Baby Girl Flower Applique Quilt

My first custom order is finished!  It's based on this miniature quilt.  I used the flower templates but enlarged them to make it baby sized.  It is beautiful - I'll bombard you with an abundance of pictures!

Lots and lots of blanket stitch - done by machine

Two birds having a conversation

I free motioned the details on the butterflies and birds

I first quilted around everything to make it pop and then quilted the whole background with a small loopy meander

Fun striped binding

And the soft flannel back with a bit of piecing

I did a double layer of the white (not flannel) so that you can't see through.

So long, beautiful, spring, baby girl, quilt!  I hope you're loved in your new home - it's hard to give you up!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Lua Sleep Sack - Tester Tour

This post was supposed to be up this morning and I'm finally getting to it now.  My week has been unusual from the start and now I'm getting my days mixed up.  Do you have that too?

I had the opportunity to test the Lua Sleep Sack by StraightGrain.  It was fun to sew a different kind of sleepsack!  The pattern is clear and thorough and the few issues in the tester version are all fixed up in the pattern, so I recommend this pattern to anyone wanting to sew up a sleepsack.

 I made a larger size so that I can use it in the coming fall/winter so it looks a bit big on Joshua.  But doesn't it look cute?  Not that one has to look cute to bed, but...

I tried so hard to match the plaid but the one side is still off.  I had already picked out the seams a couple of times (my own fault, not the pattern) so I just left it.

Kobo Sleeve

Sharing this project that my 10 year old daughter made with just a little bit of help from me!

I think she did a fabulous job sewing it up!  The pattern is from Birdiful Stitches and was very easy to follow.

Sophie's Garden Party Dress

I (Suzanne) also made a Garden Party Dress for KCW last week.  Turned out fabulously!  This is the second Oliver + S pattern I've made and I do love working from them.

She measured between a  size 5 and 6 so I made the 6 with a 7 length.  I could've gone with a 5 but now it'll fit longer, right?

I need to move the loop and button up!

Not quite the scenic pictures as Alisa posted but we're planning a trip to the Fraser Valley in a few days so we'll get to see the mountains in all there glory!  Very excited to see all our family there too!!  Maybe we'll even get a picture of our girls in their Garden Party Dresses :)

Garden Party Dress by Oliver + S

We had a little photo shoot on the way home from church so you can see the Garden Party Dress in action.  Nothing like the backdrop of Mt. Cheam and a gorgeous spring day for a good photo!

I made a size 6 with a size 8 length and it fits with room to spare.  She is very slim and actually measured slightly less than the size 5 measurements.

Fabric is from Fabricland.  It was actually $1.50 per metre bought this past fall on a sale.  The coordinating fabric was from a fat quarter bought at Hamels but I only used a small part of it.  So the fabric for this dress was only $4!

The pattern was easy to follow.

This week these two are going to be 5 and 7 years old.  Good thing I have Joshua!

I enjoyed sewing through Kids Clothes Week but this week I have to get back to some other stuff.  Have a good week!

KCW Day 6

Suzanne: I managed to sew today!  (Well, I should say, tonight, as it's reeeally late now!).  I got Sophie's Garden Party Dress finished except for the button and loop.

KCW Day 5

Alisa:  My hour of sewing today produced 2 pairs of leggings for Carolin.  I should have called it Carolin Clothes Week.  We'll see if I get to my sewing room tomorrow.  I have plans to do a few small things...

KCW Day 4

Alisa: It's a terrible photo, but I had to share!  Except for the hem this dress is finished.  I am happy with it and have plans to make another one soon.  I'll do a post with some proper photos soon.

KCW Day 3

Alisa: Hello there!  How's everyone doing with Kids Clothes Week?  Today I sewed for just over an hour and made the back of the Oliver + s Garden Party Dress.  Maybe I can squeak a bit of time in tonight on it too.  Loving it so far!

Suzanne: I finished tracing all the bathing suit pieces (11 x 3!) and got one cut out.  Still feels like I have nothing to show for it but most of the hard work is done!

