Friday, October 28, 2011

Trick or Treat Candy Bag

Halloween is just a few days away, and even though I'm a little behind in posting some of the great creations I've come up with over the past couple of months I wanted to share a great reusable trick or treat bag I came up for my son. Made with the Trick and Treat by Doodlebug Design fabric collection for Riley Blake I came up with my own original design for my son to put his candy in on Halloween. Instead of using a plastic bucket or an old pillow case I let him choose his favorite photos from the panel I purchased and went from there. Compared to all the quilts I put together this seemed fairly easy. My little man is in love with it! He's already been toting it around the house putting empty Pez dispensers and water bottles inside it. I made one three year old the happiest little boy on earth. I'll have to post a photo of him in his costume toting his bag on Halloween. I'm just happy that he'll have a bag he can look forward to using in the years to come.

Happy Halloween!

One side of the trick or treat bag. Top is candy filled pumpkin with orange border and more candy, cut from panel. Bottom is sewn to panel with rainbow striped fabric. Handles are matching rainbow striped fabric.

 
Other side of the trick or treat bag. Top is two frogs with bubbling cauldron with purple border and surrounding candy, cut from panel. Bottom is rainbow striped fabric with matching handles.

Inside of bag is orange fabric with stars colored in black, white, purple and lime

Handles sewn on with rainbow striped fabric

Friday, August 5, 2011

Hooty Hoot Car Seat Canopy

This car seat canopy was made with the Hooty Hoot collection by Riley Blake and was made to go with the owl quilt previously posted. The fabric on the under side of the car seat canopy is made with the super soft, "minky cuddle" fabric. Babies really seem to love this fabric and naturally snuggle up to it, so when the car seat canopy is not attached to the handle of the car seat it can easily be used as a blanket for baby. I also made a matching burp rag and drool cloth to go with the canopy. Both the burp rag and drool cloth were made with minky spa cloth that is both absorbent and super soft. All three items have a decorative stitch around the edges.

The car seat canopy laid out with the corner flipped up to show the brown fabric underneath


Close up shot of the straps shown open and closed

Strap shown closed with decorative brown button

Emily Kay Design label sewn on to the Hooty Hoot quilt label

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Hooty Hoot Quilt

I've been waiting for what seems like forever to post one of my favorite quilts to date. I loved the colors in this collection and the owls were just too cute. My friend, Chelsea had me make this quilt for her sister that is soon to be having a baby boy. This was the first quilt I've made with a panel along with different patterns. When the quilt was finished I just fell in love with end results. I never post photos of my finished items until the client has received their quilt or car seat canopy. It would be such a bummer if they saw their gift before actually receiving it. As soon as Chelsea told me that her sister received the blanket and loved it I had to post the photos as soon as I had the chance. It's too bad that this collection is no longer available for purchase because I would have loved to make more of these. I actually have enough fabric and one more panel to make one more quilt, so I'd be so happy to make it for anybody who is interested in it. The quilt would cost $60.00, and a matching burp rag and drool cloth would be included with the quilt.

The owl quilt is made with the Hooty Hoot collection by Riley Blake
The reverse side of the owl quilt with Emily Kay Design tag attached
Close up shot of the decorative stitch
Emily Kay Designs label shown on the Hooty Hoot quilt label

Monday, June 20, 2011

New Facebook Page and Aubrey Quilt

I've been incredibly blessed lately to be busy sewing nonstop with many different projects and with all very different colors and designs. It's been quite fun because I never get tired of designing and picking out fabric. I'm so honored to those of you who have told me and others that you enjoy my work. I've never been one to really follow my passions in life, and I'm so happy that I decided to put my work out there for people to see. Right now I'm working on a Facebook page so that I can potentially get more traffic than here on blogger. I can post photos there more easily, and people can leave messages and comments there more easily there than here at Blogger. I'll also be able to post photos of fabric that I would really like to work with that I think my fans will love and photos of the fabric that I already have here to make as soon as somebody requests it. I'm hoping to have the page up by the end of the week, so if you get emails from this website on a regular basis than you will be the first to know when the page goes live since you will be on the invite email to the page. Yeah!


Below is my latest quilt that I call the Aubrey quilt. Do you ever wonder how I come up with the quilt names? Well, I usually name the quilts after the baby that they were intended for or after the collection they are sewn from. This quilt was made with the colors of cranberry and white eyelet type material. The quilt backing is made from super soft white minky, plush fabric with a raised dot design. There is also an decorative stitch around the edge of the quilt in cranberry thread. I loved working with these colors, so if you are interested in these colors too than let me know so I can purchase some more to sew with.





















Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Summer Daydream Quilt

First I have to apologize for the kind of crappy photos that were taken of this photo. Honestly I was just trying to take photos of this blanket as fast as I could before giving it to the recipient. This blanket was made for a sweet lady in my Mothers of Preschoolers group. I actually took the photos yesterday so that I could take the blanket to her today in hopes that it would reach her before she was due to have her baby and in time for our last MOPS meeting; however, it didn't make it quite in time since we were all pretty sure that she may have been in labor today. Now I'll just hopefully be lucky enough to not only deliver this blanket to her in person but to hopefully see that beautiful baby girl I'm sure she's holding by now.


I chose Riley Blake's Daydream fabric to make this quilt. I received more than I anticipated and with that it made it pretty easy to design the full 8inch squares of solid fabric and the 8inch squares mixed using four of the different fabrics I had in the bunch. Anybody that is wanting a quilt kind of like this one than please let me know because I have enough fabric to make two more blankets. I went ahead and ordered some extra fabric since I knew I was going to have enough to make the front of quilts. Please email me at the following address if you would like a baby blanket made with this fabric, christina@krochmal.net.


One thing that you may notice in the photos that I received last week. My new business clothing labels! They turned out so perfect, and I'm so happy to be able to mark my blankets with a little personalization. I'm also happy going forward with the number of projects that I've piled up for myself with all my friends and word of mouth that has gone out so far. At this point most of the blankets that I'm making are for word of mouth purposes. I'm hoping that putting this together in the name of Emily makes other Moms and their babies happy. So far that's what I've seen, and I think that matters the most of me.


Don't forget to follow my blog at the side of this page so that you can receive updates on what's going on at Emily Kay Designs.


Much Love,

Christina


The front was designed with fabric sewn into 8inch squares of fabric along with small fabrics sewn into fourths on one block.

I chose Riley Blake's sage floral fabric for the quilt backing


The new labels are now being placed on blankets and car seat canopies. Yay! A photo showing the blanket partially folded A close up shot of the decorate top stitch

Monday, May 9, 2011

Lavendar Quilt

Here is a lavender and white quilt that I just completed for a little baby that is due this month. The month of May happens to be quite busy with little babies, so please come back and check out Emily Kay Designs often to see all of the quilts that are being completed. I'm working some major overtime right now. Since most of my day is filled with my fun loving two year old who always requires Mommy's attention I've been spending all my evenings sewing after I put him in bed. I'm staying up until after 1am to try and get some of these blankets done by the time the little babies arrive, but luckily a lot of the friends and family I have are more than patient as I get my name out there. I've actually enjoyed this time in my life more than anything when it comes to all the new designs I've been coming up with and the beautiful fabric that I've found to work with. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.


If you life any of the quilts that you've seen than please let me know as soon as you can so that I can order more of the beautiful fabric that you desire. Some of these places move fabric through their shops so frequently that it can make it difficult to get the same exact fabric to custom design that special baby quilt or car seat canopy just for you. I will always do my best though. Please email me at christina@krochmal.net for more information.







Monkey Themed and Penny Lane Car Seat Canopies

I'm so excited to finally have the chance to post the photos of two of my latest car seat canopies with matching burp rags and drool rags. Over this past weekend I redesigned my burp rag to make it my own along with a much needed drool rag design. I remember when Nathan was a baby and constantly drooled while teething, and sometimes all I wanted was a small rag that was nice to carry around with me to wipe his mouth (he needed to be presentable). I'm still thinking of modifying the drool rag to make it slightly bigger, but I like how this one has turned out so far.








Thursday, May 5, 2011

New Creations

I have a number of new projects that I'm in the middle of working on, and this makes me so unbelievably excited. Last week I ordered my business labels to sew on to my quilts, car seat canopies and burp rags. I'm hoping to see them arrive by the middle of next week.

I've purchased a few yards of beautiful terry cloth to design a new burp rag and drool rag that I'm sure babies will love (mommy's too). I'm looking to design a burp rag that is absorbent with beautiful cotton fabric sewn into it. Mommy's will love having something that is pretty yet durable. I will post photos as soon as I've designed and completed it. Right now I'm trying to put the finishing touches on a quilt and car seat canopy that were requested by a soon to be new daddy that wanted something beautiful to give to his wife and daughter that is due to be born this month.

