Blessings!

~Heather

What have I been up to???

Sewing …. I have been sewing so much and loving every minute of it. I took a break for a while when school started back, but now I am back in the swing of things and currently working on my littlest’s birthday dress … it will be so cute, if I do say so myself.

Knitting … I taught myself to knit a couple of years ago, but over the past couple of weeks I have learned more about knitting and have made scarves for gifts and I am about to venture into making hats for my girls. It is so much easier to knit than you might think. Check out knittinghelp.com for free online videos and the best DVD I have seen on the subject is I Can’t Believe I’m Knitting – I got this at my library and it is very well made IMHO (much better than their book by the same name).

Cooking … I’ve been really watching what I have been eating lately and have lost weight! My secret – counting calories. Yes, the old fashioned calories in/calories out “technique” still works wonders. That and exercising :) Eating Well magazine is excellent, as is their book The Essential Eating Well Cookbook — I highly recommend them!

So that is what I have been up to … I will try and post more often than I have been ….

Blessings!

First, I am to cut 8 of the 5″ squares in half to give me 16 2 1/2″x5″ pieces. That I can handle ;) … but the next instructions are throwing me for a loop. They say:

Cut 2 2 1/2″ strips from the fabric designated for the checker squares.

Now, all I know is that I am to have 1 1/8 yard of fabric for the checker squares, outer border and game bags. so I’m wondering… 2 1/2″x what??? Then it says:

Place checker square fabric strip (again, I am unsure of the dimensions of said fabric strip) facing up and place a 2 1/2″x5″ strip (cut from the charms in step above) right side down on top of the checker square strip. Take a 1/4″ seam (does that mean “sew” a 1/4 inch seam?), then place another 2 1/2″x5″ strip about 1/8″ down from the first 2 1/2″x5″ strip and take another 1/4″ seam (again, does “take” mean sew?). Continue this chain piecing technique until you are our of 2 1/2″x5″ pieces (see illustration 1) — which BTW makes NO sense to me, but the illustration looks like this:

Then cut apart sewn units into 2 1/2″ strips (see illustration 2 — which is below). This yields 32 units after cutting occurs. The dotted lines below are cutting lines, not seam lines (according to the instructions) …

This may not be my last question about this as the instructions seem somewhat ambiguous … can you help me???!!!

This is the 2nd time I have picked up these instructions to try and figure them out … what am I doing/seeing/reading wrong?

And the back:

And my little one modeling it for me:

Please forget you saw the messy room ;-)

I added jumbo rick-rack to the top front and the hem and I had to curve the armholes, but they’re still snug. Also the straps are just perfect, which means that soon they will need to be let out, so I kept all the scraps from the shirt to make any changes as she grows.

What do you think? I love it …. thanks Dad for the old shirt – it worked perfectly. Now I’m off to make one for the big girl :-)

Oh, and just in case you want/need it again, here is the link to the Button Shirt to Toddler Dress Recon tutorial that I used to make this cute dress. And again, it’s super easy!

~Heather

I am currently working on Button Shirt to Toddler Dress Recon with a shirt that is my Dad’s (how sweet is that? My baby will be wearing her Grandad’s shirt). I need to curve the armholes and hem it up and it’s done, but now my oldest (she’s 7) wants one. My Dad did give me another shirt and it looks like it might work, so we’ll try it. BTW these dresses are super easy and cute … give them a try!

~Heather

So I need some more inspiration … and I found the following:

Button Shirt to Toddler Dress Recon — this is too cute!  I’ll have to visit the thrift store and see what I can find!

Bias Toward the Pretty – What can I say?  I am a big bias tape fan.  I saw these ideas last month in Martha Stewart Living mag and thought they were great ideas.  Two of my faves are the shoe laces (page 2) and the table runner (page 3)

:)

The picture is not so great for some reason, but I wanted to share it. I love the fabric and i made the lining out of a rich blue. I really, really like it and it was super-easy to make! Why don’t pattern makers (i.e. Simplicity, McCalls, etc.) make patterns so simple???

It only took me a couple of hours and a couple of mistakes. One mistake I made was that in fusing the interfacing I accidentally ironed the wrong side once … EEK! I proceeded to get glue all over my NEW iron! What to do? I searched and found to make a paste with baking soda and scrub the plate with a washcloth until it’s off. Took a lot of elbow grease, but I did it. Then I had to make sure the steam vents weren’t clogged with baking soda, which they were. So I filled the water reservoir and put the iron on high steam and steamed away until they were clean.

The purse would have only taken me about an your and a half had it not been for that little mishap. I do like it … I’m off to fill it up now :)

~Heather

First, I made a tote purse to match my new diaper bag (did I mention yet that I love it?!) and a changing pad for the baby. You can see the diaper bag and the fabric here. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon making …

… twirly skirts for my girls yesterday and they turned out great. They are a bit more bulky than they should be because I used a denim fabric that my oldest daughter loves, but they are still so cute! I used an adorable fabric that I picked up a few weeks ago at a flea market for the hem, waistband and tie. I also made my oldest a headband a la Heather Bailey that you can see hanging on the hanger with her skirt. I decided not to even try to make one for the baby as it would be off in 2 seconds.

Both of those tutorials above (twirly skirts and headbands) are SUPER-EASY and cute! Try them … you’ll like them!

And I had to throw in a picture of the cutie-pie in front of the skirts …

~Heather

It’s a new Janome DC2007LE!!!!  I still can’t believe he came home with it … I cried … ‘nuf said …

:)

I LOVE IT!  There is a pocket on the end with baby’s milk cup and that white “stripe” on the side is the edge of an outside pocket trimmed with twill tape.  The handles are folded over to the other side, but they match the bag and it’s tied with twill tape as well.  I absolutely love it, like I said.  The design is great – came from Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.  It’s the All-day Tote.

So, my machine is in the shop and I’m going crazy waiting to get it back.  I am really wanting to sew these twirly skirts for the  girls with this cute denim fabric that I picked up on clearance Friday:

I’ll probably also make purses and hair bands to go with … my daughter loved this fabric.

Also, I bought these prints to make my first quilt pattern from the Modern Quilt Workshop book … Outside the Box it’s called.

I guess I can begin cutting out the pieces and piecing the top together, since I like to do that be hand.

*sigh* … missing my machine already …..