2 baby quilts

I've emerged from my sewing room to give you a peek at two of my latest projects - baby quilts!

I saw this one on pinterest and just had to make one too. I made my own pattern based on the photo and went with aqua-blues and yellow for a gender neutral quilt.

For this next one, I used a pattern from a book but it's a popular quilt design, often referred to as Chinese Coins. 

This was truly a lot of fun to put together and is the most girly quilt I've made to date! The top is a mix of flannels and the bottom is regular quilting cotton.

Now if you'll excuse me - all this quilting has made a real mess of my sewing room! Off to go clean!

Hot Stuff

I've been puttering around doing small sewing projects here and there lately

I realize that I haven't been posting much so this is kind of a two-for-one today.

Here are a couple of gifts I've whipped up.

I usually resist the cheesiness of giving someone a hot pad as a gift but I just couldn't resist the cuteness of this first pattern.

I made this for a friend who happens to love owls and is working on adding red accessories to her kitchen.

The pattern is called 'Hot Who' by Susie C Shore Designs and can be found here.

For my mother (who loves to cook), I made this next one to match her dining room colours:

 I created my own simple pattern for this one, and it doubles as sort of an oven mitt.

So cheesy or not, these little hot pads come together fairly quickly and make a great - last minute - 

hostess gift ........ perhaps along with a bottle of wine to go with ;)

        Thanks for reading,

a country table

I recently made this gift for our friend Susan before she moved away to the country. After many years of living in an apartment in the city, she bought a house of her own and was moving many miles away. 

I already wished we saw Susan more often than we did. But now this move means that I will see this dear friend even less. She has been so amazing to our little family over the years and we're so appreciative.

But even with this sadness, I am truly excited for her and for her new life ahead. 

Often when we spend time together it is over a big meal like Thanksgiving or Easter. So I thought it was very appropriate to make her a table runner for enjoying big country meals in her new country home. 

I didn't use a pattern for it, just sort of made it up as I went along. 
I'm happy with how it turned out - especially the binding. This was the first project where I felt like I mastered (or almost mastered) the art of binding! I wish I had done more quilting on it but time only allowed for stitch in the ditch. And if I'm going to be honest, I didn't have the courage to do free motion quilting.... just yet anyway.


 

pajama pants

A good friend of mine is celebrating her birthday this week and I made her a little gift.

She's the kind of girl who has everything so it's a big challenge finding just the right gift for her. But really, who couldn't use another pair of comfy pajama pants?!

This friend of mine also has amazing taste. 
In her home the backdrop is taupe. But I also know that she's not afraid of bold colour. So with this in mind, I thought it would be fun to make some 'Indian/Asian' styled pants.

I used New Look pattern #6139 and shrunk it down to an estimated size 6, because this friend is petite. 

I like to look of a flat front so I altered the top of the pattern - encasing an elastic just in the back, rather than all the way around.

I also changed the bottom of the pants, making long slits up the side.

I made these using my favourite kind of thread. 

Organic cotton thread. 
Which sounds really expensive but really it's not when you buy it in bulk like this. This stuff sews like a dream and doesn't pill at all. It's amazing. If you are an avid sewer - give Wonder-Fil thread it a try. You won't be disappointed. This particular one I bought is variegated and I can get a lot more use out of it than just a solid. But solid colours are available too, although maybe not quite as many as Gutterman.


What do you like to give to that friend who has everything?

I'm back

It's been a while!

Sorry. It hasn't been intentional. Just trying to get caught up on some things here and there. My biggest struggle in life always seems to be lack of time.

I've been reorganizing my sewing/craft room. And that always seems to lead to a trip to the fabric store somehow. I picked these beauties up - on sale!

Not sure what I'll make with them yet but I love the colour combinations and patterns. 
Wish I could have bought more of each, but I had to behave. And really have no more room for fabric!

I managed to make it out to the Thrift store recently too. And I'm thankful I did! I picked up all of these clothes, most for $2 a piece! A few of them are future projects. Quick sewing projects for a better fit or repair.
One will be a refashion that I hope to tackle someday soon. If it turns out I will post it here.

Oh and did I mention that not one of these is for my boys?
That's a rare treat for me!

top refashion

A while back some of my girlfriends arranged a clothing swap. 

We got together with our clothes that we no longer wore and swapped them for new ones. It's a great - free - way to mix up your wardrobe.

This is one of the tops I picked up that day:

I really liked it but it was a bit tight. 

Since I'd been wanting to try out some 'refashioning' techniques I thought this would be a great start. 

I decided to turn this top into a fun little bag for summer. 

I turned it inside out and cut some fabric to line the inside of the bag. I used jersey because the shirt had a bit of stretch to it. I also stitched a little pocket onto one of the panels.

I cut off the elastic from the built-in bra...

...and stitched the jersey to the lining in the top.

Then I stitched the straps to the other side to make a strap/handle.

And that's it! A cute top converted into a simple bag.

And voila. A free bag!