Crafty Christmas Cards

My kids made these handmade Christmas cards and they had a fun time doing it.  Aren't they cute?  I got the idea from http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/. 

Sewing Practice

Here's a wall hanging I finished last week for my daughter.  As you can see, I didn't measure the backing square.  Don't ask why because I don't know the answer to that one.  Oh, well!  Lessons learned! 
I didn't use any tutorial or anything, just made it up. 

Then I just finished this hot pad today.  Not extremely happy with it.  I found a mitered binding tutorial on You Tube.  I definitely need more practice!

And here's the back of it.

Christmas Trees

Made these from a tutorial on the Sew Mama Sew blog.  It was quick and easy and adds a little Christmas decoration to my living room shelf.

Hemmed My First Pair of Jeans!

I bought some cute jeans recently and, as usual, they were too long for me.  I usually take them to the cleaners to have them hemmed, but I found a tutorial online that showed me how to do it easily.  Here's the link: http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38 So here is my first pair of hemmed jeans!  I'm happy with the results!

I know.  I need a pedicure! :)

 Here's what the inside looked like before I cut off the fold.

And here's after I cut off the fold with my new pinking shears.

Let The Sewing Commence!

I'm so happy I finally have gotten my sewing motivation back!  So I decided to start with a couple of pajama pants, one for each of my kids.  As you can see, they love them!  I used an old pattern cutout that my sewing teacher (who I haven't take lessons from in a while) let me borrow. 

I already have my next project fabric pre-shrunk and ready to be ironed and sewed.  I'm going to attempt to sew a t-shirt dress from the Weekend Sewing book. 

I've been listening to a podcast called Stash Resolution and Sarah, the podcast host, has really inspired me to start sewing again, and maybe even start podcasting again soon!  Yay!  Finally!

Art-A-Fair Weekend

My daughter and I went to Southern California last weekend to visit with family and to go to the Art-A-Fair Festival in Laguna Beach.  My mom has a photography booth at the festival, selling her photographs.  It's at http://cordovaphotography.net/ if you want to take a look at her work.  She is so talented!  Here are some pics of our fun weekend.

Here's my mom's booth setup.  That's my mom in the picture, taking a picture of my daughter and niece and nephew.

This is a photograph my mom took a few years ago of my daughter and niece and nephew and it is one she is selling at her booth. 

This is my daugter, Caitlyn, on the right, and her cousin, Trinity.  They both have the same exact teeth missing.  I thought that was funny!

This was a picture taken of Caitlyn and me right by our table in a restaurant inside the Art-A-Fair.  I love the background!

This is a huge house at the top of the hill, overlooking our restaurant tables.

And here's a close-up of the house.  Isn't it beautiful?  I'm so envious of whoever lives here!

My Little Valentine

I just finished knitting and sewing together and stuffing this Valentine Pillow that I made for my daughter, Caitlyn.  She is my little valentine because she was born on Valentines Day.  It is a pattern from the book, "Hollywood Knit Style" by Suss Cousins.  It was fun to knit.  (mindless).

Caitlyn started 1st grade yesterday and this is a picture of her right before I took her to school.  She was so excited to start 1st grade and she is really liking it.  I am so proud of her!

Sewing Quickie

I've been needing a new pair of sweat pants to wear around the house.  The pair I've had is all worn out, with holes.  So I cut off one of the legs of the old pair and used it as a template to cut out a new pair and got it done within an hour!  They're so comfortable!

I used elastic for the waist.

Simple Sewing Project

After going a while without sewing because I haven't felt like it (been knitting instead), I made this pillowcase from a pattern out of the sewing book called "Sewn Spaces" by Joel Dewberry. 

It seems that every sewing pattern I use, I always get stuck in the middle of the pattern.  The first part makes sense, but as I keep going, I get to a point where I don't understand what the pattern is saying to do. 

For example, this pattern says, "Place folded edge of border flush to cording."  I was guessing "flush" meant "along" the cording. 

Then later on at the end of the pattern, it said, "Right sides facing, pine pillowcase fronts to backs."  I tried googling "pine" for sewing terms, but nothing came up.  So I just did what I thought looked right and this is what came of it. 

This was my first time doing piping, which is easy and fast.  At least I understood that part of the pattern! ;)

Anney Top Finished!

This is the Anney pattern by Emily Johnson.  I'm so glad to be done with this, after all the cables!  I did the decreases on the yoke just as the pattern said to, but it doesn't look quite like it does in the picture.  Oh, well.  It's not noticable and I'm still happy with it.  I think this is my favorite knitted top I've knit so far! :)

Fabric Art

I got this idea from DIY Dish Network Podcast.  All it is is fabric-covered canvas.  I think it's cute.  I have it hanging in the sewing/craft room in my house.  I like the first photo.  My daughter likes the second photo, with the black designs all in one row.  I think I'll switch it up when she's not looking! ;)

i heart patchwork

This is a new sewing book I just got. It has lots of cute sewing patterns in it. Caitlyn (my daughter) wanted me to sew her this little cosmetics pouch. It was really easy and quick. It's the first time I've sewn a zipper on anything. I had to hand sew it because my sewing machine doesn't have a zipper foot.

