DIY Quilted Carseat Canopy

Does it feel like it's been forever since I posted a DIY? It does to me since every time I go to write a post some of them say to me...."when is it my turn?" I haven't posted this yet because I was kicking myself for not taking more progress photos, but since I didn't I'll have to get away with simple text instruction. I know....POO! Text is no fun, but I at least took SOME progress photo's so the main part is at least easily figured out!

What You'll Need:
(6) Fat Quarter's in various patterns
1/2 yard fabric for backing, sashings/borders and straps (shown in blue plaid)
Sew on Velcro
Pins

Fabric Cuts:
Cut (12) 11"x 9.5" squares out of your various fat quarters
Cut (8) 1.5"x 9.5" Strips out of your sashing fabric (blue plaid)
Cut (3) 1.5"x 34.5" strips out of your sashing fabric (blue plaid)
Cut (2) 1.25"x 39.5" strips out of your sashing fabric for the left and right sides (blue plaid)
Cut (2) 1.25"x 36" strips out of your sashing fabric for the top and bottom (blue plaid)
Cut (1)  36"x 41" square out of your sashing fabric for the back (blue plaid)
Cut (4) 8"x 3" strips out of your sashing fabric for the straps (blue plaid)

Note: Not all fabrics pictured were used for this project

Directions:
1. Lay out your 11"x 9.5" squares and 1.5"x 9.5" strips until you get a pattern you like. Sew a 1/4" seam end to end of the squares and strips until you get 4 long strips. Press your seams to one side.

2. Take your (3) 1.5"x 34" sashing strips and attach them using a 1/4" seam along the long ends of the body strips you made in step one, leaving the top and bottom free. Press your seams to one side.

3. Take your (2) 1.25"x 39.5" top and bottom strips and attach them to the top and bottom of your main body. Press your seams to one side.

4. Take your (2) 1.25"x 36" side strips and attach them to each side of your main body. When your finished your top should look like the below photo. Press your seams to one side.

5. Take your backing fabric and place it right sides together to the front quilted piece and pin around the sides. Sew a 1/4" seam around the entire perimeter leaving a 6" opening for turning. Clip your corners, turn right side out and press.

6. Turn in your opening 1/4", pin and top stitch a 1/4" seam along the perimeter closing your opening and leaving a nice finished edge.

7. Now its time for the straps. Take (2) of your 8"x 3" strips and place them right sides together. Sew a 1/4" seam along one short end and both long ends, leaving one short end open. Clip your corners, turn and press. Turn in your open end 1/4", pin, and top stitch around the entire edge closing your opening. Repeat with the other two strips.

8. Cut a 2.5" strip of your sew on velcro onto the one end of the back and front of the strap to create a loop. See main photo

9. I centered my straps along the long center sashing strip and on each small sashing strip. Fold your strip in half long ways and sew several back and forth lines to secure it to the canopy.

I hope this all makes sense. I know text directions don't help as much as pictures, but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to comment or email me! It was just too cute to not post a tutorial of. I realized I made this the week I found out I was preggers so my brain was a little pre-occupied and forgot to take photos. Oopsie.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Happy crafting!

A Date with the Perfect Gift

This Christmas was really hard in determining what we should get our families for gifts. Considering I was wrecked tired and did not feel like stepping in a mall left me with little options. Actually I only went into two stores and that was to get the hubbies gift. I recieved an email from Tiny Prints and it inspired me to create something fun and unique for each member of our families. With our peanut soon to make an appearance in 2014, I knew I wanted to incorporate that in this years gift, along with the homemade Sled Ornaments that I created. While perusing their site I stumbled upon the daily planners....which were cute, but not as customizable as I had hoped. Clicking through all the gifts I finally landed on the calendars. Perfect! They could be customizable to each family, and I loved that you could include special dates (birthdays and anniversaries) already printed on the calendar! Heck YA! Saves everybody a little time!! I included a little card to give a hint to what they were receiving and let the gift do the talking.

I learned that the calendars are hosted by Tiny Prints sister site Shutterfly, and having experience with them I knew that they would be excellent quality. The hardest part was narrowing down the photos to use. Since I made three different calendars for three households I had to make sure that everyone and all the puppies were included as well. The pre-set layouts were great and all I had to do was click and go. You can include text and captions, but I let the photo's do all the talking.

My Parents

D's Parents

My Stepmom

There are also many different styles, fonts, and colors to choose from, but I went for a calm and classic design and used the same one for all three. Since I placed my order so close to Christmas I was a little on edge when I hit the order button. I used express shipping and they made it here with plenty of time to spare. I couldn't have been happier with my decision to make these are really go the extra mile and take the time to create something unique. Everyone was overjoyed with each calendar, and as per her usual my mom cried.

I plan on using this site again in the future, maybe baby shower invites or announcement cards! I highly recommend this site for their quality, ease of use and customer service!

Disclaimer: I received compensation from Tiny Prints, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Green and Purple Batik Flag Quilt

As most of my readers know, I love to make quilts for special occasions. Mostly weddings, because it's something that the happy couple can snuggle under on cool days. This time I decided that the recipient, my dearest best friend, needed to receive one for a special birthday. We all are turning 30 this year......UGH! But at least mine is still a ways away. Considering this person has been in my life for over  12 years and in D's life for over a quarter of a century it seemed only fitting that he get a special blanket all to himself.

