Nothing like being late

Our cousin's and good friend's daughter turned one last week. On February 15th. This week we mailed her a gift. On February 24th. I have no real defense other than that I wanted it to be perfect, and even though I'm sure it failed to be so, I just kept tweaking to get it as close as possible, like by adding one more fruit, and then the book (I couldn't resist), and then Calvin painted the wrapping paper (on the back of previously used art paper, so it was even double sided, really). It was a fun venture, and it felt so good to actually make a gift for somebody, so good that it was probably even worth the grief of telling Calvin that the stuff I was making wasn't for him (he, by the way, took it all in stride——it was just me who felt guilty).

The felt food and shopping bag are from a Simplicity pattern, which I found while looking through the pattern book when their patterns were on sale at Joann's a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't resist. I altered the pattern a bit (I've never really been one for following directions) and I was very pleased. It was hard to part with some of those cute foods!





The peek-a-boo book is from a book design I found at Esthex——I love her designs, but the prices are a bit outrageous, especially for felt, so I decided to try and make my own. It's not at all the same, but I was not unpleased with the results anyhow.

Valentines Decor

I have never really decorated for any holidays other than Christmas. For Christmas I'm willing to spend the big bucks, it is, after all, my favorite holiday of the year, but for all the others it seemed like a waste of money. Now, having every Saturday to myself while my boys are out for their together time, and finally having a sewing machine at my disposal, I have discovered a whole new world of decorating, and I'm loving it.

Most of the ideas I have gotten from Skip to My Lou, especially from the links I find listed there on Made by Me Mondays. So far, of course, Valentine's Day is the only holiday for which I've had a chance to decorate, but I see a lot of fun in my future.

For Valentine's Day this year we hosted a dinner party with our parents and siblings, and Calvin and I spent the week beforehand picking recipes and creating decorations. The heart banner, or garland, is something we did together. We used my Cricut to make the hearts and if you ask Calvin what his favorite part of the craft was, he'll say "using the Cricut!" exclamation and all. He did do all the gluing and writing, though, so the machine doesn't get all of the credit.





And I've always wanted to dress a table this way, with runners across the table, then we got this fabric in a Freecycle find and it seemed perfect for the occasion. This was easy, easy sewing—I cut all the pieces, pinned with right sides facing, sewed all around, leaving a 3 inch space for turning, then finished with a top stitch all the way around. The heart shapes on the plates are just napkin oragami, the hearts on the runners are felt that I had cut out for Calvin's felt board, and yes, that's a poinsettia on the table still——It was there until my mother-in-law came and brought me beautiful roses.

Window seat

This is something I've been dying to do ever since we moved in. In our front sitting room we have a pop-out window——it's just a square pop out with no built in seat, and I have always wanted to make a bench and fit it with cushions to make it a comfortable place to sit and sip tea and/or read. Just before Christmas we happened to find a TV bench at Ikea that fit the space perfectly. Seriously——perfectly. It's hard to believe because the space is thin (less than 2 feet) but long (over 72 inches), but there it was, the perfect bench just waiting to be moved in. We bought the bench and reinforced it with extra wood, my Godmother made a cushion to fit it. That was before I had my sewing machine.
This past month, endowed with my new textile skills, I brought home some really small curtain panels that were both perfect and "on clearance" cheap. Normally I wouldn't have bought them, but I brought home six of them, ripped the side seams out, and stitched them together in threes to make two full sized panels. Then I went to our local thrift shop for pillow forms and got fabric remnants from Joann's, and made my own pillows. I used leftover fabric to make matching valances for the shades.
I am completely in love with this sewing empowerment.

It feels like a circus

Finally! A scrapbook layout. So what got me to break out my scrap goodies? A scraplift challenge on the Studio Calico website. The really, really sad thing? It's been so long that I've become unfamiliar with my products, and I can't label all of the things I used on this one. No matter, I vividly remember trying to think of a great way to scrap these pictures last spring, when I was seriously eager to do so. It only took me a year, but I think I'm happy with the results.



This, by the way, is the first layout on which I have done actual MACHINE stitching. The funny thing about that is that the only reason I wanted a sewing machine originally was for sewing on layouts. Now sewing itself as taken over my free time.

Valentines Wreath

I really didn't want to take the green Christmas wreath off our door this year—it adds such color and warmth to our home during this dreary season—but the rule in the house is that all of Christmas must be put away after my birthday, which falls on January 24th, and so it just had to come down. Instead I went looking for other ideas, or possibly other ideas came looking for me, because in my quest to learn more about sewing and to find some good projects to start with, this one just jumped right out at me.

I got the original idea here, on Skip to My Lou, and then I adapted it to fit my own vision. This was the first project I made with my new sewing machine! That means it's easy, easy, easy. And this one actually has a how-to.



Supplies: 16 inches of 52" burlap fabric, matching thread, wire hanger.

