Happy Birthday to my sister!

My sister Sheila has a birthday tomorrow and I have made her a purse! I hope she likes it because I actually really love it and kinda wish I could keep it. It was not difficult but a bit time consuming. because of all the piecing together. It was probably the closest I have ever come to actually quilting. I don't have the patience for quilting. Before I go on too much, I should show you a picture of the finished product!

 The Front

 A close up of the fabric combination!! I love it!

 The front

The Back

It is technically reversible but since I am too lazy to figure out how to do a true blind stitch, the lining has a weird seam on the bottom so it doesn't look good turned the other way around. But I just switched the fabrics around. On the outside the red flowers are the triangles, on the inside the red flowers are the rectangles and the bottom. There is a pocket on the inside that is just the same as the one on the outside. It is a pretty nice purse, if I do say so myself. It also has a drawstring closure.

I used a pattern by Bari J. and it is available for purchase here. Its the Millie Fleur and looks like this:

So happy birthday Sheila (tomorrow). I hope you have a great day.

Here is the next project I am working on. A pattern by Anna Marie Horner available here.

I will be attempting Option C but with straps. I have also modified the pattern to have a longer bodice and a zipper in the back instead of the side. It will be black and grey and white!! I am so excited. I will post pictures of the fabric once I get it. I think it should be here today, but you all should check out the wonderful fabric from Uberstitch on etsy.com. The fabrics I chose are from the P&B Textile listings! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Have a great day!!

Liverpool dress! And Snow!

So, I actually just posted the Slacker-ific post, and i am starting this post right now because. . . I am a slacker. If I don't at least start this post now (while my kids are mesmerized by a care bears movie) it will be another 3 weeks before I post again!

So, the Fall Jacket I made (see earlier posts) was supposed to be a dress. But as I stated in the other post, the fabric I found didnt look like a dress so I made the larger size and I wear it as a jacket. But, when i made my toile I really liked the way the right size fit and looked on my body so I knew I wanted to make a dress with the pattern someday. Well, last week was that "day." I found some fabric that I really liked:

This picture didn't come out too well because the fabric is actually black and you can barely see the flowers in real life.Then found some contrasting fabric that I thought would make good accent pieces

And Voile, I have a new dress!

The pictures are not great. The dress actually looks really good but I don't have anyone to take a picture of me wearing it. I tried to take a picture in the mirror but the flash ruined it all. There is also a tie in the back that is in the contrasting fabric.

I still think pockets would be nice, but I thought inside pockets would just add bulk right around my hips and who wants to add things to your hips! I am still contemplating patch pockets out of the contrasting fabric. What do you all think? Pockets or no pockets?
If pockets yes, should they been in the contrasting fabric or the black fabric so they don't stand out as much???

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Now for a preview of next weeks craft:
I am making a purse for my sister's Birthday, which is on friday. I may have it finished by then, but I won't be able to ship it until Saturday at the earliest, sorry Sheila :(  Its the thought that counts, right??
Anyway, here are the fabrics that I am using to put all together!

I think it will be really cute!!

And now I will end with pictures of my back yard. It was 80 degrees on Monday and at least 75 yesterday, and this is what we woke up to this morning. I LOVE Colorado!

Slacker-ific!

Well, when I started this blog my goal was to blog once a week a project that I had made that week. I looked at the date of my last blog and I can't believe that it has been 2 weeks! I have made several projects since then but just haven't made time to blog about them.

So here is the project I made this last week:

 I made this for my friend Charlotte. I had some left over laminated fabric from the diaper bag/purse I made for her birthday so I thought I would make her a little diaper and wipes carrier!

This one is all me too! I had no tutorial or pattern, which is why it is a square with Velcro. I was able attach the dotted ribbon to hide the stitching that attached the velcro on the inside. And I had an extra brad to make the hole for the strap.

Now I am going to end this entry because blogger is giving me a hard time. All I want to do is write under the pictures below and it WILL NOT let me??? weird but I should probably go make dinner. Gluten free pizza crust, salad and hopefully a nice full glass of wine after the kiddos go to bed!

Hard Drive Fried, but a New Dress for Ruby!!

So a few weeks ago my computer just stopped working. I took it in to the mac store and they said my hard drive has crashed. So I got a new hard drive and it works beautifully now!! However, I have so many pictures on my crashed hard drive. All of our pictures from our trip to Costa Rica, honeymoon pictures, India pictures, most of Ian's first 2 years of life. So sad.

Well, I thought I would look into some data recovery. They do it all the time in movies so it must be available in real life. Well, I think it is available for a small fee starting at about $500 and going up from there. :(

So the question is "how much are pictures worth?" And i have not been able to come up with an answer to that question yet. We will see.

Now onto a craft project for today! A friend of mine gave me a book a few years ago called Absolutely A-Line by Wendi Gratz with 26 ideas for an A-Line dress for little girls. I have tried several but Ruby found some beautiful fabric the other day and I wanted something a little different for this fabric. So I pulled out my book (pictures below) and went to work. The thing I love about this book and an A-Line dress is that it is so easy.

I went to work drawing up the pattern with the simple changes to the basic pattern and put it all together. This project took about 3 hours total, drawing up the pattern pieces, cutting out the fabric and putting it all together. I hope you like it because I am pretty proud of the way it turned out!!

 

 

 I really love the way this turned out. The ribbon across the front is a bit too lose, but Ruby doesn't care!! That's what I love about making clothes for little people, if they aren't perfect, it doesn't matter to them.

Well, I hope you all are enjoying your day. It is raining here but we haven't had any snow yet so I am glad for that.

Fall Jacket!!

The last time I was at my favorite fabric store the Fancy Tiger I was noticing that I have almost all of Amy Butlers patterns. I have at least 10 of the ones they have available at Fancy Tiger. Anyway, a few weeks ago I bought another Amy Butler pattern on sale for $8!

The liverpool. I loved the look of it and I knew I wanted to make it, but i could never find fabric that I thought would look good. Until I found this . . .

Isn't it beautiful?!! I had to wait until I had a coupon because this is actually home dec fabric and therefore expensive. But with a 50% off coupon I was good to go. And I have to say I think it turned out pretty good!!

Wow, I kinda look like a dork. Oh Well. Since the pattern was really for a shirt, I made it one size bigger. That way I can wear something under it and not have it be too tight. One thing I would change is that I am going to add pockets. Pockets were not included because it really is a shirt, but for a jacket, I am forever reaching for pockets.

Anyway, I made this on Saturday. The hardest part really was cutting everything out. Once you get sewing, it goes together really easy!! Thank you Amy Butler for easy to read patterns!

Lastly, I received a new book in the mail and I am so excited about it. I did have a dream about it already. So look for lots of posts from this new book. You can buy it here!

Looking forward to posting pictures of my little man in some cool clothes I made him. Here is a preview . . .

not the most willing model but he is still cute!!