Secret projects and sewing parties!

I had the most fun this week with some crafty friends! We joined forces (Form of a sewing party!) to make laptop/ipod cases. Mine is a project that was meant to be done at Christmas for my sister, which was foiled by no power due to 13 inches of snow. Finally I'm getting my late-present list checked off! I wish we had taken a picture of our sewing area - it must have looked pretty sweat-shop-y to an outsider and if anyone was listening in, I am sure they were offended more than once with the sailor language. We'll photograph (only - no audio!) next time.

For the laptop sleeves we used this free patten, which turned out great! I had planned to have all my pieces cut out before I went, but that didn't happen. Even without my cutting done, I was pleased at how quickly this project went - I started from scratch and left with a finished laptop sleeve - all in about 3 hours! I had my sister send me the measurements of her laptop, so I hope it fits well. I'll let you know when she gets it! We're still looking for ideas for our next group project - any suggestions? The bag is shown with my husband's laptop, which is a little small for it.

I also recently made a top-secret project that I wasn't able to post about (being top-secret, obviously) but now the cat's out of the bag! Well, Amber had her birthday. :)
I was in on the secret with her fiance, Jeremy, to make her one of the Margaret bags. She loved mine so much when she saw it that Jeremy stealthily went out and bought the fabric (which is hard because they share a car!!), delivered it to me and I made the bag. It was so much fun! Props to Jeremy for the sweetie pie idea! Here is Amber's birthday bag:

I also have pictures of Amy's bag from Christmas that I have been too lazy to post... Thanks for sending these, Amy!

My next project is from the book One Yard Wonders and it is a (late, of course) birthday present for my nieces. There are some cute ideas in this book, though I don't recommend the adult clothing pattens unless you like a lot of skin showing...

I also found this sweet tutorial for folding your fabric stash. I think that will be the next day-off project!

Big news, snow days, and WIPs

Hello blogging world! I have been MIA lately because my mind has been elsewhere and the place my mind has been has made me super. duper. tired. I know many of you that read my blog also live nearby and we probably see each other pretty regularly, so you already know why. For my bloggie friends out in the world: Guess what! I'm pregnant! I am planning on posting some baby crafty goodness, but these first few months I have come home completely drained, so not too much has been going on other than napping. I am due in September and I am so excited!

I have my friend Jaime to thank for kick-starting my motivation again. I went over and helped (at least I hope I was helpful!) her put zippers in the cool doggie beds she made. It made me realize how much I miss my sewing and crocheting. I have so many projects that have been in my head for the last 3 months and I've done nothing on them! This is my first pregnancy, so all my info is second-hand from friends and books but from what I understand, now that I'm almost through my first trimester, my energy levels are supposed to be back up. I've pulled out my WIPs and even some projects that are still little ideas in my noggin.

Here's the list:

I *finally* wove in the ends of this scarf I started in December and have almost finished crocheting.

The laptop sleeve that is my sister's Christmas present is going to be cut out and sewn next.

The super cute birthday presents for my nieces (on Feb. 9 & 16) also need to be done soon. (See how behind I am?!?)

Today's project is a pillowcase for the body pillow I bought this afternoon. I have been having trouble getting comfy enough to sleep at night and I was told this will help. I found the pillow on sale, but the cover for it was just as much as the pillow - yeah, right! So, I just finished sewing it from some cute fabric from my stash! I also owe some of this motivation to this winter's billionth snow storm that kept us from school (again) and probably will tomorrow too. It means we will have to attend school on Saturday (boo!!) but hooray for getting back in crafty gear!

Project for me and present catch-up

First post of the new year! I know, its about time...

So, in my last post I told you about all of the presents I made for Christmas and one of them was this Margaret Bag for my friend, Amy (which I still need a picture of.... ). I liked it so much that I made one for myself! I am really pleased with how it turned out and its nice and BIG, which I love in a purse!

I think this picture mostly shows how wonky my pie safe is...

Pretty liner!





I also made this Lickety Split bag as an incredibly belated birthday present for my friend, Lina. Happy Super-Late-Birthday, Lina!!

And its reversible! Yay!

I have been kind of a bloggie slacker because I'm only showing you pictures of what I've finished instead of my in-progress action. I think the creative/thought/crafting process is the most fun part, especially when I'm pleased with the finished product. I'll try to do better!

