Organizing PDF Sewing Patterns

I have just recently dove into the world of online purchasing and using PDF patterns.  This all started when I kept seeing these amazingly cute photos of homemade underwear popping up all over my Facebook feeds and on Pinterest.  I was definitely intrigued by this pattern but kept telling myself "I really can't sew my own underwear can I?".  Well as I am sure you have guessed the answer was yes.
While I was super excited to enter into the world of sewing knits with these patterns I ran into an organizing problem.  I found perfect baskets at Target that work for my store bought patterns and they fit perfectly in with the rest of my sewing room decor but it didn't like the look of folded up printed out patterns sticking out of the baskets.  I figured somewhere someone would have created a sewing pattern cut file to use with my Silhouette Cameo.  After a little bit of searching without any results I decided to create my own cut file to use.

A "Playful" Little Girls Quilt

As I have mentioned a couple times before my go to gift when friends and family have a new member of their family is a baby quilt.  I just love the cute fabrics and patterns of these types of quilts.  As soon as I found out my best friend was expecting her second I went on the hunt for fabric and patterns for the next quilt I was going to make.  I knew the theme of this had to have something to do with owls.  When I finished Nine Patch Star Owl quilt my best friend kept threatening me that she was going to keep it for herself.  This is how I knew I needed to include some owls.

Digitizing and Embroidering a Logo

As I mentioned in my Intro to Embroidery post I just started digitizing my own designs for embroidering.  I was learning a lot from Digitizing Embroidery Design Craftsy class but wanted to try doing my own project.  My main push of signing up for this class was for a gift I wanted to give to my dad for Father's Day.  My dad runs a pole vaulting club called G Force Pole Vaulting.  He is one of a few coaches and I thought it was a perfect project to try and digitize the logo.  I thought I could put the logo on one of the C9 Men's Golf Polos.  These shirts are super comfortable and breathable and would be a great coach shirt.

Getting Better Embroidery Placement

I would still consider myself to be a novice embroiderer and once of the things I would love to improve on is getting the placement of my embroidery better.  The first couple of things I have embroidered have turned out pretty well but wasn't exactly where I wanted the embroidery to be or it wasn't quite straight on what I was placing it on.

After searching for tutorials and techniques to make this better I kept seeing embroidery hoops that came with plastic grids.  I thought that would be my answer.  If I had a grid for the hoop I would have better lines to use for placement and getting my designs straight.  Because I bought my machine used I just assumed that the person I bought my machine from had lost the hoop grids.  After extensive research I came to find that my hoops didn't come with grids.  I was bummed.  There had to be a way to get something like this that would fit my hoops.

After some brainstorming and lots of YouTube videos I figured it wouldn't be that difficult to make one.  I could use my Silhouette Cameo to create the grid and then cut out the template.  Should be easy right?  Not so much.

Entering the World of Embroidery Design Digitizing

Last year I got the crazy notion in my head that I needed an embroidery machine.  I didn't have any specific project in mind or anything like that I just figured I needed to expand my sewing machine collection to include an embroidery machine.  I started looking and soon realized that embroidery machines were expensive new.  So I turned to trusty Craigslist.  Every couple of days or so I would go out and see what was out there and while there were good deals there just wasn't that mother of all deals out there.

All About Diaper Cakes!!!

One of the wonderful things about being super crafty is I get to express that creativity when momentous occasion occur in the lives of those around me.  Of course when new babies arrive I seem to pull out all the stops on gifts.  For baby showers my favorite gift has become a diaper cake.  I found this out a couple years ago when I was co-hosting a baby shower for my best friend's first child.  After extensive searches on homemade shower gifts what kept coming up were these gorgeous diapers cakes.  I took it as a sign this is what I was supposed to create.

