tutor gifts

It's that time of year again!  This Thursday is our last day of Classical Conversations for the year.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!  As I have every other year, I made gifts for each of my children's tutors and the nursery workers.  I used this tutorial for the coin purses.  These little bags are totally addicting to make, so be warned.  They were not what I had planned to make for the tutors, but when I found myself making more and more of them it just made sense to give these instead of starting a totally new project.

I put some Burt's Bee's chap stick in the bags and filled the baskets with Easter grass and candy.

 I ended up giving all but one of the bags I made away so I am totally going to have to make more!  If you think you want to make some of these bags I recommend looking for the clasps on Ebay.  I ended up getting 25 clasps for less than the cost of two at Michael's... and trust me, you are not gonna want to stop making them at two!

And just for fun, here are some of the tutor gifts I have made in the past.

quilting

For my birthday last month my mom got me this beautiful bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Folk Song.  After a quick Pinterest search I found a free pattern I thought would be fun and cut right into the fabric.  The top came together quickly and now it is just sitting waiting for me to quilt and bind it.... which for me usually gets put off for quite some time :)

I also got a bundle of Roots and Wings to make this quilt.  My triangles are all cut out and ready to be sewn but life has been full of other things recently and I have not had time to sew any more than this... just 2 more weeks of CC for most of us - then one BIG project (I will be sharing about this soon) before I can get back to my quilts :)

I also made this fun fabric map of the US.  You can find the map pattern here if your interested in making your own.  I traced the map backward onto heat bond, cut out the pieces, ironed them on to the back of fabric scraps then trimmed the excess fabric.  I lightly traced the map onto my background fabric with pencil to help with placement and then ironed on my fabric states. 

Now I just need to frame my map and hang it on the wall with this piece that I finally framed last week!

nesting

With only a couple weeks until my due date I have found myself starting (and finishing!) lots of projects around here.  I needed a bumper pad for the baby's crib and just was not finding anything I really liked in the stores so I decided to make my own.

I did some searching on pinterest for patterns and decided I liked the look of this bumper that use 2" foam instead of batting.  Here is a great tutorial on how to put it all together as one piece and use a zipper at one end so you can take the foam out to wash the fabric... I will say, I spend well over an hour putting the foam into the fabric bumper case, so I don't know how frequently I will be taking it all out to wash it...  I think we'll spot clean unless it really needs a thorough washing!

After I decided on the style of bumper I made some adjustments to the original measurements as some of them didn't seem quite right to me and I also did not want it quite as tall as the original measurements called for.  (I will include my measurements and some notes at the bottom of this post for anyone who is interested.)

Then I headed to the fabric store for some inspiration!  I already had the grey chevron sheet and was thinking I was going to do all grey with just a splash of color for the piping and ties but in the end decided on the turquoise feather/chevron pattern and charcoal with turquoise stars.  One thing that factored into my fabric choice was the direction of the pattern on the fabric.  I needed 55"w cuts of fabric for the long sides and did not want seems in those pieces, so I needed the pattern to run the length of fabric instead of the width, or not be directional at all, like the stars.

In the end, I am supper pleased with how it turned out.  I think one of my favorite things is that I know it will hold its form and not mash down like the last bumper pad I made (13+ years ago when Regan was born!)

Here are my measurements and notes:

Foam: 

- One sheet of foam 2"x 24" x 72"

Cut two pieces 50.5" x 10"

Cut two pieces 23" x 10"

*I ordered my foam on Amazon because it was cheaper than going to Joann's.  Also, it cut easily with a serrated kitchen knife. 

Fabric:

- Two yards each of 2 contrasting fabrics for main body of the bumper (see note above about direction of the pattern.  If you are using fabric where the pattern runs the width of the fabric you will need more than 2 yard or each fabric and 60"w fabric to have no seams in the long sides of the bumper)

Cut two in each fabric 55" x 12.75"

Cut two in each fabric 27.5" x 12.75"

*you should have a total of 8 pieces, 4 of each size.

- One yard for piping

*You can find lots of tutorials online for piping and cutting on the bias online, these are just ones I have referenced in the past.

- One yard 44"w fabric for ties (I used 40"w fabric so my ties are a little short, 44"w fabric would have been better)

Cut 16 pieces 22" x 4"

Misc:

- One 12" zipper

- 4.5 yards of cord for piping

*Everything was sewn with a 3/8" seam allowance except the ends of the ties which I used a 1/4" seam allowance on.

a little something in the works

I've been working on turning one of my sketches into an actual pattern!  I have lots of idea, but it is rare that I actually find the time to get them off paper and into reality.  This picture has been floating around my sewing desk for a few weeks, and on my last night of our school break I decided to attempt sewing up my vision.

