Little Miss M's Blue Bird Skirt

 I'm back with more bad photo's of things I've been making! This time a sewing project. I was going to make a dress, but I decided a skirt would be quicker and easier. I may not have been right about that.

This skirt is for my middle child. Blue is her current favourite colour, and this fabric was in my stash.

It's a McCalls pattern, but i can't find a link to it. I had to add elastic to the waist band since like all my kids, Miss M is a skinny little thing. She's happy, I'm happy. All is right with the world.

I'll be back with all the things I knit for Christmas presents soon.

Five years later!

 It's looking more and more like me and mine will be making a big move this summer. I'm supposed to be sorting through things, so I can declutter. Unfortunately I'm not very motivated, so I get distracted very easily. I came across a dress I started making about five years ago for my middle child. I guess I got side-tracked with moving, and having a baby, and completely forgot about it. I decided it was time to finish this dress.

 What do you know it turned out just the right size for Little Miss I. Thought  it's not a fabric she would have picked (it's a dog print, and she's more into cat's), she is very happy to have another dress to wear.

 The pattern is this one from McCall's. It says it's out of print on their website, but I'm pretty sure they still have copies of it at JoAnns.

Now my problem is Little Miss M. wants a new dress, I've already bought some fabric and a pattern. Do you think I will ever get around to decluttering and organizing my home for the big move?

The Snake Boy Quilt

 Way long ago, when my boy was only four years old, I made him this little quilt. He picked out all the fabrics himself, and he totally loved it! Then when he was about 7 he lost it. I was sad, he was sad, we were all sad! He begged and begged me for a new one, this time bigger and better. I kept putting it off for other projects. Even after I ordered the fabric I was really slow to get started on it.

Finally on Sunday night it was done. Little Mr. M is now 9. So it didn't take so long;) He didn't pick out the fabrics this time, but he thoroughly approved them all. It is all about him. His favorite colour is orange, he loves snakes, and is always dressed in camouflage.

 Most of the fabrics are from the 'Backyard Baby' collection by Michael Miller. I found them online at Fabric.com. I threw in the camo and found some fun grey chevron fabric for the backing and Ta! Da!

 I love the snakes and other creatures in jars, and the little ants crawling around.

Here is my happy boy ready to head to bed with his new quilt. I'm really hoping this one doesn't get lost!

Flower Fairy

I just made one costume this year for Halloween. My crafting time and budget has been slashed. Little Miss I has decided she is done with napping, and I don't really have the financial backing to make whatever I like. So this costume was made entirely from my stash. I even already had the pattern. It's the McCalls Flower Fairy Friends Pattern. It was supposed to have a waistcoat/vest with it, but I didn't have any contrasting fabric on hand that I cared to use. I found this tutorial on making fabric flowers. I made two, one bigger than the other and joined them together, then sewed them onto some elastic to make a hair band. She already had the wand and wings. My son said she looked a lot like the Little Princess from the Tony Ross books that we are loving right now, and I have to agree.

What do you think? Hope your Halloween is all treats and no tricks.

Lavender lap quilt and pillow case.

 Little Miss I. knew that as soon as I finished Miss C's quilt it was her turn. I have been collecting fabric for this one almost as long as for Miss C's. I had a very clear idea of the colours I wanted, and it wasn't available at Joann's. I did find two fat quarters there actually. I got two more at PurlSoho when I was there last December. The rest came form a quilt show I went to in March in Lancaster, PA. There, I really hit the jackpot. They had a great bunch of vendors along with lot's of inspirational quilts. Oh, the quilt pattern is one I've used twice before. It's from the book Bend the rules of sewing by Amy Carol.

Now that my oldest is back to school and my middle one is in school in the afternoons, I managed to find the time to finish this quilt and also whip up a matching pillow case that saw on pinterest that I highly recommend.

Little Miss I. is pleased as punch. Now I just need to get on with painting the toddler bed white, so I can get her out of her cot/crib. Little Mr M. is next in line for a new quilt and has just today approved my fabric choices. So you all have that to look forward to, I guess!

