Seamstress I am not.

Okay, I promised you a post about the Christmas gifts I made for my nephews. It is now March so I guess I better tell ya!

I fussed and fretted about what to give my adorable nephews for Christmas. Ty is 4, and Wyatt was 15 months at the time toddler age is so strange. Toys are overrated, books are overdone, cash is unimaginative... what to give these boys?! I figured I could make something, with all that free time I have here on the ol' homestead. But what can I make? The boys aren't on Pinterest and can marvel at the crafty things I can copy off of someone else. Hmmmmmmmm.

For Wyatt, the 15 month old, I wanted a keepsake. Something he'll always have from his Auntie Wawa. A quilt! I still cherish the blanket made for me by my Auntie Jo. What a great idea! Wait... wait... I have never made a quilt before. Crap.

Here is where the trouble began. First tip: make sure you are skilled in the area of artistry.  Failed step one. I have a sewing machine, there is a fabric store in town... I can soooooo do this. I did it, but it wasn't pretty. I'm not sure if someone is to curse as much as I did during quilting. One saving grace is that I found a neat tutorial online by two crafty women. Here it is:

 

The 3.5"x 3.5" square

A few things to note:

1. these women are skilled in the mastery of sewing.
2. the tools they have, such as the rotary cutter and mat are ESSENTIAL to the 'easy' process.
3. they do show you the pains of getting the layers to stay together.
4. they do not show you how to edge the damn thing.

Thinking I'd make something for Wy, I wanted to also make something for Ty. But, since he's 4, he's a tad more materialistic than the toddler. So, I had asked my sister Ang what Ty wanted. 'Anything superhero,' was the reply I received. Anything superhero, eh?

Putting all layers together

That's when it hit me... HIS OWN SUPERHERO OUTFIT! YESSSSS!
I planned and planned, dreaming up of a great costume for Super Ty. 

The colours look lovely together!

I figured out the workings of the cape and accessories and took the instructions from the video for the quilt, and ventured out to Fabricland. Bless the gals at Fabricland. They saw me a lot. I stewed over the flannel for the quilt. I wanted something modern. Good luck finding modern flannel. Once I had made my choices I stewed over batting. Why the f--- is there more than one type!? And why is it so f---n' expensive?! The spirit of Christmas was moving through me. Ha.
Ty's outfit was easier to make decisions on. He loves Spiderman. Spiderman has blue and red. Done.

How the heck do I sew a straight line?

Home, I set up my sewing machine. Threading is easy, making the bobbin was fine. Next I had to cut the fabric for Wy's quilt. You'll see in the pictures the quilt started out bigger, but due to either my lack of understanding the instructions from the 'Easy Quilt' video or due to the fact that the video is an entire LIE and the ladies gave the wrong measurements, I had a heck of a time getting the damn thing put together nicely.

Without the rotary cutter and mat, the squares took FOREVER to cut out. Flannel bits were everywhere. I also struggled with the sizing of the quilt. The piece I purchased from Fabricland did not have two adjacent square edges. This made things difficult to make parallel sides and square corners. I demand perfection! Once I got the whole thing together with the magic of fabric glue to adhere the squares to the flannel, I had to iron the batting within the flannel. This too was a challenge for me.

Finished product, the best section.

Although I had only put one piece of batting in the middle, this quilt was awfully thick. I struggled to keep the squares in place because I was squeezing the layers through my machine. The darn foot kept lifting up the squares. I am also unable to sew a straight line. The squares ended up quite haphazard-- I apologize Wyatt. Auntie Wawa really did try hard! I felt oh so accomplished once all the squares were sewn on. WAHOOOO! Oh, wait... the edges are gnarly. Oh crap... I need to make a fancy edge somehow! So I visited the local Fabricland once again. Got my fabric and struggled with the edge. Where the squares were placed, there wasn't a lot of room along the edges to place another piece of fabric without some overland. Ohhh shhhht. See, I told you I did a lot of cursing. I fumbled and swore my way through the making of the edges. Not to my satisfaction, but it was done.

Flying through the air with ease!

The making of this quilt took me a good week and a half. Not the 'one night' quoted by the DIY Dish ladies.  I should have known not to trust those matchy-matchy sisters. The finished product turned out to be much smaller than I had anticipated. One saving grace: it was small enough to fit into my suitcase since I had to fly back to the coast for Christmas! The quality of the blanket is questionable. I'm sure it fell apart the first time my sister washed it. She hasn't said it did, but she may have refrained to save me some guilt and embarrassment.

Who is that dashingly handsome masked hero?

With Wy's gift done, I moved on to Mr. Ty's. I figured his would be much more straightforward and the sewing would be simpler because of the thinner material. I was right, but I still cannot sew a straight line to save my life.

The Batman pose.

Ty's gift came together in the nick of time. Unfortunately I did not take photos during the creation of his awesome gift. I do have Christmas day photos though!

I made a reversible cape, mask, cuffs, and utility belt. I took the Superman diamond and put a T in the middle. Found these neat embellishment ties for the cape that I think lasted for a whole five minutes intact. Ty was super stoked about the gift.

Oh, I didn't tell you how I presented it! Ty received a smaller gift from Auntie Wawa and Uncle Garret. But lo! There is a box behind the tree with an envelope addressed to Ty. Who can it be from?

Yep, he has been recruited by the justice league! The look on his face was PRICELESS. I loved it, I think he loved it. Super Ty zoomed around the house and rescued damsels in distress. It was AWESOME. I'm pretty sure those listed above are not all in the Justice League, but they were superheros I knew. Deal with it.

And that's how I frantically sewed my way through Christmas. For y niece, Hailey, I made a button monogram picture sorry, no photos. Much easier than sewing!

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