Halloween (a month late)

So.... After deliberating a bit I decided that my daughter's Halloween costume was just not fitting right. Especially after I found some gorgeous curtains at a thrift store. So right there I decided it was time for an overhaul. And here is the finished product:

Didn't just stop there, though. Also took some thrift-store-found pillow shams and made these for my boys:

We got more compliments this year at the renaissance faire and during Halloween than any other year. Yes, this was totally for the kids. ;)

PS - The hoopskirt was made from a pool-noodle. Worked amazingly well! :)

Finish and a near finish

I've taken on a beast of a project with my daughter's Halloween costume. I can't help myself, when she says she wants to be a princess, and I just happen to have a ton of fabric leftover from cape orders, I will make one heckuva princess dress!

 Inspired by the Elizabethan style. I've got a lot of details to add, not to mention a hoop skirt, but it isn't terribly hard. I drafted my own pattern for the bodice, I'm working on the sleeve pattern. Should be fun.

And now for my finish:

Celebrating my inner hippie, and inspired by SO MANY different dream catcher bracelets on Pinterest, this was my pride and joy for the week.

Busy busy

I've been really busy the last few weeks month. And not all with fun stuff.

But first, some fun stuff!

My husband, pulling his best "I'm a Superhero!" toothy grin, modeling an adult CTR cape for me:

Sorry, ladies. He's taken. ;)

Next, the beginnings of a bracelet:

I'm a hippy at heart, so this is the start to my own dreamcatcher bracelet. I'm waiting on my feather charms to get in.

Next up, if you are on the hunt for a cute, easy, crochet project I've got one for you. DD Hines has a free pattern for a slouchy beanie. LOVE it!

The adorable baby pictured above had a surgery this morning (part of the busy that hasn't been fun, arranging all of that). To keep myself busy and focused so I wouldn't just pace the waiting room I made that slouchy beanie. Perfect! Kept me preoccupied, and P got a fun hat after he got out of surgery. Yay!

I got home and made one for my daughter, too:

She loved it! It is pink, how could she not.

Now I turn my focus to Christmas. Can't start too soon!

Been an age

Life has been super hectic the last few months, but I finally got this little one off to Maille.

The tooth pocket is the ball of yarn! It took me a while to gifure out how I was going to do that, but I think it was worth the extra work. It looks really cute!

In other news, my oldest has his first loose tooth! Any day now he'll be using the pillow I made for him. :)

Breaking out

I took a break from the pillows and worked on my daughter's Easter dress this week. I'm waiting on some felt to come in from Taiwan anyway, so I figured I might as well!

 I modified a Sensibility pattern from their Regency Era line. I wanted the seams in the back to be reminiscent of the Regency dresses, but didn't want the Empire waist. So I just lengthened the pattern by two inches. I added a VERY full skirt, piping at the waistline, and now I'm debating whether or not I want to pull out my Serger and add a ruffle to the bottom hem... We'll see what I feel like doing tonight after kids are in bed.

Then I worked on the bonnet for a bonnet contest we're attending tomorrow. I took a normal, white hat that I pulled from the dollar bin at Target and turned it into this:

I looked at a ton of different poke bonnets on Pinterest, then found a tutorial at Tea in a Teacup that helped. I found some flowers at a thrift store and pulled them all apart to decorate the bonnet. The whole time I worked on this little hat all I could hear in my mind was Kitty and Lydia Bennet arguing over a bonnet. Made me giggle.

Then I put the whole outfit on my daughter to see how it looked.

I do believe she might be a contender in the "Prettiest Bonnet" category, but then I might just be incredibly biased!

Big finish

 This one was a long time coming. Wish I'd had more room to stretch it out all the way! A friend inherited the baskets from her grandmother, but she didn't know how to sew and asked me to assemble the quilt top for her. She gave me an inspiration quilt and sent me the fabric and squares. ONE YEAR AND A FEW MONTHS LATER (I'm such a lame friend) I finally got it finished. It was a fun, special project. It turned into a GIANT quilt and will fit a full sized bed nicely. She's going to hand quilt it, so this is going to be a giant, group effort quilt. I'm excited to see the finished product!

My next finish was a rush order for a little girl with two, very loose teeth!

 So fun! They also requested a down pillow. Must say that the down pillows are much easier to squish through the pocket, but much HARDER to shape nicely once you have.

