New To Me

I found this great blog the other day, and guess what? She's having a giveaway. So, head over to Sheree's Alchemy she all the cute stuff she makes and enter her giveaway here.

And I promise to start sewing again soon. I have almost all the things I need to get the baby's quilt done. Just need a clean living room now!

One more Giveaway

This is for a super cute quilt pattern with dragonflies! It's really cute! Go check it out over at JoyPatch, she's got other cute stuff too! Wish me luck!

Another Giveaway

A new blog I just found is having a giveaway for her 100th post! Woohoo!! And it's a great prize for winning too. So go to ~*Tonya's Sewing Room*~ and check out the giveaway, or her blog. She's got some talent!!

Diaper/Wipe Case

I made this beauty last night. I felt like sewing, and remembered this project I got a while ago for free from Boogaboo Babies. Again, I had to do my own thing when it came to the handle. I still don't have any ribbon, so I just used the left over handle from the Itty Bitty Keeper I made a week or so ago. And, yes, this same fabric again. I have a lot of it. I was keeping it for a friend that wanted a diaper bag just like the one I made for me, but she never got back to me for the go ahead, so, I'm using it now. But, at least my diaper case will match my diaper bag!

All closed (sorry no pics with diapers in it, but I could get 3 into it)

I like the black inside. Plus, the red fabric has smaller flowers on it, so it just looks better as an outside fabric!

Now to my next project, the quilt! Thanks to Damaris for the Joann's Gift Card she gave me for my baby shower. Now, I can get what I need to finish up the quilt!!

Wondering

This is the quilt top that I made for baby Teage (that would be the unborn child, I guess you know his name now). It's about 48" x 48", a little big, but that's ok. I don't know what to do for the backing. We want it light, so not flannel. I don't know if I want to do a plain backing, or find something from the nursery prints that isn't too babyish. Then, what to do for the binding? Not sure again. Probably just a plain fabric, or maybe dots? I just don't know. Then, I would LOVE to quilt it. Do some free hand stippling on it (still need a lot of practice) but my sewing machine just can't handle it. I practiced on small 6" x 6" squares and well, lets just say I did a lot of repenting that night for the language used. Or, I could just sew on a diagonal and make diamonds or something. I just don't want to use yarn and tie it off. But then, I think about Zo and how she loves the ties on her quilt and usually grabs one of them to bring her quilt up to her face and suck on her thumb when she's sleepy. Oh, I just don't know what do. Any suggestions? Any and all would be very helpful at the moment!

Sewing Machine Meme

Ok, so I'm out of ideas, for the moment (I did run across a tutorial for a patchwork sewing machine cover here that I will have to do in the near future), but while looking at this awesome tutorial I noticed that Sew Mama Sew is having a sewing machine month and lots of giveaways. With the grand prize being a Husqvarna/Viking Emerald 183! Check out the details here.

Part of getting entered into the grandprize giveaway is to blog about your sewing machine. So this is me doing that. Hope you enjoy!

Here he is in all his glory! (Yeah, I know most sewing machines are girls, but he just feels like a boy)

That would be a Brother Model LS-2125i

What brand and model do you have?
Again, a Brother LS-2125i

How long have you had it?
Two whole months, but my mom has had it for maybe 6 years or so.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
$79.99 at Wal-Mart. But I got it for free! Can't beat that!!

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
So far I've done burp cloths, nursing covers, diaper changing pads, a bag, some pretty sew skirts and pillowcase dresses for my daughter and one big quilt top for my unborn son. And a few other projects for me and around the house.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
I try to sew something everyday. But it doesn't always work out. He probably gets the normal amount of wear and tear. I haven't done anything really major with him yet.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
No name yet. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It's a good old boy and does an ok job with things. That might be because I'm still a newbie and don't know what I'm doing all the time.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?
Nothing special about this guy. He's very basic and that's that.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
The fact that it's from Wal-Mart. I'm just waiting for it to crap out on me. Because all things cheap do when I use them.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!
My story is I got my own sewing machine two months ago and it worked great for my first few sewing projects (a burp cloth set of four, a nursing cover, and a changing pad) then it died. So I returned it for the same model and it just didn't work right out of the box (it was a newer Brother Model). Returned it and had no sewing machine for a few weeks. My kind mother gave me her old sewing machine while we were visiting them. And she got a new (actually the same old thing she gave me) sewing machine.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
Maybe for a beginner, like me, but no. I don't shop at Wal-Mart. And think that everything from there will crap out on you given enough time. I'm just praying mine doesn't die anytime soon. I just want to get something nicer and a lot better before it does!

