Shop Update: Passion Project

Today we are launching a new product. One that I think of as my passion project. One that will help kids with special needs. One that will give to charity. One that I have anxiously awaited sharing until I knew that it was exactly as I envisioned it.

I'd like to introduce you to the Vessel Handmade Weighted Blanket.

Beyond the pretty fabrics on this specific blanket. Further than the lush minky backing. This blanket serves a purpose. Weighted blankets have shown useful in helping kids with autism, sensory disorder, ADHD, as well as babies that have been drug exposed. For those of you who know our story with Little Man, you know how dear I hold this product.

We will be starting out with two general sizes and varying weights. As interest or demand grows, we will move on to other sizes as well. Weights will be decided on by you, according to the person using the blankets.

As far as fabrics go, we are calling it Semi-Custom. Custom because I will allow the buyer to give ideas, color schemes or themes. Only Semi because as much as I would love to promise exactly what you are envisioning, it can be very hard to locate fabrics to fit everyone's dream design.

The layout, I will work with you to an extent on a style of quilt you would like. More extravagant layouts may require additional fees but in the same sense, if you want something more simplistic, I will work with you on pricing in that regard.

As I said, the blankets listed for now will all be semi-custom. I am however working on a way to do some cost effective blankets. We have seen first hand the difference a weighted blanket can make but they can get expensive. I will be finding basic flannel fabrics and doing one fabric on each side to offer a more inexpensive option for those who need it.

To sweeten the blankets just a little more, a portion of all proceeds will be donated to TACA (Talk About Curing Autism). To learn more about TACA, visit them at tacanow.org

If you are interested in purchasing a weighted blanket of your own, simply click here to get started.

Corbin's Quilt

Well, we are about a week out from having baby #4 and this mama is in full blown nesting mode. The nursery is just about complete. We call it Corbin's Corner. That's basically what it is, about a third of Rhiannon's room that is all his own.

When we first looked at the space, I was super sad, just too little room for a baby. After moving things around and decorating a little bit I am happy to say that it does not look like we are putting the baby in a corner.

There are still a couple of things that need to be added to the room but I was so excited to finish his quilt before he actually got here that I decided to just do that before the whole room reveal.

I knew I wanted something simple for his blanket. He will only be in Rhiannon's room until Little Man is adopted or goes home, so at 10-12 months. Then he will move into the boy room where his theme will change.

We went with colors that we pulled out of Rhi's uber girly room. To save money on both the quilt and the baby shower, we made table runners for the shower and then cut them up for the quilt when it was over. Also, being the cheap person I am, decided to use bed sheets for table cloths...because.. well fabric table cloths are way too expensive. So I cut one of those up and used it for the border. Two birds, one stone...or is that three birds?

For the front, just basic geometric rectangular strips and a border. Simple, bright, fun. Done.

Looking at the picture, it clearly needs to be ironed. Eek.

 The back, we found a totally comfy and cute Chevron minky that matched the blue on the front.

I love the quilt. He can hang onto it for quite a while because of the simplicity and it only took a day and a half to make. On a very low budget.

Pay no attention to the half naked toddler...comes with the job.

What projects are you working on this week?


Linking up with: Live, Laugh, Linky

Chevron Quilt {Part Three}

How are your quilt tops and backs looking? Have you all completed them? If so, it is time for our next step. Quilting, eeek!!!

When I originally started this quilt, I thought for sure that I would do some free hand quilting. Guess what? I'm a chicken. So we went with a stencil. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. Before we can quilt, we have to secure our layers together.

Rhiannon loves a nice snuggly blanket so I knew I needed to put some batting between the top and back. Since we live in California and it doesn't get all that cold here, I chose to use a low loft batting. To adhere my layers, I start by laying the batting on the floor and the quilt top on top of it. Pull back half of the batting and spray a washable adhesive, smooth it out and do the other half. Repeat this step for the backing. Use 12million safety pins to hold it together. You can be a risk taker like I am sometimes and skip the pins and count on that good ol' adhesive but I make no promises on it holding together.


Next step, take a deep breath. It's time to quilt. Since I chickened out on the freehand stuff, I grabbed a stencil and traced a scallop pattern, starting at each corner and working my way in on each side.

Once the tracing is done, you can simply follow those lines with your machine...using a quilting foot of course. This quilt was a twin size and was a little bit of a challenge to move but you will be able to handle it...with minimal cursing. Ha!

In the bottom of the image below you can see what the quilting will look like on each side. Once it is complete, you will need to cut away any excess fabric. This will prevent bulking while adding your bias.

Now that you are about finished, it is time to bind the quilt. You will first need to attach a few pieces of your binding. My quilt took about three strips. To attach these, you will want to open up the pieces, facing the wrong sides together, cut them diagonally. Next you will turn them right sides together. They will look angled, for a lack of better word. Stitch them together and fold them back up. 

Line your binding up with your quilt and start stitching about 6 inches down from the top of the binding. You will need the extra binding in order to attach it at the end. Follow around the quilt until you reach a corner. I have a hard time directing this and the photos didn't turn out as clear as I would have liked. So, I am simply going to direct you to Cluck Cluck Sew, her tutorial is fab. Do that.

Ummm...you guys we are done. We have complete quilts. If you have followed this tutorial, PLEASE send me a picture. I would love to see what you did. Oh you want to see this one? Here is is....

  I am in love with this quilt and the room is beautiful. We will be showing off the room as soon as it is complete...hopefully before we add the new babies stuff to it. Then we can show you the changes :)

By the way, if you are just tuning in, you can find the first two portions on the tutorial here:

{Part 1}

{Part 2}

Chevron Quilt {Part 1}

It has been so long since I started planning Rhiannon's bedroom. We decided that instead of doing a theme we would just go for all out girly. I made the mistake of letting her choose the color scheme. I mean,I love the colors she chose but to find coordinating fabrics was quite the challenge. After looking for hours I eventually just took her to the store with me and let her pick some of her favorites.

