Hedge Hog Pin Cushion

Sew my friend Trish made mention early December she needed a good/cute pin cushion. My first plan after the Christmas rush to complete projects was to make Trish a pin cushion.

I had a different pattern in mind originally but after surfing http://craftcherry.blogspot.com/2009/12/cupcakes-for-lunch.html she references the Longthread which has a list for pin cushion patterns (the actual pattern came from http://urbandebris.typepad.com/urban_debris_journal/)

Once I saw this vintage hedge hog pin cushion I thought I must! Trish is an animal lover and I figured she has probably never had a hedge hog before, sew below was the end result, I must say it is much cuter in person but you get the idea and Trish loved it, which is what mattered most.

Sewing Machine Covers

Sew I finally got a picture of the machine cover I had made for Mom for her birthday, it the one with the Kitty Applique. In addition is the crazy quilt version that was in our Graham Christmas auction. Grandma was the winner of this item. She is so cute! (oh and look you can see one of PD's quilts on the bed in the background)

The Christmas Stroll

Well the Christmas Stroll came and went. This year my friend Megan Daves joined me. She had learned how to sew just a few weeks before the festival and decided she was going to make these fleecy boas to sell along with a few dozen hair bows. I made the hunk holders again and the curling/flat iron holders. Last year the economy was better and the top two sellers where hair bows and hunk holders. This year we only had the 4 items, the ones listed above and didn't make as many knowing spending would most likely be significantly less this year. Well not at our booth. Meg sold out of the fleecy boa's around 3pm. We had Boppi bring up a sewing machine and her materials. I sat in a camping chair and sewed with the machine on a TV tray for the next 3 hours and Meg cut for the next 3 hours until we ran out of material. We couldn't make them fast enough, people would buy them and then come back and pick them up. We had one hunk holder left, and a couple of curling/flat iron and hair bows, but all together it was a success and we didn't bring back a lot of inventory. It was special because it was Meg's first sewing adventure and she hit out of the ballpark! And she made a pretty good deal of $ while doing it. Below are some pics that show what the fleecy boa is in case you have no idea what I'm talking about. Sorry about the quality of the pics, I work with what I got :-)


At first I was very concerned about how empty our booth looked, last year it was so full we could barley move around. Turned out they don't care if it looks full.

Charity Holiday Cards

Sew it was time to do some charity work for The Austin Stitching Studio. This is the studio I that I try to spend as much free time as possible at because the ladies there are wonderful and they always have these great ideas and they share!!! This studio does a ton of volunteer sewing for many organizations in the Austin area. They will have a booth at the Christmas Stroll (festival) this year and my donation where holiday cards. Here is a sample of the cards, the pictures didn't come out so well. I was able to pre-cut all the supplies and take them on the road with me this last week and have some fun vs all work while on the road. Need to do this more often!!


On this one the silver snowflakes are embossed which you can't really see on this photo but it added a nice shine to the card in person.

I didn't care for this one that much when I was making samples to determine what to use, but my friend said it was the one she liked so I went with it. Again fuzzy photo, that is a white snowflake in the window.

These two are the same with the exception of the colors (obviously) DH didn't like the blue one and said I needed to make some with green, as it turns out he was right, I like the green one as well.

One last note, I still don't like making those little bows and wouldn't have if it weren't for charity!

WSM's Birthday Present

Sew Dad & WSM (wicked step mother) came down for a weekend visit and I gave WSM her birthday present EARLY and in person! I'm really proud of the outcome on this one. It is a reversible jacket. I'm not sure if you can make out the print of the fabric from these pictures. The red has white reindeer's and black Christmas trees, the black and white is hounds tooth. I actually slowed down enough to match up the print on the back seam which felt like a huge achievement for me because I'm always in such a hurry to see the end result that I usually miss/skip little steps like this.....ah maturity in sewing....LOL! I have been wanting this pattern for a few months now, but it has been on back order at the store, so I finally went online and found someone who had it in stock. (Kwik Sew pattern #2829) It went together really easy. The only difficult part was cutting it out. I had one recut because I failed to read the instructions 1st after I read them cutting it out it was easy. I would rate this pattern a 2 on a scale of 1-10. 1 being the easiest.

Most importantly WSM looks really cute in her new holiday jacket!!!!

Lexi's very late b-day gift...ruffle pants and wrap shirt

Sew what's new, I was late for yet another birthday gift. (However, WSM is coming for a visit this weekend, and I actually have her gift finished and her b-day isn't until the 24th of this month!)

Sew back to Lexi's outfit. I found these fabrics at Wal-mart in early spring and fell in love and knew this is what I wanted to make with them. I thought they where going to turn out full length like her sister's, but some how between her Mom and I exchanging inseam measurments they became capri's which is actually how they show them on the pattern. Either way sassy Lexi seems to like them just fine which is all that matters. Plus this way you can see her cute pink boots better.

P.S. Aren't these sassy second cousins so cute!

Goodies for my Sister

Here's Shelly going thru her stash of handmade goodies I had saved up for her recent visit to TX.
This is Shelly opening the velcro on the "go green" bag.