So far I've made a girl version and a boy version of my owl lovie and am working on a pattern complete with pictures.

I've scanned in my pattern pieces, written some notes, and taken lots of pictures to go along with the pattern.  Hopefully it won't take me too long to complete it all!

christmas sacks

For the past few years I have tried to keep Christmas gifts as simple as possible around our house.  The kids draw names among themselves and buy one $20ish gift for whomever they picked and the hubby and I usually buy each other one gift and then I do stocking stuffers... an ornaments, chapstick, mini flashlights, gum, lotion etc.  I also like to throw in a few inexpensive, individualized gifts, maybe a book Micah has wanted or a new Redskins jacket to replace the one that has been worn virtually every day since Max received it last year.  Since these gifts are too big to fit into the stockings, I was looking for an alternative when I came across these bags online.  I loved the idea, and figured it shouldn't be too hard to make my own version of the Christmas sacks.

I just happened to have 4+ yards of white canvas in my fabric cabinet, exactly enough to make 6 large sacks.  (fold the 60"w fabric so that salvage ends meet and cut 24" wide.  Sew sides of bag together and box the corners (I cut 3" squares for my corners) I left the salvage edge exposed and sewed a casing with some red and white fabric about 3.5" down from the top then used ribbon for my tie)

I did a little more research and found these printable iron on decals - exactly what I was looking for!
I love how they turned out and the kids loved them too.  For those of you who don't sew an alternative to making your own bags is to buy white pillow cases to iron the decals on to and just tie the sacks closed with some ribbon.

baby boy

As soon as we found out we were having a little boy I came straight home from the ultra sound and started digging through my stash for some little boy appropriate fabrics.  I had to sew this little guy some clothes!  I took these pictures over a month ago, but just have not found time to sit down at the computer and blog!

It's been 10 years since we had a baby boy in this house and it is an adjustment to not head straight for the girly stuff when we go in the store :)  We are all excited for the change though!

I am 27 weeks along and so far this has been my best/easiest pregnancy yet.  I think that the whole family would agree that my worst "symptom" this go around has been my irritability :)  As I head into the third trimester I find myself starting to slow down a bit as my belly swells and the mid-afternoon exhaustion is creeping back in.  I am so thankful to God that he has allowed this pregnancy to be a bit easier than past pregnancies, especially with all the craziness of the summer (kitchen remodel, Tallulah's Lyme, and more traveling than we are used to) and as we have transitioned into some new/harder schooling for some of the kids (Challenge A for Regan and Max's first year of Essentials).  Next week is the dreaded Glucose test... although I don't dread it quite as much as I used to (the key is to chug the  drink down as quickly as possible, and although I would never choose to drink fruit punch in real life, I have found it is easier to get down quickly than the orange flavor.)

I've got a few more posts in my head and on my camera, so hopefully I can squeeze in a bit more time on the computer in the next week (not an easy feet when I've got 4 kids needing the computer for various school assignments).

finally finding some time to sew again!

I didn't realize how much I missed sewing until I finally got to sit down at my machine for a bit the other day!  So good to be making things again :)

thank yous

Its that time of year again.  I've spent the last week sewing lots of end of year thank you gifts! 

This is just 11 of the 13 bags I sewed.  I used this pattern.  I am sure I will make more of these, they were pretty simple to make and turned out really cute.  

a royal crown

I was at my friends house last night and her 3 year old daughter had a jar of change she said she was saving to buy a crown.  Her dollar store one had broken and the princess was in need of a new crown!  I asked her if she would like me to make one for her and she said "yes!"  I asked her favorite color and what she wanted on her crown and then headed home to see what I could create. 

As I looked through my fabric and trim supplies late last night I just had to start sewing right then.  It didn't take long to pull this little crown together.  There are a ton of tutorial out their for making crowns, so I wont bore you with too many details.  I've made crowns before out of felt, but I don't like how the felt gets pilly, so I used cotton and lined it with felt to make it stand up.  I got the button closure idea here.

