Baby Boy Geometric Quilt

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I feel like it's hard to find cute patterns for little boys. It was over a year ago that I searched far and wide for a pattern to make a quilt for my new grandson. His mamma doesn't love traditional baby prints and I wanted to do something simple. This pattern by Missy Mack Creations on Etsy was the perfect choice.

Find Pattern Here

It's versatile and simple and would work with many different solids or prints. I used 100% cotton solids in complimentary white, grays and blues. The back is a dark gray. I had a quilt shop do the quilting, but apparently it's hard to stitch straight lines with a quilting machine. Honestly, I tried to make myself leave it, but some of the crooked stitching got the best of me and I ended up taking most of it out and doing it myself, stitching the width of the pressure foot on either side of the seams, vertically and horizontally.

The pattern is well-done and the designer offers a great way to cut and sew the squares that simplified things so much. I can only imagine how frustrated I might have made myself if I had made the quilt the way I had planned by cutting all the squares and then triangles individually. The hardest part for me was the layout and getting various colors and angles where I wanted them. After it was quilted, I noticed a few squares I wish I'd put somewhere else, but you live and you sew and you learn, right? I'm happy with the result and more than happy with our sweet grandson!

Deluxe Lemon Squares

I set my sewing projects aside while I prepare for my son's wedding, but I made some lemon squares over the weekend and wanted to share. I've been using the same recipe since I was young. My 4-H sewing group was also a cooking group and I started making them many moons ago.

For full disclosure, I hate getting lemon squares out of the pan and this time was no exception. It reminded me a little of my husband's patio project last summer when he jack-hammered our old concrete. I think I might try the tin foil method again the next time I bake these. I didn't have great success when I used it before, but I'm thinking it has to be easier than trying to get the sugary edge of the lemon squares away from the pan. These lemon squares are scrumptious, so in the end it's worth the effort. Enjoy!

2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup buttered, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (don't even think about using the bottled lemon juice) 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the 2 cups of flour with the powdered sugar. Cut in softened butter (like a pie crust). When you have course crumbs, press in a well-greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or golden brown on the edges. While baking, beat eggs, and add sugar and lemon juice. Mix together 1/4 cup flour and baking powder and stir into lemon juice mixture. Pour over baked crust and return to oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into bars and serve. You might want to keep your leftovers in the refrigerator, if there are any.

Belle of the Ball 18" Doll Dress

Bonjour! With the new "Beauty and the Beast" movie in theaters, what little girl wouldn't want her doll to dress like Belle? This dress is based on the older, animated version of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and was made from pattern Simplicity 1581. (I found this pattern of the new version that includes a doll dress at Hobby Lobby and it was on sale for 99 cents.It's currently back-ordered on the Simplicity website.)

As with most doll clothes patterns, it was a little short on instructions, but everything worked out fine in the end. I omitted the ribbon trim at the bottom because it looked bulky and Belle didn't have any on her dress;) I didn't love hand sewing the covered buttons to the drape on the skirt, but I'm impatient. I think they look cute though. I was going to do ribbon roses, but this fabric is more of a gold yellow and I couldn't find anything to match. Everything was made from scraps in my overflowing bins, but the main dress fabric is a washable satin and the matching lace is washable as well. There are some shoulder straps on the pattern you can't see in this photo because of the lace. There is also darling slip underneath that's hard to see, but really easy to make. If the little girl in your life needs a Belle dress for her favorite doll, please be my guest!

A Home for Max Quiet Book

I've been contemplating making a quiet book for the grandchildren for a long time. When my darling grandsons, Miles and Vaughn, both had birthdays coming up, I decided it was now or never. There are lots of patterns and page ideas out there, but I finally decided on this one from LindyJ Design:

See pattern here

The story follows Max the dog through different scenes as he looks for a new home. They are a lot of work due to the detail on each page, but that's what makes them so cute.

The pattern was great and the instructions were clear. (She has sooo many other patterns that are adorable! If I made them all, I might be able to use up my felt stash. Or maybe not.) 

The designer offers a quick and easy method for applying the pattern to the materials. It's a freezer paper method and you can actually print the pattern on the freezer paper pages cut to 8.5 x 11. From there you iron the pattern right onto your fabric, which makes it easy peasy to cut those little pieces out. (Thank you LindyJ!) That saved so much time over tracing or laying the pattern pieces on the various fabrics and felt. My poor printer struggled to pick up the pages when I loaded them all at once. When I fed them through one at a time though, it worked like a charm! 

