What Fun:Tag!

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

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 :)

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?

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

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