Apron Strings

The last of the Christmas gifts that I had to make was started and finished today. the kids watched Christmas movies nearly all morning and into the afternoon while I stitched the day away.

Skirting: the Issue

Check another one off the list, Mama's on a roll!

A request from Miss P., to Santa



Fabric is from JoAnne's, pattern taken from a Target skirt we already had.

Sewing Mojo

Good thing I made that quilt, because I think I found my sewing mojo!

Checking this off the the list of gifts to make!

Procrastinating

here's what i made, when i should have been making christmas presents.


it's a twin size quilt for Miss P. who, by the way, still sleeps in a toddler bed. i know.

i just got the idea in my head and had to do it. right away.

now why can't i seem to do that with my housework!???


i made it using scraps of my favorite fabrics from the past few years. of course it's not finished yet, i need the batting to go on sale at joanne!

Riiibbit!

While visiting my sister, Heather, in Chicago last week she gave me this adorable collage that she made for Mister Maser. Isn't it cute?!!!

I knew I wanted it to be a frog, since my sister-in-law, Carrie, bought him a stuffed frog when he was born. I e-mailed a few images for inspiration to Heather and this is what she came up with. Adorable! Thanks, Heather!

Aprons for Charity

Well, not charity technically, but for the kids Fall Festival at school. I donated these to the "Country Kitchen" which had fresh baked goods, jam, garden produce, and such. I don't know if they just didn't have any interested parties, but by the end of the night they were still sitting on the table. Maybe I priced them too high. Who knows. Well, I talked to a couple interested ladies and got them SOLD!

Baby Shower Gift

I cut these out on Friday night and sewed them up Saturday morning before a baby shower. I've made them so many times, that by now they are a cinch to whip up, even last minute! I made up my own pattern and directions, but there are several great tutorials on the web.

A Blessing Outfit

This past Sunday we blessed the baby at church. For weeks, no months, before he was born I searched all sorts of fancy boutiques, department stores, chain stores and etsy for something for him to wear, but found nothing. So I decided I had to make something. I wanted something simple and classic with an heirloom quality. I wanted something blue, not white. I don't know why but I have blessed all my boys in blue. I found a great online store that will send you free swatches of fabric. After getting the samples in the mail I picked the color I wanted and went to the fabric store for a pattern. I don't know if it was me or the pattern, but I had a hard time with some of the directions, so I'm not sure if I made it right, but it works. I love how it turned out!

ReCycle / ReUse

When I had my first child I bought a used Jenny Lind crib for a mere $20. It lasted for the next 2 kids until my daughter kicked the side and broke a spindle. I actually duct taped it back together until she moved out of it a few months later. I know, ghetto, but I wasn't ready to move her out quite yet. As I was dissembling it I was looking at it wondering if there was something useful I could do with it. I saved a side and stuck it in the garage with the rest of my projects until I thought of something I could make with it. So here it is: a blanket rack.



I need to give it a fresh coat of paint, but I was so excited to get it hung up, I couldn't wait!

Here's what I did:

I cut a section of the side to include 7 rungs. I thought this looked like a good size. Next I cut small blocks to mount on the back so that it hung away from the wall. This gives the blankets room to hang in the back. Finally I got some ring hangers and attached them to the back.

I love that I made something useful out of "junk", but I also love it because that crib was a little sentimental to me and now I can think of my babies when I look at it!

projects!

Finally feeling better from the flu we had last week! I had a few projects that I wanted to do and finally had the time, motivation and energy to get them done.

The first is a onesie for my soon to be born niece. At my SIL's baby shower they passed out a white onesie and asked us to decorate them, but all they had were fabric markers! Well, being the crafty snob that I am, I sat there thinking about all the cute things I could do with it if I was at home with all my supplies. I decided I would politely let her know I would do it at home and give it to her later, using the baby as my excuse, because I couldn't really be expected to produce something whilst nursing my baby, right? Well, they were on to me... I am a craft snob and they knew it! We had a good laugh about that!

The next one was freezer paper stencils. I have been wanting to try this one and have had the stuff for a while, but kept putting it off. It was so easy and quick!

My daughter has been obsessed with Mary Poppins lately and when I saw this image while looking for Mary Poppins costumes on the internet I knew I had to try it. It will be perfect for our Disneyland trip!

