Faux Chenille Blanket

I finally finished the Faux Chenille Blanket that everyone else in the Crafty Sewing Mamas on BabyCenter has already made.  Part of the reason I didn't make it earlier was that I didn't have a need for one.  A few weeks ago at Joanns I saw they had their Halloween fabric on sale and their solid flannel on sale so I got the stuff to finally make the blanket.

I didn't read the tutorials online before I went shopping so I only got a yard of each material instead of a yard and a quarter but it is still plenty big for a little lap blanket for B. I had trouble getting the end product to be perfect straight and my binding isn't that great but its acceptable.  I didn't want to go buy binding so I made some double fold binding but was too lazy to cut it on the bias so I left the corners on this blanket instead of making them round.

I might a few more of these to have on hand for gifts but I wonder if making a simple quilt is faster than one of these.

Project List Update

I feel kind of bad that I haven't posted anything in 2 weeks and nothing but project update lists but I do have a good reason.  Most of my free time has been spent quilting and I've had little computer time and little no blogging time. 

The good news is that I finished B's Toddler Bed quilt which was the Riley Blake Jelly Roll quilt.  I still have a few loose threads to trim and need to make sure that all the quilting line markings are gone but overall it is done.

In the past few days I have almost completed a Faux Chenille Blanket.  This has been a very popular item on my Crafty Sewing Mama's board and has been on my to-do list (apparently only in my mind though) for a while.  I found the right fabric at Joanns and once I finish the binding I will have a Halloween blanket for B.

I also added the 1600 quilt which is another very popular thing on the Crafty Sewing Mama's board to my list for sometime in the future.  I will probably wait till I see a Jelly Roll I really like then I will make that quilt.

My task coming up is to finish the top 6 things on my list by the end of September.  I would also like to finish the cars and music fabric bins before I host playgroup in a few weeks.  Since B will start preschool two days a week after Labor Day I might get it all done...

Rank	Project	Status	How Many
1	Riley Blake Jelly Roll Quilt	COMPLETE	1
2	Faux Chenille Blanket	90% Complete	1
3	Toddler Room Curtains	Started	1
4	Floor Cushions		2
5	Kitchen Oven Mitts - Wedding Gift		1
6	Hayley Bedding Quilt		1
7	Christmas Quilt	65% Complete	1
8	White Newborn Knit Hat and Booties	50% Complete	2
9	White Crochet Baby Blanket	25% Complete	1
10	Off White Baby Booties	25% Complete	1
11	Crayon Roll for Boys		2
12	Pink Eyelash Knit Scarf	Started	1
13	Car Mat Quilt		1
14	Animal Cloth Blocks		2
15	Cars Fabric Bin		1
16	Music Fabric Bin		1
17	Swiffer Wet Jet Reusable Pads	3 Complete	6
18	Hooty Hoot Owl Quilt		1
19	Medium Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
20	Car Roll		2
21	Numbers Bean Bags		1
22	Crayon Roll for Girls		2
23	Pink Knit Baby Blanket		1
24	Girl Animal Print Rag Quilt		1
25	Baseball Knit Hat and Booties		2
26	Football Knit Hat and Booties		2
27	Trains Fabric Bin		1
28	T-Shirt Bag		1
29	Kitchen Aid Cover		1
30	Sewing Machine Cover		1
31	Lovey Tag Blankets		2
32	Mini Apron and Oven Mitts Set		1
33	Small Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
34	T-shirt Yoga Pants		2
35	Alphabet Bean Bags		1
36	Red Knit Prayer Shawl		1
37	1600 Quilt		1

Project List Update

This past week I have been working on converting B's room to a toddler room.  We moved him into a toddler bed and I moved around his furinutre to hid some outlets better and give him more space to play.  In the craft area I have been concentrating on getting his bedding and curtains done.  The curtains fabric and quilt binding fabric should be here tomorrow.  This week I was able to get his quilt top made and the quilt basted.  I started marking some of the lines for machine quilting too.  I also completed his toddler bed sheet which is adorable.  I need to get more fabric to make a top sheet and also need to find a toddler pillow so that I can make a pillow case.  I am really hoping to get his quilt and curtains done by this weekend and put his room together but that might be pushing it.  My sewing time is really limited to 1-2 hours each day while he naps since I will be busy the next few nights.  I will put the pictures up all together when his room is complete.

I also went to my mom's house and used her design wall and laid out the Christmas quilt so once all the room stuff is done, I can work on sewing that top together.  While I was out my mom's house she also gave me a lesson in using her Serger sewing machine and is letting me "borrow" it for a while.  I say "borrow" because she isn't using it now so it could be mine for a while.  This will make some the projects on the list a little easier. 

Here is the project list:

Rank	Project	Status	How Many
1	Riley Blake Jelly Roll Quilt	50% Complete	1
2	Toddler Bed Sheets	COMPLETE	1
3	Toddler Room Curtains		1
4	Christmas Quilt	65% Complete	1
5	Floor Cushions		2
6	White Crochet Baby Blanket	25% Complete	1
7	White Newborn Knit Hat and Booties	50% Complete	2
8	Off White Baby Booties	25% Complete	1
9	Crayon Roll for Boys		2
10	Pink Eyelash Knit Scarf	Started	1
11	Car Mat Quilt		1
12	Animal Cloth Blocks		2
12	Cars Fabric Bin		1
13	Music Fabric Bin		1
14	Swiffer Wet Jet Reusable Pads	3 Complete	6
15	Hooty Hoot Owl Quilt		1
16	Medium Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
17	Car Roll		2
18	Numbers Bean Bags		1
19	Crayon Roll for Girls		2
20	Pink Knit Baby Blanket		1
21	Girl Animal Print Rag Quilt		1
22	Baseball Knit Hat and Booties		2
23	Football Knit Hat and Booties		2
26	Trains Fabric Bin		1
27	T-Shirt Bag		1
28	Kitchen Aid Cover		1
29	Sewing Machine Cover		1
30	Lovey Tag Blankets		2
31	Mini Apron and Oven Mitts Set		1
32	Small Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
33	T-shirt Yoga Pants		2
34	Alphabet Bean Bags		1
35	Red Knit Prayer Shawl		1

Finished Curtains and next on the list

You might remember a previous post where I talked about some custom curtains that I made for a friend.  I finally got a picture of them to show off and I think I did a pretty good job considering it was really my first time making curtains, much less curtains with a lining in them.

