Sew and Sew

Since the completion of my bag making fiasco extravaganza, I feel like a new woman. I am keenly aware that my personality is just not suited to projects that required an extended amount of focus. I like shorter projects that I can finish in a day or two, otherwise I lose my interest and motivation. Here are some of the things that I have been working on. I *love, love, love* that most of these were finished in less than a day, in one case, only 20 minutes!!

Notepad Holder

I made this as a birthday gift for Erin. It is loosely based on this pattern for the Notetaker, but is made for a 5x8" pad of paper & has just a simple paper & pen holder on the inside. {Be sure to check out this other super cute pattern from Pink Chalk Studio!} I have two more assembled that are waiting for interfacing {and new owners around Christmastime}! It's a great way to use up little pieces of fabric & so practical too ;>)

Baby Burp Cloths

It's about time that I made something for myself, or in this case, the wee one. Both of my other babies were pukers excessive spitters, so I made these burpies extra absorbent just in case. I *love* blue and orange together! All the patterns have both of those colors in them, so I made one of each pattern with a blue backing and the other with an orange backing. Each burpie is topstitched with a zig-zag stitch for sturdiness and style ;>) This would be a great project for a beginning sewer & also would make a nice baby shower gift, dontcha think? It's also relatively inexpensive when you get the flannel on sale like I did. I have plenty of fabric left over for coordinating bibs or other baby accessories.

Criss-cross Coasters

I think these are pretty neat, but maybe you are not a coaster person. I really don't use coasters, but I would just because these look so pretty. I am planning on using them in my Christmas gift baskets, along with some homemade pumpkin butter and strawberry preserves and other handmade goodies. I followed the super-easy tutorial here. This is another great beginner project and also so inexpensive {great hostess gifts, girls}! All it requires is cutting & sewing in a square. No need for top-stitching or hand-finishing! Instead of using just another piece of fabric in the middle, I used sew-in fleece, which I believe has some sort of thermal properties for extra protection of your surface. Since I am using a rotary cutter, all the cutting went really quickly. Whenever I do a project like this {and the burp cloths as well}, I always work production style. I do all my cutting first, then all my sewing, then all the trimming & turning, then all the topstitching {if necessary}, then all the pressing. It makes everything go so much smoother.

Fall Napkins

I fell in love with this fabric when I saw it on a tablecloth at Alicia's & knew right away that I wanted to make napkins out of it. I am trying to build up my napkin stash, not only for special occasions, but for everyday use. I plan on making some kiddie napkins to use for breakfasts & lunches, instead of paper towels all the time. I think it'll be more frugal in the long run, not to mention prettier! Hubster must've really liked them because he said, "Whoa! You should make those as gifts!" Usually he just says something like, "Nice."

Easy Toddler Belt

I have been loving the Sew, Mama, Sew blog this month as they are doing 30 days of handmade projects, complete with tutorials. {Sorry, no picture of this one!} I found this idea there & made it the very next day! I already had the metal rings & just used up some stash fabric for the belt. I added a layer of sew-in interfacing for extra sturdiness. Another simple project for the beginning sewer and is perfect for a boy or a girl.

That concludes this edition of Sew and Sew. Hope maybe you were inspired, by these {mostly} simple projects, to create something of your own!