Slouch Bag

Just finished sewing this cute bag from Ali Foster's sewing pattern, Slouch Bag.  Isn't it cute!  I visited my husband's country last fall in which we visited  many gardens and you would see really cute peacocks. This  fabric reminds me of my trip. The only changes  I would make to this pattern is the strap; it needs to be longer.

Need a Little Help from Sewers & Crafters

I am in need of buying an iron that really works! Right now I am using  Black & Deck Steam Xpress.  It's OK but I want something better.  It doesn't really get wrinkles or creases out of my fabric without having the cloth pretty damp.  Since I'm sewing, I need an iron that can stay on all the time.  I asking you guys who use their irons for sewing or crafting to please help me out here!  Do you have an iron that you can recommend?  What is it that you love (and not love) about your iron?  How much did it cost you? Have you tried a professional iron?  I have gone to amazon and looked at several but when I look how people rated their irons & their experiences, I'm scared!  So any help is appreciated.  If there is an iron I should stay clear of, please let me know that too!

Here's what I want in a new iron:

• Plenty (and I really mean A LOT) of steam with plenty of steam holes
• An iron that doesn't spit back
• the option of auto off but also leave it on all the time 
• I want the iron to be able to get out wrinkles and creases (is there an iron that can really do this, I haven't bought one yet)

If you can think of other things I should consider, please let me know.

(Picture from Black & Decker's website.)

Fabric that I Love

Sometimes you pick a piece of fabric that you love and when you go to show it to your friends they look at you funny.  Well, this is one of those pieces that may make you do a double take.  I bought it at a discount SAS warehouse in Tucson.  If you are my friend, I understand your puzzled look!  So, without writing more, here is one of my favorite fabrics:

It was not my intention to use a Halloween theme.  I am simply making myself a purse!  (The fabric serves as the lining in my purse).  I really can’t tell you why it tickles my fancy only that is does.  It might just be that I deal with bones for a living.  Or it might be the red & white fabric or the time period that it depicts (anybody remembers the skeleton period?). I’m not altogether clear why I like it; just that I do.  Have you ever picked up a piece of fabric or an article of clothing and just knew you liked it, no matter what others would say about it or what your choice says about you?  

The fabric is Alexander Henry “Midnight Pastoral” .  I find that a curious name for this fabric.  I wonder what his inspiration was?

Sewing: Peek A Boo bags

I just finished making these cute bags:

Peek A Boo 

I found the tutorial for making these cute bags at Make it Perfect. I could think of a hundred uses for these type bags that I just started sewing.  A co-worker is having a baby boy next month and I thought these bags would make a great baby shower gift.

The Process:

Although I'm not a fast sewer, they are easy to make.  I'll have to time myself to see how long it takes me.  Usually, if I'm making more than one item of the same design, I like to do all the cutting at one time.  So it's hard for me to judge how long one bag takes me.  I used a thinner clear vinyl than what Toni recommended because it's what I had on hand but when I run out of it I'll purchase thicker vinyl.  

Aren't they cute... I'm going to make some for my upcoming trip to Europe.  They might help me keep my life organized!  Truly, a wishful thought!  I also want to try making some with Velcro closure; I'll post my results when I make one.

 I want to say a big "Thank You" to Toni at Make it Perfect for sharing with her readers her sewing pattern/tutorial. This makes her an awesome lady!  She also has an etsy shop, go check it out and see if she's made something you can't live without!  All her items are so cute; I can't wait till I have a new little one in our family (my brother is having a baby soon) to shop in her etsy's shop.  

What would you use these bags for? 

Recent Sewing Projects

It has been forever since I shared with you what I've been sewing.  When I first started this blog, it was supposed to be about sewing and I feel a bit of guilt that I haven't even really talked about sewing.  So here are a few things that I've sewn lately...

I loved playing with Paper Dolls when I was little.

I guess I really never outgrew this stage!

I saw a lot of Red & White Flower Prints in Hawaii
and this reminded me of my trip.

I made this when it was really cold outside and I needed
to make something that reminded me that Sunny Days
are ahead.

I have made several of these bags and love them.  It's a book
bag that can be used for everything.  I use it for traveling
all the time...

... and it's reversible!

I'm thinking of adding these items to my Steer Crazee Etsy Shop.  What do you think?

