Baby Shower Gifts #1

I'm so excited to become an auntie at the end of this month!! I'm ready for my nephew to arrive and was eager to continue making gifts for him (check out the Christmas gifts I made: Baby Miller Christmas Presents). A few weeks ago we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law and I was able to spoil him a little bit more, even if he's not here yet.

I made quite a few items so I'm going to do several posts to show you what I made. 

My next post will be about the coordinating pieces I made, in neutral colors (just in case more babies are going to come later). So I also wanted to make something that says BOY!!! I thought this shark fabric was such a vibrant, fun print, that I had to use it.

I made a diaper cover, with elastic around the waist and legs, and a burp cloth, with a blue terry cloth on the back.

Shark Diaper Cover

Shark Burp Cloth

Shark Burp Cloth- Back Terry Cloth

This cloud fabric is a flannel I found from a long time ago. I think my mom made pajamas out of them. But I thought it was a cute fabric so I made another burp cloth, just for the fun of giving another gift.

Clouds Burp Cloth



Clouds Burp Cloth- Back Terry Cloth



Stay tuned for the next batch of gifts... you definitely don't want to miss the final one :)

~JV 

Soccer Jersey Quilt

It may be two months since Christmas has come and gone (already???) but I wanted to show off some work I did. Last Christmas I made my first quilts for my aunt (check them out here- My First Quilts) and I was telling a co-worker about it. She got pretty excited because her daughter played soccer, pretty much her whole life. So she had a ton of jerseys laying around the house. So she asked if I could come up with a design for a quilt she could give her daughter for Christmas. 

And here it is...

Quilts are a lot of work, and after many, many tries at different layouts, I love the way this one turned out!

It was tough to figure out how to put together the black, green and pink to make them look cohesive, but I think it works.

So if you have a lot of jerseys hanging around, think about me next Christmas :)

Enjoy

~JV

www.facebook.com/sewingpassion

Scarves for Christmas

 Today's post is about some scarves I made as Christmas presents for a few people.

I obviously love making things for people as gifts and this year was no exception.

Here are all of the scarves I made this year... 

Pink Polka Dot- Jessica (sister)
We did Secret Santa for the siblings this year and Jessica was who I was buying for.  I made this as an extra gift, but it was a dead give-away when it was time for her to guess who her Secret Santa was :)  



Multi-Color Floral- Erin (sister-in-law to be)



Yellow/ Gray Floral- Heather (friend)

Blue Floral/Dot- Mom



Brown Plaid- Mother-in-Law to be

You can check out other scarves by looking through the Accessories Label on the right side of the page.

Or you can follow this link Accessories

Enjoy
~JV
https://www.facebook.com/sewingpassion

Baby Miller Christmas Presents

I'm ready to post about Christmas presents!!!!

I am so excited that I will be an aunt in the spring!! I couldn't help myself but start to stock up on baby patterns for the little guy! So I picked three projects to make for a Christmas present.

My brother is a fighter pilot in the Air Force and my sister-in-law is also in the Air Force, so what's more appropriate for a little boy with parents like that than airplanes!! But not just any airplane, it needed to be a fighter jet. So as I looked around JoAnn's I found fabrics that were perfect for the "theme". But I could not find the right applique to put on the projects. So I made them myself!!!

The first project was a bunting with attached mittens and a hat. I created the fighter jet applique to go on the bottom. I also cut out designs from the themed fabric to attach to the hat and the jet. They live in Arizona but it does get cold, so I made it out of ultra cuddle fleece.

Full View

Hat with Air Service Appliques

Jet Applique at Bottom of Bunting

Simplicity 5720 View B with Jet Appliques

I also made another project called a bunting. This one is actually a wrap for the baby. For this I used the fabric I found with the air service design on it.

The pattern also included a really easy diaper cover. It matches the wrap bunting but also has a jet on the butt that matches the fleece bunting.

Front

Back

Simplicity 2165 Views C & D

I can't wait to make more baby stuff for the upcoming baby shower!!! This stuff is sooooo cute and easy to make :)

~JV

NoteBook Pot Holders 2

Alright so I didn't realize it had been so long since I have posted anything. I don't want to do that again so I hope I can stay on top of things. I'll have a lot of Christmas presents to post in the next month :)

With that being said, I wanted to show more of a project I am continuously working on for a client/friend. If you take a look back at the Notebook Potholders post you'll see two styles of potholders I created for Miranda of Inner Circle Photography (http://innercirclephotography.com/). She is so creative and loves to do unique things for her clients. These are just some different looks I made.

Her "colors" (what she uses on her website, logos, etc) play into the fabrics I choose. I'm lucky that she gives me creative freedom and I get to use all kinds of different fabrics and bindings.  Brown, teal, navy, and even pink can be incorporated into the style.

The front is a bleached cotton fabric with rows of blue and pink stitching to imitate the lines of a notebook. The names are hand embroidered (for anyone familiar with my handwriting it's pretty obvious). The back fabric is the different fabrics I get to choose. It also has a thermal-fabric layer to help keep your hands from getting hot.

Ok now that I feel better about myself, we'll leave it at that. Enjoy!!

Stay tuned for all of the presents I made!!!!

~JV

Floral Yellow/White/Grey Dress with Belt

The beginning of Septmeber, two college friends got married (to each other) and their reception was on his grandparents beautiful farm.

I decided to make a dress out of some floral fabric I had bought on a whim a couple months ago (good thing I bought enough). I thought the colors and design were perfect for their theme of the wedding. Although I don't usually go for big prints, I was drawn to the colors and how it isn't a dramatic big print (at least not in my eyes). I think it was on sale too, so that helps.

That pattern I used is one of my favorites, a Cynthia Rowley. I love that pockets were incorporated into the design and that you had an option to use a zipper or just create a keyhole in the back.

Front View

Side View: Pockets at Hips

Back View: Hook & Eye Closures, Creates Keyhole Opening

With Belt



Cynthia Rowley 2406 View D

I figure I should add a picture of me wearing it, since my last post had one. Might as well show it as I wear it :)

~JV

Blue Vintage Dress

A few weeks ago my sister's best friend had a wonderful wine and cheese party. The theme was Mad Men (the show) so we were all encouraged to dress accordingly. Of course I needed to make something so I searched through my mom's old patterns and found the perfect one. How appropriate that it is a vintage pattern for a vintage themed party.

McCalls 5811 (Old) View A

I wanted to find two fabrics that went well together but also different so that you'd be able to see the contrast. I went with the Casa Collection of fabrics because it had a selection of different materials in the same color, but they have different textures. I chose a shiny satin and a muted crepe. I also shortened the dress (makes it a little more modern) so I could wear it again if I wanted to.

I don't normally like to post pictures of myself, but the dress wouldn't fit on my dress form.

Plus, she had a photobooth set up and the pictures turned out wonderfully.

Miranda is such a great photographer. Make sure you check out her blog about the party. Notice the black dress with the sheer flowing sleeves? I made that as well :)
 Also, don't hesitate to check out all of her other wonderful photos!!!

http://innercirclephotography.com/2012/09/wine-and-cheese-party-ii/

~JV