sewzenmama

Back off Vacation!

2009-09-07T11:02:00.001-07:00

Okay alright, I actually came back over a month ago but have had so much going on that I took an extended vacation from the blog. I may be taking a bit of a hiatus from blogging about sewing and crafting because everything will be soon put in boxes to be moved overseas! We found out that Kev's next assignment is in The Netherlands, we are very excited to be moving and closer to some of my family that lives in Europe.

Now onto the sewing. :)

(okay according to the order of uploads I have not blogged about these yet sorry if any are a repeat.)

Nice summer top using the sewmamasew spring ruffle top tute, only I am lazy lazy seamstress and gathered the front and back instead of the pleats.

A retro mini dress using the same pattern. My orange fabric wasn't quite wide enough so I added the flower panel to make it work. I mean to add a style element.

Reversible skirt with comfy waistband.

The reverse. Notice anything? Look close. Yup those are suppose to be dandelion puffs but they are growing upside down. At least I cut both pieces upside down!

Uncut cord trousers from a Woman's Ottobre. Not sure which one off the top of my head, will look it up and add later. Oh but these actually fit and I had to very little modifying, just take in about an inch in the center back seam.

The waistband. I felt quite clever using the cotton for the waist facing, it really cuts down on the bulkiness of the waistband and adds a little extra cute. The pockets are lined with the same fabric.

Newest knitting:

Beanpole beanie in dream in color classy midnight derby. I so enjoyed making this hat! The bobbles are really fun and surprisingly easy.

Rani cuff (from knitty.com) in leftover dream in color smooshy in chinatown apple. This is my first beaded knitted item, I need to make the second cuff but it requires stringing 300 some beads, which is best done without little helpers.

That is all I have pictures of for now! Hope everyone enjoyed summer, I know we did and we are definitely enjoying somewhat cooler weather ans starting on fall crafting and sewing.

Love Annmarie

Fiddling with Patterns

2009-06-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you get a new pattern and it's just not perfect so you keep fiddling with it? And all the time trying making something just a little different. That's today's sewing. I've been trying to find some good tee patterns for me and decided to pull from the Sew U Home Stretch book. It's fun to see how the pattern can be altered just a bit to get something different.

The first 3 on the left are all essentially the same pattern. The sleeveless are, well, just sleeveless. I think there is an error in the book for the sleeveless pattern as it calls for 15" ribbing for the neckband and that is way way too short! But it did make a cute gathered edge in front. The last two tees are from Woman's Ottobre. The blue is a plain sleeve raglan and the black is the pleat sleeve (I posted the black before.)

A slightly better picture of the pleat sleeves.

A couple of fitted diapers for wild thing. I always do something wrong when sewing diapers and I totally forgot the elastic on the waist on the doggie diaper. ah well.

That's all I have pictures of for now. :) Happy June, We have lightening bugs out here finally!

Annmarie

An Ode to French Terry

2009-05-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make, I only recently (like really recently, about 2 months ago) figured out what french terry fabric is. Yup, no idea that my favorite zip hoodie wasn't some kind of weird sweatshirt but not sweatshirt fleece material. Had no idea what it was called or that I could even buy french terry fabric. Obviously, I have been living under a rock. Once I figured out what the favorite material was called, and hurrah! I can even sew something great up, I had to find some! So today's post is the result of my discovery.

All three pieces are from New Look 6734. The french terry is a stretch (FT comes in not stretchy too!) in a lovely mocha color.

Zip front jacket. This is actually the last item I cut, I ran out of the mocha french terry fabric for the back and used a lovely bird print jersey which was lined with brown jersey for stability.

The back of the zip jacket.

With the clam diggers. The pants were altered from a much longer capri pattern and did not behave nice when I shortened them, not sure what happened, but after ripping it all out and fiddling they worked out well.

The tee, this tee was wow short! About 3 inches above my belly button unhemmed too short as I forgot I lengthened the pattern like the first time I made it. I added the brown jersey at the hem for a layered look but I might try something else as I don't love it.

Little i's robot birthday tee, made the day after his birthday.

Pleat sleeve raglan from Woman's Ottobre 5/08 #14. I shortened the sleeves and probably should have sized up as the newsprint girls fabric is an interlock and not quite as stretchy as jersey :) I still like it though!

Well all of my other projects, mostly tee shirts, are in the wash so I will get some pictures once they are all clean!

Annmarie

Work In Progress: Summer Play

2009-05-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hello All
Halfway through May and the lovely weather is here to stay! Yipee! I love spring and summer, we spend loads of time outside so I don't do as much sewing but I do have a few projects to share. :)

The big work in progress: a play tent for the boys. It's made out of larger scraps of fabric and has wooden dowels and pvc joints. We were checking out the size here.

Uh oh! Mama there's no door! ;)

Almost done here. adding ties on the inside and had to run out to get more dowels and pvc joints for support.

Gardening apron and knee pads. We had loads of rocks along the garden beds, so I needed a bit of cush. Little i insisted on taking the picture.

Layered knit skirt, I cut an a-line skirt a size smaller than I normally wear and it fits very nicely. The waist is fold over elastic (foe) and I gathered at one hip with clear elastic. First time successfully doing that technique!

Frenchy Bag pattern by Amy Butler. I made up the shoulder bag, which is the bigger of the two patterns. Really fun pattern to sew and I had loads of fun appliqueing the print fabric to the bag, but unfortunately, it is not big enough to carry all the stuff we currently need. The cloth diapers can be a bit bulk and they don't fit very well. It will be a nice size for when I don't need extra diapering stuff though.

Another work in progress, but almost done! A one skein stole, using really fun zauberball yarn. A very easy knit and quick too. It's currently blocking and I need to weave in the ends.

Hopefully more projects soon!

Annmarie

Springy Sewing

2009-05-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

More fun projects that have finally made their way onto the computer :) Hope everyone is enjoying spring!

I was inspired by some lovely outdoor pictures and decided to try it myself. Um yeah, that sooo doesn't work well in Kansas, way to windy! Anyway, from left airplane tees (and pants for wild thing) made out of a blanket from target, Boatneck tee, and sun dress from ottobre for a friend's daughter.

Red french terry pants with fun drawstring waist, board shorts (burda pattern I think). The board shorts were way way big so I took them in quite a bit and now they are very comfy.

Modified sorta wrap skirt. I had made the Amy Butler lotus dress and didn't wear the dress for about 6 months. Decided to make it into a top and skirt instead. The waist is held close with snaps and the ties wrap around the waist.

Blue Sky Hat with the brim modified to 4 inches wide and Smarty Pants capris. The waist wasn't working for me as the pattern directed on the pants, so I made it a drawstring waist.

My first 'fancy' socks. The yarn is dream in color smooshy in chinatown apple and the pattern is (free!!) Hedera from knitty.com.

Decided to play with dyes too! All fingering weight for socks or shawls. The middle one is an over dye, the original colors didn't look nice knit up so I frogged what little I had done and overdyed with a different blue; toned down the turquoise and evened out the odd grey parts. The right started out as a lovely rusty red until I added too much black an ended up a georgous black cherry color. I don't know if I can make socks out of this one, might need to be a scarf or shawl!

I just had to share these photos of wild thing. I had told he we needed to change his shirt because it was filthy; this is what I got.

NO mama I love my doggies.

I not taken it off.

See how sad, no take off. Doggies has pocket. Mama make more doggie then take off. K?

Little i decided he didn't like the sap in his hair from tree climbing and apparently a bath at the end of the day was not going to fix the problem for him, so he decided to cut his hair. a huge patch right up in front. Out came the clippers and he now is sporting a buzzcut, like Daddy does, Mama!

Annmarie

Skirt and Tee

2009-04-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

I realized when I was uploading these pics they are all skirts and tee shirts! Didn't even realize I had been doing that :).

A boatneck tee (on little i) from ottobre 1/09 the neck was odd and fiddly, but ended fine.

Corny (ahahahaha, yes dad that is for you!) tees for the boys. Such a fun print and very appropriate for our location: middle of nowhere Kansas.

Ooga booga tee for little i, this is another one of those I can't believe I can buy this fabric reprint!

Barcelona skirt, the flowers are embroidered, so this was a must line skirt.

Another barcelona skirt with the apron overlay and a yellow ruffle tee to match.

The reverse of the apron overlay. I've been planning this skirt for almost 2 years! I am so glad I finally sewed it up :D

We had a suprise snow storm the end of March. Just when everyone was ready to plant seeds and get the gardens going. I was so irate that I couldn't work on the garden, I sat down and knit some thick warm house socks. Worsted weight knits so fast for socks! Anyway I had this great orange superwash (mission falls 1824 wool) in my stash that I had planned to make babylegs but the boys said, no don't want any. :P

They are a little loose round the ankle but that's perfect for around the house.

After the snow was all done we went out and played for a bit.

My sad attempt at a snowman.

Look snow!

Maybe next week I can plant my garden...
Annmarie

Birthday Sewing!

2009-04-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! It's my baby's birthday, baby n turned 2 yesterday, (holy smokes 2!! how did that happen?) so what's a sewing mama to do but make a few fun birthday treats.

The outfit. Baby n is currently obsessed with dogs, so a doggie shirt it is with coordinating linen pants appliqued with a dog.

The whole birthday ensemble. The cape is from ottobre 4/04, it's a cotton pique that was unfortunately stained in the prewash by some bleeding fabric. I felt very clever making up the crown all by my lonesome; it reverses to a robot print (we had a robot party) for wearing later, fits his head prefect, and I totally had a pattern I could have used. doh. Oops, oh well, now I know for little i's birthday next month.

Enjoying a new birthday toy.

Ready to blow out the candles on the orange robot cake. Yes, yes there are more then two candles on the cake and the decorations are all squished, but that is what happens when the kids help. :)

I've been thinking that since baby n is 2 he kinda needs a new blog name, as he really isn't so baby anymore (at least that is what he tells me). I've been racking my brains for a new name, and had been coming up with zilch (don't ask how long it took me to come up with the blog name, it's embarrassing). Yesterday the coffee guy comments that baby n looked like the kid from the where the wild things are, sure enough he did and moreso, he acts like the kid from the book, so there it is baby n is now wild thing. :)

I've got more projects to post so look for another post later today or tomorrow!

