Gingercake

Color Block Triangle Quilt

It always feels great to complete a quilt.  Even the simple versions of quilts that I make!  I love how this one turned out.  Cal was ready to celebrate too...

I made this by using a 1/2 yard of six solid fabrics.  For inspiration I visited this site which is great way to guide you for mixing solids.  I never would have thought to add the navy and it really makes the whole quilt pop.  

Cut the 1/2 yards of fabric in 18" x 18" pieces (each color will make 2 squares for a total of 12 squares).   Match up the pieces with 6 different combinations.  Then use this method to make your HSTs.  Awesome tip!  The only change I made was to increase the size of the squares to 18" x 18".  I like the bigger pieces and it comes together really quickly.  Then just mess around until you have a fun pattern.  

I quilted it by stiching in the ditch (along the seams) along the zig zag and then down the center of the triangles.  I like the fun pattern it made on the back!  The binding is simply more of the solids and then finished using this method by Jeni Baker.  You would have to purchase a little more than 1/2 yard of the solids to make the binding the same way.  

I used Bella Solids by Moda.  They are lovely!  The backing is just pink flannel.  The finished size of the quilt is 47" x 62".  It's not big enough for a bed but more for the baby to play on the floor and for picnics or a cuddle on the couch.

Infant car Seat Head Support - AKA no more wobbly head

The car seat head support for your newborn is another useful little item to have.  Seeing their little heads all wobbly back there makes a new mama so nervous!  Like that little head on that tiny body is just going to roll right off.  HA!

My awesome sis in law gave me a carseat in nice neautral colors.  Perfect!  To spruce it up a little I made my own head support thingy.  AnneKelle makes everything look more fun and cute, huh?

This was ridiculously easy to make.  I took pictures for a tutorial and hope to share later.  Tutorials are a lot of work though so leave a comment if this even interests you.  Worth the wrok if people want to make one though!  These only cost about $15 at the store but the colors are always to blah.  

Another thing ready for this tiny person!  The baby room is almost done and hope to share pictures of the bedding soon!

Contoured Changing Pad

Although I think the full changing table is bit much, I did find myself using the changing pad with my other kids.  Of course, I got rid of it 4 and a half years ago when I thought I was done with all that little baby stuff.  So when I bought my boppy, I also bought a nice new changing pad.  I had a really nice cover for my old pad- a nice cover but a bad fit!  Washing it was a hassle since I really had to work to get it back on.  This time around I wanted something easier. 

I used this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I used AMH Folksy Flannel.  This is such a soft and lovely flannel and I recommend it for sure.

 The table is my fabric cutting table that has open shelves underneath for storage.  I made curtain from a vintage sheet and used a $2 tension rod to hold it up under the cabinet.  My messy sewing stuff is still down there but now it is covered and pretty!  The hoops were also already there but I changed a few out to go more with my baby colors.  

The tutorial was well done.  I had to use elastic on the bottom corners to really give it a nice fit.

I also serged all exposed seams since I know I will be washing this cover every week or so.  The last thing I had to do was make button holes for the safety belt.  My other babies were not big time wigglers on the changing table but I figured better safe than sorry instead of taking the belt off.

The button holes actually made the fit even nicer so the effort was worth it.  

The other change on this table was doing a quick new skirt for this lampshade.  I followed my own tutorial!  It was fast and easy although I don't love the color of the lamp or the ribbon I chose for the top.  For now it goes with the room and looks like a baby, right?

I like the fabric (vintage pillowcase of course!) but the color should be brighter and the ribbon on the top softer or something.  It will have to wait though since it's time to move on to new projects!

More baby projects tomorrow so be sure to visit again :)

A Shared Nursery by AnnKelle

A few months ago, Kelle Boyd asked me to sew up a couple of my pillows for a shared sibling nursery she was doing for chic & cheap nurseries.  She chose the farbics and sent them to me.  Angela Crutcher took these beautiful pictures for Kelle.

I love the grey walls and all the mix of textures.  Didn't she do a beautiful job??  Head over to her blog to see all the links for the linens and decor she used.  I made the orange and yellow bird and also a Lola Owl and a coordinating Max Owl. 

The room is shared between a 9 year girl and a baby.  A real challenge to design something fitting for both!  Thanks to Kelle for thinking of me and my pillows to include in the design.  

