Doll Bed with Bedding & Patchwork Quilt

For Frank's youngest niece, who is seven years old, I decided to make a doll bed with bedding and a patchwork quilt to go with her American Girl doll for Christmas this year. 

To make the bed I used the plans from Ana White's amazing website to build the Farmhouse Doll Bed. Her instructions are super clear and it was easy to build. I finished it with spray paint primer and a few coats of white spray paint.

Next I needed to make a mattress and pillow for the bed. I bought some 1" foam and cut it to size to fit the bed frame, 14" x 19". To cover the mattress I cut a rectangle of fabric 17" x 22" to wrap around the sides and have a 1/2" seam allowance. I used a disappearing fabric marker to mark 1-1/2" from the edge of the fabric and then marked up 1/2" from the corner to know where I should stop sewing. I folded over the edges with right sides together and pinned it. 

I sewed along the line, stopping at the 1/2" mark line, clipped the excess fabric and then pressed the seam open. After doing this for all four corners I had created the top of a box for the mattress.

I then cut a piece of fabric 18" x 20" for the bottom and then pinned it to the top of my box, right sides together, lining up the edges. I sewed around the perimeter using a 1/2" seam and left an opening of a few inches. After turning it right side out I stuffed the foam mattress into the mattress cover and used a blind stitch to sew the remaining opening closed.

I made a simple rectangle pillow (two rectangles sewn together and stuffed) to complete the mattress and pillow for my bedding.

Next I made a small quilt for the bed. I chose a few fabrics I liked and cut several 3-1/2" squares from them. I laid out a 5 x 5 grid of the squares in a pattern that I liked.

I decided to add white sashing between the squares. I cut several strips white fabric 1-1/2" wide and then pinned all of the squares, except the right most row to the white strips. I then used a 1/4" seam allowance to sew the squares to the white strips. Next I ironed the seams flat toward the squares and separated the squares by cutting the white fabric between them. 

I sewed each row of the squares together with a 1/4" seam and then pressed the seam allowance flat towards the square. I then sewed a 1-1/2" strip of white to the top of each of the rows except for the top row.

I then joined the rows with a 1/4" seam and then I used white strips 2-1/2" wide to create a border around the quilt.

To prep the quilt for quilting I laid my backing fabric face down on the floor and taped it down. I layered my batting on top and then my quilt top face up. I smoothed everything out and then pinned through all of the layers. For my quilting I just sewed on the diagonal through the center of the squares.

To finish the quilt I trimmed the excess backing and batting and added teal binding around the edge of the quilt. For basics on how to add binding check out my lavender sachet post.

I think the doll quilt turned out really cute and I love how bright and colorful it is.

With the quilt complete I was excited to make the bed and see the final product all together. I think it all turned out great. 

I was so excited for Frank's niece to open the doll bed on Christmas and she really loved it. I had intended it for her American Girl doll, but she is an avid collector of stuffed ducks and within a few minutes of opening her presents she had two of her ducks tucked into the bed. It was so cute and it made me so happy to see her enjoying it.

Picture of the Day: Umbrellas and Motorcycles in Ciudad del Esta

Ciudad del Esta, Paraguay
05.30.2007

Picture of the Day: Chinese New Year Decorations in Singapore (Year of the Ox)

Singapore
12.25.2008 

Happy New Year's Eve From Florida!

Frank and I are back in Florida. We were on Amelia Island just three weeks ago for Cindy's wedding and now we are in the Tampa Bay area (Treasure Island) to see Michigan play in the Outback Bowl. 

Our trip down here was fraught with delays. Our original game plan was to leave Friday morning at 7:00 a.m., pick up some friends in Columbus and then get to Treasure Island around 1:00 a.m. That did not exactly work out to plan.

First, our friends in Columbus had their holiday flight cancelled and had to be rebooked so we couldn't pick them up at the original time so we had to delay our departure time to 11:00 a.m. We were then plagued with a traffic jam that kept us a dead standstill which turned a normally three hour drive to Columbus into a five hour journey. After picking up our friends we then were hit with terrible weather and more traffic jams. After reaching Georgia at 1:00 in the morning it was raining with strong wind and near zero visibility so we decided to get a hotel and continue the next day.

