sewing skirts

Still busy getting ready for two markets this weekend. 

The first one is on Friday in Neerlandia from 5-9pm, and the second is Weestock in Edmonton from 10-4.

I have dresses and button up shirts, and I thought I would add some little skirts to the loot.  I have skirts in sizes 2-4 already, but none in tiny sizes. 

Lucky for me, I have a little girl and so I can easily size the waistband on these by laying them over a onesie. 

I made some pleated denim skirts with a stretchy knit waistband.

Then I tried the same method but with a knit bottom as well.

Here it is with a 0-3m onesie snugly inside. 

Such a small skirt has no choice but to be cute!

The printed knit is a recycled tee shirt.  Printed knits are hard to find around here and I can order them online, but then shipping ridiculously high because of the weight.

We're also bringing the mini back! 

I made this little skirt without any sort of pattern.  All I knew was that I wanted a little denim mini for D and it had to have a flat front and elastic in the back.  She still has a diaper butt, so the back goes flat-ish when she is wearing it.

She wore it all morning over her pants, so it is a little wrinkled.  

But who cares!  She loves it!

playing with fabric

Have you heard of Fat Quarter Idol? 

 

First thing I thought about was the movie Shrek, when they do a parody of American Idol.  

Anyway, it's a fun competition over at Sew Mama Sew where you get to pick fabrics to fit the theme of the week.  Looked easy and fun to me, so I thought I would give it a go.

The theme this week is 'Sweet Child of Mine'.

I began with this Walk in the Woods print and chose the rest of my fabrics from there.

This is what I ended up with.  

I chose three gray with coloured print, and then two each of red, gray and aqua prints along with coordinating solids.  I think it's kind of cute and it would work well for boys or girls.  

What do you think of my choices?

stepping out

I am a non-quilter trying to do quilty things.  Does that make me a quilter now too?

I have seen paper piecing around and never really got the hype of it.  I didn't really like all the little pieces and all the seams that showed in the end product.  

But sometimes you have to make things that someone else will like, so you end up trying new things.  Like paper piecing.  

I joined the Modern She Made Swap on Flickr because I like the challenge of making something other than clothes.  I make clothes to sell, but I make other things to try new techniques and then give away.  If I tried everything I wanted to try and then kept it all, I would have a lot of stuff.  I think I have enough stuff, though one day I will have to make something for me.

Maybe, if my partner doesn't like this, I will keep this project.

I had won a subscription to the magazine Fat Quarterly about a year ago and the final issue I received was about paper piecing.  This little girl with her balloon were one of the features in the magazine.  I thought she was kind of cute, but did not have any intention of making her.  

Then this swap came up and I thought, why not try that little girl!  

Well, one reason to not try her was because I had no idea how to paper piece.  And another was because the project was labelled intermediate, level three.  

But I like a challenge, so I printed the pattern and got to work.

And what a work!  I had only done one practice run on a very very simple diamond pattern, and now there were all these little pieces!  The biggest thing for me was making sure I had the fabric positioned correctly.  I did a lot of seam ripping because I guessed wrong.  

Next time, I am going to try something easier and a little more geometric.  

I did the balloon first and that seemed to go pretty good if you discount the picking.  But the girl was another story.  All the parts!  And then everything had to match up!  She was looking a little wonky, but I kept going.  In the end, I think she's not so wonky after all.

I squared the block up and surrounded it with some Kona Pacific.  

Now I have to decide if she is good enough to send to another person.  Is she something you would like to have? 

an award!

I have seen this award floating around blog land and then suddenly it was in my inbox!  Jane over at Buzzmills awarded me the Liebster!

Hmmm, what is the Liebster Blog Award?  I googled it and tried to find out, but the origins seem to be rather elusive.  It doesn't seem to be very old though. Basically, it's an award that goes to bloggers with small blogs.  By small, I mean less than 200 followers.  

What I'm supposed to do now is:

1.  Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog.

2.  Choose 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers and pass the award on to them.

3.  Display the Liebster Award somewhere on your blog

So, thanks Jane for thinking of my humble blog!  

And since I now have to pass on the award, here are 4 blogs I thought were Liebster worthy:

Lady Face - Marian is the wonderful blogger who sent that gorgeous swap!  Check her blog for more of her great sewing projects.

FABulous Home Sewn - Fenna was in my sister's class in high school and grew up in the same town as me.  I found her blog a few months ago and am a little awed at how she manages to sew so much with 4 small kids around!

A Labour of Love - I found Delores' blog via Flickr.  We have been in quite a few swaps together and have never been partners, but I have seen her beautiful work.  She also leaves sweet comments on my blog.

Contented - I have no idea how many followers Rachel has, but I had to include her blog.  She is a superb sewist and was the swapper who sent me that gorgeous pouch a few months back.

Congrats bloggers!

an ice cream dress

I received this wonderful fabric from Marian at Lady Face and knew immediately what to make from it!

The fabric is Ice Cream Treats Poplin by Lisette, the same designer of Oliver + S patterns.  It is such light and nice feeling fabric - just perfect for spring and summer. 

And I had the perfect pattern. 

Lucky for me, I already own the Ice Cream Dress pattern and what better fabric to make the dress from than ice cream fabric.

I paired blue fabric up with a yellow solid to make the dress and it dress came together easily and quickly.  It also turned out very cute.

I didn't have enough of the ice cream fabric for the pockets, so I switched the fabrics, but unless you know the pattern, you would never tell I did it opposite.

Finished off with a blue button.

Love the v-notch details in this pattern.

