Projects completed in less than a month!

Actually, these projects only took me about 3 evenings total (a more experienced seamstress could have done it much quicker I think)! What a relief to have something turn out cute without spending an eternity on production! The bag pattern came from the purl bee's "un-paper bag" tutorial listed on my left side bar. It is my first attempt at making a bag and I was pleased with how doable it was for a beginner. I just made up my own handles since I couldn't find handles I liked (though I honestly didn't look super hard). I definitely plan on making more. I also used fusible fleece interfacing instead of the sew in that it called for. The ladies at the fabric shop talked me into it and I wasn't disappointed. Don't you love this fabric?

This is a part of a page out of a fabric book I made Dean.
I LOVE it. It's called Tiny Tots by Red Rooster.

And lastly, I thought I'd give a little update on my fall and injuries.

Here are a few more details (it's actually the email I sent Matt since he was out of town on a business trip. Luckily he is home now.):

I fainted twice on Tuesday morning when I was trying to get Dean. He woke up at 6 crying really loudly. I listened to him cry until 6:20 and put my head under the pillow for "another 10 min". At 6:45 I woke up again in a panic that I'd made him cry so long. I quickly made it to his room. He was either really quite or had fallen asleep again. While I was standing outside his door I started feeling horrible. My ears were ringing, my legs and arms were weak. I almost felt feverish. Next thing I knew Dean was crying again and I was laying on the ground outside his door (on the hard linoleum) feeling too weak to get up. I think tried to sit down before I passed out and I bruised my tailbone when I went down; it has been hurting horribly ever since.

I laid there a little longer trying to get some strength. I didn't know if I could even lift Dean if I got to him. My body was totally covered in sweat at this point. I got up and got in his room, but I must have fainted again and ended up on the floor. I just laid there a min. trying to reassure a howling Dean. I finally got up enough strength to get him out of bed and us into the chair for him to eat. My butt hurt so badly in the chair and my body was still sweating profusely. I felt totally nauseous and disoriented, so I tried to move us down to the floor to nurse him lying down but that was a total failure. So I got us back up in the chair and reclined it as far back as it could go.

I made it through that feeding and let him run around and play in his room about 1/2 hour while I laid on the bed in his room. I started feeling better and I was able to feed him breakfast and play with him after that. My butt continued to feel worse, however.

I ended up calling my doctor and the advice nurse, after hearing all my symptoms and medical history, decided it was most likely fluid in my inner ear. I went into the doctor the next day as well to make sure nothing was terribly wrong. They said everything looks fine and I should just ice, heat and ice. I did that last night, and today my pain has been cut in half! I still hurt, but I'm not grimacing in pain at ever step and bend. I have hope for driving home in a week.

My back, however started hurting today. After piano lessons I came into Matt and asked him if there was a bruise or anything. This is what he saw:

I must have caught my back on something as I went down. It looks worse in person I think. My rear must have hurt too badly yesterday to notice the pain in my back.

So there are the embarrassing details.

Baby Gifts Tutorial

These were three of my favorite (and most used) presents I received when I had Dean. I just looked at the gifts given to me and tried to figure out a way to recreate them myself. I don't have any "patterns". I can't even tell you if it's the "right" way to do these. I've made 3 sets of these now, and they seem to work fine the way I'm doing them. Hopefully the directions are easy enough to follow. I almost hate to call this a tutorial because it's just cutting and sewing (somewhat) straight lines...

For a matching blanket, 2 burp rags, and a tag blanket you will need total:
2 pieces of coordinating flannel fabric each 1 1/2 yards (Here are some combos in my stash)

2 new pre-fold cloth diapers (can just get these from any mega mart. While Gerber cloth diapers aren't good for diapers, they're just fine for burp rags.)
4-5 types of ribbon, different widths and colors to match the fabric
Small piece of low loft batting (about the size of a notebook or a little larger)
Safety pins or straight pins

Handy but not essential items:
Rotary cutter
Self-Healing cutting mat

Big enough to wrap baby Blanket

1. Cut the two pieces of fabric to 1 1/4 yards.
2. Pin front side of fabric together.
3. Sew all sides together with a straight stitch leaving a small opening on the last side. I usually use 5/8 in. seam because I never can get the 2 fabrics exactly the same size. That allows for some errors in cutting. I'm sure you can use a smaller seam size, though.
4. Flip right side out and hand stitch the opening closed with a slip stitch.
5. Iron the seams flat and do a decorative stitch for a "binding". (I use a squiggle stitch because it's more forgiving than some if you're not even with your pedal and not a super straight seamstress.)
   

You're done! Because there's no batting you don't have to tie or anything.

Matching Burp Rags
Take two cloth diapers. Cut two rectangles of the left over fabric a little wider and slightly shorter than the middle padded strip of the diapers. Pin onto the diaper. Sew with a tight zig zag stitch and essentially applique the fabric on.

Tag blanket
Cut the remaining coordinating fabric into rectangles a little larger than a note book
Cut the various sized and patterned ribbons into 3 inch strips. (I used about 4 ribbon pieces of 5-6 types of ribbon. How close you want them and how big your square is will affect the exact number.)
Cut a piece of low-loft batting slightly smaller than the fabric.

On the patterned side of one of the fabrics, evenly space the pre-cut ribbons. Fold them in half and safety pin them to the right side of the fabric. The edge of the ribbon will be on the edge or the fabric. (You can use straight pins, but they're a big pain when you have to flip it right side out. Trust me.)

Place the coordinating piece of fabric on top of the ribbon pinned fabric, right side in.

Pin the batting on top. (I didn't have a full piece of batting this last time I made it, so I sewed some scraps I had together...)

Sew a straight stitch around the perimeter, leaving an opening on the last side to flip right side out. I almost always have to hand sew 1 ribbon when I slip stitch it closed.

Unpin all the safety pins. Do the same stitch as the blanket to make the binding.

Because this has batting, it needs some sort of "tie." I put my zig zag setting on the smallest and tightest stitch for this. I just do little "beads" of as short front and reverse stitch, stitching randomly spaced around the blanket.

Tie together all cutesy like and you have a nice gift for a baby shower!

Small fabric basket

I'm starting to look for good ideas for homemade gifts for Christmas. Pink Penguin has a very informative and visual pattern for this little ditty. It's a great gift in and of itself, but it would be a nice basket to house other homemade goodies.

It's my first attempt at anything patchwork and I'm fairly happy with it. I'd never done anything with box corners either. My friend Erin gave me the fabulous chocolate vinyl for the bottom, but pink penguin uses linen for the bottom and I'm sure it would be great. (The patchwork cloth is Metro Blue goes Green by Michele D'Amore for Marcus Fabrics for those who are interested.)

So you can get an idea of the finished size, I included pictures with my mini-scripture quad. If you're interested in how this would look in different sizes, Freda's Hive made 2 larger baskets using the same basic principles. (If I were to make a bigger basket, I'd probably use a different stabilizer or lining.)