Emmaline was happy to model for me this morning :)

Addie and I dropped the crown off after preschool this afternoon and Mercy was thrilled her new tiara - she even did a few twirls for us.  I meant to take my camera along, but totally forgot!

bringing her drawing to life

Regan has been drawing these mushroom girls for years and the other day I decided I wanted to try my making a doll from her drawings.  This is my first attempt and it needs a little tweaking to look like the drawing, but she still turned out pretty cute :)

love grows here

I sewed this little mushroom house years ago.  I had thought I wanted to do more to it, but never ended up picking it back up again.  Then a couple weeks ago Ginny wrote a post about making their small house work for them... and a few days later she wrote another post.  As most of you know, we are also a semi large family living in a relatively small house.  I am constantly trying to figure out how to make this space work best for our unconventional life.  Sometimes I see it as an adventure, a puzzle to be solved, and other times I am sure the only way we can continue to live here is to add on some outrageous addition that will double the size of our home.  Anyway, Ginny's posts and the comments from her many readers were a good reminder to me to be content here in the space God has given us and love these days when we are all so close.  Among the comments was the quote "Love grows best in a small house."  As soon as I read it I new I needed to stitch myself a reminder of this little quote.  I started to sketch a picture in my journal, and while I was drawing I remembered this applique mushroom project I had never completed.  It took me about 2 hours to stitch the words.  I wrapped my hoop in some scraps of fabric and my little mushroom house is finally done!

briar rose quilt

I've been working on my quilt when ever I find a few moments. 

One strip at a time... I'm a little more than half way done!  I can't wait to see it all finished!  It is so bright and cheery, just what I need on these cold, gray winter days!

WIP

I've cut all the squares and started sewing rows together for a Briar Rose quilt for Addie's bed.  I LOVE this fabric!  The pattern is a modified version of the free rainbow quilt - smaller squares, a couple more fabrics, and more rows to make it twin size.  So far I am really loving how it is coming together!  I will try and post more pictures as I go along.

P.S. I just realized that somehow my last 3 posts (Friday, Saturday, and This one) didn't post as scheduled but were still marked as drafts!  Anyway, they are up now and backdated.  Guess I need to be sure to check in the mornings to make sure my posts are actually on the blog! 

baby aprons

Before Christmas I made a few baby aprons (like for a 1 and 2 year olds) on a whim.  I took them to a show and sold out in minutes, plus had requests for more.  Because they are so small they come together really quickly and are a great use for those pieces of fabric that are too small for a larger apron, but too big for the scrap bin.

I just finished up these aprons yesterday.  It was so fun digging through my stash to make them!

Emmy (some what reluctantly) agreed to modeled for me, so you can see just how adorable a baby apron is in use :)

new purse

Tommy decided to do something productive last night instead of getting into mischief.  He's helping me finish up a stack of aprons - this one is itty bitty toddler sized, as in it fits Emmy who is 16 months. Super cute!

Here is the new purse I made last week.  I drew my own pattern, but it was inspired by this, this (from this book) and this (phoebe bag) and for the most part I followed the instructions for the phoebe bag when making it.

I did not take pictures of the inside, but it has 3 large pockets on each side.

Here is the back.  I love, love, love this fabric line.  I am pretty sure I will be buying more of it :)

costume time

So, every year I swear I am NOT going to make Halloween costumes - I mean, we haven't even gone trick or treating for a couple years now - but somehow, the week before Halloween hits and I find myself caving to the pressure and making at least  one or two costumes... This year it was 3. 

Tallulah's costume was almost complete here- we had not glued the flowers to her wig (tutorial found here) yet, and I ended up taking the dress in a bit so it was not so wide in the bodice, but you get the idea.  The dress tutorial is here.  This was a lot of fun to make and a big confidence boost, as it was my first time making my own pattern and it actually turned out pretty cute!

The boys are Merry and Pippin from The Lord of the Rings.  I made their capes and pants, the rest is either thrifted or from the dress up bin.  We will draw some hair on their feet tomorrow night. (Did I mention the fact that we are not trick-or-treating?  We are having dinner at a friends house, but the kids are still going all out with the costumes.)

The other kids are getting their costumes from the dress up bin, but I was really tempted to make this one too :)

a new dress for adelaide

Dianna and I had a sewing night last week and I made this dress for Addie.  Actually, I messed up on the dress, and sewed it together backwards (this is what happens when I try and sew and socialize at the same time).  There are supposed to be two buttons on the yolk front, but instead they are on the back.  Also, the shoulder seams are a bit toward the front instead of on top of the shoulders, but Addie didn't even notice my goof up.  It still turned out pretty cute and was relatively easy (I was able to finish the dress in one evening).  The pattern is McCall's M6388, view D, in case you are interested.

a little bit of sewing

I am still trying to squeeze in a bit of sewing here and there these days- these are some of the things I've sewn recently...

new camera straps

headbands

foxy

a couple toddler skirt and top outfits

and some aprons I dropped off at Kitsch last month

I'm hoping to find some time soon to make a pair of these for myself.  What are you making?