Tiny Aprons

3 days after my last post, I went to Oregon to work for my dad for three weeks. My dad is a farmer, and during harvest my uncle, aunt and dad work together to harvest their fields. It really works best to have four though, and my sister couldn't come down this summer so I went to help. My cousin helps out sometimes as well, and my cousin's wife makes dinner for those of us working in the field. This brings me to the point.

My cousin has three daughters, who really like my dad, and they were helping their mom cook dinner. They told their mom that they needed aprons to cook with, and so I ran in to JoAnns one morning before heading to the field and grabbed lots of pink, and made these.

I had to completely guess on the measurements, but they turned out pretty well and I do like them quite a lot. They are super simple shapes, reversible, and I did kidn of cheat by using premade bias tape instead of making my own. Start to finish I took about 1.5 hours, and that was only because the last one gave me some problems.

And thus summarizes my summer sewing. =)

Short and Pink

I'm finally out of school and I've been cooking some more! Working on a (late) father's day present for my dad....tiny pies! They are made in muffin tins and since I only have one muffin tin, it is taking a while. That is actually ok with me, because it has also allowed me to sew in between sets. I'll post on that later.

Peach.......

Apple.....

And I'm working on strawberry and blueberry.

In addition, I threw this little pouch together for my niece. My mom is going back to my sister's for the month of July, and taking a bunch of stuff, including all the gifts I slacked off and didn't send on their birthdays. Bad Aunt!My niece LOVES pink and loves having her nails painted, while her older sister is the official nail painter of the family, so I sent these for her.

I've been working on some bracelets made from ties, I'll post about those soon!

Adventures in Clothing

Gah! It's been 12 days since I blogged!

I made some skirts for my 8-year-old, twig-like niece. It is difficult to fit them correctly, as my sister's measurements are somewhat haphazard and they live in Missouri. I hope they fit. the top (and underskirt base) is a fat quarter and the blue fabric is Debbie Mumm, who I don't normally like, but I love the pigs. =)This skirt is reversible, the fabric above was a remnant at a Hancock's closing and the fabric below is an old sheet, possibly?

Stupid blogger won't let me upload the full picture of this one, but it has a full skirt with a 2" satin ribbon as the trim at the bottom.

I also spent an entire day making hairbows for my 4-year-old uber-girly niece (it's what she wanted!)

Hope your week is going fantastically!!

On the Freezer Paper Bandwagon

Just FYI, it's still H.O.T.

I did finish these little shirts last night, while sitting in my 95 degree living room with two fans aimed at me. They are for my nephew. I tried freezer paper stenciling, which was fairly easy, but of course, I had to make an incredibly complicated design, with lots of words, which made it harder. I do like the way both of them turned out. And...it was hot enough they dried completely in about half an hour. Now...if only my house would cool down. I foresee a sleepless night in my future.

Weekend Projects

I have been feeling a surge of creativity recently, and have been tackling some of the backlog of projects, UFOs, and preparing to restock the etsy shop at the beginning of July (er...notice how empty that space to the right there looks?). This weekend I worked a track meet all day on Saturday, so the majority of this was done on Sunday.

I modified the pattern I've been working on, it's closer.....it's harder to make this pattern with upholstery fabric, but I do like the way it drapes. It's lined with dark goldish cotton. I actually had these cut out for quite a while...they may be a birthday present for my sister. Or not. I am pretty proud of this...it is my own pattern (super SIMPLE pattern, but still). It is for my niece. You can tell those are birds, right? They are also my own pattern. I need to refine the top bird's body a little bit, but I do really really like it. And of course, for the etsy shop....more t-shirt bags. Gotta love Goodwill. Ok, back to the birds...can you tell what they are or do they look too "artsy?" And do they look too close to anything else you've seen? I drew them myself, but I stalk so many craft blogs that I am really afraid that I copied them from someone unknowingly. Has anyone seen them somewhere else?

Monster Bag

I went to JoAnns this morning (by the way, all remnants are 70% off) and on my way home stopped for lunch and was doodling on a napkin while waiting for my food. Triangles became teeth, teeth became a mouth, and this evening, I have this:


That's right, it's a bag. That has a mouth. And a tongue. I call it the monster bag and I kind of like it. I think it's cute. I didn't actually buy anything to make it, although I do need buttons or something to finish the straps, so the outside is made out of light gray fleece, the mouth is made out of black twill, the teeth and eyes are made out of muslin, and it is lined with green mottled cotton.
The tongue is attached to the edge and just kind of flaps around when you open it. It makes me laugh. =) It's posted in etsy if you are interested.

Orange and Fabulous

As I lazily enjoyed my more-or-less last day of summer (did you know that teachers have to go back to school a week before the kids????) I worked on the last of the t-shirt bags today...and for the first time, sold an item on etsy in less than 24 hours! Cool stuff! Here's the bag that sold today (I didn't even have a chance to post it on here!)

And here is the t-shirt bag I finished today! It is lined with very soft sky blue flannel.

