Christmas Sewing!

I was able to  finish one of the Christmas gifts I have been planning and love the feeling of accomplishment!  My plan was to make monogrammed bags and to purchase items on sale, with coupons, etc. to go in them.

I went "shopping" in my stash and found enough of this fabric to make four bags.  I am choosing the monogram color based on what I "think" is the recipient's favorite color.  Not really sure about a couple of them.  The colors are blue, red, green and purple.  I am choosing the lining fabric to coordinate with the monogram color.

Some colors to choose from.

Several years, in the early days of my blog, I posted a 5 part "pocketbook" tutorial, and also a "fabric reusable grocery bag" tutorial.  I  went back and read the posts and this bag is a combination of the two tutorials.  The tutorials are listed on the bottom right hand side bar of this blog, if you are interested.

So far the goodies in this bag are shaving cream, razors, body wash and two lotions.  I also have several candles and will add one of those.

My "dream" plan if time allows, is to also make a small, zippered, monogrammed cosmetic bag to go in the bags.  In the zippered bag I plan to include small items such as chap stick, lip gloss, etc.  The possibilities are endless for ideas to fill the bags.  A personalized key fob would be a nice touch also!

 I ordered lotions, body washes and candles from Bath and Body Works when they had a big clearance sale a couple of months ago.  It was a great sale!  I had some high value coupons that I applied to the shaving cream and razors at CVS and through Amazon Subscribe and Save.

Are you making any plans to make any Christmas gifts?  I hope this post has given you some ideas!

An Owl and a Tooth Fairy Monster Pillow

I made a couple of fabric toys for my grandsons. 

1.  For 7 month old Eli, a Crinkly Tag Owl:

I started with a washed Cheetos bag to go on the inside for the crinkly noise.

I made a simple pattern from notebook paper.

I experimented with the layout of the eyes and nose. Then I fused them onto the fabric and zigzagged the edges to be sure nothing could come off.

For the arms and feet, I used ribbons.  Here is the finished front:

Finished back:

For 6 year old Dylan, a monster tooth fairy pillow:

I used the same pattern as I did for Eli's owl.  But, I stuffed it with polyfil and added a pocket on the front.   I also used different eyes and added teeth and little stuffed feet.

In this picture he is watching me sew!

I got the ideas for these from Pinterest and then just made my own pattern.

A Small Gift Idea

Here are some small gifts I recently made. Key fobs in all shapes and sizes.

I didn't have the standard key fob hardware, so I just used a D-ring and a split key ring on most of them. I love having a wristlet size key fob for myself. Its great to put on my wrist when my hands are full!

Fleece Gifts

I had my very first experience with fleece over the weekend. The ECU fleece came from the remnant bin at Joann's 2 or 3 years ago. I kept wondering what I could make with it. It was a yard and a half which was too small for an adult sized throw. A little research on the internet and I found plenty of ideas. Here are 3 scarves. I am learning from my mistakes and having fun in the process.  That one on top is a boa!
 

Self Portrait.  Maybe cute for a young lady to wear to an ECU football game?

The fleece feels so luxurious.

A little decorative stitching.

Cutting the fringe

Still not too sure about the boa.... hubby was intrigued by it. Maybe in a leopard print? LOL

First Day of Summer....Christmas Gift Ideas

This is my grandson enjoying Grandma's bench on a recent hot day.

I hope you are having a great first day of summer! Shucks, its felt like summer here for about 6 weeks! This week is forecast to be a scorcher from beginning to end.

So now that the year is almost half over, what do you think that means? It means it will soon be Fall again! It also means that if I am going to hand make any Christmas gifts, I'd better get to it! I am committed to having some gifts made before the last minute this year!

With that being said, I also like to work inside on sewing or other crafts when it gets as hot as it is here this week (upper 90s and above).

Here are some ideas that I have for Christmas gifts.

1. A pillow case made in fabric that the recipient would like along with a new pillow. HERE is one I recently made for my son in camo fabric.

