Envelope Clutch

As soon as I saw Anna's blog post about her upcoming clutch pattern, I have been obsessively stalking her blog for the release of the pattern.  It is finally available!!!!  So after I dropped the girls off at school, I got to work.  This consisted of staring at my fabric for about 45 minutes trying to get "inspired".  Nothing was making me happy.  So I decided to delve deep into the secret parts of my stash, a place that I call "The Horde" and pull out things that give me anxiety to even think about cutting into.  I decided on an Ink and Spindle print that I bought for my birthday several years ago an old Echino quilting weight cotton, from the Chelsea collection, that has been hanging out in the horde also.  And finally, I went with some matching teal Ta Dot for the pockets.

The pattern was very well written and easy to follow.  I love the fact that the clutch is interfaced with canvas fabric for extra sturdiness.

She offers a lot of different options to truly make this your own.  I made the smaller size and opted to do the squared flap instead of a pointed one and left off the piping.  I didn't have the right size D-ring so I used a small split ring I had in my old bead stash and I left off the swivel clip because I didn't have one.

She also has an option to make an Ipad sized one!  I will definitely doing that one next.  And I can see making a ton of these in the future for gifts.

Lot's of sewing has been happening over here.  I have joined in a quilt bee and have been doing some other crafty things, but I will save those for another post.  :)

Wiksten

Continuing in the "trying new things" mode I am in, I decided to give making myself a garment one last shot.  I have tried several times to make something for myself that looks nice on me and that I would actually wear.  It always ended in disappointment.  Either it didn't fit, or it didn't turn out the way I wanted it too, or I would just something that I would never wear.  So I had pretty much just given up on the whole garment-making-thing.  Until I started seeing these gorgeous tanks start popping up everywhere.  So after contemplating for a few weeks, I decided to splurge and use some of my christmas cash to buy the Wiksten Tank Top pattern by Jenny Gordy.

I ordered some fabric from Sew Mama Sew and  headed out to my local shop to buy some pattern ease to trace the pattern.  There aren't that many pieces to the pattern so it didn't take long at all.  Cutting the actual pieces out of the fabric went fast also.  But after that, it took me 2 weeks before I actually got up enough nerve to finally start putting it together.  I read through the instructions over and over and over again, just to be sure I understood everything and last friday morning, I finally sat down to do it.  At first, I wasn't sure how it was turning out because it looked huge, but I just kept going hoping for the best.  When it was done, I rushed to the bathroom to try it on and I was thrilled that it fit perfectly (And goes nicely with my new unicorn cardigan)!

The simplicity of this pattern amazed me.  I was able to completely put this together in just a couple of hours.  I have already pulled fabrics from my stash to make 3 more.  So now that I have made this, my very 1st successful piece of clothing for myself, I may have enough confidence to maybe try sewing some other garments.

Swaps and Gifts

Before Christmas, I had mentioned to Jacey that I don't have a hand knit hat for myself.  I make them all the time, but they are always gifts for friends or family.  So she suggested that we do a swap.  She would knit a hat for me and I would make a mini quilt for her.  So I planned, and planned, and planned some.  Ordered fabric and waited for it to arrive and before I knew it, Jacey was done with my hat and I hadn't even started on her mini.    SO I told her to hang on to my hat until I was done and we decided to do our swap when we met up in Birmingham in early February. I knew she shared my love for the TV show Firefly and it's companion movie Serenity.  And being the geeky crafter that I am, I used this as my inspiration for the mini quilt that I came up with for her. 

Also, like me, one of her favorite fabric lines is Goodfolks by Anna Maria Horner.  So I knew that I had to use this for her mini.  Luckily, I have a pretty hefty stash and I was more than happy to dig into it for her.  I knew I wanted it to be somewhat whimsical and I knew I wanted to incorporate wording of some sort into it.  This is what I ended up with.

I embroidered a quote from the movie that the character Wash says.  "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."  I used the Goodfolks for a paper pieced border on the bottom.  I am very new to paper piecing and have been intimidated by it in the past but I was really stuck on and idea I had in my head so I just bit the bullet, got over my fears and gave it a shot.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  And I think I will be trying this border on other things in the future.

And here is what I got in return!

This gorgeous, cozy hat in my favorite color!!  I love it SO much, Jacey, thank you! A couple of other gifty things to share with you.  One given and one received.  The beautiful Darci of Stitches and Scissors and I have been chatting back and forth since we met at Sewing Summit last year.  And I am so happy that we have become friends.  I was having a rough week a little bit ago and she made and sent me this beautiful mini quilt!! 

Thank you Darci!  I makes me happy every time I look at it! For Christina's birthday, I tried so hard to think of something that she wouldn't make for herself.  So again, I turned to my geeky side and decided to make a little mini quilt for her inspired by Dr. Who.  More specifically, one of her favorite quotes. 

I always have such a fun time making things for her.  Her tastes are SO similar to mine, I can o crazy making things for her and know that she will like whatever it is.  :) Being a part of the crafty online community has been such a great experience.  And I have met some of the best people because of it.

Trying new things

I've been fiddling around with all sorts of new things lately.  New toys, new gadgets, new techniques  Get the idea?

Back in January, my friend Christina got a Pogo polaroid travel printer.  So of course, being the gadget freak that I am, I NEEDED to get one.  I am so happy that I did.  It is so much fun!  I can print wirelessly from my Macbook over the bluetooth and the 2x3 prints that pop out are stickers!!  So...much...love.  I made the cutest Valentine's Day card for my husband from the girls using a picture I printed out.