 

 

I did a  white blackout fabric lining on the back. I love this photo of the back of the curtains and thought how the pink fabric would make a great border to a white blanket.

For the curtains I looked at several tutorials online and a few sewing books I had but came up with my own measurements.  I thought the tutorial on ehow.com was one of the easiest to follow along as a guide for the lining part. 

I am now tackling curtains for B's room.  We just moved B (21 months) to a toddler bed and with that he is getting new bedding.  I am using fabric from the Riley Blake Wanna Be A Cowboy 2 line. 
The sheets are made of this:







The quilt will be made from this (minus the pinks):

And the curtains will be from this:


I was able to get blackout lining fabric at Joann's yesterday for around 80% off!  I think I paid around $2.24 a yard instead of $7 a yard.  I ordered the red horseshoe fabric from Fabric.com and with coupons and free shipping paid around $6.72 a yard for designer fabric, not too bad!  

Project List and Finished Projects

I finally connected my camera to my computer and got off the pictures to show off some of my latest craft creations.  I really think I need to get one of those cameras that can wirelessly download pictures to your computer. 

So here a few of the things completed:

Alphabet and Numbers memory cards/flash cards.  I got this idea from one of the blogs I follow (but I forgot who!  Sorry and Thanks for the idea!) who got it from somewhere else.  While B is a little young for the game Memory we do use them as flashcards and he has fun stacking them too. ( I did do the whole alphabet, it was just too big to picture)

 

I also recovered a bulletin board for our kitchen area to hang artwork and other documents since the front of our fridge is not magnetic. I found some cute star buttons and hot glue them to thumb tacks to make matching tacks for the board too.

 

I also made a little ruffle apron from a kit at Hobby Lobby.  The kit was on sale for $5 and came with everything you needed but coordinating thread.  The fabric is one giant panel, you cut out the different pieces and sew together.  I messed up some but overall it looks ok. 

I put my udpate project list below.  I reordered the list by priority.  The Riley Blake Jelly Roll quilt goes with the toddler bedding and curtains.  I am hoping to get that done in the next week or so while we convert B to a toddler bed.  

Rank	Project	Status	How Many
1	Riley Blake Jelly Roll Quilt	25% Complete	1
2	Toddler Bed Sheets		1
3	Toddler Room Curtains		1
4	Christmas Quilt	60% Complete	1
5	Floor Cushions		2
6	White Crochet Baby Blanket	25% Complete	1
7	White Newborn Knit Hat and Booties	50% Complete	2
8	Off White Baby Booties	25% Complete	1
9	Crayon Roll for Boys		2
10	Pink Eyelash Knit Scarf	Started	1
11	Car Mat Quilt		1
12	Animal Cloth Blocks		2
12	Cars Fabric Bin		1
13	Music Fabric Bin		1
14	Swiffer Wet Jet Reusable Pads	3 Complete	6
15	Hooty Hoot Owl Quilt		1
16	Medium Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
17	Car Roll		2
18	Numbers Bean Bags		1
19	Crayon Roll for Girls		2
20	Pink Knit Baby Blanket		1
21	Girl Animal Print Rag Quilt		1
22	Baseball Knit Hat and Booties		2
23	Football Knit Hat and Booties		2
26	Trains Fabric Bin		1
27	T-Shirt Bag		1
28	Kitchen Aid Cover		1
29	Sewing Machine Cover		1
30	Lovey Tag Blankets		2
31	Mini Apron and Oven Mitts Set		1
32	Small Rice Therapy Hot/Cold Bags		3
33	T-shirt Yoga Pants		2
34	Alphabet Bean Bags		1
35	Red Knit Prayer Shawl		1

"Go Make Music" Shakers

As I have mentioned before my son absolutely LOVES The Biscuit Brothers and they teach children in their show about music and encourage kids at the end of the show to "Go Make Music."  Taking on that concept B and I made some musical shakers as a craft activity one afternoon.

I got the idea for the shakers from a toddler activity book we had and went to work.  I took 4 bowls, added rubbing alcohol and food coloring to each bowl and then added some macaroni and rice. 

 

I let the pasta and rice sit for a few hours to allow them to absorb as much color as they could.  Next, drain the liquid and let the pasta and rice dry on foil or wax paper.

After the liquid was mostly gone, I threw away the foil and let the pasta and rice dry some more on paper plates.  I wanted them to be completely dried out so that no moisture would get in the bottles.

 

Next I took an empty soda bottle, rinsed it out, let it dry and took off the outside label.

B and I picked out the pasta and put the pasta into one bottle. It helped B practice some fine gross motor skills and we also worked on learning colors when putting the pasta into the bottle. After all the pieces were in, I put some super glue inside the capped and screwed it on.  Shaker is done!

The next day I made a rice shaker (needed to drink another soda first!).  I love how the colors turned out using brown rice. I added some plain white rice for another color too.

 

B loves to play with both shakes and "Go Make Music".  When he uses the shakes we talk about loud and soft sounds.  I am thinking about making the pasta shakers for his 2nd birthday party in a few months. I think kids of all ages will have fun putting the different colored pasta inside and shaking away.