Bags Galore!

I don't know about you all... but I'm starting to think I may have an unhealthy obsession with tote bag making:

My bag I use for larger sewing items.
The bag I use for smaller sewing items.

Kaitlynn's "Beach Bag"
The "Mitchell's Rotating Diaper Bag" Bag
Andrew's New Overnight Bag

Four more coming this weekend, to a blog near you ;)

My Formal Apology.

For some insane reason, I don't have this blog set up yet so that I get email notifications when readers leave comments on my blog posts. I had no clue that anyone was even reading, let alone leaving nice little comments, advice, tips and opinions for me! So thank you to all of you and I promise to return them from now on.... as soon as I get my alerts turned on again!!

Dish Towels!!

I've been on the hunt for a project. Necessary Criteria:

1. Must be simple

2. Must be functional, not just decorative

3. Must not be a pillow or blanket

A dress for Kaitlynn is in the works and if I get brave enough to finalize her buttonhole, I'll be able to finish it tomorrow. But for now - I finally have a tote bag for some of my sewing supplies. I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, not because it was hard but because to start off, I purchased the wrong materials. SOO I fudged the instructions just a bit but I love my bag just the same. You can be sure I will be making many more of these very soon!

I LOVE THIS BAG!

Blankets on a Saturday Morning

While perusing the plethora of Elvis fabrics yesterday (for a birthday project coming soon to this blog) I had a hankerin' for some sewing. I let each of the kids pick out their main fabric for a lightweight summertime blanket. Kaitlynn (to no surprise) chose Hannah Montana even though she has no idea who that is. Andrew couldn't make up his mind so I finally had to convince him he wanted Spongebob. I came across some contrasting yet coordinating pieces to match and got to work early this morning.

** I used a star stitch on Andrew's blanket, NEVER again! Whenever I set my machine on the high speed for the top stitch it was messing up the look of the star and I just didn't have the patience to do it "right" (aka, slow) - Lesson Learned. **

Got Patterns?

I need some patterns! Problem is, I've never actually used one before. My New Year's Resolution/Goal was to make my kids' Halloween costumes, but seeing as I'm practically terrified to even attempt clothing, I'm not sure if I'll accomplish that this year. I'm hoping by November or so, I've learned enough to make children's aprons. Can someone send me in the right direction for an easy pattern for those? Also, if you have any advice on easy clothing items for a first-timer to try out, let me know!

Finding Reasons to Buy.

Each time I go to Walmart, I have to stop in their fabric department... and even if I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted to make, I will find a reason to use a cute piece of material. I spotted an adorable butterfly print that my 3 year old daughter loved and so I decided on a pillowcase since hers hasn't been in the best shape as of late. While perusing the fabrics today, I also found a sports fabric that had my 5 year olds baseball number on it, so I thought what the hey? He could use a new pillowcase also. I knocked both of them out in about an hour, and I'm bragging about that as if I even know how long it should take someone to make 2 pillowcases. I was very happy with the butterfly project, I haven't inspected it yet to see how many mistakes I made, but since the thread blends with the fabric, it isn't visible to the naked eye anyway. While sewing the sides of my son's pillowcase, I was using red thread for the top and white thread for the bottom. (purely because I didn't have an empty bobbin available to wind some red thread for the bottom) When I made the hem for the opening of the pillowcase, I didn't realize I should have switched the red thread to the bottom. SOOO.. to make a long story short, the white thread is what is showing on the outside of the pillowcase and you can see every darn mistake I made. If there's ever a day in my life that I don't have to spend chasing my kids, cleaning the floors or playing taxi-cab driver, I might just tear that hem apart and do it the right way - today was not that day.

The History of it All.

I'm trying sew hard to become proficient at something creative. I have long called myself the most "uncreative person on Earth" - I just didn't get that gene. So a couple of months ago, I was forced into sewing when my 5 year old son brought home a pattern from Kindergarten that instructed me to sew him a puppet costume. After many phone calls, and an hour of reading the instruction manual for my never-before-used-machine, I finally got to make a mommy date with the most gifted sewer I know. (you can find her blog to the right, Mama Said Sew) That was my first official project and as per usual, I didn't get a picture of it. But I have captured every project after that, and they are shown below. I hope you'll visit my blog often to see what I'm up to each week and offer up your opinions and advice!

A Taggy Blanket for my 9 month old, made with real tags. I was hoping he'd fall in love with this and never let it leave his sight, maybe even take it to college with him..... but I learned he could give less than a youknowwhat about it.

A blanket for Baby Joshua. This project taught me just how important it is to make sure your fabric has straight edges! Especially when your material has lines on it.

This headband made for my 3 year old taught me that my sewing machine wants nothing to do with elastic. I can't tell you how many times it jammed up and I had to start all over again. In the end I just ended up hand-stitching the elastic in.. and I could write an entire blog about how terrible I am at that!

A blanket for Baby Miranda McCoy. This one was a LOT harder than I ever thought it would be. I learned that I am not quite ready to be working with satin trim. As you'll notice in all the pictures, that may have been the last time for a long while that I will ever use a satin trim.

The project for Baby Lauren Malavar is probably my favorite so far. It had a flannel back, basic cotton on front with colors and theme to match the nursery. I originally intended for the pillow to be much bigger, but unfortunately the majority (not all) of the employees at Walmart's fabric department haven't quite figured out how to cut a straight line. (we have something in common) At any rate, by the time I had trimmed the edges and sewn my pillowcase, it was the wrong size and the wrong shape. So it came out as a much smaller baby pillow, stuffed and top stitched all the around. I personally love it :)

Now I'm on to posting about what I created today........