2. Another play mat for my grandson in a different theme, such as jungle, farm or cars and trucks. HERE is the Thomas the Train play mat I made for him last week.

3. A small throw size quilt, perhaps a quillow (magic pillow). If you don't know what these are, they are quilts with a pocket sewn on one end. You then fold the quilt in such a way that it fits inside the pocket. They are great to put on your couch or for a child to take to a sleepover or for nap time away from home. It can be used as a pillow or a quilt.

4. Tote bags. Both for adults or special ones for kids. My grandson would love one in fabric featuring one of his favorite characters.

5. A crayon Roll for my grandson.

6. I made new Christmas Stockings for all my family members last year, but there are other people on my list that I could make one for and then use the stocking to hold their gift, such as a food item. HERE is a tutorial for the stockings I made last year. Feel free to use the tutorial to start making them for your family.

7. Fabric bags made especially for holding food gift items. After Christmas the recipient could use it as a reusable fabric grocery bag. I have some kitchen themed fabric that would be cute for this. HERE is a tutorial I posted for these as well.

8. Rice filled neck pillows. These could be microwaved and then would soothe the neck, shoulders, back or knees. I love THIS ONE.

Those are all the ideas I have for now. As I think of more ideas and make some of these gifts I'll update you.

I'm really getting into the Christmas gift making spirit! If you have any ideas let me know. Is there something you wish someone would hand make for you?

Easy Removable Pillow Cover Tutorial

Today is Whatcha Working on Wednesday at Leslie's blog, My Country Home.

I have been thinking of some handmade gift ideas for Christmas that are quick, easy and frugal. We do still have two months in which to put together handmade Christmas gifts, but its time to get busy if we are going to get them done.

I made this pillow for my grandson this past weekend and thought I would write a tutorial on how to make this simple pillow cover with an overlapping back.

The ideas you could come up with for these pillows for gifts for your family and friends are endless. You could do sports themes, feminine themes, kids themes, needlepoint, applique, you name it!



I often make this type removable pillow cover because it can be replaced so easily. You can change the cover with the seasons, or remove it for laundering. I have Christmas pillow covers that I place on our regular throw pillows in the living room. After Christmas, I just remove the Christmas covers and store them until the following year.

You can purchase pillows to cover very frugally. Just look for decorator pillows of all sizes that are on clearance at places like Walmart or at regular price at places like Dollar General. It doesn't matter what color they are, since you will be covering them. Another venue for finding pillows is the thrift store or a yard sale. I often find decorator pillows, remove the covers that come on them and make new covers.

My grandson likes the "Cars" children's movie, so when I saw this fabric on the remnant table at Walmart, I decided to make him a pillow. I purchased this pillow form at Walmart in the craft section. I plan to make more covers for this pillow as his interests change. For a little over a half yard, I can cover an 18 inch pillow.



These are the directions to make a cover for an 18" pillow form:

Cut a piece of fabric into an 18 1/2" square to be the top of the pillow.

Then cut two pieces of 18 1/2" by 12" fabric to be used for the overlapping back of the pillow.

On one long side of each piece press a 1/4 inch hem, fold this over another 1/4 inch and press well. Then sew along the edge of these folded over hems on both pieces.



Lay the right sides of the backing pieces on the right side of the pillow top so that the hemmed edges face center and overlap one another.





Align the raw edges of the backing pieces with the raw edges of the pillow top, pin well all the way around the square, and machine stitch along all four sides with a 1/4 " seam allowance.


Turn the pillow cover right side out and insert the pillow form.

The back of the pillow cover:



You can easily adjust the size of the cover to fit what ever size pillow form you want to cover. Cut the top piece of fabric 1/2" larger than the size of the pillow form. The two rectangular pieces for the back of the pillow should be the size of the pillow front on one side and wide enough to over lap on the other side.

