Sewing

How do you know a ghost has been to a party?

He’s 3 sheets to the wind!

I actually made that horrible joke up, but only after reading several equally horrible ghost-themed jokes.

Halloween is such a fun time isn’t it?! I ran into my LQS the other day to get some fabric for a swap I’m participating in at TSS, and I ended up coming away with several fat quarters of fabric from the Halloween section. I had a sad supply of black fabrics before, but I think I should be good for a while now.

I didn’t really have anything in mind, but the kids always need placemats for their lunches at school, and these were so stinking cute I decided to try and make some of my own.

I’m still undecided about making the kids’ costumes this year. They’ve changed their minds a dozen times already but currently one has plans to be a unicorn and the other a rainbow.

Surely I can find an already-made rainbow costume?

Charlotte has been asking for a pair of house slippers for quite some time now, and it was only after having no luck in buying a pair that I decided to make her some. I have a huge list of WIPs and and I really didn’t need to add another project to my list. But, the girl needed slippers because her big sister had a pair and she didn’t.

With both kids in school I finally had some time work on them and actually finished them a couple weeks ago.

I used some pink linen for the uppers, quilting cotton for the lining and denim for the sole.

They fit perfectly. Perhaps a little too perfectly…she’ll probably out grow them in a month.

“So, what do you think Charlotte?”

“I love them, but they’re supposed to have a flower on them.”

“Well, they probably could use a little something. Ok, I’ll add some flowers.”

After first experimenting with felt flowers and then trying to knit little flowers, I ended up opting for the ever-versatile fabric yo-yo:

Little did I know that the flowers were supposed to be purple. Thankfully she’s forgiving and is happy to wear them as they are.

They came out so well that her sister has requested a pair… so Charlotte requested a second pair in order to maintain a fair balance of house slippers between the two.

I think we’re fine with what we have, so it’ll probably be a while before you see another pair of slippers on here.

FYI: Pattern from this book.

Hello there! Did any of you happen to notice the new badge over there in the right-hand column that says “I’m Going to Sewing Summit”? I AM! And I’m beside myself with excitement. :)

The first one may look familiar to any of you who have been reading my blog for over a year. I actually started this thing LAST September!

It had been sitting in my UFO box waiting for me to buy some more interfacing (because this thing uses a ton of it!) until just a few weeks ago. The pattern is “Mischievous Gnome Messenger Bag” from Sew Liberated and was made from a thrifted wool sports jacket, some vintage décor-weight fabric and Erin McMorris’s Wildwood for the lining.

It absolutely love it and have been using it daily as my laptop bag! I hope there’s room for me to bring it to Summit, because I’d love the chance to show it off a bit. :)

Whatever bag ends up as my carry-on will surely have my new stitcher’s wallet in it!

I just finished it this morning and it will hold everything I need to work on some embroidery on the plane or at night before bed.

The wallet itself is my own design, but is based on many of the other travel embroidery kits that I’ve seen from others. It has some compartments for keeping embroidery floss handy:

Some pieces of felt to hold onto my needles:

And a special compartment for holding my scissors!

The wallet is just the right size for stowing a tiny work along with it:

And here’s a pic of the backside all laid out:

If anybody else comes by who is also going to be attending the Sewing Summit conference please make sure to say hi in the comments! I’d love to “meet” some of you before hand!

One in Kindergarten, one in preschool. ”Growing like weeds” is becoming so much more than a cliché these days. Where does the time really go?

This is the first year that they will be staying the full school day, which means they will both be eating their lunches at school. The school requires the kids to pack a little placemat along with their lunches so it was a great opportunity for me to do a little making.

I’ve been holding onto a stack of Dream On (Urban Chiks for Moda) charm squares for quite some time now, admiring it, but having no idea what to do with it. It’s a pretty collection of vintage sheet inspired fabric, but it’s really not something I would ordinarily use for myself. So, I chopped it up into little 2.5” squares, color coordinated them, and made patchwork lunch mats for the kiddos…complete with ric-rac trim.

After completing the first top square-by-square, I thought I’d give chain piecing a go (following this tutorial) and it definitely helped my efficiency!

Happy to report that the girls love their new mats and are really enjoying being back at school. I was almost afraid that perhaps we had had too much fun over the summer and they wouldn’t want to go back! No worries there, thankfully. School is so much better than hanging out Mom everyday! I’ll try not to take it too personally.  ;)

Warning…proud mom moment coming…

Here they are on their first day:

They are such good sisters and are I’m loving every moment of watching them grow. I’m so grateful for all of the quiet (and not so quiet) moments that we share throughout the day and I couldn’t be more pleased with the fine young people they are turning out to be.

sniff…