Annmarie

A few random projects

2009-03-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Haven't really been doing much sewing, we've been taking turns being sick this past month. But I finally finished up a few projects so I thought I would share.

Pair of wide leg lounge pants. I had initially made a regular elastic encased waistband, but got some cotton/lycra fabric in the mail and decided that a yoga style waist would be fun to try. I now have 2 more pairs of pants in the mending pile to convert to yoga style waistband. No idea what took me so long to try it!

A raglan style night dress to try out a new pattern. (it's new look but i don't have the number off the top of my head)

A fun springy top also to try out a new pattern, I really like this one! (also new look, i think...)

The back. The pattern called for the back to be cut in two pieces but i was feeling very very lazy so I cut on the fold and just cut the slit down to the notch for the keyhole opening and finished the edge like the pattern directions.

finished up the froggy socks for baby n. I was being to think this yarn didn't want to become socks (or the kid didn't want it too) cause the boys frogged it too many times to count. Broken needles. Cast on the wrong size. You name it, it's gone wrong. Anyway, finally just sat down and worked on them (it had been sitting in my diaper bag) and I think they are really cute!

A solo sock for me. I had every intention of making a second sock but the second skein of yarn has gone MIA. So I am off onto a new project, maybe I will make mismatch for this one some day.

We finally had a nice day (with no one sick) so I dyed up a skein of sock yarn. I was going for a deep indigo, but I quite like the result and I think it will make a fun pair of socks. (It looks a bit washed out in the pic it's about 2 shades darker.)

I liked the color in the dye pot so much that I got out the wool/silk shawl that I had half dyed a while back. I couldn't decided on a color for the cream side so I had left it for a while and decided on a whim that this blue would be perfect! I love how it turned out! Totally different than anything else i have. :)

Attempting to take a picture with the wind blowing, lol, didn't turn out well. In case ya can't tell it's gradation dyed (darker at the edge gradually fading to the cream in the center.)

I am doing a bit of mending/altering right now and working on my first Cookie A sock pattern! Oh and I got all of my fat quarters from the sewmamasew swap! I need to take pictures and share all of the wonderful goodies and notes.

Take care,
Annmarie

All that dreaded sewing

2009-03-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Hello again, too much time has past yet again and I haven't posted. I had a sick little i this week so my time has been spent cuddling (which I love) and cleaning up sickies (which I do NOT love) and enjoying some lovely weather. I meant to try and take better pictures of the projects, but I don't think that is going to happen any time soonish, so y'all will have to take my word that they are super fabulous. ;)

A couple of months ago I decided the boys needed new and shorter curtains in their room, and at about the same time found out one of my favorite prints was being reprinted on home decor fabric. yipee!!! So when said fabric went on sale I snapped up several yards to make curtains. Once I got the fabric, I was overjoyed at the cuteness and decided it was indeed perfect for the boys' jungle themed room, and then realized this meant I actually had to sew curtains. Oh dear. I dislike curtains, we have lived in 6 different homes and have had to get different curtains in every single house and I have made 2 sets of curtains. Both of which did not turn out fantastic but did the job. Oh right, and one set was made out of sheets where all I had to do was make a rod pocket. So anyway, I fretted and plotted for a couple months on what to do about the loathed task of actually making the curtains and not just admiring the amazingly cute fabric. Finally, with a little nudge from my Mom I ironed and measured and ironed and ironed and ironed and finally, cut the fabric. :) I must say I am quite pleased with the results!

I know it is difficult to tell, but the print is Alexander Henry's 2 D zoo in blue. I tried a modified roman shade style with the ties shortened and attached snaps to the ties to hold the curtain up. It works wonderful! The boys can't mess with the curtain and I don't have to worry about long ties hurting the boys.

No I did not take the picture while dropping the camera, baby n decided he wanted in on the picture taking fun and this is the pic HE took of the curtain. Sadly, it's better than the one i took!

I decided to whip up a little fabric bin for my knit scrap fabric. I had a laundry basket but it didn’t fit in the corner very well and was difficult to lift out and actually use the scraps!

Beanbag chairs made using the Michael Miller blog tutorial. I didn’t make the inner portion of the beanbag with the stuffing material, I instead made easy to open enclosures so they can be filled with stuffed animals! They hold quite a bit, and they boys think they are great fun to fill and drag around the house. I think they are kinda lumpy to sit on but the boys don’t seem to mind and the dog likes them too. Each the pattern calls for 3 yards of fabric but I did notice that did not take into account directional fabric, so if you have a print that would look odd running sideways then get 2 yards. ;)

Duvet covers for the boys, they coordinate but are slightly different. :)

So there it is all of the dreaded sewing for the house, not my favorite stuff to sew but very rewarding (and useful!) to have it all done.

Annmarie

Dirty Laundry

2009-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

Yup, gonna show ya my dirty laundry today! I know y'all are terrible excited about that! ;)

Haha, see, nothing to cringe about! Just the hampers :) I've been needing to do this for a loooong time, like 6 months. My older hamper tore at one corner and was no longer performing well as a hamper. It was also ugly. New extra large sorters, they are attached with snaps so they are much easier to get off to wash if they get icky from wet towels and gross field uniforms. Not sure how the snaps will hold up so I will just have to wait and see!

A patchy scarf for baby n; I've seen a couple of patchwork scarves for woman on etsy, and had a stack of charm squares that I thought would work well, the reverse is some textured fleece I had leftover from a hat and mitten set.

Completely impractical sewing for February, a lovely aqua blue knit dress. I love this fabric and had to have it when I saw it; I had two maternity tops in similar fabric and was very very sad when I could no longer wear them! The pattern is new look 6774, it's for wovens but it's the style I wanted so decided to make the smallest size and omitted the zip. It was still a bit big so I took in a bit (about 3" total) and it fits fairly well. I used interfacing (cause the pattern called for it) for knits and i really don't love the interfacing, it's very stiff and kinda itchy. If I use this pattern again I think I will omit the interfacing but keep the lining on the bodice.

Close up of bodice, i like that the top actually crosses in front and isn't a mock cross.

I have sewed some other items but they are secret fairy gifts so I can't share them here :)

Annmarie

New patterns, spring sewing!

2009-02-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

Boy do I need to keep better track of the cord thingy to the camera! I have been snapping pics all week and keep meaning to upload them but kept getting distracted in my hunt for it...

First Project: Ava handbag

Lovely pattern, easy with a fun shape and reversible

Close up of the flowers are outlined in gold gild, so it's slightly shimmery

Reverse to organic avocado twill, love this fabric!

Next project is Stella Apron, also by grand revival.

I used park slope material, i think is nice and springy.

sorry the pics are funky i've been messing with the manual settings and need to work on it.

I really like this pattern and LOVE the apron! My only complaint is it calls for prepackaged bias tape and I wanted to make my own and wasn't sure how wide to make the bias tape so i just guessed.

trousers for baby n, these match the kimono jacket, the pair on the left are quite long so they get rolled up. and the pair on the right only have elastic in the back so the front looks nice and neat.

appliqued tee from target for valentine's day. as you can see baby n had already hit the frosted cookies.
Had to share this pic! little i got a toy sewing machine yesterday (which i broke straight out of the box opps) and played with it all night. He needed just two more minutes mama and I walked into the kitchen to see this!

I think I need multiple copies of this one to share with all future girlfriends!

Annmarie

Stash interview

2009-02-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

Over on sewmamasew a stash interview was posted so I thought I would answer a few questions.

What do you usually sew? all sorts of things, whatever strikes my fancy really. clothes for the boys and myself, handbags, stuff for the house.
When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?) with no project in mind, 2 yards for knits, anywhere from 1/2 yard to a yard of wovens, but am rethinking prints for the boys, might need more as they are getting bigger.
Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? err both? i tend to look for something I need but get distracted by pretty fabric.
Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it? YES! Everything gets prewashed the second it comes into the house. nothing worse than having a project ruined due to color running (turquoise based dyes take the longest to rinse out so turquoise and red are the worst offends here) or shrinkage. I didn't prewash stuff in college cause I was broke and ended up with items that didn't work out. Plus, I like folding fabric.
Do you iron it? mheh sometimes. depends on my mood. and wrinkliness.
How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.) color/intended project for quilters cotton. subject matter for knits (i am a geek I reorganized so all the land based animals and water based animals were all together.) by color for solids.
Do you have any special folding techniques? yup just started ruler folding and it's so great! I can actually see what all of the prints are.
How do you store your fabric? On shelves in the closet, 2 bookcases and 2 rubbermaids for the wool and velours. Drawers for scraps and fat quarters
What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? buy boring coordinates and don't worry about having a rainbow of color if there is a color you don't like (not much pink for me!)
When do you say enough is enough? that's tough. when i spend more time picking fabric up off the floor cause the boys were 'sewing' than actually sewing
What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? lined pants for the boys. skirts for me.
Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it!

its from an oop line amy butler charm.

What’s your definition of the perfect stash? when i have enough to sew but not too much that I can't move around!

quilter's cottons and a few solid knits

Knits for the boys

there is more in the closet but it is impossible to take a decent pic of!

Annmarie

Sew Much...

2009-02-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry not feeling terribly creative with words. We all have head colds. Here's the sewing for the past couple days, I am participating in a 'Stash Game' on the sewingmamas.com forum and we get points for sewing (neg points for buying fabric) so I have loads of projects lined up.

A lovely linen spring dress for me. I lurve the style of this dress! It was big (think bag like big, not flowy big) in the torso, so I took it in by adding pleats to the side seams.

I have a cute knit (yeah that one I feel off the wagon and bought!) that would look great as a long sleeve tee under this dress. :)

Dog bed slipcover. Really it's just a pillow, but the dog sleeps on it ;) it's reversible the reverse in the same fabric as the apron I made myself a couple weeks ago.
Toy buckle carrier for baby n, he has been wanting to play with little i's and little i is usually using it, so it was not working out well. Super cute hedgehogs and numbers print.
Grey ruffle capris. This was white interlock that got accidentally stained in the prewash. Sigh. I had been looking for grey fabric and have charcoal dye so there ya go. :D The leg is slimmer than the previous pair I made.

Kimono jacket for baby n, such a fun print! It modish little birdies on flowers.

Reverse of kimono jacket.

Back.

Close up of sleeve/binding. I so enjoy this print!

