Bottom o' the pile

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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