 I added some really girly details for Grace. My favorite is the butterfly. But that's also because it is purple, and I adore the color purple.

 That dress was a booger to match to thread. I try to just go with what I have on hand, and fortunately I found something that was just right, but it took a while of hunting!

The pocket (sorry so blurry) is the middle rose on the vine. Little pocket, but it will work! Teeth tend to be small. ;)

Fortunately, my daughter didn't try to make off with this one. I think it is because she's gotten used to these NEVER being for her. But unless something crazy happens this next week and I get another rush order I'm going to have some time to sew for her. I've got to make her Easter dress and bonnet. Yay! I think I'll make a pillow for her, too.

After that I have a ton of leftover fabric. I'm thinking of putting together some ready-to-ship pillows. I'll leave the name square blank and wait for the order to get the child's name, add it, then send it on its way. I've got some Sock Monkey fabric, princess, frog princess, and some superhero fabric, so we'll see what comes of all of that. :)

Scrappy Messenger Bag

I received a Gypsy Girl charm pack for Christmas this last year and have been savoring the bright, happy colors for a while. It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do with those delicious fabrics, but I finally settled on a messenger bag. I'm not a fan of giant diaper bags and as soon as my kids are old enough (i.e. they aren't constantly exploding diapers or requiring that I cart around the kitchen sink everywhere we go) I ditch the giant diaper bag and grab something smaller.

However, I now have two in diapers, and I really did need something bigger than my smaller purses but smaller than the giant diaper bag to tote around town. Thus, this bag was born!

I mostly followed a tutorial I found on Pinterest from No Time to Sew. Very easy to follow, and produced a decent sized bag. I added a back pocket:

I used the quilt-as-you-go method for that back pocket. I stumbled across the method on someone else's blog after they followed this tutorial at Oh, Fransson! I loved the idea and was itching to try it on something soon. My first attempt at a back pocket ended up getting a seam-ripper attack. I realized I wanted something scrappy-looking (like the front flap and front pocket), so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to try out quilt-as-you-go. LOVE it!

Front pocket was so cute and fun to put together! Easy-peasy, though the directions took some puzzling out. Don't know why, really, because once I got it the thing was ridiculously simple. Must have been late...

I deviated from the tutorial with this handle. I knew I wanted it scrappy, so I had to improvise.

So that's my new bag! It fits my wallet, iPod, phone, a few diapers and wipes, and a burp rag and one change of clothes for the baby very nicely. I've got four pockets on the inside, but forgot to take a picture. I'll take one of the pockets and a neatly packed bag later. :)

For now, I'm off! Got to show off my new accessory! :)

Rapunzel

Rapunzel is one of our favorite characters around here, too! Hope Carson likes her princess-themed pillow!

Hard to see, but in the other lanterns (as well as the big one) there is another layer of felt that is a different color and gives (sort of?) the illusion that it is glowing. Didn't go exactly as planned, but still looks cute I think.

Fortunately my daughter didn't attempt to run off with this one because I finished it while she was taking a rare nap (kids have ALL been sick this week. Three sickos is NOT fun!). So she never saw it, so I never had to fight it away from her. Oh, the cleverness of me! :)

Frog Prince Pillow

On the way to a little girl who loves PINK and FROGS is this little pillow. This marks the first time I've done a pillow without a human felt character. Love it! And he's got rubies on his crown (red French Knots with shiny, red embroidery floss). Fun fun fun.

Funny story. My daughter really liked the ballerina pillow I finished a couple weeks ago. But when I finished this one and finished the taking pictures I set it down to do something and she came over and snatched it up. She said, "Issa mine, right?" less as a question, more like a statement. I said, "Nope. That is going to another little girl." At which point she yelled "NnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNO!" and ran off with it. I had to chase her down, tackle her, and wrestle the pillow from her and HIDE it where she couldn't reach. It took her a long time before she calmed down from that one. I think it really is time that I make her a pillow....

I am Iron Man

Seriously think this might be one of my all-time favorite pillows!!! Used Robert Kaufman's line "Superhero" from Illustration Ink. The tooth pocket is hidden on one of the buildings. Hope the hero-loving boy getting this one likes it! :)

Friday finishes

This week I finished:

1. The ballerina pillow! Yipee!

2. Milli dress and doll for my niece

3. A bunch of Valentine's cards and a corsage for my son's teacher.

I'm working on three more pillows, a shoulder bag, and another Milli dress for my daughter. :)

Valentine's Corsage

Whipped this together for my son's kindergarten teacher Wednesday night for him to give her for their Valentine's party. I hear she liked it!

