'Oz' Quilt and the Return of the Bottlecaps

Baby Quilt In Progress, originally uploaded by staarlight.

Baby quilts are quickly becoming my favorite thing to make. Quick, gratifying, and a small project to try out layouts I've been eyeing. This one is made entirely from half square triangles. I may write up a quick pattern at some point, as this will may just be my new go-to baby gift. Simple, sweet, and fantastic!

Details: 33" x 41", made with white quilting cotton and an 'Oz' by Sanae charm pack. Not sure about binding yet... thinking red? Back will be a solid color, probably white, with a small amount of piecing.

This quilt is for some friends of ours who are having their second child, a little girl, in May. I have a lot of things coming up quickly (hosting my sister's bridal shower, her wedding, and a possible queen sized quilt commission, among other things), so I'm putting the quilting on this aside for a few weeks.

Speaking of things on the horizon, I am working on putting together an application and making stock for Not Yo Mama's Craft Fair, coming up in April. I haven't done a craft show in a few years, but the time is right for me to jump back in. Jersey's a bit of a hike, but my sister lives in the area and has graciously offered to assist with the show and let me crash at her place.


I'm concentrating on bottlecap jewelry, which I haven't done in quite some time. So far, I have 60 necklaces finished -- 26 of which were done this weekend. My fingers look like hamburger, but I couldn't be happier. I also have 25 pendants, a handful of earrings, and a prototype bracelet. I'm aiming for 40 pairs of earrings and 30 bracelets. Let's see how long it takes me.

If I get turned down for the show, which is very possible, my alternate plan is to start using Etsy again in earnest, and look into selling at The Point in Chadd's Ford. If you're in the Philly area, it is a must-visit. Kind of like Etsy, if Etsy had a brick and mortar store. The woman who runs it is an extremely cool chick.

Wish me luck on my application!

Recent Diaper Cakes

Winnie the Pooh Cake
This one is for one of the bigwigs at work, who's having his first baby. Contains: approx. 50 size 3 diapers, plush Pooh, 3 bibs, hooded towel, three washcloths, Pooh slippers, three bibs, two onesies, one flannel receiving blanket, two pairs of socks, a pacifier, a baby wipes case, a baby spoon, and travel-sized toiletries.

A few works in progress... From L to R: football, frogs, and butterflies. Just need a few more finishing touches for each!

Blue Puppy cakeContains: approx. 60 diapers, one hooded towel, five bodysuits, one fleece blanket, two pairs of socks, one pair of booties, one pair of shoes, two washcloths, two spoons, and a stuffed puppy.

Philly Phanatic CakeContains: approx. 60 size 3 diapers, one Phillies bib, one pair of Phillies booties, a baseball jersey, pair of pants, baseball hat, one pair of sneakers, two washcloths, two spoons, a pacifier, a 'Future Phillies MVP' t-shirt, and a stuffed Philly Phanatic!

Wee Lion CakeContains: 24 size 3 diapers, one burp cloth, three t-shirts, two washcloths, two spoons, a pacifier, and a stuffed lion.

First Project of 2010: Home Grown Sanibel Bag

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all had a wondeful holiday. What better way to kick off a brand new year than with January's first finished project? Meet my Home Grown Sanibel.

Home Grown Sanibel, Front with Handles, originally uploaded by staarlight.

Check out the inspiration purse, Amy Butler's Sanibel. I love this bag, but couldn't justify the retail price -- $192! I used the pictures and dimensions I found online and Mini Laura's flickr tour to draft my own pattern. This was the perfect reason to make the difficult first cut into some Denyse Schmidt fabric I've been hoarding.

I modified the original dimensions (21" wide by 11" tall by 8" deep) to suit my preference -- this bag ended up 16.5" wide, 9" tall, and 6" deep. I also varied the pocket placement and depth somewhat to suit my needs.

Here's a shot of the back. Like the front, it has three pockets.


This is a neat feature that I wouldn't have known about had I not watched MiniLaura's Sanibel tour video: needle pockets concealed behind one of the regular back pockets. They're also great for scissors, crochet hooks, etc.


