More scrub shirts!

So back in December of 2007, I made a Jeff Gordon scrub shirt for one of my techs - someone who looooves NASCAR and Jeff Gordon in particular.  And she dearly loved it, and I saw it in frequent rotation.  Then last September, I was in town for a conference, and I happened to see her still wearing it!  And, oh, how ratty it was looking!  I suggested it was time for retirement, and I was told that she couldn't retire it, because she couldn't get a replacement.  (Apparently they don't make NASCAR scrubs?)  And the tech beside her helpfully told me that she wears it every Friday, and that she tells everyone that I made it for her.  Gulp.  Did I mention it looks really ratty now?  So, as one can imagine, I got onto the internet that night and looked for some new Jeff Gordon fabric.  And it arrived less than a week later, got prewashed, and there it sat.

Until now.  Since I was pulling out the scrub shirt pattern for my mom, I decided to cut out a couple of other ones.  This was first on my list - no occasion, really.  I just wanted it done and out the door so she will hopefully burn the old one. :)  I put in the lower pockets but left off the upper one.  I'm really happy with how it looks, and I hope that she will be over the moon to get a surprise replacement.

Last July, I was in need of some retail therapy, and so of course I went to the fabric store.  With grand intentions of sewing some new scrubs for myself, I bought two prints for tops and three solids for bottoms.  And there it has stalled....until now.  I chose this for the first top to stitch up for myself, simply because I could use black serger thread on both this and the Jeff Gordon top.  I left off the lower pockets but put in the upper pocket, to hold a pen.  And I didn't bother pattern-matching, because it is such a busy print.  Think I'm going to have some fun wearing this one!

Now let's see how long it'll take me to work on the others....

Library Book Bags

So way back before we moved to this area, I bought three different Dr. Seuss fabrics, with intent of making book bags for each of us to take to/from the library.  And I kept saying that I needed to do it, and I kept putting it off to do more urgent projects.  Well, I finally got tired of having to search for library books, and I decided that maybe if I made the darn bags, they could also be used to corral said books.  (I hope.)  But by now, we decided that Dr. Seuss really didn't suit my sons as well as it used to.  And more importantly, I have this growing ribbon stash. :)

So I took brown duck cloth from my stash, and I bought tonal prints in each of our favorite colors to use for the straps/lining.  (And then, just because, I went ahead and cut one from the Cat in the Hat fabric, too....It may become a craft project bag.)  We have a green fan and an orange fan in the house, and mine (not yet finished) is blue.  Thing 1 chose a Mario ribbon to go with his green, and Thing 2 chose a Lego Star Wars ribbon, which actually looks pretty good against the orange.

I made these to the same specifications as the teacher tote bags, except that I put a pocket on each side instead of on only one side.  And I added two snaps to close one of the pockets - with the intent of keeping library cards inside.  The ribbon was stitched down under the trim at the top of the pockets, and also around the top of the bag.  I really love how these turned out, and my boys are very happy with them!  (And I can't wait to finish mine - I used Calvin and Hobbes ribbon!)

Birthday scrub shirt

I've made my mom scrub shirts in the past, but mostly pre-blog, I guess.  The only one I've previously blogged was, ironically, a Suzy's Zoo print, and that was four years ago.  So when she wrote that she still wore them and hinted that she would like another, I figured it was time....

She likes Thomas Kinkade prints, and I actually have two TK prints in the stash, intended for scrub shirts for her.  But then I was at the local quilt store on New Year's Day for their sale, and I found new Suzy's Zoo fabric from Hoffman Fabrics!  Well, that settled it!  I bought the brightest print they had with the intent of making a scrub shirt for Mom's birthday.  Between the end-of-school craziness and all the other deadlines I had, I basically made this shirt at the last minute to get it mailed out in time.  But finish on deadline I did!

I'm really happy with how it turned out - I left the lower pockets in, and my pattern matching was near perfect.  I've had issues with some of the quilt basting spray not washing out of my pockets very well, so this time I used Steam-A-Seam to secure the pockets before I stitched them in place.  It worked well, and I'm very happy with how it all looks.  I hope that my mom loves it.

And there's my adorable Cooper getting his face into the picture!

Father's Day Boxers

So it's been previously demonstrated that I tend to make boxers a lot for the men in my life.  And this Father's Day was no exception!

My dad is an Army veteran, and I've previously made him Army print boxers.  But I was in JAF recently and saw that their licensed fabric was on sale 50% off.  I hadn't really expected to buy any of it, but then I saw this print and thought it was really neat.  So....my dad got a new pair of Army boxers for Father's Day.

My husband is a Marine Corps veteran, and so he has previously been the recipient of Marine print boxers.  But I thought it was time to make more, and both of these prints (purchased from a coop) have been in the stash - intended for boxers - for at least four years.  So it was time to move them out. :)

And since I was working up boxers and had black thread in the serger (with the Army boxers), I also cut out and whipped up this pair of monster boxers.  My husband has a couple of pairs of Halloween boxers already, but they are 9-10 years old, and at least one pair needs to be retired from use.  So when I saw this print on clearance at JAF for $2/yd, I bought some.  I'll hang on to them for now, but maybe give them to him around Halloween.

