Baby Stuff

The past few months around here have been all about baby!

Meet Baby Noah.  He arrived on April 28th and he's the sweetest baby. 

And in case anyone was wondering, having one baby at a time is WAY easier than having two. ;)  Of course, I love my twins and I wouldn't trade them for anything (well, most of the time - wink, wink).

Before Noah arrived, there were a few other baby things happening around here.
First of all, the sweet ladies in my Do.Good Stitches Charity Bee all got together and made me this super awesome plus quilt!  I had NO IDEA they were doing it and I am so touched!  And the quilting on this one is so cool.

And THEN a bunch of local guild friends got together and made me this log cabin quilt!   Once again, I was totally surprised and floored by the awesome gift.  Aren't quilty friends the best?  Noah is definitely spoiled.  :)

But before even any of that, I had a burst of creative baby-stuff-making (for some women, "nesting" means "clean all the things."  For me, it's "sew all the things").  I cleared out my shop quite a bit so that I could take a few months off Etsy orders to focus on baby and it has left me with some glorious free sewing time.  It's been so nice making whatever I want to make lately, without having to finish priority projects first.

So I made Noah a few new bibs/burp cloths, and a onesie.

And then I couldn't stop myself and I made a whole slew more to add to my shop.  :)  Bibs are so fun and easy to make.  I love adding little bits of quilting to mine for added character. 

Up until a few weeks before Noah was born, I was watching my friend's little girl twice a week.  We really loved having Adele with us and miss her so much already.  She turned one right around the time we stopped taking care of her, so I made her this fun quiet book.  I've been wanting to try a book that is more appropriate for really little kids - everything is fully attached so that there are no choking hazards for little ones.  There are also lots of different textures and things for little fingers to play with.  And since I can't seem to make anything without following some sort of theme, I went with colors again (and shapes, actually.  I just realized you can't see it in any of these pictures, but every page has a different shape hiding behind the felt square flaps).  I was so excited to give this to sweet little Adele!

Noah is already a month old and I can hardly believe it!  I'm already back in the swing of sewing as much as I can - hopefully I'll have some awesome quilty things to show you soon!  Thanks for visiting!

P.S. The bibs and quiet book just happened to be part of my Finish Along Goals (#2 and #12 - original list HERE).  Wahoo!

Linking up:

'Tis the Season!

I'm getting so excited for Christmas!  The hubby and I are taking a much needed mini vacation next week.  He has a training to attend for his job (in Las Vegas) and his boss has booked a super nice condo for us to stay in for 2 1/2 days.  We're going to drop the kids off at Grandmas and I'm going to pack my sewing machine!  While the hubby is at his training, I get to spend two ENTIRE days sewing without interruptions!  YAYAYAY!  And then we will get to hang out together at night - sans kids.  I've gotta say, I REALLY love my kids, but I think after this little break from them, I am going to love them so much more.  :)  Wanna see what I'm bringing to work on?  Well, okay.

Left to right:  Ho Ho Ho by Nancy Halverson (green and yellow) - picked up at my LQS; Hip Holiday by Josephine Kimberling (ornaments and trees); In From the Cold by Kate Spain (mittens, gingerbread men, and mugs)

 I used my gift certificate to the Intrepid Thread (the one I won from my One Block Wonder quilt top) to pick up some Christmas fabric!

I've been collecting the tutorials for Fat Quarter Shop's "Deckade The Halls" quilt all year and I've finally decided to jump in and do it!  This quilt is going to be for ME!  Everybody needs a fun quilt to pull out at Christmas time, right?  I really love these prints.  They may not necessarily go together, but I will find a way.  :)

This tan/cream flower print has been in my stash forever - I picked it up at a yard sale for SUPER cheap.  I have just enough to cover all the sashing and background in the quilt, so I've decided to make it work rather than buy 3 more yards of fabric...

I can't wait!

p.s.  I have updated my Etsy Shop to include a few fun Christmas items.  Check them out!

INTRODUCING: Always Sewin Somethin - The Etsy Shop!

