Time for Trick or Treat

 

Halloween bucket

     Years ago I bought these fabric buckets, some were vinyl and some were cotton fabric.  I have been decorating the vinyl ones for the grandkids to use on Halloween.  Our youngest grandson was born last September and I didn't get around to making his bucket right away.

Putting it back together

     This year he is walking now and I figured he might be up for a bit of Trick or Treating so it was time to do his bucket.  I used the ghost appliqué from Designs by JuJu.  To make the embroidering easier I pretty much dismantled the bucket.  I did the appliqué on my six needle machine and then re-sewed it all together.

Inside, no stitching showing

     I like to do it this way because it hides the backside of the embroidery and the inside looks as nice as the outside.  'Sew' fun to sew for the grandkids :-)

Pillowcases for Gabriel

 

Birthday, New Year's Day, Valentines Day

     For the grandkids' first birthdays I make them a set of pillowcases, to celebrate special days.  Shortly after they are born, I start searching in my stash to see what I have.  Then I hit up different quilt stores to buy the rest of the fabrics.  This year I could not find anything for New Year's Day or Thanksgiving.  I went online to Spoonflower to get fabric printed.  The quality of the fabric and printing were good but I was very disappointed that it had very wide white margins that necessitated making a smaller pillowcase.  

Mardi Gras, St Patrick's Day, Easter

     After I get all the fabrics cut, I then spend time at the computer using my MasterWorks software to create the embroidery files with the name.  I usually use the same font or idea for the each holiday from grandchild to grandchild.  For the Mardi Gras pillowcase, I have used the Cajun font and for the Valentine pillowcase, I tried to match the font in the embroidery design.

Summer, Baseball, Fourth of July

     I then embroider the name on the end piece in the upper left hand quadrant, centering it within the seam allowances.  Then using the 'hotdog' method I stitch it all together.  I use a french seam for the final part so there are no raw edges anywhere.  

Back to School, Football & Halloween

     I have a lot of fun choosing the fabrics and putting these together.  I hope that these will be something they use for years to come.

Thanksgiving and Christmas

 

      For directions on how I made these see my blog here.

Birthday T-shirts 2022

 

For Colton

     Each year for my grandkids I make them a t-shirt for their birthday and I then put money into their college funds.  This year I found fun knit prints on Fabric.com.  

For Maggie

 

     I usually can find some ribbing in my stash to coordinate.  Occasionally I even use an old knit neck from a t-shirt I have taken apart to make a t-shirt quilt like I did for Sammy's t-shirt.

For Miles

     It is fun to try to find prints that reflect what they like.  

For Sammy

     I used McCall's 8734 which I bought in multiple sizes years ago.  It is a great basic t-shirt and shorts pattern.