The solid squares are made of linen and the patterned squares are made of cotton. I like the way the linen fabric looks. I notice most of the patterns in this book call for linen in a natural color. Unfortunately, my local fabric store doesn't carry linen in natural color. So I'll probably have to order some online. Actually, I think the light violet linen fits my daughter better anyway! Also, it has a solid cotton lining on the inside, which was also a first for me.

This is the skirt I started a few days ago.  I was going for the one that's on the model.  It's the first thing I've sewn for myself, besides pajama pants.  I'm stuck at halfway through the pattern because I don't understand the instructions.  I tried on the skirt and it's too tight around the hips and the waist is about five inches too small.  I chose the size four, thinking that's about the size I wear in store-bought clothes, and didn't pay attention to the size in inches on the back of the pattern.  I guess I should have trusted the pattern more.  Oh, well.  This is going in hibernation for now until I either lose five inches off my waist or have the desire to start over again.

First Quilt!

This is the quilt I've been working on for my daughter.  It has a thick polyester batting in the middle.  The three layers are only held together by the stitching on the border.  I've started tying knots in the center of the squares with embroidery floss, but I'm not done yet.  I'm hoping that will be enough to hold it all together.  My daughter loves it and sleeps with it every night. 

This is the back of the quilt.

This is a close-up of the squares.

                                                                                                     

On Vacation At Home!

With the kids out of town at their grandparents' house for the week, my husband and I are enjoying going out to eat and relaxing without the kids around.  It's been nice having a quiet house for a change!  Here's a picture of us at McClintock's in Shell Beach/Pismo Beach.  They have yummy food and sex on the beaches!  We also just got a new camera, so we're having fun trying it out.

Congratulations To My Sister!

I went to Southern California last weekend to see my sister graduate from nursing school! I am so proud of her! These are my kids in the picture, too.
Going out of town and with work being so busy lately, I haven't had any time to knit or sew, only a few rounds on the Bintje socks and that's it and it's already Friday! Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to it this weekend though!

Cluck. Cluck. Sew.

I'm entering a giveaway contest at http://www.cluckclucksew.com/ to win a fat quarter bundle!
I have to blog about it for one out of four chances to enter.

Little Miss Piggy

We caught Lady Liesl up on the patio table, looking for food. No such luck though. All she found was dirt in a bowl that my kids were playing with earlier. She is such a little piggy, always looking for food, even when she's had a lot to eat! She's so cute though!

Ruffled Skirt Finished

Finished the skirt for my daughter, with the help of my sewing teacher. It needs to be ironed because I just washed it. It goes all the way down to her feet, but at least she can grow into it. She likes wearing it! I'm not sure I like it, but my daughter does and that's all that matters, since it's hers! Oh, and by the way, I won't be doing ruffles again for a while. It's a pain in the butt!

I've been knitting a lot for my daughter and I didn't want my son to feel left out. So I sewed him some Sesame Street pajama pants. The material is 100 percent cotton, but it feels soft like flannel. They fit him perfectly, but he'll probably outgrow them quickly!

Lazy Days Skirt

This is the Lazy Days Skirt I sewed for my daughter. I got the free pattern at http://oliverands.com/

Miss Madeline Dress For Miss Caitlyn

This is the second dress I've sewn for my daughter. I had help from my sewing teacher. I'm pretty sure I could have figured it out on my own because the pattern is written clearly, but, still, it was nice getting help (and being able to use her serger!)
This pattern is called Miss Madeline and I got it from here. http://thehandmadedress.net/SewingPatterns.htm

Sewing Room Cleaned

After taking a picture of the mess it was before, I just had to clean it up right away! At least it's all organized now. I want to sew a wall hanging to hang over the coffee table turned cutting table.

First Attempt at Ruffles

I was trying to sew a skirt with a ruffle for my daughter. The pattern I'm using says to pull the thread from one side of the seam, but it's not working out so well. The thread breaks after pulling it so much. I'm going to try another method of ruffling that I saw on You Tube. Hopefully, I will be more successful with that!

Sewing Room In Need of Renovation!

My daughter has taken over the room, that is meant to be for my sewing, with her crafts. As you can see, it is a disaster! Time for some renovation! Check back for some updated pics.

Grumpy Morning Faces

First Sewn Dress!

This is a dress I sewed for my daughter called Smocked Sundress from the book called, "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. It's a pretty book, but full of errors! I'm, overall, happy with the way this dress turned out, and so is my daughter! Doesn't she look adorable?

Interested in Sewing

I've recently been thinking that I want to learn how to sew. I went to the Santa Maria Sewing Superstore and they have tons of new sewing machines, but they are expensive and I have to wait to take a class to learn how to sew. So I've been looking on craigslist for a used sewing machine and going to teach myself how to sew. I'm too impatient to sit around and wait for a class and save up money for a machine.

Poor, Neglected Blog

Oh, my gosh! I haven't even vistited my own blog since the very first one, which was last July! How sad! So I'm posting one now. I'm busy working on an expedited transcript today and taking breaks every ten pages to do a couple of rows on the Karma tank top by Wendy Bernard, who is my favorite designer! This is my second item designed by her and I have lots more to go! Now I'm off to knit another couple of rows and then to my daughter's kindergarten open house.