The sides have a neat snap feature, allowing the bag to be expanded and closed as needed. I think the original used magnetic snaps, but all I had lying around were regular ones. They do the job just fine.


Now for the inside. One the front lining, I made one big pocket on the inside like the original purse, but I used two snaps at the top to keep it from flopping open. It's a great size for patterns, etc.

You can also see the removable bottom insert panel used to keep the lining neat. It's basically a fabric envelope with a few pieces of heavy duty stabilizer inside to help keep the bag's shape.

You can also see the tab closure - just a magnetic snap from JoAnn's. I splurged and got one (they're $5 or something), because based on how often it will be open and closed, it's necessary.


On the back lining, I made a small zippered pocket (my first!), two gusseted pockets (for my cell and wallet, respectively), and three regular pockets.


And there you have it! A few hours of number crunching and a few days of intermittent sewing later, I have a new favorite handbag.


My approx. cost was $12, thanks to an amazing sale at Fabric.com a few months ago. I picked up the fabric (retail $12.99/yd) for an astonishing $2.99/yd. I used a little under a yard of each. Add in the different interfacings that I had on hand, and the magnetic snap closure, and this was still a very inexpensive project.

Edited to add: If you want to make your own, it's really not too hard. The purse is essentially a set of rectangles. Here are the cutting dimensions I used.

Front/back and front/back lining: 17 1/2" x 10" (cut 2 of outside, cut 2 of lining)
Sides and lining sides: 7" x 10" (cut 2 of outside, cut 2 of lining)
Front/back outside pockets: 17 1/2" x 7" (cut 2 of outside, cut 2 of lining)
Side pockets: 7" x 7" (cut 2 of outside, cut 2 of lining)
Handles: 6" x 36" (cut 2 of outside) Folded in half twice, then topstitched.
Needle pocket: 6 1/2" x 7 1/2" (cut 1 of outside, cut 1 of lining)
Bottom insert: 7" x 17 1/2" (cut 2 of lining)
Tab closure: Don't have measurements... wing it! Final dimensions around 3" x 3"
The internal pockets were done by the seat of my pants, so come up with what works for you.

1/2" seams all around. For the outside panels, cut fusible fleece panels to dimensions 1/2" less all around than the fabric pieces. Fuse, centering with 1/2" all around. Then cut a piece of fusible interfacing the same dimensions as the fabric, and fuse on top of the fleece. Use your iron to sandwich the fleece between the fabric and the interfacing. This is very important -- it gives strength to the bag but doesn't make the seams too thick to sew through.

Any questions? Ask away. I'm happy to help.

Halloween/Thanksgiving Reversible Apron

I'm trying to do a few small projects to keep myself busy before I start preparing for Christmas in earnest. After having made large-ish quilts recently, it is SO NICE to be able to sit down and finish an entire project in a few hours! Last weekend I took some time and made this great reversible apron. A girl can never have too many!


Pattern: Emmeline Apron from Montessori by Hand / Sew Liberated
Fabric: Alexander Henry Halloween print, Snoopy fall print, and Keepsake Calico (black w/ white buttons)

Great pattern. I was a little short on the fabric for the ties, so I probably can't tie them in the front, but I love it regardless. Can't wait to wear it while handing out candy on Halloween, and on doing my best Martha Stewart impression on Thanksgiving.

Recent Baby Gift Commissions

This one was for a couple at work that are expecting a little girl at the end of this month. Buying for a girly jungle theme was a little challenging, but it turned out very sweet. Contains: approx. 60 diapers, one blanket, two wash cloths, three bibs, two pairs of socks, one pair of sandals, one shirt and pant outfit, headband, stuffed leopard, elephant activity toy, tri-fold travel grooming kit with emery boards, brush, comb, and teether.

Another Winnie the Pooh cake, this one for someone at my mother in law's workplace. Contains: approx. fifty size 3 diapers, one hooded towel, two washcloths, five onesies, one pair of slippers, one flannel receiving blanket, one massaging teether, one chillable teether, one pacifier clip, one Pooh blanket toy, and one stuffed Winnie the Pooh.

