Summer sewing and seam finishes

I've been ignoring all housework the past few days to spend time in my sewing room. I came up with this skirt yesterday just before dinner and finished it after the kids went to bed (at 9:30....got to do something about these bedtimes!). I knew the plainess of the skirt would be met with resistance so I added the doily at the last minute then I got sucked into researching doilies on etsy (wow!). I love this skirt. The pictures don't do it justice. Linen just has that gorgeous sheen about it. I, of course, imagined her wearing it with a neutral top and saltwater sandals, but she insisted on her hot pink shirt and lacy leggings. I am sure the sparkly flip flops will follow!

I wanted to share the "insides" of my sewing, which never look very beautiful. I'm sure I am in the minority when I admit that I love pinked seam allowances. It reminds me of all the things my mom made for me. I love how it makes something look instantly 'handmade'. I do have a serger and use it on occassion, but it makes me nervous (I have once made a hole in a dress while trying to finish the seams). I'd like to use it more, but for now I'll just pink my edges and enjoy the imperfections of it all!

A bunny is born

I absolutely love making softies, so when we are invited to a birthday party I am always eager to make a stuffed toy if I have the time. I dread the day when my kids are too old to give these kind of gifts (I think I was pushing it a bit with this one for a 7-year-old boy). I never thought I'd enjoy making softies so much but I love the suspense I feel during the process; you never really know how it will turn out until the face is embroidered on and then you just love the new creature. The face is by far the hardest part for me. It sometimes takes me as long to embroider the face as it does to put together the rest of the body (which explains why I was off in the corner sewing on the face at the party and this blurry picture I got!). I made it from this great pattern, which I highly recommend. My kids both want me to make them one....oh, twist my arm!

I'd like to be more confident and start making my own patterns, but I just don't feel as though I have time for that kind of trial and error. I have made dolls from my own pattterns, but I'd like to play more with variations. I do learn a lot from working with patterns and feel great about supporting someone else's hard work by buying independent patterns.

Teacher's gift

I was in charge of creating a teacher's gift for my son's class. The trouble was, the teacher is a man, and we all know that men are notoriously hard to sew for. I really thought long and hard about this gift since I wanted it to be something he might actually use. Finally, I remembered this pattern that I bought a while back, but never used. I would have loved to have the kids do something even more personal (patchwork squares of their art across the front), but we were short on time and I was also aware of walking the line of too much kids' art on a man's gift. i just had the kids sign their names with fabric markers on a piece of linen. They all added their own little image, which I think turned out so sweet. I like the way it came out and I enjoyed working with this pattern. I'll definitely make it again (maybe for my husband for Father's Day?!).

I actually have been sewing a ton, but have such a hard time maintaining the blog. I'm hopeful that I can find a rhythm for this over the summer. I'd love to be more connected in 'blog land' since I find so much inspiration there!

new year's morning

We celebrated new year's morning with some papa-made blini with jam. Yum!

What I've been up to

I made a quilt for my daughter's preschool class live auction in December. I was feeling very generous when I offered to make it since it's our last year at the school (sniff, sniff). I knew I would be be rather "control freaky" about the whole thing. So sure enough, I ended up doing the entire thing except the rather tedious task of printing all the images. I was also lucky enough to have the quilting donated by a local quilt shop; what a luxury...wow, I could get used to that!! As much as I really loved making the quilt, I happily saw it go home with a grateful winner (a friend so I can visit it if I want). Now, to fill my own house with handmade quilts. It's a goal for the new year, but first some new clothes for myself that I've been working on.

OMG...I made a quilt!!

I made a quilt! My very first one! I am so happy with how it came out and already have another similar top pieced for another one. In fact, I've already been to the quilt shop to buy fabric for another quilt. Um....I guess this is a little addicting, but oh so much fun. I was so nervous about the actual quilting part, but it was a breeze especially when you aren't a perfectionist about it. I really like a handmade quilt to look, well, handmade. Little errors really do add to its charm and beauty. This is for a friend's new baby. I sure hope she likes it.

I see a purple(ish) quilt in my future

Whenever I ask Katya what her favorite color is, she'll reply with purple. At first, the thought totally made me cringe; I'm just not used to looking at purple and for the longest time could not think of purple without thinking of lavender. Well, now I am embarking on a quilt for her inspired by this lovely quilt and I have started looking at purple in a whole new way. I love the darker plum shades and am feeling optimisitic about the possibilities.
I am finishing my first (small) quilt right now. I am in love with the process and am hoping that I can get inspired to make quite a few before the year is out.