We decided on a few fabrics from Moda, the Sophie by Chez Moi collection, I love the whole scheme that she chose. We coordinated with a few different solid colors. I knew from the get go that I wanted her to have a Chevron quilt. I'm a little upset with Chevron... don't bring it up to my husband it is a touchy subject in our house, as in he teases me constantly.

My original plan was to do one post of the whole process of the quilt, with some sort of tutorial for you. However, it's been a work in progress for months since things have been so chaotic. I decided just to break it up. Today's post will show you the first few steps and we will eventually link all of the post together to show you step-by-step how to create the quilt.

I started by cutting squares of each fabric at 8 inches. Once cut, I laid them face to face. Solid colored fabric to printed fabric facing right sides together.

Once you have your pieces facing right side together measure the very center and put a line a quarter inch in on each side. These lines will be where you are actually placing your seam. Once your seams are there you can cut straight down the center from corner to corner. This will give you a triangle open your triangle, making a square and press the seams open.

These squares are your quilt blocks. Easy Peasy. A couple minutes and one block is complete.

Once you have all of your blocks created you will flip-flop them, for lack of a better definition, making your entire quilt. I think looking at it would be the best way to figure this out since I can't quite figure out how to word it. Basically you are flipping in and making larger triangles. Which then turn in to dips and peaks of your zig zag or Chevron. See what I mean? I just cant put it into words. Haha.

***Don't forget to snip the little tails off of your blocks before piecing. These images were taken before I did that.***

This is where I will be leaving you off this week. It should take you long enough to do this part anyways depending on the size of your quilt. Rhiannon's quilt will end up being a twin to full-sized quilt.

The next post and the next step of this quilt will be to sew up your quilt top and piece your quilt back, because really no one wants a solid back, right? I will see you hopefully next week with the completed top!

{Part 2} 

{Part 3}

E is for...

Today's quilt is brought to you by the letter E.

When I got the e-mail about this quilt I was so excited. A friend of mine wanted a quilt for her baby girls nursery. The only requirements were that she wanted it Purple, Green, maybe some white....and oh yes, it needed to have Elephants.

The story behind the elephants? The babies name is Ellie, they call her Ellie the Elephant. I die. Can you handle the cuteness? No? Me either.

So here is the finished product. Complete with a matching polka dot pleated pillow.

I am so enjoying making quilts lately. I am also reallllly hoping to start Rhiannon's soon, which may include a tutorial. We will see.

What is your favorite type of project to work on?

All Caged Up

This weeks big project was finishing up a quilt that I was making for my little niece who will be arriving in May :)

The theme that my sis in law is going with in the nursery is bright and fun. Birdcages and flowers. Just plain girly.

She wanted something simple in layout and the attention to be on the pretty fabrics that we decided on. So I did basic blocks with a solid border.

Since my husbands entire family is big on texture and comfort, there was no option but minky for the backing. Haha. I prefer minky on baby quilts anyhow so it worked out well.

I wanted to actually quilt the blanket (for long lasting purposes)  but my SIL is not a fan of the quilted look, so we met in the middle and I just went with a stitching in the ditch.

I love the way it all came together. The fabrics are so fun and the simplicity of the design really emphasized that.

It was so fun in fact that I decided to make her a couple of pennant banners to go along with it.

What have you been working on?

I am linking up with Sew Chatty for Made with Love Monday. If you did something crafty, you should too!

Baylee's Quilt

A while back, in ::cough: April ::cough::, I gave my good friend Stefani a quilt for her new baby, Brynn. I told her and you that soon I would be making and giving her a second quilt for Brynn's big sister Baylee.

Well it has been almost 6 months. Yes, 6 months. I felt horrible. But Stefani and her husband are forgiving and let it slide. Baylee on the other hand has been asking her mama for a quilt like Brynn's. She had even convinced Stefani to let her sleep with Brynns since she didn't have one.

How terrible is it that I kept this little cutie wait so long?

 I mean she even models for Rock-A-Bow. She helped me out and I lagged on her!!!!

She deserves more than that, right? If Rhi knew, that I made her friend wait so long, I would be in so much trouble!

So, I FINALLY finished sweet little Baylee's quilt. She loved it! I am so glad that it was worth the wait to her.

Here it is.

As you can see, just like with Brynn's quilt, I forgot to take photos until after it had been folded up ALL day. So it is nice and wrinkly for your viewing pleasure.

Baby Brynn's Quilt

Remember the baby shower I showed you last month? What I didn't show you was the gift I made for the baby. Because well...I wasn't finished with it yet. I gave it to the mommy to be yesterday after I had hubby snap a picture for you all to see it.

(Please ignore how wrinkly it is, I had it rolled up in a bag all morning before realizing I had no picture of it)

What do you think? I will be starting on a semi-matching one for the big sister to be this week and will share that one with you as soon as I am done.

I'm linking up with...

My first quilt

Remember when I told you all about the nursery, here? And then there was a change of plans here, I decided that I would be making Talon's quilt myself. Well friends, the quilt is finished. Can I just tell you how much I love making quilts? Or how much I love this quilt? Oh man, I want to show it to everyone. I don't think I have ever been so proud. Don't worry, I humble myself when I look to the detail. Ha! I mean come on it is my FIRST quilt. Sooo, you want to see it? Sure you do, take a look!


Isn't it wonderful? Oh yeah, Talon loves it too. So does Rhi. They had a blast playing on their blankies together (you will see hers sometime next week when I do the room reveal). Okay so, you can see it here too just not well.