I also have to share what else I was doing today.  Working on this custom quilt - absolutely love how it's turning out!

KCW Day 2

Alisa:

Today was spent cutting out and sewing a Round Neck Top for Carolin.  I have made this as a shirt many times but it's been a long time.  And I'm kind of disappointed because it just barely fits, as you can see in the photo.  (I just have it pinned here, still have to put the buttonholes on.  This is actually the first pdf pattern that I ever bought.  Here's a quick photo - I'll take some more when it's sunny.

Suzanne:
No pictures from me but I did spend a couple hours cutting out Sophie's dress and tracing swim suit patterns for all three girls.  Definitely the least fun part of sewing for me and it takes a long time!  Hopefully the sewing goes a little quicker and I have something to show for all my time by the end of the week :)

Kids Clothes Week - Day 1

We are both participating in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge - sew for the kids for one hour every day this week.  We hope to do a quick post every day just for motivation and then post our finishes (hope we finish something!) in the next couple of weeks.

Suzanne:  My hour was spent taping and tracing out the Oliver and S Garden Party Dress in a size 6 for Sophie.

Alisa:  I haven't done my hour yet but I made my list.  Hope to get the hour in sometime before I go to bed!  Here's my list.

Are you sewing along this week?

Kitchen Sewing

I decided to sew a little something for myself.  I was in desperate need of  some new pot holders and oven mitts.  I pulled out my scraps to make these four pot holders (is that what they are actually called - it's what I've always called them?)  It was fun to play with scraps and my intention was to make the oven mitts from scraps too, but I got impatient and made them from two lovely fat quarters.

I know they look like place mats and yes, they are almost as large as place mats.  That is intentional.  When you make your own things you can make them how you like them, even if it's not the way it's usually done.  I almost never put a small pot or pan on the table and I wanted them large enough.  Besides I use them more for baking than anything else and baking pans aren't small either.  I've been using them for a couple of weeks and I love them.

They are batted with two layers of insul-brite.  I like how the quilting puffs up with the extra layer.  Backing is a light cotton twill repurposed from an old skirt of mine.

And in use.  With a small pan on top. :-)  If it had a large pan you wouldn't be able to see it, would you?

And then my matching but not matching oven mitts.  I love them!

Spring Break Ideas

I thought I'd do a quick post on what kept us occupied for two. long. weeks. of Spring Break.  My photos aren't fancy pinterest-friendly photos but maybe this will serve to give another mom some (frugal) ideas.  Other than taking your kids on a fancy vacation that is.

Entertaining the baby and taking thousands of photos of him on the ipad is obviously the most important thing that should be done.  Finding some snow can also be a fun way of spending the day.  Lots of visiting with friends and sleepovers at Oma's house is also fun.  If the weather is nice, blowing bubbles and decorating the cul-de-sac with chalk can provide hours of entertaining.  I am sure that many of your children spent a few hours this break with their Rainbow Loom, making bracelets and other useless items for members of the family.  So much fun though!  Going to the park with friends when the weather is nice is very good for mom and the kids.  Very good indeed!  When the weather is not nice we have to resort to more indoor activities. Clothespin and craft stick airplanes are now suspended on ceilings in the boys' rooms and a big, poofy coffee filter ball in the girls room.  Melissa also tried this perler bead bowl which turned out pretty cool.  Lego was our go-to toy this Spring Break and the girls also did some baking.  I now know why my mom left the kitchen when I baked.

The one thing that we tried this Spring Break was to make Gak.  We made it several times as you can see in the collage.  The kids had so much fun with this and we made it several times to show our friends.  No one suffocated in the process.  Did you know you could buy Neon food colouring?  It was perfect for this project.

And that sums up our Spring Break.  As much as I love my kids, I find 2 weeks of Spring Break rather long.  We were blessed with a few sunny days this time, but we often have 2 weeks of rain and that makes it tough to keep them busy and happy (and not fighting and pestering.)

How do you spend your spring break?  What are some ideas you've done that worked?