Medium pressing mat, has 1 layer of insul-bright and a layer of bamboo batting (it's what i had on hand). Perfect size side by side with my cutting mat.

Annmarie

Birthday Presents

2009-02-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

Finished these up last week and, of course, only just found the cord thingy for my camera. It was my friend M's birthday last week and her daughter's 1st birthday the week before that. I couldn't decide what to get them and procrastinated until the afternoon of M's birthday. opps. Bad friend! Anyway, decided to whip up an apron for M and a little sun dress for the baby girl :)

Tunic dress from Ottobre 1/2009, I think it's #14. I think it's very sweet, the gathered bodice was fun for something different.

Emmaline Apron, I cheated again and only used 1 yard for the straps. The print really isn't quite so florescent.

The reverse. This fabric is really thin (like voile weight) so I wasn't sure what I could do with it, works well in the reversible apron!

Better pic of the colors.

Finally finished a pair of knit longies!! After only a year of trying to knit a pair and having sizing and stitches problems, i finished a pair. This was how baby n decided to model them for action pics. The yarn is bulky weight from knitpicks, so they went pretty fast.

Wall-e tee shirt redo. This was a short sleeve tee and the neck was tiny, poor little i couldn't get his noggin to fit. It fit otherwise, so I redid the sleeves raglan and made the neck bigger. Went a head and did long sleeves so he can keep wearing it!

Lots of projects to come :)
Annmarie

First Bloom Spring Hoodie

2009-01-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

Decided I wanted to make a lighter weight hoodie for spring, I found a lovely pattern for basic tees and hoodies for women and men, and decided to give it a shot. It turned out true to size, so hopefully the men's will be true to size and work for Kev when he gets home. The front and back are two different colors, but i think the layered sleeves and lined hood in both colors pulls it together.

The lavender is rib knit and the olive green is interlock both from the local JoAnn's. I decided to add a little embroidery on the pocket, just a vine and some leaves.

I read about using double strands of embroidery thread to make the embroidery stand out, I usually end up stitching the emboridery twice, to make it more noticeable; the double stranding works really nicely! Makes the stitches pop. :)

And the bloom! I knew I wanted a simple lily like flower, I was getting ready to look for clip art shapes when the new kids ottobre magazine showed up and had the prefect flower all ready to be traced!

Little bit closer up of the flower. there are red/orange seedy things in the middle of the flower (double strand of embroidery thread again :).

I actually made NO modifications to the pattern! It was long enough in the sleeves and body length and wide enough in the shoulders for me! I think the only thing I would change is the boxiness in the body, i like things to be a bit more fitted in the waist but it does work nicely for layer.

I also finished a pair of Knickerbocker inspired short for little i, but, well they look a little Pirate of the Penzance to me. Little i declared them 'perfect!' and wore them all day, so maybe I won't change them after all and take a pic once they are out of the dryer.

Annmarie

My first ruffle project

2009-01-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

Yup. Pretty sure. I've been sewing since childhood, but I am pretty sure I have never made anything with ruffles. Actually, I don't even think I own anything with ruffles. Obviously, when I sew for the boys the projects are ruffle free, but I don't really *do* super girly stuff. But, someone was talking about Matilda Jane clothing and I feel in love with the adult ruffle pants. So fun and different (well, for me at least!) that I had to try making a pair (remember no rtw clothing? ;)
I used a medium weight jersey brown/red heathered. So comfy to wear! My worn out pj pants were the pattern again and i just added the ruffle; it was about 1.75 times longer then the hem of my pants. I tried the ruffler/gatherer stitch on my serger but was having a bit of a user error problem. The fabric looked like it was eased instead of really gathered; gotta work on that! I just pinned gathers into when attaching to the pants and sergered (does that make sense?)

I love that baby n is trying to do tree pose too!

Ignore my poor posture I was trying to show off the pants ;P I think if I made them again I would make them a little shorter, like capri length, and a bit slimmer in the leg (that would depend on the weight of the fabric though!)

I've been working on a lint collecting UFO, It's almost done, but my machine needs a break!

Love
Annmarie

Kimono tops and pants, pants, pants

2009-01-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

I finished up some of these projects over the weekend but have finally sat down at the computer. But first. sigh...I have a confession to make. I bought fabric. Not just need to finish a project, need a yard of yellow knit. Nope. Cute stuff. Boy knits at Joann's (on sale). Really, BOY knits at Joann's!! And a cute knit for me online as I needed size tags. January fabric sales make a diet very challenging. Anyway fell off the wagon, but I am back on and planning to participate in stash game on Sewing Mamas Forum. Gotta make sure I know all the rules, but it's just for fun; sew what ya got and no buying new fabric or you lose points.

First project! A little kimono lightweight jacket for little i and coordinating fancy pants. Well they aren't fancy as in frilly and only wear to church, just more involved then the typical 10 minute pants I've been making.
This was marketed as a girl's pattern but I thought it would be cute for my guys too! I did a halfway length, they had a short jacket or knee length jacket and I decided about the middle would be good. I used snaps instead of ties and the fabric is featherweight cord.

The reverse or lining (I made it fully reversible!) The two prints used were cause err I couldn't decide. No really! It had nothing to do with the fact I only bought a yard of each and didn't have enough of either to do the whole top :)

Close up of the prints. I love the animal print!

The back of the jacket. This came together really quick! I can see myself making another one :)

Green fancy pants. From Ottobre umm 1/08, I think? I haven't got the new one yet so pretty sure that's the spring one I've been using. The fabric is a diagonal lime green/regular green twill. Very nice to sew and perfect weight for spring. I did a boo boo and forgot seam allowances (again) and kinda goofed the billows pocket but it turned out pretty nice. Oh and I didn't use a zip like they said to cause, yeah it would be 2.25 inches long. really? all that work for less than 3 inches of zipper? So I added snaps instead and they coordinate with the kimono top. Two
of the tees coordinate with the pants too!

Fixed up Woollybottoms footies. Managed to get my hands on some woollybottoms (made of recycled wool, hard to get around here :) and little i loved them so much he wore holes in the legs where the back of the leg meets the foot! I took off the old feet, attached new ones with an extra long footbed that folds up behind his heel so he hopefully won't do that again. I had to use different fabric, and we picked out the robot fabric so it matches his shirt. He was so nice to show off my machine appliqued suede grippies on the foot.

Desert Pants also from afore mentioned Ottobre. This is such a cool pattern you only need one cut of fabric. Not two like I cut this morning! I added a super huge pocket that I am told can fit a checkbook, keys, 5 cars, a pencil and wadded up tissue paper.

Annnd this would be the second cut of the fabric! I cut it down to baby n's size added a not quite as huge pocket and reverse appliqued a tee I had sitting around. Gotta say reverse applique is fun!! The rocket print was just perfect to reverse applique.

A kimono top for me. I had finished this awhile ago but had some stitches come undone so it's been sitting in the sewing room in the dreaded mending pile. I know the picture is terrible but it's dark brown jersey, has lovely drape.

Last project!! Yes I am showing you my dirty laundry. Sorry about that! An open wetbag for my used kitchen towels and washclothes. I had been putting them in the hamper but it's cloth and would get smelly and gross and I would take apart the whole thing to wash it. Not. Fun. I then just piled the dirty towels in front of the garbage can in the kitchen and that was gross. So this has been in the back of my mind for awhile and I finally got some white PUL to do it. It's in two parts the outer fun fabric is lined and then the white bit is the PUL that can be pulled out and thrown in the wash. I can make more PUL liners as needed and keep the cute fabric cube in the kitchen :D.

Okay that's it. Thanks for sticking with me through all of those projects! I did proofread this but blogger spellcheck isn't working and blogger's giving me fits. Sorry for the poor grammer and terrible spelling.

Lots more to come!
Annmarie

Wardrobe Starter

2009-01-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

I've started working on little i's wardrobe. Got 5 raglan sleeve tees done over the past 2 day and made a nice dent in that stack of fabric he had picked out.

I modified the pattern I had used for the boys' Christmas jammies so it's longer in the body and a bit slimmer.
I decided to start with 2 long sleeved and 3 short. Totally awesome apple print (c &c) with some heathered grey, lime striped sleeves.

This one is a cute dog print (from JOANNS!! why doesn't my joanns carry cute cotton knits?!?! pouts.) that I got in a trade. I am really glad I did contrasting sleeves as baby n looked very pitiful when he saw that the doggies were for little i, I have enough left over to work the print into a top for baby n too!

The rest of the tops. The skulls on the right are a thermal with grey/black stripes and bright green topstitching.

Closer up of the prints. I was so excited to be able to get the robot one on the left, it had been out of print and crazy hard (and expensive) to get so I was jumping up and down excited when I found out it was being reprinted. :D

Managed to finagle baby n into his hudson hat. He decided to ham it up for the camera last night.

What a squishy tassel!

I can do it by. my. self.

Gotta go the boys are watering the plants for me...

Annmarie

Purple Wool Dress

2009-01-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

So about a year ago when we decided to switch to cloth diapers, I discovered that I am not totally allergic to wool :) Very exciting for me because I was pretty much limited to cotton, silk or cashmere for sweaters. Now I have added some love wool items to my closet, as well use wool covers for the boys. (oh right and knit with wool) I had bought some wool jersey to make covers for the boys, but after making some shorties decided I liked interlock and blend wool better. So I had 2 lightly felted yards of jersey to do 'something' with. I decided to try out dip dying and make something for me out of it.

I modified a pattern I had on hand and used a knit dress in my closet for inspiration. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It's definitely unique!

It's slightly see through, so it will be an over other clothes type dress.

I overlapped the straps in the back and added a pleat to help it fit better.

Annmarie

Orange Coats Part 3

2009-01-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Finally, Orange Coats Part 3, my coat. I think it should be subtitled 'I surrender!!!' This coat was challenging from the get go. Had a hard time finding lining material and buttons, ran out of thread twice, machine and fabric didn't get along. So finally, last night I just decided I needed to stop sewing on it. LOL At any rate, it's as done as it's going to be, it fits (oddly that was never a problem!) and will be warm.

