Business as Usual

I have been incredibly busy lately. I do a fine job at always having somewhere to go or someone to visit. When I do stay at home it is usually to catch up on house work and rest. Tuesdays are usually my catch up days.

Today started with the usual 6 am wake up call by Rohan. Fed and changed him, then started on laundry. I completed 10 loads of laundry today. I believe that is a record! Normally on Tuesday I only have 4 loads to do and that is pretty much the only day I do laundry in a week. I have to wash diapers on Fridays as well, but I don’t have any other clothes to clean. Today was record high because Nick has been sick, so I had extra loads of blankets and sheets to do.  While I was washing all these clothes I was cleaning the kitchen, baking a cake, cleaning out Rohan’s too small clothing, folding loads of clothes, working on some sewing that I have been procrastinating on, and of course playing with Rohan.

On to some of my crafty adventures. I have gotten back into swaps on Craftster and I am having a lot of fun doing them. I have been able to complete a quite a few swaps without buying supplies. My current goal is to use as much of my stash as possible, so I can have more fun with the nice fabrics out there. I have finally completed the 3 table runners I started while away at Nick’s aunts house in February. I went to work on some quilting projects and use her expertise on the subject to guide me along the way. I also completed one additional table runner in that time using some fabric scraps I acquired at her house.

I have also been playing with my embroidery machine. I have spruced up some pants that I have made in the past as well as some t-shirts for Rohan. On a non-sewing note, I have gone through some of my paper and made cards to send with my swap packages. And I have been playing around with digital scrapbooking to make some awesome pages of Rohan.

So business as usual here on the home front. Another busy day almost done, all to get some rest and begin again tomorrow. So, I sew.

I’m Back

So I have decided instead of trying to catch everyone up on everything I did in the last year, I would just start fresh from today. Of course I will probably add in some of the crafty things I did here and there, but it just seems too overwhelming to do all at once.

As you probably know I had my baby! His name is Rohan James and he is quite a joy to have around. He is 3 months old and by the size of him you would think he was 6 months old. He definitely is the boss around here. He tells us when to wake up, when to play, when to eat, when to  sleep, everything. But isn’t that some of the fun of having an infant around? A lot of my future posts will include things about our doings, since that is 85% of my life now (the other 15% is divided between my husband and sleep). I do still get a fair amount of crafting done which keeps me sane and in touch with the world.

I have some new loves in crafting and some new toys to play with. I love quilting and anything that goes with it. I also love to embroider now, especially with my new machine. I am really enjoying the making of baby and kid related stuff and can’t wait to get to make more as Rohan gets older.

I will do my best to stay on top of this blog, but time is precious and who really wants to spend good crafting time typing? So, I Sew!

Updated list of things to do

Here is my list from June 30 of things I want to finish by November. I have crossed out the things I finished and the stuff I added to make in bold. I have been working really hard to only work on what is on the list, but sometimes get distracted with other fun projects. I only plan on making the starred items when and if I move, so that I have fun a coordinated kitchen and a fun coordinated craft room.

• 12 x 12 Calendar
• Scrabble tile pendants (probably won’t do this)
• Placemats and napkins
• Large white and pink tote (cut)
• Butterfly tote (cut)
• Bright Hawaiian tote (cut)
• Purple singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Hawaiian singlet shopping tote (cut)
• Birds of Paradise lunch tote (cut)
• Sunflower lunch tote (cut)
• Apple apron (cut)
• Nursing cover
• Diaper bag
• Clothing separators
• Baby shoes
• Baby Onesies
• Bibs
• Travel sleep mat and case
• Changing pad
• Diaper & wipe travel bag
• Burp cloths
• Bento Box Quilt
• Baby hooded towels
• Crib sheets
• 6 pairs of PJ sets (probably won’t do this)
• Baby Dress (probably won’t do this)
• Toddler Shirts and pants (probably won’t do this)
• Handprint quilt
• Photo magnets
• Magnetic Paper dolls (probably won’t do this)
• Sewing Machine tote *
• Sewing Machine Cover *
• Serger cover *
• Sewing Chair cover *
• Sewing Machine organizer *
• Mixer cover *
• Toaster cover *
• Bread Machine Cover *
• Rainbow Quilt (cut)
• Black & Pink Quilt (cut)
• Woven Placemats
• Polka dot apron (ASG)
• Pink Butterfly purse
• Apron (tbd)
• Tote bag (tbd)
• Kelahna’s Tutus x 2
• Kelahna’s Pillowcase Shirt
• Kelahna’s ruched skirt
• Diapers (10)
• Tortilla Warmer