More presents!

So I haven't done a great job taking pictures so far. I made this diaper clutch for my sister-in-law and this awesome bag for one of my best friends, Amy. Maybe I can get them to take pictures for me... hint, hint. I do however, have pictures of the fairy dollhouse that I made for my niece and the fairies who inhabit it!

Here are the cutie fairies who will live in the house. I used the patterns in this book to make them. How sweet is that?



Here are my first attempt at sewing the sides together. If you click on the picture, you'll get a bigger image - at your own risk. I call these my frankenstein stitches. Ugly.



Here are the redone pretty stitches. Yay!

Christmas Time's A Coming

Here is the progress on the Christmas presents (that are safe to post). I'll keep taking pictures so that as people receive their gifts, you'll be able to see what I've been working on!

This is the Emmaline Apron from Meg at Sew Liberated. What amazing patterns!! This was more difficult than I had originally thought, probably my most ambitious sewing project to date. I wish I had better pictures, but I am really proud of how it turned out. It was for my Secret Santa at school, who loves to cook!

Its reversible! Please ignore my husband's pajamas in the corner.... And yes, those are chickens on the red side (you can see a bigger image if you click on the picture). Too cute! I got my fabrics from Asheville Cotton. They have the such an awesome selection. I wish my photography skills were better. Anyone know some good tips?



Here is my Secret Santa in her new apron! Yay!



Dollhouse and fairies coming tomorrow!

Busy (Messy) Bee

I have been a busy (and messy - my husband is so understanding...) bee since my last post! I found the link to this fabric dollhouse tutorial on Carmen's blog and I knew I had to make one for my niece for Christmas and I have been working ever since. I am having so much fun that I want to start another one and I'm not even finished with this one! What I really love about it is that I get to design and be creative. I've had a few snags, but I think that now that I've made one, it will definitely be easier the next time. Here are a few of the obstacles I've encountered:

When sewing the side panels onto the main part, it was difficult to keep them aligned in the correct position. I pinned it, but it kept slipping, I think because of the batting-wrapped insert. The seam-ripper was my best friend (or worst enemy...?) that afternoon. It took me three tries to get it lined up all pretty like this:

When I finally got it lined up, it was so thick - especially the second time when there were two panels sandwiched in - that even with my zipper foot, it was hard to sew around it. The stitches are not pretty, but at least you can't see them!!

Another thing I wasn't sure about was attaching the designs to the house. I think in the future it may be better to actually sew the felt onto the fabric before sewing it all together. So far I have been using fabric glue to apply the decor to the house. It works fine for the felt to fabric bonding, but it is not holding the felt to felt very well. I'll have to keep experimenting with that... Here is a little preview - some of this has not actually been attached yet, its just propped up.

I am really happy with the fireplace. I need to figure out how to put a chimney on the outside. Yay!

My next step (after I finish the house) is to make the fairies that will live in the house. I am using ideas from this book. Stay tuned for the next installment...

P.S. - I haven't fixed my fused plastic bag yet... It turns out that my iron is not keeping an even temperature, which is likely the problem, so I'll update when I get a new one...

I'm still here!!

Hello blog world! I am still here! Since school started its been crazy and I have not been very (or at all) inspired to make anything - or as Carmen at seaschell said "lost my crafty mojo." I absolutely love teaching, but it is draining. I don't have much left in me when I get home! My scant crafting has been my husband's Halloween costume. It was fun to make and I got it done in plenty of time, but it didn't inspire anything else. He was very proud, however.

This weekend I started a birthday present for one of my friends. Her birthday is today, so of course I've been procrastinating. She and I learned how to fuse plastic together this summer so I thought something made from that would be a fun present. I started a tote bag with a fabric top and handles with a cute felt flower applique. I didn't have a pattern or anything, I was just making it up. I was so happy and inspired to start making this and it was going really well. I got the bag sewed and the fabric top put on and the applique cut out and then... I burned it. Yep. That's right. I burned it. I wanted to make sure it was super sturdy and I over did it with the iron. When fusing plastic, over heating it doesn't turn it black, it melts it too much and leaves holes. Boo! Now I need to regroup and hopefully I can salvage it. I'll update you...

This is the bad so far. It was going to be really cute....

Here are the yucky holes I made. :(