I used a classic peacoat shape, mid length with a vent in the back and slit seam pockets. The pattern is McCall's 5525, I ended up cutting a size 12 as McCall's tend to fit very tight in the shoulders for me and it's easier to take in than add fabric! I decided to leave off the belt as I never like having a belt on a coat. I lined it with dupioni silk in a lovely warm brown, I think the color was called gingerbread. I ended up using fabric covered buttons (note: wool suiting is thick for a covered button!) as i didn't find coordinating buttons in the size I needed. The buttonholes...well let's just say the buttonhole feature on my machine is not my favorite feature and I would rather sew 2o zippers any day!!

The hem is even i swear! I think i got it crooked on the hanger when I flipped it to show the back.

Quick run outside for some more self timer shots, coat was warm even in the wind, but my ears were cold!

Phew! Glad this project is finished :)

The trilogy, all ready for our next outing.

Annmarie

Super Bright Domestic Goddess Apron

2009-01-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

Finished project! Got my Amy Butler pleat bodice domestic goddess sew along apron done. Wowza that is a long name for a project. When I first saw the AB apron pattern I thought it was very similar to the Sew Liberated Emmeline pattern, I am happy to say it's not. :D The pleat bodice, waistband, and straps are fully lined and there are cute little pockets on the skirt part. A moderately easy pattern, nothing too tricky, just a bit fiddly with all the pleats on the bodice and sewing the curved pockets. The one thing I would change is topstitching the open edge on the pocket. I also think it would be fun to make it totally reversible; all that would needed is cutting an extra skirt piece and the lining bodice piece in different fabric.

I tried using my self timer for the pictures as the apron was hard to photograph on the hanger.

As you can see, I had helpers! Super bright, fun fabric, mocca mums and lime green apple. It's really super bright!!

I topstitched in pink for something different, and well, I have several spools of pink thread that have been neglected. (do you see that mischievous glint in baby n's eye?)

Yup ignore my face, trying to distract the boys from playing with the camera.

patchwork potholder, i was feeling lazy and just turned and topstitched instead of doing a binding.

ETA: Adding some detail pics ;) I realized something else I would change when using this apron yesterday; I think I will change the side that the towel loop is on, it's on the right and I am left handed so makes using it a bit awkward.

Pocket.

Bodice and waist.

I totally forgot about this! I made some little tags, mostly to sew the waist and necklines of clothes so the guys can figure out which side is the back. Couldn't decide on what to put on them so just went with the blog name :)

I had little i pick out some fabric for his spring wardrobe and the stack is taller than him! Glad he's excited for me to sew!

Love
Annmarie

It's all a work in progress

2009-01-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to have a finished project to post this week but I haven't finished anything. My winter coat is kicking my booty. I had to take a break (and it's 50 degrees again, not feeling so urgent to finish it) as the hem has me all frustrated. Topstitching has been a beast on this coat, my presser foot and the material are not getting along. Anyway, here's a work in progress pic for the coat:

I decided work on my sew along apron instead last night, here's a little sneak peek:

And I've been knitting another Hudson Hat; it's about 80% done and I actually used up some scraps! Guess I better find another biggish project :)

I thought I'd add a fun pic of the boys. They think popsicles are a year round treat; I think they are an outside only summer treat. Our compromise is in the wintertime they are eaten in the bathtub as they are sticky and gross to clean up :D.

Take care, hope everyone is enjoying the new year.
Love
Annmarie

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T22:25:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe a year is up again! I think the years are going by faster and faster. :)

Well, I don't have a project to post, but I wanted to share my New Year's resolution. I don't typically make resolutions, but this year I have something specific and, hopefully, attainable in mind. I am going on a craft diet for 3 months. No new fabric, yarn, etc., with the exception of coop commitments I have already made and notions needed to finish a project. My supplies runneth over and I really want to use it not just stare at it nicely folded or stacked. The second part of my resolution is no buying new rtw (ready to wear) clothing (excluding special items and shoes). So everything for my spring wardrobe will be handmade or refashioned. This is going to be a wee bit challenging because I love spring dresses and skirts and end up with a closet full by June! I also plan on making most of little i's clothes for spring/summer so I shall be quite busy (baby n has soo soo many clothes, lots of wonderful handmedowns!). I've decided to give myself the option of purchasing one handmade item during this time, mostly because Kev will be deployed and I do my own present shopping while he is gone (Valentine's Day is smack in the middle of this time frame ;).

So why handmade only? Why not! I can sew ;) (and knit) I have lots of wonderful patterns, fabrics, yarns, and i tend to love the fit and style of the handmade items I make moreso than rtw, why not stick with what I love? :D

I am adding a pic of my last rtw purchase for the next 3 months: totally frivolous but a steal:

Faux fur lined slippers, very warm and cozy :)

I'll keep the blog updated with my progress and if (really i am not going to ;) I slip up!

Annmarie

The Rest of the Christmas Presents

2008-12-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

The boxes finally arrived so I can post the rest of the pictures!

First off, it seems I owe my Dad any apology, I did not include a note about the pillow I made him and he was a bit confused; sorry Dad, it's not a heat therapy pillow, but a little birdie told me you might enjoy one... ;)

A BOOK pillow for my Dad and matching eyeglass case. As you can see the loose ribbon in the middle is the book marker ;). I got the idea from a sewliberated pattern. Little i chose the fabric, the squirrel print is a lovely linen blend japanese import and the green underside it super soft corduroy. The pillow is slipcovered and the insert is muslin with two compartments. the top half is cotton stuffing and the bottom half is buckwheat hulls to give it a bit of weight.

Housewarming apron for my Mom. Patchwork squares are a charm pack from Moda (Sandy Gervais, Pumpkins Gone Wild) and the reverse is a coordinating print from the same line.

(I am taking a chance here and hoping that my brother without internet won't see this before he gets his present!)
A 'manly' apron for my youngest brother that just moved into his own apartment and coordinating flour sack handtowels. Both projects are from Simple Gifts to Stitch and really are simple!

Hot/cold therapy packs for Kev's parents, sister and bil. Little i chose the print fabric again and they are backed with super velvety soft bamboo velour (I love this fabric!!!). They are slipcovered as well so the flaxseeds don't get washed. The little bag is for my sweet nephew (who just learned how to crawl yay!!), it's a boo boo bag, also filled with flaxseed, it's perfect for kids because there is no worry about their sensitive skin being damaged by ice. (and is fun to throw! LOL)

That's all the gift sewing I did this year. I had wanted to do more, but time was too short. I do have some good ideas for next year! I am currently (finally) working on my winter coat. It was actually cold enough last week to make me think about sewing it! Annnd...I almost forgot! I know all of my sewing friends will understand! :) We rearranged some furniture in the house and all of my machines are in the sewing room! Yay! No more hauling fabric and projects all over the house. I can stand and surge (better for my back than sitting in the kitchen chair) and all of the difficult to store knits have their own storage area. :D

Love,
Annmarie

Christmas Pajamas!

2008-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes late again, I know. Been having fun with the guys and finally uploaded our Christmas pics. I really like having matching pj's for the boys for Christmas cause I never liked the having to get dressed before we could open presents rule. Delayed the fun way too much for me ;) so I decided cute matching pj's are the way to go; still get fun coordinated pics on Christmas, and no delaying the fun! This is the first year I have made the pj's and didn't have any Christmasy fabric but I think they turned out cute. :)

Some lovely brushed cotton (super soft) sock monkeys for the pants. Hemp jersey (cause I can't find off white/cream cotton jersey LOL) tops, with rib knit raglan sleeves. Top stitching was done is red to make it more festive.

Christmas Eve (yup that's really Kev, he's home on R &R!!!)

Christmas morning! The boys had tons of fun opening presents except every time we said something was from, say Grandma Gayle, the boys would say 'Grandma open your present'!!!

I also tried wrapping a few presents in fabric, I was surprised by how easy it was to do! No tape, no cutting off too much paper; just fold tuck and wrap in ribbon :).

Love,
Annmarie

A Birthday Gift

2008-12-27T08:18:00.000-08:00

I can finally share the gifts I've made! This set is for my Mom, she recently picked up knitting and is sitting waiting to close on their new house, so she is a bit bored. So I put together a little knitting kit for her.

Big project bag, small project bag, double point needle holder, a pouch for extras and stitch markers.

The bag all loaded up read to go! I did the pocket on the inside the same as the pocket on the ella carryall, makes a nice big pocket for bulky stuff.

And lastly, some handdyed sock yarn. This was my first attempt at kettle dyeing, I did it in cold water, just cause, and doesn't have a lot of variation, but just a little to make it interesting.

That's all I am going to post today, I got the Christmas packages out late so I am not sure they have arrived to the recipients yet :). Oh! and I haven't uploaded the boys' Christmas pjs yet!

Love
Annmarie

What's with all the knitting?

2008-12-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

What's up with all of the knitting you say? Well I have been sewing but I can't share just yet, those pics will have to wait until 26 December ;)

But in the mean time... more knit hats!

Little i declared once again that he needed a hat. No yellow, no purple, RED is the color of the week, so he decided we had to go to the yarn store as i didn't have any red yarn. (He was actually right on this one, i didn't have any red yarn!)

I got a new pattern I wanted to try: the knox hood by plumknit. Easy to follow directions although my pom pomy bit is a bit...erm... limp.

Reminds me of Dr Suess' Who's. (I had to bribe him to get this picture.)

And a great fun hat to knit: The Hudson Hat by Ky Baby Knits. The pattern uses scrap yarn and was great fun to pick all the different colorways to go in the hat. (earflaps are a little curly as I hadn't blocked it yet.)

oopps bit blurry, the boys were fighting over this one so I think i better make another. I gotta say this is not the hat to make if you don't like weaving in ends there are loads of em!

My first (properly) kettle dyed yarn. I really like how this one turned out! Paton's Natural Marl never looked so good! LOL :)

Love
Annmarie

Uugly Hats

2008-12-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

Little i informed me that the boys need some hats. Yes, we have a basket full of hats but he needed a knit one, 'from you know, yarn mama!" He also decided that it needed to be purple and yellow. So I got out my dyes and bulky yarn and set to work. The results were, well, ugly. I had added a little blue to the mix which blended nicely with the yellow and the purple, but the purple and yellow did not play nice together. They made an uggglllyy gross color of brown.

As you can see the brown is smack dab in the middle of the yellow so it really stands out. I decided to try again and overdyed it with green. The results are better but a little of the ugly brown is still there.

