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I did a few applique projects recently. Two for my sweet niece,

and a set of personalized pajama pants for my dad for Father's Day.

We celebrated three high school and one college graduation last month. I polled my sister-in-law, who just finished her college freshman year, to find out what was the best graduation gift. The answer? "The most helpful gift that I got was the monogrammed laundry bag. It was something I never even considered and I ended up using it all of the time." So, I went looking and found this laundry sack tutorial.

I made the college grad a travel set that included the laundry bag and fabric luggage tags.

The high school grads were all boys, so I made identical bags for them. Hopefully the bags will get used on some great weekend road trips.

While my mom and mother-in-law truly smock, this is my way of making a smocked sundress. (Ok, so maybe it's really a shirred sundress.) I found the tutorial on MarthaStewart.com. Molly saw me sewing it and asked all morning if her dress was done. Finally after naptime she got to put it on and modeled it beautifully.

My mom has recently started sewing again. (Having three granddaughters was great motivation!) So, when I saw this tutorial for a wild flower pincushion, I decided to make one for her for Mother's Day. It turned out a bit bigger than I thought it was going to be, but still super cute! Molly kept asking to play with the flower pillow for G'mom.

I'm linking up to Made by You Mondays at Skip to my Lou so you can see what others have been busy crafting.

When I saw this tutorial for a little girl's purse, I knew I had to make one! We had a birthday party coming up, so I made this one for the 3 year old.

I also made an apron for the birthday girl. I just couldn't pass up making one out of this oh-so-cute fabric!

I'm linking up to Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple so you can see other crafters newest creations.

I upcycled one of my skirts into a sundress for Molly. I loved the fabric and hung on to it for some reason even though it never fit right. I used this tutorial and now Molly has a new dress!

The Before:

The After:

I'm linking up to Making the World Cuter so you can see what's new in the world that's cute!

I am participating in Craft Hope's project 7, creating bean bags for the Liberia Orphan Education Project. I have wanted to donate to a Craft Hope project since I found the organization back in January. I was very excited when the new project was something I could do, so I signed up to make a set of numbers 0-20.

I used this tutorial to make my bean bags. I worked on them a little each day over a week, and 21 bean bags later, here they are.

I also used this tutorial to make a drawstring bag to store them in. The deadline for this project is not until May 15th, so if you'd like to participate too, simply sign up in the comments here.

I'm linking up to Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple so you can see other crafters newest creations.

I participated in a secret sister gift exchange recently and one of the items to exchange was a hand-made gift. I had seen these fabric luggage tags and wanted to give them a try. It was my first time working with vinyl, which was a bit tricky, but they turned out very cute! Next I'd like to try printing on fabric to make these custom fabric luggage tags.

I'm linking up to Made by You Mondays at Skip to my Lou so you can see other fun, crafty things being made.

My friend, Kelly, is celebrating her daughter's birthday today. Happy 1st birthday Maya! In lieu of gifts, Kelly asked for us to bring items to be donated to the JHU Pediatric ICU. I recently found this free pattern for reversible baby bibs, so I decided to give it a try.

You can see the opposite fabric pattern peaking through. The neck holes turned out a bit smaller than I was expecting, hence the "newborn" title. I learned a few things as I went along, so I'll likely try a different pattern next time (like this one), but overall I was happy with how they turned out.

I'm linking up to Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design so you can see all the other great projects people are sharing.

At one of our playgroup meetings back in January, Molly and two of her friends wore aprons the entire time. So, I came home and searched for a pattern to make one for her. I found this free child's apron pattern at Sew Liberated and got to work. The montessori style allows Molly to put in on by herself. It has an elastic neckband and a velcro attached waist strap, so no assistance from Mommy needed! She loves wearing it when helping me in the kitchen.

I have also made a few for gifts.

I'm linking up to Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple so you can see other fun, crafty things being made.