Archive for the ‘sewing’ Category

quick sew

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

i miss my sewing machine. and judging by the slight rumble she has developed in our time away, she has missed me too. i just don’t have any time where i am home along. literally. none. and so i find it much easier to knit a few rows here and there, in between lego building, pancake making and all of the other kid things we do each day. while i love the playing and knitting, i felt like i just HAD to sew a little something.

these are the vintage “potholders” that we use as coasters for hot beverages. (i know…everyone is calling them “mug rugs”) maybe these were originally intended for a play kitchen or easy bake oven or something – i’m not sure. whatever their original purpose, we LOVE them! when i went downstairs to gaze longingly at my sewing machine, i saw my coveted stack of fabric scraps – those little pieces that didn’t have a purpose but i couldn’t bear to even put in the cubbord – they are that lovely! and it hit me: mug rugs!

i cut little squares (3 1/2 inches to 5 inches, depending on what i had left for fabric), added a layer of heat resistant batting, topstitched and added a binding. all they need now is a little hand sewing to finish them off! since they’re made from all different fabrics, i decided to unite them by making the bias all the same color. i’m not sure if i’m totally happy with this choice (i love how the original two are so different), but i think that just means that i’ll have to make a couple more here and there until they seem like less of a “set” again.

i am, however, so happy to have given myself this little bit of sewing time. it has taken the edge off my sewing withdrawls and i can’t wait to slip a new coaster under my father-in-law’s mug the next time he’s over for coffee (which is pretty much every day). joy is so simple.

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crafting this week? not so much.

Monday, January 31st, 2011

well, after all of the crafting i did last week, i should have know that this week would be slower. i know, i know…it’s only monday. but if today is any indication of the week ahead, i don’t know what i’ll do. granted a lot of good things happened around here. i went to the grocery store. made dinner. played with my children. washed dishes. folded laundry. read almost every berenstein bears book we have. but the knitting? i only got a few sleeve rows done… oh well. like i said, at least a lot of important things happened. and i can’t really complain when my (almost) three and (almost) five (!!!) year old want to sit on my lap on a cold afternoon and read, now can i?

and now, here i am, browsing the internet and looking at the fabulous things that everyone else is working on while my unfiinished tomten glares at me from the couch…

but look at what i’ve found! if you’d like to take a moment to procrastinate with me, check out these amazing links:

Today I Saw

(image from jill’s banner). i love her postcard project – very inspiring!

another source of watercolor inspiration.

i just bought some t-shirts to turn into skirts for belle. they’re all stripey and wonderful. of course, i am loving these stripes. these pants. oh, okay, ANYTHING from swedish design!

and, though i just started a new quilt project (thank you anna maria horner and april) i just can’t resist these!

now my goal for the week is to DO something! i want to come back towards the end of the week with something fabulous to share. see you then!

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progress report

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

since i haven’t been here to post all week, i thought i’d show you why:

this is the dress i made for belle from this tutorial by prudent baby.

i put this patch on a skirt i made from an old felted wool sweater. i just cut an a-line-type skirt, put a little elastic and and was done. i didn’t have to do any hemming…

another sewing project for isabelle: this dress. i cut the bodice from a felted sweater, used a scrap for the rosette and then attached the end of a lace-trimmed pillowcase for the skirt. it was literally one of the quickest things i’ve ever sewn! i had originally made the bodice too wide, so i just made a seam down the front/back and then used a zig-zag stitch to sew the extra fabric down flat.

are you wondering where wyatt’s sewing love is? well, we’ve actually been spending a lot of time sewing together. we’ve made a lot of pouches lately…more on that to come. meanwhile, i have been working on a couple “boy” things as well!

similar to isabelle’s sweater-from-a-sweater, i’m making this for wyatt. it’s a gray wool sweater, felted and shrunk to almost his size. again, i had to cut down the back and will sew it together for a better fit. i’ll put a zipper in the front and this skull and cross bone (more felted wool) on the back. i also have to put a little patch on the shoulder where there is a (moth?) hole.

this has become a favorite pattern for wyatt (and me). i ordered this from my favorite on-line fabric shop (fair prices, weekly sales and FAST shipping), and when i showed it to wyatt, he knew exactly what he wanted – a shirt! made from heather’s book, the pattern is simple, well written and quick to come together. i LOVE it! i do hate making button holes, though, so this shirt, like last year’s, will have snaps.

and from the left over fabric?

a new lunchbag! this growing boy takes an impressive array of food for lunch, and his little lunch bag just wasn’t cutting it! i added a nice long strip of velcro to this one and, of course, a little dash of green, his favorite color!

so you see, my time away has been productive! what have you been working on?

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