Bonnie
52 (Family) Projects in 2012: #2 & #3
Why, yes, I am a little behind on my 52 Projects already. I’ll be making up for it over the next week with Samantha’s birthday present! It’s going to be so cool! In the meantime, though, projects #2 and #3 are new winter PJs for Charlie and Jamie.
They’re apparently very comfy PJs! At Fall Quilt Market, the folks at Shannon Fabrics stopped by my booth and asked me if I’d ever tried sewing my knit patterns with their Cuddle Fabric. I hadn’t, but I was willing to give it a try. They shipped me a box of some of the cutest prints last month! You really have to jump over to their site and see their selection: Cuddle Fabric Prints.
I started out with my Charlie Tee pattern and my AJ Bottoms pattern. I did have to make some minor modifications to get them to work with this fabric. It does have stretch to it, but it’s not quite as much as a cotton knit. (Cuddle Fabric is a polyester plush fabric similar to Minky, Moda’s Snuggles and Joann’s Soft & Comfy.) Once I widened the necklines and narrowed the neckbands on the tees and lengthened the waistbands on the pants to allow for the difference in stretch, they turned out really nicely. My boys certainly think so!
New Look, Instant Downloads & a Discount!
Have you seen the new look over on my main webpage? Cynthia of Webwurkz did an absolutely amazing job with the updates that I needed.
The biggest part of the update is to my Patterns page. When you click on it now, it takes you to a page that shows you all of my current patterns.
When you click on each pattern, you’ll find a pattern description, photos and a box where you can click to order the paper pattern or the pdf pattern. AND, when you purchase the pdf pattern there, you get it instantly! No waiting around for me to email the pattern. Gotta love instant gratification, right?
2012 in Pictures: Week 3
Quiet Sunday Afternoon with a Good Book
Dash!
Summersaults are So Much Fun!
Winding, Winding, Winding . . .
Monkey Business
More Love for Katie!
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!
From 2012 Project 365
2012 in Pictures: Week 2
Free . . . Five . . . Go!
Time to Do the Dishes
Uncle Charlie: “Hold Ka-e!”
Spinach, Mushroom & Rice Lasagna
Hugs for Katie
Ice Cream for the Birthday Boy!
Celebrating Jamie!
From 2012 Project 365
American Quilt Retailer: January 2012
Squeee! A copy of the latest issue of American Quilt Retailer arrived at my door just a few hours ago and guess what I found inside?
Did you guess yet?
Fishsticks Designs patterns!
Want to see?
It’s in the center spread . . . in a really exciting article that editor, Susan Fuquay, wrote all about the trend towards sewing for the guys in our lives. Of course, that’s exciting because my patterns were featured, but it’s also exciting because it means that designers and manufacturers are designing for little (and big) boys!
Wait! I have more for you! Becky at AQR was so sweet to send me pdf versions of the full article so you can see the whole thing and read for yourself! How cool is that? Here’s Page 1, and here’s Page 2.
52 (Family) Projects in 2012: #1
My friend, Leigh, issued a challenge over at my home-on-the-internet, Make-Laugh-Love, to complete 52 handmade projects this year. Since I sew all the time, that’s not really a problem for me. I have noticed, however, that I sew a lot for business and sometimes overlook sewing things just for my family. That realization motivated me to jump into the challenge, but I’ll be working towards completing 52 handmade items this year specifically for my family.
Project #1 is a pattern that I’ve done zillions of times, but it’s what was on my list. Jamie got a pack of 24 twistable crayons from his big brother for Christmas, and he asked for a crayon roll to store them. These are so nice for little ones (and for mom) because they can see which crayon (or marker, or pencil) that they need right away, and they make cleaning up after creating quick and easy!
Jamie begged me to buy this football fabric for him the last time I took him to one of our local quilt shops with me, and he was really excited that we found something to sew with it!
One project down, 51 to go! This is going to be fun!
2012 in Pictures: Week 1
Back to (Home)School
No Hummus Left Behind
Freshly Baked Bread
Hangin’ with Big Brother
A Little Paint and a Trip to IKEA
From 2012 Project 365
New Year Thoughts
I’m having quiet, reflective day today, and I’m not feeling very talkative. Do you have those days? I feel like I should write down some resolutions. It’s what we’re supposed to do today, right? Instead, I pulled out my new quilting journal and planned out a new quilt. Honestly? I couldn’t have possibly imagined a year ago today everything that would have come to pass in a year’s time. It was a year full of blessing and amazement and uncertainty and faith. Definitely faith! I did a whole lot of stepping out in faith. I have a list of decisions to make over the next few weeks . . . business decisions, family decisions, little and big decisions. Today, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with not knowing what’s ahead. It would be nice if we could know how today’s decisions will affect tomorrow, wouldn’t it?
One of my Christmas gifts from my sweet husband was this book, which I’ve wanted for years:
I’ve been enjoying flipping through and reading while sipping my morning coffee. This quote seems perfectly appropriate for the end of a old year and the beginning of a new one:
Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still.
C. S. Lewis from The Allegory of Love
It is true, isn’t it, that everything we are today is a result of the decisions that we’ve made, the experiences that we’ve had and the people that we’ve interacted with? I’m excited to see who I am, where I am, what I’ll be doing this time next year!
Project #12: ‘Twas the Night before Christmas . ..
. . . and all through the house, no more projects were waiting, at least not for now!
Handmade Christmas tree ornaments wrap up my list of handmade projects. These are simple, inexpensive wood blocks adorned with scrapbook paper and digital pictures printed from my home printer. We followed the guide for these at How Does She? These will be great fun to hang on our tree year after year!
Of course no Christmas is complete for a sewing mama without handmade Christmas jammies for her little ones. I suppose that means you get 13 projects for the price of 12 . . . a baker’s dozen! (Isn’t this Cowboy Santa fabric perfect for a Texas Christmas?)
Praying that each of you is blessed with a Christmas packed full of joy and overflowing with many wonderful memories! Enjoy this beautiful telling of the Christmas story by Linus as a little Christmas gift from me to you:
Let’s Play! with Handmade Christmas Projects #10 and #11
This sweet giraffe is for my granddaughter, Katie. All of my little ones have had loveys that they’ve played with, slept with and just loved on, and I’d love for this on to be hers. (I have learned over the years, though, that children decide for themselves which lovey is theirs!) I used Bit of Whimsy’s Juju Giraffe pattern with just a few minor modifications. I added a dress with sleeves by cutting the body out of a second fabric for the dress and adding shortened arm pieces trimmed in underwear elastic for the sleeves. I also cut the back of the body in half and added a seam allowance so I could sew the tail into the seam. Since it’s for a baby, I wanted to be sure the tail was secure. Little ones tend to love playing with stuffed animal tails!
I sewed this bowling set for Charlie, but I may have to make up a second set for Jamie. He told me while watching me handstitch the stuffing openings closed that Charlie was going to love it, but he’d love one, too! He does have a birthday coming up in a few weeks. I used the I Heart Bowling pattern designed by my friend, Berritt, of Birdiful Stitches. Such a cute pattern and really easy to sew!
