Little Miss Ali

One of my best friends has a 4 year old little girl. I made this doll for her since she has a new baby brother now. I wanted her to know how special she is and that her roll as a big sister is very important.

I had so much fun making this doll, and I wish I would have had her when I was a little girl. Back when my mom and dad used to sing me to sleep, I would have a ribbon in one hand (the grosgrain was my favorite) and the thumb of my other hand in my mouth. I would rub the ribbon together until I fell asleep. This doll's hair would have been perfect for me. :)

I'm not sure how long it took me to make her since I worked on her a little bit on the weekends for several weekends. I had so much fun sewing her together and adding the small details to her face.
 

Below is a picture of Bella with her doll. She named her Ali

Doll pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang (Little Miss Storybook pattern)

Auburn Baby Shoes

I actually made these little shoes a while back ago, and I had plans to post them right when college football was first starting. Procrastination gets the best of me sometimes. I made these for my cousin's baby girl. My cousin and his wife met each other while attending college at Auburn University. Needless to say, they are huge Auburn fans.

I wanted to make something fun for their daughter when football season rolled around, but it was painful for me to use these colors.
See, I'm a University of Alabama fan. Auburn is our biggest rival. But I set my color pride aside and brought out the orange and the blue. It wasn't so bad, and I think they turned out quite cute.


I love the felt buttons. It's almost like they were made just for these shoes. I was at the store looking for regular plastic buttons, and I came across these.

Stay tuned for more Auburn attire.

Black Birdcage Veil

Many of you know that I turned 30 at the end of August. While I was excited to celebrate another birthday, I have to admit that I was not happy about leaving another decade behind me. My sweet friend, Meredith made this veil for me so I could celebrate in style. :) She glued some barrettes on the back of the flower so I could clip it to my hair.
Now that I'm 30, it's not really that bad. People keep telling me that 30 is the new 20. I'm just thankful to be alive and healthy enough to celebrate a 30th birthday!

Bitty Booties

My cousin and his wife had a baby girl back in February, and I made these little shoes for her. I've been enjoying hand embroidery lately, so I wanted to incorporate some of that in these shoes. I found a picture of a mama and baby bird online, so I embroidered them onto the felt. Drawing the mirror image for the matching shoe was a bit tricky, but I got the hang of it.
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the link to the Heather Bailey's website where you can get the pattern for these shoes.


First, I traced the patterns onto the felt. I also flipped these patterns over so there would be a left and right shoe.

Then I stitched a blanket stitch along the center of the top of the shoes and hand embroidered the bird patterns onto the front of the shoes.

The shoe was really starting to come together after I stitched the back together.

Attaching the bottom of the shoe to the top part was a little tricky, but once I finished pinning it together it was easy to stitch.


...And here is the shoe almost finished, turned inside-out. I know my stitching looks horrible from the inside.


So, here is the finished shoe... oh, wait! It needs something else...

A tiny bow on the back.

For a tutorial, visit Heather Bailey's website here.

Fabric Flower

Last time I visited my family in Birmingham, my friend Meredith showed me how to make these precious little flowers. I was so excited when I learned how to make these because of the endless possibilities of colors combinations (or solids). There are also endless possibilities of things to attach them them to.... like this headband (although it wasn't really attached in this picture).


I actually sewed this flower to a barrette and wore it in my hair last night at a Mardi Gras ball. It was really cute with my ivory dress with black straps and sash. I didn't get a picture of it in my hair since we were rushing out the door to meet friends.
These flowers would be great for embellishing clothes, purses/bags, baby shoes (on a smaller scale).... you name it! I'm already thinking of more possibilities.

Argyle Ornaments

I wish I had enough time on my hands to give everyone a hand-made gift for Christmas. I guess I could if I started now for next year. I saw these ornaments on another blog, and I immediately knew who I wanted to make these for. I have a couple of friends that are starting a "craft tree." All of the ornaments on it will be hand-made. I know these will be so cute on their tree.


These are fairly easy to make, and I'm excited to start doing more hand embroidery in the future. I made an extra one to hang on my tree, and it looks really cute.

If you want to make one of your own, you can find the directions and patterns on the So September blog.

Camo Tag Blanket

It's been a little while since I've had time to sew. I had some leftover Mossy Oak hunting camo fabric from 2 years ago. I used it to drape over a gift that I gave Aubrey on our wedding day. It's doing no good just sitting, so I chopped it up and gave it a purpose.
I was thinking I could also do a blanket with hunters orange ribbons all around the blanket instead of alternating colors. Aubrey gave me the idea of doing sports colors like Alabama (crimson and white) and Auburn (blue and orange) around, too. Good idea!

Instead of sewing my tag on the front of the fabric, I sewed it into the blanket like one of the ribbons. Since this is a dark "boy-ish" fabric, I thought it would be an eye-sore if it were on the front. I think I like this idea. I may start incorporating it like this on all of the items I sew. We'll see.

Now the men have no excuse not to bring their babies hunting. Um, well, I guess being still and quiet may be a challenge.

Burpies

This is my first burp cloth to sew, and it's so cute. My sister's roommate wanted a burp cloth to go along with the bib (made with this same fabric) I made for her to give as a baby gift. I used the Alexander Henry 2-D Zoo fabric, and I think it's so cute for a boy. They look like little animal crackers on fabric. I bought the fabric from ebay because I can't find it in fabric stores where I live.


I used chenille on the back of the cotton fabric because it's very soft AND absorbent.... practical for it's use. It's about 8.5 x 15-inches.