A Baby-Sized Exercise

I'm making progress on this little quilt that was started as an exercise in mixing prints. That, and I've been dying to make a zig zag quilt. It's amazing how much faster a 30" x 40" baby quilt comes together versus a 90" x 120" twin bedspread.

Can't decide how I want to quilt this one. Started out with straight lines, but I didn't love it. Tried pebbles, but I didn't think they were right either. I'll probably end up stippling -- always my favorite.

So far, no real plan for where this little quilt is going when it's finished.

On an unrelated note, I am loving the cool Pennsylvania weather this week... Can't wait for fall! Autumn is always a very domestic season for me. I'm not off to a bad start: made red velvet cupcakes and fresh strawberry ice cream for Labor Day. The National Apple Harvest Festival is coming up in a few weeks, and I'll be stocking up on bushels of apples to make gallons of applesauce. Yum!

Long Overdue Total Crafty Wedding Recap

I can't believe it's already come and gone, but our one year wedding anniversary was this past Monday! In honor of the occasion, I'm going to do my damndest to finally finish my complete wedding craft recap post that I haven't gotten around to.

Invitations - One of the first things completed for the wedding was the invitations. I knew I wanted something different, so I pulled out my brand spanking new Gocco and made my own. It was trial and a lot of error, but I completely loved the end product. Read more here, here, and here.



We had quite a few guests fill in the back of the RSVP with notes, drawings, and pictures. They were so sweet and funny that I hung them up for display at the reception. Unfortunately, I think that is the only thing that I didn't get pictures of on the big day. Take my word for it -- they were cute!


Programs - Fighting through last-minute wedding burnout, I came up with an idea for programs that was cheap and easy. Be sure to check out the tutorial here if you're interested in making your own.


Napkins - Another Gocco project, these personalized napkins were a quick project. You can just see them in the bottom right hand corner of our well-stocked booze table. Read more here.

Here's a closer shot before the wedding. The design was created in Word.


Wedding Dress - This was the Big Project, the kind of undertaking that makes your palms sweat just *thinking* about it. I didn't straight up make the dress from scratch; I combined two of the same dress into my ideal wedding frock. Read more about the design process here, and here.



Here's a little peek at the label that I embroidered. You can't tell, but it was embroidered in blue, as my 'something blue' for the day.


Shrugs - Made for my awesome bridesmaids. More details here and here.

Here's a closeup shot of my twin sister in hers. Doesn't she look amazing?


Moss Letters - Another cheap DIY wedding project. These looked awesome hanging next to the main doors of the house. More details here. I wrote a tutorial for these as well.

Here's a closer shot before the wedding.


Wedding Photo Family Tree - This is my favorite decoration created for the reception. I hunted down wedding pictures of mine and Ben's parents and grandparents, and arranged them as a sort of family tree with one of our engagement photos in the center. It was really neat to see all of our family represented, and a wonderful reminder of those grandparents that are no longer with us.


Lanterns - This was a joint venture between myself and my husband. I desperately wanted rice paper lanterns hung on the front porch. I bought a bunch at IKEA for cheap, but I couldn't think of any way to safely light them up. The wiring in the house is quite old, and could not have supported a bulb in each. What was a girl to do? Well, ask my hubby-to-be, of course. He created little lightweight hangable lights out of LEDs, betteries, and tape. Perfect! We hung a few in each lantern and they created a gorgeous glow all night long.




Flower Decorations - I wanted to pay homage to the rustic qualities of the lake house, so I purchased some birch bark tubes on Ebay. I was supposed to have a ton of them, but my husband accidentally left most of them at home. No problem, though! Our neighbor on the island graciously offered her prize-winning hydrangeas for free. We put a few each into glasses and jars, and then covered the glass with a trimmed birch bark tube.




Centerpieces - Very simple: dollar store candles in inexpensive glass containers, surrounded by large and small pinecones collected on the island the day before the wedding. We placed each glass on a brown or green duponi napkin, and sprinkled birch bark chips (on clearance at Pottery Barn) around the outside.


