Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Posted in Uncategorized by Sew Sassy Creations

I have said it before. I’m sure I will say it again. I am horrible with blogging, but I spent today revamping my blog and am now energized. Because nobody wants a recap of the last 3 months in one post, I’ll do like I have in the past and write several over the next few weeks recapping what I’ve been up to. Most recently, I’ve had fun using my embroidery machine to make burp clothes. My mom was here for a weekend and we made some for a friend of hers that has a new baby boy. New projects mean an excuse to purchase new fabric for me. I am part of an embroidery group on Facebook that’s served as a great inspiration for projects and a valuable resource for questions with my new craft. Somebody there posted about an the Stitch Stash Diva shop on etsy. OMG, I was in fabric heaven!! I have a small addition to shopping online, but fabric can be difficult because typically you can not order less than 1/2 a yard. In the world of embroidery, that is a lot. This shop let’s you buy fat quarters (1/4 of a yard of fabric), and that is the perfect amount. Fast forward to this week and my order arrived. With my new treasures I created some burp clothes for my cousin who just had a baby. I need to get these listed on etsy. Hopefully that can be a project for this week.

While I had fabric spread across my dining room, my son came in and found a piece of construction truck fabric that he attached himself to. He carried this square of fabric around all weekend, so I decided to sew that into a blankie for him. I love project that don’t cost me any money. The construction fabric was leftover from his birthday shirt, and the orange minky fabric that I backed it with was left over from another project.

Here are a few snap shots!

19Dec2013

Binding the quilt

Posted in Baby Blankets, Kids, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

Because of an impromptu trip to
Ikea to have lunch with my sister and parents, I didn’t finish the quilt today. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and hopefully I can curl up on the couch with a beer after Zac goes to bed and knock this out.

This morning, I sewed the binding onto the front of the quilt, and I’ve begun hand stitching it to the back. Definitely more tedious that is anticipated.

Here are pictures of today’s progress.

18Dec2013

The truck quilt… Almost DONE

Posted in Baby Blankets, Kids, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

I am amazed at how quickly this quilt came together. I am forever indebted to my friend Emily who helped coach me through text and Facebook. She sent me pictures of her work and YouTube videos explaining the quilting process. I could not have done this without her.

This morning I ran to Hobby Lobby and picked up batting for the quilt and as soon as Zac went down to nap, got to work. I laid the back of the quilt down in my entryway and taped it down. Then, I used spray adhesive to baste the batting and again for the front of the quilt. I used safety pins around the border for added security.
I was most nervous about the next step, petrified my machine would crap out or I’d get a lot of puckering. I didn’t think things through completely as to how I’d stitch the borders. I stitched down the center of the grey sashing strips as opposed to around each individual block. Oh well, I’m pleased with how it turned out.

No sooner did I finish trimming the excess fabric did Zac wake up. Not really though. His new thing is to come downstairs and snooze on me. I’ll allow it. I hope to finish this quilt tomorrow, so stay tuned!!

17Dec2013

Christmas Craziness

Posted in Baby Blankets, Kids, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

Since Thanksgiving, my sewing room has felt like Santa’s workshop. In the past week, I’ve sewn 5 quilts, 2 toddler pillow & blanket sets, and over 30 scarves. Many of the quilts I’ve completed are Christmas gifts, so I won’t post pictures until after the holidays, but I trust that these kids don’t have internet access, so I can post pics of their presents. Now that I’m caught up on work for others, I was able to start on Zac’s truck quilt so here are some pictures of that too.

4Dec2013

A Mother’s Quilt

Posted in Kids, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

This is a busy time if year for everybody, myself included. Christmas and graduation are the most popular times for t-shirt quilts. Last week, I finished 2 quilts, I have 5 to do before Christmas, and then 2 more after that. Because many of these are gifts, I won’t share them on the blog till after Christmas, but this blanket was for a friend.

Jenica and I taught at the same elementary school and have been friends ever since. She has two daughters, her youngest is just a few weeks older then my son. She asked me a long time ago about compiling her daughters’ outfits into an adult sized blanket for her. After making the December Darlings quilt over the summer, I had a pattern and was ready to create Jenica’s keepsake.

This blanket uses 32 outfits and 32 flannel squares, each cut 7″ square. I tried my best to keep the dresses intact with ruffles, and am pleased with how that turned out. The blanket has a double flannel border and is backed with anti-pill fleece. Finished, this blanket measures approximately 70″ square. What makes this blanket so sentimental is that many of the outfits were worn by both sisters, and then there are several where the girls have matching personalized shirts. I did my best to keep the coordinating shirts beside one another.

Many friends have expressed interest in the baby blankets made with newborn onesies, but their kids are older and they didn’t save enough. This blanket has 7 years worth of outfits. It’s never too late to start saving clothing, and really, a quilt is a much better way to preserve these childhood memories than storing them in the attic.

