A blanket for Ella

I really need to make some of these blankets for my kids. All I have made for them so far is two simple albiet soft flannel blankets and of course clothes, bibs, burp cloths, small taggie blankets, but I haven't made this one.

Minky Dot side. Ella is embroidered in a light pink. The actual color of the Minky is a dark pink. It's not fuchsia.

Flannel side. Summer Song Birds by Riley Blake.

All folded up.

These blankets are so soft and cuddly. I'm thinking of making one that is square, perhaps with different flannels on one side to be a play mat. Ben loves the minky though, he always calms right down if we set him on it. I really do need to make him something. Well I'll add it to my WIP list!


Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see the progress on my projects!

WIP Wednesday #2

I am so happy to participating in my second WIP Wednesday. Participating in Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday is a huge motivator and I have been cranking out projects. It feels so good to say I got something done. Even just cutting and washing fabric for projects feels more accomplished.
So my first WIP Wednesday post is here. In that list I show you some of the fabrics I am using for future projects. Today's post will just show the final product and the progress and any new items that have been added to the list.

1. Stash Basket for Chrissy X 2 she can choose, in both Garden and Bright by Ann Kelle.*DONE* She's now trying to decide which one she'll choose or if she wants to get both. They are so cute.

Michelle's in one of the baskets to show relative size.

2. Pillow Case for Hudson/Sarah just like the one I did for Cohen. *DONE* and mailed.

3. Blanket for Madison/Shelby *DONE*

This posed a definite challenge. The blanket is 3' by 4.5'. One side is Minky Dot and the other is a stripped flannel. The Minky dot has a shiny slippery back side which means that the flannel does not stick to it, causing the blanket to bubble. I made one like this for a friend in a smaller size so I know this happens. When I make it for the small Baby Cuddle Blankets it's not an issue because they are so small. When I talked to one of the employees at Pacific Fabrics about it, she said that it would be better if I made the blanket flannel on flannel and then it would stick together. All I could think at the time was "Uh, really ya think? That's not really the point though hello!" She did give me an idea though. What if I did a layer of less expensive flannel on the inside. Then I could quilt the Minky Dot to that layer of flannel and then add the nicer more expensive flannel with the ribbons at the end. That solves the issue of the Minky Dot shifting while quilting because that layer of flannel won't be seen. It worked perfectly. The two flannel's stick to each other really nicely and the blanket with the little added weight really is pleasant to cuddle up to. I should probably make some for my kids. 

4. Blanket for Shelby's niece. (Fabric chosen, embroidered and cut, just need to sew it all together.)

5. Dress for me. This will be a knit shirt type dress in a Michael Miller print called Aromatherapy. (Fabric washed.)

6. Skirt for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here. 

7. Dress for Tesla (Oliver +S) you can see it here.

8. Shirt for Tesla (Oliver + S) you can see it here.

9. Dress for Tesla - Macy Giggles. Using the same pattern from that I used with this dress. 

10. Ironing Board Cover - in a Red Ta Dot by Michael Miller *Done* You can read about it here. It's really pretty.

11. Pj's for John in Beep Bot Flannel

12. Pouch for gifts - Can't say for who. I made one though for my Chiropractors daughter. It's so super cute.

13. Pillow Case for my MIL or a table runner.

14. Quilt - I have the fabric and pattern just need to cut and get started. It's from Oh! Fransson.

15. Blanket for Cooper, using this fabric.

16. Blanket for Finley, using this fabric.(Cut and embroidered.)

17. Bibs, burp cloths and blanket for Kate - Still waiting on the okay. 

18. Bibs for MaryKay.

Here are my stats:

Projects at beginning of last week: 17

Projects completed: 4

Projects added: 1

Starting this week with 14 projects. 

I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back on this, with a 5 month old and a two year old who I just started potty training yesterday, who so far has and 5 accidents today alone, it feels good to write this up and show that I have accomplished a couple of things. Of course it's taken me about 5 hours to write this post. Better late then never!

My goal this week is to get all the clothes cut out and bagged for sewing, and to at least 3 of the cuddle blankets and a set of bibs done. Seems both ambitious and like it's not a lot. We'll see, the potty training goal may exhaust me.  

Here is Tesla in all her glory... She had an accident on this chair today while painting though this pic is from another time.

