ok, so as you may have noticed, I haven't sewn in a long time. A few projects have really cured me of any desire to sew. Now I'm having a girl. I hear my old self looking at fabrics and projects saying "if only i had a girl!" but now I can't motivate myself. Do y'all have some simple-get-your-groove-back ideas for a girl? links to pictures but especially tutorials are very much appreciated. i'd like to have a project to start after christmas. i'd also love to learn how to knit/crochet/something that i can do on the couch downstairs with brent. how did y'all learn?

Welcome Hannah!

Rachel had her baby yesterday which meant i had to get on some sewing projects that i had been procrastinating starting. they're fairly simple so i finished both in about 3 hours. i only took a picture of one though. the other was a nursing cover in the same fabric. rachel had a ton left over from her wedding in march. thats right, i said MARCH! they're fast huh?

until i get a picture of hannah cate herself, behold hannah's hut!

I just had to share

I haven't been sewing like at all recently. I still frequent sewing blogs though even though I now know I won't sew anything I see. This has been the most tempting post for me in months. the projects. the babies. the fabric. the colors. the photography. i love it all.

Car seat cover

I followed this tutorial cause if there was a fan club for this girl I would be in it--even though I don't know her--yeah, when I say it out loud it is kinda embarassing. I totally love it. We used to always drape a blanket over Jackson to keep him sleeping so when I saw this I knew I'd make it. It was really pretty easy. I already had the pieced part from a quilt that I had started. I heard you weren't supposed to quilt with prewashed fabrics so I'd just given up on it and it was just in my fabric pile. I had to add little scraps to the edges to make it big enough. The only thing is the tutorial said to put the straps 5 inches apart but i'm kinda a wuss and use my whole arm to haul a car seat. I couldn't fit my arm through with 5 inches so I made them more spaced. I couldn't tell you how much more b/c I don't measure anything.

meanwhile

Since I'm not having a baby...

I made this nursing cover for Brent's cousin Kathleen. Brent doesn't like the fabrics but I did so here's to hoping she does. I hate walking around the house trying to find a place to hang it where it takes a decent picture...cause...you know...its really all about how it looks in the picture I put on the blog.

Also I'm not sure you if you remember this that was supposed to be done by Christmas but hasn't been touched in 2 months until this week. I know this sounds weird but unfortunately I still like it which means I fear touching it for ruining it. I pinned the backing to the batting and top today with safety pins. I think the next step is stippling but I'm not sure. It's not trimmed to a rectangle yet. I'm really clueless when it comes to making a quilt so those with experience.... let me know!

This is actually the back.
and this is the top.
Is all this work worth it for a 3 year old?
Yeah, definitely. (His birthday is Monday!)

Nursing cover...check

I decided I couldn't make the carseat cover til I knew the gender but I could make my nursing cover. I think it's beautiful. I love all of the fabrics. Also, notice the la-z-boy chair we bought for me. Moving into a new house has spaced out places to sit down. This is now my only chair upstairs so it gets a lot of use already.
I know I'm dumb but when I make something with really pretty fabrics I look at it A LOT! I'll turn my head to one side and look....then the other, you know for a different angle. Don't worry if you don't love it and don't understand why I do, Brent didn't either.

I have lots of excuses

I don't have a sewing table yet in the room I want for a sewing room. I'm still unpacking.

I'm just so uncomfortably pregnant.
Jackson quit naps over the holidays.

I have lots (even more than that) of excuses for not sewing these lovelies for the new baby. I couldn't even remember the other cute baby project tutorials i've seen online. send me a link if you know of more cute ones. seriously. i'm gonna start again soon.

Sewing machine...today we were friends.

We're not always good friends. I've been debating at what point i needed to pack my sewing stuff. It's not mandatory but it's always on my mind about what i need/want to get done. To pack it would basically mean all projects with a deadline probably wouldn't get done. I wasn't quite ready to give up on some though. I finished Lori's toy bags for my final pay it forward project. Then I looked at the stacks of squares for Jackson's blanket. I wanted to give it to him for Christmas. It looked like packing was going to win. I assembled the boxes to start loading them up. Pulled out the machine then before I knew it I was sewing at the kitchen table. Spontaneous sewing stresses me out b/c i'm bound to make giant mistakes. Today, however, I just kept going with few mentionable earthshattering mistakes. It makes me so good when projects transform from lots of little pieces to a big piece. It makes it feel like the end is near. (even though its not even close) but its still fun to look at progress. so I guess i'm saying, thank you sewing machine for loving me today and not making me regre hasty decisions.
It's only the fun part of the quilt top. I still have serious inspections/corrections to make.

I have a history of this

taking on projects that are too big for me. I decided to make Jackson's quilt for his new bed. I let him pick his main theme fabric and I'd make a simple quilt. I thought it's no big deal. I've been wanting to learn how to quilt but needed a motivation. a good kick in the pants. the problem is i have a tendency to get in a project and see nothing else in my life. I thought I'd do squares 7x5. They're 11" but now laying it out it doesn't seem big enough. That means 14 more squares (b/c i was one shy anyway.) Then there's the fact that I want to loosely piece the back. Then I can't even let myself think right now about the actual quilting, the piecing is my favorite. All that said, I'm still happy with what I have so far. Sometimes making a project public makes me feel more accountable. I know I'm silly but fear of being asked motivates me. It's very loosely based off of this design. I said loosely!! I of course am no professional. I really like the white lines separating the squares.

so pretty

It's been a while since I publicly vowed my love of fabric. I thought, nah they don't care, but...I'm sorry....I just thought these Arcadia fabrics by Sanae (Moda) were gorgeous! I couldn't choose which picture I liked best. The bottom two are for sell on Etsy.

