Patchwork Ball...Again.

We had a friend's 1st birthday party to celebrate a couple weeks ago. As I was thinking through what we should give him I decided to make him a patchwork ball. The one I made Violet a couple years ago still gets used around our house. Luke loves playing with it but the girls still play with it too. What do an almost 4 and almost 8 year old do with a cloth ball? They play catch with Luke, use it as a pillow, and the current discovery is playing indoor dodgeball.

How many plastic toys get used by that age range for this many years? Not many!

I just grabbed some different bright fabric scraps I had and sewed up this playful ball. This is a quick project and one of the benefits of making something for a 1 year old is being able to pick an assortment of colors and patterns. I just love the little lion print with all the geometric patterns. The ball pattern is from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me.

What are some of your favorite gifts for toddlers?

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner

Wow what a fun week. Thank you to all of you that took the time to come visit me this week and comment. I had lots of fun finding new blogs and I hope you did too.

The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day winner of the 2 yards of fabric is Lynne. I've emailed you.

Now I don't know about you but I sure put a lot of things on the back burner in order to browse through all the lovely blogs participating in the giveaway this week. I really need to get back to finishing up a couple projects and working on more packing. What did you procrastinate this week in order to look through all those blogs?

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day **Now Closed**

If you are visiting for the first time, welcome to Mulholland Homestead. You can find out a bit more about me here.

Today is Sew Mama Sew's big Giveaway Day. In the past I have loved finding wonderful new blogs and winning great prizes during their giveaways. This year I thought it would be fun to participate and give away some beautiful fabric.

I am giving away these two one yard pieces from Jane Sassaman's line Early Bird for Free Spirit Fabrics.

Thanks for stopping by. I love meeting new people and discovering new blogs. The sewing/crafting online community is such an inspiring place. Here are all the details of the giveaway.

• To win please leave a comment on this post. And just for fun, tell me your favorite thing to do with your family or friends. 
• If you would like an extra chance to win please become a follower, you don't have to but it makes my day to see new people over there! 
• Don't forget to include a way for me to contact you!  
• This giveaway will be open all week, closing on May 25th.
•  I will email the winner as well as post that info here on the blog by the 26th.
• I will ship internationally, since I love having visitors from all over the world.
• I will choose the winner at randomly.

Now hop on over to Sew Mama Sew and visit more of the great blogs hosting giveaways today.

More Gifts for Luke

Too much time has passed since I shared the first set of handmade goodies little Luke received. Our little man is now five months old. It is so weird to even type that out. So without further ado, here are a few more of the awesome gifts we received for Luke.


Knit sweater

My auntie knit this sweater for Luke. I love the gray color and the cute little button. I love that Luke has a hand-knit sweater to wear next fall. This really drives my desire to learn to knit. Maybe after the move I will give it a try again. I may just need to spend some time on a couch next to my aunt with some knitting needles and some tea. I'm sure the kids would all sit quietly while I practice, right? I just think they all need a couple of these simple, beautiful sweaters.

Appliqued blankets

A dear friend made these amazing flannel blankets with applique details. She simply cut the flannel into a large square, hemmed the edges, added little crocheted edgings, and finally stitched on those cute appliqued touches. I use these every day. They are big, about 44inches square, and since they are just one layer they are nice and light. These blankets are perfect for nursing my babe who always seems like he is hot.

Flannel Quilt

Like I've mentioned before, we are so blessed by friends and family. Here is another example of the love little Luke has been shown. This little quilt is two flannels patchworked together for the front. I just love the combination of the two prints. The half square triangles are pieced wonderfully and make such an interesting pattern for my little guy to study. It is backed with minky making it super soft and warm. We've used this quilt alot as a playmate.

Crocheted R2D2 blanket

And finally, look at this amazing blanket. It was crocheted to resemble R2D2. I think it is just brilliant. I love that she even included a bit of red. I know this blanket will get lots of love. Violet still loves her crocheted blanket our friend made her.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the gifts Luke received. These ladies are definitely inspiring. I have six friends expecting right now; as well as, both my sister and sister-in-law. Needless to say I have lots of fun making and creating in my future. What is your favorite baby gift to give, make, or receive?

