Baby Towel Monster

I LOVE those little baby towels with hoods on them. What I love even more is a sweet wet babe wrapped up in a towel and smelling like baby wash...ahh...makes me want to bathe my little guy again.

Only problem in our home is that our little bean has grown so much and so quickly that those baby towels don't quite dry him off, wrap him up well or keep him warm, yet I hate to use big adult towels.

So that's where the mini version of the "Towel Monster" comes into our home....

For this project I used a plush full size towel, hand towel, bias tape, heat and bond and scrap fabric......

Step one: Cut your large towel in half, lengthwise and lay the hand towel in the top corner of your half towel. Using the base towel, trim the hand towel into a triangle so it lines up to form the hood of the baby towel.

 

Step 2: I wanted to add decoration to my hood, so I took some scrap fabric and cut out a letter "L" for my little bean and appliqued it to the "hood" of the towel. 

Step 3: Line up the hood and the towel with right sides together, pin hood in place and sew hood on. (I used a serger on this section to keep the towel from fraying, if you don't have a serger you can zig zag stitch it on your sewing machine.)

Step 4: Turn your towel right side out and add bias tape to any raw edge to give it a finished and polished look. 

Add a little one and enjoy your bath time!!!

I Spy Baby Quilt in a Day!

This project is do able in a day if you are committed, start early in the day, not nursing a babe and have no interruptions. If that isn't your case, and you're about as ADD as I am then perhaps this will take you a couple of days....in my case two afternoons during nap time :)

I've seen I Spy Quilts in craft fairs before and spotted one I fell in love with a few years ago at the Atomic Craft Bazaar, before I had my second babe. I had no need for it at the time and wasn't about to spend $90 on a blanket.

Then came along Little Bean and I once again remembered the quilt....so I went in search of one....once again unwilling to pay so much for one and then put the desire out of mind. Until last weekend.

My sister came into town and her and my brother in law took my big boy for the weekend, my hubs was sick in bed and the little bean was asleep all day.....so I went through scraps of fabric in my closet and figured I would go for it. Worst case I threw it all in the trash.

So here's what you need:

• One package of craft batting 
• 8"x8" quilting square template, or you can make your own guide for cutting
• Large cutting mat
• 20 assorted pieces of fabric with shapes, colors and patterns
• 1 yard of fabric for the backing
• Rotary cutter
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• A TON of pins
• More patience than Job :)

Let's begin.......

First thing I did was lay out the craft batting and use my square guide to determine how many square to cut. I went with 4 across and 5 down. Then I pulled out fabrics and laid them out on the batting.

Then I cut out the 8x8 square and ironed them flat....laid them out on the batting in the order I wanted them sewn....

Now let's start sewing......Take the first two squares in a row, line them up with right sides touching and be sure the raw edges are flush. Sew them together with a 1/2" SA. Then add the third and fourth pieces until you have the entire row sewn together.

Once you have the row sewn you want to take it to the iron and press your seams flush on the wrong side.

Here are un-pressed seams....

Here are pressed seams....

Sew each of the 5 rows across and them lay them out on the batting again....

Now you are going to repeat the same process but you will be sewing the entire rows together. Place row 1 and row 2 together with right sides touching and edges flush, pin in place if necessary and sew. Repeat this for each row until you have all the rows sewn and one big piece of fabric.

Now flip it wrong side up and press all the seams flat again.....

The TOP piece of your quilt is done!!!! Hooray! We're getting there!

Now line up your top piece with the batting on two sides, you are going to have excess on two of the sides. Pin together the top and the batting and cut off the excess batting.

Now take your backing piece of fabric and iron it out. Place the backing of the quilt right side down and then layer your batting on top and then layer your TOP quilt piece right side up. You should see both patterns on your fabric with the batting in the middle.

