Easy Baby Quilt and Applique Burp Cloth

This is a baby quilt and burp cloth I made as a gift for a friend (Ethney, hope you're not checking my blog the night before your shower!)

The print is a Michael Miller print I found at JoAnn's and the backing is solid brown flannel. It's a simple pattern--sew two rectangles with wrong sides together. Turn it right sides out and iron. In my copious amounts of class time I quilted around the big flowers.

I appliqued some flowers onto the burp cloth using fusible webbing and bordered it with a decorative stitch on my sewing machine.

It was a fun project and it went together quickly!

Canister Project

Last year I posted about some canisters I found at a thrift store and had plans to refinish the wooden tops. Well, one year later the project is finished and I am quite happy with how they came out. I had to strip the wooden tops (not a fun part of the project). Then I bought some cheap acrylic craft paint at walmart and used a rag to wipe it on in a thin layer, leaving the wood grain visible. Last I sprayed them with some spray shellac (needed since the ceramic jars are shiny). Here is the before:

And the after:

Thrift Store Finds

My husband's brother's family gave us this collection of antique silverware for Christmas. You probably don't know, but Matthew and I have been collecting silver-plated silverware for a few years and plan on using it when we have our own place again. I love the way these pieces are arranged in the box. This way we can display it until we want to use it! Thanks, J, C, N, L, R & E Williams!

I bought these canisters at a thrift store in Boise because I loved the red leaf printing on the side. They are white ceramic jars with wodden tops. I am going to refinish the tops with either paint or stain, I haven't decided.



These are the exact Christmas cookie cutters my mom has so I was very excited to find them at the same thrift store on a different day. The set was a mere $.53.

Christmas Crafts!!!

These are crafts that I made for the holidays this year. I have been really excited about doing this post but I had to hold off because many of these crafts were presents for my blog readers.

Slippers

These were made for Solomon, my sisters 8-month-old. They are lined with polar fleece. I found a great pattern with instructions here.

These were going to be for my brother-in-law but Matthew ended up likeing them so well that I gave them to him. They are made from 100% lambswool sweaters from a thrift store that have been felted. After the wool is felted you just cut out your slipper pattern. I used one from MarthaStewart.com, which is an ankle-height slipper but when I made the first slipper I decided that it was too floppy and didn't stay on well. That's when I decided to make them tall.

I made matching green slippers for my sister and her husband.

Pillows

The pillows were made for my parents and Matthew's parents. I embroidered the design on a piece of muslin. Good pillow inserts can be purchased from Pottery Barn for a very reasonable price. These are 18" pillows.

Advent Calendar

This has been my biggest project this fall. I think I logged about 60 hours on this calendar alone so be cautious before taking on a project like this one. I found the stitching designs at various sites on the internet and some are even Microsoft Word clipart. Each of the squares are pockets but I haven't yet made something to move along each day from pocket to pocket. If you would like to see detail shot of the embroidery click here.

Thimble Arts and Crafts

If you like to craft you have to check out this website: Thimble Arts and Crafts. I came across this blog after feeling inspired about Christmas crafts and I love the author's style. Her crafts seem very doable (which is BIG for me) and she has a very fresh approach to it. She also borrows a lot of ideas from other blogs so you can save time by just surfing her site.

These are Christmas trees made from cuts of old sweaters. I think it's a great idea...now I just have to start collecting old sweaters!

I have made a few Christmas crafts this year but many of them are presents so I'll post on them after the holiday--stay tuned!