It's not quite as horrid once knit up :) this is another earthly fae pixie hat.

Super cute on...and lost already! LOL so is life with little ones. :)

Another hat from a One Skein Wonder books, Little i decided to walk around for the morning with only one earflap done- and I forgot to take a picture! It was really cute.

Well, I have projects in process, but I can't post them just yet as they are Birthday and Christmas presents and well the recipients read the blog! Maybe I will take some pictures of past projects. :D

Love
Annmarie

oh! I almost forgot! I opened up the comments so anyone can leave a comment (I didn't realize I had it set otherwise-opps), yes Mom that means you too :)

In the Nick of Time

2008-12-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

December is upon us, time for a countdown to Christmas of course. :) What better way then with an advent calender? I picked up a panel last year after Christmas and had been putting off sewing it as it's odd to sew Christmas fabric in May, right? And August really isn't any better, so it got left until last week and finished at about 11:30 last night!

Close up of today's gift, two little snowman snowmen. It's a good thing I have more than one crafty pursuit as I was all out of fiberfill stuff so i ran to my felting supplies and used a bit of wool roving. (I must say wool makes very nice stuffing very soft and non bunchy.) I did cut the loose thread this morning :) I am not entirely pleased with the stitching on the calender, my presser foot/feed dogs are misbehaving, I think it is time to clean the machine.

And another holiday first for me: I made julekaga! I modified the recipe my mom gave me to work in my bread machine as I have never made yeast bread from scratch (outside of dumping ingredients in the bread machine pan). It turned out pretty good for the first attempt, dough was a bit sticky at first and I think I used too much cardamon, but baby n and I ate half a loaf the night we made it. :P

Love,
Annmarie

Assembly Line Sewing

2008-11-16T20:09:00.001-08:00

Little i was in need of some pants (or trousers for those not in the states ;) everything in the stores were either blah or too short in leg so it was time to hit the sewing machine assembly line style. All of the pants are cut exactly the same using the 10 minute pants/one pattern piece method but they are different and fun!

The two pairs on the left are fully lined, the cars print is a totally awesome linen blend from echino and the polka dot are a super soft baby wale corduroy.

Close up of the outerspace and cars prints.

In action! Long enough with room to grow. And no I have not told him Wall-E comes's out on Tuesday, I think it will be more fun for him to see the video in store (and less annoying for me!)

That's all for now, had a sick baby this last week so didn't get too much done. :)

Love
Annmarie

Please don't make me wear it!

2008-11-10T21:02:00.001-08:00

Please? I mean come on mama; who wants to wear an adorable hand knit sweater? Not ME!

:sigh: well I got the vest done and he hates it. bummer. no surprise really the more excited he is about a work in progress the more he seems to dislike the finished product. Maybe he will like it next week.

Better pic of the vest. I added two extra rows at the shoulder as some of the comments said the head opening was too small.

Vest pattern is from warm woolies

A pixie hat to match. Baby n was not the intended recipient by he was willing to sit for pictures.

pattern is super super easy! from earthly fae

I still have yarn left from this project! hmm maybe i will tackle some little mittens!

I forgot to take pictures of Little i's trousers again! Maybe tomorrow :)

Love
Annmarie

Knit Mama Knit!

2008-11-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Waiting for baby n to fall asleep in a carrier so thought I'd share a few knitting pics. :) Most of these are on my projects page on www.ravelry.com (what? you knit? and you are NOT on ravelry?!?! check it out ;), it's has an unbelievable list of patterns for everyone and great project planner. my screenname is sewzenmama!) I know lots of you don't knit so here's my watch tv projects.

Wristlets from One Skein Wonder book. The boys helped 'sew' these so i think i started over at least three times on each wristlet but they turned out pretty nice and are so soft and warm enough for holding the cold steering wheel, but allow me to buckle the boys into their seats (impossible to do with gloves!)

With the leftover yarn from the wristlets I made a little headband that matches. I kinda made it up as I went so I am quite pleased with myself that it turned out. oh and wool blend yarn is sticky enough to stay in my slippery hair!

Work in progress, a little vest for little i, he was so excited to try it on.

it doesn't fit yet mama, sew some more! (everything is sewing lately)

another work in progress. TBW knitalong scarf, it's nice to have a couple different stitches to try out, now the real question is: what color to dye it...

Love
Annmarie

eta...don't know why the pictures were so odd sorry about that! should be fixed now

Dr Wall-E and Bewitching Emmeline

2008-11-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

I am a little late posting this. I was debating about not posting because the project was such a pain in the a**, but not everything can turn out perfectly so without further ado I present...

Dr Wall-E!
(and Mr I... get it?)

This was my first year making a Halloween costume, we had been moving or I couldn't find patterns/fabric/time. It was a paaain to sew. The sizing was aweful, neckline a mess, fabric shrank so I had to cut creatively, gah makes me not want to sew! But little i had a great time and really like it so it was worth the annoyance.

And a fun family shot. I actually spend most of my time with my eyes open, really I do. I did not make the pumpkin costume, but I did do the trick or treat bag!

On to a great pattern to sew!! The Emmeline Apron from Sew Liberated. Three coordinating Halloween Prints (which also shrank a ton- the fabric ended up being 40" wide!) My only complaint about the pattern is, yup that's right, hand sewing the bodice. I really and truely dislike handsewing and it never looks neat and tidy so I machine stitched the neck strap to the bodice.

Fun and funky purple spider print. I will definitely be making this pattern again and I think it could be modified into a cute dress.

I am currently working on some adorable trousers for little i and will enventually make my winter coat (but it is by the same company as the dr costume and I need a break from their patterns LOL).

Love
Annmarie

America's Next Top (3 Year Old) Model

2008-10-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

No really I don't watch that show. Honestly. I don't even like reality tv. except the completely hilarious stuff on the cw :)
The latest project was quite comical from beginning to end.

First there's baby n helping trace the pattern:

Like any good mother I had to take a picture for embarrassing future girlfriends; then, of course, I took him off the table.

Then there was the fact that i ran out the thread with only the pocket and waistband to sew at 7:30 on Saturday night. The fabric store closes at 8 and it takes 20 minutes to get there and 15 minutes to wrestle children into their carseats (no pic of that!)

And the model! Oh what a ham!

uh I....can't....doooo....it.

got it! tada. he was saying the whole time: 'take a picture of me like this. okay i wanna see. no take a picture of me like this. oh how cute!' Well okay!

The hoodie is from ottobre designs spring 08. I must say that I love the incredibly simple directions. They do not show any steps just a small box of a few written instructions and the pieces you need to trace. The hood is elasticised, so drawstrings don't get in the way.

The pants are the wonderfully easy britches and bloomers with a cargo pocket added. I also appliqued a shirt with the robot/skull fabric, but it really looks like every other shirt i applique! oh and it's in the wash.

Not much sewing this week, but hopefully will get some projects done!

Love
Annmarie

Psst...

2008-10-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

...Go check out sewmamasew! :D
Annmarie

One Skein Knitting

2008-10-09T20:41:00.001-07:00

Time always seems shorter than all of the projects I want to complete. Especially knitting projects, so I've been doing some small one skein projects. Ohh and I dyed some more yarn! That's fun and quick too, it's interesting to see how the colors combine and knit up.

Look Mama! I can knit too! This Cascade 220 yarn that I dyed.

Some lovely hand dyed yarn in fall colors, green mostly felted bowl from 101 designer one skein wonder book. I think I need to felt it more my washing machine is extra gentle on clothes which doesn't make felting very easy! Finished scarf. I got Super Stitches Knitting book and have been trying out some different stitches, I did a basket stitch on the ends of the scarf and along the edges.

I am currently working on some black and purple knit babyleggs. Little i had declared that his favorite color is purple so I thought purple and black would be fun for Halloween. Oh and I finished my first pair of socks but completely forgot to take a picture!

That's all for now :)
Love
Annmarie

Orange Coats: Part 2

2008-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Part 2: Little i's coat! I had this done about a week and half ago but it has been hot and humid here. Or warm and humid. or well, humid and humid. Little i has refused to wear the coat but I finally got a few pictures today. :)

A combination of apples and pears for the hood and sleeve lining and owls in trees for the body and pockets. The pattern is Burda 9676, which is yes, a girl's pattern, but I made it work for a boy. :) I modified the pattern a bit and am pretty pleased with the results!

come on already! I want to play!!

Maybe i'll smile, maybe i won't :P
snap studs are orange and sockets green (or i could have that backwards LOL)

Super fun pointy hood.

Just cause they are so cute together!

and i have been playing with dye and wool. this is your sock yarn mom! hope you like it :) it's purplely, blue and a deep chocolate.

Part 3 is my coat, but I need to order the lining material aaaannndd.... I have been asked to be a pattern reviewer for sewmamasew blog! I am very excited! I will be sure to post pics of the project I do :)

Love
Annmarie

Orange Coats: Part 1

2008-09-08T20:37:00.001-07:00

So it seems that fall has descended upon us in the second week of September; last week I was sewing shorts and this week it's wool coats. I found some wonderful orange wool suiting at the local Joann's and decided that it would be perfect for a coat. or three. I didn't really care for any of the other colors so we will be matching this year!

One week ago: shorts and playing in the water! eta: this is NOT our backyard! :) it's a limestone slab in the middle of a creek.

This week, bundled up and enjoying hot 'totolate' (little i's pronunciation of chocolate).

Baby n was first up as he didn't have a coat that he could squeeze into. Eta: I forgot to put what pattern I used! It's Burda 9828 :D

Sleeves are a bit long but better to show off the lining!

Really Mom, I have things to do can you put that away?

Okay, okay if you must...

and since we are talking wool... Little i's craft project for the week. Dyeing wool yarn with food dye. Lovely non toxic, semi easy way for him to play with dye like mommy does.
He choose blue, green, yellow and black (he just learned what color black is). Black dye is interesting because you really never know what you are going to get! The dried yarn has some pink and purple in it. and of course i can't find the yarn to take a picture.

Next up Orange Coats: Part 2 indecisive child ends up with two different lining materials. (dun dun dunnnn....)

Love
Annmarie

Serger Fun

2008-08-31T20:45:00.001-07:00

I got a new serger (where's the happy dance smilie?) any day I can play with a new toy...err I mean tool is a good one! I have been sewing (or is it serging?) away and after figuring out the tension and looper stuff, I've managed a fair number of projects!