May is a busy baby month. I have four separate projects for babies that are due now and into the next couple of months. This has been such a great way to put Emily Kay Designs out there. I'm excited and anxious all together.

Stay tuned... :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Catching Up

I do have another quilt and car seat canopy completed and almost ready for posting. Bear with me as I play catch up. It's been quite a juggling act around here between a two year old pulling me in every direction and a number of babies that are due to arrive in just a week or two. I'm trying so hard to get my projects complete to open myself up for new projects. If you know anybody that would like a car seat canopy of custom made quilt or you yourself would like one for your sweet little prince or princess than feel free to email me or leave me a message on the blogger site. I can send out a social card to you or we can discuss colors and design along with delivery dates.

Please come back and visit Emily Kay Designs again where you will find new photos of projects completed. Coming soon I will be posing fabrics that I have on hand that could possibly make the perfect quilt or car seat canopy just for you.

Many Blessing,
Christina

Jacy Quilt

This was my first quilt after a small hiatus due to back surgery before Christmas. I had to get back into the swing of things, and while doing so I decided to try my hand at designing a quilt on my own. It needed to be very special since I was making it for my 7 year old niece. Before I sewed it and put the finishing touches on it I made sure to run it by her to make sure it was fit for a princess. I love that little girl so much. She was in love with it and couldn't wait to receive it. Her only real request was that it had pink in it so I won her heart.

I did a number of different things with this quilt that I had never done before. I didn't follow a pattern and it's bigger than I'm used to sewing. I'm used to sewing blankets for baby so I needed to make some adjustments so that it was big enough for a little girl. I also created some unique squares by using different fabrics within one another. I'm looking forward to trying this more frequently with many baby and toddler blankets to come.


Top Half


Bottom Half



Decorative Stitching


Project Haven - Car Seat Canopy

Right now all I've been doing is sewing new projects for friends and people that I know to get my name out there. I have a whole new heap of fabric that I've picked out at a couple different online fabric stores along with a couple that I've found from JoAnn's while browsing the aisles. I'm incredibly picky when selecting my fabric so I don't always find what I'm looking for at JoAnn's. I've always had better luck selecting fabric online where they are organized by collection and color. A lot of the fabric I have right now is based on what I think that the people around me would like, but that doesn't mean that someone I don't know won't fall in love with what they see here.


I fell in love with the fabric shown in the photos here and made this car seat canopy for a beautiful baby girl named Haven. Her Mommy is a girl in my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group that I quickly befriended. The colors just seemed to be made just for her and lucky for me I was right. She loves it and has found it to be quite useful through all of our rain.








Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Car Seat Canopies

These are by far the most fun and coolest items that I ever came across and decided that I wanted to make. I love making them so much that I'm positive that they will be my best selling item if I ever get this little side business up and running. The friends that I have made them for are in love with them and use them every day. I wish that I would have had one of these when my son Nathan was a baby. He would have loved the privacy during his nap time.

The car seat canopies will always be designed with the colors that you love and simple designs that will keep you in modern fashion. I always make sure that any and every small detail is covered. My goal is to make sure that you as the customer is happy and your baby will be happy sleeping under a quiet cover away from the prying eyes of strangers in the supermarket. If you are out for a walk it can keep the sun out of their eyes and the rain off of their pretty little heads. I love babies so darn much that I just want to make them happy. They are by far the best little people to design new things for.

Please note that I hand pick every single piece of fabric to design each car seat canopy. I do not buy in bulk so if you like something that you see photo'd than you need to let me know right away because it can be quite difficult to find that exact same piece of fabric. I will try incredibly hard to find it but it isn't already guaranteed. That's why I like to custom designed based on the customers particular tastes. This way you will have a one of a kind piece of work.

First car seat canopy. Side 1:Garden design Side 2: Olive w/brown dots

Detail of button accessory attached to the velcro strap
Velcro straps that attach to infant car seat


Finished photo of car seat canopy hanging on infant car seat

Matching burp rags to be sold with car seat canopy as a set


Inside from baby's point of view


photo 2 of finished car seat canopy hanging on infant seat

Button detail of 2nd completed car seat canopy

Photo of finished car seat canopy #2

Inside from baby's point of view


Detail photo of finished project. Side 1:coral/brown dots Side 2:Coral print


Detail of strap sewn on to fabric. Double crossed for durability

Close up detail of button on coral printed strap