'Lil Owl Pillow/Stuffy

Owls seem to be everywhere lately and gotta say that I am totally diggin' the trend.  You may remember that I did a owl felt mobile for the nursery about a year ago.  So, in looking for possible gift ideas/stocking stuffers for my kids I came across a tutorial (they always lure you in with the "tutorials" - with all their promises of "easy" and "quick" and "simple"...) for a cute little stuffed owl pillow/stuffy.  It was a great way to once again work in a few of my fabric scraps to match the quilt my superstar mom put together for our Peanut.  And I think she's totally going to be a fan! 

I of course will be linking up to the super quick, easy, and simple tutorial  over at Make It-Love It so that you yourself can join along!  - 'Cuz you know that's why I post right??  To try and suck you into this sick little 'crafting' obsession I have with trying absolutely everything cute that I can find step-by-step directions for.  to try and make it seem a little more socially acceptable.  it is a problem.  

Messenger Bags

Can I just say that I am a big fan of the sewing machine lately!  So, I've started thinking about some Christmas gifts and these hot little numbers were on the list.  There are various great tutorials out there so I did some research and came up with my own little variation (ie. combining the easiest portions of all options :) ) They came together pretty quick - the second naturally faster than the first - but happy to cross them off the to-do list.  :)  

A Kids Apron

We had a six-year-old birthday party on the calendar this week and so - what a FANTASTIC way to break in the new sewing closet.  (well - for it's intended purpose.  it has also been suggested that it may be a nice quiet place to go in, close the door, and pretend that one is not hiding from their children an invisible superhero accessing a secret portal, needed...umm....somewhere else...) 

So Claire wanted to get her friend something for cooking/baking - and because what mother doesn't think it's a great idea to intimately include ALL children in the 5:00 pm chaos of that which is "what am I going to feed these grumpy grumpy people with absolutely NO planning, foresight, a can of pork and beans, celery, and three eggs" - I was completely on board. :)               

Teamed it with a kid's cookbook by Annabel Karmel - who I think is genius!  and done like dinna'!  :) 

Didn't even have to bravely forge the Wal-Mart toy aisle with a one, four and six year old!  So really - who is the true winner here??

Sewing/Craft Closet

After cleaning out the clutter, painting the walls and the back of the closet door (because well, when I painted the front of the door two years ago I was MUCH too busy to do the back), installing two new shelves, sorting and organizing my whole little bin system, putting up a ribbon dowel, repurposing an old magazine rack for wrapping paper and putting in my corkboard - I am happily content with phase one of the craft/sewing closet.  Phase two of course being blowing out the back of the closet and extending it through to overtake the entire playroom/family room behind it.  Naturally.

I wanted the shelves to look a little chunkier so Aaron faced the melamine shelves with MDF.  I found the blue damask canvas bins as Wal-Mart and thought they would look great in there and be good for housing all batting and flannel as they are bulkier and don't compact as well in the drawers.  The larger bin on the fabric tower is for projects 'in process' - which is a too common reality when I try to find 'uninterrupted' sewing/crafting moments.  And I know that the truth is if I don't build in for this occurrence, the leaning tower of half-done projects will be back in a matter of weeks! :)

And here's the side-by-side sudden replay...

                             Before                               After

  

Of course there continues to be another world to the left of that closet entrance - but it truly is amazing (read...sad/pathetic) how much room is discovered when you organize and tidy a few years of neglected accumulation!

Ballet Shoes Tote

So it was roughly two out of every three weeks last year that the conversation in our house would go a little something like this....

"Claire, we have to leave for ballet.  Grab your ballet slippers and jump in the van."

"Okay, I just have to _____(insert *SUPER* important detail here)"

"Claire, we have to go, make sure you remember your shoes"

"Claire - we're waiting in the van and we're going to be late, are you coming??"

"MOMMY - but I can't FIND my shoes!!"

and THIS is where it ALLLLL fell apart... (not to dispel the no doubt wide-spread belief that we ever have anything less than completely together 100% of the time)

So, the return of ballet classes commencing this week...this is part one of my solution...

Inspired by Homemade by Jill

Cute right?!  How can she NOT want to leave her shoes in there for the entire seven days until her next lesson? It was more time consuming than I thought it would be to sew up the little felt ballerina, but it was kinda fun and I know that she will love it.  And now that I have the little doll template I drew up I have another little idea - coming soon.... :)

Part two may include thinking about said shoes before we are t-minus twenty seconds from leaving and not trusting that my 6 year old hasn't tucked them away behind her dresser/dressed them on her Care Bear/stuffed them into the bottom of the clothes hamper/thrown them into the shoe closet/left them under the seat in the van/placed them in her toy bins,...but probably not.  I'm a busy woman... 

Maternity Skirt Redo

So - super happy to say that I have begun to purge my maternity clothes!  And thus being the case, thought that I could try and repurpose some of them for my girls.  And yeah - a little umm... surprised? how far these whole 'repurposes' may go....