21Nov2013

Baby Onesie Quilts

Posted in Baby Blankets, Kids, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again- baby onesie quilts are my FAVORITE thing to sew. They are the perfect way to preserve your child’s baby clothes. I know I’m not the only one who has trouble giving away my son’s cloths. There are so many shirts or pajamas that have sentimental value, like the outfit he wore when he came home from the hospital, or my favorite sleeper that had the monkey on the butt… So many people save these precious memories, but they’re idea of saving them are boxing them up and throwing them in the attic. This quilt is something we use constantly. It allows me to keep my favorite things, without my husband calling me a hoarder.

This post is combining 2 different projects. Well, to be technical, 3 projects. The first were onesie quilts for a set of twin boys. Their mom got my name from a friend. (PS referrals are how I get business). She was so meticulous about what outfits she selected for their blankets. We chose coordinating fabric, an aqua and a navy gingham fabric. These quilts are slightly different from ones I’ve done in the past. They mimic how I do adult t-shirt quilts, and not the checkerboard pattern I’ve done in the past. The squares are still 6″, but there are 25 outfits instead of the 18. They still measure 42″ complete, and are backed with fleece as opposed to flannel.

The second (or third) project was a onesie quilt for my best friend’s daughter. She is exactly 10 weeks older than my son, and while these are outfits she wore her first year, it was a present for her second birthday. Belle loves owls, so her mommy selected this fabric, for her blanket. The back is a coordinating flannel print, in a bright and festive pink. This blanket measures 42″ square, and uses 18 outfits, each measuring 6″ square.

15Nov2013

Bridesmaid Dress Baby Quilt

Posted in Baby Blankets, Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

A few months ago, I came across a picture on Pinterest of a woman who used a bridesmaid dress as fabric for a quilt to give as a baby gift for her friend (the bride). After some google investigation, I found her blog. I tucked this idea aside and hoped that I’d be able to do this at some point in the future.

That “future” arrived last month when a friend of a friend contacted me through Facebook, and showed me this exact same blog post as an example of what she was looking for. I was over the moon excited about this project.

The theme for the baby’s nursery is sailboats, so I went with that when selecting fabric. Because the bridesmaid dress is a satin, I was afraid of that fabric appearing out of place with other cotton or flannel squares. So, I decided to use an assortment of fabrics and textures. I think the finished product is amazing.

This quilt measures approximately 36″ square. The sailboat fabric is flannel, the red and white rope print is cotton, the brown and white stripes is seersucker, the blue nautical print is chambray, the white is muslin, and the brown is the dress. Baby blue minky dot fleece fabric was used to back the blanket.

13Nov2013

Toddler Blanket & Pillow Sets

Posted in Baby Blankets, Kids by Sew Sassy Creations

So, I’m pretty much the worst blogger ever. I am going to try to do better. I’ve said it before and haven’t followed through, but this time I mean it. 😉 Lots is going on, and I want to update. My goal is to blog every day this week in an effort to catch up. My biggest news… I bought an embroidery machine! It’s something I thought about this time last year, so while it seemed impulsive, it really wasn’t. Big thanks goes out to Amazon Prime. I ordered the machine on a Monday night and it was here Wednesday afternoon. I’ll blog more about my love/hate relationship and my uphill battle on the learning curve tomorrow.

The first projects completed were personalized blanket & pillow sets. I made a Cars set for my son a few months ago. He loves it. It’s the perfect size for a crib, or (for him) just lounging around, and we use the blanket to help bundle him in the stroller. I bought Finding Nemo fabric for a set for Evie, a little girl from my Facebook moms group. You may not know,but Nemo is the mascot for the Lucky Fin Project, a group celebrating children with limb differences. Next, I completed two sets for birthday gifts. Whenever possible, I like to give handmade presents. It’s a way for me to try out new things, and I know that there won’t be another one like it at the party.

These blankets measure approximately 42″ square, and are backed with either fleece ($50) or minky dot fabric ($60). All sets come personalized and include a pillowcase that fits a travel sized pillow. They are available for special order now, and will be up in my etsy shop in the new year.

1Oct2012

Surprise for my sister

Posted in Quilts by Sew Sassy Creations

Since my sister graduated college, I’ve been bugging her to let me turn her t-shirts into a quilt. She finally turned them over to me this summer. I planned on making the blanket for her birthday in November, but decided it would be awesome to surprise her. My sister recently moved to Baton Rouge to attend LSU. She is getting her Ph.D. and works for the university. This is a phenomenal opportunity for her, but between hurricanes and bomb threats, she’s had a rough couple of weeks.

I am a horrible secret keeper, and I hate waiting, so this was difficult for me. It was hard not telling her what I was doing. Perhaps the hardest part was waiting for the package to arrive. (It didn’t help matters that I wrote the wrong zip code on the box, but we’re not going there…). I paid for Priority shipping, thinking that the package would get to her on Thursday. It didn’t. I thought it would get there Friday. It didn’t. I gave up hope, especially when tracking said the package was sent back to the sorting facility Saturday morning, but at 4:58 Saturday afternoon, I got a call from my sister- the quilt made it! She was surprised, excited, and in love with her new blanket. That phone call made all the stress of waiting worth it.

Here are pictures I took while making her quilt…