Honey Bee Card Tutorial

For a Christmas gift we received a jar of homemade honey.  I wanted to ensure I shared our appreciation so I started searching for card inspiration on Pinterest.  I found this absolutely perfect card at Cindy Lee Bee Designs.  I had just recently downloaded a similar hexagon style design from the Silhouette Design store that would work perfect in the background.  I wanted to do a little something extra with it then just cut it out of paper.  I had recently started dabbling in trying to make my own embossing folders and thought this was a perfect candidate.

Nine-Patch Star Owl Quilt

If I were to pinpoint a moment when I first became I quilter I would have to say it was when I found out I was going to be an Aunt.  I knew I wanted to create something special and I had just caught the sewing bug so I figured quilting wouldn't be that hard.  After the first quilt was done I was hooked.  They became my go to present for family and close friends that were expecting.

Embroidered Iron Tote

After sewing for awhile I found that my projects were piling up.  This of course is because I always seem to put too many things on my to do list and don't have enough time to get them done.  So I found myself traveling a lot with my projects to try and get them done in time.  While I was able to make progress on things it was a little more difficult than working in my home space.  I didn't have all the tools and proper working spaces that I was used to.

Yes Sew Tutu!

Awhile back my best friend decided to check off running a 5k from her bucket list and asked me if I would join her.  I am sure you are wondering what tutu's have to do with running.  I will get there soon I promise.  I was looking for a way to get in shape and thought training for a 5k was a great way to do that.  After 6 weeks of mild training I met my best friend at the race and was super jealous of all the beautiful tutus these runners were sporting.  After a couple moments I decided to get over it and decided to run the race tutuless.  I was exhilarated when I crossed that finish line.  After that I was hooked.  I loved the whole race circuit and having a running number and all the people.  Everyone was so wonderful.  I immediately signed up for 5 more races.  I decided the next time I would have a gorgeous tutu to run in.

One Sheet Wonder Card Project

As it goes with most of my projects they start from something I have seen on Pinterest or YouTube.  I follow about 20 different card bloggers and love all the beautiful cards they make.  And more importantly how easy it looks when they put them together.  Take some paper, a few stamps, and in 5 minutes you have this gorgeous card.  Well, not so much in my craft room.  Take some paper, a few stamps, and three hours later have a card that looks like it was hit by a bus before being finished.

Fleece Blankets with a Twist

Awhile back I was on vacation in a very small town and found myself checking out the local wares in the general store.  When I say general store that is exactly what it is.  It has a small amount of all those things you didn't know you just had to have until you see them all together in one store.  For me, I ended up falling in love with this cozy fleece and Sherpa blanket.  It was so soft and so cuddly I just had to have it.  After awhile I started feeling a little like Linus because it always seemed to be with me.

Soon the weather started to improve and I didn't have much of a need for a warm and snugly fleece blanket.  I didn't think about it again until I was trying to figure out what gifts to give my bridesmaids and attendants.  I had thought a beautiful quilt would be an awesome gift but with only a couple months to the wedding I knew they wouldn't get done.  But the blanket thought was in my head.  I was wondering around Joann Fabrics and saw that they had all their flannel and fleece on sale for a really good price and the blanket immediately popped back into my head.

Christmas Paper Wreath

In my effort to try to do more seasonal decorating I found this beautiful paper wreath cut file from MyScrapChick.com and new I had to do something with it.  Each year on Christmas Eve from as far back as I can remember my dad has read us "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  When I saw that's what was on the tags I purchased immediately.  Of course, as it goes with all my projects,  I started this two days before Christmas.  Needless to say it wasn't finished in time.

Christmas Stockings Four Years in the Making!

This project started about 4 years ago as I was perusing some beautiful charm packs at a quaint little shop at the Minnesota State Fair.  I wasn't exactly sure what I planned to do with them at the time but had to have them.  It was the Aspen frost line by Moda.

Fast forward 4 years and I had the brilliant idea of making stockings for the family.  After pinning a bunch of patterns I finally settled on a Craftsy Stocking Pattern found here.  I used the tutorial from Sewlikemymom to actually put the stockings together.  This required slight modifications on the cuff but was easy to figure out.