Finally cool

It is finally cool enough to leave the air conditioned room, so I have gotten some sewing done.

My Sister-in-Law and I went shopping and saw some super cute pillow case shirts that were $35 each! To top that there were also some tutus that were $40 each. There is nothing to either of these so there is no reason to pay that much when I could make them for her for way cheaper. I really do support the creative people out there trying to sell there stuff, but even on Etsy they don’t charge that much for either of those projects.

The only problem is my SIL and I have very different tastes in fabrics and colors, so I told her she had to buy the fabric and I would make the projects. We went to Wal-mart and picked out a couple colors of tulle and some cute prints of fabric to make 2 tutus, a pillowcase shirt and a ruched skirt for my niece.

Here is what I have accomplished so far with what was purchased:

Front:

Back:

Rock Star Style: 

The Pillowcase shirt. I made this as a sample with left over fabric from the skirt she wants (which I haven’t done yet, just cut it out), the real shirt will be brown with pink polka dots:

 

The ruched skirt (this is also a sample, the real skirt will be out of the black and white fabric):

Front:

Back:

I did also get inspired to work on some of the quilts that I have just sitting around all cut. My SIL and family came over for dinner on Sunday and walked into my craft room for the very first time since I have moved here in November. She was disgusted by the amount of fabric I have and the amount of projects I have started that are just sitting collecting dust. She is starting to get back into sewing and made me feel sad that I had gotten so bad. I know that I am not nearly as bad as some  people, but I really want to be at a point where I decide on a project, go get fabric, cut it, and sew it all at once. I don’t want to have such a large stash of “I don’t know what to do with” fabric. And I certainly don’t want a ton of works in progress sitting around.  I started with this monkey flannel rag quilt that I have had cut for well over 2 years:

   

And I started on my rainbow quilt that I blogged about here. This is 1/3 of the top part finished. The little strip on the side is going to be the binding. It is coming together so nicely I can’t wait until it is finished:

I am off to my ASG meeting, it is all about sewing machine feet. Then tomorrow I have another sewing day with a Home Depot job interview thrown in. So, I sew.

Busy Me

I have been super busy with sewing lately. Well I can’t really say that I have only been working on sewing, because I have really only spent about 10 hours in the last two weeks sewing, I have just managed to get a lot done in that time period.

I made a total of 18 burp cloths. These are super easy to make. They only require some scrap flannel and the pre-folded diapers. I bought the Gerber 3 ply diapers because I wanted them thick and white otherwise I would have just bought the organic diapers from Simple Cloth.

• Wash and dry the diapers 3-5 times on hot before using.
• Measure the thick section of the diaper length and width and add 1/2” to the width (mine was 14”x16”)
• Cut your flannel pieces to that measurement
• Iron the seam allowance on width sides for easier sewing
• Sew the flannel down so that the pretty part is all showing (there is no turning involved here)
• Finally serged the ends of the diapers to even everything and protect it all from fraying (the ends are typically serged already, your just making sure your flannel doesn’t unravel)

See wasn’t that super easy (if not, let me know and I will make a real tutorial, but you can always Google it and find lots of great burp cloth tutes out there). These were fun because I was able to use up lots of scraps of flannel from all the jammies I make myself.

