I have finally got my camera out...

I have finally taken some long overdue pictures of recent projects to share. And I have been busy! I am very excited to share that my quilt along top is finally complete. The quilt, not yet. But the top is finished! I am very pleased with how it turned out. Despite the hiccups along the way.

I have given my sister the privilege of finishing it for me. I hope she enjoys is as much as I did and doesn't worry too much.

I did a doll quilt for miss Tee for Christmas to go along with her new jammies. I love having scraps around from things like that to work with. It was very fun for me. I don't know how much she really appriciated it but I had fun. Isn't that the whole idea?

This happened to be a really fun project for me. I am in the leadership for the children at church and as a presidency we decided to do something special for the children that are choosing to get baptized this year. We put together a personalized scripture bag for them with things helping them understand what being baptized is all about. A friend helped with the embroidery and I put the bags together. All 11 of them. Yes, there are 11 eight year olds in our ward.

Each bag is made from a lightweight denim and accented in their favorite color. I laughed a little when out of 11 kids there were only 3 favorite colors. I was pretty sad to realize that I forgot my camera to take a picture of all of them together. What a fun project!


I was able to find some straping that I attached a colored ribbon to accent the bags. Very cute! The colors chosen were pink, red and blue. They all turned out great and loved by the children! Congrats to these sweet spirits!

The DIY Dish

Some new people to inspire me. Check out their button I just added. I love finding new ideas. As if I don't have enough to do already. They are having a sewing machine/embroidery machine giveaway and I really want to win. Okay, with over 3000 entries I highly doubt I will. But, it doesn't hurt to try. Will update soon...I have several projects that need photo shoots. Hang in there.

Some of the Holidays

The holidays were really hard on me this year. Usually they are very busy but this year we added a funeral and a wedding to the mix. Both involving trips elsewhere. I am greatful they are over and things have settled down. I even have rekindled my relationship with my sewing machine...I am happy to report that it still likes me. So even with the craziness of the month I got a few things accomplished. I finished working on my "sea" of fabric only to create a "sea" of jammies.

It was very fun to do this for my sister. If you look closely you can find...(it is like my very own "I Spy" game) one little boy jammie pants, five little girl nightgowns and two doll nightgowns. Because your doll has to match too. If you didn't know that, you may not have a little girl around.

The nightgowns fit an 18" doll such as the American Girl dolls.

And since I was making jammies, my kids got matching ones too. 9 total...6 girls, three boys and three dolls. I am already planning next year.

Tee and Jay wanted to give pillowcases to their cousins (the cousins draw names on this side of the family) and these are what they picked out. It is pretty fun to take your kids to the fabric store (call me crazy I know) and let them pick out what they want and what matches it. They really have a good eye.

This is really our first year with teachers and I think they are great. Our teachers do so much for our kiddos and have such a hard job! With the news of the funeral we took the kids out of school the week before Christmas in addition to their winter break. I thought I had that whole week to finish up gifts and get the teachers something special. This was a quick gift that I put together for our teachers. Cute, cute reindeer made from a bottle of sparkling cider and brown fleece. I hope it made our teachers feel special and help them know that they are appriciated.

I am back to the creating game...I am not so sure about the computer game. I will keep the camera handy!

Creating has been non-existant...

Halloween came and went, Thanksgiving came and went and now Christmas is almost here. I am not ready yet...just hold on! I think many of us feel that way. So I am just now getting to my Halloween costumes and the pictures that went with them. My dear Tee wanted to be a mermaid. I wasn't real thrilled about it but worked it out and here is the final product.

Each sequin was sewn on individually. It was a good think that I was sick at the time. I had an awful lot of down time to sit and hand-sew sequins.

She made a lovely mermaid.

My Jay wanted to be a pumpkin this year and it was one of the most fun costumes that I have made yet. Easy and adorable!

Awfully cute if you ask me.

My oh my, where has the time gone? My world has been everything except sewing and crafting. Since Halloween I don't think I have made anything significant at all. Just wait...my world has been a sea of this:

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/