Little D turns 2 in two weeks, so this will be her birthday dress.  She loves 'ice' and now she can wear it out to church.

Guest Post: Marian from Lady Face

Today I am having a guest post from the sender of my wonderful Covert Robin swap package. The sneaky peek of my swap package you all saw in my last post will now be revealed! 

Hi everyone!

I am Marian and I blog over here at Lady Face.  I'm honored to be guest posting today here at Little D and Me.  Deanna is awesome, I'm so thrilled to be here!

A bit about me, I've been quilting for a little bit over a year now, and am loving it.  I'm an admitted fabric and swap addict.  I'm a stay at home mom to these two adorable monsters and I have a wonderful husband who is currently in school at Idaho State University.

 Matthew is almost 3

 Abby turned 2 April 2nd

We also have a very awesome dog named Hobbes.  He's wonderful.

Ok, I'll admit I was a bit intimidated when I found out I was paired with Deanna for this swap.  Have you seen her sewing skills?!  Everything she makes is extraordinary and I was a bit nervous, and very excited, for the challenge!  I mean, I've never even sewn with a zipper before...I like flat things like quilts, so I started out by reading her blog to get to know her a bit.

I had planned to make Deanna a handbag (who can't use another bag, right?) but then I saw this post on her blog that included specific "hints" for her swap partner (me!) and so I gratefully changed directions a little bit.

Now, one thing to know about me is I like to give people what they want.  Since partners for this swap were surprises and we couldn't go and ask them, I was very worried that I'd make her something she already had six other versions of...or use the one fabric that she hates...stuff like that. This post was such a great help because I knew that I could make her something she did want!

I decided to make her a mini-quilt to hang in her home and add some other goodies to go with it.

I checked out her favorite photo's on Flickr and specifically noticed this one, and this one of buntings.

Oh boy, I love myself a good bunting.  In a fabric, in a mini-quilt, on the wall, in anything, so I was glad to see she likes those too.  From there I pulled fabrics from my scrap box that seemed colorful and happy that she would like.  I cut out triangles and placed them on top of a quilt sandwich I put together that was a good size.

 I never did measure the finished mini-quilt, so I don't know what it's dimensions are...

I figured this would not be something to be washed so I was a bit loose with the those technical parts of this project.  I stitched the bunting flags in place with hand quilting thread, added the ric-rac and the birds with the same thread and then added a scrappy binding.  I didn't take a photo of the back, but I also added yellow hanging corners in the back so Deanna can hang it where she wants to.

My house is terrible for lighting and while I worked on this is was too yucky to photograph things outside

I wanted to add something more so I cut out a bunch of squares for her hexagon project that I hope she'll be able to use, and included some 2.5" squares I had already cut for granny squares.

Seeing how amazing Deanna is at making clothes I got some fabric for her at JoAnn's here in Idaho. I've never been to Canada before but I figured there was a good chance she didn't have any of this cute print yet.  Isn't this fabric adorable? If there's anyone that can make something beautiful with it, it's Deanna!

This fabric is by Lisette and feels wonderful.  Great quality and will be awesome to make clothes out of.  

I wanted to have some kind of packaging for the extras so I followed Jeni's tutorial for her lined draw string bag and whipped up one of those in literally no time at all!  The hardest part was picking the fabrics.  I used a solid green for the lining.  It is such a great tutorial!  I can't say enough good things about it.  I'm definitely planning to buy her pattern that has multiple sizes.

The top is Amy Butler Full Moon and the bottom fabric is Heather Bailey's new reprint of Freshcut.

Here is the whole bunch of goodies with the bag

And that's what I did for the Covert Robin Swap!  I'm glad I was able to push myself and challenge myself creatively in this way.  It is so much fun to make things for other people, I loved this swap!

Thanks Deanna, for letting me be your guest today!


I'll only add one more picture of the whole works together.  I took this shot right after I opened the box, so the mini quilt is a bit wrinkly from being mailed.  No worries, though, I ironed it.

Just look at all those gorgeous squares!  Must come from a great stash!

I was so excited I didn't even move the box out of the picture! 

Thanks so much for the swap Marian!  It was absolutely one of the best I've received yet. 

P.S  Just a peek at our bonkers Alberta weather... this all fell this morning and didn't stop falling till, well, it's still falling!

a new month

It's April already! 

This is the month my little girl turns 2. 

It seems like she is already 2 though as she can say lots of words and even make sentences.  She can almost say her prayer by herself too!

It is also the month of markets for me.  I will be at the Spring Market in my hometown Neerlandia on April 20th and then at Weestock all day on the 21st.  Hopefully it will be busy, and even if it isn't busy for selling, at least busy for visiting other vendors and chatting.  

I have also received my Covert Robin swap.  Last week the mail lady came to my door and asked me to sign for a box.  I was only too happy to do so and then even happier when I opened the box!

I won't show you everything, just a little peek as I will be having my swapper guest post here sometime this month with everything she made and sent.  

Squares, perfectly cut and just right for hexies!

I had a bit of a disappointing swap earlier and so this was such a wonderful surprise.  

I guess that is the risk of swapping with people you don't know - are they going to put the effort in and make something just for me, or are they going to do a fast last minute job and make something I could have made without thinking.

I sure hope people see me as a person who puts thought into what I make.  I always check my partner's blog, Flickr, and Pinterest to see what kind of things they might like, what colours they like, patterns, etc.  Then I read their about page (which I should really have) and see if I can make something they will use.  

Good swapping takes a bit of effort and imagination, and I sure hope I do good at it.  

My partner for the Covert Robin swap did.