Toddler bed

A few months ago My husband and I decided Parker needed a new bed he was getting too tall for his crib and it was starting to keep him up at night with his head bonking the rails.

*this post contains affiliate links which helps support this blog*

I searched for a building plan online the first place I checked was Anna Whites site but all her plans looked more complicated than what we wanted. Plus they required a Kreg which I didn't really want to invest in just yet.

 Enter Pinterest! Seriously what did we do before Pinterest?!  I was able to find a plan that suited our needs and I really liked the overall style of the bed a lot! So we got to building.

 Actually as far as working to together we did a great job together which I was surprised at since we are so different and that can cause some...issues ;0) He is very precise and methodical, where as I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and just like to go with the flow. It gets me into a lot of trouble sometimes but that's the fun part, right?

 Anyways back to the bed. We didn't follow the measurements of the board sizes exactly because we wanted to use what we had and ours were only 1/2" wider than what the plans called for so it worked fine! although we did have to figure a few measurements differently.

 Overall I'm very pleased with the bed! It looks great, and can hold the weight of me and Parker without any trouble, which is better than the cheap store bought ones I was going to get.

I still need to make a cute blanket for it and a few more sheets hopefully I'll have something to share after we get into our house...well maybe it will be awhile after ;0)

The bed ended up costing us the about $20 since we had all the wood and the paint was from a previous project. The $20 was spent on  this mouse sander:

Keep that bedding on tutorial!!

My boys are constantly messing up their beds and it drives me crazy, in fact that is an understatement I get seriously upset! Now it wouldn't bother me if it was just unmade or if the blanket was on the floor but it is completely taken apart! Sheets, mattress cover, all of it off and undone in moments every, single. day. sigh.....With that in mind I decided I needed to create or buy something that was easy for them to make and not easy to take off.  

 Bunkbed bedding (aka: bunkbed snuggler, endcap, hugger, whatever you call it) is what came up again and again in my searches but they were sooo pricey! Not to mention I didn't like any of the color choices available. Besides I liked the quilts we already had so I thought maybe I could make them! And thus this tutorial was born ;0)

 
This was their beds before and this is how they look now, most of the time ;0)

Onto the tutorial!

Bunk Bed Bedding Tutorial

 First step is to measure how thick the mattress is. Start at the bottom where the back/bottom of the mattress rests on the bunk board or your bed, go to the top of the mattress and write this measurement down. My mattress measured 9 inches.

Next measure from one side of the bed to the other side (make sure it is the width you are measuring). Then you will measure the length ( the longest part), marking where you want the blanket to lay on your mattress/bed, clear down to the end of the mattress curving down with the mattress to where it meets the bunk board or bed. Write these measurements down and measure the quilt or blanket to see if it is the right measurement.

If it is not the right measurement (an inch or so off is ok) then you will need to cut off the excess.  When cutting leave 1" extra on the bottom and side where you plan to cut so you can finish the raw edges. Do this by folding over 1/2" and then fold 1/2" again or serge or zig-zag stitch the raw edges and sew in place.
You want the blanket to rest on the sides and end of bed without having the blanket hanging a lot lower than the mattress.

In order to make the blanket fitted at the end you will need to cut out a square at the bottom of your blanket. Cut out a piece of paper that is the measurement of your mattress depth squared. My mattress was 9 inches so I cut my paper in a 9 inch square or 9 inches on all sides. 

Line up your paper to the end corner of your bedding.

Cut out your square! Basically only two lines that meet in the corner.

You will now bring one corner to the other with right sides together as shown.

See how they are lined up so nicely? Pin together. Do the other corner and sew! 

You will need to serge or zig-zag the raw edges to seal off any fraying and it will help strengthen the seam as well.



Tada! You now have nice fitting bunkbed bedding! Which can be used for beds other than a bunkbed, it just helps the blanket stay in place a little more and makes it easier to make the bed. 