Preflat diapers. Like prefolds but the absorbant layer isn't just in the middle, it's the entire width and length of the diaper and much easier to sew. Also, easier (for me at least) to use because the materials I use are knit and are stay snug even when I do a terrible job snappi-ing.

ETA: 17 Nov
The preflats were fairly easy to make. I used my existing prefolds as a template for size. The most important part is the rise, my little guy has a rise of about 17 inches so I decided 14 x 17 would be an ideal finished size. I cut 3 layers of fabric 18 x 15 along the selvage (so the stretchy part is side to side when worn, like a t shirt). The next to skin fabric is either cotton velour or bamboo velour, the absorbent middle was hemp fleece, hemp jersey (did two layers of jersey as it's a bit thinner) and i think one was bamboo fleece. I surged the side seams inside out making sure to catch the inner layer so it wouldn't bunch, then turned and surged to top and bottom. I have found that knit fabrics snappi really well but the bamboo velour is a bit more difficult to snappi but works with pins. I got the idea from PB & E on hyena cart. The doublers on the top part of the stack in the picture where just made from left over material and are about 17" long by 4-5" wide. :)

My attempts at low immersion dyeing on bamboo velour. (Also preflats).

Ten minute Petchy pajama pants. I used a pair of beat up no elastic left pj pants as my pattern. Really only about 10 minutes of cutting and sewing with inturuptions much longer of course!

A two seam shirt, I got the idea from a one skein yarn book the shirt is cut with the center front and back as the seams.

More 10 minute pants for myself and little i :) That's all I have pictures of for now!
Love Annmarie

Dye and Cut

2008-08-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a good dye job and cut to make a girl feel better. What? Haircut? No, no, a baby wrap of course! I am on a wrap dyeing and cutting kick. It's very fun; I can see why people love wraps turned into mei tai, they are super comfy! :)

Before cut and after dye. This was a silver waves wrap that I dyed avocado. In case you are curious wrap cutting is not for the faint of heart. After I made the first cut I had a minor freak out and felt I needed to lay on the couch! But i did finish the job and ended up with:

It's lovely, soft, lightweight and supportive. Oh and I made a detachable hood! It is sweatshirt style, meaning I used one of my sweatshirts as a pattern!

No action pic with the hood, we tried, we really did, but baby n was not liking the hood at all (i only use them when he is sleeping) The hood attaches to snaps that are hidden in a shallow 'pocket' (it's about 1.5 in deep) so they don't annoy us when the hood isn't in use :)

Okay I have more projects to post but getting the pictures situated is annoying me so I will do a new post!
Love Annmarie

A very special baby wrap

2008-07-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to have finished this project! I have been plotting and planning this for months and finally got up the courage to order the items needed to make this project happen.

So silly me, I didn't take a before picture of baby n and me snuggling, ah well, so is life. Anyway, I bought a woven baby wrap to try out wrapping, I did okay with it but ended up tearing the fringe on it, I thought it would be okay, but the tear kept getting worse.

Here's the tear and the coloring of the wrap, it is a very plain khaki/greenish color (the company calls it Aloe) that looks terrible on me (but is snuggly) and has a torn fringe. Bummer. Then on thebabywearer.com, mamas were posting wraps that they had made into mei tais and podegis. An idea formed for me! So I decided to give this poor wrap a bit of a makeover :)

First, I popped it into a dye bath of Carribean Blue (from Dharma Trading Company), absolutely georgous color of greeny aqua blue!

Here's the drying in the sun picture, but that didn't take care of the tear or the fact that I couldn't use it in a back carry (my prefered method of carrying baby n). So I hit the sewing room and...

Emerged a lovely podegi! I added some fabric I love (and I have a matching handbag you might recall) to spruce it up a bit.

No baby carrier sewing session is complete without an 'action' shot! So my special to me wrap is in use once more- yay for sewing! :)

Love Annmarie

Anna Tunic

2008-07-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Been doing a bit of sewing. :) Decided that since I was complaining about not having clothing that fits I should do something about it! This week I sewed up the Anna Tunic pattern by Amy Butler, have used a few of her other patterns and enjoyed the results and I think this pattern is (for the most part) another winner. My only complaint is in the actual paper pieces. I cut pieces left to right, (being left handed has something to do with that I think) and managed to get confused cutting the back body of the tunic as the size lines were not marked close to the edge. I ended up having it about 1/2 an inch too short (I fixed the pattern after, but unfortunately could not fix the cut fabric) and it really affected the fit of the tunic. It sits a little higher on the neck and under the arms. So I guess what I am saying is, double check before cutting!!

I used some lovely fabric from Heather Bailey's Freshcut Line. The belt matches the top and the hem is bias tape made from coordinating fabric from the line.

I have a close up pic of the buttons, but I am not sharing as I have a crooked line of stitching I need to fix! Covered buttons in same material as hem tape :)

Okay I changed my mind, no laughing at the crooked stitches!

On a whole a very easy pattern to sew, I think it definitely needs to be lined as the lining helps the underarm seam lay nicely. If you have never sewed a curve it may prove challenging to turn and top stitch the yoke. :)

And that is basil in the colander, I made pesto last night! YUM!

Just for fun, (yes my eyes are closed my darling husband said this was a great picture and need to take no more, sigh) a pre-walk picture. The new addition is Ginger, we adopted her from the animal shelter, she is a very sweet 5 year old Russel Terrier mix that the boys adore. (and for the babywearers that is Girasol Peacock that baby N is wrapped in. :)

That's it for today, have a super project I am working on and should finish in the next couple of days!

Love Annmarie

Summer Fun

2008-07-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Been busy busy last month, nothing like a tornado, hail storms and power outages to keep life interesting. Oh and a canceled vacation (due to the van breaking down on the side of the road an HOUR from home! :( It's fixed now :) I did manage to sneak in some sewing before we embarked on our failed trip, so now I just get to enjoy everything at home!

First, I gotta brag a minute. This is the first house we have lived in that I can have a garden and well I am excited to say it is moving along quite nicely!

My lovely hibiscus Mother's Day plant. Fab huh? There has been too many blooms to count!

hmm looks like I didn't upload the garden pics I will have to do that later, but you can see part of my herb garden in the background of the hibiscus picture :).

First up is my mess of needles, oh it was bad bad. Couldn't even zip it up!

Much better, all of the knitting needles are nicely nested and organized :D

The crochet needles and project bag. Four skeins of yarn fit in that bag!

Another Amy Butler Barcelona skirt. I picked up this fabric on a whim in a coop thinking it would be lovely and summery. It was perfect for the 4th of July celebrations! I also altered 2 other skirts smaller so I have a few more clothes that fit!

A super HUGE diaper bag, fits everything and then some, and matching wristlet. The beige fabric is linen; the inside (which I didn't take a picture of) is Amy Butler Full Moon Polka dot in blue, coordinates nicely :)

Wetbags (for cloth diapers, wet clothes, etc) the blue owls is hanging and hold at least a day and a half of diapers! the orange is minkee (and the stitching is wonky durn PUL, but it works), the skulls is wipes and spray bag and the blue is for cloth pads :)

That's it for now got a few knitting/crochet projects going- ohhh I gotta take pictures of the yarn swift Kev made me! It's awesome! And I am hoping to make some clothes that fit (lost all the baby weight- yay! ALL of my clothes are too big and falling off of me -boo! and embarrassing!)

Love Annmarie

What Fun:Tag!

2008-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by Made by Petchy! I am feeling the blogging love :)

So Here are the Rules: I answer 6 questions about myself. At the end of the post, I tag 6 people and post their names. I then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read my blog. Finally, I let the person who tagged me know when I’ve posted my answers.

Fantastic really, however, I don't know 6 bloggers so I am going to have the break the rules, and I am okay with that!

What was I doing ten years ago? I was in HIGH SCHOOL! So uhh... I think about this time 10 years ago I was applying for jobs and finishing up the school year, ended up working at a retirement home as a waitstaff and picked loads and loads of strawberries.

Five things on my to-do list for today? It's the end of the day, so I will do the list for tomorrow:
1. Pay bills.
2. Sweep and mop the kitchen.
3. Call Bro and congratulate him on graduating from High School.
4. Check the strawberries to see if any more are ripe (and hopefully beat the rabbit to them!)
5. Do something I love... work on the turquoise shorties for the boys.

Snacks I like? Chocolate, cherries, biscuits (ate them all today for snacks) and i have a really hankerin' for biscotti but I don't have any in the house.

Things I would do if I was a billionaire? Buy a home! Visit all of our family, travel, go to Norway and visit the place of my (maiden last) namesake

Places I have lived? Better sit down this could take a while!
Billings, Montana
Cheney, Washington
Fort Polk, Louisiana
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Columbia, South Carolina
Manhattan, Kansas

I know, y'all haven't heard of half of them huh? :)

Six(err some) people I want to know more about?
Kristin of see mommy sew

Mummybuttons of sewing in my sleep

and Denise! Yes I know you don't have a blog yet but I KNOW you read this and you NEED to start one ;)

off to do my tagging duties!

Annmarie

Birthday Zen

2008-05-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Tis Birthday season around here. We have, I think, 10 birthdays in 2 months between our families! We all know how birthdays can get: easy to go over the top, worry about everything being perfect and not really enjoying the day. Last year we were forced into simple due to the fact we were living in a hotel room! But it was really nice, Little i had fun playing and eating good food, so why not do it again (well not the hotel room part, the simple part!). I kept it real simple, got some yummy pizza, made a simple cake (the decorations on the cake were matchbox cars!) and invited a couple friends, we had a great time playing and eating 'cake? caaakkee? CAAKKKEE!!' as little i was saying all day. Oh and yes I did do a little bit of sewing for him! :)

Little i cooking up breakfast in his new apron and kitchen! The apron is lined with some cute red dotted fabric (you can see it a bit on his apron strings) Ended up being the perfect size for him: his other aprons are too long and the neck hangs low, i used snaps on the 'ties' so it is easy to adjust bigger later on and easy for him to put on/take off.

Little i's cars shirt. He asked for cars for his birthday so he got them! I appliquéd the car fabric onto a ready made tee, makes for a really fast project!