I made a few modifications to the pattern. I'm fussy about unfinished edges, so I bound the edges of the finished pages with a continuous binding that I fed through my handy dandy bias tape maker. (There is a tutorial here. Let me tell you, when you start cutting you won't believe your eyes when you see how much binding you get.) I found the binding fabric at Hobby Lobby. Because I bound the pages, I had to adjust some of the background pieces so they extended all the way to the one alternating side and the top and bottom edges of the felt.  

I also used extra-large Dritz eyelets to loop the binder rings through because I didn't want someone pulling too hard and ripping the page after all that work. 

I hope my grand-babies love them for a long time!

Fun and Fashionable Doll Clothes

When your darling granddaughter asks for some doll clothes for the new 18" American Girl type doll she got for Christmas, how can you say no? I've been busily sewing for her ever since. 

McCall 6480

I used View B. For the skirt I selected some pre-ruffled yardage I've had for years and was thrilled to put to use. All it took was an elastic casing and a seam. The jacket fabric is from Jo-Ann's fancy fabrics and the silver dot t-shirt yardage comes from Hobby Lobby. I made the snazzy boots from some leftover vinyl. 

Small seams and tiny pieces can be challenging, but doll clothes are usually quick and this pattern was easy to follow. I always try to use scraps on hand, but even if you have to buy fabric, it's usually such small amounts they don't end up costing much. I've made several pieces from other views of this pattern, so it's a good value, especially when you buy it for 99 cents.  

My granddaughter was so excited when I gave the clothes to her and to be honest, I could probably make hundreds of outfits from my incredibly large stash, so I'm not done yet!

Lunch Anyone?

If you have someone in your life who doesn't eat school lunch and you feel guilty about all the paper and plastic bags you're throwing away, Simplicity 1385 is great choice for a lunch sack. 

See here

I've made it several times in all different types of fabric, but I love the way the camo bag turned out. (I've also made the hobo style and it's awesome too and a little more feminine. I'll post that review at a later date.) The pattern specifies an insulated fleece such as Pellon Insul-Fleece, which helps keep the cool inside. 

These handy bags are just the right size for a small water bottle and a reusable sandwich container from the dollar store, plus some room left over for a snack. It's a super easy pattern with several other bags, so it's a great value. This bag is a fun and earth friendly choice for all your favorite lunch buddies! 

Easy Minky and Flannel Blanket Tutorial

If you need a quick shower gift or something special for a new baby, you can't go wrong with a soft, cuddly blanket. There's nothing softer than minky fabric and flannel is the perfect compliment. Minky fabric can be expensive, but if you make the blankets 30 x 36 inches, you can get two from 1 1/8 yards. 

To make this blanket you will need:
1 1/8 yards minky fabric 
1 1/8 yards flannel
Thread
Basic sewing supplies

It's always a good idea to wash and dry both your fabrics. They will shrink at different rates and washing ensures that your blanket will keep its shape.

Begin by cutting the selvages off the minky and the flannel. Use a rotary cutter if you have one, but you can also use scissors. 

Cut the minky piece in half down the fold. Most minky is at least 60 inches wide, so that will give you two 30 inch wide pieces. Set one piece aside and cut the length of the other piece to 37 inches to allow for a half inch seam. You will now have a piece of minky that's 30 (or so) inches wide x 37 inches long.



You can cut the flannel to match the dimensions of the minky fabric with the rotary cutter and mat, or you can open the flannel on a flat surface, lay the minky fabric on top and trim the edges to match.

With the fabrics right side together, pin every 3 or 4 inches around the entire edge. Minky is slippery so you won't want to skip this step! 

Using a half inch seam, sew around the edges, leaving an opening of 5 inches or so on one edge for turning. 

Lightly trim the four corners. 

Reach inside an turn the blanket right side out. 

Push the corners out with your fingers.

Carefully press the edges. Whatever you do, do not press the minky side. Note: You may want to skip this step if you're using the dimple dot minky. 

Whip stitch the opening closed.

If you have any edges tucked in the seam, you can pull them out carefully with a seam ripper.

Sew around the blanket 3 inches from the edges all around. (I make a mark with tape on my sewing machine as a guide.)

Sew on the diagonal from each corner to the stitching line you just made. 

That's all there is to it! Wrap it up or tie it with a bow and you're set. These blankets are so easy you will want to make a few to have on hand.