Sewing

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The first Very Hungry Caterpillar line of fabric came out before I had kids. I LOVED it. But I didn't really have a reason to buy it. So basically as soon as I found out I was pregnant I ordered fabric to make a quilt for the baby. Just before The Boy was born (July 2010) I finished my projects: a quilt, curtains, bed skirt, boppy cover and flannel receiving blankets.

I must have ordered a set of fat quarters in addition to the panel, and some yardage of the fabrics I used for the curtains, bed shirt and backing. I wanted all fifteen foods to show on the quilt, so I fussy cut pieces from the food fabric to show them all. Then I designed as I went (a first for me) to include the variety of fabrics. I didn't free motion quilt yet as this point, so the quilting is pretty basic, though I did follow the outlines of the caterpillar and butterfly with my walking foot. (How much easier that would be now with FMQ!)

very hungry caterpillar crib quilt 1very hungry caterpillar crib quilt 2

hungry caterpillar quilt close up 1hungry caterpillar quilt close up 2

Here's a shot of the back (about 3 months after he was born). I made the quilt label in the shape of a leaf which you can kind of see here.

back of quilt

I also improvised the strategy for making a bed skirt. I just serged the bottom edge and as I dropped the crib mattress to lower levels, I cut off and serged again.

very hungry caterpillar crib skirt

room viewI borrowed a friend's boppy cover so I could make myself a pattern and made the boppy cover to match his room. The blankets here are flannel receiving blankets. After I squared off the fabric I used a plate as a template to make the curved corner and serged the edge.

boppy and blankets

Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts and Show and Tell Tuesday at I Have to Say.

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If only I could REALLY narrow my goals down to one a month. I have about a million. So, I've decided I'll have a Primary Goal and some Bonus Goals. I'm joining A Lovely Year of Finishes for the first time this month.

The Primary (and ALYoF) Goal

I'd been thinking about what to do for teacher gifts for the end of the year and didn't even think about sewing something (duh!) until I saw Sarah's post of Terrific Teacher Gifts. I love her little zipper pouches, but I don't have the energy to deal with zippers at the moment, so I have another idea. In the interest of keeping the gifts somewhat of a surprise I'll refrain from sharing the specifics of my project for now, but here are my fabric groupings. I pulled way more than I need, but I figure once they are done I'll decide which we're keeping and which we're giving as gifts. And making ten of the same project will go fast since I can work on them assembly line style, right? These are all fat quarters that I pulled from my stash. Follow my progress on instagram @sarahmgoer.

fat quarter groups1fat quarter groups2fat quarter groups3fat quarter groups4fat quarter groups5

The Bonus Goals

  • Decide on my plan for party outfits for the kids to wear at The Boy's birthday party next month.
  • Complete the step 12 of my mystery quilt.
  • Quilt blocks 3 and 4 from the Building Blocks Quilt Along.
  • Do something with my patriotic orphan block.
  • Dust off my WIP quilt for The Girl... and figure out what I'm doing next.

I'm linking up to ALYoF June Goal Setting Party.

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This was such a quick and easy project. I loved the Fabric Bin Tutorial on Birch Fabrics. If I'd have had all the supplies I needed (oops) and more focused time, I could have easily finished the project in a day.

I feel like it's a little risky to post about a gift before giving the gift, but yeah. I guess I'm just too excited to have a finished project to share.

I have a friend with a nearly 2-year-old who happens to love Charley Harper art. In fact, she used some of Harper's art in decorating her son's room. I wasn't familiar with Charley Harper until she educated me two years ago, so naturally, I think of her whenever I see the Charley Harper fabrics. When I saw the fabric bin tutorial I thought voila! Charley Harper Fabric Bins!!

Like I said, they went together pretty easily. I had a bit of trouble smoothly adhering the Pellon to the fabric which made me thankful it was attached to the inner fabric. ;-) And the fabric/Pellon really got wrinkled up when turning it after sewing the inner and outer fabrics together. When I ironed the folded over top edge I also steamed the sides a bit and I was very happy with the finished look.

Here are some pictures of the finished bins. I can just imagine them filled up with blocks and matchbox cars and trains.

Charley Harper Fabric Bins1Charley Harper Fabric Bins3Charley Harper Fabric Bins4Charley Harper Fabric Bins5Charley Harper Fabric Bins7Charley Harper Fabric Bins8Charley Harper Fabric Bins9I've linked up to Fabric Frenzy Friday.