 

I also made a crib sheet to go with the awesome jungle bumper and dust ruffle I found at Value Village. I found this great fabric at Joann’s that matched all the colors in the bumper, but it was $7/yard. I am normally not picky about prices for fabric, but I needed two yards and $14 for a crib sheet is ridiculous. I decided to use my 40% off coupon to help with the price. When I got home I realized the lady at the cutting counter only rung me up for 1 yard of fabric rather then the 2 yards I had gotten, so I guess this sheet only cost me $4. I was going to call and let them know, but from working at Home Depot I know that they would just say ‘thanks for letting us know, but there is nothing we can do’. So I just accepted my stellar deal. The sheet was easy to make, but still a little annoying, because the tutorial I used wasn’t super accurate. I finagled it and made it work though. I probably won’t be making anymore sheets, because they really aren’t that cost effective, I just got lucky.

 

 

 

I broke out my WIP basket and decided that I wanted to make everything in it before starting any new projects. Here was the first of that endeavor, a brown corduroy market tote with butterfly fabric lining. I made it with brown polka dot ribbon for the size adjusters. Nick said this was my ‘grandma Mary Poppins’ bag because it is so big and the fabric reminds him of an upholstery bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next project in my basket was this Hawaiian print and denim bag for a friend. She had tons of fabric to make various things with, but she doesn’t know how to sew, so she gave it to me to make things for her. She didn’t really like this bright fabric so I decided to ‘hide’ it as a lining to a very simple tote bag. This bag would be great for groceries or a trip to the lake. 

I also needed to finish the Tortilla Warmer that I had started at an ASG meeting back in April. My mom and I were sharing a sewing machine so rather then finishing mine I let my mom work on hers mostly and I would finish mine when I got home. Well I just finished it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another 3 projects in my basket were these singlet shopping bags. One of them is for a friend, but the other two have been cut for well over a year just waiting for me to tackle the handles. The handles on these are very cumbersome to make and I dread doing. Well I figured out a really quick way to make them (as long as you don’t mind a little serged edge showing. The original has a gusseted bottom, but I didn’t like that because you can’t put as many groceries in the bag, so I excluded that. Apart from the Hawaiian print for my friend the fabric is from $0.50 bandanas that I had found at the store. I love it when I can make things, and they are actually cheaper and better then what you can get at the store.

The final project I finished from my basket is this super easy tote bag with a log cabin square in the center. I had intended to send this off with a swap package, but ran out of patience with the colors. I can only handle so much of the same fabrics. 

In addition to all of this stuff I finished, I completed 4 baby washcloths, 1 bib, and 3 swaddling blankets. I didn’t take any pictures because there is nothing spectacular about them and I put them away before getting around to it. I still have 3 projects in my WIP basket to work on, and I want to finish those this week so I can complete a total of 100 projects for the year so far. It is so hot here right now that I don’t want to really do anything, but sit in front of my AC unit in my bedroom, so we will see what all I get done this week. So, I sew.

Some projects I have done

  I have done a lot of crafting in the past couple of days. I finished some stuff from my list and some extras.

Here is the 12 x 12 calendar. I can change the paper in the background to match the season or monthly holiday. I am using some window markers that I bought a long time ago to write the days and the month onto the plastic calendar cover page.

 

I also made these children’s closet organizer hangers. I found some wood pieces at the craft store and had Nick cut the holes into them for me. I then painted them and mod podged paper to them. I printed out the ages onto clear address labels and stuck them on. I found these animals at the craft store and thought it would work perfectly with the jungle theme I have going on in the baby’s room. The sad thing is Nick put the holes a little to low and they don’t fit on the closet rod, so Nick said he would work on lowering the rod for me to use them.

I sewed up 5 baby bath towels in various colors and sizes. I just cut various size squares of terry cloth and flannel for the hood, then serged it all together. I think I might add bias tape to the green ones later, but I don’t feel like doing that right now, they are just for me so perfection is not required.

