2 Maxwell Shirts

I have had it in my mind to make Grant a 4th of July Maxwell shirt and one for our family reunion since I bought the pattern months ago.  Leave it to me to wait until the last week, and right after Relay for Life to get it started.  I will say it was so much easier making this the 2nd and 3rd time around.  That could be for a couple reasons...1 being I've made the shirt before so I'm more familiar with the pattern and instructions, or 2 because I actually cut the pattern pieces out the way they were supposed to be cut out, including the button plackard.  Button holes make me nervous, I think it's because I have to change out presser foots on my machine, make sure the buttons line up with the holes, and measure where to put them all.  Plus if you screw them up they are right there in front and everyone is bound to notice.

So what did I do about this fear of mine......I sewed both the shirts to the point of having no steps left other than button holes and buttons.  Which I guess is a good thing because I only had to switch the presser foot out once and I could run through and face my fear all at once instead of in 2 installments, 1 for each shirt.

 

 

I'm so excited they are done and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing my to-do list is shorter.
I'm super proud of them, especially the light blue one.  I've had a garbage bag full of some of my husbands old dress shirts, pants, polo shirts, etc, for over a year and have done very little with any of them.  Of course my plan from the day I had him clean out his closet was to make Grant some clothes from them.  It has taken me this long to make that happen.

Kind of sad when you think about it, but oh well.  I used 2 of his shirts to make the lighter blue one.  1 for the main body of the shirt and a small piece of another for the yolk on the back.  This was the first and only shirt of the 3 I've made that I didn't use the same coordinating fabric for the pocket flaps and the yolk.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of Grant actually wearing his 4th of July shirt but unfortunately it rained all day and we didn't make it outside or to the fireworks, so it didn't dawn on me to get the camera out.  I will say he looked pretty darn cute in it.

1st 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  When watching the weather I thought for sure my plans of a picnic and fireworks was doomed.  1st the weather man said 96 degrees which wouldn't have been good for Grant, then it started pouring rain and I figured maybe I should just give it up all together.  In the end the rain stopped and it cooled off to about 70 which was perfect.  I made ham,cheese, lettuce and tomato wraps, pasta salad, mini cheesecakes, watermelon, and cucumbers. It was delicious.  Grant barely watched the fireworks and I guess I should have figured that but either way I'm glad we made his first 4th special. My picnic blanket got lots of use and I'm so happy I made it.  I think the thing I love most about it is it has squares from my jeans, Derrick's, my sister, my mom, and her husband.  It's a perfect keepsake.

Here's how I made it:
I took multiple pairs of jeans and cut 6x6 squares out of them.  I pinned the squares in rows of 11 and ended up with 11 rows.  Make sure to iron your seems so the quilt will lay nice and flat.  I used a flat sheet (since we never use them on our bed) for the backing and used my sewing machine to stitch around the edges.  and ta-da! Your done! 

4th of July Outfit

Here is Grant's 4th of July outfit, and the best part is it took me less than an hour to finish.  I can't wait to put it on him and go have our picnic and watch the fireworks. 

If you want to make some cute little shorts like these, I used the 15 minute jammy tutorial over at Handmade Mommy and just used shorts instead of pants.  I've used this tutorial at least half a dozen times and still get excited with how easy, quick, and cute the pants/shorts turn out.  The onesie is just appliqued.  I used a drinking glass to make a circle around the image I wanted on the front of the onesie, cut it out, and used Heat N Bond to adhere it.  Then stitched around it with my sewing machine.

jeans repurposed into picnic blanket

 I would love to take complete credit for this idea but I actually saw it a long time ago on another blog and logged the idea in the "future crafts section" of my brain.  As I was unpacking clothes that no longer fit myself and my husband I thought I needed to find something to make with them.  I immediately thought of a picnic quilt.  We live near a lake and there is a walking trail that goes around part of it.  I have always wanted to have a picnic there especially since Grant is getting bigger. 

I dug through my stash of jeans and decided there was no real need to keep the size 9 jeans my post pregnant body will never fit in again, and then asked Derrick to dig through his.  I cut them all up and took my scraps as well as my sewing machine to Ohio with me.  I told my mom what my plan was and she gave me a pair of her jeans and 2 pairs of her husbands.

This is what I ended up with, I love the brown squares thrown in from a pair of Derrick's work pants.  I cut out 6x6 squares and randomly sewed them together in rows of 11.  My mom gave me a shower curtain I had intended to use as the backing but it ended up being too small.  So now I'm considering using a flat sheet (because I never actually use them on my bed, they just take up space in my linen closet).  I'm still deciding on whether or not to make it bigger, but I absolutely love it and can't wait to use it.  I'll post the finished product hopefully before Monday. 

Toy Story Time

Toy Story Time!  He loves Buzz and Woody. 

I'm so excited for this weekend, 1. because it's Grant's 1st 4th of July, 2. because I love all holidays, and 3. because we are taking Grant to his 1st movie, Cars2.  Yes, I know what you may be thinking, "why are you taking an 8 month old to the movies?"  I would be asking someone else the same thing before I had my son.  Because after all 8 month old's don't watch movies, wrong!  At least my 8 month old does, maybe he is wierd but he's my little wierd guy haha.

4th of July outfit

I was home less than a full week before going back to Ohio for another week and a half for my mom's surgery.  Now I am home and will be for awhile.  As much as I hate leaving when I am there it does feel good to be home again. 

While in Ohio I went to JoAnn's in search of 4th of July fabric to make Grant an outfit for the fireworks.  This is the fabric I came home with:

Is this not the cutest for a little boy?  My plan is to make shorts, an appliqued onesie, a bib and pj pants for after dark when the mosquitoes come out.  I can't wait to get started and since I should have plenty of time tonight that is my goal!