nursing cover

Well, I did it again.  I lost another nursing cover.  This time I decided to go with more boyish colors because my last one was pink and people were thinking by son was a girl.  Yet it is still girly enough for me!  Win-win!  Now, if only I didn't lose these so often... 

diy wreath

I've finished it!  Finally!

One hundred and sixty wool cutouts to make 40 flowers, took forever, but i finally finished it.  

I wont even show you a picture of my sewing room floor.  It's covered in tiny pieces of black wool.  

So, what I did first was go to Goodwill.  I found an old cast-off wreath for $2 (I wanted it to be bigger, so I settled on this one which was about two feet wide) and removed the outdated flowers and tulle.  I was then left with a rather nice plane rattan wreath (thank you, thank you Goodwill!).  I then searched for a felt flower tutorial (here).  I used wool instead, but I know felt would be awesome too.

THEN, I followed the flower tutorial instructions and made 14 bigger flowers for the front part of the wreath and 26 smaller flowers for the side.  I hot glued those babies in place, stuck some pearl beads in the middle of the bigger flowers, and voila! Wreath elegance!  

I'm going to find some pretty bells to dangle in the middle for Christmas.  

pillow love

Oooooh I'm absolutely giddy about this pillow!  Love the simplicity and elegance and I love how easy it was to make.  I found the tutorial here. 

Lollipop messanger bag

This messenger bag was a bit of a fun little experiment for me.  First of all, I love bags.  I just love them.  My diaper bag is my best friend, I love all the little pockets and secret compartments. However, I long for a time when I can just have a cute purse again.  I made this to be a little bit of both. 

First of all, I had to make my own pattern.  I wish I had kept the pattern, but alas I didn't so I'll explain the best I can.  I made it boat shaped ( you know, like a big letter D on it's side, make sense??).  It was about 12"x18"

Kind of like this. Cut two out pieces.

Then, cut two more out the same shape, except make it 12"x12". this will be the liner.

Then cut a long strip of the same fabric about 26"x4 1/2" (however, I'd make it long just so you have some wiggle room as far as the pleats go).  This will be the trim for the opening.  If you want, you can do a accent color to go under the opening trim, 26"x2".  I did the orange on mine.

Out of main fabric,  cut strap about 36"x4".  Adjust to your own preference.

Sew the larger pieces, inside out, together along the curved part.

Do the same with the smaller "D" pieces.

 

  Now for the pleats. I made mine about a half inch long about every two inches on the opening of the 12"x18" pieces.  Do this on both sides.

Sew pleats down.  

Place sewn liner inside of bag.  Line up your seams and pin.  Sew liner to main part of your bag

For your strap, sew 36"x4" piece "hot dog"style. Turn inside out.  Press.

Sew strap to each side of bag on liner side of bag.

Fold  26"x4 1/2" piece in half hot dog style, press.

Do the same with accent piece.  Line accent piece up with  26"x4 1/2" opening piece, pin and sew as shown above.

When finished, fold accent piece down and press so it looks like picture below.
On non accent side, fold a hem over about a quarter inch.

Pin trim around opening of bag

Finish end pieces of so it looks like this.

Sew opening trim in place.   Finish of straps by sewing them to outer trim.

Phew!  You did it! PLEASE email me if you have any questions. 

hooter hider

Yay for breast feeding (but I promise, you're still the best mom in the universe if you're unable)!  And yay for nursing covers.  Seriously, whoever thought up these is a genius, however, I can't help wondering why they didn't come about sooner.  So practical!

And so easy to make.

I followed the instructions found here.  Didn't take me longer than 20 minutes.

My thoughts on nursing covers is that the bigger the better.  I don't know about your kids, but neither of mine were those "nurse quietly" kind of kids.  They both were the thrash-around-smack-mom-in-the-face-and-pull-off-the-nursing-cover kind of kids.  So if I can wrap this around my shoulders, tuck under bums, and still  not expose myself, I'd say it's the right size.  I end up using an entire yard for this project.

These make for great baby shower gifts!  

Why this blog?

Well I make a lot of, well, stuff.  And I think it's in my blood to do so, my mom is an expert quilter, my grandma's both do a lot of sewing and quilting and crocheting... And as my mom said, there's something very gratifying about making something from nothing.  

So here's to my blog that catalogs all the "stuff" I make.  A lot of the things I make I found on other DIY websites. Hopefully I'll figure out how to do some tutorials...