The next bonnet used vintage floral fabric.

I lined the bonnet with a coordinating aqua.

  

 Then to add some function, I made a few quick Binky Clips, tutorial here.

The white one was lace sewn on top of white ribbon.  It added some texture and I thought the lace made it look a little fancy, although it is still a binky clip.

 You can pop over today to The Train To Crazy and check out my Dino Tail Tutorial if you've not seen it yet and see all the other handmade costume ideas Andrea's hosted!

Patio Wrap Up  

I've been posting a lot about our patio projects from this summer, and thought I'd put them all together in one post.

Outdoor Pillow Covers           Decor Ladder       Lantern Fence Lighting

_________________________________________________________________

The Back Porch Projects

Patio Dining Set          Patio Chair Cushion Tutorial

Scrap Outdoor Placemats            DIY Shade Sails

This has been a busy summer building lots of furniture.  Good bye summer! 

{yes both my kids are just sporting undies}

I'm wrapping up summer with my last patio project.

I bought these blueish green outdoor pillows from Costco and decided they didn't really work with the blue lounger cushion.  So I made some quick envelope pillow covers.

Using this basic tutorial for an envelope pillow cover,

I had yellow nylon scrap pieces and created the vertical stripes by sewing white broadcloth on top.  The white stripes are 2" wide, and they're sewn 2" apart on the yellow square.

 Rather than finding a wide striped yellow/white fabric, I just made my own.

To make the white stripes, I used my clover 2" bias tape maker, so you can see in the center of each white stripe where it's just one thin layer and more transparent.  I didn't mind and thought most people wouldn't notice or if they did, hopefully think it was another intentional subtle stripe.

So I have the two outdoor pillows with my added yellow envelope covers.

We've been roasting marshmallows after dinner, trying to enjoy these last warmer evenings before autumn really sets in. 

I'm a little shocked to share this news that my Halloween costumes have been featured on Country Living Magazine's online Craft section!!!

It's a collection of 16 handmade costumes:

Check out my Max here.

Ewok here.

And for those that may have forgotten about this one for my niece last year, 

Hot Rod here

My good friend that I've been close with since I was just a kid has the cutest little boy named Finn.  She'd mentioned a while ago when I made my son his bulldog baby backpack she would like one for her little guy.  Once RJ was 18 months I had him carry his own stuff.  Diapers, wipes, sippy cup, fruit snacks, etc.  It's that stage you don't need a full on diaper bag, but you can't carry all their crap in your purse.  Plus they're big enough to wear a little backpack and sport around looking cute.  Win for mom and kid!

So I've made lots of different animal backpacks, which I used to sell on etsy. 

 This time around I wanted to make a new animal, and a hedgehog seemed like a boy and cute, and unique.

My hedgehog inspiration came from my artist cousin, Stephanie's onesies.

This backpack has rounded bottom corners and a magnetic clasp, where in the past I always used velcro.

The under side of the backpack has the straps that use buttons to adjust for different lengths. 

The actual hedge hog is made from fleece.  It's non fray so I could just cut out the shapes and sew them on.  The body is cut in "V" shapes with dark brown underneath to kind of give the hedgehog body some spiked texture.  The eyes and nose are buttons. 

I think it's a pretty cute little hedgehog.

The tag is just 1" wide twill tape and with my free motion presser foot, I sewed the text.  Then to sew to the lining, I folded the raw ended and sewed around all 4 sides.

I love how it turned out, kind of a surprise when you open it up.

 We actually saw a real hedgehog at the pet store recently.  They really are cute, but expensive $250!!  What?