Handmade Gift #3: Doll Dress

Claire has an 18" doll, and I have a pattern book of 18" doll clothes, and it was high past time I made her doll (named Samantha, after her cousin Samantha) some new clothes. I used material from my stash and boy, was it a lot of fun to pick out fabrics (I felt a little like I was on project runway).

The pattern was pretty easy, though I think the pattern has some flaws in it. I want to make this dress again, but make some changes on the measurements (because it is snug). Also, this is actually the back of the dress you are seeing, but I wanted it to be the front, so I will make some changes to the neckline and arm-holes next time (and maybe add a slip with tulle on it). I also added an inch to the length of the skirt.

Claire is going to love it and we are going to be making more dress-ups for sure.

Eva's Stocking

Christmas 2010

Handmade Gift #2: Knuffle Bunny

This past summer, we discovered Mo Willems books. We love the Piggie and Elephant series, Leonardo, and especially Knuffle Bunny. So when I saw this pattern on SYTYC, I bookmarked it, knowing that my kids would love this. Especially Morgan. She loves Knuffle bunny, and when she saw the pattern on the computer, she said that is what she wants for Christmas. Her wish is my command. She will be getting this along with a copy of the book.


I actually made two of these. One was a teacher gift for Claire's first grade teacher, because she read these books to her class at the beginning of the year, and it's always fun to have a plushy of the character in the book. Claire said her teacher and her class really love it. The pattern is fairly straight forward, though I made it, on the recommendation of one of the readers, 1/2" bigger on all the green flannel pieces.


This one is for Morgan. She is going to love it, I can hardly stand the wait until Christmas.

Handmade Gifts

This year, I have a little list of handmade gifts that I want to get done for Christmas. The first up are these fabric flowers that I wanted to give to my Laurel girls as part of a lesson.


I made them into brooches, but you could also put a hair clip on it if that is more your style. I was inspired by these flowers for emersonmade, followed this tutorial, and came up with this. I made several different colors, but this yellow one is the only one left (as I have already given the flowers away).


It is a nice hand-sewn craft that you can do in the evenings while watching TV. One of them takes me about an hour to finish.

Aprons for Mike and Abby

I made some Christmas gifts for Mike and Abby.  They love to help make things, so after this post, I decided to make them some aprons for Christmas.  Mike's is reversible; tutorial here.  Abby's is from a $3.00 pattern I found at Walmart.  They are both made from left over fabrics from other projects. 

Thanks Grandma!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the halloween crafts Grandma sent. Thanks so much! They are cute and were really age appropriate for both Claire and Morgan.

Baby Christensen quilt

I finish piecing the top, I still need to do the borders. The lighting kind of washes the colors out, but here it is. Is is bigger than a baby quilt. They don't really need baby quilts in 115 degrees.
I probably won't get it quilted for a while. Stay tuned.

Abby's Skirt

While home in Washington this past summer, Mom gave me a sewing lesson.  We made this skirt with fabric by Heather Bailey.



A blog for you.

Hi everyone!  I have a blog that I wanted to share with you all.  It comes from a girl in my stake who is super creative and crafty!  Maybe you've already heard of her blog, but I'd thought I'd share anyway.

Making it My Own

I love this Proclamation to the Family craft that she came up with for her ward's upcoming Super Saturday.  It's just 3 blocks of wood, a family photo (this is her friend's family, not hers) and the Proclamation reformatted into a 3 column format.

I'm not in her ward, but I think I might order one anyway, they are so cute!

I am not crafty in any way, shape or form, but seeing her creations really gives me the itch.  So go ahead, take a peek through her blog and archives.  I think you'll love it!

Nursing Cover

Using this tutorial, I made a reversible nursing cover, complete with boning, storage pocket, and carrying bag.  I purchased one of these made from a single layer of fabric and am anxious to compare.  I'm hoping that the reversible one isn't too hot for baby girl.  The huge advantage of making my own is that I made it extra large to ensure maximum coverage. 

More Fun with File Folder Games

My kids absolutely love the file folder games (I put them in a notebook instead of file folders).  Most of them are very educational games and the website has games up to 3rd grade.  I have made 3 very full three-ringed binders of them.  My laminator has been worth every penny.

Halloween Banner

I finally finished a decoration BEFORE the actual holiday.  And I figured out how to use some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine (the trick is to use fabric stabilizer).  Made from 100% scraps, including an old black silk skirt. 

Autumn Brick Road

It's on its way home!

Chevron Posies

Here is my latest quilt. The pattern is called Chevron Posies. It was a quick and simple quilt to make. The construction of it is very similar to that of the log cabin quilt, which I enjoy making. This one required fussy cutting, and I decided that I am not a fan of fussy cutting. That really slows down the process and you all know how I like to speed through things. The smallest square on the quilt was supposed to have been fussy cut, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so I didn't and it turned out fine.

I was all pumped to try mom's border technique, but since this quilt has mitered corners on the border, I don't think I could have used mom's technique. The borders don't appear to be ruffly, so hopefully mom won't have to mess with them in order to quilt it. Or maybe I will try to quilt it. We will see.

Don't Look Too Close!

I got brave and decided to try something a little bit more fancy.




I started out kind of shaky, but I felt like I was improving by the time I finished!


I hope you like it!

Race Car Caddy

I am so darn slow at getting anything done around here, but I finally finished the race car caddy idea that I have been planning for months and months. I loved the way it turned out, though I did make a measurement error with the Velcro so I have to sew on additional Velcro- oh well.

It has a flap that you lays flat when it is folded up, but then Velcros to make a cross-over bridge.
And then it fold neatly up into a little caddy or briefcase as I like to think of it.
And just so you know, I AM working on the tutorial for the princess caddy, but just be warned everything is slow going in this house.

Morgan's Strawberry Suprise

I love the strawberry shortcake character, not only because I had this same cake made for my birthday when I was little (it's the cake pan that keeps on giving), but because it is still so cute. I love the colors; I love that all her friends live in a berry; I love that Morgan loves them, too.

I made some strawberry bean bags to play a berry toss game.

And being a true nerd that I am, I made a little berry village to decorate the food table and Claire and Morgan loved playing with the berry houses.

How big of a fan are you? Can you name those three characters?

Borders tutorial

Wavy Borders-what to do with them? If I quilt it, there will puckers. So here are a few pointers.

First of all accuracy in every step is very important.
And when you are working on the bias, it is really important to not to stretch the edges.
Spraying the fabric with spray starch and ironing it before you sew helps the fabric not to stretch.


Unpick the borders! Spray them with spray starch and iron them so that they won't stretch as much.

Then you want to square up the quilt the best that you can. Make sure that your corners are square and that the quilt lies flat.
Measure through the middle of the quilt. Sometimes the edges can get stretched and by measuring through the middle, it helps to bring the quilt back into square.

Cut your first border the exact size of this measurement.
Then fold the border in half and then in fourths and mark with pins. Do the same for the quilt.
Match up the pins on the border and quilt and work in any fullness carefully. If you have one side that is fuller that the other, put that side on the bottom when you sew it. The feed dogs on the sewing machine will help ease the fullness in.

Now measure the quilt lengthwise including the two borders that you have just sewn on. Use that measurement (lengthwise of quilt and plus the 2 borders) Use that measurement to cut the next 2 borders. Divide the quilt in fourths and the border in fourths. Match the pins again. And sew the borders on.
I measured and matched the pins 12 times on this quilt.
It takes a little bit more time, but the quilt lies a lot flatter


I hope that this helps in future projects. Any questions on anything that I haven't made very clear, let me know.