Cake/Cake Stand - I worked with a local baker to design our cake. While the idea was dead on (small two-tier cake with cupcakes surrounding it), the decorations weren't quite what I had imagined. (See my original idea here. However, it tasted great and fit perfectly on the cake stand that Ben and I designed and built ourselves.

Would you believe that it cost zero dollars? We made it entirely out of leftover pieces of an IKEA entertainment center.

It was really fun to work on a project together, and include him in the process with something that he actually enjoyed. I never could have made this cake stand without his expertise.


(Faux) Flowers - Another big money saver was arranging my own flowers, using silks. More details here, here, here, and here.








Out of Town Bags - So glad we took the time to do these. The guests loved them! Read more details here.


Chocolate Bar Favors - More details here and here.

Well, there you have it, folks... a complete outline of the crafty parts of my wedding! Feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Back From Muskoka, One Quilt Lighter

It came down to the wire -- I was finishing hand sewing on the binding while up at the lake -- but it's officially done. It was hard to give this one up now that it will live permanently at the house in Canada, but I will get to visit it every year. Not that I'm ever lacking a reason to go to Muskoka...

Finished dimensions: 90" x 120" (twin bedspread)
Made mostly with scraps, free motion quilted.

Leela loved this one! We have such a strange dog. Anyway, she's 'modeling' in two of the pictures above, completely of her own volition. Every time I turned around, she had plopped herself down on it while I was taking pictures. I guess she has good taste!

Here's a quick shot of the label, and what it looked like in progress. Click for larger images.


This quilt was the product of a quilting challenge between my mother and I. We decided to each make a quilt following a few general guidelines for the summer house. We would then put it to a vote with the guests while we were up this year, and the winner would get to pick the guidelines for next summer's Muskoka quilts. It's a pretty big incentive, because we have very different styles of quilting.

Eventually, we hope to make a quilt for each bed in the house -- 13 in all. This year, we tackled what is popularly referred to as the 'pink room,' due to its pink trim. The picture on a bed above is actually in the 'blue room,' which we'll quilt for next year. They both have two twin beds.

Stay tuned for another upcoming babycake, and a baby quilt in the works. I guess I have babies on the brain? Also, I'll dig up the pictures I took of this quilt side-by-side with my mother's entry into the challenge and reveal the winner!

Layout Ideas

I'm trucking along on the quilt for Canada -- about 1/3 done quilting and looking to finish this weekend.

While I'm not at home working on that quilt, I'm already daydreaming about my next one. See, I went to the Odyssey Quilt show in Hershey, Pa last weekend, and fell in love with some fabric for a new quilt for our bedroom. I've been meaning to redecorate and paint a bit, and this would be a nice catalyst to give me a palette to work from.

Here is the fabric, in all its glory:

And here are two different versions of the layout I'm thinking of using.


The darker one would be stretching my comfort zone a little, as I do tend to work with light sashing most if not all of the time.Thoughts?

Two Recent Diaper Cake Commissions, and Quilt Progress

I've been busy baby shopping recently, for two orders from a friend at work.

Contains: approximately 50 size 2 diapers, one fleecy blanket, seven bibs, three onesies, long-sleeved onesie and pant outfit, hat and bootie set, six washcloths, five spoons, travel sized toiletries, and a Minnie stuffed toy.


A pirate cake -- how fun is that! Harder to shop for, for sure, but it turned out pretty cute. Contains: one treasure chest playset, one bib, one pair of sneakers, travel sized toiletries, four washcloths, four spoons, one brush and comb set, one flannel receiving blanket, two shirts, two pairs of pants, one diaper cover, oneset of coveralls, and sixty diapers.


Been working on a few other things, as well -- not the least of which is the quilt diagrammed in my last post. All the blocks are done. I just need to assemble and quilt it before we leave for vacation in two weeks. No pressure...

Forgive the basement floor pic. It's the only place in my house big enough to lay out a 90" x 120" quilt without the dog laying claim to it.

I stepped outside my color comfort zone with this one, and I'm happy with the results. It's not for my home, which makes it easier to be a bit more colorful. This quilt was the product of a challenge between my mother and I, which I'll detail when I have finished pics of both.