Another Angel...

As I stated in my last post, this will be hard to type, but I feel I need to share it. My mom passed away suddenly recently, May 7^th 2011. She was 56 years old, very young. She seemed perfectly healthy with no obvious warning signs. She hadn’t been feeling well on that Thursday night, so she stayed home from work that Friday. I wouldn’t have even gotten to talk to her on last day alive, if it wouldn’t have been for an accidental dial. I had called someone and when I was hanging up my phone (which is touch screen) it accidentally called my parents house. I was about to hang it up, thinking no one would be home, but she picked it up. We talked about silly things that won’t matter a month from now, but when you don’t suspect someone will go, not all conversations are meaningful. I believe I asked her about what kind of fabric to get in order to make my daughters christening dress, she answered with her signature attitude, “I don’t know, that’s your thing, not mine”. We chatted for a minute about why she hadn’t gone to work, then I had to hang up because the baby was having one of her classic breakdowns and I had to tend to her. I told her that I would see her on Sunday (for mother’s day) and I hung up.
The next morning I woke up and was going about packing up my house, (because we had weeks before that when I got laid off, decide to move back to our home town of Pittsburgh). I got a call from my brother, who was panicking saying that I had to get home now, my mom was unconscious on the floor upstairs. I asked him all the normal questions like where daddy was, if someone had called the ambulance, to calm down. He said the paramedics were there, I said ok, I’d get dressed and be on my way (which at the time was 1 hour and 45 minutes away). I dressed myself and the baby, a little panicked myself, and I packed my diaper bag, for a long stay at the hospital with plenty of bottles, food and toys for the baby. Then called them back to see what I needed to do and where I needed to go. My brother, still freaking out, didn’t know anything. I instructed him to give me to dad, that I need to know these things before I was on the road, incase my cell didn’t have service.
I got to my dad and said something to the effect of “what’s going on? What happened? Where are they taking her?” I think he was in shock that my brother hadn’t have told me, I don’t know if Ben (my brother even understood what was going on yet). Either way he just blurted it out, that she was gone. He was so upset, asking me where we should take her, the EMS and police wanted to know what funeral home. I think they figured she had died of known causes, but what they didn’t understand was that this was a complete shock to us. I told him that they couldn’t take her somewhere until they know what happened. After I hung up I immediately called my husband, he had taken my car to get gas while I was getting ready. And he came home quickly, he called his boss and told him that he couldn’t be to work that day. He obviously understood. My husband, the awesome man he is, held it together while we drove back to my hometown, while I was a mess in the passenger seat spouting off lines every now and then like “what am I going to do, she was my best friend?” and “Maggie and our kids to come are never going to know here?” when we got home all my brothers were there and my dad, sitting in the dark and quiet in the living room. The rest of the day was a blur. But those hours before hand, I couldn’t get out of my head if I wanted to. That was the worst day of my life.
Fast forward to Wednesday, I just couldn’t find something I like to dress the baby in for the funeral, nothing was appropriate, so I went to my fabric and I sat and cried, thinking of what I would make for the baby, what my mom would like. I settled on a pretty gray cotton with purple flower and purple tie dye looking fabric. I made up something simple and pretty. My mom would have loved it. She absolutely loved to see the pictures of my daughter in the clothing I made for her.
This is the dress I made:
　

                                                                               Front:

Back:

　
At the funeral, it was heart warming, her office, (which is a HUGE law firm in downtown Pittsburgh that takes up 10 floors of a building which is one city block big) chartered a bus to bring people who wanted to attend the funeral. I’m talking a full greyhound sized bus full of people, and even with that, people from here work were still forced to car pool over because there wasn’t enough room. The church was packed, even more so than it gets for Sundays. While walking in to the church in front of her casket, I just couldn’t believe how many people were there. The pastor gave an amazing eulogy about how she was no quitter and how she always looked for the good in life saying “when a door closed she looked for the window”, then told the entire room about the time when I was 2 ½ years old and I locked her in the basement in the middle of winter while my newborn baby brother was on the table in an infant seat. In the middle of winter she trudged around the outside of the house in a nightgown without shoes in the snow, to get back in the house. I was so embarrassed. Haha. We took her to her grave, which is only steps from the outside of the church. And we all just cried.
Afterwards we went to a luncheon set up by her boss’ wife. There the baby pooped out half way through and we laid her asleep on the table.

　

　
　
I also got an elusive picture of my oldest brother and father in suits, they joked that this wouldn’t happen again until one of them die (the funny part is that it is probably true).

