Happy Birthday Mokey!

Today my little man turns 5 years old. How on earth did that happen? It seems like just a day or two ago that we were bringing home the roly poly bundle of cuteness from the hospital and now he's a big boy almost ready for kindergarten. I'm amazed every day at the cool little personality that's developing in front of my eyes. I mean, how many kids do you know who want a picture of their kitties on their birthday cake (or sprinting thistles, for that matter - that's what he requested last year). He's a sweet, creative little soul and I can't wait to see what he'll think up today.

Here he is 5 years ago today, 20 1/2 inches 10 lbs 3/4 oz.

And here he is now, my how he's changed.

Lila Tueller Eden Quilt Giveaway

I almost want to keep this to myself because the quilt is just so gorgeous (the fabric itself is gorgeous but the quilt has ruffles! RUFFLES!) but here it is (see how generous I am?). Lila Tueller is giving away a quilt made of her beautiful Eden line fabric (yellow, lavender, pink and green with these totally adorable little birds, I love it - I've got some stashed away to make a table runner or two whenever I get the chance) on her blog. Go check it out!

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/02/giveaway-contest-begins-today.html

Pillowcase? Naw, skirt!

I'm thinking ahead to spring a little bit, but honestly, I'm sick of looking at snow (and we haven't gotten dumped on like some parts of the country, but the snow is sticking around a lot longer than usual. Besides, I'm so not a fan of snow, I'm always sick of it by around, oh, December 26th anyway).

I found this fabric in my mom's stash (a good portion of which had been my grandmother's stash at some point and Grandma passed away when I was about 16, so that fabric is at least 14 years old, but I'd guess a lot of it is way older than that). It was intended to be for pillowcases (as in, it was manufactured for that; the border is only on one side along the selvedge and it's narrower than normal fabric - exactly the right width for a pillowcase). I immediately thought "oooh, that would be a pretty skirt" so I grabbed it, knowing I had a tutorial stashed away for a skirt made from one yard of fabric with just two seams and an elastic waistband (and it was designed to use the selvedge as the hem). As I looked at it, I decided it needed a more tailored line and a trimmer waistband so I ended up using McCall's 3341 instead (which I already had) and then I added a lining because the fabric is a tad thin, especially since it's such a light color. Anyway, a simple skirt morphed into something a lot more complicated (especially since I thought I'd be all fancy and do the blind hem on my machine; yeah, ripped that out and did it by hand instead), but I love the result . Now I just need some warmer weather so I can actually wear it.

Happy Heart Day

I was afraid I wasn't going to get this dress done in time for V-Day; I had so much trouble figuring out the shirring around the neckline and sleeves. It's still not exactly right - I had to do the cheater method to get it done in time. I do know the issue now - the elastic thread doesn't want to stay in the bobbin tensioner on my machine - now I just need to figure out how to fix it.

It's actually my "muslin" for Princess' easter dress, made with cheap Wal-mart fabric (is ours the only one that still has fabric?). I used the Lily Top pattern from Pink Fig. She's got cute stuff and she's so nice, she answered my questions more than once.

Fabric fabric everywhere

I raided my mom's fabric stash last night and came home with a paper box and two Wal-mart sacks full of fabric to play with. I'm particularly excited about a 6 yard (ish) length of vintage pillowcase fabric that I think will make a very pretty skirt (mom wasn't too excited about that idea - "but it's for pillowcases"). I can't wait to get caught up on my other projects and get to work on that one!

That's my bag, baby.

I finished up a new purse tonight, using the Sprouts Hazel Hipster pattern by Trish from Two Peas in a Pod. I had the opportunity to be a tester on this pattern back in November and I loved the bag I made so much that I wanted another (and, actually, I have fabric already to make a third and maybe even enough scraps from one of the three to make Princess the mini version). This one will "go" a little better with my purple winter coat.

I also got some new toys in the mail today that I can't wait to play with - some new feet for my sewing machine including a ruffler foot. It looks really intimidating, but I know once I figure the thing out it'll be great for making ruffles on dresses (among other things) for Princess.

Next up: some flannel jammies for Mokey, Princess and I and then I've got a couple of tops for myself and two dresses for Princess that I'm really excited to get to work on.

A quick little skirt

I am taking part in a group project this month and the "challenge" I guess you'd call it was to make something from a free pattern or tutorial (or, I guess, make up your own pattern - the free part was the requirement). I decided to make this little skirt for Princess. I looked at this tutorial but all I really used from it was the number of squares to put in each row. The fabric is 5" squares from a fat quarter bundle from JoAnn's (I may make another later from a charm pack so the squares are all different). I think I'm going to embellish the tee with something - maybe some applique from the left over skirt fabric.