1. Cut burlap down the length into four 4" strips (so you have four 4"x52" pieces).

2. Pair the pieces, laying one piece directly on top of another, front to back (not facing), so that you now have two pairs of pieces. Pin the first pair carefully and sew together down the entire length just slightly out from center, then again down the entire length slightly out from center, leaving a place in the very center to insert the hanger. Repeat with the other pair.

3. Use plyers to completely straighten hanger, then bend in a small hook at the one end. Insert the hanger through the first pair of strips and push it on, gathering it as you go, until half of the hanger is covered and half uncovered. Fold hanger into a 90 degree angle at the half way point, then slide the other burlap strips onto the other half; once it is all the way on, bend the other end to hold in place.

4. Bend hanger into the shape of a heart and wind the ends together. I had to add a few stitches to get the burlap to lay properly, then I added a white ribbon for hanging purposes. Tada!

Sew many projects, sew little time—Child's Apron

Over a year ago I received a stand mixer for Christmas, and though I barely touched it for the first two months, the pledge we made last March to go a full year without buying any pre-made bread products radically changed our lives, and for the better. We followed through on that pledge and plan on extending the experiment into, well, forever.

Last year, then, was the year of bread. Calvin and I tried making all kinds of new varieties, learning from both mistakes and successes along the way. Now this year promises to be the year of textiles. For Christmas this year I got—you'll never guess—a sewing machine. I doubt there will by any spring pledge this time around (I don't see us making all of our clothes for the next year, but maybe), but I see a lot of sewing projects in our future. I've actually wanted to learn how to sew a lot longer than I had wanted to learn to bake bread (which really was about all of never, until the stand mixer arrived in my kitchen and we made our first loaf), but there is a certain order in which to learn things, and Calvin was better with a mixing cup last year than he would have been with scissors.

This year is a different story, and while I still won't be letting him handle the pins, we've already embarked on a couple of sewing projects together, the results of which have been a fun Valentines wreath for our front door, and a fun and practical apron for Calvin. As with the baking, this has been a learning project for both of us—I haven't touched a sewing machine since middle school when I made a t-shirt and shorts with Bart Simpson on them in Home Ec, and Calvin obviously has no experience with the craft. We are a good pair, though; Calvin loves to help measure and sometimes to cut, and he loves just as much to point out when I've made a mistake, like when my stitches are crooked or I've sewn holes shut that were meant to stay open.

Here is our first project, a product I'm actually quite pleased with (just don't check to make sure my stitching is perfectly straight—I'm sure it is not). Calvin has wanted a kitchen apron for quite some time, so once we got the machine set up I did a search for free patterns and found this one on Sew Liberated. Her step by step instructions were easy to follow so that even though this is a really well made apron (it is even lined), it was also a really easy one to make.



I love that the apron requires no tying—the kiddo can slip it on over his head thanks to the elastic, and it Velcros around the waist (the Velcro hadn't been added yet as of these pictures because I had to buy some at the store—it's the only thing I had to buy, everything else I already had on hand!)



The pockets were actually my own personal touch. I knew I wanted him to have the functionality of pockets, so when I cut the two halves of the apron out I added four inches in length to one of them. When I pinned the sides together, I folded up the extra up inside to form the pockets, then stitched just as instructed. When I turned the apron right side out I had one big pocket! After doing all my top stitching I then added stitching to make that one big pocket into three smaller ones. It was especially easy because I used an old bed sheet for the fabric and I cut along a finished side, so I didn't have to worry about hemming the pocket edge.

That speck you see? Yah, that's blood. I put a lot into this apron.

Gifts for Christmas part II

Thursday, January 21, 2010 | CommentPost a Comment | Share ArticleShare Article | Email ArticleEmail Article

Here is another one of the homemade gifts we gave at Christmas—hand painted canvas book bags. A little clichéd, I know, but when I saw the bags on sale at Joann's I couldn't pass it up.

Supplies: Canvas bag (or apron, etc.), fabric paints, pipe cleaners, sponge shapes, brushes, and fabric pens/markers.

1. First we made our stamps. Depending on who is doing this craft you could simply paint right on the bags, but with my three year old helper I decided that shape stamping would work better and we made the necessary shapes out of pipe cleaners and sponges. For flower stems I twisted one pipe cleaner into the shape of two leaves, then wrapped them around another straight pipe cleaner. For the grass I cut a pipe cleaner down a bit, then folded it in half to make two short blades of grass. With both of the stem and the grass I folded up one tip to use as a handle. For the flower heads we used a heart shaped sponge, and for the center just a dab with a paint brush.

2. Once we'd made our shapes I poured the paints onto small dessert plates, one color to a plate, and we dabbed our shapes into the paint, using a brush to make sure they were well coated before applying them to the canvas. We ended up with quite a bit of color mixing, of course. I allowed the bags to dry overnight before painting the second side, which I decided should have Calvin's adorable little hand prints, and he decided should have a few more shapes as well.



3. I finished these off by writing on the bags with fabric markers (after they'd dried over night again). Done.