Feb
27
I was thrilled when I spotted some adorable purple and white baby and toddler long-sleeved shirts on sale at Target a few weeks ago. They made the perfect base for some spring time shapes made with this sweet April shower print (actually called Hushabye Droplets) from Tula Pink.
I definitely needed some spring thinking. I’m looking forward to my flowering magnolia tree and some green grass and birds twittering outside my window…
In the meantime, about a dozen of these shirts and onesies are for sale at The Shop Next Door! I just dropped them off this afternoon.
I threw in a couple of things for the boys, too:
Feb
08
image from www.byhandathome.com
Now that I know that this gift has arrived safely in its birthday boy recipient’s little hands, I can finally show off my (er, Colden’s) toddler backpack!
This project was so. much. fun.
The pattern is from Made By Rae. I knew I had to try it the minute I saw it on her blog. I bought the pattern almost immediately. I bought the fabric a few days later — I love the sweet, colorful, happy pattern. It seemed like a great fit for a creative little boy. It wasn’t until later that I realized that the Bremen Town Musicians had other significance, too: Colden’s mom, Kendra, and I first became friends while acting in a children’s theatre production of Bremen Town Musicians during our first years of high school!
So, anyway, I promptly ordered the perfect pattern and the perfect fabric, and then they sat. And sat. And sat.
There were a few things that intimidated me a little about the pattern. I called for a zipper, and I’d never sewn on a zipper before. It also requires pipping, another thing that I’d not only not tried, but also heard bad, hard, frustrating things about.
So, I made a practice bag with fabric left over from another project. Thanks to some fancy feet handed down by mother-in-law, attaching the pipping turned out to be a breeze. The zipper, it turned out, was even easier.
My downfall was Get the whole story »
Feb
07
I was having a conversation with a friend a while back about our sewing styles.
She likes to take raw materials and piece together something new. No pattern. No tutorials. Just experimenting and creating.
I, on the other hand, generally like to leave the hard work up to other people. I prefer to let them take the time required to go through the trial and error of creating a pattern. I don’t like ripping things apart and recutting and resewing. And I like to know that if I start a project, I’m going to end up with a usable final product — not a half-finished heap of fabric that I’m tired of working on but can’t bring myself to throw away. I’m pretty practical that way, I guess. So, really, I’d chalk up any of my successful sewing projects to being able to follow directions well.
But, lately, I’ve wanted to break out from under the restraints of following directions, and decided that improvisational quilt blocks — turned into pillow covers — would be a great place to start. I started by going to Tallgrass Prairie Studio to read up on on how to creating wonky log cabin blocks, then shut my laptop, pulled out my fabric scraps, and got to work.
After a few of those, I went totally directionless and just started piecing fabrics together. I’m really happy with the way the blocks — and resulting pillow covers — turned out.
Get the whole story »
Jan
06
There are two potential problems with this post:
1) It’s nearly two weeks after Christmas.
2) I don’t have photographs of most of the gifts I made. Either because I forgot, or because I was a lazy photographer and the pictures didn’t turn out very well.
But. Really.
1) I couldn’t post about Christmas gifts before they were given! And most of them didn’t arrive at their final destinations until after the holiday. (Oops.)
and
2) Most of the crafty gifts I made aren’t that interesting to look at anyway: holiday place mats and napkins, a baby blanket (like this), a knitting needle roll… At least, not in comparison to this very photogenic project. Meet Colby the elephant.
“Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts,” which is where I got the pattern, calls him Peanut. But I renamed him. And gifted him to my pal Colden. The elephant is so cute (and, once I figured out how to gather the fabric for the nose, so easy to put together), I just might have to sew up a twin for myself.
Dec
23
I really dig the simple, modern look of Oh, Fransson’s Mixtape Quilts, so I used my friends’ baby boy (due next month!) as an excuse to buy the pattern and try making one.
(This picture, obviously, is a couple of months old — my yard is now covered with snow, not leaves.)
I (re) learned a couple of important lessons while making this, including: Get the whole story »
Dec
04
Look what I made for my sister, the girl who could eat Asian food every day of the week and be one happy cat. Placemats with chopstick pockets:
I thought this idea was so simple and cute when I first saw it in “Simple Sewing.” It was a fun, quick project, and a good excuse to buy a bit of that pretty lantern bloom print. (I paired it with a black canvas for the base.) Here’s a link to an PDF of the tutorial from the book.