Mother-daughter dressing....

So my sister-in-law's birthday is coming up again, and last year she wanted mother-daughter outfits.  Based on ideas she gave me (including patterns she liked), I had chosen the Frog Legs and Ponytails patterns Amelia shirt for her and Caroline dress for my niece.  Last year, I made the size M (a total guess, but it worked!) shirt for my sister-in-law and the 12-24 month dress for my then-18 month-old niece.  I had even bought another pair of fabrics at the time to make a second set for them, but I had wanted to wait on hearing how they fit, first.  And by the time I heard anything, I had other priorities, and summer was drawing to a close.  So instead, I pulled them out now!

These fabrics were from the "Keepsake Calicos" section at JAF.  I love the tonal blue butterflies print, and the yellow floral brightened it up nicely.  I made the M for my sister-in-law again but this time chose the 3T for my niece.  I figured that hopefully she can wear it next summer, too.  Once again, this is a well-drafted pattern, and there were no surprises.  

I hope that my sister-in-law likes the outfits!  And I'm very pleased to have them done in advance of her birthday!  I can see myself making her new mother-daughter outfits from this pattern as long as they are both willing to wear them.

More birthday pillowcases!

My two nephews have birthdays coming up this month, and usually I just get them gift cards - Sport's Authority, iTunes, etc.  But I was at Jackman Fabrics two weeks ago for their Memorial Day sale, and I saw lacrosse fabric and just had to get it for my older nephew.  That was the first time I'd ever seen lacrosse fabric, so I decided that he needed a pillowcase to go with his birthday gift.  The younger one is easier - he plays soccer.  :)  

Then I had to ask their mom about their favorite colors - and she had to check with them! :)  The older one was easy - green.  I even had this green print in my stash!  The younger one went with purple as #1, but orange as a close second.  Well, sorry, kiddo, but purple doesn't really go with that soccer print.  So I chose an orange tonal print instead.  I'll put some gift cards in with these, and I'm hoping that they really like them!

Appliqued stuff out the wazoo!

So there are always babies being born in my world - some nearby, some farther away.  And with one classmate, one coworker, and two people from my past all having new babies, it was time for another marathon onesie session!  (Yes, some of these are just because I was getting a little onesie applique happy....)  

In the left column, there are four onesies going to the new baby of the child of a family we used to attend Bible study with.  (I still can't believe she's old enough to be married with a baby!  I must be aging...)  The baby's late uncle was apparently very interested in getting a motorcycle, so I made sure to have two motorcycle appliques in the lot.

The column second from left is for a classmate's new baby girl.  Her daddy is a pig farmer, which inspired the pig applique.  I think it's super cute!  I also really like the black dino - it has multi-colored hearts all over. :)

Then the other 3 columns were not specifically intended for anyone - though I did scoop three boyish ones out of the mix to send as a gift to someone for whom I used to babysit.  This is his second baby - again, I feel as though I'm aging!  (But I was only a teenager then, and I figure I'm probably less than ten years his senior, so it's not so bad.)  I'll be keeping the motorcycles, foxes, and pigs in the mixture in the future!

The onesies on the left are for my coworker's baby.  His intended name begins with a "B," and his room is decorated in a fox theme.  And then I just had to throw in a dinosaur.  I mean, come on!  Every little boy needs a dinosaur!

And after all the recent Star Wars love for my niece, I realized that she has surely grown out of the original dinosaur onesies I sent her.  So she needed a new "grown up" dinosaur shirt. :)  I thought that the tonal purple dinosaur would go well with a lime green shirt - the combo seemed very summery to me.

So the red dinosaur applique has been kicking around for about a year now - basically ever since I made Thing 2 his dinosaur shirt.  I had cut this applique out at the same time as the orange one, then decided to go with the orange.  So I finally decided that this red one needed a shirt.  The little girl who inspired the whole dino appliques in the first place is now a year-ish, so I figured that she could use a new dino shirt.  Since the applique was so big, I went with an 18 month size - she can always grow into it!  

And then I just loved the pig applique so much that I wanted to make a bigger version.  A friend from my grad school days still does research with pigs, and her little girl is turning two later this summer.  So I thought this would be perfect for her.  It turned out really cute, and I'm already trying to come up with other things to use it on!

Birthday pillowcases

I think I've mentioned before that my DSIL is a big horse lover.  So when I saw this mustang print flannel at JAF (on sale, no less!), I figured that I really needed to make something for her!  There wasn't enough for PJ pants, and I'm not sure if she needs more yet, anyway....So I thought pillowcases!  I haven't made her any pillowcases in a looooong time.  Sadly, there wasn't enough, as this was the last on the bolt, and the print was unidirectional.  Time to bring in some solid colors!  Basically, I just cut two pieces of print for each pillowcase (figured it out by dividing my usable length of fabric by 4), then added enough of the brown between the prints to get the needed length.  Then I added brown at the ends for trim as usual.  Not sure if this will go with her birthday or Christmas gift....maybe Christmas, as her other birthday gifts are definitely warm weather gifts and must be given now.