Beautiful photographs Angela!  

 

Postings and Plans

Yeah!  I just finished posting all my vintage linens in my gingercake shop.  That baby is sorely neglected since I love to thrift but don't really love to list.  I don't know why- etsy has made listing a LOT easier.  It's just all those dang tags!!!  Etsy shop ladies know what I am talking about- right??

These 2 awesome pillowcase sets sold quickly!

I just read this excellent post on thrifting if any of you are interested.  A great read and really good tips.  It is true that small town thrifting can be A LOT more successful especially for vintage sheets and retro finds.  Cute kid clothing?  Not so much.

Cal is a great companion at the thrift shop although I admit that my time is pretty short.  Another reason I rarely go into the clothing section- he just doesn't have the patience.  Once he has found his .50 cent truck/ army man/ sword/ tractor, he is ready to go!  But I have plenty of time to cruise through the sheets, crafts & knick knacks.

Here are 3 adorable 40s/ 50s apron patterns I found some months ago~

If only I looked that cute in an apron!  And here is some amazing fabric that I thinking about making an apron from.  I have 10 yards of this fabric!!

The fabric actually came from another vendor when Karen and I did the Fleatique last summer.  It was her mother's and although I wish I could use it myslef, it is just not going with my turquoise, yellow & red thing I have going on in my kitchen.  

I also regularly find bunches of rick rack, elastic, bias tape, and fabric that I use for trials and kids clothes.  What about you?  Are you visting your thrift store?  

My VERY BEST FIND EVER were these 2 chairs that I realize I never shared here...

Those are 2 original Charles Eames/ Herman Miller chairs.  I bought them for $2 each about a year ago.  I knew they were valuable but not until I got home and looked up their history did I actaully feel guilty for paying so little for them.  

Honestly, Cal and I usually find a whole lotta nothing at the thrift store but some days seem to be non stop treasure!!  Check out my shop if you are interested in any of these items (ahem- not the chairs though!).

Lastly, next week I am going to try the Kids Clothing Week Challenge again!  Who wants to join?  I need to make some PJ pants, shorts and simple dresses.  NOTHING fancy- just a couple of easy useful things that I have been putting off and need to be done!

 

Floor Pillow for the Reading Nook

The girls have a reading corner of their room.  My husband built them shelves and the light is wonderful.  The only problem was you had to sit on the floor to read!  There isn't room for a chair.  

Problem finally solved when I bought some new walk in the woods fabric from Amy's shop.  The prefect fabric for a floor pillow in the reading corner!

I have loved seeing the granny squares pattern floating around on Pinterest.  Especially the adorable and sweet ones by Jesse!  The original post about them can be found here.  I increased the block size to 5.5" to fill the 24" pillow.  

On the back I used a super soft high thread count cotton and again used Erin's method to put in the zipper.  I love that method!  Such a nice and professional touch.  The heart shape with the tag is my only delima.For now it is blank since I couldn't think what to put on there.  Do I embroider "love mom?"  Or elsie suggested I say "reading is fun!"  Or my name and the date?  Not sure for now.  Any suggestions would be welcome!

I actually bought 3 of these 24" pillow forms since they were on sale for only $9!!  So more to come eventually.  Hope you all are enjoying a lovely first day of spring.

Almost Spring Dress

Anne has grown out of all her dresses.  Growing like a little freckled weed!  Yesterday I made her one to celebrate day light savings time!  She loves it except all the trying on she had to do.  "I have to put it on AGAIN??"  

I based the dress on this one from the mini boden catalog.  I knew it would be simple to do the pleat in front and A-line shape.  That cute bib was so simple too.  

The fabric is a vintage 60s that was given to me by a 90 year old friend.  It is pretty and light weight.  I fully lined the dress which made everything come together.

If I were to do it again, I woud probably make a zipper in the back.  The keyhole is kinda big but it was easy and I didn't have a good zipper to use.

I was thinking easter dress for this one but she is not sold.  She says her easter dress needs to be MUCH fancier.  We'll see about that!  But, she will consider it as one of her options :)

Cal's backpack

When I picked up Cal from preschool on Tuesday he actually asked me to make him a backpack. WHAT??  He is not interested in my sewing for the most part- except actually the machine itself.  He likes that a lot!  So we came home and I fawned all over him and we chose fabrics together (aka I picked out the fabrics and he happily agreed).  In a couple hours we had a cute backpack!  This morning, we walked the girls to the bus and I took pictures of him.  He was so proud.