Wish me luck!!!

Don't forget to go back to Freshly Pieced and see everyone else's WIP lists and progress!

Thanks for visiting Tesla's Mom, feel free to leave me a comment, about the WIP's or about the potty training, and become a follower to stay up to date with the latest at Tesla's Mom!

Flannel Flannel Flannel!

This past weekend was my birthday and for my birthday we went to Portland. We stayed at the lovely Inn @ Northup Station. It was such a nice all suite hotel. I picked this hotel because it was in the neighborhood we wanted to stay in, it had a full kitchen and the decor was vibrant and young, and I thought my daughter, Tesla, would like it more than someplace with more sophisticated decor. The last time we stayed in a hotel it was a bit of a disaster and this time it was perfect! We brought Ben's Pack and Play for Tesla to sleep in and then Ben slept in the hotel's Pack and Play. The room was large and we had a lovely little patio that we could sit on and watch the trolley/literail thing go by. Tesla really liked that. The hotel had a nice continental breakfast in the morning and our room was close to the dining room which meant that when Ben woke up at 5ish, I could take him out there so that everyone else could sleep. I thought I did not bring my camera SD card so I didn't take any pictures of the hotel room but please go visit their site and check it out, the interior colors are stunning. In fact I was talking to a woman in the breakfast area about it and she said that after staying there the first time she repainted her sewing room in the same colors. Which of course I asked her about her sewing and about her sewing machine and it turns out she has the same machine as me! Crazy right?

On Saturday I dropped everyone off at the Oregon Zoo and headed on to Fabric Depot. Where I preceded to spend 4 hours shopping for fabric. It was so luxurious. I'm going to break up the pictures of the fabric I bought since I bought lots of flannel and then lots of everything else! So here it goes!

All Star 2 Main Stars Green Flannel
Riley Blake Designs

 

 The next one was bought for my friend Marisa.

All Star 2 - Blue All Star 2 Mini Dot
Riley Blake Designs

Wheels by My Mind's Eye
Riley Blake Designs

Zoo Friends by Kelly Tanner
Blue Hill Fabrics

Dino Dudes for Michael Miller

Bliss 26 Circles Ocean
Westminster Fibers

Della Flannel by Valori Wells for Free Spirit
Westminster Fibers

Summer Song was bought for a particular friend in mind.

Summer Song Pink
Riley Blake Designs

 The next one was bought for my friend Marisa.

Jungle Friends by Kelly Tanner
Blue Hill Fabrics

Sprinkles on Top
Michael Miller

Dumb Dot
Michael Miller
This image is not exactly correct, the dots are actually a light pink. I'm working on finding a better image.

Well that's all the flannel I bought. It's all so pretty. I bought a lot more fabric though so I'll be posting some more about that another time!


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Winner!

Wow, what a fantastic couple of days! Thanks so much to Sew Mama Sew! for hosting such a wonderful Giveaway Day! There were really some fantastic items being given away, and although it looks like I didn't win anything, I sure feel like I did with all of your wonderful comments!

So who is the winner? I used the Random Generator to select a number. I think I messed up when I said that I wanted the widget to be editable after the code is created, so you're not going to see the result below. It's the first time I have used it and I can't preview a working one. So the first time that I hit the generate button the winning comment was #18!




Number 18 came from:

Candice @ Made With Love said... I love the blanket! I have a baby shower (for a girl) to go to in June, and this would be a perfect gift! Thank you for this opportunity! :) 

 

 

 

Thanks Candice for entering! I checked out Candice's blog, Made with Love man I wish I had won what she was giving away!

 

 

http://madewithlove-candice.blogspot.com/

I just realized I could still enter her giveaway and did! Everyone should hop on over there and enter to win one of her kits! I absolutely love them!

Mister Man enjoying cuddle time.

Candice I'll email you as soon as I can to get all the info for your baby shower gift! I hear the masses stirring awake so I need to get off now! Everyone else, I do make these cuddle blankets to sell. I can make them gender neutral for all those requests. I sell them for $20.00 each so if you'd like to purchase one please contact me!


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May Giveaway! Sew Mama Sew!