The last project was a blanket that I had gotten in the free diaper bag from the hospital. I love the jersey knit blanket, great for wrapping him into a little burrito! But it had the hospital name on the corner and I just didn't like it. So I made up a little applique with his initial on it. Here's the before:



Here's the after:

I have really missed being creative these last few weeks and now I have tons of motivation to get some of my other projects done, let's hope it lasts!

Nesting

I have not felt very creative lately, my excuse is I've been creating the ultimate crafty project: a baby. Now that I'm 2 weeks from delivery, I've felt the need to prepare for this child to join our family. That means cleaning, gathering essentials, getting the room ready (he'll be sharing with Miss P), and a little project I've been wanting to do. I guess you could say, I'm nesting.

The pattern for the bird can be found here.

Shirt Applique

I am working on this shirt for our friends son, who loves trucks. We're off to visit them for a few days and I wanted to bring him something. I hope he likes it!

It was easy to do and very inexpensive, just your standard T-shirt, fabric scrap, and some Wonder-under. (I love that stuff!) I have been wanting to do some shirts for the kids and this was good practice. O-Dog has now requested a shirt with a big 4 on it.

Morning photos

I took these pictures the other morning. I love these grape hyacinth, I wish they lasted longer as they are already drying up and disapearing.

I just happened to notice 3 butterflies hanging around them and grabbed my camera to snap a few. I could actually see their little "tongue" going in and out sipping the nectar of the flowers.

Hoping to win some cute fabric

I had to throw my name in the hat to win some pretty fabric, can you blame me? Anna Maria Horner is one of my favorite designers!

Thrifty make-over

Last year I bought this cute pegged board at the local Goodwill. I think I paid $2.50. It was painted a yellowy gold and then antiqued. Not bad, but for my purpose it needed a fresh coat of paint

I think I have a pretty good eye for seeing the potential in something, although if you ask my husband, he might say I see a things through diamond encrusted bright fuchsia colored glasses. Don’t even get him started. In addition to that, I always think things will take ½ the time that they actually do. What can I say, I’m an optimist(Okay, maybe not all the time, but when it comes to my crafty projects, I am.)

Here's the before:

Anyway, I have had it sitting in the garage for several months and felt inspired to work on it. I had some old paint, an aqua color and decided to use some of that, 3 coats worth. This is one rare project that actually took me less than the time I thought it would take. From painting to hanging it was about 1 hour.

After I got the shelf secured on the wall I got Miss P’s blessing day dress to hang on it along with a matching bonnet, a tiny crystal bracelet and some crocheted booties that my mom made. I am so pleased with how it turned out.

Flower Power

I just love runuculus, they remind me of peonies which I also love! I took these last year in our backyard, they have yet to make an appearance this year. I love how vibrant the colors are. No photoshop here peeps, it's all natural! Even down to the bugs!

Telling the tooth

My Church is involved in the Festival of Trees again and have asked for donations of handmade items to be sold so I decided to put my collection of scraps to good use. I came up with these little tooth fairy pillows.

Learning Curve

A while back I was asked to do some upholstery work for some family-of-family (you know like a friend-of-a-friend deal). Something I have never done before: 4 cushion slipcovers with piping and zippers. I had the existing seat cushions, but the back part, I had to make from scratch. I took apart one of the existing slipcovers to make a pattern from it, and left the other one to be able to go back and look at the construction of it.

Did I mention it was velvet? It's very hard to sew with, because it's very easily crushed and once it's crushed ...it's crushed, you can't undo crushed velvet. So you get this mottled look on the fabric.

Oh, and the piping? I had never made piping before. That part was okay, but then getting it to look right once I got the whole thing together was a challenge. After ripping apart the puckered seams for the 10th time, I was nearly in tears and beginning to foam at the mouth. Deep breath. Little prayer. Calm.

When I let my mind think about the entire project ahead of me, I started to stress out, but if I just thought about one small step at a time, It was okay. And prayer, ....prayer helps everything - yes, even sewing! (My mom taught me that!)Well, as soon as I finished the first slipcover I fit it onto the cushion and when I went to zip it up....pop! The zipper broke.

GARBAGE! (that's my dad's favorite swear word.)

For a first timer, I think they turned out relatively well. (As long as you don't examine the zippers in the back too closely! After starting the project I noticed that the fabric was quite faded in some areas, thankfully my client didn't mind and thought it gave the pieces a vintage feel. She was happy with them and in the end, that's what's important.

