Memory Pillow: from Toddler Dresses

You might remember that I was given a beautiful array of toddler dresses from a mom who wanted a pillow made for her bed. A pillow isn't very big. So to make something little that showed the material from all 7 dresses in an interesting way - had me stuck for a bit.

I looked at endless pictures of cushions (I think I would now get top marks in any cushion quiz!) and finally decided to make a simple flower cushion.

Not too much or too little focus on any one material I hope. (If you remember I still need fabric left over for a kids quilt. )

I stuck all the smaller bits of fabric left over from the deconstruction of the dresses to white felt using a strong fusible. I cut out the petals and sewed them in circles - lots of circles!  The petals even show case the lace and other cute details from the dresses.

The vibrant leaves are made from the green velvet collars of one of the red tartan dresses. (I really really try to minimize any waste from any of the clothes I work with.)

Because there were two red tartan dresses I used some of the tartan to make the back. The smocking of one as the center of the back with some spiral paisley free motion patterns around it. 

Almost reversible but I think the front is much prettier.

Superhero Party Capes

This month I feel like I have been slowly loosing my mind. My eldest asked for a Superhero Birthday Party. You might remember last year I got overexcited with her Princess Tea Party - well this year I tortured myself again by deciding to make 19 superhero capes, 19 superhero belts, 38 superhero bracelets/cuffs & 19 super hero masks. I didn't realize how much all this effort was weighing on me - because after the party ended I felt a deep need to sleep for 2 days.

Each cape has a contrast lining & and emblem on the back (lighting bolts, diamonds, snowflakes. flowers, butterflies etc) all with a bit of bling of course. I worried that the superhero belts look like something from the WWF - but the kids LOVED the belts. As the girls arrived they were allowed to pick out their cape, belt, mask & cuffs.

I made everything adjustable by placing the velcro like this on the belts & cuffs.

It enabled me to make everything one size but ensure that they would fit everyone.

I recycled our pink satin chair covers which we got last year for $2 each. This year we rented some kid sized chairs and I found the covers fit perfectly over two chairs put together. I used twin flat sheets from our linen closet for the table cloths. The tulle pom poms are from last year too. The streamers, balloons, plates, cups etc were all from the Dollar Tree (love love that store - you can color-co-ordinate a birthday party for just $10!) I used 24" balloon sticks this year instead of helium balloons - much cheaper and just as cute - and the sticks are reusable for years to come as well.

Here is my middle girl all dressed up and ready for the party to start. 

Supergirl came and put the little superheros through superhero training school. 

There were no goodie bags instead the girls got to take home their new superhero costumes.

Here are some things that helped me make all the costumes:
McCalls Pattern (MP245) Boys Girls Superhero Costumes - really great & fun pattern ideas if you don't want to make your own cape patterns
Thermoweb Heat'n'Bond Ultra Iron On Adhesive - amazing product for when you need to stick things on quickly (not at all suitable for any sewing over or applique etc)
Glue on plastic gems - the 1lb bags may seem expensive but they have lasted us for years and (they are still going) not to mention the huge array of fun projects we have used them for
Slipper Satin from fabric.com - felt amazing - great weight & shine - and nice selection of colors. It was really easy to work with, iron etc. 60" width allowed me to get maximum number of super hero capes from it.

There are many many superhero cape tutorials out there - but this quick list will help you work out the options:
Super Hero Cape by How Does She?
Repurpose a T-shirt into a Superhero Cape by The Southern Institute
No Sew Superhero Cape from Little Pink Monster



I can not believe that my first bunny has turned 5. It seems unbelievable to me. Sad even. How quickly they grow. Too quickly. I am so lucky to have such amazing little people in my life!

Kids Painted Quilt: Watercolor Circles

If you remember this project came about as a suggestion from Asia from Fun at Home with Kids.  Asia's site is my go-to if I am ever looking for fun activity to do with my little bunnies.

This quilt is so pretty. These photos do not show what a wonderful job my eldest bunny did (not that I am biased!) The colors are all soft and sherberty. They did spread - they are not perfect circles - but I do not care.

I had so much fun quilting it with a sort of free form McTavishing style. Here it is coming off the frame.

It is the sort of quilt you would curl up under while watching TV or lie on in the garden on a sunny afternoon. 

 

I used quite a few different colors of thread to try and highlight & define the different color splotches. You can see here the colors go from purple to blue to pink to green.



It was really interesting to me to see how the colors of the fabric paint interacted with the different colored threads. I have much to learn & experiment with - in how colored thread can bring out color, change color or blend perfectly.

