Week #4, Project 3 and 4.

Hi readers!!

I hope you like this one. The Bakersfield SAHM Meetup is having a Fall Festival at the park this evening. To raise some money for our group, I created a couple of items that will be given away in a raffle. A Fall themed apron and coordinating quilted table runner -

A Pretty Package if I do say so myself!

Week #4, Project 2

Nothing exciting to report around here. A few months ago I made some great hot pads for my sister out of dish towels. Problem was, she forgot to take them home from my house, and ME being ME, I started using them. She's came into town this morning and I had the urge to sew this evening, so I whipped her out a new set. Pathetically, I have so many dish towels on hand that she was able to rifle through my stash and find ones to match her dishes and kitchen perfectly. Here they are!!

On the side, my sister had a seam coming apart on her New York & Company top that she wore over here today. She was going to take it to a dry cleaner to have it fixed - until I volunteered to do it. I managed to find EXACT matching thread in my cabinet and I actually fixed it! Kinda proud of my little seam repair... Hey, after the tooth fairy pillow disaster, I'll take success wherever I can get it.

Week #4, Project # 1.......

.........is a total bust. My 6 year old has his first loose tooth. I made him a tooth fairy pillow this morning, but it's so embarrassingly horrific that I will not be posting pictures. Luckily 1st-graders don't check out patterns, hems or seams. We'll have to use this one for now, unless I get around to making another one this week.

Happy Sunday to all!!

Week 3, Projects #1, 2 and 3.

I've been holding off on sharing this one and it's been killing me! This project was made for a dear friend of mine who I sew with every Tuesday morning. I had been thinking about what I should get/make her for her birthday (which was today, the 19th) and on Wednesday night it finally hit me! I remember her mentioning before that she liked my pin cushion (given to me by my other dear sewing friend, Christy). Currently she keeps her pins in the plastic container they came in. The pin cushion just didn't feel complete though, so I also created a sewing machine cover and a case for her scissors. I went out on Thursday morning with the intention of finding coordinating polka dots (her favorite) and ended up with something slightly polka dotty and a super duper awesome geometric print to go with it. Here is the finished project -

The sewing machine cover is trimmed with medium ric rac - my very first time working with that stuff, interesting experience to say the least!

Here's the pin cushion! I read all kinds of suggestions as to what it should be filled with - Dried coffee grounds, polyester fiber fill, hair (weird?)..... This one ended up with rice!

Here's the scissors case that I actually "invented" on my own last Saturday night. Now, I'm not sure whether or not I should be bragging about that, but since this picture doesn't really show of the mistakes, I'll take the credit for now!

And check this out - the case for the scissors and the sewing machine cover are (drum roll please!).......................reversible!!

Happy Birthday Billie Lynn!

Week 2, Project 3 and a First.

National Sewing Month is halfway over and I have had the privilege of completing 10 projects in just 2 weeks. The following pictures are of project #10. This was started on Saturday night. I spent a couple of hours on printing, cutting, pinning, cutting again, interfacing and cutting appliques... again. Only to realize at 10:30 p.m. that I did not have the correct color of thread to sew them on with. How disappointing :( At about 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, I ran over to Walmart (again!) and found the perfect thread. I was able to knock out the project before lunchtime! And I am so happy I did. I absolutely love, love, love this blanket. It is soooo comfy, without being bulky and I think the 10 year old girl I made it for is going to be as in love with it as I am. I was told she loves pink and cheetah print, so this is what I came up with - My First Appliques!!

So what did I learn with this project?? Don't applique with material that stretches! Seriously, how many times can I learn my lesson.. before I actually learn it?! I am really tempted to make one of these for each of my kids for Christmas. I think they'd be something really special that Andrew, Kaitlynn and Mitchell would love for years to come!

How is National Sewing Month going for all of you???

Week 2, Project 2

This MAY be my favorite so far! I found a great (and simple) tutorial online for baby bibs. The writer instructs us to use terrycloth on the back of the bib so that it can be used as a washcloth after meals. Unfortunately, I had none stashed away, and no time to buy any, so I ended up just using a washcloth out of our linen closet! I'm really happy with the way the end result. Next time I plan on making it a bit longer so that we can cover ALL of Mitchell's front. I didn't realize it at the time I purchased the fabric, but the animals on the bib are the same as his nursery theme - The Bazooples! And here's my little model -

Week 2, Project 1

The much awaited I Spy Bag... well for me anyway. I've been itchin' to make one of these for awhile. I finally got all of the supplies together with some help from a friend. So here it is! It's only been finished for about 10 minutes and the kids are already fighting over it. Looks like I'll be making some more of these very soon :)

Week 1, The rest of my projects.

First things first. I found this comfortable (but unfortunately stretchy) material at Walmart awhile back for $1/yd. I had intentions of pajama pants for Kaitlynn and this week I finally made it happen - she loves them, so I love them.

Number two project. This was done on Sunday morning. A dress! From a pattern! And it worked! Crazy, crazy I know... I hate patterns. But Christy had given me a few that she found awhile back and I finally got brave enough to try it ... ALONE. Scary - but it worked!

Not much to say here. A Coaster. A criss cross coaster at that. Google these little cuties and you'll see how easy they are. I plan on making a full set, but for fun I wanted to try just one with some scrap material I had in my hall closet. More on these later!!

Saving the best for last - The wine bag and set of coasters made for a pajama contest at the Mom's Night Out at my house on Saturday night. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really "make" the bag. I read the pattern, cut out the pieces, sewed the lining and attached the boa. Miss Billie did everything else - including the coasters!

Week 1 of National Sewing Month 2008 is completed. Goal - 2 projects. Completed - 7.

Week 1, Project 2.

I'm in slight disbelief! I found a tutorial for pajama pants yesterday. It wasn't very self-explanatory, which is not good for me. I have discovered that I'm a visual learner - I need to SEE how things go together and what they are going to look like....... to just read instructions? It does me no good. But, today is Andrew's 6th birthday and I've been holding on to this thermal Pirates material for awhile now. So I thought, why not? I'll give it a shot. I modeled these pajama pants after a pair of jeans we bought during back to school shopping. Remind me to never use thermal again, or anything with ANY stretch for that matter. Regardless, I'm just happy they LOOK like pants, let alone are actually something he will like and wear. The fabric was purchased at Joann's in the remnant bin. Total cost, not including thread and elastic??

57 cents!

Does anyone have an idea of some kind of coordinating accessory I can make out of the scraps I have left??

My Promise To You.

Let's celebrate!! September is National Sewing Month! It's one of those holidays I never even knew existed. And if you're like me, you may want to visit http://nationalsewingmonth.org/index.html



I shouldn't be making promises like this - then I might be known as the blogger who breaks promises. But, here goes nothing! I vow to create two new projects each week for the entire month of September!





For week #1 I've made the two aprons and tomorrow I'm going to be creating a gift (of which cannot yet be divulged) for the Bakersfield SAHM Meetup group. I hope to finish off the month with a BIG BANG!

I would love for you all to join me in:

SEW, WHO'S UP FOR THE CHALLENGE???

My First Job.

I got my first sewing job this week. A friend asked me to make her two aprons for the preschool internship she'll be doing this semester. She was going to pay me - so technically it was a job :) But I was just going to use that money to buy her GORGEOUS hair bows off of Etsy anyway, so we just ended up trading one homemade art for another. Below are the finished products! Each apron is large enough to cover all areas of her clothing (you know how crazy preschoolers can get with paints, bodily fluids and food) and even though it's hard to tell, there are 3 equal sized pockets across the front. I hope you like them Jannice!