Weekend Projects

I can't take pictures of everything because I am running out of buttons (and thread and fabric and ribbon, etc) and I didn't finish everything I needed to this weekend, but here is a preview of what I've been working on...hopefully soon to be posted in etsy.

I also did work on and finish a taggie blanket....I think it's pretty cute. We'll see if it will sell or not. If not, I am getting Christmas presents done left and right!!! =)

Winding Down

I plan on spending tomorrow at school and hope that at that point I will be motivated to start working on lesson planning, but as of now I am still in sewing mode. I finally felt confident enough to try my hand at a girl's A-line dress, but I cannot find a pattern that I like, so I have had to just try and design a pattern of my own. I think I like this one, although I would probably make the dress a little longer next time, or the top a little narrower. I made it from an old tablecloth that was given to me by a friend and the design in the tablecloth kind of determined the particular shape. It is cotton and is completely lined, with button closures on the top straps.

I also made a school bag for myself last night, while watching the men's swim team win the most amazing race in Beijing, defeating the trash-talking French (mwa ha ha ha!). This is the same bag I had previously screwed up, but I gave it another shot and now I like it. It is made from an old t-shirt from Goodwill (99 cents!) and lined with black twill.

And in the same line, I made another t-shirt bag that I will try to sell on etsy. I wish I knew how to target a high school audience, these are the same size and shape of school bags that my kids carry and I have seen them wear this same shirt before. This one has handles that are 4 inches shorter than the other bags I have made. It is lined with chocolate brown flannel (which I remembered to wash this time) and has an inner pocket.

Finally!

I finally got motivated! I screwed up almost every single thing I worked on, but I did something!! I started with something easy... a pillowcase dress that I think turned out really pretty. I didn't do a traditional pillowcase dress, I threaded the ribbons through the armholes instead of around the neck, and I like the way it looks. And in addition, I didn't have to roll the hem around the armholes...which I HATE doing. Woo hoo!! It's posted on etsy.com if you want more info...

Then, I put together another Gracie Backpack, which is also posted on etsy. I love the colors together and have had the material for a while, so I pulled it out and looked at it, and then realized that the purple material is actually kind of directional, and I of course hadn't gotten the right cut of the fabric. Grrr. So, I had to piece things together, and cut two equal pieces for the shell....and then realized that due to the flap, the seam would not be at the bottom of the bag, but partway up the back. ARGH! Oh well, it all worked out all right. I am getting better at these and I like the way this one turned out. Very sparkly. After sewing the last button on and admiring it, I then realized that since the lining is flannel, I should have prewashed it, because it will shrink if it is washed. Sometimes I get so frustrated doing this it makes me want to poke my eye out.

I also forgot to post this from yesterday. I saw a girl carrying a bag like this and liked hers, so I bought a rug at Big Lots and tried my own. I am not sure how I feel about it yet. I like how heavy duty it is and the fact that it has some give in it, but not too much. On the other hand, I am not a huge fan of the color and I wish the handle was a little different. I am going to let it sit for a while, maybe it will grow on me.

Crayon Fun Time

I REALLY didn't feel like cleaning today and I woke up with a headache, so what better cure for a headache than to procrastinate with something delightfully insane and pointless? I have no kids, I know no kids within 2000 miles, and the kids I deal with most often are 15 and refuse to color in class unless they are using colored pencils, but I have been wanting to do this since I saw the original post on WhiMSy love's site (probably my FAVORITE crafty blogging site). So, I went to Big Lots (ostensibly looking for school supplies...) and found boxes of uber-generic crayons for 80 cents apiece (as in, they didn't even have colors labeled on them), and then I went to Goodwill and got a mini muffin tin for a dollar, and had a blast. I liked the ones where she mixed colors the best, so I did them all like that. I think I am going to send them to my nieces and nephew. My only complaint, and I don't know if it is simply due to the brand of crayon, is that there is a layer of almost clear wax on the top of each one and I don't know how to get rid of it. But it was fun!!!

The Gracie Bag...

A few posts back, I talked about a little girl's backpack that I made for a friend of mine. After some discussion over the phone (complicated by the fact that I have no friends with kids that I can use as models and she lives in Texas), we worked out the details on a backpack that will hopefully delight the hearts of small girls everywhere, down the bottom of their sparkly pink and purple hearts. I call it the Gracie bag, after the girl it was originally made for, and I have sold 3 of them so far...here is the updated version!

This is the only picture that shows the back, but all the bags are the same pattern, just different colors and degrees of sparkliness.

Pink and Purple Kid's Bag

Designed specifically for S...let me know if you want changes, want it at all, or whatever. NO PRESSURE!!! =) The bag itself is the same size as the diaper bag I sent, but I put the straps on the back to make it a backpack. I don't have the right kind of buttons, so I will get some super fun ones tomorrow to put on it to hook the top closed, and if you decide you want the bag and you want this idea, I will put G's name on the front of the pocket in iron-on letters. Let me know what you think! It was basically your idea (hopefully), so I welcome your suggestions. I have no small children to try to make this work (and the cats are somewhat less than excited about being mannequins). By the way, it is hard to see in these pictures, but the purple fabric is sparkly.