Here I lined up the batting and TOP piece to two edges of my backing fabric and used a gazillion of pins all over the quilt to pin everything into place. Be careful not to have wrinkles or bubbles in your fabrics. Take your time and do this slowly, it will pay off in the end.

(On quilting sites I read that many people use safety pins...I just used sewing pins and it worked okay.)

Next thing I did was test out the stitches on my machine. Some machines have a free quilting stitch and a quilting foot. Mine isn't that fancy, but I do have this fun swirl stitch so I took a piece of fabric and some batting and made a small sandwich like my big quilt and tested out the stitch....I did it with the white thread showing and then with the bobbin thread showing....I preferred the bobbin thread to show on the main part of my quilt.

So I used my craft ruler and my chalk marker and measured out 2" sections and marked them with chalk onto the backing of my quilt.

Then I used my swirl stitch and stitched down each one of those lines as my guide.

(This step was the most tedious process, and it did poke my fingers with all those pins everywhere. Now I know why safety pins were used instead!)

When the "quilting" was all done....I trimmed off the excess backing piece and I had a 97% complete quilt.....I read about bias tape, but didn't have enough fabric or patience to make my own so I stopped and went to Wal-Mart and bought 2 packages of white  Double Fold Bias Tape Quilt Binding.

Then added the binding and did an extra swirl stitch on the binding to make it all blend together.                                      

Add a baby..... 

VOILA!!!! I SPY QUILT COMPLETED :) 

Linking up on Tuesday:

   

Heat Transfer Silhouette Onesies

I am in LOVE with the Silhouette SD machine!!!!! Only problem is I don't have one :/ But my good friend just got one as a gift from her husband and was kind enough to bring it over for me to play with.

I seriously love that there are no cartridges like are necessary with the Cricut. Everything runs through your computer and it the actual machine is super lightweight and compact. 

(Only down side is that to transport it you must also carry your computer whereas the Cricut is stand alone.)

SO.... To begin this project I took a plain black one piece romper for my little bean. 

Used the Silhouette to cut out "GOT BOOBS?" onto vinyl heat transfer. 

(Remember when doing this, you have to mirror your image and weed off the negative vinyl.)

I positioned the vinyl where I wanted it, leaving the clear covering in tact, then used the high heat, no steam setting on my iron to iron it onto the onesie.

Finally, put your own little milk monster into the outfit and Voila! Homemade adorable outfit!

Speaking of feedings, think it's time to get him fed!

Make your own frangrance sachets

In the world of boys that I live in, smells come with the territory. Especially their closets with shoes and other dirty laundry. Ick.

Even my pre-schooler's closet can grow a funk! So when I saw these little scented balls at Michaels in the clearance bins I snatched them up, knowing I would use them for something.

Then I took a piece of fabric from my scrap bin about 5.5" tall and 12.5" wide and folded it in half, stitched around the edges with a 1/4" SA and left a opening for turning. I turned it right side out and pressed it flat.

Then I poured my fragrance beads into the opening, and carefully stitched around then entire tube with an 1/8" SA to secure the opening and finish it off. Now I have a super cute fragrance pouch to hide in those stinky closets and drawers!

Love this even more.....project cost $.60!!!

A month....

So it's been a month since my last crafting post....and to be honest it's been that long since I've done anything crafty. I have good reason though.....

Yes, our sweet little boy came to join our family. So now that we're into the swing of things and adjusted to our new normal, I believe the crafting will begin again soon.

Some exciting projects to come!

Repurposing towels

A while ago I posted about my serger envy....well shortly thereafter temptation got the best of me and I went ahead an bought one. Not a really expensive one, but just a simple starter machine from Wal Mart. Figured if I didn't really love it then I would just box it back up and return it without a problem.

Well after a brutal battle with threading the machine, seriously, it was like an hour and half, and the stupid thing is even color coded, I finally was able to get some things sewn on it and see what it can do.

I'm still new to the serger world, so bear with me as it will take some time. And along with awaiting  a new baby in our home some crafty projects are just not going to get done for a while. But here's what has begun....