Months ago, knowing that his favorite color is green, asked what other colors he liked. I couldn't make a solid green quilt....well I could, but I thought that it could use some other colors. He told me greys, teals, purples. Pretty much anything in the cool family except navy. So I went to work shopping around for fabrics trying to go through all of my scraps seeing if I had enough to make the quilt from In Color Order. She had a great tutorial on this awesome pattern, albeit, a little short with some of the fabrics and I had to add additional fabric in the center blocks. I used batiks and a solid grey background fabric, with a fun overall green on the back. I think it turned out great and my bestie really loved it!

Fabrics Selections

Block Layouts

You will need:
12 print fat quarters
2-1/4 to 2-1/2 yards of background fabric (depending on your fabric width)
4 yards of backing fabric
2 yards of  90" wide batting
1/2 yard of binding (I used the scraps from my fat quarters)
Coordinating thread
Pencil, erasable marker or chalk liner
General sewing/quilting supplies

You can follow the directions listed in her tutorial here. I just listed the fabric and tool requirements cause I needed to adjust mine to make it work! I hope you enjoy her tutorial as much as I did!

Happy 30th Birthday! Love You!

The back embroidery!

Applique for a Birthday!

I have come to that age where all of my friends are getting married and having kids. Strike that all of my married friends are having babies. Two of my dear friend's children had their first birthday's within a week of each other. So in addition to a toy, I decided to hand make some onesies for them to have a little piece of me. Thanks to Pinterest for this cute idea and the many hours of joy it provided me.  All you need is a template, Wonder Under or any type of iron on transfer, and some embroidery thread to permanently attach the cutout to the garment (you can use a machine, but there is something to be said for hand sewing.)

Note: I purchase my onesies at the dollar store, and mom said that they run a little small so perhaps if you are to do this check the size first. It may say 12-18, but check to make sure it will fit, or go up a size.

James got an elephant with a button eye, a frog with a button, and a starfish.

For Alyssa, I made some crochet flowers, a giraffe with a rhinestone eye, and a tee shirt with a fox and birds on it. I found the tutorial for the crochet flowers here.

Note: again, because I purchased these from the dollar store, I realized (after I washed them of course) that one of the onesies was missing the snaps. So I cut off the flap and made it into a tee. Ahhhh experimentation at its finest. 

A little something

Ok so even though the hubbs and I don't typically do things for Vday, I thought that I would be a loving and adoring wife and pick him up a little something special just because. Nothing big, just some things that he loves wrapped up special with a handmade bow! Hopefully he enjoys them! Teehee!

Subway Art

I have been seeing a big craze on the internet for Subway Art. It's not really anything special, it's just a lot of words that have some meaning or common theme put together with various size and style fonts. With my handy dandy photo-shop tool I decided to take a crack at making one for my sister-in-law and her new husband. They ended up being so much fun that I made two more as well, both for birthday parties that I am attending over the weekend. One for my cousin and one for my dear friend from high school (who is mildly obsessed with Peter Pan.) It seems that I surround myself, including yours truly, with people that obsess over a singular Disney film. Anyways, I thought I would share the files with you since I can't wait to pick up the prints and in the frame they go! Yay!

I will update once I get them in the frames! So Excited!

*Update: They were such a big hit with the recipients. I know I will be making more like the Peter Pan one for upcoming birthdays. Of course a Sleeping Beauty one for myself! I will keep you updated when I make them! Below are the images printed and framed! Enjoy!

A Blue and Yellow Country Shower

This past weekend was my best friends Blue and Yellow Country Bridal Shower. After months of planning and organizing the day had arrived. I spent the evening before helping her mom get organized and set up, and the next day my mom and I arrived early to begin the day. We set up all the rest of the tables and got the food organized. The Bride-To-Be's little bro and father were the only males in attendance because we needed somebody to take photo's and to do the heavy lifting, but we all enjoy their company so having a little testosterone around wasn't a big deal. I helped K-Mo with his camera to get all the settings right for the day and even was able to get a couple of shots of my own.

Once all the guests arrived we took our mason jars and filled them to the brim with Sangria or Spiked Sweet Tea and proceeded to pile the plates with wonderfully yummy food. We chatted and shared lots of memories and funny stories. Once lunch was over, it was game time. We had a variety of fun loving games including the music game and the toilet paper wedding dress fashion show. We giggled and had a wonderful time. Even the bride got in on the action with her own special "How Well Do You Know the Groom" Game. Every time she got an answer wrong she had to eat a bubblicious bubble gum. I wont let on to how many she got wrong, but she wasn't a happy camper at the end of it as she slightly resembled a chipmunk! Teehee. It was all in good fun though. She then opened gifts and we played bridal bingo. After thoroughly exhausting every piece of wrapping paper and ribbon (she didn't break a single one!) we then had cake. The ladies that were still left moseyed outside to sit under the twinkling lights and the beautiful summer sky. I personally think that it was a wonderful day, a little warm but that was to be expected in late August. The Bride-To-Be was stunning and we had a wonderful time. I hope that it was everything she expected and more.

Here are some photos that I got: