BABY BOOTIES

A friend is expecting a baby girl...how exciting is that?!  Oh baby things are so small, so cute, so adorable but can be so expensive.  I was motivated to make a baby gift  that would WOW the mom and give myself another challenge to find that perfect gift to make.  Oh the wonderful world of the world wide web, I found the cutest bootie pattern at I Think Sew's website here.  Honestly, I had the hardest time selecting just one pattern because they are all amazingly adorable!  So, to make a long story short, this is the end result of my first ever bootie project:

Suede pink/black cheetah print with zebra faux fur baby booties and a matching gift bag

Black faux leather with animal print fleece baby booties and a matching gift bag

I couldn't stop with those two cuties...had to make just one more set:

Fagitues baby booties with matching gift bag

Had to give this little one his own onesie, too!

So, let me take this moment and give a few credits....you can find the adorable and oh-so-easy to make gift bag tutorial here at In Color Order's blog and the odorable onesie inspiration came from this blog.  Thank goodness for talent bloggers out there who unselfishly share their ideas with people like me....THANK YOU! 

Wait, got one more to show you....this was a special order and I was honored to make it for "Chaun" that has a friend expecting:

Faux zebra fur with pink trim baby booties and matching gift bag

So excited to know these little thingies will soon have an owner.

Hmmm, wouldn't these look cute on an adult, like say....ME?  Oh, oh, I just got a thought (again)...Maybe mama will want a matching pair for herself.  What do you think?

MAXI SKIRT

Oh how I love maxi dresses and maxi skirts!  It seems to be the hottest new trend this summer.  They seem so simple and elegant.  I've been wanting to make a summer maxi for myself but shopping choices are so limited in my area.  There was the cutest maxi skirt in a boutique window but, of course, they didn't have my size.  Luckily, to my surprise, I found a wonderful tutorial from Jaime Christina of Pretty Ditty here.  To make things even better, the local "Discount Fabric Warehouse" just rec'd a large shipment of assorted knits and there they were, rolls and rolls of "Ella Moss" labeled fabrics....I love Ella Moss.  I just can't afford to have an entire wardrobe of her collections.  After my purchases of "a yard of this, a few yards of that,...."My "Ella Moss" striped knits came home with me.

After about two hours (this includes taping newspapers together to make out the pattern), I end up with my very own Ella Moss copy cat skirt:

I LOVE IT!  My new summer maxi needs a quick steaming and it's ready to go to town!  Oh, I added a waist band following this tutorial. 

Thank you tutorial world for the inspirations! 

What's on your "make me this summer" list?

T-SHIRT QUILT, MEMORY QUILT

A friend of mine wanted to give her high school graduating son a memory quilt that he can reminisce through his childhood years.  Not having enough confidence to complete the quilt, I gladly offered to make it for her (even though I had all the confidence in the world she could have accomplished this task).  You see, she's visited a few times and along with a few other gals, we spent some time crafting and learning how to sew and she wanted to make this for her son.  Unfortunately, her schedule got a "tid-bit" hectic as graduation day approached and really, there wasn't enough time that would allow her to finished the quilt as scheduled.  Lucky for me, she did all the cutting and interfacing.  Personally, I think that is the hardest part of it all!  She dropped off the perfectly cut T-'s and together, we managed to finish it in the nick of time...one week before graduation day which  make it possible to have the blank block that was reserved for signatures from his family, teachers and friends to be filled in.....Congratulations "Mr. K"!  Hope you enjoy your quilt in the years ahead and wish you all the happiness and success in the world!

I found my inspiration on T-shirt/memory quilts a few years ago while watching HGTV's Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson.  I was actually watching something else and left the television on.  When I returned to the living room, Alex Anderson had a Special Guest talking about recycling out-grown apparel to quilts.  This is where I also learned about rag quilst which is how "Mr. K's" quilt was constructed.  The fringes will become more soft and "fluffy" as it is used and washed.

Of course as I was making the rag T-shirt quilt, I remembered a bin of T-shirt squares that was prepped a few years ago for my son.  With a few hours here and there on my good old faithful Jan (my Janome sewing machine), wallah, it got completed:

Oh the memories of each block....

If these blocks could talk, what would they say? 

Kalaeiki baseball camp for youths that pushed the purpose of academics and good sportsmanship:

 

A football T from my talented neighbor who played football for the local high school (#7) and the World Cup when it was in San Francisco:

Oh, this was a trip to a neighboring island and we tried the new burger joint with the kiddos:

A restaurant at I think, Newport Beach, Cali a few years back...they had delish food! 

Uncle's VW shop....

For the second quilt, I made it differently from the traditional quilt where there's a backing, batting and then the top pieces.  Instead with right sides together, I sewed the top piece with a 1/4" seam around the edges onto fleece leaving a gap about 8" wide for turning.  Once the corners were clipped, the quilt was turned and the gap was hand-sewn closed.  This method seemed much easier for me.  Machine quilting a large piece on a traditional table-top sewing machine is not my cup of tea so this seemed to be the route to take until I can "perfect" my quilting techniques.

Do you have a sentimental item that takes you back through the years?

Silhouette sd

Last Christmas, I treated myself to a silhouette sd as an early gift to myself.  It makes the world of crafting so much more easier for me which motivates me to keep creating personalized gifts for others.  As in my last post,   I mentioned about fun gifts that was created with the silhouette sd die cutter. 

First are T-shirts for sisters..."Tita" in Hawaii is a word used as "sister".  So, here's LITTLE TITA's and BIG TITA's matching T-shirts:

Two other gifts made with the silhouette sd cutter using store bought ready made aprons:

The silhouette's website provides easy to follow tutorials.  This is the tutorial that I used which was very easy to follow. 

Have you had the opportunity to make home made gifts, lately?

Practical Bag

One of the other projects I had a chance to make this year for Christmas is Grand Rivival's Practical Bag.  It is another one of those projects that can be done really fast.  It has just two pattern pieces and this is another great project for any beginner. 

Grand Revival's Practical Bag, denim exterior, cotton interior w/removable kanzashi flower pin made from the same fabric as the lining. 

Grand Revival's Practical Bag, faux leather exterior, plaid fabric interior w/removable kanzashi flower made from same fabric as the lining.  I call this my "wanna be Burberry" bag.

Grand Revival's Practical Bag, home decor exterior fabric with cotton interior lining, removable kanzashi floral pin decor made from same interior lining fabric

Two things that were added/modified from the original pattern and instructions was an interior pocket and magnectic closure.  Wait, I'm not done yet.  Stay tuned and I'll show you another fun gift I had the opportunity to make this year.  Hint:  My Silhouette sd "toy" Santa gave me last year!

Simple Tote

Another Christmas has come and gone...Hope y'all had a Christmas full of peace and happiness.  This year, I tried as much as I could to make gifts for everyone.  However, precious time was very limited but I did get a chance to make a few handmade gifts.  While there are very expensive gifts to purchase and give, I hope my children realize it is the thought of the gift that is much more important than what department store you purchased the gift from and how much it costs.

The Simply Style Tote was a quick and easy tote to put jogether in time for Christmas:

I'll show you more later......  Can you guess what else I made for Xmas gifts?  Stay tuned!

BABY GIFT

Did someone press the "fast forward" button?  Goodness, in just a few weeks it'll be the holidays!  Can't believe my last post was back in May.  Well, it's been a busy ride since then.  My family followed my son's basketball team around the island as well as Oahu and Las Vegas where they played several tournaments in which one of them, they placed 2nd in a national tournament, (open division) against a team from Washington State.  It was a wonderful experience for the team and they are such an awesome group of boys and we are so grateful that my son had the opportunity!

One of the Coaches in the basketball organization, "Coach Bruce" and his wife just had an addition to their family and I made a few simple things for their little one.

Here's a little onesies with a cute tie.  Thought it would be appropriate for the tie to be of a basketball print. 

Check out a fantastic tutorial here on how to make one of these adorable onesies.

I made this next onesies using my Silhouette sd.  I got the clip art from their website store and used the Silhouette's red and blue vinyl to create a "copy cat"  basketball logo using a baby figure.

Close up

It was easier that I expected.  Of course, it helps having a great heat transfer tutorial here on the Silhouette's website

Last but not least, I whipped up this little pillow.  The inspiration came from this flicker photo here.  I am very pleased with how the colors go well together.  Instead of sewing a button in the middle of the pillow, I just tied a knot to give it a more interesting shape.  Don't think a sewing a button in the middle would be appropriate for an infant gift.

Welcome to the world baby Peyton-Blake.  You have an awesome family who are so lucky to have you in their life!

Do you have a favorite baby gift you make to welcome little ones when they are born?