Not his birthday, but since I had some tees ready to appliqué ;) This is his lucky duck shirt. I know there are no ducks on it. When he was getting ready for bed he pointed at his shirt and said duck with a tooth brush in his mouth. No sweetie that's a dog. No mama, me a lucka duck, dog and CAR, one, foo, three, mama me! (in case you don't understand caveman/three year old: I am a lucky duck cause my mama made me a shirt that has cars and dogs and numbers and is just for me!) what a sweet kid :)

All I've finished for now, the warm weather has lured me outside, far away from my lovely sewing machine...
Annmarie

A bit boring, but sewing :)

2008-04-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

I have managed to do a wee bit of sewing, that I can show you, that is. I have been working on secret fairy gifts so no posting pictures-that would ruin the surprise (so do customs labels, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that!)

First off a crazy kid pic.

No Mama, I really prefer to play the piano with my FEET!!

I think I officially have a furniture climber, and I was so lucky with little i...

And on to the sewing :) Coffee sleeves much cuter than those cardboard ones!

Cloth wipes and pocket diaper inserts. The cloth wipes were made with large pieces of scrap fabric and reverse to cotton velour or hemp fleece (nice and soft). The pocket diaper inserts are made with microfiber cloths (from the Walmart automotive dept) and hemp jersey/fleece.

Oh yes! I forgot about this project! I finally download all of the pictures. These were a pair of linen capris that I wore after baby n was born. I lost the baby weight a lot faster than I thought I would so these were ill fitting way before I was ready to give them up. So they got revamped!

Into a skirt! I really liked the drawstring waist and the pockets on the capris so I kept that and cut out some of the bulk and droopy bottom by adding a panel of fabric in the front and the back.

Lovely, light and breezy perfect for summer, if the weather here can decide to play nice!

That's all for tonight hopefully I will be sewing more soon. :)

Love Annmarie

Has It really been so long?

2008-04-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? It doesn't seem possible-we have been so busy! Spring Break, field exercises, nice weather, nap boycotts... So really I haven't been doing much sewing, hence no posting. Would you like to see why?

Let me dig up a few pics for ya:

ah this one is good the I-will-dance-with-Cheerios-on-my-head morning. Sadly he was not the one who spilled the Cheerios all over: it was me. I've really no excuse, well maybe...the coffee wasn't done brewing yet.

The We-don't-like-how-Mommy-has-arranged-the-cabinets day. I believe baby n was the instigator in this little operation.

And finally, the cabinets have eyes. Sticker eyes, at least they can come off!

I did manage to get a few projects done, a charm pack/patchwork apron for me and a bib for baby n. Oh yes, that's right, baby n had a birthday!!! Happy Birthday sweet boy!

This is the pre-spaghetti and lemon cupcake feast. Okay that's it. Well that is all I have pictures of for now. Happy Tax day!

Love Annmarie

Bottom o' the pile

2008-03-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to do some 'bottom of the pile' sewing. You know the stuff that has been sitting around fooooreeevvver. Well maybe not forever, but definately has been languishing only waiting for me to cut it up. So I completed not 1 but FOUR projects. The boys have conveniently decided to nap at the same time this last week, so I devoted this time to sewing. Ask my brother, he has been visiting and I think we had leftovers almost every night! LOL!

First up:
A very well used tank top, this was for recycling, reusing sew a-long. It has seams coming undone, but on a whole, in pretty good shape.

After! Added some fabric on the hem to finish it and add some pizzazz. I left the side open because the tee is stretchy and the print is woven, so not stretchy. :)

And the back! I love the green tree, I just did a straight stitch around the edge in hopes of the fabric fraying a bit and looking leafy.

Another Amy Butler Swing Bag. This is the BEST pattern for beginners, in my opinion, of course! Only two pattern pieces to complete the bag and super easy to follow directions. I have had this fabric for a bit, all paired up and ready to go, when I grabbed the orange dots to use in the bird bags from the previous post. I had juuuust enough to cut the swing bag, but man was it close. So I ended up getting three projects out of one yard of fabric!!

And on to the babywearing stuff:

This is a pouch that I had the fabric for a while, but just hadn't got around to making. The brown fabric is embroidered and has little sequins sewn on. Pouches are really easy to sew, but they have to fit, otherwise are a pain to use. This is the second pouch that I have made that fits, so I am pretty darn excited!!

This fabric hasn't been sitting around, but Kev got it this weekend for me so I would have something to do while he was gone! :D What a sweet guy!

This is buckle tai, like a mei tai but has buckle instead of long straps. Kev actually really likes this print and wanted a blue carrier so this is technically his. But I might not be able to give it up!! I ended up attaching the straps at the waist instead of the sides of the body of the carrier, because I was up sewing waaay too late and forgot about attaching the buckles. It worked out pretty good for an oops!
Last but not least I made a slipcover for the avocado mei tai. The reverse (red side) is super soft minky, very snuggley for the weather we have been having!

Whew! I am knackered now! Sorry if the pics and text are spaced funny, I am having a difficult time adding pictures and text and stuff keeps going all wonky.

Love Annmarie

It's in the Bag

2008-03-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

That's right! The lovely minky and birds hint...it's a bag. Actually I made two bags from the Amy Butler In Town Bags pattern. Very nice pattern easy to follow and the results are pretty good (to toot my own horn). If you sew or want to sew, I can't tell you enough how much I enjoy Amy Butler's bag/purse patterns, all (that I have tried) are easy to follow and geared toward beginners.

I know what you are thinking, 'didn't she say she's making something for little i? Isn't he a boy? A bag/purse for a boy?' Well, he need to carry stuff like crayons and paper, or his little cars. And he apparently cannot just have one for each hand, nope he's gotta bring them all. He has been using mine, and well, I want them back!

In his favorite color: orange!

I thought if anyone can pull of a minkee lined bag it's a two year old!

I think he likes it!

I stablized the minky with some lightweight interfacing, it is stretchy, not a feature I wanted for this project, and it helped control some of the shedding.

Here's the one for me! Yes you are seeing yet another fabric covered button... and a hair tie, I was feeling lazy and the tie matched the bag so I used it for my closure.

The inside. There is another pocket on the other side too.

Little i, my official bag tester. In case anyone needed to know, a legos combine fits in this bag!

The corners of the bottom of the bag aren't perfectly crisp, but they are pretty good. Unfortunately, this bag doesn't fit all of the usual items I need when going out with two boys, but it will be nice for a day out by myself. :)

The whole lot altogether. The one on the left I did awhile ago, but I wanted to include it as it is the same as little i's bag. But looks so different (amazing what different fabric does for a project!)

Love Annmarie

Oh and happy March! March Madness will be upon us shortly!!

Parade of Unrelated Items

2008-02-28T18:22:00.001-08:00

Who doesn't love a parade? Especially one that involves pictures!

First there were these.... (cloth books)

and then there were these... (patchwork apron and potholder)

And then this... (mini ironing mat and iron, of course)

So why am I showing you all of these totally unrelated projects? Because they all were to learn skills. The first, to fussy cut and decorative topstitch, the second the piece patchwork together and practice binding, and the third to practice binding some more! LOL

All of this is to complete this project:

Baby n's quilt! No, no it's not done, but I thought I would show you a little peek :). I still have to get the quilt batting, thread, and needles to finish. It wasn't as intimidating and scary as I thought it would be. I decided to practice all of the quilt making skills a little at a time so it wouldn't be totally overwhelming. The hardest part was figuring out how to make the binding look nice. I could do a functional binding, but honestly they didn't look the greatest. Now I am confident the quilt will look pretty good when it's done. Just gotta go to the store!

What am I working on now being as the quilt is on hold? It has minkee and birds and is for little i :P

Love Annmarie

Mama, i can sew too!

2008-02-24T21:36:00.000-08:00

Little i has taken a liking to my sewing stuff, so santa brought him his own sewing materials. Anyone had these cards as a kid? I did made me so happy to find them and share them with my kids.

Little i proudly displaying his 'i did it, i diiiid iiit' sewing.

Wait how does this work again?

How is the quilt coming, you ask? Very well! I have about half of the fabrics cut and then neglected it all weekend because I had to test out my new bamboo crochet hook!

Love Annmarie

Cute Skirts Skirt

2008-02-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

Another finished project. 'sigh' really and truly nothing better. Today it is the Cute Skirts skirt from Favorite Things Cute Skirts pattern. I don't know what it is, but I simply am unable to call it a cute skirt, it is the cute skirts skirt. Anyway, I made the panel skirt (has 8 panels), it has a flat front, and elastic back so no zippers for the zipperphobic (Mum!). This was a fairly easy pattern to follow, but perhaps not the best for someone who has never sewn a skirt. There are no lay out directions for cutting fabric and no mention of hemming the panel skirt (the flounce variation mentions a 1/8th inch hem but not the panel directions). Not a great problem for me, but someone new to sewing might get confused and frustrated.

Isn't it nice and spring-y (can you tell I like nice weather!)? Now only if it would be nice enough outside to wear it!

I was wearing a sweater that did not show the waist at all- it lays nice and flat in the front.

And the back is gathered and fuller looking.

So can you see where I was short fabric? If you can't tell then I won't! All in all, a fun pattern to sew and I think I will definitely make it again.

And now because it IS so cold outside I made baby n some crochet longies. Longies are usually wool and used with cloth diapering but I think they are incredibly cute just for kids to wear. But I cannot use wool (have skin allergies), so these were made using worsted weight acrylic yarn that I had laying around the house and US 8 hook (I tend to have a loose tension so need a smaller then recommended size). I crocheted in the round and increased in the bottom area. They are by no means perfect but I did them in one evening and they have survived 2 meals, 8 trips around the house, and 1 grocery shopping trip!

In completely unrelated events: when making bread in a bread machine over night, one must press the start button to actually have bread for breakfast and not a pile of water, butter, cranberries and flour. Umm oops. :)

Love Annmarie

Shh...it's a secret

2008-02-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post my current project-it's super secret. Well, not a secret what I am making, it's a baby carrier, but a secret at to who will receive it. So sorry, no pics, not going to ruin the surprise :). But I will show y'all upcoming projects.

There. Pictorial evidence that I have these craft books. So now I really have to do a review of them! I was thinking at least one project from each and an overview :). Except the business ones, there are no crafts to do in those! At least that is what I've been telling myself I had to do before I could buy anymore craft books!