On Saturday the weather was better but we had such bad traffic that we didn't get to Treasure Island until 6:00 that night despite leaving at 8:00 in the morning. All in all, what should have taken 18 hours of driving turned into 24 hours. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we arrived and ended up sleeping in and relaxing all day yesterday. We spent some time reading and napping on the beach, ate some good food, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The weather here was a little chilly for Florida yesterday, but absolutely lovely today and no matter what I am glad to not be dealing with the snow back home right now. Tonight we are changing hotels to be closer to the stadium for the bowl game and then hopefully Michigan beats South Carolina tomorrow.

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely last day of 2012. What are you doing to ring in the New Year?

Picture of the Day: New Year's Fireworks in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana
1.01.2012 

Picture of the Day: Riding Wiener Riesenrad

Wiener Riesenrad (Vienna Ferris Wheel)
Vienna, Austria
05.31.2006

Picture of the Day: Red Door in Charlotte Amalie

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
U.S. Virgin Islands
11.25.2006 

Lavender Sachet

For Christmas this year I made Frank's mom a lavender sachet with her first initial embroidered on the front. I had some lavender that I dried from my garden so I thought that this was a perfect way to use it.

To make this sachet I used dried lavender, white embroidery linen, a fat quarter of cotton for the binding and backing, pearl cotton embroidery thread, white thread, a 4" embroidery hoop, an embroidery needle, a disappearing ink fabric marker, scissors, pins and my sewing machine. If you don't have a sewing machine you could make this completely by hand, it would just take a bit longer.

To start I cut a square of white embroidery linen a few inches larger than I wanted the final sachet to be, about 8" square. I then found a capital J in a script that I liked and traced it onto my linen with a disappearing ink fabric marker.

To be honest I just sized it to the way I wanted on my computer screen, held the linen over the screen and then traced it from there. It was not the most elegant solution but it was quick and easy since the screen acted as both my pattern and light box. After that I put the linen in a 4" embroidery hoop to hold the fabric taught while I embroidered the initial.

To give the initial a little dimension I decided I wanted to embroider it with a padded satin stitch, a technique where you fill in a shape with stitches before satin stitching over it in order to make the design raised.

I started by using some pearl cotton in a lavender-grey color to back stick around the outline that I had traced on the linen and then continued to fill in the design.

Once my initial was filled in I satin stitched over it, easing around the curves. With the embroidering complete I popped the linen out of the hoop, used a little water to remove any remaining trace of the marking ink, pressed the linen flat and trimmed it down to a 5" square centered on the initial.

Next I made some binding for the sachet. My lavender-grey patterned fabric that I picked out was from a fat quarter so I needed to join some fabric to make the binding long enough. I cut two strips 22" wide and laid them right sides together perpendicular to each other. I then sewed on the diagonal to join them. After pressing the seam open and clipping the excess fabric I had a nice join. To complete the binding I folded it in half with the right side out and then pressed it flat.   

The next step was to attach the binding to the linen. I pinned it to the linen with the rough edge lined up to the outside edge of the linen. At the corners, I laid it across the top edge, folded the binding back on itself on an angle so it would line up with the side, and then folded it back down along the side edge. It is a little tough to describe in words, but I think it is clear in the pictures. I left several inches of excess tails along the bottom to sew together later. 

I sewed around the perimeter of the linen with a 1/4" seam. At the corners I did not sew to the edge and moved the flap of binding as I went so as to not trap the extra fabric in the corners. Also, I started and stopped fairly close (less than 1") to the corners on the bottom edge so that I had long enough tails to join my binding on the bottom.

To do the join, I opened up the binding and used my disappearing ink fabric marker to draw a line where the tails would meet. I pinned the tails together and then sewed along the line. I finger pressed the seam open and trimmed the tails. I then folded the binding back down and sewed the last section of binding to the linen. 