While sewing this, I ran out of thread on my bobbin (bottom spool). Well, I spun the thread on the bobbin, and when I went back to sew, my needle went crazy. I took the whole bottom of the sewing machine apart only to find that I didn't thread it right. Mercy! Well, at least it was a quick fix. Whew.... thank you Lord!

Pillowcase Dress

I've always loved these little dresses. I think originally they were made out of pillowcases, but now most of them are made out of cut fabrics. This one was not a good first one to make because it was a little hard getting the circles straight. I think I did okay, though.

This little dress is great because it acts as a dress for baby girls and a long shirt for older girls... so it's not one of those pieces of clothing that only lasts a season. During the winter, the child can wear a turtle neck and tights underneath. It's perfect for all seasons!

Bibs

My newest project is sewing bibs. I've only made 2 so far, and they are pretty easy. I haven't mastered putting on a snap (I think there may be a tool for that), so I did a velcro attachment. These are pretty large bibs. I did a medium size one... maybe for a big baby (like I was) or a small toddler. For the back, I did terry cloth because Hobby Lobby doesn't have chenille fabric. Terry cloth is less expensive but not as soft. The soft minky fabric would be a good backing, too!

I used a fabric from the Sandi Henderson collection for the pink bib, and the polka dotted fabric is from Hobby Lobby.

These will make great gifts for the mom-to-be along with some matching burp cloths (later project) and appliqued onesies.

Baby Shoes

Look at these cute little shoes. I bought a pattern for shoes, and this is how they turned out. The pattern says that it will take about 30 minutes to make, but it took me a good 3 hours. Um, can we say s.l.o.w.... My 2nd pair took 2 hours.

I'm not sure how comfortable these would be for a baby because of the seams inside the shoe, but they sure will look cute. Maybe socks would help with the comfort??? I also think that the ribbons will come untied really easily, but a double knot may work better.

I got the pink and brown fabric and the zebra fabric from Hobby Lobby. Small prints work better since the shoes are so small.

These sizes are for newborns, but next I'll probably make them bigger. What if the babies have big feet?

Tag Security Blanket

These security blankets are one of the main reasons I wanted to start sewing. I know that sounds crazy. Most people want to make clothes or pillows, but for some reason I fell in love with these precious little things. I know exactly why... When I was little, in order to go to sleep I would have to have my thumb in my mouth and the fingers on my other hand would be rubbing a ribbon together. It had to be a certain kind of ribbon, too. Either a grosgrain ribbon or a satin ribbon with a rough back side. It had to make a certain noise and have a certain feel. I was very picky with my ribbons.

I put all different kinds of ribbons on these blankets... just in case the child has a special preference like I did. They measure about 12-13 inches square. The front of the blanket is a soft cotton, and the back is the soft minky material.

I love these fabrics shown. They're from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market collection. They can be pretty expensive, so I try to get a better deal from ebay sellers. Hobby Lobby has some really cute fabrics (and 40% off coupons on their website and in Sunday papers), as well as Amy Butler, Michael Miller, Robert Kaufman, Heather Bailey, and Joel Dewberry.

Applique Onseies

These are the most creative gals I know. Elisabeth and Meredith (my sweet friends) made the cutest onesies for our friend, Alison... actually for her baby. They bought plain onesies and did applique by hand and some hand embroidery, too! Elisabeth has a book that has directions for several types of stitches, and they were sweet to teach me how to do this. Meredith and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby and bought a ton of embroidery thread, fabric, and lots of other tools for me to have on hand for my appliques.

These are some onesies that I made for another friend of mine whose baby shower is this weekend.

Labels

Okay, check out my labels. Aren't they so cute!?! I ordered them from Jennifer's Jewels on etsy. These are fray proof, and she has a ton of different labels. If you need custom printed labels, check her out. If you've never heard of etsy, you've got to check it out. It's like going to a craft show without even leaving your house. It's a website where crafters can sell their homemade things, and there are some adorable things on there like jewelry, clothes, accessories, and a thousand other things, too!


If you haven't read my story of how I came up with this label name, it was my nickname that my great-grandmother Durrett gave me when I was a little girl. My first name is Margaret (however, I go by my middle name, Maryanna), which was her name and is my grandmother's and mother's name. Since Maggie is a nickname for Margaret, and my cheeks were always rosy, that's where this "Maggie Pink Cheeks" came from. She called my sister (Catherine), "Suzy Sunshine." Don't ask me where "Suzy" came from, though because I have no clue.

Tribute to my great-grandmother

Grandmother Durrett died over 2 years ago at age 100. She was the sweetest and cutest little lady. We called her "Mrs. Proper" because she'd always know the answers to any etiquette question, and she also practiced proper etiquette ALL THE TIME!!! Sweet Grandmother Durrett... we miss you, and we'll see you again when we are with Jesus.

This is Grandmother playing "Jesus Loves Me" on the piano with Jeremy.

Sewing Machine

Meet my new friend:
Aubrey gave me a sewing machine for my birthday in August. It came with 5 free sewing classes that were far over my head. I was so nervous in the first class because I hardly knew how to plug in the thing.
I'm taking more risks now and have even made a few things. I'm really into making things for babies... I know what your thinking. No, they aren't for me. I think baby things are so cute because they're little.... Little things are easier to sew, too, which is good for me as a beginner.

I love my sewing machine. Eventually I want to take quilting classes. I'm not too big on the "country" looking quilts, but I love the ones from Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, and Sandi Henderson's collections.