PJ's for Ben

My poor boy has been going to bed with a t-shirt and swim trunks for the past couple of months. Yes, swim trunks. He claims they are the most comfortable thing to wear. He's needed pj pants for a long time but this mama has been too tired to do much sewing lately. Yesterday I took the plunge and had these whipped up in an hour. It felt so good to get behind my machine again!



I used a t-shirt that he already had and appliqued a paw print onto it. He really likes that part.



He isn't really into dogs but this is what I had on the shelf. He has requested that I make a pair for Zachary to match. How cute would that be? :-) I'd better do that while he still wants to match his little brother.

Frenchy Bag

It's been a year since we started Secret Sisters with the women in our church and I wanted to make my last gift when I reveal myself.  Throughout the year I didn't want to make anything to obvious that it was me so now is my opportunity.  I picked up Amy Butler's Frenchy Bag pattern hoping to make it for myself sometime too.

 My secret sister's favorite colour is yellow so I chose fabrics accordingly.  I had a tough time picking fabrics as I'm not usually drawn to yellow but I really love the result.

I put in a zipper pocket on the one side instead of another divider pocket.  I also used canvas as the interfacing and I love how it feels!  Very "bag like" without it being stiff.

My cheesy model :)

I'm linking up today with

My Emmeline Apron!

Way back in the summer when I was in BC with my family my sisters and a sister-in-law started making Emmeline Aprons for ourselves.  It was blogged about here.  Alisa finished hers shortly after and mine sat on my table for months!  Finally a couple of weeks ago I picked it up again and finished it!  Now I just need to get in the habit of using it :)

Here's one side:

 And the other:

The only thing I changed is that instead of making the neck as two ties I just looped it so I can just pop it over my head.

Thrify Threads # 16 - Book Character Day

October was reading month for our school kids and at the end of the month they had Book Character Day.  Anneke wanted to be Laura Ingalls (along with at least 5 other girls at school) and Lukas chose Asterix :)

Excuse the bad indoor pictures but the weather was too cold for good clear ones outside.

For Anneke's costume I used fabric I got handed down to me for the bonnet and apron and the dress is made out of an old sheet.  The pattern is McCalls 9424 that my Oma once gave me when she was cleaning out her sewing room.  So this one cost me nothing but a few evenings of time!

For Lukas we found a pair of red pants and black t-shirt the thrift store for a couple dollars.  Then I made a belt from fabric I had.  The hat is made from an old sun hat with the brim cut off and then duck taped (gotta love that stuff).  The feathers are made from two layers of felt with wooden skewers in to hold them up.  The sword is cardboard, more duck tape, a paint stir stick and paint.

So a few dollars later and I had two very happy kids. Lots of fun!

My entry for the Quilt Festival...

...is my variation on Oh Fransson`s paintbox quilt.  I made it for my son who is 6 and hope it will last him for many, many years! 

The back is made from an old sheet and a bit of piecing to make it exciting and the binding is made from strips of the leftover fabric.

It definitely pulled me out of my comfort zone - using batiks and the black - but I love the finished product and my son loves it too!

Thanks to Amy for once again organizing!  Lots of beautiful work to enjoy and be inspired by!

Perfect Fit Bibs

I was so excited when Marian emailed me these photos of the bibs she made using my pattern! Yeah, the pattern works! She did an excellent job.



She made a total of eight. The photos are of the front and the back.



Marian, thanks for sending me the photos, you made my day. :-)

For those of you who would like to make a Perfect Fit Bib yourself you can find the pattern here.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I made this quilt about 3 years ago. Carolin was a baby and I only had snippets of time to work on it. But it was such a joy to be able to sneak away to my sewing room a little bit each day and work on it.



I even had fun with the quilting. Because it wasn't overly big I thought I'd try something fun.



I actually sold this quilt on consignment at a local gift shop. As much as it's hard to part with a quilt, I was very happy to spend the money on more fabric!

Thank you Amy for hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival once again!