Next, I cut a 5" square out of my lavender-grey patterned fabric for the back. I placed my linen face down on my work surface, layered the back fabric on top, face up, and then pinned it all together. I then sewed around the edge, just inside the stitch line from the binding, leaving about a 2" opening at the bottom to add the lavender.

Since it would be hard to press once it was filled, I pressed the binding out flat now that my machine stitching was complete.

To fill the bag I used one of my disposable icing decorating bags to act as a funnel for the lavender, but you could use a regular funnel or make a cone from paper. Since I made the sachet rather large, I had to augment the lavender from my garden with some store bought in order to fill it. Once the sachet was full I hand stitched the opening shut. 

To complete the sachet I folded the binding over the rough edge and used a blind stitch to hand sew the edge of the binding to the back of the sachet. For the corners I tucked the extra fabric under for a nice clean look.

I am quite happy with how the sachet turned out. I think it looks so pretty and smells divine. Leading up to Christmas I had it on my dining room table and gave a light scent to the air. The best part was that Frank's mom loved it which is the most important thing of all.  

Picture of the Day: View of Ruins of St. Paul's From Fortaleza do Monte

Macau, China
11.14.2006 

Merry Belated Christmas!

Merry Belated Christmas! I hope everyone has been having as lovely of a holiday as I have had. It is quite a winter wonderland here right now which makes it seem quite festive. It is so pretty that it almost makes it worth the cold. Almost.

Christmas Eve Frank and I went over to his sister's house and we had a wonderful dinner and exchanged gifts. There is really nothing more fun than giving people something that they would enjoy and I was so happy that Frank's nieces liked their gifts. Not having my own munchkins I had so much fun thinking up what to make them and their smiling faces really melt your heart.

On Christmas Day we went over to Frank's mom's house for dinner. Frank's sister prepared a wonderful meal and Frank smoked some salmon for a tasty appetizer. I contributed dessert with some egg nog custard in individual glasses topped with whipped cream and nutmeg and a Bûche de Noël made with a chocolate genoise cake and chocolate-coffee buttercream icing.

I also made some chocolate cupcakes and decorated them together with Frank's middle niece using the cake decorating kit that I gave her for Christmas. I made some buttercream icing in advance and then showed her how to mix the icing colors and fill the decorating bags. She enjoyed experimenting with the different decorating tips and making different designs on each of the cupcakes. I gave her a little advice on what tips might work best for the look she was trying to achieve and showed her how to hold the bags, but the rest was all her. It was so much fun and reminded me of when I was little and my grandma showed me the basics of cake decorating. Anyway, I may be biased, but I think Frank's niece is quite a talented little lady and her cupcakes look fabulous. If this is what she can do at 10 years old I can't imagine what she will do when she is grown up! 

I also had a great time with Frank's oldest niece with the earring making kit that I put together for her as a companion gift to the triptych jewelry stand I made her. She is 13 and I loved making my own earrings when I was her age so I thought she might like it, too. I showed her how to use the tools and she was off and running picking out bead combinations and making all sorts of earrings. She was quite productive and they all turned out really cute. We had a great time and I think she could be a budding jewelry designer! 

The day after Christmas I got to spend with my sister, her boyfriend and Frank. Living so far apart it is always so wonderful when we get to spend time together. We had a chill day running errands in the morning (she is in the process of moving from the Caribbean to the West Coast) and then just relaxing in the afternoon. We also had quite a snow storm and what was a light dusting of snow on the ground for Christmas turned into several inches of accumulation in a matter of hours. My sister was quite enamored with the snow since it has been six years since she has lived in the Midwest and seen much of any.

It was a such a nice visit, albeit way too short, and I am looking forward to visiting her in her new home once she is settled a bit. She is a pretty darn awesome person and I wouldn't trade her for the world. Well, except maybe when she decided to tell Frank this morning over breakfast the story about how I hit our house with my dad's car when I was 16. In my defense it was actually the back porch, it was only a light tap and there were some extenuating circumstances. However, I don't think that any of this was heard over their loud laughter.

How was your Christmas? Did you have a nice few days spending time with special people like I did? Did you get any snow or are you in a warmer clime?