My Progress: Sewing

 My Pillow is Finished!!!

This is the pillow I made for the pillow swap at Modified Mix.  I have never made a pillow so I was a little nervous about making one for someone else.  When I read about the pillow swap, Jamie, the organizer of this pillow swap, said this was the time to try out any skills you wanted to work on.  So I said, "What the heck, not only will I make a pillow, I'll try adding some embroidery to it" and I did!  Originally, I had a totally different pillow in mind but when I looked at the many different colors of fabric purchased, I decided against the original design (although, I still plan to make this pillow in the future).  However, I did incorporate the back of the pillow just like the one (in the original design)  in this picture: 

(picture by Moda Bake Shop)

 I think I got scared when I saw that the fabric I purchased just wouldn't look right for this pillow so I made up the design of the pillow you see in the first picture.

Here's a look back at the fabric I thought would work (but didn't):

  

I'm sure that I will do another pillow swap and will become more adventurous with my design.  As far as the pillow I made,  I wished I had used a dark solid blue for the closure.  Even though the dots are the same color as in the outline of the flower (I think  it is) it just looks a little weird when I look at the finished pillow.  Hopefully, the person who gets this pillow will know it may not be perfect but it certainly was made with love!

Opps!

On my last post entry, I wrote that the name of the pillow from Moda Bake shop was BLOOM...well...I musta not had my readying glasses on my face...cause it's not called BLOOM, that is actually Roslyn Mirrington's blog!  The pillow is named Aster Manor Pillow.  I'm sorry Roslyn that I opps!  It's a really nice pillow.

Amy Butler's Fabric with a Moda Bake Shop Pattern

I LOVE fabric!

It's really not a secret!  My husband has known for quite a while. 

What do I love about fabric?

EVERYTHING!

• The Color
• The Texture
• The way it feels in my hands
• My imagination of what to make with the fabric 
• The smell of the fabric 
• The design of the print

So in March, I signed up to be in my first pillow swap over at  

Modified Mixed

This brings me to why I'm talking about fabric!   I went to one of my favorite fabric/quilting shops.  Really, any store that sells fabric is my favorite shop!  I needed to pick out fabric for my pillow swap.  It's one thing to pick out fabric for yourself but  to pick for someone else, it makes you pause.  You want to give them the very best.  You want them to love it. So I was very choosey.  I knew that the pillow I was making was for someone who likes blues and purples.  She didn't have any suggestions as far as style.  I spent a good hour just looking and feeling the fabric.  I narrowed my choices down to 4 bundles of fat quarters.  Each one had something I loved about them; whether it was the color or the print.  So narrowing it to just one was really hard!  It's like a kid in a candy store... so many choices... how does one decide?  Well, finally the winner was this beautiful bundle of Amy Butler's fabric from her Love Collection.  I love the bold print and the color selection. 

Aren't these a beauty:

The fabric has both purple and blue so I hope she likes my choice.  Yes, the print is bold.  I hope she likes bold!   I also picked this fabric because of the type of cotton used to make it.  It's just beautiful. 

So without further ado!  Let me show you the pattern I'm using for my pillow:

  
This is from Moda Bake Shop.

Roslyn Mirrington made this beautiful pillow, named BLOOM.  She was so kind to put a handy dandy tutorial together for people like me! I need women like her so I can sew.  I wish I could say that I'm creative but sadly I'm not.  I depend on these creative ladies to provide me with ideas and patterns.  They have a vision that I don't so I need them! Now, with that being said, I can take their creations and make it my creation with flair!  I look forward to see what I come up with.   Please come back here in two weeks, I'll have my finished project:  "Bloom" pillow made with my wonderful, colorful  Amy Butler's fabric.

Sewing Project

Current Sewing Project:

Lately, I haven't posted much about sewing projects I'm currently working on so here it goes:

 I'm still working on The Princess and the Pea Blanket.  Here's a picture of what it looks like right now; as you can see I still have some sewing to do!

In the picture above you can see I have a ripple going through the entire quilt top but it can't be fixed.  I just have to live with it and hope in the end it won't be too noticeable. 

I still need to embroider eyes and mouth to the princess'  face and add a ruffle around the edge.  Then, I'll sandwich the top quilt, batting, and bottom quilt together. 