Eternal Summer Quilt

 A few years ago my other half had me make him a quilt. It was made of old U2 t-shirts and brushed cotton/flannel. It was a pain in the butt to make. The whole time I was doing it my son was begging me to make him one too, then little miss M wanted one as well. The kids ones were small and therefore much easier and funner to make. I swore off quilts after that though. That is until my sister, Miss C, said she wanted one. I laughed at the time and told her that even if I was going to make a quilt for her it would have to be a wedding or a 30th birthday present!. She told me it was her 30th in three years and smiled. So that thought stuck in the back of my mind until I saw this quilt over at the Purl Bee Blog. I thought of Miss C at once. It became my inspiration and I started to buy a quarter of a yard of fabric here and there. I ended up with 11 different fabrics. I then saw this quilt at the Retro Mummy Blog. I loved the look of this one too. I kind of combined the idea of both of them and came up with this design.

This is a picture of the quilt top, spread out on my bed. I didn't want to machine quilt it and I didn't really want to make binding, so I found this tutorial on the Cicada Daydream Blog. I went ahead and tied it with embroidery thread. Then folded the backing over to make a simple binding.

 Here it is drying out after I gave it a wash.

 And here it is on Miss C's bed looking very summery.

I had various problems a long the way making this quilt. I learnt that you get more fabric when you buy a quarter of a yard of fabric than you do if you buy a fat quarter. I ended up having to sew scraps of fabric together to make some of my squares. When my sewing machine stopped functioning properly, I discovered that you can put you needle in the wrong way! Ha, I felt pretty dumb when I found that out. The last thing I realized is even when you buy new safety pins to hold the quilt layers together, they can still leave rust marks on your fabric. So it didn't turn out to be perfect, but then if it did it wouldn't have been a true handmade gift! Happy 30th Miss C!

Manly Apron

 My husband might kill me for this first picture. He hates it, but I don't care. I do pretty much all the cooking in our home, and I'm pretty cool with that. But there are some things, being a vegetarian, I won't handle. So around all the major Holidays, and whenever he wants bacon, my other half is forced to don an apron and get to work in the kitchen.

I finally got sick of him wearing my apron and decided it was time for him to have his own. I picked up another apron pattern from JoAnns when they were on sale for a dollar and got to work.

I think he had already put the lamb to cook when he opened this on Christmas, but there will always be another opportunity to put it to use.

Fairy Bunting

 I made Miss C an apron for her birthday last year. When she said she was going to come and visit us for Christmas this year I thought I needed to make her something with the leftover scraps. I decided on some bunting. I imagine her throwing tea party at her flat with her bunting hanging up and her serving scones in her apron.

I had to buy a 1/4 yard more of two complimenting fabrics and some bias tape binding. I have made bunting before for little Miss M's room, but it was very time consuming, although very cute. I went with a quicker but equally cute version this time.

There are lots of tutorials out there for bunting, but if you have done any sewing before you can figure this out for yourself. It was quick and easy.

I started to worry about here not liking it at the last moment. She kept saying things she liked, but never once mentioned bunting. I needn't have feared though. Her reaction when she opened it was all I needed to know I had made a good choice.

Cobra Costume

 My eldest has a wild imagination. He also has and enormous amount of faith in my abilities to make anything. He really loves snakes. His favorite is the King Cobra. It came as no surprise to me when he asked to be one for Halloween. I got searching on the web for a pre-made costume and came up with nothing. Then I went searching for a pattern or some idea of how to make a snake costume and I came up with nothing still. I headed to JoAnns with a vague idea of what I was going to do and came back with some sparkly, stretchy, scaly, fabric and a pattern for a kangaroo costume. Obviously I had to make many changes to the pattern. The hood was the trickyest part. I made it once and wasn't happy with it. I wanted the cobra flaps to not look like monkey ears. I took it apart and used some plastic and some wadding/batting to line them and give them structure. I used felt for the eyes, teeth and tounge.

Mr M. was plenty happy with it, so I was happy too. I think this might be anouther costume that I will have him wear for years.

My biggest fan!

 My sister Miss C. is probably the biggest fan of my hand made things. She is always letting me know that she wants me to make her this and that. She is a fun person to make for because I know she will love and use whatever it is I make her. This year for her birthday I was not sure what to make her. Not because there wasn't anything she wanted, but because I'm always seeing things I'd could make that I know she would like. A while back she mentioned that she wouldn't mind a new apron (I made her one quite a few years ago). In the past when making aprons I haven't used a pattern and made it up as I went along. This time I decided to use this Simplicity patten which I got for $1, I love a bargain.

I picked pink girly fabric, covered in fairies. She used to be quite into fairies and I'm thinking their having a come back. I'll be honest, even though I was a sewer before I became I knitter, I much prefer knitting. This came out great though, so maybe I'll try doing a bit more sewing in future. Happy Birthday Miss C.