Pajama Party

This month Sew Mama Sew has been having a Pajama Party and I am finally finished these three pairs. Somehow they've taken me 10 days to make. Such is my life!



This is this morning. Um, yeah, they are already slept in. Carolin isn't too excited about getting her photo taken.



Deanna's quite fine with it. I bought the polar bear fabric for $2.15 per metre. Yes, that cheap! Then I bought 3 different coordinating prints for the front and back panels. I appliqued one of the polar bear motifs onto the front. I realized after that they should have been a bit higher. Too late!



This is tonight. Melissa was at school when I took the other photos. Not such a great photo either. It was getting dark. They really do love each other this much.



The whole crowd! Carolin is still not wanting to be on the photo. The pattern is my own. I started with a Butterick pattern many years ago and have changed it so much that it isn't nearly the same. It is a very basic pattern but that really works for me. They are comfortable and fit great.

Nursing Cover

I made this last week for a friend as a very (like 4 months late) belated baby gift. I made a pocket on the front so that the cover can be folded up into it as a compact package. The only mistake I made was I didn't make the pocket with right sides in and out so now when you fold it up you see the wrong side. Oh well, it doesn't affect the use of it.

Something New

I am so excited to be starting on this quilt! It all started a couple of years ago when I was in BC and Alisa and I went out for the day (great things happen on days like that!). We went to the quilt store in Abbotsford and they were selling all their sample fabrics by the pound. And there wasn't just a few piles but 3 tables piled high! What a find for us who love scrap quilts! Anyways, these bright and colourful fabrics mostly came from there and I've been making this in my mind for a long while already so it feels very good to start on it.

Here everything is...all ready to start sewing:
The first blocks - I love it already!My intention is to put it on an old couch in the kids playroom and then cover the throw pillows in solid bright colours.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Thrifty Threads #4

I've been wanting to try making a little girls dress from a man's shirt for a long time now (over a year!) and just never seemed to get around to it. I tried it last week and it turned out so cute. I used the same pattern as the last dresses I made but just lined the pieces up on the shirt so the buttons go down the front. Then I added a little applique to make it special :-)
I intended them to look like modern flowers but they look very much like balloons...The model :-) It's too big for now but should fit in the spring and summer next year. She is such a stinker!
Here are a couple links to some tutorial online that I'd like to try sometime too:
I really love this one and
The shirt dress

And I had to share with you my exciting finds this weekend. We have a great little second hand shop nearby and I found this beautiful periwinkle wool blanket for $4.50. I have ideas mulling in my mind of making a winter coat for my 6 year old...I also found this sheet in great condition that'll make a good quilt backing or... We'll see if anything else comes to mind.Thanks for looking!

Life around here

Here are some tidbits from the last week or so...

Last week was the first week of school. A big adjustment for all of us. Early mornings and long days... The kids are loving it but also noticing that they just don't have enough time to do all the things they want to at home :-( Here they are...grade 1 and Kindergarten (how did they get to be so big anyway?)
I got a whole bunch of small apples from my neighbour. Last month I made a batch of apple sauce and this time I tried apple juice. It turned out pretty good but I think I'll have to tweak the recipe a bit. And a little sewing... I tried my hand at a receiving blanket like Alisa has done. It makes a great baby gift! I found a great tutorial for cutting strips for binding. I was trying to fold my meter into a square on my little table (I'm getting a bigger one soon!) and it just wasn't working and this was easier than I thought it would be.

The Playpen Quilt

It's finally finished. I sewed the binding down on Sunday and did a 'photo shoot.' I wonder what my neighbors think of me.



I used 7 fabrics from Wonderland by MoMo. I also used a linen that I've had in my stash since I was 18 (really 13 yrs! I bought it in Brazil.) As well, a repurposed cotton/linen dress shirt from Gord, a vintage fabric that I've had for a number of years and a brown cotton that is left over from another project. How's that for a mixture.



The binding is a burnt orange solid. It's from Fabricland. I really like the quality of their 100% cotton solids.



