Spring Fever Arrives

The winter weather is finally clearing away, and this morning I woke up to a lovely spring rain.  The gardening urge is fully rooted in my mind!  I have a lot of house plants for fun, but as renters we never really want to invest a ton of time and $ on landscaping.  Starting over your garden in a new house is never easy, but that didn't stop me from going a bit overboard on my first seed order! 



 My treasure trove arrived a few days ago.  I hear that many seeds can be saved in the freezer, so this should do for a few years, hopefully.






 








In years past I bought whatever seeds caught my eye in local shops.  This year the idea is to plant a few seeds from several different varieties of heirlooms, and hopefully find some that like the hot, harsh summers here in Oklahoma.  Here are the seed trays basking under a nice, big grow light.  This morning there were a few little sprouts.  In all honesty, I am about a month late on starting the tomatoes for our area.  In the height of summer it will be too hot for their fruit production.  Oh well, perhaps some of the cherry tomatoes will have a chance! 

There is still a lot of work to do outside!  This new place has acerage, and a few garden beds already, but we need to order a truckload of fertile soil or compost ASAP!



At our last place, when we lived near Dallas, my husband and Dad helped me put together this convenient cinder block raised bed.  



Pro: easy construction, modular, sturdy, the dog approved!

 Con: Slugs loved the areas inside the blocks, the cement got super heated in summer! 

I really want to build a hugelkultur or keyhole raised bed!  I hear they both do well in climates with harsh summers. 

Good, Bad & Ugly - Sew-a-Long

I am part of a wonderful facebook sewing group; the Good, Bad & Ugly.  Last week they posted their first sew-a-long, and I have been wanting to try one so I made both of the featured patterns.  

My first dress was made from the "Endless" pattern by Jocole.  It has tons of options; I choose the empire bodice, peter pan collar, puff sleeves and sash.  I was going for a vintage 1940's inspired look and I think I succeeded in my vision.  My daughter will be wearing this dress for her 1st birthday next month, which will have a vintage country picnic theme.

The second dress was made from the "Clara" pattern from Les Files a Maman.  I ordered my fabric from online for the first time...I just adore this ship fabric from Michael Miller and found a coral seersucker to coordinate.  This pattern can go either modern or classic, I love the A-line and gathered combo.  I added the ruffled bloomers to complete the look.  

Messenger Bag - selfish sew

I was thrilled to be selected to test the Jubilee Junction Patterns - Olivia - messenger style bag.  I have been looking for a good bag pattern and this was my first properly lined bag.    

I choose a brocade type home decor fabric in my favorite earth tones.  I just adore a good olive drab basket-weave!  I know its not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. The fabric was difficult to work with because it is quite thick and messy when cut.  I used plain unbleached muslin for the lining.  I added lots of pockets in my muslin lining and had fun playing with the cams on my machine to create the green and pink flowers. I sewed it entirely on my vintage Singer 319. Love it and will make a small for fun one day soon!

The bag pattern is available here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/175869007/instant-download-pdf-jubilee-junction  The pattern has clear instructions and photographed steps.  It is a simple, beginner level pattern that can also be dressed up with embellishments, closures, pockets, etc.  

  



I also made this little tutorial that shows 

how I made my pockets:

 -From the lining fabric, cut 1 or 2 extra pieces the shape of the main body template, but cut the pocket piece several inches shorter.  For example, the size medium bag that I made has a body that is 12 ½ inches tall, I cut my 2 pocket pieces 9 ½ inches tall.  Then I folded over ½ inch along the top edge of each pocket, ironed, and then folded them down 2 inches and ironed.  Then I top stitched this to itself to form a nice hem for the top of the pockets.  

 


-For a full bag width pocket (the perfect size for a magazine!) that is all you need; you can go ahead and tack it to the lining main body before you pin and sew on the side piece.   

-You can also divide your pockets as needed.  Here you can see the large, full-width pocket on the left side of the photo and on the right is the back of my multi-pocket piece where I marked and sewed the outline for 2 main pockets, and 2 tiny side pockets for pens.  I decided to draw curved bottoms on the pockets to make small objects easier to grab and also made some shallow and narrow pen pockets on the sides.  It would be even easier to just sew vertical lines to divide the pockets.

New Year...new pincushion!

We are slowly settling in after our recent big move and I am thinking about all of the sewing projects I want to do.  I just heard a story about someone swallowing pins, so I think its time to curb the habit of holding them in my mouth.  I knew I wanted a wrist pincushion to wear to keep it handy, but not a plain circle, and not one just like everyone else's.  

I decided to do a mini quilt block as the top and found a pattern I liked here: http://wombatquilts.com/2013/04/03/square-in-square-fun-wip-wednesday/  I saved it and shrunk it down to 2 1/2 inches in Word, and printed out a page with six blocks so that I would have a few chances to get it right.  I messed up the order (paper piecing  is kind of tricky) on the first one, but the second block came out fine.  So I added the green strip and a bottom to form my cushion shape.  I also added a square of plastic (from a clean food container in the recycling bin, cut to size) inside the base to keep the pins from going all the way through.  I added a strap from a piece of the waistband of an old pair of brown cords that I have been using as material, and velcro as the closure. Voila!  Less pins in the mouth!