This is the toddler backpack from made by Rae.  I have lost the actual instructions and now only have the pattern pieces left.  They must have been on my old computer.  After making this I realized that the last time I made one was for Elsie going to Kindergarten.

The blog post about Elsie is here.  That was my second blog post ever and I laughed when I saw my formatting troubles.  She looks so little in those pictures and was so excited about her first day of school.

 It would have been nice to have the instructions and I am sure if I had emailed her, she would have sent me another copy but Miss Impatience decided I could handle it on my own.  No serious problems but I am sure that clever Rae has it all worked out perfectly.  

I added a simple zipper panel to the front.  I used some more of my AnnKelle fabric.  So so cute!  The sides are green duck cloth and the striped is a decorator weight from the Joann clearance section.

Thank you all for your help on my bunny!  I replaced the eye with smaller buttons and I am now playing around with embroidering a nose.  I also bought some BEAUTIFUL fabric from Amy and I am working on another version of the 3 layer clutch.  I don't have that pattern out of my system just yet.  I just love watching it all come together and this Heather Ross fabric is making such a pretty spring version.  What are you making?

Doily Skirt

Last night when instead of making dinner I made this skirt for Anne.  Yes, they got dinner- just kinda late!  The lovely Kelle Boyd of AnnKelle sent me this pretty corduroy 1/2 yard back when I did the handmade holidays series with her.  I realized that it is February and I needed to use the fabric before spring!

I used this website makeagif to make this GIF.  Sorry if it is making you kinda ill to look at it but I thought it was fun and super duper easy if you want to try.  The kids are crazy for it!  

The pocket on Anne's skirt is a thrifted doily that I got for $.25.  I sewed it on and left the top unsewn.  It gaped naturally so I folded it down and tied a ribbon bow to finish it off.  Cute I think.

This skirt is made the super simple way- take a 1/2 yard of fabric and make a tube.  Hem the bottom, cut to the length you want on your girl plus 2" for the elastic casing.  Make the casing and add elastic.  Voila!

Thank you Kelle for such cute fabric!  

Distractions

Today I needed a distraction from pattern writing and Cal and I needed to get out of the house. We paid a quick trip to the thrift store and although I was looking for other things, I ended up in the t-shirt section.  I don't usually shop the clothes since I am a bad clothes shopper in general (my poor mother has experienced this over and over and over!), but since I was looking at clothes to repurpose I actually did OK over there!

Elsie has decided jeans are no longer acceptable in her wardrobe.  In an effort to make it through this stage without so many tears before school in the morning, I bought these nice LL Bean tees at the thrift store ($3 each!) and used the Lil Blue Boo Leggings pattern that I already bought last year.  That is one easy and quick pattern!  

I know I could have gone to Old Navy or Target to buy leggings very cheaply but those places are pretty far for me to drive and the Goodwill is only about 5 minutes away.

She's stylin and I had a break from the computer screen!  The shirts were extra large so I just used the existing hem.  When I make this pattern again, I will make sure the knit is more stretchy since she had trouble pulling them on.  Once they are on though, they are mighty cute and comfortable!

Crazy and disheveled little sister wanted to get in on the picture taking action...

There was plenty of left over fabric and I used a new grey tee shirt and a green thrift store tee shirt to make a quick dress for Anne.  I used this tutorial as inspiration.  The seams on the outside are genuis since they hide imperfections and I like the look.  This was REALLY fast and the result is great.  Knits are very forgiving and easy with the right tools.

 and here she is in rock star pose (which I guess is just mad face)...

and finally some freckles and whispy orange hair to go with your coffee this morning...

This dress is a great beginner project.  The hard part would be making that tee shirt top and it is already done for you since you just cut up a plain tee shirt!  I used my ball point needle and just a regular straight stitch.  No need for the serger with either of these projects.  Also, be sure to try that lettuce edge hem!  That is so fun and easy!  Just zig zag along the edge and you get that darling hem.  

I hope you feel inspired to try something new!  Let me know how it goes!