Sewing for a Cause

May is almost ending but there is still a week left to squeeze out some projects AND help others!  Forgive me for not having my own photos yet, but I wanted to get word out while there was still a little time left for these two sewing opportunities.
 

Photo from Applique Chick

Applique Chick is offering up this super cute, in-the-hoop doll (there is also a boy version) FREE until the end of the month if you are willing to send her a completed doll. They are going to be collected and sent to a missionary family in Asia that will be providing them to local children. The dolls are offered in both 5x7 and larger sizes--be sure to check out her website for more information!


Also, Cole from Cole's Corner and Creations has asked for help in rounding up some supplies and toys that her cousin can take to Nicaragua.  In addition to providing medical care, the Centers of Hope Medical Mission will be providing small toys and lovies to the children they will see.  You can see the full post about that here.

Picture from Cole's Corner and Creations

To make it even easier to help others, Cole has posted a free tutorial on how to make lovies.  Here's the fabric I'm going to use to make some:

This cute piggy flannel is nice and soft :)

 
I find that people who craft tend to be people who care, so I hope you join me in participating in these two great projects!

Embroidered Toilet Paper

I first saw the idea to embroider on toilet paper a few months ago and decided it would make great Christmas gifts for some of the men in my family.  It's unique and inexpensive and I though the novelty would be fun.

When I saw this free download from DigiStitches, I knew it would be perfect for my Brother-In-Law.  He's a big Ohio State fan and my sister graduated from the University of Michigan, so it was the perfect design!  It also fit very nicely on a square of toilet paper.

I think this design was supposed to be for a onesie :)

I had trouble coming up with an idea for my dad, and ended up deciding on the phrase "Grandpa's Reading Room" since I figured the roll would end up as bathroom decor.  From there, I searched for book designs and found this wizard that I had downloaded free from Bunnycup.

He kind of looks like my dad, if my dad was a wizard
photo from Bunnycup Embroidery

I used Embird to remove the lightning bolts and the wizard's hat and bangs and the robe portion that pooled by his shoes.

That left him hairless (not bald, just with an empty spot above his head), so I cropped out the hair from this Bunnycup caveman freebie and merged the two designs, tilting the hair a bit to fit on the wizard's Grandpa's head better.

photo from Bunnycup Embroidery

I am really pleased with how it turned out, and my dad got a kick out of it.

I used the 1/2" Green Bean font from 8 Claws

For those interested in the technical details--I found several ways to embroider toilet paper, but ended up going with the simplest.  The only thing I did differently was wait until the end to do some of the trimming.  Also, since the design for my dad is a little wider than one square, I just centered it over two squares.  When I was all finished, I did use a little glue stick in the corners of the loose end to help it stay on the roll.

Here's an in-progress shot.  You can sort of see how
the toilet paper is just laying on the stabilizer

Little Girl Gifts

We were having one last playdate before Christmas with one of Danielle's friends today, so I wanted to give her a little present.  She LOVES baby dolls, so I thought a baby changing set using the free wipes case design from digiStitches and some doll diapers would be perfect.

Inside are some "wipes"--rectangles cut from white knit fabric

I made the pattern for the doll diaper with a little trial and error.  This new model is smaller than the one I made for Danielle's babies a couple months ago. 

The velcro goes across the whole front, to adjust
for different size dollies and to make it easier to fasten

I also stitched out some penguin barrettes for Danielle's friend and her little sister.  I added a little bow like it shows at GG Designs, and I think they turned out adorable.

I lined alligator clips with ribbon instead of making a felt cover

I plan to make some of these for Danielle after the holiday sewing is finished.  I revised my list and just counted--I only have 10 out of 32 items done!  I do have on extra day (after Christmas) to work, but it looks like I will have to take some things off my list or learn to sew faster.

Baby Wipes and Sunshine

I've been making some quick projects for the kids lately:

Danielle got some wipes for her babydoll.  Hopefully this means she'll stop stealing real ones.

These go great with the diapers I made for her doll
(more on those later)

The wipes case is a free download from DigiStitches.  I used some Care Bear fabric leftover from pjs I made my her last year.  The wipes are just rectangles of white knit I cut so that they'd be just a little smaller than the case (old t-shirts are perfect for this).  Now if I can just get her to stop trying to throw these cloth wipes away after they get "dirty" during her babydoll diaper changes...


Samuel got a toy too--this cute little Sammy Sunshine design I picked up on sale before he was born.  I spent forever trying to pick out ribbons because I just couldn't visualize the combination (plus I wanted a variety of textures and sizes).  Of course, once I figured it out, i forgot to straighten them out for the photo...

Makes Sammy look a little gimpy, huh?

Samuel loves his new chew toy--he's at that puppy baby stage where he likes to gnaw on anything he can.

Nom nom nom

He had a great time with it and covered it with lots of drool. I'm going to pick up a plastic clip for it the next time I go to the store, so that I can clip it to his car seat or stroller.

This design was definitely a winner!

My First Crayon Roll

I've seen crayon rolls on other blogs and thought they were a great idea.  Planet Applique offers a free in-the-hoop design for one if you sign up for their Yahoo! group, so I decided to make one for my daughter before we went on a recent road trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Here's how it turned out:

I used the font "Madison" from 8 Claws

I thought it was pretty cute, but was surprised because I didn't realize how small it would be.  I made this in a 5x7 hoop, so it's maybe six inches wide.  It holds 8 crayons and had room for her name (obviously).

For my little girl who loves to dance

I laid a ponytail holder down during the step that stitches the front and back together to use as a closure, an idea I saw on one of my favorite blogs: Stitched By Janay.  

All rolled up

Danielle struggles a little with the rubber band and I like the idea of using velcro, but I wanted to make the whole thing with my embroidery machine and I don't have any software to edit designs yet.  I'll be saving my allowance for that after I get a coverstitch machine.  In the future I would also like to try some of the other designs for crayon rolls that include pockets for little coloring pads.