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
For me, because I want to start quilting a lot, I want a good machine for quilting. I want something with a lot of different stitches so I can get decorative on some projects. I want something that will last and has a good recommendation from the professionals. And something that isn't going to take me years to save up for!

Do you have a dream machine?
At the moment, I don't have one. I need to do a lot of research before I can say, "I need this one!"

Here we go again

I did it again. I lied. I really need to stop doing that.

I forgot that I had came across this patter for a Grocery Bag Holder at Make It and Love It. We have a lot of grocery bags that we have for dirty diapers and small trash cans and other things. And the grocery bag that we were using was getting to full for all the other bags inside of it.

So, using scraps from nursing covers and diaper bag, I made this:

As you can see, it's very full!

I had to improvise on some of the materials. Like, I only had enough elastic to do the bottom. So the top is boning. It works, but I should have made it a little big bigger. My pregnant had was having a hard time stuffing the bags in. Then, I don't have any ribbon. Well, I do, but nothing that I would want to use for this. So, I just took some left over bias tape, sewed it together and wallah: I have a "ribbon" for the top handle! Pretty sweet, if I do say so myself! Then, I really didn't like the idea of having the "ribbon" on the outside like the tutorial said. So I sewed the "ribbon" handle on the inside of the bag. But I sewed it on backwards, and the place where the tape was added on to make it longer is on the outside, not the inside. Oh well, I can't make them all prefect.

All in all, I think it turned out pretty darn cute! Thanks to Make It and Love It for sharing this wonderful tutorial!

Itty Bitt Keeper

Ok, so I might have lied (I didn't mean too) when I said I had nothing else to make. I came acorss this free pattern from bitty bits & pieces. It's a iPod/Phone/Camera holder. It's pretty cool. I took my protective plastic off my phone because it was getting pretty gross. But I needed something to protect my phone is in my pruse. So this is just perfect!

I used left over material from the diaper bag I made a few months ago. I think it's pretty sweet looking! It has a small pocket for head phones or drivers license or debt card. But I was having issues with this pattern and sewing machine, so on mine you can't put a drivers license or debt card in there. Head phones, sure, but I don't have head phones for my iPhone.

Either way, this is a pretty sweet pattern and a great gift idea or for yourself. I like mine and maybe I'll try it again in a month or two (when I'm not so pregnant, feet are huge right now from sitting at the sewing machine for less than an hour).

Thanks bitty bits & pieces for making this free pattern!

My iPhone next to the itty bitty keeper. I said it was cute!

Going in...

...nice and snug in it's new home!

The great thing about this iPhone keeper, there is batting in the bag, so it's padded and very much protected!

More sewing

Instead of going to the Farmer's Market today (we're done with that. We aren't making enough to pay for the weekly fees. Sucks to be a failure, but oh well) I felt like sewing. I just finished the top to the baby's quilt

(yes, it's sideways and on our bed. I just don't have any place to take a picture of it our floor is really gross right now.)

but I still had the sewing bug. I still had a stack of projects to do, so I whipped together another pillowcase dress for Zoe. It's really cute, but I made it too short. Oops. So, now it's a pillowcase dress with pants or shorts. It'll be really cute in the winter time with a under shirt and some leggings (need to learn how to make my own leggings for her). This time she was really excited to wear it and wanted to take a picture of her cute new outfit!

I even got her to pose and be standing at the same time! Woohoo for me!! See, it's a little short, so she's wearing some jean shorts. Way cute!

In fact, everyone was so impressed with Zoe's mad posing skills (or they just wanted their picture taken) the boys came over and wanted their picture taken too.

Jake posing just like Zoe. He likes to wear Daddy's Ernst & Young hat!

And Leo's picture. I told him to smile and he said "cheese"! Wait what? What did you just say? I had to take another picture just to make sure. And sure enough, he said cheese when I told him to smile, held still so I could take the picture. That boy amazes me everyday!

So now I'm out of projects to do. I have a lot of material, but nothing else. I can't make anymore skirts or dresses because I don't have enough elastic. I can't finish the quilt because I don't have the batting or the backing yet. I thought about making some blocks, but I don't have the right stuff to finish it. I'll just have to see what I can do.

I really can't wait for Steve's career to start. Then, when I need some batting or some elastic, I can just go and get it. Those couple of bucks won't be that big of a deal. Like it is now. Who knew that sewing and quilting could be so expensive.

More Awesome

My friend Rachel did a swap from Dandelion Wishes awhile ago, and it looked like so much fun! She had a blast doing it. So I'm doing one this time! Go check it out and sign up!! It's going to be fun!!!!