Milli Dress

My niece turns 3 today! My sister-in-law asked if I could maybe whip together a dress that looks like Milli's from Team Umizoomi. I'd never heard of the show, but looked her up and decided on a peasant dress. That should be easy enough! And it was!

The hardest part about this dress was finding the fabric. Found an old Robert Kaufman line that was perfect! It is older, so it was hard to come up with this much yardage. But I found it! Yay! Then I followed this tutorial for the most part: Polky-Nots Dress. I made the sleeves longer then added the hood. My daughter kept trying to steal the it, so I'm really glad that I found a 2-yard bundle and I'll be able to make her a matching dress. :)

Next was the doll. Honestly, I find cloth dolls really tricky to free-hand. My first attempt produced a rather unsightly thing that my daughter deemed yucky once I'd made the second one. Unfortunately for her, the second one ended up in the box going to her cousin, and A is keeping the ugly one (which I will fix and make un-yucky).

Update: She loves it!

Tiny Dancer

The music box is the tooth pocket, and that little ballerina measures a half inch tall. Cute, no? I love it! I've caught my daughter going after it several times trying to claim it as her own. Maybe I'll have to make her one, now? :)

Nearly finished

This week has been nuts! Poor baby is extra fussy lately. We've got a tongue tie and lip tie that need releasing, so we're working on it but it has proven to be difficult to handle. So I've been playing nurse a little more, and sewing has happily waited for me in my sewing basket.

Fortunately, this little gem will probably be finished tomorrow and will ship out on Monday, hopefully along with a couple other things if I can get to the machine one Sunday. I have one more title to add, then a music box on top of those books, and a ribbon to the top. Happy to see the ballerina looking lovely! :)

UPDATE: Just caught that I misspelled Cinderella. Oops. Good thing that is easy to fix at this stage.

Ballerina 2

Finished the quilting, now on to the felt characters. I'm really loving this little ballerina!

Ballerinas

The fabric for the first pillow order finally arrived (from JAPAN!!!), so I've gotten busy and been sewing on this pillow the last couple of days.

I had a ton leftover so I whipped together a drawstring bag for my daughter:

She just started a ballet class for kids under 3 and I decided she needed a bag to keep all of her stuff in so it wouldn't get scattered about her closet. (I think I need to do the same thing for my son in karate, so I should whip another one together soon... After I've finished the pillows!) She loves it, but more importantly her shoes, tights, leotard, and skirt haven't traveled around the house. Mission accomplished! :D

P's quilt

 I've used this pattern so many times now that I can whip this quilt together in three hours. INCLUDING the tying. And especially after finally figuring out a trick that made piecing so much easier. See, it uses the same concept as the scrappy trip around the world quilts that everyone is doing, only it is ten strips wide. Produces a nice sized crib quilt. And I think my little P likes it...

Like I said, this is a pattern I know well. It is the same pattern I used on his cousin's quilt last year, but I've also used this for his older brother and sister's baby quilts, another cousin, and seven other friends' baby quilts. So this is the TWELTH quilt I've made with this same pattern. I keep trying to branch out when it comes to baby quilts, too. I've got a ton on my Pinterest board that I'd love to try out, but I always come back to this simple pattern every time there is a new baby in the family. And each one is well loved! My older son's quilt needs some MAJOR repair work done. As in I really need to take the back off of the quilt and re-back and re-tie the whole thing so it doesn't fall apart! Maybe I'll do that as a surprise one day while he's at school. But then again, won't it lose some of its love? We'll see. :)

Busy

The shop has been busy lately. Well, busy for me. I've had FOUR orders for my tooth fairy pillows in the last week. And while this isn't a sewing finish, it is a big finish for me...

Three of the four final designs have been approved, so now I'm just waiting on yummy fabrics to arrive so I can get started. I have to say that these little tooth fairy pillows are such a love of mine! They are always so fun, and there are so many possibilities with them, never do the same one twice. The knight one I did over the summer just made me giddy! I can't wait to see these four come together.