This and That

I haven't done any actual sewing this week, but as usual those wheels in my head are always turning, especially at 3 in the morning.

This is a picture of some of the fabrics I want to use in my Cozy Cabins quilt that I'm "planning". I like the combination of pink and brown. I just had a light bulb moment. The pattern in the magazine used black squares in the center of the blocks, but of course I'll probably need to use dark brown squares.




This is one napkin from a set I am making. The fabric is red, white and green plaid homespun that I bought on sale after Christmas last year for 50 cents a yard. I plan to use them year round, but they will be especially nice for Christmas. I've made three, but plan to make a couple every day or so until I get as many as I can make from the fabric I have. I bought all that was left on the bolt, about a yard and a half.




We've been using the 3 I've gotten done and I like them the best of any I've made so far. The homespun fabric is very absorbent.

I went to Family Christian Stores the day before Thanksgiving and purchased some of their "door busters". One of these that I especially like are baskets that have a fabric lining. On the outer edge of the lining is embroidered "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread". These baskets were only $5.00. The sales catalog said limit of 5 per person, so I bought 5. The clerk told me I could get as many as I wanted and now I'm wishing I had bought more.

I can think of so many ideas to use these baskets for gifts. I could fill them with different themed items. Some ideas are: Homemade bread, cookies, etc.; handmade napkins and coasters; grocery items; spiritual books; journals; roasted pecans; items that represent whatever the recipient's hobbies are, etc.

Here's what the baskets look like. The quilt this basket is sitting on is a wolf/log cabin one I made a few years ago.



This sale is still going on, so if you are near a Family Christian Book Store, maybe you could grab some too!

Handmade Gift Ideas

This week I used some of my sewing projects for gifts and hope you can use these two ideas. I guess you could call them "semi-handmade". They are a combination of a handmade item and a purchased item or cash!

1. I was invited to a baby shower given for my cousin who recently gave birth to premature twin girls. The girls now weigh 3 pounds and will be in the hospital for a while longer. I made these two Strawberry Shortcake tote bags and purchased two large packages of diapers.





I didn't realize diapers had gotten so expensive! I wanted to buy a large package of name brand diapers since it was for a gift and was floored! I had coupons and my plan was to buy them at Walmart. I did get a pretty good deal, I think, at CVS. Its hard to tell what's a good deal since there are so many different size packages, baby sizes and brands. Some say Mega pack, etc.

The diapers I bought at CVS were 60 count Playschool, size 1 and 2, which fit babies 8 to 18 pounds. They were on sale for $10.99 and I had a CVS coupon for $2.00 off. In addition, if you spent $20.00 on Playschool items, you received $5.00 Extra Bucks for a future shopping trip. If only I had some extra bucks on hand to apply to this purchase, it would have been a really good deal. I'm anxious to see this week's CVS sales paper to see if I can "roll" this $5.00 extra bucks coupon on some more good deals this week.

I think these will be greatly appreciated gifts. You can never have too many diapers, especially with twins! And the tote bags can be used for lots of things while the babies are small and the girls can use them when they are larger to carry around their stuff in.

2. I also made this denim wallet for my daughter. On the inside it has a place for credit cards, gift cards, etc. It was a little surprise for her to receive in the mail this week. I put a 5 dollar bill in there with a note that said "Lori's Dunkin Donuts Coffee Money". She loves to go through the drive through and get an iced coffee, but tries to limit these treats, so I thought she'd appreciate a little bonus in the mail!





You could place a Walmart, other gift card or good old fashioned cash in a wallet and make a very nice gift. Its much more personal than just giving a gift card or money. It shows the recipient that you put some thought into the gift.

I have a very busy weekend ahead of me. Today I have some Etsy Shop sewing to do, house cleaning and laundry. Tonight I'll be spending the night at my mother's. Tomorrow I'll be home by 11:30 A.M. or so and will be having my daughter and her family over for lunch. I will get aome grandbaby sugar!

Have a great weekend everyone!