Update

Ok so I kept you hanging and I finally have something to show you. I had planned on making the twirly skirt for Claire. So when I was setting things up with Heather Garland for the baby rep photo shoot, she had mentioned Claire wearing bright colors and fun things. So I finally followed through with the skirt. It was so easy to make and it turned out great. Please go to Heather's blog and check out the slideshow of my girl. The skirt was done in Heather Bailey's Pop Garden Peonies and Bijoux and the under layer is Dena Designs. I definitely recommend this project for anybody with a little girl.
I also made a top from a Simplicity pattern, slightly modified, but we only used two outfits for the shoot so the top wasn't photographed. I will have to post a pic the next time Claire has it on.
I hope the pics of my girl in the twirly skirt inspires one of you to knock the dust off your machine and get sewing.

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Coming Soon

I have been working on some things but I'm waiting to put them up. Ooh I can't wait! I will also be doing a giveaway of my Gymbucks. As much as I would love to use them, my sweet girl doesn't need anymore clothes. I will post more about that later. Toodles.......

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Sew Over it!

Well, in between working out and taking my sweet girl to the pool while my husband has been out of town I have been working on Heather Ross' Mendocino Sundress. Can I just say "Nightmare"? Maybe someone should have told me I needed to practice smocking on about 20 small pieces before I tried doing this to an entire dress cut out of Amy Butler Lotus that my sis-in-law gave me for my birthday. Ugh! It was going to be so pretty.

First of all the directions don't give much insight on how to set up your machine for this. Being a newbie I don't have alot of experience with having to adjust my tension or stitch length but this is what someone suggested doing out on the web. I also looked at Sandi Henderson's tutorial on shirring which gives pics and tips but something still did not work right. In between hand winding the bobbin after every row(no fun!) and ripping out stiches for poor tension, I now have a piece of fabric that looks like the elastic has been stretched out.

So what is a girl to do? I am not giving up. I am either going to rip it all out and start over (going to need more elastic thread) or I am going to modify it into something else. To be honest I think it would be easier to make a tailored dress out of the pattern than to smock all those rows.

Oh well I am just going to look at it as a good experience and keep trucking.

On a lighter note, I'm toying aound with the idea of doing a quilt sometime soon. A local fabric store is going out of business and I got a super cute quilt pattern(for cheap) that looks like it might be a good start for a beginner. It's called Salt Water Taffy. Doesn't that sound fun? Anywho, I'll leave you with a pic of my "Beautiful Disaster".

(It's wrinkly because I was desperate to see if it was going to work. I put it in the wash on spin and then into the dryer but still no luck. It's supposed to magicaly shrink up, no magic here. )

Later,

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Buttercup

Well it's mostly finished. Still trying to decide whether or not I will add the button flap. The good news is I went to the website to pull the diagrams up and Rae has decided to sell this pattern. You can still get it for free but if you buy it you get the rights to sell them and you also get the larger version. Yay for me, because the small one is too small for this momma.

So I did do a few things differently. I ironed on some lightweight interfacing to the outer bag parts. Quilting fabric isn't super substantial so this gave it a bit more structure. Also, Instead of attaching the strap after the fact, I sewed it in as I was sewing the outer bag and lining together. I also did a 4- ply strap with a strip of interfacing. The pink material was a bit thin on it's own, so this made it sturdier.

So, one down and I think many more to go. I bought the pattern already and the larger bag should be a bit more my speed.

So, you probably don't know this but I live near one of the greatest fabric stores in the world, Mary Jo's. I have been cooped up for a few days daydreaming about new fabric, so since Claire was feeling much better, we took a little trip there. This is what we came out with:

Oh boy Oh boy! I can't wait! Probably not gonna get to it anytime today since I did finish mowing the grass and now I have to get my house in order before my dh comes home. So let's all just stare for a moment........

Ok snap out of it. Gotta go do some laundry.

Later,
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What else can I do?

My sweet girl has been sick for the last 24 hours. Poor thing she's only 2 1/2 and I think this is the first time she has been able to comprehend throwing up. She said to me, after I put a fairly large bowl in front of her " Mommy, I don't want to spit anymore". Poor baby. So even though I thought I would take a break after sewing all those things for Mother's Day, I'm back at it again. What better things do I have to do while I'm stuck inside with a very puny toddler? So, I'm going to try the Buttercup bag that everyone else in the world has decided to do. But that's the beauty of fabric. I don't think any of us could make one exactly like another.
Anywho,I will keep you posted. It's supposed to be an afternoon kind of project but I might have to break to snuggle my little bugaboo when she wakes up. Will post pics later.

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Thank You!

There are so many people who deserve a thank you for helping me find my way to the sewing world but I don't have time for them all right now. I am sure I will get to all of you in the future. So for now I will throw in some of the most important ones.

First, thanks to my husband for taking a leap of fatih with me and letting me buy a sewing machine. He and I both knew I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and we don't normally buy things when we don't know how to use them but for some reason he was all in. It's not the fanciest machine of course but it does have a few bells and whistles for the clueless person.

Secondly, I need to thank my mom for, after 33 years, teaching me something about sewing. You see my mom is an amazing seamstress but worked full time my entire childhood . She never had time to do any recreational sewing nor did she have time to teach me anything. I can specifically remember trying to use her machine when I was about 14 and lets just say I did some minor damage and decided that I was not meant to sew. Well she has had a little more time in the last few years and well we gave her a granddaughter so she has been a little more inspired to sew fun stuff. So, I have a habit of buying fabric and patterns and taking them to her and to have her put them together. Well, the last time I did this I had planned on doing a dress for one of my girlfriends daughters. The classic southern seersucker sundress with a monogram. I have to say I was a little short on time therefore my mom was going to be short on time too. When I went to drop the stuff off, she said " Let me teach you how to read a pattern and you could help me out". The rest is history. I felt like I had overcome one of the most complex things about sewing. They look like they are written in another language if you don't have a clue.
So here I am on my little journey of creativity. The purpose of this blog is to talk about the things that I put together and maybe inspire someone who wants to sew but might be intimidated by a machine or a pattern. So here goes nothing.