Well, I did it!  I opened an Etsy shop.  I've been working hard to stock it over the past few weeks and I finally feel like I have enough items listed to share my good news with the world!  (Now that it's fairly stocked, I think it's time to make a quilt...)

I debated about my shop name for days and days, then finally decided to keep things simple and give it the same name as my blog.  For now.  I still kind of like Baby Stitched (thanks to everyone who voted on a name!), and a few others, but I'm waiting to see if something better comes along.  So for now, it's Always Sewin Somethin.

I've been making bibs, burp cloths, diaper pouches, even a few onesies and a car seat canopy.  I plan to make one or two new items a week, depending on what sells.

Check out my shop HERE:

Here is a sneak peak of some of the items listed:

What do you think?  I'm hoping that this Etsy shop will be a good way for me to fund my habit, while at the same time keep me busy making functional things with an end goal in mind.

Want to help me celebrate my grand opening?  Find something you like (or tell your friends) and use this code to get 10% off your first purchase:  TAKE10OFF
This coupon is good until Sunday, October 6th.

Thanks for supporting me!!!

Twin Boy Onesies and Bibs

One of our cousins just had twin boys.  When I first found out they were having twins I was SUPER excited for them and knew right away that I had to make something awesome for them, even though they live in a different state and none of my other far away cousins got something for their babies.  :)  I guess I'm too partial to twins.  But I'm getting more into this applique thing, who knows what will be next?

After browsing the new mama's Pinterest board for inspiration, this is what I came up with:

The parents are big baseball fans, so I was excited to use a little bit of this baseball fabric I picked up at a yard sale!  Of course, I had to make something with some super cute ties! 

Peanut Butter and Jelly always go together.

I wanted to do something a little extra for these bibs, so I found THIS pattern and embroidered it onto some flannel.  Of course, I don't have an embroidery machine, so all of that stitching was done by hand.  Let's just say it kept me busy during a road trip...

I found the frog fabric in my stash and HAD to use it (I think it was a yard sale find as well).  The little appliqued frogs were totally an after thought.  They were left over from cutting the hole out of the bib for the neck.  What do you think?  Do you like them?

I really love using towels to back my bibs with.  SO easy and cheap and effective.

While we're talking about bibs, I also made this cutie for a neighbor girl who just turned one.   I snapped a quick picture about five minutes before the party (are you surprised?), so this is all I've got.  It's a toddler sized bib - about twice as big as the twin ones, and I stitched around one of those pink butterflies to secure the bib/backing a tad more.  It was SO FUN to get to work with girly fabric!

Since I was in the mood, I decided to whip up a few more bibs for my messy, growing toddler boys.  I ended up making six (three for each of them).  I picked up some flannel at a yard sale for a STEAL awhile ago.  Most of it was smaller pieces, so I had to mix and match a little.  I like the extra weight flannel gives to bibs. 
Here they are!

Look who did some applique!

Applique has always made me a bit nervous.  I've tried it a couple of times (see HERE and HERE), but haven't been fully impressed with the results.
But then I got myself some fusible interfacing (I think that's what it is...) and realized that was the one rule of applique that I should NOT have broken.  My latest project turned out much better than my previous ones!

See, the Hubby and I are both BYU alumni and avid BYU football (and soccer, and basketball, and volleyball) fans.  I've been keeping my eyes peeled for some cute BYU attire for my boys, but to be honest - everything I have found is so. freaking. expensive.
So I took the plunge and decided to make my own (3 onesies for 6 dollars?  Okay).  I must admit, I was pretty nervous about sewing onto knit fabric, since I've never done that before, but I used that interfacing and everything came out great!

I printed my design (copied from Google Images) on freezer paper and then fused the interfacing to the blue part.  I sewed the background down using a zigzag stitch, partly because I wanted it good and stuck, and partly because I didn't want to worry about cutting seam allowance in my interfacing.  For the Y, I just used a regular straight stitch (slightly shorter than normal).  I'm hoping the edges get a tiny bit ruffly in the wash.  I was impressed with how easy this project was!  I'll have to make another set when they get bigger...

The boys are going to wear them tomorrow for our big game against Utah.  Go Cougars!!!