I cut up some towels that I had sitting in my craft room to make 16 reusable baby wipes/washcloths. They are really simple, just 8 x 8 squares of towel, serged together. I didn’t want to go fancy on these since there purpose is to wipe poo from baby’s bottom.

I also cut and ironed 18 burp cloths. I just need to sew them onto the pre folded diapers. I am waiting for those to get washed about 4 times first so they are all shrunk down to size.

This weekend I will be by myself so I will work on the cloth diapers that I have fabric for and hopefully finish those. I really want to make some bibs, booties, and washcloths from all my scraps that I have accumulated. I want to use up some of my yardage though too, so I need to find projects to do that with. So, I Sew.

I made it!

I got this pattern and fabric at Sew Expo!. I have covet this farmer’s Market fabric for about 6 months now and I saw it at the expo and just had to have it. The vendor we were at had it made into a table runner which I just loved. Needless to say I bought the pre cut fabric and the pattern to make it. It is a quilt as you go style runner and it wasn’t too hard to work on. This is the biggest piece of quilt as you go I have ever worked on and that was a little challenging, but I finished. I even hand sewed the binding on. I have never hand sewn a binding, being scared of the time it would take and thinking it would look ugly. I really wanted to practice and just do this project ‘right’, so I got out my needle and for 2.5 hours I sat on the couch and worked on it. I found that hand sewing is very relaxing; although my hand kind of hurt afterwards. I definitely will be properly sewing the binding on from now on! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my 3 people for the pay it forward craft challenge. I have been reading your ladies blogs, and you all are very interesting people and I am excited to craft something for you. I will be contacting you within the next week to get mailing address’ (not saying I will be sending in the next week, but I want to be prepared).

Another Font

Here is another new font. I like this one way better. It is more like how I write. I am addicted to this font program. Think of all the cool fonts I could make.

I made the pin boards yesterday and I am quite proud of them. The first one I made the lines before attaching the fabric to the board and that was a pain in the butt. The second one I drew the lines after attaching the fabric and it worked like a charm. Now I need to make some fabric strips so I can start weaving. I have a lot I want to do before tomorrow, so I don’t know what to decide on.

I have my American Sewing Guild (ASG) meeting tomorrow and we are doing a show and tell about everything we got at Sew Expo!. I want to finish the table runner before I go, so I can show that off. That is the only thing I thing I am going to take, so I really have to get it done. I also want to get some of the weaving materials for the placemats done before Thursday, because I am babysitting at Tim and Amy’s and I think if I have my weaving it will be fun to work with the kids. There are also about 10 projects sitting in my WIP/UFO basket I need to work on. Plus the 5 other projects I really want to work on. Two of the quilts I want to work on I still need a lot of black cotton for the backing, like 6-8 yards of fabric. I have been to the store almost everyday in the past week, so I am not going today, but on my way home from my meeting tomorrow or from Amy’s on Thursday I will pick up the fabric I need. Although I might just wait until I finish my basket of projects before I buy anything. I have a lot to do today. So, I Sew.

A lot to talk about

I had an overall pretty good week. Lots of good things and really only one bad thing.

I thought I should post a picture of the table cloths now that they are all done, and were displayed.

I finished almost everything on my to do list that I had. I finished the personal swap stuff. I don’t know why I wait until the last moment to work on things. None of the stuff I made should have made me wait until this weekend to make it. We aren’t sending until March 10, but I feel like this is last minute for me in swap regards.

I made three night gowns for Maribell for her birthday. Becky asked me to make some during Christmas, because she looks so cute in them. So Aunty pulled through and made a couple for her. I didn’t want to make them because I knew that they wouldn’t fit right, and sure enough they don’t. The body is too big and the sleeves are too small. After the first one I made with sleeves I decided not to put sleeves on the others. They turned out ok other then the sizing and she could easily wear them as a dress in the summer if she wanted. The first one is Pink Panther print, the second is fabric from Julie that is made just for dresses I think and the last is a red and white gingham with little lady bugs on it. I wish I better photos of the prints. Maybe I can get some action shots from Becky later.