Snappy Toddler Top: My Way

So its been a long few weeks, starting off with losing my job in April (which in reality I’m not that broken up about), we moved back to our hometown, Pittsburgh, me and baby had a fall and ended up in the ER, then my mom suddenly passed away. So yes, its been QUITE a month for us. Anyway, I’m back. And sewing again. I’ve made quite a few cute things lately maybe I’ll show you all of them later. Though, I will get to this project. Its from another blog I follow quite vigilantly, prudent baby, it really is an adorable top, its call the snappy toddler top. The only problem with it, it is annoying as heck to get the circular neck area even all around with just the fold-over/iron technique. Therefore I want to show you how I do it.

I used an old lightly used sheet, since its adorable, and I’m on a repurposing kick right now. To start with I cut out all my pieces.

　
　
For the circular pieces, I mark the opening, I back stitched at the one mark then did a regular stitch around the top edge stopping at the other mark and back stitching. After I do that I baste between the marks leaving a small area to turn it.

Clip the corners and turn it right sides out. Then iron the seams flat.

After that I seam rip the area I basted before, leaving it neatly pressed under, but open, with no head aches.

I finished it the same way as the original tutorial on prudent baby.

　

she got irritated with me after this shot and started reaching for the camera, which resulted in this:

I also made a hat to match,   though i may need to figure out how to keep it on her head.  But that’s for another post.

NEW PATTERN!!

So with the intention of selling some of the designs I have rattling around in the head of mine, i've made up my first (of many hopefully) patterns to sell on Etsy.com in my store.  It didn't take nearly as long to get the draft pattern together as I thought it would.  Basically once I decided to do this, it was like throwing up on paper (pardon me for the delightful image).  But in all seriousness, it came together so quickly that I was suprised with myself.  Right now, I'm gathering a group of testers for the pattern (to make sure its worth selling and isn't basically..... crap). haha.  But I'm just so excited about it, I thought I'd had to share.  here are a few pictures of what it looks like :)  Maybe once its finished and posted in my store, if there is enough interest (obivously), I'll give my followers a discount if they'd be interested in purchasing it :) 

Any-who, here's some pictures to hold you over!

Question for those out there....

I’ve been creating (and have created) a bunch of outfits for my little one (and for myself) recently.  I’ve been throwing around the idea of making my own patterns for some of these items and selling them on Etsy.com.  After looking at the designs out there for similar items to my creations, it has come to my attention that there really aren’t anything out there that are similar.  So, while I’d really like to make items myself, to sell, I wouldn’t mind, in the interim, selling the patterns that I had.  So what do you all think? Would it be worth it???

My Intentions to Create

I want to start off by saying, flu season as kicked my house’s butt.  EVERYONE was sick, since the baby goes to daycare, she picks up everything that is going around there and brings it home (thanks to the disease ridden boy I like to call “the paci stealer”. It’s actually funny to see, but not fun when you get the other part.  One time when I got to pick her up, he was standing beside her exersaucer with her paci in his mouth, with it still attached to her by her paci strap, she look at me like, what the heck mom! - freaking adorable) but I digress, because of the baby getting sick then passing it along to me then my husband, then getting better, then the cycle starting again, I’ve had no desire to sew, or do anything other than sit on my couch.  I feel like a slacker, but now that hopefully we’re all getting better I’ve been in the mood to sew again! while i've been gone, the babe has learned three new skills!!!

Holding her own Sippy Cup:

Sitting up by herself:

Standing by herself, holding on:

 

But anyway, on to the real post:

 I’ve been keeping a running list of all the projects that I would like to attempt in the future, along with those I have already done, why, because I’m a list maker and that’s just what I like to do.  Well I have a sewing journal, where I write out my tutorials and posts before I write them to the web, because I’m horrible at spilling out my thought straight to a computer, I’m just an old fashion paper/pen type of person.  But, every time I open up that notebook, I see my list in the front.  I wasn’t sure that I was going to share the list or not, but I figure, you might as well see what I have coming up and what you have to look forward to: 

*signifies that I designed

** signifies that I have the intention of doing a tutorial for it J

For the Baby- Clothing:

1. Romper (Burda pattern)
2. sunsuit romper**
3. cross front romper (simplicity pattern)
4. ruffle bottom dress (simplicity pattern)
5. square neck dress (simplicity pattern 3511)
6. ruffle front dress**
7. overall jumper
8. overalls
9. shorts overalls
10. pillowcase dress*
11. peasant blouse (indietutes)
12. peasant blouse dress*
13. peasant blouse revamp**
14. tunic top**
15. snappy dress (prudent baby)
16. itty bitty baby dress (made by Rae)
17. pretty party dress (prudent baby)
18. wedding outfit*
19. Yorkshire mini (sewing in no mans land)
20. abbey dress (shwin and shwin)
21. inspired by boy sweater (shwin and shwin)
22. baby hoodie*
23. baby hoodie vest
24. abbey roads boots(shwin and shwin)
25. pinafore
26. cloth diapers
27. skinny jeans/leggings*
28. Marc Jacobs inspired dress**
29. Anthropology inspired dress**
30. Burberry inspired dress (blueberry dress)**
31. tank top dress**
32. ruffle butt onesie*
33. tuxedo onesie**
34. Market skirt (can’t remember the blog!)
35. wrap skirt

