Things to share and a sneek peek...

Where has the time gone? With the start of school and the end of summer and canning, my creative side has been put aside for a while. But...to no avail has returned. It started with a birthday gift for Tee's best friend.

Last fall Tee accidentally left her poncho at Jay's house and Jay fell in love with it. So I couldn't resist making a perfect gift for a great little girl. The best part was all but the trim and zipper were from my stash, making it a very inexpensive gift.

It is made from purple and black fleece with a cute pink and purple trim. It is hard to see but it has a hole for the hands to slip out and into the pockets.

The trim ended up pink and purple due to the fabric store not having the right shade of purple. I think it ended up okay. For such a simple (no sleeves, no legs, ect.) poncho it turned out very cute and loved by a special little girl. We hope you love it Jay.

Then there is another special little girl in our lives that had a birthday and chose to be baptized. That included a special dress for the occasion. She picked one out that she liked and the finished product is pretty close to the original. It is made from white gauze fabric and completely lined with broadcloth. I must say that this gauze fabric is very forgiving when mistakes are made. It is very hard to pick out but also very forgiving.

I think the biggest challenge with this particular dress was the sleeves. With them not being a set-in sleeve or with an open underarm it created some constructing techniques that I don't use very often. It was a learning experience and I was very happy to do it. It did end up a little big. I guess that is what happens when she lives 800 miles away.

Every little girl's special dress should have a matching one for their favorite doll. This one is slightly different than May's actual dress, but very close and perfectly modeled by Addy.

And now...a sneek peek of the current projects for the upcoming holiday.

Sequins and more sequins...

The finished projects will be up soon! I just can't wait!

Way Cute Scripture Bag

My Tee has a great primary teacher that really encourages the kids to bring their scriptures to church. In our house the kids have a scripture bag that they share. It began to create a problem when Tee takes it to church and the boys want to too. So the problem is now fixed. Tee had a brithday this week and her gift? A cute, custom scripture bag. And so far she loves it.

It is made from a dark blue denim and accented with a dusty pink. I hand emroidered her name on it. The top flap has a small pocket with a zipper, perfect for pencils or other small items. It is held closed by the clips on the bottom. Around the front and back edges is pink piping.

On the top we have a handle made from backpack type straps, reinforced with a denim hand hold. The pink squares reinforce the handle and add just enough cuteness.

The top flap is lined with the contrasting pink. For now it is a little big but soon she will be getting a quad and it will fit perfectly. Hopefully it will be great for quite a few years (you know how their opinions change as they get older).

New Inspiration

I really enjoy looking at other people's creative blogs and stumbled upon this one a few weeks ago. Currently they are having a give-away for a kid sized sewing machine and project kit. Can we say, perfect for my Tee!?!

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/09/15/sewing-with-kids/

New Aprons

I have been very busy the last couple of weeks...but not at my sewing machine. In my kitchen, canning the wonderful harvest of the season. I really love this time of year when there is so much out there that is fresh. I do have a couple of small projects that I want to share. Inspired by a friend of mine, I decided that all the kids needed new aprons. They were so simple, the kids love them, and all created from my stash. That makes me happy! I got a new one too. But who is going to take MY picture?

Look, it is reversible!

They all are reversible with the pocket fabric on the other side, with a pocket of this main fabric on the other side. They actually look for reasons to wear their aprons...mostly wanting to help me in the kitchen. I can only take some much of that sometimes.

I also finished a shirt for Tee. A while back I found a woman that was making little girls dresses from a man's dress shirt. Tee is a little bigger than that, so hers is a long shirt. And she loves it! I found it a Goodwill. Really a great find! It is kind of hard to see (I may need to start hiring a photographer. I really am not that great at this!) but down the front is the buttons (sewn shut actually) and gathered at the neck and sleeve with elastic. She was very excited to find it in her drawer one morning.

My quilt is continued...

Well, time has passed and lots of things have been made. First of all I am so excited to say that my quilt project is no longer on hold and is ready to be put all together. But more of that in a minute.

Some of my time lately has been spent preparing for the upcoming Kindermusik semester. My kids have been taking Kindermusik classes (basic music, learning to love and appriciate music, ect) from a wonderful woman in the area. She mentioned one day that it would be great to have a bag to store the kids instruments in. So I went home a made one for the four kids in Tee's class. The teacher loved them, so I made some more. The semester is about to start and I wanted to have some on hand for the new kids starting their classes. They are a simple corduroy bag with a drawstring and they work wonderfully with the kid's glokenspiels.

The next project has been a new apron for Tee. She has been making many cinnamon rolls lately with only one apron around. That means that in between batches I have to make sure to get her apron washed. I thought forget this, I will just make another one so that she can switch. I am really happy with how this one turned out too.

She loves it, which makes it even better.

I think the ric rac around the edge and the ruffle at the hem really make the apron cute and girly. We all know that Tee is very girly!

It, of course, ties in the back.

And now to my quilt that has been hanging on in the back for quite some time now. Partly because of all these other things I have been working on and mostly because I ran out of the blue and white fabrics. So being stuck at 62 finished blocks and needing 70, I had to decide what to do next.

This is what I decided. With the motto...use what you have before you buy more...I came up with these fun yellow and red squares. I really love them. There is only 8 of them and they will be spread out randomly among my more subtle blue and white blocks.

I think it will be okay. Stay tuned to see the finished product. Okay at least the finished top will be soon. The whole quilt might take me a while. We will see. School starts in a week or so. That will change my life dramatically.

Weddings...

My life has consisted of quite a lot in the last few weeks and I am ready for it to settle down. Will that happen? Probably not. So, most of my creating has been placed on hold due to the fresh fruits and vegetables of the season. They have kept me in my kitchen making sure that we have food on our shelves, for a rainy day. Those rainy days come in many ways and I am sure grateful for the storage that we have, even when stored in odd places around our home. Anyway, on to the fun stuff...

One of the young women in my ward was married this last week and she asked her cousin to make two of the bridesmaid's dresses. She called me and asked if I would help her along with the project. It was quite a project. With one bridesmaid living 800 miles away and the other being herself, it makes it kind of hard to fit them just right. She did a great job despite all the struggles and they both were beautiful!

Also pictured here is my skirt I did to wear to my sister-in-laws wedding. I don't make a whole lot for me now days (my kids are way more fun to sew for) and this turned out really well. I have loved it. It is a chiffon skirt with flounce and fully lined.

This red dress was a very fun project for me! This mother of the bride (same wedding as the bridesmaid's above) came to me with the problem of not being able to find anything red that she liked but found this yellow dress that she liked. So with picture in hand, a pattern with just the basic shape of the dress and beautiful red fabric I made the dress of her dreams. It fits just right and turned out better than I ever imagined.

Busy times

Sorry no pictures to post yet. But I am very excited to show you my recent creation. A dream dress that started with just a picture. Other projects have been put on hold due to this wedding (no it isn't the bride's dress, although that would be fun too).