Beach hats and burp cloths

Remember that hat Holly and I made after the quilt show? It was the Amy Butler Blue Sky Hat. Holly was headed to the beach, and found this great pattern. In the end it is two pieces - a triangle and a band. Hot bad at all. Partner sewing is great. One person rips seams and the other one sews. It's a huge time saver!

Here is Holly modeling the hat in my sewing room, in a sweater. I bet it looks even better at the beach! The fabric calls for duck cloth to give the hat its body. We had never used this fabric before, but it really worked.  By the way, this is another Amy Butler pattern where she requires you to buy way too much fabric!

Here is the hat from the back. How cute is that? I heard that next time Holly would add a chin strap to help keep it on in the breeze. She also reports if you move somewhere on a beautiful beach you could keep yourself afloat selling Blue Sky Hats.

Now onto the burp cloths. I made these using various tutorials on the Internet. I made them from prefolded baby diapers by Gerber and a couple of fat quarters I found at the quilt show. I gave them to the expecting mom today at the baby shower and they were a hit. She is having twin boys, Riley and Cole, obviously.

I made one of each style for both boys with their names on them. I just tied them with a string and added a Grandma Betty gift tag. Super fun gift for just a few bucks!

Amy Butler Birdie Sling

My sister in law made my husband and I the most fantastic anniversary present. It is a beautiful album of photos she took at our wedding. I don't know how to thank her, so I did what I do best. OK, I don't do it best, but I enjoy it. I made her a present.

She is a teacher like me and I thought a back to school tote would be perfect. She told me her favorite colors are black and white. What I came up with in the end is a pretty Birdie Sling.

This is a pretty big bag. It should hold everything she needs and more.

One of the great features is all these great pockets. This pocket above has a stitch down the center making two nice sized pockets. Can you see that little thing on the right just above the pocket? I used a piece of bias tape and added a key fob (I found it in the jewelry department at Joann's). I read in reviews things can get lost in the bag because it is so big.

I also made this pouch for the purse out of extra fabric I had from the bands.

The zipper is a metal one I got from Grandma Betty. The flowery material inside is a skirt I made and messed up. I loved the fabric and couldn't bear to get rid of it. It is silky and frays like the devil, but it has a new life here.

I used Patty's tutorial for a zipper pouch. It was so easy and was a nice touch.

It arrived tonight and I was so excited to get such a happy phone call. She was very happy with the bag and had already taken everything out of her purse and usual tote and stuffed it all in there. Hooray!

Here are a few things I learned:

1. I only got one yard of each on the three fabrics and had plenty. The pattern called for more.

2. I added the key fob when I sewed the lining and the lining band together. I think it is a nice feature.

3. I skipped the interfacing on the outside. I felt like I had used enough that it would be fine. I think it was too.

This was a fun pattern. I kind of want one now too for all my quilting supplies.