Here are two bib groups, not sets really. Top group is for Mom-to-Be gift baskets at my friend’s spa, bottom group for my Mom’s friend’s baby boy who has just started on solid food. You know I love those lobsters! Most of my androgynous fabric (androgynous meaning not floral, which is the majority of my stash) is red, white, and blue. Don’t know why. Snap closures, the kind I preferred with my babies.

I was very amused to walk by a trunk full of old name license plates outside an antique store downtown. With names like Vern, Dwight, and Lloyd it was a time-capsule of names-gone-by. I told my husband how much I was tickled by these name plates so he went down and got a handful of them to sprinkle about as a surprise for my birthday. Of course, I wanted to make something with them and a bag seemed to make the most sense. I thought for a while about how I would make it, figured how many more plates I would need, then returned to the antique store and had fun gathering more names: Gladys, Warren, Harold. I bought yards of mini black polyester strap to string the plates together and stitch the strap to the bag canvas. I had to do the side and bottom plates by hand. The bag is my birthday present to myself, and it still doesn’t fail to amuse me.

Owen and I worked together to make this tote for his best friend’s 7th birthday. We picked out the fabric (from a batch of taken-apart old wool skirts my mom had passed onto me). I did the cutting and prep, and Owen actually did most of the sewing, and did it well. His friend likes all sort of craft projects (knitting, sewing, weaving, etc), so we made this craft tote for him with pockets for his supplies. Inside the pockets we added a friendship bracelet book and a pack of embroidery floss, to get him started on yet another craft. Go, go crafty boys!

I finally finished this baby quilt! With hearts, pinks and reds, it’s perfect for a valentine’s baby girl. Backed with pink flannel and quilted in waves. 100% recycled, as usual.

Sometimes when the crafty ladies get together we have a fabric exchange, to swap fabrics we’ve grown tired of. That is how I received this fabric, thanks to Sara.

I absolutely love this fabric, a huge tablecloth found by my Mom. It’s lined with this thick textured mustard upholstery remnant found by, you guessed it, my Mom. This is my second bag done with this fabric combo and it won’t be my last (so glad it was a large tablecloth!) The shape is a new one I am trying out and I like it.

Just a little tote, a fabric lunch sack, if you will.

I was ready for a cute and fun way to use lots of different fabrics, so I designed these little elephants. I added one to a set of 5 handmade burp cloths of second-hand flannel, tied a bow around it and sent it off to our friends who are expecting their new baby boy any minute.

This is a giant tote bag, pictured holding three standard bed pillows. I found, while taking the kids on outings to the beach, river, etc., that I often carried 2 or more totes plus a backpack’s worth of stuff. I wanted to make myself a gigantic tote modeled after the giant Costco totes everyone uses (myself included). This pink Vera tablecloth my Mom found paired with leftover hot-pink upholstery fabric from a thrift store, seemed suited for the project. I can never have enough totes and, so far, I love using this one. I used it for the kid’s and my stuff on our two-week trip visiting relatives, and when I took it to the beach, I fit a small cooler, beach towels, buckets, jackets, snacks, water bottles, etc. no problem.

Owen spent his first week of summer with his grandparents where he fell in love with their flock of chickens: Bella, Esme, Elizabeth, Scarlet, and Priscilla. Upon returning home, he immediately set up a “coop” in our living room with some bird stuffed animals serving as his chickens. I knew right then I wanted to make him chickens, “the girls” to be precise.

Here is a photo of Zeke and Owen feeding the girls, and I used it to pick out 5 fabrics from my stash to use for each chicken. Then I worked up a pattern and made the black chicken, Bella, first. Mid-project Owen said, “Mom, it’s been a month since I was at Nanny and Pop’s and I still really miss the chickens.” So, I was motivated to finish!

Owen was very pleased to find them on the table today, recognizing each one by name like old friends, and has been taking good care of them ever since! Here are some portraits he did of the girls while at his grandparents, which served as my inspiration.