Bows

A lady was telling me about this bow technique, so I had to try it out to go with my girls Easter dresses.  You will need the ribbon that has wire in it, I used a 2 inch ribbon, if you want a smaller flower then don't use such a wide ribbon.  I had 9 feet of ribbon and needed to make 4 bows, so I ended up with about 28 inches for each flower,and I felt like that was a good amount, if you want the flower to be fuller then do more, if you don't want it as full as mine, then do less.

You'll want to find the wires on one side and pull them both out a little bit and tie them together as tight as you can, then from the other side you will pull both wires until the ribbon is gathered.  So when you're all done you should have 4 wires sticking out, two on each side.  Tie off the wires and clip them down. 

Then you'll want to vertically twist it, until it's bunched up to look like a flower. After you glue that down add a little button or sparkle gem in the middle. 

I then took some green ribbon and folded like this, to use as the leaf. 

Here are the flowers that I made. The first ones I twisted a little tighter then the second ones, and you can tell that they are different sizes.  I think my favorites are the littler ones!! 

Chenille Blanket

A few months ago I was searching for a tutorial to do a rag quilt, when I came across this site.  I wanted to try the technique out, so I did it on my daughters place mats for her birthday. . .

I then used it yesterday to make this one. . . .I am in love with how this one turned out!! It looks so boy!!

A few things I want to add to the tutorial is: she says to use 1/2 inch as a guide for the width of the stitches, which is what I used on my first project but I used more like 3/4 of an inch and it was much easier to cut-I could cut the length of the scissors, instead of just doing a bunch of tiny little snips, and the other thing is make sure you use the fabric she suggests.  For the place mats I used flannel, which frayed, but frayed so much that there are just a bunch of strings hanging off of it, which isn't that big of a deal for what she uses them for, but for a blanket you won't a million strings hanging everywhere.

What's nice about this quilt is that I used a bunch of scraps, and one of the fabric was a really dark blue with flowers on it, you can't even tell!! 

Simple Baby Gift

 I am all about easy and quick, and when it comes to gifts, I like to have stuff on hand so I don't have to run to the store all the time trying to find a gift.  So once a year JoAnn's has a sell on their flannel. (usually black Friday).  I try to stock up on a bunch of flannel to make baby blankets.  I usually get a yard and a half of each color so that I have enough for the blanket and enough to make a few bibs.  I usually get two coordinating patterns to use together.

Next I take each piece and fold it into a large triangle and cut off the excess to make a square.

I then unfold it and fold it in half and in half again to make a little square.  I find the corner that has no folds and using a plate as a template I round my corners.

For this project I will be using a surger.  If you don't have a surger you can still use your sewing machine and just hem the edges.  Here is an example of how you could do your corners if you don't have a surger.

Just make sure you cut that little tab sticking out before sewing.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the single weight blankets.  They are perfect for using inside, for any baby born any time of the year, because usually the house temp is kept close to the same all year round.  Fold them all cute together and add a ribbon.  These are fast and so easy to do up a bunch of them and then you always have a baby gift ready.