Almost there!!

We’re just a few weeks away!!  YAY!!!

August

This summer has been a blur.  We’ve done so much and so little.  My son starts first grade next week (!), how crazy.  Soon we will be back into the school year routine with soccer, ballet and even a new baby thrown into the mix.  I’m savoring these last few days of having both of my kids at home.  I love this time.  I love the exhaustion that comes with it, the smiles and laughter.  Even the fighting and whining about cleaning rooms, because they are home.  I can hug them and see their smiling faces any time.

In the next month or so there will be lots of changes happening in our house.  My beloved sewing and craft room is currently being packed up and relocated to the basement.  The room is going to be the baby’s room.  I’ll let you see once it’s finished.  I’m excited about the changes, having a hard time deciding on the wall color.  I’m using fabrics from Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom collection for the crib skirt, curtains, and other accessories around the room.  I love the Rose Bouquet print (top left in the collage.) that will be the main fabric that I use.  It’s so pretty.  I will keep you posted on the fabrics and the tutorials that I find or create to use in this room.

Enjoy your weekend.

Let's talk bags

Ok, I made lots of bags in the last year.  Many of which I never shared with you.  So here are some that I really like.
  These two wristlets were made from Echino fabrics.  The blue scooter one on the left is  Ni-co blue scooters, it’s an older print, and hard to find these days, but I love it.  The smaller one on the left is also made from Echino fabrics, you’ve probably seen this print before in some of my other bags.  It’s called Bird to hang in Raspberry.  I tried to find more of this back in December and had no luck.  I did find it in a laminated cotton, which is cool if you need that and don’t mind paying $26 a yard for it.  I love, love, love Echino fabrics.


This bag was made for a dear friend of mine who is currently living in Macedonia.  She needed a big bag to carry books around town, and this bag was large enough to suit that need.  It’s made from Amy Butler fabric, part of her Love collection, it’s called Memento in burgundy.  It has an adjustable strap, I can’t remember if the actual pattern called for an adjustable strap or if I just added it to make sure that it worked for her.  It has a zipper and I added pockets on the inside so that she could keep things organized.
  This one is made using Alexander Henry fabric, Mocca in chocolate.  The pattern is Chic Hobo bag and you can find it here from I Think Sew.  (I like using these patterns, because you can download them and use them immediately.  I hate having to wait for something that I’ve bought online! I’m so impatient when I want to start a project. )  This bag is a great sized bag, it hangs really nicely.  Lots of room, so you can carry as little or as much as you want!  (I tend to carry lots of stuff.)


I liked this little clutch, it was sweet and simple.  It would be cute to carry around town or out for a date night.  I actually filled it with a couple of diapers and a wipes container and gave it to a friend to use as a travel diaper pouch.  The fabric is from Hobby Lobby, the pattern from I think Sew.  It’s the Gloria Clutches pattern, you can find it on the website as well.  It uses a magnetic snap. I was out of those so I just used velcro, it just made sense since it was being used to carry diapers.
  This is the only one of these bags that I still have.  I’ve never used it. I had intended to, just decided that I wanted something else.  It may find it’s way into the Etsy shop at some point.  (Along with many other things that I have never listed…)  The fabric is Anna Maria Horners’ Fortune, from the Good folks collection in sea.  I love this fabric, it’s so pretty.  I added some fun embroidery stitches to one of the flowers.  If I would have thought about it, I would have added embroidery to the entire side of it, but that idea didn’t occur to me until I already had it sewn together, and it was just too difficult to fit an embroidery hoop in most places.  The pattern is the Jasmine bag from here.

So…see, I may not post here frequently, but I am not just sitting around at home being totally useless!!  As if that’s possible when you have kids, right!?

My current bag...

I have a slight addiction to making purses.  I love purses.  I always want a new purse.
So the other day I came up with this design.  It was a late night idea that turned out much better than I anticipated.  It has two exterior pockets as well as two interior pockets.  I added two additional smaller flowers on either side of the large one.    You’d think I would have taken a picture of the final product but no…
It’s a really big bag.  I don’t know that I will use it too long, because I really want something more spring-ish.  Some brighter colors.  Still on the search for the perfect fabric for that one.  I bought this brown bird fabric a few years ago, because it was just SO pretty.  It’s a decorator weight fabric by P. Kaufman.
I also made another bag a couple of weeks ago.  I had a sudden urge to do a little needlework around some of the flowers…LOVE the result.  Again, this was a really big bag, not sure that I will end up keeping it!  The fabric is from Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner.

Floor Pillows

My kids received these pillows a few years ago, they were Christmas gifts if I remember correctly.  They have been dearly loved, carried all over the house, stomped on, squished, slept on, etc.  I pick them up from time to time and think too bad the print isn’t cuter.  Well, today as I was pleading with my three year old to let me down size the number of stuffed animals (or “friends” as she calls them) that are currently occupying a huge space in her room, it occurred to me that I can change the fabric.  How have I not thought about this before??  I mean seriously, I can only take forest green and bears for so long.  What was the solution?  New fabric of course!

I changed them to simple rectangular floor pillows, no more of those funky cylindrical things.  It was so easy to do, took about 5 minutes to sew both of them.  Longer to get those teeny, tiny, itty bitty little Styrofoam
granules into the new pillows…so messy!
If you are interested in making your own, all you need is a piece of 20″ fabric.  Fold it in half, right sides together.  Sew all sides with a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 4-5″ opening.  Press, clip corners, turn right side out.  Press again.  Sew a half inch seam all the way around, except for the spot where you have left your opening, don’t sew that until after you have stuffed it!  So go ahead and fill it with whatever you are using to stuff it.  I filled mine about 1/2-2/3 full.  Sew the opening closed.  All finished!

My kids love them, they have carried them from room to room.  I love floor pillows.  I love cute fabric.  It makes me happy.  Anything to brighten one’s day, right?!

Still here!

So…yeah after a really long break, just wanted to let you know that I am still here!  We’ve been sick and we’ve also enjoyed lots of snow.  I have been in a real crafting/sewing rut.  Just a little discouraged lately.  I will have things to share with you soon, I promise!