I'm really, really happy with how it turned out and is making me excited to make other things. But first I have to finish the playpen project.



The back is part of a thrifted sheet. I love it! It was too white and bright so I tea-dyed it to get it more muted. It worked perfectly.

A "Not so Thrifty Thread"

I am loving this Sweet Little Dress pattern. It's so quick and easy. I made these as a baby gift for a friend. One for baby and one for the older sister. I ended up getting the fabric at my local quilt shop so it's not so thrifty but the end result is so worth it. Just imagine them with brown leggings under...

Oh, and not to forget the older brother in the process...a little tie to match. It has the brown polka dot on the back.

I have a whole list of things in my head to make. Most are baby gifts, but I have great intentions of making myself a skirt, and am working on a bright, cheerful quilt for the playroom. I'd also like to make a dressy coat for my oldest, maybe my other two too... Lot's of dreaming, just not so much time :). I just take it as it comes!

Baby Gift

This morning my friend Rebecca finally had her baby! It's a boy, Justin, and I'm looking forward to meeting him tonight. This afternoon I made a recieving blanket for him (I bought this fabric in Manitoba this past weekend. I'm so glad I could use it already!)



I just love bias bindings. I finally bought a bias tape maker and it saves time. Not alot of time, but definately worth it. I will dedicate another post to bias bindings with some photos. (Yeah, after I make myself a new ironing board cover. Mine is not ready to be photographed.)

I took photos as I was making the rounded corners. First fold your fabric in quarters and cut with your rotary cutter so it's a perfect square. Then look around your toy room, which is a big mess as usual and find a toy plate. Put it on the corner like so



Then cut around it (through all layers) and you have this.



Easy, peasy.

Table Quilt

This quilt has been in the making for quite some time. I bought the charm pack (Friends and Flowers by Mary Englebright) over a year ago and started making half square triangle blocks with it. When I put it on my design wall it just didn't 'do' anything for me in the way I had envisioned it. It made it's way into my WIP basket and that was it for awhile. But as of late I am trying to finish some of those WIP's and so here is the table quilt. I arranged the blocks in an entirely different way than I had planned and it looks much better. It's still not my favourite, but I do like it and will give it away as a gift.



I tried some different quilting on it. It's good to try new things with small quilts. I used a special stitch on my sewing machine.





Today my two oldest children are back at school. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand it's 10:45 AM and I've completed all of my pressing tasks for the day including making supper. On the other hand my children are gone all day long and I hardly get to see them, talk with them etc. I'm sure it will all sink in over the course of this week.

Hope you all have a good day! Thanks for reading. (Feel free to say 'hi' in the comments.)

Happenings

:: tomatoes growing in the garden
:: taking care of children like this (if only they were always this cute)
:: peppers growing in the garden, they are so good
:: 5 metres of flannel at $2.25/metre
:: did I mention tomatoes? We are picking that many every other day!
:: quilting my playpen quilt. Can you see why they call that colour in the corner 'tomato'? Just need to stitch the binding down.
:: tomatoes look really nice in a bowl on the table. Who says they can't be part of the decor?
:: apple pie. I made three of these on Saturday. They take a long time to make, I had forgotten about that. The appreciation of my husband made it worth my time.
:: on the dinner table. All from our own garden. Our garden this year is somewhat successful. Next year, the Lord willing, it will be even better.

Tomorrow the two authors of this blog are planning to meet in person. Not here, not there, but in Manitoba! Our little brother (he's not so little, really) is getting married there. So, we'll be back next week. I am so looking forward to seeing you Suzanne!

Summery Table Topper

A couple of months ago I made this table topper as a gift for someone who helped us out a lot as we were moving. I used a charm pack called Friends and Flowers from Mary Engelbreit by Moda. If you look back to this post you'll see that Alisa is working on a table topper with the same charm pack. Totally coincidental! The finished project has 3" squares and 1" sashing. Very simple with a touch of applique.

~Suzanne