Cloth Baby Book

What do you get a baby for Christmas?  I came upon this idea and really loved the way it turned out.  The individual pages are 8 inches square.  I sewed on the letters of Brady's name and embroidered the rest of the words on the front.

I didn't try to make all of the pictures the same size and I purposely didn't center them on the page for a bit of variety.

To put the pages together I sewed two pages side-by-side.  Then I put two of the sewn pages right sides together with a layer of quilt batting, rounded the corners, and sewed around the whole page, leaving an opening for turning.

After stitching the opening closed, I laid the pages on top of each other  (I had three layers of pages) and sewed through the whole thing down the middle.  I'm not sure my machine could have handled more pages.

I used Avery printable cotton fabric and printed the pictures with my ink-jet printer.  I was pleased with the quality.

I couldn't leave the back plain, so I put this little collage of pictures together like a nine-patch quilt block.

Chalkboard Fabric ABC books

Now that the Christmas presents have been opened, I can share some of the gifts I made.  Preschoolers Caden and Sophie got these books to practice writing their letters.  I used chalkboard fabric on a burlap background.  I ordered the chalkboard fabric from JoAnn Fabrics online.

I like the look of the variegated thread I used to zigzag around each page...and it saved lots of time by not needing to change thread colors.

I added a little tab with a snap to hold the book together.

 I just put metal eyelets on each page and put the pages together with book rings.

There is an extra page at the end for doodling.

Tic tac toe, anyone?

Wide open bag plus

So I made this bag for myself a while ago...loved the retro fabrics.  But I goofed.

See the pocket where the credit cards belong?  I made it too big and the cards kept falling out into the bag.  Not good.  So...

I made this little credit card holder...

that fits into the too-big pocket nice and neat.  Yes!  But I kept losing my change in the bottom of the bag.  So...

 I made this teeny tiny coin purse out of some scraps.  Love it!

So for a while it seemed like the bag that just wouldn't quit.  But now it's all good.  And I'm happy!

Burlap Christmas stockings