A Car Trash Bag for Joeyman

So, I don't know how many people know this, but I belong to a family of superheroes. All of us kids have a superhero costume made by my mom. Sorry, but I don't think I'll be modeling my costume for you anytime soon. Too embarrassing.

My brother Joey (aka Joeyman) isn't at all embarrassed to be seen in his costume and was the first superhero in the family. I think my mom made it for him for Halloween once and he's been Joeyman ever since. It was his 28th birthday last month and I wanted to give him something special. Well, what better gift than something with the Joeyman symbol appliqued onto it. I was looking at tutorials online and saw this one from Make It and Love It for a car trash bag. I thought it would make a good gift. I first tried to make a couple pleats in the front of the bag as described in the tutorial and applique the symbol over them, but that didn't work so well. The pleats were held in place by the symbol and were visible through it. So, I redid the front of the bag without the pleats and just made it the same size as the back. I also used fabric instead of ribbon for the strap.

Joeyman liked the gift. He did say he wasn't going to ruin it by actually using it as a trash bag, but I think I saw it hanging in his car. As long as he likes it, I'm happy.

Baby Shower Gifts and Cookies

It's been a while since I blogged between being sick, vacation, and just plain laziness. I decided it was about time to post something. I actually made these things a few months ago. The burp cloths above were made using the tutorial here from Homemade by Jill. This is the first tutorial that brought me to her blog and I love it! I used the same fringe edging for the matching bibs. They were a gift for a member of my church ward.

I made my first hooded towel! Boo has a couple of these and I love them. It's so nice to wrap her up in one after a bath. I used the tutorial here from Infarrantly Creative. I believe I shortened the hood since it looked long to me. My husband was kind enough to take a picture of it for me before I wrapped it up and gave it away to another member of my ward. When sewing it, I used a heavy duty needle since I read a few places about the needle breaking when sewing through all the layers. I had no trouble going slowly over the thick areas. I added a strip of fabric with a car print to the hood to make it more fun.

For the same baby shower as the hooded towel, I made these "Cute as a button" cookies. I followed the tutorial here at Bake at 350. I used fondant instead of royal icing. I like how simple and cute they are.

Bow Tie Neck Pillow for Birthday Gift

It was my mother-in-law's birthday today. I wanted to make something for her and I found this tutorial for a bow tie neck pillow at sew4home and thought it would make a great gift. I used some fabric from the Pretty Bird line by Michael Miller found here. I think it turned out really cute. Instead of using ribbon straps suggested in the tutorial, I made some 1" double-fold bias tape from a coordinating fabric. The straps are supposed to help you reposition the pillow. The instructions said it should take less than an hour to make, but between chasing Boo around and my slow sewing skills, it took me more like two hours.

My husband also picked up a gift card for her. I wanted to dress it up so I made a cute gift card holder using the tutorial here from Make it and Love it.

Ruffled Newborn Skirt from Men's T-Shirt Sleeves

I bought a t-shirt on sale at Wal-Mart a while ago for $1. I used most of it to make a fitted cloth diaper. I saw this tutorial at kojodesigns and just had to make the skirt. Since my baby is now 17 months old, I'll have to either give this skirt as a gift or save it for another baby. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I ended up using the hems from both sleeves with one as the casing for the drawstring and the other as the hem at the bottom of the skirt. I love re-purposing clothing. Now I keep an eye out for the great sales on clothing so I can cut it up and make it into something new.