Oh and by golly it's a two posting day! Amazing!

One step closer to being ready for Easter

I made Jackson's Easter basket or "purse" as he calls it. I just don't have a lot of room for storing things that don't fold into small spaces...like baskets. Can I just say I LOVE it! I think he does too.

The best part is we don't even tell him to leave the room when we hide the eggs!

So sorry about the whole no pants thing. This was after Jackson dumped a whole jar of fish food into a friends fish tank creating a crimson paste covering his hands, face, hair and pants. We're still praying for Dragonwarrior's (the fish) survival.

sewing inspirations, quilty aspirations

I found these quilts on film in the fridge. I can't believe how much I love them. I've been drooling over her website all day. I think I love all the white she uses which I think makes the colors pop out more and it just has a cleaner simpler feel to it. I also love how the backs are never solid. Its typically a simpler pieced back. She also pieces her binding which I think is gorgeous. I seriously recommend you go to her site and go through her quilts. I feel inspired.

I can't decide

So I wanted to make Jackson his own bag for church. Maybe I'm selfish but I didn't want to carry his stuff in my bag anymore. I thought a messenger bag would be a cool masculine bag. After I finished though I thought...but does it look more like a purse? So you tell me does it look like a bag for a 2 yr. old boy or does it look like a 2 yr. old boy is playing with his moms purse?

What does boredom do to you?

So my husband is amazing in oh so many ways. When he gets focused on something it takes a lot to pull him out of it. (I know all of the family is nodding their head in agreement right now.) The problem is he isn't always focused on what he needs to be. Today he learned how to read barcode. It is such a useless skill I don't even know what to say but...."wow sweetie! amazing!" oh jackson...behold your future
but look what I did out of yesterday's boredom.
and yes its a copy of her idea but a million times less cool. i did it for the ymca auction out of random supplies i already had which i was happy about. i'm sick of my boredom habit costing me money!

Projects

So I wasn't going to post this. It's kinda embarrassing how much time I manage to squeeze in to sew. Here are my excuses.

1. I'm project oriented not detail oriented so none of these things look fabulous up close. only from a distance.

2. My husband often works late and long hours.

3. I'm not much of a TV person, especially if Brent isn't around.

4. Jackson is an amazing sleeper. 12-13 hr. nights plus a 1-2 hour nap.

5. Jackson has started enjoying movies more. I really try not to sew while he's up but I'm not perfect and its easier to get things done like cleaning now because he can play by himself better than he used to. So I kinda feel guilty about his one now that I put it in writing.

6. I only have one baby. So y'all pray that we'll have another so my sewing machine can rest again.

With no further ado here are my most recent projects minus the laundry bag I made Brittany. (I forgot to take a picture. mainly because I was finishing it in the car as we drove to her house on her birthday.)

Toy bags

I know, I know, enough with the projects. Anyway, these are bags my friend Emily has for her toys. They hang on the wall which I like for a couple of reasons. An adults gets them down so she can say "we'll get out the blocks after we put away the cars" thus keeping down the chaos slightly. Hers have these little windows with different shapes so you can see what is in each bag. genius. I made the window bags a month or so ago and just love it. I don't hang them, I put them in the toy box bench so that all the little toys don't get lost in the bottom. Today I decided to make a bag for his art stuff and whipped that one up in like a couple of hours. I have never done applique before and while its not perfect I still love it. They're totally easy and cute and I just thought I'd share a great idea for storing kids toys. thanks emily! oh and thanks lori for showing me applique. i used heat'n bond and it was simple.

My New Apron

I finished my new apron tonight! Yeah! This pattern was from the Anna Maria Horner book that I got for Christmas. This is a big step for me because it had a lot of firsts for me. First time for me to cut and assemble a pattern all by myself. The first time I've cut bias strips. The first time I've used binding. The first time I've done gathering. It is by no means perfect but I think I'm pleased. Now if I burn Valentine's dinner tomorrow at least I'll know I looked good trying!

Have you seen this?

I've mentioned before how much I love Anna Maria Horner but here is a glimpse of her new line Good Folks. I like pretty things.

I can't decide

I love Anna Maria Horner stuff. so gorgeous. I can't decide between these two aprons. I just think aprons are so cute and domestic. They have different colors in both. so many choices!

Well I might as well mention I love her fabrics and this bag. Just giving you gift ideas.
wink. nudge. brent. everthing except the bag can be purchased at her shop.
is that too explicit for you? too forward? sorry. you don't have to.

Experimenting

Do you see anything odd about this picture?Try again.

Well he couldn't see anything odd either. His blanket was in the wash and so he just assumed this piece of scrap fabric in the sewing room was his blanket. I just let him think it. Then I put him to bed with it. Am I evil or just a genius?


I am so thankful for a mother who just so happens to always have a spare of whatever it is that you need and a very gracious heart. She sent up her extra camera so I'd have one until Christmas. I love it. I'm not sure what kind of camera I will get (suggestions anyone?) but I'm loving hers. These are some back porch shots. I so love our view!