Does it work for keeping the blanket in place you might ask? While the blankets do not stay 100% of the time it has greatly reduced them coming off and sometimes they even stay on for a few days, in a row! All in all it has been a great thing and SO much better than seeing a huge mess every day! And the kids can make their beds a lot easier now!
Feel free to ask any questions!

From Aunt Celeste

My little sister Celeste is a crochet queen and made this sweet little blanket for Parker and I really love it!

 The details are perfect and it is a simple and yet very pretty design.

The color in this photo is a little off it is more the color of the top photo. The size is small but perfect for wrapping a little baby in!

Thanks Cess for such a great and thoughtful gift!

Nursery reveal!!!

I debated about whether or not I should post pictures of Parker's nursery because while I love it and it turned out exactly how I wanted it isn't really that spectacular at least not compared to what some other bloggers have done.... But it is my blog and I'm proud of this little nursery!

The space we had for the nursery is quite small and I searched everywhere to find a crib that would fit and still be able to put things under it. I ended up getting a mini crib (this one) from amazon and I am more than happy with it! A big bonus is it folds up super easy and will be ready to pull out whenever we need it without having to worry about losing screws ;0)

 

 The stuffed animals are gifts from friends and grandma. The blanket was made by my mother-in-law.

 I used this tutorial for the crib skirt it took me literally 15 minutes to make (if that) and looks even better in person! 

 

 Here is a close up of the skirt back and how it attaches to the crib.

 For the bumpers I used this tutorial as a start but I didn't use the bias tape. I sewed the bumper fabric into a tube and threaded the batting through it. I made each section separate so I could take one off if I wanted.

(yes i know there is a debate about bumpers being safe I like to use them however until my little ones can move around. Too many times I have found their little limbs sticking out between crib bars turning blue so I choose to use them)

 The Love art was made by me using a box lid, fabric and a glue gun :0) the decals on the wall are images I found, printed, cut and stick glued to the wall.

 I love my little monkey I found as a free printable and added washi tape to make a frame.

I was very blessed to only need to purchase the crib and mobile all the fabric was from my grandma and I used my creative brain for the rest lol!

 This post contains affiliate links.

Linked to: http://www.craft-o-maniac.com/

         http://www.sewcando.com/

Master curtains

Slowly we (mostly I) have been adding elements of decor to our home and making over bits of our furniture as well. I decided that with a baby on the way we really needed curtains to help block the drafts that come from our windows at night.

 

 I had to make them out of very little fabric and was really creative in my cutting so I could have enough for all the windows in our room.

 Oh and excuse the pile on the right my husband had his "get ready for school after the break" pile there.

 The fabric is from my Grandma who passed away last year, I was lucky to be able to recieve a lot from her being one of her only granddaughters who sew. I love the delicate print and it reminds me of her especially since I had to be resourceful in my cutting she would have done the same thing ;0)

 I cut the fabric only 2-3 inches wider than the windows. I wanted more decorative than actual coverage so cutting it smaller gave me both some coverage and a simple decorative look. I made the ties by serging the edges of small strips of fabric and it has worked out quite well!

A Christmas quilt

I know ,I know its KWC why did make a quilt (well half of one)?! Its called selective procrastination ;0) i do have stuff to make and share but my sister in law had a free quilting class at the church and i thought "sewing with other ladies is waayy more important today!" It really did feel great to get away and be with other people for a couple hours!

 

I bought the charm pack from fabric.com a few years ago i believe its Moda from the Let it Snow collection. I still need to add some strips to the edges and figure out a backing but the hardest part (for me anyways) is done!

A quilt for C's teacher

My kids have been out of school for a month and I am finally getting around to posting a picture of C's teacher gift.

I started the top like 2 1/2 years ago and kind of forgot about it then the beginning of last year I found it and finished the top, then 2 days before the end of school I finished it for C's teacher.

I kind of hate making things for other people because when its done I want it, ha! 