I made this blanket about a week ago for Kelahna for her birthday. I was a little sad at how small it ended up, but it will make a great lap blanket for when she is out watching the boys play soccer or baseball. I used up some of the left over squares I had from the log cabin quilt I made for a swap and added some very fuzzy fleece to the back. This sort of inspired me to want to make some blankets for all the kids. I don’t know how well that will work out for me, but I think I could at least try it. There is only 9 of them and I all ready have one finished (I might make another one for her thought later). I have some great ideas for some of the kids on what I want the style to be. I hope I can complete this task, I am not putting a date on it so I can do this for the next couple of years and make it fun for me.

On Thursday I received the fabric I had won in the mail. Bolsa chic really exceeded my expectations with that box of fabric. I got tons of great prints in great sizes too. Nothing was too small, and nothing can be too large. I already have some of it kind of planned out on what I want to do, but I don’t want to cut into it yet. I have tons of other projects I want to work on. There are cottons, satins, and tissue weights to work with. My favorite print is the green and orange stripes in the middle and the best part is there is almost 3 yards of it. I can’t wait to use it.

On Friday my mom and I went to Sew Expo! in Puyallup. That was so much fun. We just walked around the vendors to see what was for sale and such. We got there right when they opened and it was busy, but not too bad. We got to see lots of great demonstrations of products we have seen and of products we never even heard of or thought of. My mom kept telling me that being there was great inspiration to start sewing again. She has been wanting to sew, but doesn’t have time or her machine set up. I told her that we could get  together every other Sunday to sew together. We could alternate houses and just have fun sewing and creating. Between the two of us we only spent $150. We were watching people drop 7 grand on one item, not to mention they were carrying bags of stuff they had already bought. Our money spent was miniscule in comparison. I bought the Batting Buddy to make easy quilt as you go blocks. And I bought a pattern to make my mom this ridiculous bag she fell in love with. I think it is goofy, but she likes it and I told her I would make it for her. She bought some mesh and a pattern for a bag that she has been looking for, for about 4 years now and unable to find. She also bought my birthday present, which consisted of some fabric and a pattern to make a table runner, a pattern to make some really neat woven placemats, and a tube system to turn tube fabric really fast. By the time we left we were both exhausted, but full of ideas of stuff that we saw there that we could make. Including a design wall for me and a pin board for the woven placemats.

When I got home on Friday, I got a phone call for a job interview at an optometrists office. I went to that interview on Saturday instead of going to Kelahna’s Princess party. I felt the interview went really well and the doctor also said it went well, and would call me on Sunday to let me know whether I got hired or not. I waited all day Sunday with no word. I was very said to finally give in a say I didn’t get the job. Now I need to just keep searching and not give up, I will find a job soon enough. I will be baby sitting up to 8 days a month until June for one of the teachers at Ft. Stevens, which will give me a little bit of money to work with.

My mom and I went and bought all the supplies we needed to make some pin boards and a design wall yesterday and I was quite happy with how little it all cost. For two pin boards it cost us $15 to make them ourselves, if we bought the ones at the expo we would have spent $25 on each. For the design wall to make a 50”x50” collapsible wall it cost me about $20 to make using pvc pipe. The one they were selling at expo was a 54” square for $110. I will be working on making both of those items in the next couple of days. So I will post pictures when I am finished. So, I Sew.

Birthday Fun

The past couple of days I have only been working on birthday fun. Three of my four nieces are having their birthday party this weekend and I have been asked to help out with some of the decor. Mostly just make the table clothes out of the fabric Amy bought. I did that, and I added the ribbon to the border of one of the overlays. I was going to sew the ribbon on, but I ended up hot gluing it on due to the beads that kept getting in the way of the needle. The ironic part is the only reason I was even asked to do the table clothes was because I was making fun of Amy for wanting to hot glue the ribbon on. I also made some super cute hair clips for the girls to wear at their party with the leftover ribbon.  I made four of them and I am posing with one in my hair just for you to get an idea of what I made. They turned out really cute, I am very proud of them.