I wonder what project ideas will come to us next. 

Technical Info:
Batting: Hobbs Wool Heirloom Batting
Backing Fabric: Scrap White on White prints
Top: Blue Fabrics: Recycled Sheet
Binding: Premium Quilt Colorbok Fabric - Dot Floral
Thread: Aurifil Mako Quilting Cotton - Natural White, Selection of Bottom Line threads by Superior & Fil-Tec Monofilament thread in bobbin

WIP: Kids Painted Quilt - Spin Art

A good friend of mine gave her kids these really cool Spin Art Centers for Christmas. Of course knowing my love of turning any kids art project into a quilting challenge she invited me and some of my fabric over to play. We did try using a salad spinner as well - but the salad spinner did work as well as these little machines - perhaps because with the salad spinner you add the paint before you spin - as with these machines you add the paint while they spin.

I stuck some black cotton down to paper using a light layer of 505 spray and cut them into the required 4 1/4" squares. In our Nancy bottles I mixed my beloved BioColor paint with BioColor Fabric Medium, a little water and either Make It Glitter or Make It Shimmer.

Our girls quickly got going decorating the squares of fabric.

Here are our finished squares. 

We made an awful lot of them! 

My idea is to make the squares into a quilt - and the spin art squares will be fireworks. 

I am excited to see how it turns out.

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Our other kid painted fabric projects have included:

Kid painted Teepee

Kid painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kid painted Quilt - Blotter Art

Kid painted Quilt - Throwing Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Spraying Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Shaving Foam Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Watercolor Circles

WIP: Kids Painted Quilt - 'Watercolor' Circles

When Asia from Fun at Home with Kids sent me a picture of this quilt I felt it was something we would enjoy making at home. In my obsession with recycling fabric we have used a clean twin white cotton sheet as our material. I lay down a strange (but effective) plastic Hawiian plastic table cloth on the floor to protect our home from being permanently dyed from our experiment. As it was just my eldest bunny (4) doing this project I decided to try some fabric paints rather than our usual biocolor with fabric medium.

For our colors I used Jacquard Textile Traditional Exciter Pack. I added about 2tlbsps of water to each squidge of color - I also mixed some colors - so there was a whole array of cups for my little one to pour.

Pouring neat circles onto dry fabric was problematic. 

We tried a paint brush to make the shapes. 

Would spooning the paint on work better?

Spoons didn't help. The fabric needed to be damp to enable to paint to spread in an easy fashion. Out came our favorite spray bottles.  My little one happily sprayed water all over the place.

We found the easiest way to make nice circles (and bear in mind this is a four year old) was to pour a little of the dye on the sheet and then use the base of the cup to spread the paint into a neat circle.

If you haven't seen it - here is the designer version and our still wet version beside it. I'm actually really looking forward to quilting this - I think it will be a fun project to quilt.

*****

Our other kid painted fabric projects have included:

Kid painted Teepee

Kid painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kid painted Quilt - Blotter Art

Kid painted Quilt - Throwing Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Spraying Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Shaving Foam Paint

Kid Painted Quilt #2 - Throwing Paint

You might remember my girls throwing paint at fabric this summer. Here is what the fabric looked like after we had washed & dried it.

Many of you might not see my vision here - but I decided I wanted to try to piece together curves. I used the Drunkard's Path block - I found this great tutorial at Stitched by Crystal. These blocks were very quick easy to make.  

I liked the circles layout to begin with - the design made me think of moons & planets.

 But in the end I settled on this design.

I am very pleased with this quilt - for a couple of reasons. I really love the fabric the girls made and the way it looks in the quilt against the bright white.

I feel like I pieced the blocks together well & accurately.

And I have conquered my fear of free motion feathers. I have feathers on a curves & bends, feathers in corners - feathers in the middle of other feathers. This quilt is covered in feathers.

Some of my feathers are not perfect - but on the whole they have improved so much. You might remember my feather peacock - which was obviously a good exercise and helped me learn some skills.

Once you have the feather pattern down - you can cover the quilt really quickly. Although I have to constantly remind myself to slow down - speed seems to be my biggest enemy when it comes to free motion quilting. 

I am really liking these little projects with the girls. They provide fun activities for us. They give me something to work with that the girls created. And they give me valuable practice in piecing & quilting skills.

Our other kid painted fabric projects this summer have included:

Kid painted Teepee

Kid painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kid painted Quilt #1 - Blotter Art

Kid painted Quilt #3 - Spraying Paint

Kid painted Quilt #4 - Shaving Foam Paint