I loved it and I know Mrs. Tavarez will too!

Simple Table runner

I finally finished my Christmas table runner! The reason it took so long is because I decided to make a tutorial for it. Its easy and self binding!

This is such a simple project any level of sewer can make this! I took a ton of pictures and hopefully it makes sense. I am not a professional quilter I figured out this way of doing it and it works for me, I hope you like it too!

Supplies: Fabric I used 4 fat quarters for the top and a sheet for the back

Scissors

sewing machine

Iron 

pins

Iron and lay out your fat quarters. Notice that one side is slightly wider than the other. For this project I chose to use the shortest side for the width of my table runner but you can use either one, just make sure you use the same for all your fat quarters.

Next decide how wide you want each strip, you can use the same width or you can vary them, I chose to vary the widths. Cut in strips.

When you have them all cut out lay them on the table or floor in the pattern you like best.

Then pick up one at the end and lay on top of the one next to it and so forth until they are all stacked on top of each other.

See how one end is on top and the other end is on bottom keeping your pattern the way you layed them out?

 Next line up the edges of the first two strips, right sides facing each other, and sew a 1/4" seam.

 Get your next strip in the pile and sew right sides facing to the 2nd strip of fabric (my 2nd is the red one).

 Keep picking them up and sewing until you have them to the length you desire. I didn't use all my strips I had one of each color left over.

 Flip your quilt top over and iron all the seams. I pushed mine facing the same direction and ironed them, with a lot of steam, to keep them in place.

Pick up you freshly ironed quilt top and fold it in half, try to line up the edges, and cut the edges so they are somewhat even. 

 I then used the top as a guide as to how big to cut my backing. Make sure to leave a few inches around the edges because we will be using them as a the binding.

I did not use batting in my table runner however you can easily do this by making the batting the same size as the top.

 Now that the backing is all cut out you need to get it taut so there will be no wrinkles in the back. I start by taping one edge and stretch it very slitgthy and tape the other edge. I do this all around until it is taut and there are no wrinkles adjusting as I need to.

Lay the top on the backing and adjust until there are no wrinkles and there a few inches on all sides.

Now you need to start pinning. Start in the middle and work your way to the edges smoothing as you go. Pinning will make it so the top and backing don't move around while quilting, it is a very necessary step.

 Now you need to decide how wide you want your binding to be. We will be folding in half and then half again. I started with an 1" and in the end it will be about 1/4" (if it doesn't make sense you will understand better later) I marked 1" all around the backing and cut at that mark.

 For this step I used a walking foot but you don't really need it if you are sewing without batting.

 This is the "quilting" step :o) an easy way is to follow the seam line of each strip, I did wavy lines but straight looks good too. Stop at the edge of the top so your binding won't have seams. Continue until you have quilted every few inches.

 

  

Now for the self binding:

  First step fold over the edge of the backing until it touches the top part, Iron really good.

 Then fold over again slightly overlapping the quilt top, Iron again really well.

 When you come to a corner spread it out so you can make sure it is even and nice looking.

 Then you will do the same thing as the edges: fold over and iron well.

 Fold over again and iron really well.

 Then you will come to the other side and fold over, iron the corner really well.

 Then fold over one more time ironing once more.

 Then you will need to pin the corners and the sides (pin, pin, pin :). 

We are almost done!!!!

Again I used my walking foot but you really don't need it if there is no batting. Sew along the edge of the binding all the way around.

 When you come to a corner keep your needle down, raise you foot and gently turn the fabric so you can sew the other side.

  Line up your fabric, put your foot down and keep sewing!

(ignore my picked out seam its from the sheet :)

TaDa!! You made a gorgeous quilted table runner!

 Th binding even looks great and was so easy, don't let the amount of pictures scare you I did this in like 2-3 hours (and that's being generous).

Beautiful and easy just the way I like it! Let me know if you have any trouble or have any questions!!