Hi Everyone, and welcome to Tesla's Mom! I'm super excited to be participating in my first giveaway and on top of it to be part of the May Giveaway Day hosted by Sew Mama Sew!I started this blog a few years ago to create a place for our friends and family to keep up to date with our lives. Back then we were living in New Hampshire which was quite a ways from Seattle where I am from and my family lives. In that time we've moved back to our house in Redmond, Washington and closer to my family. It's been great being close to them and they have been able to be a much bigger part of our lives. We still have family and friends on the East Coast though and so I continued with the blog. Well at some point I started reading a lot of sewing blogs. Being a sewer myself I found it wonderful to be able to read about people's sewing creations. Since my son was born just four and a half months ago, I have been reading more and more and have loved the community that is the quilting blog community, and I want part of it! The ladies and men for that matter are so creative, and supportive of each other, and I am learning so much from all of them and that's why I've decided to partake in today's giveaway.

For today's giveaway day I am giving a custom Cuddle Ribbon Blanket to one lucky reader. These blankets are fantastic. I've recently been making them for friends who have had babies. (I'm just at that age where everyone is having kids!) Each blanket measures approximately 10.5" by 10.5" with approximatly 1.5" of ribbon on each side. I will also embroider a name of choice on the lower right hand corner.Winner must be located in the US. I will not ship internationally.

Here are some pictures of my little guy enjoying his Cuddle Ribbon Blanket!

The giveaway will be open until May 25th at 5:00pm Pacific. To enter leave a comment, letting me know if you'd like a blanket for a girl or a boy. You can enter a second time if you become a follower, be sure to leave a second comment. I will let the random number generator choose a winner. Your prize will be mailed out by May 30th! Good luck and don't forget to visit the other participants of the May 23rd Giveaway Day!

Toddler Cuddle Blanket

My friend Denise asked me to make a larger cuddle blanket for her sister in law who she was throwing a baby shower for. I really wanted to do a matching bib and burp cloth so I added those in. Denise bought all the fabric and then some for payment. I love the way these turned out. I hope she like them!

Cuddle Blanket Love

Ben loves his cuddle blanket. He thinks it's very funny and yummy.

Orders?!

So last week I made a little snuggle blanket for Ben and a few of my friends who have had babies recently. Seems like everyone is having babies. I had this Minky Dot fleece that is so beautiful and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I had overbought previously for a project for Tesla that failed miserably. (Turns out Minky Dot fleece and regular fleece combined makes a very heavy cape.) Must remember to tear that out and reuse the fabric.

Here is the blanket I made for Mr. Ben. It's only 10x10 but it's super cute, and I love it. Which is the most important thing. He would like it if I drew a big smily face on it.

The flannel is from a fabric store in Portsmouth, NH. But I don't know who it's by. I just love it though. Does anyone know?

I embroidered his name on the Minky Dot side. 

This is my best fashion shot. What do you think?

Anyway, I made one for Ben and then one for his cousin... Then it just got crazy. I was looking around and realized I had pink fleece on hand and this super pretty paisley fleece I bought over 9 years ago to use as a table cover for my sisters baby shower. So I combined those and made:

 

This one is for Tesla, but then I made 5 more for other friends who had girls. I still have to finish one, but what fun! The best part is after I made these friends started asking me, could I make such and such for their kid, or friend. So I said sure! Now I have 4 orders placed since last week of different items that I get to make. I'm super psyched. Since I can't really afford to buy fabric that I want, I've been having them add fabric on to their order in the patterns that I've been coveting. Ann Kelle was definitely up there on the list. Pretty soon I'm just going to have to price things out though, because I just can't be buying fabric without repurchasing the other materials I need too. I was telling Jason if I could somehow figure out how to make $10000 in one year, I could maybe get that sewing machine I really want, and that would be so cool. One to pay for it myself and two to be doing so much business. Hmmm dreams. 

Baby Gifts

Recently, I have actually been able to sew again! I've made some super cute little snuggle blankies for my kids and some friends who recently also had children. (Seems like when you are at the age that I am now, there's always a new baby being born.) I also made a bunch of burp cloths and bibs. The bibs took about 3 months to cut and sew and that's for only 40 bibs so I kind of took my time on those. Below is a package I sent to a friend, it's pretty much identical to one I sent to my cousin too.

You can't tell but the box is from Omaha Steaks. It was the perfect size box and I thought it would be funny. Hopefully she and my cousin do too!