Christmas 2016: Gifts Round-Up

Here's the final post for last Christmas; I wanted to share just a few more things I created.

First up, I decorated this library bag for my sister - with a quote from the Harry Potter books.

I found the bag at Hobby Lobby - it already had the gold dots on it, which I thought would help make this look a little more professional (ish).  You can't tell from the picture, but this bag is really quite large, so even Hermione would find it sufficient for her library books.

Second, I made more of these hanging kitchen towels. I've posted about these before, but I think it's fun how many color combinations you can make with this project.

Finally, I made several more of these flowy infinity scarves. I found the fabric at our local craft store's annual tent sale for about $3 a yard.

Love and Floral,

Leah Joy

Christmas 2016: Elephant Toy

Here's how cheap I am: I don't believe in getting babies/toddlers a lot of gifts, because they (1) already have a lot of stuff and (2) won't remember what you did or didn't give them for Christmas when they were one year old.

However, we still wanted to do something for Josephine, although to be honest, it was more so we could have the enjoyment of watching her open a present. :)

We found a cute Duplo train set on Amazon, and I also sewed this elephant toy for her.

I found the pattern here.

The only thing I would change was the part you leave open for stuffing. The pattern has you leave open the top of the back, but I'm not very good at discreet hand-sewing, so the back of the elephant is all puckered.

But still cute!

Love and Buttons,

Leah Joy

Christmas Ornaments: 2016

So, I'm a little late getting all the Christmas posts up this year, seeing as it's about time to post pictures of tulips, but I still wanted to share a few things from this past December.

Here's our mantel this year, complete with the stockings I made, my tree collection, and a playpen. :)

Caleb's parents have a tradition of giving each child an ornament each year. We've decided to adopt that tradition for our family, too.  For Jo's 2016 ornament, I made this little felt strawberry (actually about the size of my fist, so not that little).

We also had not yet gotten her a 2015 ornament (for her first Christmas), so when we went to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland (in Frankenmuth, MI) this fall, we looked for one. I knew what I wanted it to look like, and none of the traditional 1st Christmas ornaments were really looking right to me. Instead, we picked up this beautiful silver and blue ball ornament, and I added a tag with blue cardstock and a silver Sharpie. :)

I also made an ornament en masse to give away to our friends and family.  This year, I made these little felt cupcakes:

They were very time consuming, considering I made almost 30 of them, but they turned out really adorable!

Love and Cupcakes,

Leah Joy

Herringbone Table Runner

This past November, I got a new sister! My brother got married to a wonderful girl, and I wanted to make them something really beautiful as a wedding gift.

I found the instructions for this herringbone table runner over at Laurel Leigh Studios. I highly recommend the tutorial - it was well-written and very easy to understand.

I almost forgot to take pictures of this finished project. I actually had it all wrapped up (perfectly, I might add) and had to undo my wrapping so I could take pictures for you guys.

This project was intense, to say the least. Because of the herringbone pattern, you have to iron down the seam you just sewed before you can add the next strip. I brought my sewing machine into the living room and had the ironing board set up right next to it. Despite making this in October, I did a lot of sweating! :)

Here's the runner after being quilted, but before being bound.

I added this little tag, too.

The batting in this table runner is insulated batting - although I didn't realize that I needed to also add a layer of cotton batting until after I had quilted 100 rows.  So, it's not quite as functional as I wanted it to be, but it is very pretty!

 

Since making this, I've learned a really great technique for machine binding (more on that in a future post), and purchased a walking foot, but since I had neither of those in my repertoire then, I'm still pretty pleased with how the corners turned out. The only less-than-pretty bits are on the back, and no one will see them there anyway.

I'm really proud of this project - and yet I also kind of want to redo it now that I have a walking foot! Though the table runner is still a good size, it's several inches smaller than I had intended to make it. Because I just used my regular presser foot to quilt it, the whole thing went a little wonky, and I had to trim down quite a bit from the edges to even it out.

This project is so versatile. First of all, herringbone never really goes out of style, so this is something you can keep around forever. Secondly, you can use any combination of colors to make this suit any decor or season. Thirdly, you could even make it reversible; what if you made two 'tops' in different seasonal color schemes? I'm picturing a red and green pattern for Christmas on one side, and then a red and white pattern on the other side for the rest of the winter.

I also had fun experimenting with making hot pads, although, again, I still didn't realize that insulated batting requires a layer of cotton batting to be truly heat-proof. So this hot pad is adorable and completely useless. (Well, Jo has adopted it as a toy, so there's that at least.) 

It's pretty clear in this one how much I needed a walking foot - as the rows all sway out!

Have you ever made anything with insulated batting?

Love and Rainbows,

Leah Joy