So, my 'little' Old Navy summer skirt... has become, 

a jersey dress for not one,

but two!  Oh yes I did.  Matching dresses. :)  Funny/sad story...had I another girl,...definitely had enough left over to hook them up too!  From the bolt,...I mean,...single skirt,...

Adria's Crib Mobile

So I mentioned a few days ago that there remained a few projects that I had hoped to finish up for Adria's nursery and I am super excited to be done one of them!! :)  Found some inspiration from etsy/pinterest and came up with owls and flowers to match her color scheme and tie in with the tree mural behind her bed. l had all the felt already so it cost me NOTHING and she is thus far completely infatuated with it so I'm happy!  The little owls took me longer than I thought they would - but that seems to be the case with most things these days!  

Have a great day! :)

Grocery Bags

so this is me perusing the Internet looking for a little something that I could do for fun, and once again overestimating my skills and free time.  

Needless to say, Sew4Home is pretty generous in their whole mantra "Step-by-Step Tutorials Make Sewing Easy".  Two days later,....I completed my first "EZ" Grocery Bag.  You see, I think it's the "EZ" that threw me off.... kinda made me think of "easy"??  Apparently that was not the correct acronym.  yeah. not sure where they were going with that.  

The good news is that I have a seam ripper and was gifted with the opportunity for personal character development as my patience may have found its natural limits.  Also good news....this went from a 'gift' to becoming a valued heirloom.  'cause there is no way I'm giving this treasure away! :)

 I must confess that, as I had already cut out the pieces for a second bag, I did sew another one and it went much much smoother.  Actually only took me over an hour.  But the wound is still fresh, so I think this pattern is going to be 'shelved' for a while...

Fabric Baskets

For several months I have had very good intentions of trying a fabric basket.  I finally put my intentions to action and found a great pattern on Sew4Home and gave 'er a try!  LOVED it!  It was super easy and I only had to pull apart one of six so for this amateur sewer I'm pretty proud of those stats. :)  I tried a few different weights of fabric - from cotton to outdoor canvas, and really liked the more 'tumbled' look of the canvas, but the cotton worked out just as well with the firm interfacing.  I did two for Adria's nursery with some scraps left over from her quilt for diapers and socks, 

a couple for my laundry room to bring in a little more color in to the room in progress, one for my guest room - just cause I had some scraps in that fabric and I was on a roll, 

and another random canvas one - which is my personal favorite, and might find its way into my sewing cupboard or I could always give it away....cause then I could make MORE!    

Yeah, got a little excited about the fabric baskets.  Actually had to stop myself.  

and it just wouldn't be fair...

...if today didn't produce a new pair for my favorite little three year old! :)

there was a sale....

Our friendly neighbourhood fabric store is changing ownership and selling out all their present inventory.  It means that selection is dwindling....but what they have is super cheap!  So....flannel is selling at $3.00/m and seems to be floating around our place in abundance!  and well....my machine has found its home on our kitchen table for the week and I'm having a lot of fun!  :)  


Here's what quiet time produced today....

Baby Washcloths

Baby washcloths also on the list for replacement... and really easy and cheap to sew. Who knew??   brown for boys.  pink for girls.  :)  I would love to try some matching hooded towels...but we'll see when the ambition wears out..... :)

Burp Cloths

I found a great little pattern at Homemade by Jill for new burp cloths.  And being that baby #3 is well on its way and my old ones were well loved and should be replaced (umm....the burp cloths, not the children....  well, they're well loved.  just not needing replacement....)  I guess it's time to start doing some prep work.  Anyway - super happy with how they turned out - love that they have the batting in the middle and should prove to be good and absorbant!  I have some more flannel scraps I have to use up so that should ensure we're covered for both boy and girl options! :)

Some New PJs!

Seriously LOVE seeing these kids smile!  SO worth the effort! :)

Tickle Trunk Project

So - now that Christmas is over and the surprises have all been told - I thought I would share some of the things I have been working on the past few months!  We decided to try and put together a dress-up trunk for our kids from us this year - something that we can add to over time! :)


One of their favourite games of late is to line up all the kitchen chairs and pretend that it's a long train and they are the conductors.  I found a cute little pattern on Mushroom Villagers and tried to do my own little version of conductor hats and then just eye-balled an interpretation of a vest.  Not perfect but cute! I found a train whistle to go with it - a fact I may or may not be now regretting! :)

I also sewed them each a cape to replace the blankets I am frequently having to tie and retie around their necks every three seconds when they save the planet.  I picked up a cow and fireman costume after Halloween for $5 that has been a huge hit for Jaden!  And a Safari hat and magnifying glass that has already equipped them on countless explorations.  A cowboy hat and bandana to wear as they run around riding the swiffer and a empty cardboard box - and of course everything princess and fairy that you could ever need or desire!  Wish the magic wand could clean up rooms as quickly as it changes stuffed animals to coachmen though.... :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Ralna