Another Thanksgiving project

I made these simple Thanksgiving napkin holders this afternoon. The kids tried to help but it was kind of hard with the cutting so I let them cut their own leaves out of felt and will place those randomly on the table.

For this project you need a real leaf or leaf template (I'm sure you can find a bunch online), a rectangle of brown and tan felt (only 29 cents each!), water soluble pen, ribbon, small sharp scissors and contrasting thread.


The kids found this great leaf for our template.


I placed it on the felt and traced it with a water soluble pen and cut out. I then spritzed it lightly with water to get rid of the water lines.




I used contrasting thread to stitch the veins of the leaf. If you don't have a sewing machine you could easily sew by hand with embroidery thread.


I sewed the center of the ribbon to the back of the leaf. Ribbon piece was approx. 11 inches. You can make it shorter or longer depending on how much overlap you want.


You're done! I think this would be cute to also do for Christmas using holly or mistletoe as a template.

Turkey Day Placemats

I made a fun Thanksgiving craft with the kids I thought I'd share. It's really easy and even a novice sewer could make it.




Below are the measurements I used but you can adjust for the size you want to make.

1- 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inch square of beige or white fabric
2- 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 pieces of turkey fabric (sides)
2- 3 1/2 x 17 1/2 pieces of turkey fabric (top & bottom)
1 - 13 1/2 x 17 1/2 piece of turkey fabric (back)
1 - 13 /14 x 17 1/4 fusible fleece
Package of fabric pens (I used crayola)
Thread to match

**I used a 1/4" seam allowance



-Outline your childs hand with fabric pen and let them decorate
-Heat set square according to fabric pens you use (I ironed the back of my square for four minutes on dry setting)
-Sew each side piece to decorated fabric square. Press seam allowance toward turkey fabric. This will make your middle piece.

*Note: If you are using a directional fabric like I did make sure you don't sew the design upside down!

-Square up your fabric (make sure everything is even)
-Sew top and bottom pieces to middle piece.

-Square up fabric again.
-Iron fusible fleece to back of top piece using a steam iron

-Pin front and back pieces right sides together

-Sew all around leaving at least a 4" opening on the bottom.
-Turn right side out pointing out corners with chopstick or something pointy (don't press too hard or you might make hole in fabric.
-Top stitch opening closed and continue all around the placemat
-Stitch in the ditch around middle fabric square so it won't get wonky after you dry it.

-Scotchgard if desired (remember kids will be using this and this will help it from getting stained.

I have a lot of extra fabric so I may have the kids decorate more and make some hot pads and coasters.

*If you are not a sewer you can still do this project by taking the decorated square, iron some Heat n Bond on the back of it and then adhere it to a store bought placemat.

Enjoy!
Melissa

Gift Baskets & New Email

Hi All,
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We sure did. The kids had a great time trick or treating. We went to a neighborhood that goes all out and it was really fun. We also had some good friends come visit and ended the weekend with some wine tasting in Napa. Although I'm homesick for San Diego I'm trying to enjoy what Northern California has to offer!

Jack-O-Lanterns
My oldest two helped design the one on the left.


The kids did a Fun Run at the Francis Ford Coppola winery on Halloween afternoon.


No...my husband does not wear Ed Hardy, we went as Jon & Kate. Either my husband is a good actor or he was annoyed that I made him wear that shirt all day.


Just a few of the houses we stopped by...






A rare day out without the kiddos!


My internet carrier in San Diego finally figured out we stopped our service and shut down my business email. My new email is info@sandiegobeachbaby.com. You can contact me there for any questions, orders, etc.

I've been making a lot of baby gift baskets lately. These make great Christmas gifts too! I can do any theme...cost is $50 including priority shipping if on West Coast (East Coast addresses add $5). I can mail directly to gift recipient.









Have a great day!
Melissa

A great Christmas gift!

I've already started making Key Fobs for Christmas gifts so get your orders in! I used a bunch of new fabrics so check them out below! These are great teacher gifts or you could even use them as a gift tag on top of another gift.















Plus some old favorites...





Also made some cute gift baskets for babies...

Hula Themed




Yankee themed (client provided fabric- it's very hard to find!)





Have a great day!
Melissa

Big Changes

I have a really good excuse for not posting in so long-we've moved! Shortly after my last post we found out we needed to move to Northern California for my husband's job. With school starting in mid-August we had to move super-fast and in exactly three weeks we were rolling up to our new home. I have been extremely homesick for San Diego but I've been feeling a little better in the past week. I grew up in this area and had my 20th high school reunion on Saturday. I reconnected with lots of people, (some I've known since elementary school) and a few of them even live in the same town we moved to so my outlook is getting better. We hope to get back to San Diego soon but for now I'm going to enjoy spending time with my family and childhod friends and hope to make new friends too!

Anyway, I wasn't able to sew for about a month but have finally been working on orders again. Thanks to all my loyal clients who have been so patient. It's taking me a little longer to finish orders as I get adjusted to our new schedule and routines but I hope to be back in full swing in October.

Below are a few things I did before we moved. I will post some new things as I get them done soon.

Toddler Birthday Shirts







Cute tote for a little girl




Thanks for stopping by- I will be posting a lot of new Key Fob designs soon!
Melissa

Gifts

Have you heard the expression "The shoemaker's wife has no shoes."? Sometimes I feel like that with my friends. "The baby gift maker's friends have no gifts." I was finally able to finish up some gifts for my friends but still have a few to get started for babies that were born in April! Do I dare buy them something from a store??? Just kidding, I'd never do that!

Big Sister/Baby Sister set for my friend Jeannine's little girls. I also made a burp cloth set but forgot to take a picture.



Pirate shirt for Stef's son Jesse that I promised to make months ago.



Key Fob for my son's first grade teacher.



Julie, Heather and Jeannine's are gifts...the others were orders. I made the pink ribbon key fob for Heather because she just finished her fifth year being on the crew at the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in San Francisco. She raised a bunch of money in honor of our dear friend Kiersten who lost her long battle with breast cancer last year at the age of 37. I'm so proud of Heather for all she's done!



Make-up bag for one of my best friends. Wish I could have gotten it done for her in time for her trip to Hawaii back in May!



The following two shirts were orders...cute summer shirts!




Sample dress I made for the sewing class I teach. Once I got the hang of using the elastic thread it was really easy to make. Too bad none of my kids can wear it! It worked out though because my friend's daughter just had a birthday so I gave it to her and she looked super cute in it.



Thanks for looking!
Melissa