Here's a picture of the ruffle I'm adding:

I ran into a small problem when creating the ruffle.  I never took into consideration that it would be really hard to pull two simple treads to form the ruffle when you have about eight yards of material!  Sometimes, I feel like a ignoramus!

Of course, this is what happened to my thread when trying to create the  ruffle:

BROKEN THREAD (TEAR, TEAR :(  ...)

So, now I'm going to hand baste with embroidery thread and make the ruffle.  I hope this works.

The end product is supposed to look like this:

By Angela Yosten at
Moda Bake Shop

Angela Yosten created this fabulous tutortial.  I fell in love with this blanket and knew it would be perfect for my friend's first grandchild (who happens to be a girl!)

I also want to mention that there are so many great tutorials and ideas over  at the Moda Bake shop .  If you haven't checked it out, please do.  My new blogger friends who don't sew should too because  I plan to choose my next Moda project on their advice and then have my first giveaway!  They might just win something they like.  So please head over there and give me some ideas! 

Princess Pea Blanklet

This is the latest project I am working on that's listed on my "TO DO" sewing list:  I'm making the Moda Princess Pea Blanket.  Here's a picture from the creator of this very cute blanket, Angela Yoston:

I'll take a picture of the one I'm making later.  I couldn't find the honeybun she used so I chose something different from Moda's fabric but just as cute. Also, I used a Jelly Roll.  I'll write about it later.  Just wanted you know... I'm busy, busy, busy  working on my projects. 

What a Great Day

Well, I LOVE progress... today I finished Karin's pajamas.   Sometimes I procrastinate, but not today!  I even mailed them!  Don't they look cute?

My honey is home so I wanted to do something nice for him.  He's always doing such nice things for me like making coffee every morning when he is home.  Well, today, not only did he make delicious coffee, he went and had my tires rotated!  I'm a very lucky woman.  I want him to feel just as lucky so today I got the bread machine out....

... and after the lovely bread machine did it's magic, this is what came out.....

My husband is from the Czech Republic.  I have been lucky enough to visit his country twice.  While there, I got to eat many pastries.  The one above is  called Kolace.  Fortunately, I was able to find a recipe close to what they make in Czech.  Mine turn out more like a bread than a pastry but he's happy with my results!  Kolache have a sweet surprise in the middle.  Mine are I filled with poppy seed filling but you can use jams too.

My Progress

Well, I'm working it!  I had a goal to complete many unfinished projects by the end of February.  I didn't get them all done but I"m happy with my progress.  If I look back at the posts about completing them, I still have some to do.  However, I have the following projects finished: 

1.  Bedroom curtains hemmed and rehung.
2.  Tote bag for Cindy, my sister.
3.  Tote bag for baby shower gift.
4.  Muslin made, mailed, and returned for niece's pajama bottoms.
5.  Skirt for niece, Karin.

Baby tote bag







So, I need to stay committed for the following:

1. Bedspread needs 2 seams sewn.
2.  2 pairs of PJs.
3.  Tablecloth for living room.

I would like to add four more projects:

1.  A cloth doll for niece, Laura.
2.  Baby blanket for friend's daughter.
3.  Blanket for son, Mathew.
4.  PJs for me.

Of course, I need to get this done in between ALL the rest of the things women do!!!  Piece of cake!!!!

My First Sew Along

I'm excited!!!

I am going to participate in my first sew along.   Here's where to go if you want to be a part of the fun.  You don't have a know how to sew, pick any project...please join the fun

New Apron

After getting excited about entering in a give away, I was inspired to sew my niece an apron for her birthday. I plan to make a matching apron for her sister t00! It took me about 1/2 day to sew. You'll probably noticed my mistake right but I decided to leave it and learn again from my mistake!!!! The pocket material should be running vertically to match the lining of my apron but oh well....I doubt a 4 year old will notice or care! She'll be excited to get a package from Auntie Kim!

Sewing Projects

This was my very first sewing project. Well, it's really not my very first one. While in high school, my first experience in sewing was not that pleasant!! But, I have heard that from many women that they too had a bad experience so I don't count it!!! The great news....I still wanted to learn to sew...I just needed to let go of my history with sewing. I don't believe this was a bad start! This blanket was made for my niece and her stroller. It was the perfect size for a toddler.