I also have been working on the cutting stage of a rainbow rail fence quilt. The picture shows a sample of what it will look like. I just laid out some of the fabric to see if I liked it. This quilt should measure around 60"x72" when finished, but we'll see about that. I bought all the fabric (except for 1/2 yard of red and the backing) yesterday. The total cost was $12.50 so far, which I am ok with. I can't stand the thought of a quilt costing me $100 for the fabric. I rolled up the fabric into two jelly rolls to save for later. I won't be making this quilt for a little while because I have a long list of other things to make.

• Personal swap stuff (due March 10)
• market bag
• 4 placemats
• 3 towels
• 1 apron
• extras
• Crochet roll (due Feb. 28)
• 2 Nightgowns (I didn't want to do these, but I think I have to now) (due Feb 28)
• Mom's Birthday present (yet to be decided) (due March 11)
• Persephone's Birthday present (yet to be decided) (due end of March)
• Something for me (either the rainbow quilt or a black and white strippy quilt)

I need to make some stuff that I can practice free motion quilting on. I want to do free motion for the rainbow quilt, but I don't want to start on that project. I think I might make a table runner or a bath mat to practice on. I also thought about making a doll blanket to give as a birthday present, but I don't know. I have other things to think about. I better get on top of that list or it will be too late. So, I Sew.

I need a Job

So being unemployed is boring. I thought it would be ok, but I am going stir crazy. I am sewing and that is ok, but I feel like I will get bored of that soon. I am going to spend next week really trying to get a job. I am not sure how that is going to happen, but I will make it happen.

I have been doing a lot of sewing lately. I finished the birthday present for Kelahna. It is a small quilt for her when she is in her wheelchair. I am so proud of her, she is such a beautiful, smart girl. I am now working on Maribell's birthday present. I am making her some felt paper dolls to play with. I wanted to make them out of magnets, but with Persephone around, Amy and I didn't think that would be a good idea. So felt it is. I still need to make Ariel's birthday present as well as my mom's. Then I will be done with birthday presents for a little while. Then I can sew fun stuff that I have been wanting to do.

I am 50% finished with the personal swap stuff for Peppermom. I am really liking how everything is turning out. It dawned me yesterday after I had everything cut and ready to go, that I am sending all the same types of things that she just received in two different swaps. I am making some placemats, an apron, some kitchen towels and two market totes. Everything is coordinated and themed. I love doing that! I can't wait to finish it all up so I can post pics of everything. I need to go work on sewing all of it up now. So, I Sew.

Some new fabric, a new bag

I got my fabric from one of my partners in the 2009 Fat Quarter Swap. She sent me 1/2 yard of Bright owls and flowers on black, 2 Fat Quarters (fq) of pink with black polka dots, 1 fq of cream with pink and green dots, and 1 panel of vintage toy fabric. She also sent a little iron-on applique Russian doll. I wanted to make a large tote, but I have been wanting to make a purse that Sew, Mama, Sew posted the tutorial for earlier in the week. Within 30 minutes of opening the package of fabric I was off on a crafting frenzy.

I found all the tutorials for all things I wanted this purse to have. It ended up being a total of 4 different tutorials I was trying to shuffle. Out of those tutorials I learned 2 new skills, putting a zippered pocket in, and using magnetic clasps. This purse took me 1.5 hours to make from start to finish, which is a long time for a purse for me. I also accomplished the task of not making any mistakes while sewing it together. When I was finished I couldn't stop grinning. I am so proud of it.

 

I plan on making a wallet and a zippered pouch to go in it. I want to work on that tonight. So, I sew.