I’ve had an overabundance of sewing projects on the docket lately, but they’re all so fun, it’s hard to be stressed about it. I feel so much more prepared this year going into the holiday season. Last year we were moving! I also think my new upstairs sewing room has sparked an influx of creativity.
So let me show you what I’m working on!
Baby Gifts
Our nephew and his wife are having their first baby soon and it’s the first grandchild and great grandchild on that side of our family, so we’re all very excited about it. They haven’t found out the gender, nor announced the exact due date. Instead, we were all invited to make our guesses via a book raffle — we each gifted a book to the baby or the parents along with our guesses as to the gender and birth date. Isn’t that fun? My guess is November 3, my own birthday, of course, and I think I have a good shot.
Anyway, I wanted to sew some baby gifts, so I asked them if they have any colors/vibes in mind and she said they’re going for a foresty theme, which makes sense because they’re very outdoorsy. GREAT! I had the best time choosing fabrics. It can be tricky to choose gender neutral fabrics (they tend to lean boyish), but I think I did pretty good.
First, I made my sensory baby block pattern, using my Charley Harper opossum fabric. It might be my favorite I’ve made from this pattern.
I also really wanted to sew them a baby quilt, but since I already have so many projects and quilts going on, I needed it to be pretty simple. I reminded myself that not every quilt needs to reinvent the wheel or be the most impressive thing I’ve ever made. I chose 12 fabrics and made half square triangles. I’m planning to arrange them in a scrappy fashion and I think it’s going to be just perfect.
Martha’s Quilt
I’m happy to report that I finished quilting and binding my great grandmother Martha’s quilt! All I have to do is hand sew the binding while I watch Dancing with the Stars with Layla later today (I’m team Ezra). I found a piece of fabric in my stash for the binding and was about 24” short. I almost waited to buy more fabric, but instead I asked myself, “what would Martha do?” She would have made it work, or added a different fabric. So I cut every scrap of the binding fabric I had left and made just enough. I feel so proud to have finished something my family started some 80 years ago.
Sewing with Natalie
Natalie’s been coming over to sew with me once a week almost every week since she got married and I look forward to it so much. It’s a good time for us to catch up! She’s been working on Christmas stockings for her and her husband and they’re turning out so sweet. We’re almost done and then I’ll show you. We used my Christmas stocking pattern, but added a ruffle to hers and a cuff to his.
We also recorded a video together all about her wedding! The dress, the DIY’s and crafts, plus tips for budget weddings. Watch it here.
Christmas Projects
I’m always so excited to get started on Christmas patterns for my shop every year. Next week I’m filming the first one of the season, the goose ornament! The best thing about this, besides how ridiculously cute it is, is that there is zero hand sewing, so it’s super easy to batch sew a bunch of for Christmas gifts.
Other Christmas patterns I plan to release this year are:
A mini scalloped Christmas tree skirt and round scalloped placement
Gingerbread dolls
A penguin doll or pillow, I’m still deciding, so opinions are welcome
I bought a mini Christmas tree to model the mini tree skirt and saw that Hobby Lobby now has an entire aisle of miniature tree decorations. It’s all so cute. I decided I’m going to be very extra and decorate my little tree with a sewing theme and it will be my sewing room Christmas tree.
Sneak Peek
I am so, so hyped about next week’s YouTube video. It’s a two-for-one tutorial and both my versions turned out even better than I had thought they would. So stay tuned next Monday and make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube.
Thanks for reading!
Nikki