Chore Chart

I have had several projects that I wanted to get check off my to-do list and here's one of them. My Sis-in-Law, Carrie, works at Tricks gym, as the assistant teacher in their CampUs classes. She is amazing with kids! She is one of those women who know just what to say to a kid to snap them out of a funk or stop a meltdown before it starts. I know it's selfish, but I'm sometimes glad she doesn't have kids yet, because if she did, who would help me with mine!!!???? Someday she is going to be an amazing mom. So recently, she came to me with an idea for a chore chart for their class, but didn't know how to make it happen. So we worked together and with the help of my trusty sewing machine, we did it!

She started with scrapbook paper, cut to size and laminated to make a small board. We went to the fabric store and picked up some clear vinyl, which we cut into rectangles. I stitched the vinyl rectangles onto the board to make pockets. She already had little cards with the classroom jobs on them, which fit into the little windows. She has wooden tiles with the students names on them which will be stuck under each window with velcro so they can rotate them each week. They can remove the job cards or change them as needed.

Sounds easy right? Well I had to cut out 36 rectangles out of the vinyl, sew 6 rectangles onto each board (6 different boards), with double stitching on each rectangle and single stitch around the perimeter of the board to finish it off. Then I had to pull all the hanging threads back thru to the back of the board and tape them all down.

If you live in the Sacramento area, check out Tricks for gym, dance CampUs and swimming too!

Oh Baby!

I had a baby shower to go to and being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't even think about the gift until the afternoon of the party. (Even though I had been to Target at least 5 times after recieving the invitation in the mail!) I am terrible about that! I decided to go to my stash of baby bibs, but wasn't really happy with the selection I had on hand. I decided to try and sew up a couple before I had to leave.

I am especially pleased with how the cherry one turned out. I made a little girl's apron with the same fabrics last year so the bib was made with the scraps from that project. I just love the color combination.

I already had this one made, so I added it in the gift too.

My Process

I had an order for 2 aprons so last week I quickly put together some new designs and just love how they turned out! I thought I would share my process for designing an apron. I like to start with a base fabric and 2-3 simple complimenting fabrics. I was given free reign on color choices and pattern.

Most of the fabric I use is purchased at JoAnne Fabrics, but when I can't find something that inspires my project, I check out the quilt stores, they usually have a wider selection and carry more of the "designer" fabrics. After I gather the fabrics for the project, I sit down to sketch out a design. When I'm happy with the design, I decide which fabrics I will use where and add in a rough sketch of the fabric so I can get a visual of what it will look like.

I start cutting out each piece in it's chosen fabric. I didn't use a pattern for this one, I just made it up as I went. I cut as much as I can using my rotary cutter and mat, it goes much quicker than with scissors.

After all the pieces are cut out, In my mind, I seperate the piece into 3 sections: bodice, torso, and skirt. Sometime I have to write out each step of the process so I don't forget to do something and have to rip out a seam. (For this apron I was going to add a loop to hang a dish towel on, but I forgot to add it to my steps. Oops! By the time I remembered, it was too late!) I complete one section at a time and when they're all done, I sew them together.

Here's the finished product:

Sometimes when I am in the middle of sewing a project I tweak the fabric choice a bit or add a little something. Here, I switched the pocket to the other side and I think I switched the neck ties fabric. I also came up with this pocket detailing from one of my favorite shirts that has this ruffle all the way down the front. It's so simple, but I love it.

Here's an upclose view of the front:

Do you see that little piece of red thread sitting there. It's bugging the heck out of me, I just wanna reach my hand through the monitor and pick it off! Ugh!

So there you have it! It's probably not the normal process of a pattern designer, but it works for me!

Here's the other half of that apron order:

Thanks to my sistas to being such fabulous models!

Apron Giveaway Winner

I made this apron for a giveaway I had on my other blog. Jessica, the lucky winner, came over and picked out the base fabrics and then I played with the design a bit. I have made several aprons now and was feeling confident enough this time to forgo a pattern. I changed up the front and the neck ties, and added a pocket. All my own design! The entire thing is fully lined.

I went for a "scrappy" look with the neck ties:

Pintuck detailing on the bodice:

Added a pocket on one side:

I love the how colors and patterns look together on the bottom ruffle!