Leap Day Giveaway Winner

Thank you so much to everybody who commented on the Leap Day post. It was so fun reading all your comments and meeting so many new bloggers. A big thank you to Elizabeth at Such a Sew and Sew for hosting the giveaway.

Without further ado the winner of the yard of fabric is Lisa Cox. I have sent you an email Lisa.

I really enjoyed participating in the giveaway. I see more giveaways in the future here. What are some of your favorite things to win? Do you prefer fabric and supplies or finished products? Have any of you won things in the past?

Leap Day Giveaway

If you are visiting from Such a Sew and Sew, welcome to Mulholland Homestead.

Have you heard about the Leap Day linky-party giveaway? I'm joining in and giving away this one yard piece from the new Early Bird collection from Free Spirit, pictured above. To enter simply leave a comment. For an extra entry become a follower of Mulholland Homestead.

The giveaway is open until tomorrow, Leap Day. I will close the giveaway at midnight and choose a winner. Good luck.

Now hop on over to see all the other great giveaways.

Doll Carrier: Take Two

After making the doll carrier for Violet I made one for a friend's 7th birthday. The process was even faster this time since I was more familiar with the pattern. I choose to use some Anna Maria Horner fabric I had in my stash. Then I found some solids that coordinated for the pocket and straps.

Here you can see the velcro strip I used for both carriers. It makes for an adjustable carrier that will work for different size dolls and stuffed animals: as well as, allowing the carrier to work for years as the little girl grows. I hope it is a toy that gets lots of use.

Flower Applique Pin Cushion

A friend received her first sewing machine for her birthday so I wanted to make her a little something for her new sewing adventures. I had a pin cushion in mind for her when I saw these adorable coasters over at Twin Fibers. I thought I could do something similar for her pin cushion. After breaking out the scraps and playing around with them I got to work on practicing my hand appliquing. I was more confident this time than the first time. Although, it would have turned out better if I had made the image a little smaller. The flower takes up almost the whole top of the pin cushion so it got a little lost once I stuffed it.

After finishing up the hand applique, I just sewed the two pieces together right-sides together, leaving a small opening for turning. Then I stuffed it and included a little bit of lavender. To finish it off I did a top stitch around the whole square and added a few pins. I am still learning and need more practice with this technique. You can see that my curves are not perfect but I do like a little bit of the handmade look. I did learn that little hand sewing projects are perfect for me right now, mostly because I can do them while holding my sleeping babe.

Appliqued Heart Shirt

I have wanted to try more hand applique techniques and improve my sewing skills. In the past I have only done machine appliqued projects and various cross-stitching. Recently a friend was turning one so I thought a little appliqued heart would be fun plus give me the opportunity to try hand turned applique. Instead of using a pattern I just free-handed a heart shape out of some of my favorite fabric. Then I pinned it directly to the shirt and started stitching it on. Some of the tutorials I looked at suggested using a heat n bond to hold the project in place while stitching. I did not use any this time and didn't have too many problems. I think if I did anything larger then this I would definitely use it to prevent any bunching or pulling of the fabric.

Overall, I like how it turned out. And as a bonus it looks super cute on the recepient. I would love to do more of this in the future. I think with more practice my stitches will become more uniform and less noticeable. I have a couple other little projects in mind that I might be able to do while holding an adorable baby in the evenings. So hopefully there will be more applique practice in my near future.

Homemade Gifts

Last year we made homemade vanilla extract to give out to family and friends for Christmas. It is a long process but it was so much fun to make. Both the girls enjoyed the daily turning of the bottles so it was great to have something they could participate in too. We purchased these beautiful bottles and Shane designed a great label. I love how they turned out. If you are interested in trying it out, we roughly used this recipe. It worked perfectly.

We are now on the search for what to do this year. One idea I really think would be fun is flavored sugars. You could use them in baking or to add to coffee or tea. They also would be great to add to the top of simple sugar cookies for a little hint of flavor. I would love to try a vanilla flavored or orange flavored sugar.

Realistically, with building a house and expecting a baby in 2 months, our friends will be treated not to fancy flavored sugars but to a night of fellowship and a Christmas movie at our apartment.

Do you have any favorite treats to share during the holidays? Or a favorite treat you've been given in the past?