For the Baby- Accessories

1.      taggy ball**

2.      sensory toy**

3.      cloth blocks*

4.      grandma’s blanket**

5.      Bib party!!!** several styles and sizes of bibs

6.      toddler backpack (indietutes)

7.      toddler purse**

8.      pacifier strap*

9.      bottle/toy strap*

10.  burp cloths **

11.  winter hat*

12.  winter hat with ears*

For the Mommy- Clothing

1. sundress (McCall’s pattern)
2. shirt (vogue pattern)
3. shirt (simplicity pattern)
4. denim ruffle skirt (simplicity pattern)
5. wrap skirt*
6. vest (simplicity pattern)
7. gather bust shirt (simplicity pattern)
8. shirt refashions**  (will do a few, some by me, some I found)
9. peasant blouse*

For the Mommy- Accessories

1. diaper bag (Andrea’s originals)
2. diaper bag with zipper closure**
3. modern diaper bag (Amy Butler book)
4. diaper clutch**
5. messenger bag*
6. gathered clutch with zipper (noodle-head)
7. simple party clutch (sew mama sew)
8. passport purse (Susie’s country garden)
9. Reversible tote (very purple person)
10. wallet (very purple person)
11. check book cover**
12. snappy change purse**
13. city tote (stashmania)
14. luscious bow tote (Josephine Kimberling)
15. pretty tote (Kerri made)
16. make-up bag (couturier mommy)
17. coffee cozy*
18. gathered coffee cozy**
19. kindle cover (book style)**
20. bottle bag**
21. mix-up gathered clutch and simple party clutch **
22. purse design #1**
23. purse design #2**
24. purse design #3**
25. purse design #4**
26. purse design #5**
27. purse design #6**
28. purse design #7**

For the Home:

1. curtains (youcanmakethis.com)
2. table runner*
3. placemats*
4. bench cushion**
5. centerpiece for table
6. tree skirt**
7. fabric baskets**
8. wall hanging**

Right now that is 92 things, the plan is 100 in one year, I’m pretty sure I’m on point to make it there J

I'm sick, you're sick, we're all sick

So I've had many plans for sewing projects, but with everyone in our house being sick, the sewing machine has been a bit ignored lately.  Other than going to work and coming home to relax, I haven't had much time to feel like doing anything with my new machine (that I heart, mind you). 

But this is a message, no, I haven't forgotten you, I swear I'll start sewing again whenever I start feeling better (and get my house back in order, thats another thing that's been ignored lately, cleaning)  but I promise, soon I will be getting some more projects done, and posting more tutorials (i actually have an adorable diaperbag  and kindle book cover tutorials on the way!). Until then, here are a few sneak peaks of whats has come of the machine lately curses to you cold season, you're really messing our lives up!

Project Eleven: Cloth Blocks

So after thinking long and hard about what to get my cousin’s son for his 1^st birthday, I was completely stumped. After much thought I decided to make him a few things, a pair of slippers, a pair of PJ pants, a taggy ball, and these blocks. I had a bunch of left over blue squares in several different patters from a quilt I started (and haven’t finished yet) back a few years ago. I thought this project would be perfect to use up the rest of these squares.

 My squares were 4inches, but in essence you could make them any size you wanted. I tried the blocks un-interfaced, and then decided they definitely turned out better interfaced.

I started by stitching them together so that when all six squares were put together it looked like this.

I completed the block leaving one side open. I stuffed it though this side making sure it was neither to firm nor too soft.

Then I hand-stitched up the last edge and gave it to the baby for a quick test, it passed with flying colors and I will definitely end up making her some in the future.
　
　

Project Ten: Cross Front Romper

So, While we were playing on Saturday morning, Baby M was having soooo much fun that she tired herself out.
　

　

Yes, she IS sleeping in the Jumperoo, one second she was yelling, giggling and carrying on, no more than 30 (quiet) seconds later, I peaked around the corner from the kitchen and this is what I see. (And what kind of parent would I have been if I didn’t grab the camera!) I obviously snapped a shot (or five) and took her out.

