Day 9 - Recap Of Sewing Projects Throughout 2011!

Throughout 2011 I got a lot of sewing and crafting projects done.  I get inspired by so many bloggers on a daily basis that I thought it would be a great idea to recap my projects and post links to where I found my ideas online.  Some of the projects I have made were from patterns I bought and some were from fellow bloggers online who were kind enough to post their projects for free, so everyone could see how to make it.  I will give credit when it is due as I would want the same in return!

One of the first things I decided to learn to make was a boppy cover.  Mind you I have no children nor did I have any reason why I wanted to make one.  It just seemed like a great project to try!  I researched tutorials on Boppy covers and really did not find one that suited what I could make.  I turned over to Etsy and ended up buying a tutorial for about $4.  I have to say it turned out pretty well and to me was worth the money!  Below are pictures of the first two that I made!

The next thing I made was a sign for my friend Dani.  She had posted online that she was looking for a place she could buy a sign that had a very specific bible quote on it.  Knowing that she just got married and that it would be nearly impossible to find exactly what she wanted, I offered to make her one myself. 

It was quite easy despite all of the letters in the bible verse.  I bought some wood at the store, had my husband cut it down into 12 x 12'” squares, sanded it, painted it and put the vinyl letters on via my Silhouette machine.  The only part I did not do was paint the branches where the birds are on.  My friend Carrie was kind enough to paint that for me!  I did not follow any blog or tutorial and did this project all on my own!  I have to say at the time I was not very familiar with my Silhouette machine and used my tweezers to transfer over every single letter!  Doh!  NOW I know that the Silhouette comes with transfer paper that would have done this for me!  Double DOH!  Ugh!  Either way, I think it turned out BEAUTIFUL!!!

When May approached it was time for my friend Lindsay’s baby shower for little Eli.  I was quite upset that I did not give myself the time to make more handmade things for her, but I do have to say I LOVE the way the burp cloths I made turned out.  I bought a pattern at JoAnn’s that showed you how to make burp cloths and bibs and for the life of me I cannot find the link for it.  It really is quite easy to make!  Two pieces of fabric, some batting, ric-rac and a airplane was all it took and I was ready to sew.  For the airplane I just googled pictures of them, found the one I like, cut it out to make my own pattern, traced it out on the fabric I liked and sewed it on to the fabric before sewing the whole thing together!  Piece. of. Cake!!

Looking for a good tutorial for a bag I stumbled across a blog titled Growing Home; a chronicle of grace, motherhood, and creativity.  It was here that I found a tutorial on a simple bag that had step by step instructions that were easy for me to follow.  I went with it and ended up making 3 different bags and somewhat altered the shape of them.  I have to say that I am HORRIBLE at picking out color combinations and really was not very happy with the way they turned out.  One ended up being a play bag for my niece, a crochet bag for my friend Carrie and a crochet bag for me. 

Sigh….why can’t I have a good sense of style/color combination? 

Oh well!  Another thing I made this year was a satin bound blanket for my Niece.  Putting together the middle of the blanket was easy.  It was the binding that was a pain in the rear!  The blanket feels nice and warm but the binding looks absolutely horrible to me!  I searched the internet for a tutorial on how to do this and found one site that was pretty helpful but again, I cannot find it today.  Hence, this is probably the reason I have not tried another one of these blankets yet!

Another thing I made was a taggy blanket for my friend Jill’s cousin.  I first learned how to make a taggy blanket from my friend Lindsay and since then I have done a couple in different sizes.  The one below ended up being a pretty big blanket and I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I also ended up turning my taggy blanket know-how into a fleece blanket.  Jill’s twin brother was getting married and either him or his wife is a Cubs fan and the other a Sox's fan.  I decided to make the blanket half and half and put their name diagonally down the center of it.  The ends are knotted with a solid fleece print on the back.  I think it turned out pretty good if I saw so myself!

After my friend Lindsay had baby Eli I wanted to go visit the new little one and get my baby fix in!  I couldn’t go to her house empty handed so I decided to whip up some onesies I made using freezer paper and a tutorial from Made.  You have got to check her website out.  There is so much amazing stuff on there!  Following her directions I made the following 3 onesies!

Another project I worked on this year was making super hero capes for my Niece and Nephew.  I found a great tutorial online that even has the cut out’s if you need them!  Check it out here!  I turned the Superman symbol into a “P” to represent my Niece and Nephew’s last name!  I also made them reversible so they can decide which color suits them better that day.  I never did get a picture of them with their capes on but I hear that they love them!

The last project I will discuss on this post is what I made for our home for Halloween.  We had recently bought a black table for our living room area and I really wanted to decorate it in spirit of Halloween.  I decided to sew a reversible table runner with ric-rac around the edges that is pictured below.

After seeing what Beckie made from her blog Infarrantly Creative, I decided I wanted to make the exact same thing and went at it!  I spray painted the pumpkins and bought the leaves and the candle holder from the dollar store.  In addition to this I also made a Happy Halloween sign courtesy of my silhouette machine and used double sided tape to add the ribbon to the border.  For my first project like this, I thought it turned out pretty great!

There were other projects I made throughout the year and I will blog about those in separate posts.  I think this is enough for now!  Let me know what you think!