card stock to mark off the print and I poured plaster of paris inside the mold. After it dried I painted the casts black and white to accentuate the hand prints.
All in all, we had a lot of fun for her first birthday party and I look forward to the creative possibilities of many birthdays to come!
Make your own: Vinyl Wall Decals
My most recent endeavor lately has been creating my own vinyl wall decals for Gwen’s nursery. I wanted to decorate her room but needed to do something that wasn’t permanent or destructive to the walls. I’ve seen wall decals for sale but nothing really matched the theme for her nursery. So I searched the Internet and found some ideas for making my own vinyl wall decals. The great thing about this project is that you can put up any design you want on your walls… as long as you can think it and then draw it. For my daughter’s room I mimicked the design of her crib set, but again you can do anything. For those of you who have never heard of vinyl decals, it is basically a sticker that can be placed on any smooth surface and which can be removed without damaging the surface such as a wall. They are great for decorating apartments, dorm rooms, etc. The DIY vinyl I used is contact paper… you know the stuff your grandma uses to cover the insides of drawers and pantry shelves. It sticks to anything relatively smooth and comes off easily, plus it comes in a lot of different colors (wood shades are most common).
Supplies:
- contact paper ($5 for 9 ft roll)
- pencil for drawing or printed image
- scissors or razor blade
- a plastic card (like a library card etc.)
Steps:
1) First you need to decide what design you want to make. You can surf the Internet for images and ideas. You can print out a design you like and use it as a template, or you can be really creative and draw something freehand.
2) After you have your design picked out tape (if template) or draw the design onto the back of the contact paper. Remember that this is the back side of the vinyl so your image will be flipped when you place it into the wall. Ex. If your design is facing the right when you draw it on the paper ot will be facing the left when it is on the wall.
3) Cut out your design with scissors. You can use a razor blade if you have more intricute pieces or holes to cut in the middle of the design.
4) Pick a nice clean spot on your wall and peal of the backing of the contact paper.
5) Apply vinyl to the wall evenly and smooth out with a plastic card (this helps the design stick to the wall better). If you have to, you can reposition or move the design later but it’s not recommened because the vinyl will lose its tackiness the more to gets moved around and dirty.
Warning: After participating in this craft you may start to look at your walls differently. This blogger does not claim any responsibility to the creativity that my ensue on your walls, mirrors, cabinets, or any other smooth surface in your house that my be invaded by vinyl mania.
Enjoy!
Hand Cut Silhouettes
For this past Christmas, I made hand cut silhouettes for my family and friends. When I was living in Japan I got into the craft of paper cutting. I really enjoyed working with the small details and handling the paper and scissors in just the right way. This led me into thinking about silhouettes, and how when I was younger I got my silhouette cut at Disney World. I’ve always loved the way silhouettes look, but thought they were too difficult to make. Since I don’t have a master paper cutter to teach me how to cut silhouettes by eye, I decided to develop a short cut of my own. This method is so simple you’ll be cutting silhouettes of everyone and every thing you see.
I hope this post inspires your creativity. If you have any questions or comments about the process, please leave a comment. Enjoy!
Supplies:
- small sharp scissors
- black and white card stock paper
- computer, printer, and scanner/ copier.
- profile picture of subject
- (optional) frame for mounting finished print
Steps:
1) Find or take a picture of your subject standing at profile. If you have a web cam, you can easily take your own profile picture this way.
2) Crop and print your picture (fast draft, b/w is fine) on your home printer.
3) Trace around the outline of the profile picture with a black marker and fill in the silhouette completely. (optional step and can skip ahead to 4 if confident)
4) Cut out the silhouette with small scissors (removing the unwanted background). Then, copy and resize the silhouette to the desired final dimensions using a scanner or copier. Once you have it just perfect, make a couple of copies to have on hand.
5) You know have a nice silhouette template, which you can tape onto any color or type of paper that you wish for your final silhouette to be cut from. I suggest using black card stock because it is durable and easy to manipulate. Lightly tape your template to the card stock and cut around the silhouette shape.
6) After cutting out the silhouette, mount your beautiful masterpiece on white (or other contrasting colored) card stock paper using double stick tape and display in a nice frame.
Handmade Mother 