　
But now she was napping and daddy was out at work, what should mommy do?? SEWING OF COURSE!! I decided to pull out a romper pattern that I’ve wanted to do and I had the perfect fabric to do it in. So I pulled out the pattern and after looking it over decided I wanted too change up a little bit of it. I added a lined bodice (I hate when they tell you just one layer of bodice, its so much nicer looking lined) then I started assembling it. I really don’t know why I buy patterns anymore; I end up putting them together how ever I want anyway. But my bodice turned out this way:
　

I used a coordinating fabric for the bias tape to add a little interest (and because I like the finished look of it). Again, like all my other projects I used French seams. This time, I did not use snap tape though, its crazy expensive (like 6 dollars for a projects worth of snap tape!)
After I finished constructing it, I brought it over to my handy-dandy work bench, otherwise known as my coffee table, to apply snaps to the leg holes.
　

Here’s what the finished product turned out like:
　

　
I think its adorable, it will look awesome with either a short sleeve or long sleeve onesie underneath. (I don’t have an action shot yet, she’s not quite big enough for this outfit yet)

Project Nine: Baby Slippers

In my house this happens a lot:

　
Yes, I mean losing one (or both) socks. The only way to ensure they stay on is shoes. But when we’re at home, its probably a bit uncomfortable to wear those shoes all the time (I know I lose my shoes at the door). So in order to keep those cute baby toes warm and comfy, I’m going to attempt baby booties for this kid. (This could turn out badly I warn, the last pair I attempted ended up with me in a mood and a pair 1/2 finished baby shoes in the trash).
　
I started by cutting out all my pieces, one inner and outer per piece, per shoe and while daddy had baby bonding time, I had mommy/sewing machine bonding time.

　
I started assembling the slipper by preparing all my pieces, attaching each pieces out and lining so we could attach them all together. I was thankful the directions were really clear and there were pictures. (Though, I still made mistakes).

　
After attaching the two pieces and cutting out the elastic slots, I attached the backs using the same method of starting in the middle and working my way out each way. I made the mistake of placing the sole pieces together wrong, but you live, you learn, and she isn’t complaining (yet).

　
After measuring my elastic I attached it together using a zig-zag stitch then flipped them right sides out. They came out A LOT better than my last attempt at baby shoes with no swear words uttered, no tears cried.

　
I used the tutorial from the Michael miller fabrics blog to do these cute shoes.

Project Eight: Sewing fail, Boppy Pillow Cover

On Monday when I had just gotten home from work, after making dinner, all were fed and happy. So while my vampire baby attempted to eat my husband’s face, I decided to make a new Boppy cover so we could easily switch out the covers for washing purposes.

I really liked the look of this pattern because it had an over lap type closure instead of the zipper on the one I bought.

I started by cutting my fabric pieces out, (PS: I kind of hate how these pillows are shaped, lots of wasted fabric with 45” wide fabric, I wish I would have known and gone with the 60” wide fabric instead)

After lining everything up, I basted around the edge of the fabric to hold everything together.
Disclaimer: I have a love/hate relationship with bias tape, I love the look of it, but on weird curves I find it difficult to keep form bunching up. We had a very much hate/hate relationship this project. I had to make 3 different lengths of the tape then attach it together; it didn’t turn out as good as planned.

I will though introduce you to one of most favorite tools

The manual bias tape maker, it makes doing this tape sooooo much easier than manually folding and ironing it myself but it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like the automatic bias tape machine. And best part, you can use whatever fabric you want and it doesn’t cost 1.99 for 2.5 yards of it! It’s almost free!
Anyways, I chose a kinda matching fabric that I thought would stand out a bit. Well after the debacle of attaching the bias tape around the entire thing, I inserted the pillow and guess what… didn’t fit!!!!

I don’t have a picture of the back, but the opening seriously wouldn’t come together. It’s still sitting in my rework pile so that I can hopefully make it work, but this goes to show, all crafty mommas have sewing fails sometimes.
　
　

Pot Holder Party: Tutorial

Prudent Baby was holding a contest recently to enter to win sewing machines, and it just so happens that my (not so) trusty sewing machine recently broke on me, I could REALLY use a new one and even though the hubby said I could get ANY ONE I WANTED (dangerous statement from him!) it would be amazing if I could win one myself! So I went at it, making as many as I could in the short time frame I had, I had way more ideas, but I only got 5 made during the time I knew of the contest. Here they are.

　
　
　
　
I’ll do a quick tutorial for my favorites:
　
Quilted Pot Holder

I started with 9 3in square pieces of fabric and laid them out in the pattern I wanted.

Next I attached each row together

Then attached the rows together to make a bigger block

When done with the quilted top, I stacked the quilted top, the muslin backing, and then 2 layers of cotton batting and sewed them around the edges, leaving area open in order to flip it. Clip the corners.

After flipping it, I ironed it flat, then sewed it around the edge at a 1/4 inch seam allowance to closes it up, I then did decorative top-stitching in a star pattern as shown.