December 2013 - First Christmas for Babies (and first pattern testing for me!)

Back in November I had just joined a couple of Facebook groups where the members do most of their sewing from PDF patterns.  I noticed a few designers calling for pattern testers.  I thought it sounded like a fun challenge so I applied and got turned down for a few.  Then a designer posted a tester call with a really short, only 3 day, turn around time.  Most of the usual testers were too busy with holiday sewing, so she took a chance on a newbie...me!  I received the pattern and didn't have time to go to the store, because I have to stay home and care for my babies most of the time.  No worries, I like to improvise!  So I used an old skirt in a sap green color that I adore, and 2 mismatched curtain panels (the gold and lacy fabrics).  No matching thread for me, either!  So I worked and worked to get the dress done on time, took a few photos with my beautiful daughter and submitted my tester form.  I love the dress so much, I knew it was going to be her Christmas dress.  It is just so sweet.  The pattern is from Petite Kids Boutique
http://www.etsy.com/listing/171748877/charlotte-dress-for-girls-12m-10y-pdf?ref=related-3

In mid-December we moved out of state for my husbands new job, and we are now renting a wonderful house in a fairly rural area near the city where he works as an ER nurse.  Unpacking seems like it will never be done, but baby photo shoots commemorating milestones are more of a priority for me!  I needed a coordinating outfit for little buddy boy.  I found a wonderful, free vest pattern online and made it up to match her dress.  It is fully lined with scrap from the white, blue and green plaid that I used for his bear suit back in October.  It turned very cute, even though I struggled with my first buttonholes and they are pretty ugly.  I did some embroidery along the edge to help disguise the uneven buttonholes.  The babies were about 9 months old in this photo, but luckily my big buddy wears the size 18 month...because it is the only size the designer made!  Here is the tutorial and pattern link: http://aplaceinthecloud.blogspot.com/2011/11/boys-best-vest-tutorial-with-pattern.html

November 2013 - First Thanksgiving

I wanted to make coordinating outfits for the babies to wear to the family Thanksgiving with my Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles and Cousins.  I had just purchased my first ever PDF sewing pattern...the designer convinced me with a sale and proceeds to charity.  The pattern is the Bumblebee available at: http://sewingmamaraeanna.blogspot.com/2013/08/bumblebee-dress-pattern-available.html   

I had less than a week until Thanksgiving and no Joann, Hancock or Hobby Lobby within my city at that time.  So I headed to the Goodwill a 1/2 mile from our house and bought a floral red blouse in a lightweight, gauzy cotton and a pair of mens brown fine-waled corduroy slacks.  I cut up the garments and used them, plus a worn out tan pillowcase, as my material.  I carefully used the existing buttoned center panel of the blouse as a focal point on the bodice of her dress.  I created yards of ruffles.  The hardest part was trying to ruffle corduroy for the bodice, but I finally got it to work.  His outfit was such a fast sew compared to her dress!  The overalls are a Simplicity pattern and I added an applique bow-tie so that they would coordinate.  Well, as you can see in the picture they look pretty darn cute...my family members said they looked like everything from Oktoberfest to Renaissance fair to Sound of Music.  Pretty much what I was going for.

Can you spot the oops in her dress? That's right, her bottom ruffle was sewn on backwards!  I didn't have time to fix it until later.  Here it is with the ruffle tacked down:

October 2013 - Cuddle Bear Costumes

My Cuddle Bears!

I had this fervent wish to dress the babies as little bears for their first Halloween.  Originally I wanted Care Bears after seeing this incredible ensemble: http://www.instructables.com/id/Baby-Care-Bear-Costume/
Sadly I didn't have 2 giant bears to dismember and so I started thinking of a solution that would be more attainable for me.  I had received a free copy Simplicity 7807 that contained an option for a hooded romper with ears.  So I purchased some soft plaid flannel, assorted notions and set of on my first major sewing project in 15 years. I enlarged the ears and added the contrasting color inside the ears.  I ended up placing the zippers too high so that they couldn't fully close without choking baby...so I improvised the adorable bow-tie and flower attached to snap tabs to keep the zipper properly positioned.  Overall I was so delighted with the results, it was many hours of work for a beginning sewist caring for two infants, but in my mind totally worth it!

September 2013 - My 'new' Singer 319 sewing machine

I love my vintage sewing machine, Miss Minty!  

Fully operational and sews great...over 50 years after it was made. Thank you Gail H!

Since leaving my job as an art teacher (to 300+ kinder-5th graders), to be a stay at home mom to the twins, I have really been needing a practical creative outlet.  I have done all kinds of arts and crafts, but sewing really appealed to me at this point in my life because it is so very useful and I love the idea of dressing the twins in wearable art.  So I was trying to research which sewing machines are good buys, and the reviews of machines within my tiny budget were so discouraging.  It seems that budget sewing machines these days are all plastic-made-in-China crap and will break after a few years of use.  So I started looking into buying a vintage machine, and through a great Facebook group was able to find a beautiful machine that had been  restored for sale in my area.  What a blessing my lovely Minty has been!  The Singer 319w is a very interesting machine, with built in cams that can be activated with a simple flip of the 'type-writer' keys on the top.  It's so fun to play with the different stitches.