If you guessed quilt for quilt month you would be correct. It's okay that I start the quilt in Febuary, i don't necessarily have to finish it, right? It's for baby n, so my plan is to finish by his first birthday in April. (One year in April?!?! It can't be a year already!)

Yup it's another short post-gotta go make sure the boys are eating their snack and not decorating the floor with cereal.
Love
Annmarie

Crochet Zen

2008-02-12T20:40:00.001-08:00

Oohh ooh! I have completed my first crochet project following a pattern. Which is pretty great considering I have been working on a baby blanket for... 2 years? 0r 3? hmm I think it was at least 3 moves. Anyway finished project- the crazy easy urban soft newsboy cap on etsy.com (the one linked is sold but she lists more ;) It is a great pattern and honestly, it's easy. I even learned how to do a double half something or other that I have never understood. Uses the absolute biggest crochet hook ever: size Q, which makes it all the more fun for some reason. I didn't quite get the the stitches tight enough on the crown but I managed to shrink it just right in the dryer.

And here it is. The most beautiful color of blue: which is extra special to me because it was one of our wedding colors! I think I might add a sweet little red flower or button w/a cream center and have all of our colors.

Little i has already aquired it as his own, so I guess I should try making the child's sized cap!

Now for the zen. Little i's work, of course.

Don't know what you are looking at? That would be the snack food from the snack food bucket (which is on the right) in the boys' bug catcher net. Apparently he wanted to catch a little snack. and the three toys behind the net- yes they have tiny portions of trail mix in them. Makes me giggle every time I see this picture. The snacks ARE in a child proof cabinet- but little i can open it :O!!

That's it for today.
Love
Annmarie

Hoping for Spring

2008-02-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone enjoyed Super Fat Tuesday. We did, made some red beans and yes, yes, I yet again forgot to make the rice! Everytime. Good thing beans can just simmer and cornbread can warm. :) I completely forgot to thank my wonderful friend Denise for loads of info on Louisiana and Cajun cooking: Thanks girl!

Anyway, I didn't mean to go missing for over a week, but the internet has been sick. Did anyone elso notice? I couldn't get anything to work properly: email, picture uploading, forum posting, you name it, broke. Now it's better so I am back with a few pics while we wait for warm sunny spring days. How about a little bouquet...

of buttons!! Yes really! Now that I have long enough hair for baby n to pull, I have two options: chop it off again and be called 'sir' constantly, or put it up in a ponytail. I opted for ponytails, but wanted something a little fun, and as you can see I now have lots of fun hair ties!

A lovely mama on a forum I frequent mention fabric covered button kits. I had a deep aversion to fabric covered buttons (like some people avoid zippers) after a particulary scarring 3 hours spent fighting a covered button, which ended in my declaring defeat.

Ahh but it needn't be this way. Thanks to a nifty little tool kit:

Yes it is called a fabric covered button kit- I know how original, but whatever you do- don't get the half ball covered buttons that says no tools. Believe me when I say it is worth the extra .70 odd cents for the kit. That's what you need at the left. The tool kit: the white base and blue pusher, the back and front of the button. A paper template cut twice the size of your button, ponytail holder, thread and needle, and pretty fabric.

This is another one of those projects that is great for using scraps or even swatches.

Cut your fabric using the template and place inside the base, then place the button front inside that (shown at right). Tuck the fabric in, place back in the base and use the pusher to pop the back on. That's it! A nice smooth button with no fabric wrestling and fighting slippery metal!

Sew the button securely to the ponytail holder and volia...a pretty for your hair!

The nice part is most of the sizes, they run from 7/16th to 1 1/2, have refills, so hang onto the base and pusher. They are usually found on the notions wall next to other sorts of fasteners and not with commerial buttons.

Here's one 'in action':

It's another one of those self portraits, so again, forgive the quality-I really must have Kev take pics when he is home and awake!

So how about making yourself a little springy bouquet? They don't necessarily have to be ponytail holders: buttons also work as a brooch, on a purse or wristlet, or liven up a bit boring skirt. It really is easy as sewing a button!

Annmarie

Mardi Gras! Let's Party

2008-02-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

In honor of Mardi Gras next week, I thought I would share a red beans and rice recipe. When we lived in Louisiana, I got to hang out with some great ladies that were excellent (southern) cooks. They kept telling me that their really is no recipe- you just do it. Well after many phone call and conversations I finally got the whole process down. Then when people asked me for the recipe, I would say there really isn't one! But I finally got it written down for a friend and decided others might like it too. This requires a little bit of planning and work the day before, hence why this post is so early. ;)

First a little history (what fun would it be w/o a history lesson?). I was told that Red beans and rice was usually made on Mondays, as that was laundry day. The pot could be on cooking all day and required little work, unlike the labor and time intensive washin'. The ingredients were easily found and fairly inexpenisive. Celery, onions, and green peppers are 'the holy trinity' of Louisiana cooking, but not everyone likes them. Which is okay, you can leave something out if you don't like onions or the price ($4 each!?!?!) of peppers.

Mardi Gras is celebrated all over in Louisiana (as well as a few other states), not just N'awlins (that is New Orleans, to those of you who may not know). People very often have the day off from work and school and celebrate. Families and friends will enjoy crawfish or crawdads (crayfish), creole, red beans, and jambalaya, just to name a few. The king cake is the finisher of the great meal, decorated in purple, green, and gold (or yellow), and a small item (a plastic baby, but we used a toy soldier army man) is placed in the cake. Whomever gets the item is king for the night and gets the king beads (usually just bigger and flashier) and privileges (can't remember what now!). Okay history part done.

Ingredients
1 bag of dried red beans (usually about 12-16 oz)
1 onion
1 green pepper
several stalks of celery
Creole seasoning, We use McCormicks but there are several brands available
1 package of Sausage: If you like it and it is available, andouille sausage OR kielbasa sausage (this is what we normally use, even when in LA)
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce, like Tabasco
Water
Rice, white or of your liking
Biscuits (I cheat and use refrigerator ones)

THE NIGHT BEFORE:
yes this is in bold so a body doesn't think this is a meal you throw together 30 min before you want to eat :)
Sort, rinse and soak the beans- if you MUST, you can use the quick soak method, but I am tellin you it AIN'T as good!!

The day you want eat:
In the morning, rinse your beans again and layer in your pot (on stove or crock pot) beans, some water, creole seasoning, hot sauce, keep layering until all the beans are in the pot. I don't really know why it is done this way verses dumping the beans and then adding the seasonings, but it seems to work better (maybe, perhaps, because there are too many beans to stir properly) Have on about medium heat (don't want the pot to boil over but need the beans to cook)

Dice your vegetables

About lunch time, depending on how soft you like your veggies, add your diced veggies as well as a little water if needed and some more spices. Be sure to check and stir your pot.

Sometime in the afternoon: the beans should start breaking down and thickening at this point, DO NOT add water, you want a nice thick chili-like mixture by dinnertime. Taste to see if you need more spices.

About a half an hour before you want eat: Chop up sausage add to mixture, heat thoroughly. Make rice. I know making rice should be a given, but I always forget!!

Dinnertime: throw on your beads, grab your mask, play some cajun or country music and enjoy a big bowl of red beans served over rice! Yum, Yum!

Notes:
-There are no measurements for spices because it is really to taste. Little i looooves red beans and rice so we go a little easy on the hot sauce and add ours at meal time.
-Yes it really need to cook all day. Or you can eat rock hard beans w/no flavor. If you are home all day, like on the weekend, you could throw everything in the pot and go outside and play or read a book, build the 25th lego tower of the day, whatever you do at home, and then reheat on the stove for about an hour the day you want to serve it. (I won't tell, I have even done this a time or two!)
-Sometimes I have a hard time using the crockpot to cook the beans.
-This make loads of food, and freezes well.
-If I have friends over, I will make jumbalaya too, but I just use the recipe out of the Betty Crocker cookbook, So I won't add that recipe!

Hope y'all try something new and laissez les bon temps rouler! (let the good times roll!)
Annmarie

Finally posting!

2008-01-29T21:12:00.001-08:00

I started this blog about 2 weeks ago and got writer's block on the first post! I didn't know where to 'start' and what to say, but I am done procrastinating, I will write like I talk and start with recent projects. I decided to do a blog because my parents keep asking me to send pics to family and friends of the stuff I sew. Well, I didn't want to clog up everyone's email so I thought this might work better. :) If y'all enjoy seeing how I spend my 'me' time fantastic- if not no worries.

So why sewzenmama? Well my boys enjoy 'helping' me (they are 2.5 and 9 months- I think I need to add that info to the profile!) when I craft, sew, crochet, etc. Paper gets crumpled, yarn strung all over the living room, and fabric is used as capes, chewed on, or piled on for nap time. Somedays it is sweet, and somedays it is trying! That would be a bit of the zen: relax, chill, it will be okay-yarn can be rewound (thanks to a wonderful husband), paper will just stay put away for the time being, and fabric can be found and repressed.

The other day I was sewing and little i (that's the 2.5 year old) comes in to watch. I ask him if he needs anything:

-No Mama

-Okay, do you want to play?

-No mama, sew, (with lots of head nodding) sew zen mama.

-Well it looks like he helped me with my blog naming problem!

Ah and I suppose I should include a pic or two being as this is the whole point:

This is a Mei Tai (MT) baby carrier (aka Asian Baby Carrier or ABC). Little i was kind enough to help me model real quick (with only a small bribe ;)). This is a self portrait with a timer so forgive the quality please.

And this is my first endeavor into anything remotely quilty (is that a word?) A reversible patchwork apron. I used a charm pack for the patchwork side, but it would be a good way to use up scraps (which is probably why people make patchwork quilts! LOL)

And the reverse. I put my bias tape maker to

good use for the trim. I think I am about ready to tackle baby n's quilt for Febuary quilt month (well maybe I will have to make another apron just to be sure!)

And I haven't forgotten: I will do the tutorial for the guitar pick holders (or wallet?! haven't decided yet), just as soon as I get some feedback from Dad and Bro (HINT HINT) and maybe do a few reviews of sewing patterns and books i like :)

Okay it is late and it took me way too long to post this cause I accidentally deleted my pics four times.

More soon. Love

Annmarie