A Quilting Business

A Quilting Business

     I've created 2 of these Heirloom Cut Chenille Baby Blankets now, per instructions from Aesthetic Nest. I have only had experience making a blanket big enough for a baby. Perfect for tummy time, a snuggle or something to sit on during a picnic lunch. Because I'll need to add in the cost for materials, I will be charging $100 a quilt. If someone wants a bigger size of this same version, I am game! Here are some pictures of two different quilts: 

This first quilt was created for my husband's cousin, who had a baby girl back in March. This was my first attempt and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

This second quilt was created for a friend of mine who had a baby boy in March. 

With both quilts, I spoke with the mamas ahead of time to see what colors their nurseries were going to be so I could try and coordinate these quilts with their rooms. I will take color orders, what 3 color flannel pieces you'll want, color of the border, if you want more of a solid cotton print or more patterned like these two. Thanks for spreading the word!

Ethan's Quilt

   

I have been on a quilting kick lately. I made the above quilt for my friend Mary's little boy. I followed the Gingercake's tutorial, that I highly recommend for any beginner quilter. 

But I realized, that I had not even made one for my son. For his quilt (see above), I used a Daisy Chain pattern. I followed a pattern from a beginning quilter's pack that I purchased from Walmart. I'm sure Pinterest has quite a few examples along with tutorials. For the pillows, I used the leftover fabric to create easy envelope pillow covers and Texas Cottage's tutorial was super easy and fit the pillows a lot better than some of the other tutorials I had tried. 

Refurbishing Nursery Rocker

Refurbishing Nursery Rocker

  

Prior to moving into our new house, I wanted to redecorate my son's room. With that came the desire to refurbish the glider that was in my son's room. Before the above's make over, the original was covered in this faded denim fabric (see first picture). The wood was also this cherry finish. 

  

First, I went to fabric.com to purchase the fabric. I bought 3 yards of the teal chevron fabric and it was more than enough to cover the cushions and the footstool. To cover the cushions, I had to remove the old fabric and then straighten the fabric. After, I sewed the new fabric in the indention on the fabric that was already there. See pictures above. 

To change the color I chose Rust-Oleum Autumn Brown and used two cans to cover both the rocker and the foot stool glider. Link found here. 

A lot of the steps and tips I took from Ginger Freckle. 

Chalkboard Filing Cabinet

Between getting ready for a new group of students to walk into my classroom and getting ready to move into a brand new house the end of this month, needless to say, I'm in the getting organized mode. I have been quite the craftaholic since becoming a member of Pinterest so I needed something to house all of my materials as well as the materials I use to create things with my son. 

I came across a great blog on how to refinish a metal filing cabinet. I found a used metal filing cabinet on Craigslist for $10 and instantly went on a scavenger hunt for some contact paper and chalkboard paint. I found the contact paper at Target, (purchased for $6 in store) and the chalkboard paint at Walmart (purchased in store for $9.99). 

 

I removed the hardware from the drawers first and applied the contact paper. After putting the hardware back in place, I removed the drawers and prepped to paint the filing cabinet. 

Surprisingly all it needed was one coat of paint, without primer! This morning, I rubbed chalk all over the paint and then rubbed off with a rag and voila! 

My son awoke to a chalkboard and he is really enjoying it. This is a picture of my son this morning drawing on the finished product. Great success!

 

Ethan's Quiet Book

Ethan's Quiet Book

     So, after getting sidetracked with submitting two pieces for my portfolio, I finally hunkered down tonight and finished Ethan's Quiet Book. I sought out a lot of help from Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, which had plenty of FREE templates to choose from. This website also had great visuals of the pages she incorporated in her quiet book. If I had had more time, I might have included some more pages. 

   

  Here is what the front cover looks like. I used acrylic paint and Ethan's bath foam letters to stamp the title on the front. The paint washed off easily so he'll still be able to play with the letters during bath time.

    

 On the first two pages, Ethan can unzip the ladybug and pull out the spots stored inside to snap on to its back. On the right is a weaving page. It may be awhile before he can do this page correctly. 

     On the left hand side, Ethan can pull the apples out of the basket and put them on the tree or vice versa. On the right hand side, he can pull the rocket ship out of the launch pad and pretend it's headed to the moon. I got the rocket ship template from a different blog. To access, click here. 

    

 This is the middle of the book. Ethan can create his own Mr. Potato Head from the bucket on the right hand side. There are two different types of shoes and two different types of hats as well as three different pairs of eyes and different sizes of noses and ears. 

     

On the left, Ethan can button the petals onto the stems and when he's not using the flowers, he can store them in the blue pot. On the right, he can Velcro spots and spikes onto the dinosaur body. Extra parts are stored in the bottom left in the gray fabric pocket. 

     

Lastly, the barn on the right serves as storage for the five different farm animal finger puppets. Ethan can create little plays on the grass on the right hand side. I cannot wait to see which page will be his favorite! 

"The Wind Beneath My Wings"

Aunt Janie singing to Grandma at her 80th Birthday Celebration

         For all of you who have been requesting the video of Aunt Janie singing, this was the only way I could share the video. I hope you enjoy!