Baby wipes/washcloths! Super super easy. Some are made of flannel and then I had a couple old baby towels that were stained and didn't look great to use again, but I didn't want to pitch them, so I cut up the good pieces and made the washcloths.

Have a serger and want to make your own. (I suppose you could also do it if you did a zig-zag stitch along the ends of the fabric on a sewing machine as well.)

I cut squares of 8.5" fabric (flannel on one side and cotton on the other)

Laid them together with wrong sides touching each other and ran them through the machine. Finished product was super quick!

Definitely think I am in love with my new gadget!

Homemade baby wipes!

At one of my baby showers a couple of weeks ago, one of the gals gave me a Domino Sugar container and bottle of water.....no really, that is what it was, kinda.

So of course it peaked my curiosity and I opened it up first, and lo and behold....homemade baby wipes!!!!!

Super cool idea, do you know how many of those are consumed in our home! Well hopefully this will help out some and help with some diaper rash when it comes.

Cut a roll of Bounty paper towels in half and place into a tub. (Don't buy generic.)

Recipe for solution:
1 oz. baby oil
1 oz. baby wash ( any brand)
1 oz. witch hazel
1 3/4 c. water

Mix all ingredients, add to tub, let it absorb and then remove towel inner tube and use within 2 weeks.

Great idea Jesse!

Making Boo Boo Bags

My little boy is constantly showing me the power of boys and getting into his little scrapes and scuffles. But when he has a boo-boo he hates to put ice on it to make it better because it is too cold.

So I found these "grow" bubbles in the plant decorating section at Michaels, made a little baggie and filled it with the beads. When you run it under water the beads expand and are soft and squishy in the bag which allows me to put it in the fridge to cool without getting frozen. Super easy fix to his boo-boo situation.

Want to make your own....super easy way to do it!

Supplies: Two 3x4 pieces of fabric and water beads

Stitch the fabric with right sides together and leave an opening on one side. Snip corners and turn right side out.

Add 1/2 tsp. of water beads into the bag. Top stitch around the bag to close the seam opening and provide reinforcement. Add to water so beads expand and put in fridge for next boo-boo situation.

Personalized Tumblers

So if you have followed my projects for a while, you know by now how much I adore all things personalized!!!! When my crafty mama friend Emily showed me her tumbler, I knew I had to make one. While she used acrylic paint to decorate hers I turned to my trusty Cricut and used some vinyl for mine. And with some girls throwing me and my little bean a baby shower, I decided to make some for thank you/appreciation presents for them. 

Process and Supplies:

• Vinyl sheets for the Cricut (got mine online super cheap)
• Double walled tumblers from Wal Mart  (These are not dishwasher safe)
• Clear paint sealant for acrylic from Michaels  (This is dishwasher safe) 
• Small foam paint brush to apply sealant

I cut out the vinyl with my Cricut in a 4" letter and 2.5" burst shapes using the Lyrical Letters cartridge. Attached the letters to the tumblers and then sealed the outside of the tumblers with the sealant. (Memo: You can't wash the tumblers for 10 days with the sealant because it takes that long for it to permanently seal into the plastic. The actual dry time is about 3 minutes, but it will permanently alter the cup so it can be washed over and over without coming off or spoiling.)

Finished project....Love me some reusable and personalized cups!

Potato Bags and Casserole Covers

I came across a few tutorials online that I really loved. For some Christmas presents this year I made some potato bags. (Tutorial here.) Love these little suckers, great for taking to work and eating a nice warm potato or when you are in a pinch and don't want to wait around to bake them.

Then for a recent wedding I went to, I decided to pair up a potato bag with a casserole cover. My girlfriend made me one a year ago for a birthday present and I've loved it and used it a ton. (Tutorial here.)

Definitely a great gift set idea and super great gift for a new wife starting out her kitchen.