The printer doesn't use ink.  It uses a special thermal paper which is much less expensive.  I just want to print, and print, and print and then stick them everywhere!

So, while I was on this tiny photo kick, I decide to get an Instax mini 25, or rather, I suggested to my hubby that it would make the perfect gift for his valentine  :)

I have been having a lot fun playing around with this little camera.  It is so different then using a DSLR or even a point and shoot digital camera.  I am still messing around with it.  But it is a lot of fun.  Again, the photos this camera spits out are business card sized and they develop like a polaroid.  It has a little mirror on the front for taking self-portraits and that little white discy-thing on the wrist strap is an attachable lens for taking pictures close up!  Very handy.

I am working on some fun projects using these tiny photos, so hopefully I can share them with you soon!

I am working on the next blog post now about some crafty stuff I have been messing around with so you can expect that in a few days.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Friends

I seem to have taken a bit of a unintentional break.  I have been busy sewing for a local knitting shop and they were keeping me pretty bust for a bit.  But now that things have calmed down and I am getting back into the swing of things again.  "Plugging back in" I guess you could say.  I have lots to share with you.  In between all the sewing, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to meet up with a few of my online friends.

Some of us ladies that live in the south thought it would be nice to have a get together at a central point and hang out for a weekend.  And that is just what we did.  Jacey, Rachel, Chris and I met up in Birmingham, Alabama for a weekend of unadulterated sewing and silliness.

We spent most of our time holed up in the hotel room sewing and taking turns at  the ironing board.

But we did get a chance to go out and do a little mini shop hop around at some of the knitting and quilting shops.

But after that, we got back down to business.

Taking small breaks for silliness, of course.

I had so much fun with these ladies and a really hope that we are able to get together again in the near future.  Jacey and I also had a little swap that I will write more about next time!

I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day.



OH!  I just thought that I would add that I am having a little destash sale of Mendocino in my etsy shop, so if you have been looking for some check it out!!

Cross Stitching

For a long time, cross stitching eluded me.  It was one of the very few things that I just couldn't seem to teach myself.  I would get so confused and then irritated and then frustrated and then things would be thrown.  About a year ago, when I started having my Skype chats with my dear friends, They helped me to understand it a bit more.  And slowly but surely I started getting the hang of it.

Fast forward to 3 months ago, when I went to Sewing Summit, in our welcome packet we had an awesome cross stitching pattern from the lovely ladies, Amanda and Ashleigh over at The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I fell hard for it and I was determined to finish this pattern.  I used some cosmo floss in various shades of my favorite color, and some silver dusted aida cloth and got to work.

Well, I am thrilled to share that I finished it!!!!  My very first cross stitching project. It took me 3 months, but I did it and I love it!

I plan on making something with it.  I am not sure what yet, but I have some ideas floating around n my brain.

So while I am talking about the insanely talented ladies over at Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, did you know that they are doing a Dessert of the Month club for 2012?!!!  My super sweet friend Jacey gifted me a subscription and I was SO surprised!  I am excited to get started on stitching up some sweets.

2011 in review with random geeky pictures for good measure

When I started out the year, I had very specific resolutions that I had given myself.

*Be the best Mom and Wife I can be

*Learn to play my ukulele well

*Slim down my fabric/yarn stash

*Be creative and believe in my creativity

*Learn to cook more than spaghetti

*Meet at least 2 of my internet buddies

*throw away my holey sweat pants

So let's review, and see how I did, shall we?  

*Be the best Mom and Wife I can be:  well, this is really an on going thing that I am constantly working on, but since my children are growing and I haven't killed my husband in his sleep, I'd say that things are going well.  :)

*Learn to play my ukulele well:  I started taking ukulele classes!  I am not a whole lot better, but at least I have gotten the hang of it and can play more than one song.

*Slim down my fabric/yarn stash:  check and check.  I had some huge destash sales and have been able to keep both stashes at a reasonable level.

*Be creative and believe in my creativity:  This was a big one for me.  I was master of always talking myself out of things.  Coming up with reasons why I shouldn't do something or why something I made wasn't good enough.  I am getting better at believing in myself and what I make.  I opened up an etsy shop AND started a blog.  Big steps, I'd say!

*Learn to cook more than spaghetti:  I can now add chili to that list,  hahaha

*Meet at least 2 of my internet buddies:  a BIG YES!!!  I went to Sewing Summit!  It was fantastic and I met a lot of my online friends and made some new ones!

*throw away my holey sweat pants:  Yes, I managed to do this one too, although I regretted it as soon as I did it.  lol  But never fear, I have a NEW pair of non-holey sweat pants that are doing the job quite nicely.

So what do I have on the books for this year? Hmm, let's see.

*I am going to keep being the best mom and wife that I can be.

*I would like to try and get out of my comfort zone with my photography

*Make things for my shop on a more regular basis

*and while I am at that, try to write my blog posts on a more regular basis also.

*Be better about getting things in the mail on time

*Try really hard to trust and believe in myself and what I do

*I have at least 1 meet up with an internet friend(s)

*....and if I happen to lose a few pounds, that would be ok too.

I still have lots of catching up to do.  So I will probably do a catch up post later on in the week.  There has been lots of sewing, I just have to write about it all  :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!