Projects

A special little girl is having a birthday in September.  She is special because she is my niece and she is turning 6!  She is a fiercely protective little girl who loves most everyone and takes her job as the 'big stister' very seriously.  She starts grade 1 today, and in my opinion, is growing up and growing smart too quickly.  I wish she would just stay a little 5 year old for a bit longer.

She would argue that point though.

For her birthday, I thought I would make a little something for her to wear back to school.  Specially for her.
I had a few patterns bookmarked in some Ottobre magazines, so I thought I would try one of them.  It is the first time I have made an Ottobre pattern, and so far so easy.  I used pattern 23 from the Spring 2011 magazine, a pinafore tunic.
I also found some cute fabric at a garage sale to use for the tunic.  I am usually not keen on green, but this print is kinda growing on me.  In fact, I have decided I love it.

I did change a few things in the pattern, not because things weren't working, but because that's just how I always seem to do things.
-I added piping to the yoke pieces.  Because I added piping, I was unable to tuck the panels into the yoke pieces. 
-So far I have left off the pockets and frill.  I may add one or the other, just to add interest.

The reveal will have to wait until I have it finished.  I would also like to have a picture of her wearing it.  I am curious about the fit.  I have heard from other reviews of Ottobre patterns that the fit is really good.  I sure hope so.

In other projects around the house, we are putting up a fence!

I cannot wait until it is finished and I can let little D run around in the yard without having to worry about her running on the road.  D loves it outside so this is a great investment.

And behind the scenes, D and I have been battling some pretty bad colds over here.  Our best friend these days is our box(es) of Kleenex.

Sure hope this passes over soon.  Bah.

Etsy

My sister and I have an Etsy shop, More Than Baby Blankets.

We started the shop earlier this year and filled it with things we sewed up. Now, after having the shop for a while, we have discovered that we would like to focus on making and selling just a few different things rather than all kinds of things.

So we are having a Blowout Sale to empty the shop of what we have on hand so that we can focus on making the shop better.

From now until the shop is empty, use the coupon code  

CLEAROUT25 

to get 25% off all your purchases!

Come by and check us out here

OCD over Ideas

I am a lover of ideas.

I don't mean this in an intellectual sense, though I do think of myself as a bit of an intellectual person.
I mean this in an OCD kind of way.  You know, you fall in love with the idea of something and then just go with it.  For a very long time.  Until you suddenly tire of it and never hardly look at it again.

That's what I mean when I say I am a lover of ideas.

For example. 

I love the idea of buttons. I love buttons.

Some of my button collection.

I have more buttons than I will ever use.  I have a jar of pink buttons, purple buttons, blue buttons, vintage buttons, white buttons.  I have cards of snap buttons.  I have a little bag of jean buttons.  I have a jar of 'nice' buttons - they have shapes or designs on them.
Recently, I have come to love the idea of fabric covered buttons.  I have never used one or even made one, but I am in love with them. I picked up some kits at the thrift store the other day, just to try.  Now I need to decide where I want to use them.
Of course the problem with using them, is that they are gone afterwards.
Did I hear someone say 'hoarder'?  Yeah.
Why?  Because I love the idea of buttons of course.

I also love the idea of vintage sheets.

Image 1, 2, 3

I have seen so many projects (quilts, pillows, dresses) made from vintage sheets that I have come to love the idea of them.  I keep scouring thrift stores in search of THE vintage sheet.  I have yet to find it.  In fact, most of the vintage sheets I see are faded or just pale in colour to begin with.  Is that how they are supposed to look?  Cuz then I may just fall out of love with them.  I keep hoping to hit the jackpot.  I'll let you know when I do.

Are there any ideas you love but haven't tried?  Usually, once I try an idea, it doesn't take me long to become un-enamoured of it.  Then I end up with, well, lots of something.

A Thrifty Find

Yesterday, I had to pick up my dear hubby from the hospital. He had an accident with an axe and had to have surgery to repair a cut tendon. He now sports and air cast aka roboboot, and is fairly dependent. Let's hope we don't get on each other's nerves too badly while he at home recovering. I really love him, but to be together ALL the time can be a little trying since he is easily bored now. Hopefully he can be back at work in the coming few weeks.

Before I went to the hospital to pick him up, I swung by the thrift store to see what I could find - that and I had a 25% off coupon. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular.
I did find though a really cute shirt. Completely not my size, but that didn't stop me from buying it. I thought I could cut it apart and make a little tee for D.

I laid the tee shirt on my cutting mat and placed my go-to shirt/bodice pattern on top and made the cutest little tee. (I like to have a pattern on hand rather than just tracing around an existing tee.) I managed to keep the ribbing from the neck and reuse it.  I also kept the sleeve hems to make the sleeves easier.  I could not keep the bottom hem because of the embroidery and text.

It fits a little big now, but that is okay. I was hoping there would be enough material for me to make long sleeves on the tee, but there wasn't so now she can wear it in the winter with a long sleeve shirt underneath.

She insisted on wearing socks with shorts - it makes her legs look short and fat.

Um, How Does One Start This?

Okay. I have taken 'the plunge' and started a blog for my sewing and other ravings.  The first post always seems to be a bit awkward.

Why?  It's not like you can see me thinking about what to say as I nervously dart my eyes around looking for something interesting to tell.

I guess I will tell first a little about myself.

I am Deanna, a child of God.

I am married.  We have one daughter... for now.
I took a basic sewing course in high school and then never touched sewing again until just before my daughter was born.  We had bought a house and needed curtains, so that became my first real sewing project.  I made some simple curtains and then some roman blinds.
Not bad.  They're still hanging two years later.
Now though, I sew for my little girlie.  I make clothes and have dabbled in other things... toys, shoes, bags...  I quite like sewing.  Actually, maybe I like the fabric most of all.  Then the sewing.  But you can't have one without the other, lucky for me.

I do not quilt.  Not that I can't, I just don't need to.  I've done some simple quilting, aka joining squares for form a whole, but not anything super difficult.  I think if I had to, I would love the challenge.  The most quilting I've done was spent making this:

This is also the most time I spent on any one thing - 3 months of off and on sewing and seam ripping.

Not my cup of tea.  I guess maybe I am a more instant gratification type of sewer.  I would rather be done a project in a day or two.  

There.  That's my intro.  

Let's hope it gets better from here!