Here is Shelly withe the "go green" as she is opening it. My friend Trish had made 2 of these bags for me and was kind enough to teach me how to make them. I love using them and making them for others. (Thanks Trish!) It was a big hit with Shelly, she used it several times while we where shopping the next day and showing it off to her friends and family on our visits. Shelly's cousin made a request for one, I made him one today out the shirtless construction guy material. It is awesome!

This is the back of Shelly's neck where she is modeling what we recently named "spa kitty" I don't even know how we got to this name, other than we where being silly sisters and that's what we started calling it! It is the thing you put in the microwave or freezer and use on aches or ouies and it smells like lavendar. This is the 2nd "spa kitty" I have made the first one JW (Mom) got. They seem to be a hit as well. Have had two request to find a way to make these for feet warmers. I see an addition to "spa kitty" on the way!!!!!

This is photo 1 of a note book cover. Shelly & I both still use compisition notebooks for work, so I decided to give this pattern from the book The New Handmade a try. Love it! So did Shelly. I loved the way it turned out so well that I went back last week and bought the same fabric (It's Henry Alexander's Urban Jungle) to make one for myself. Below is a photo of the outside of the notebook. This pattern was super easy to follow and didn't take all day to make.

This is a photo of the hot iron holder's I have been making. I have made a dozen or so before, but kept forgetting to take photo's of them. Speaking of forgetting to take photo's I forgot to take a photo of the sewing machine cover I made Mom for her birthday as well as the outfit I made for Lexi's birthday. Will have to collect photo's and post at a later date.

I'm baaaaaack

Well I'm back after my recent injury and creating a work space in the disastrous craft room. Going to the sewing retreat last weekend helped get the creative juices flowing again. I started on the frog knot dress and pantaloons at the retreat but needed the red rick rack to complete the project, so now it is done and off in the mail to a sweet baby Lane. In addition I had wanted to start this purse/messenger bag at the retreat but didn't have the brain power to focus on it, so this weekend I started and finished it. I have been searching for a purse that I could make and where messenger style for the days I'm on the road, I LOVE having two hands available on airport days. I believe I have found the pattern that will work. The pattern is from the book "The New Handmade" it has a lot of great patterns and ideas in it. This pattern was easy to follow and made up quite quickly. The embroidery on the front panel is from Sublime Stitching's free Friday patterns.

Demi's belated b-day pants

Sew as usual I'm late on gift giving. It's been a lifelong problem for me. Well the good news is I did complete the project and sent the b-day present home with Demi's mom after her recent visit to Austin. Demi's mom took some pics and sent to me so I want to log and share them with you guys. The word is her older sister is wanting a pair pretty bad. We can't have upset, so Cousin Cassie is on it. Unfortunaltey you can just never tell when Cousin Cassie will complete it :-)

Also if you haven't already visited Cousin Jennie's site there are some cute pics of Lane in some recent applique adventures on knit material.

P.S. All my sweet 2nd generation cousins are soo cute, which means my 1st generation cousins posses the secret on how to produce beautiful children. They should get a patten and sale it!

Embellished Hoodie on the cheap

Sew I found hoodies at Wally world for toddlers that where in great colors and lined with super soft fur on the inside. To embellish it a bit I used the fake zebra stripe fur and cut out crosses and hand stitched them on. I actually got the idea from a Christmas gift I had given my niece Morgan it was a brown hoodie with the cheetah fake fur. I questioned the lady I bought it from thoroughly because I was concerned about it holding up through the wash. The lady was wearing one and said she hadn't had any problems so I went for it on this project and cutie patootie it is, we will have to wait and hear from Indyanna's momma on how it holds up. In addition now I wished I had added some bling to it, but I know Indyanna's momma is big on the bling and can add it if needed. I sent this in the mail to Indyanna and her momma took pics for me :-) she is so stinking cute!!

P.S. Cousin Holly told me they have these hoodies on sale at Wally World for $3 right now. You need less than 1/2 yard of fake fur and I used DMC floss to attach it, cute hoodie for little bucks.

Peace Out

I forgot to take pics of the latest purse I made. You can see it here on my cool cuz Holly's blog. http://sewholly.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-cousin-cassie-sent-me-this-awesome.html

Card Making

Last week I went to our annual conference for work at Las Vegas. The conference is good but I always hate the extra time on my hands since I don't gamble, the show's are too expensive and I have no car. So this year I packed some paper, my paper cutter, a few stamps and ink. Well while others where winning or losing, I was making cards building my stash back up. The pictures didn't come out so well on the brown/red/olive one, the stamped area is of a cheese grater and says "grateful for you".

Catching up with sewing projects

Sew, I occassionally I forget to grab a pic of my finished product before handing it off or I get a still pic and it's never as cute as the one with the kiddo wearing the item. Sew here is a little bit of catch up. I wanted to add the pics for memories. Enjoy.

Quick & Easy Twirly

Sew yesterday I was off to the Austin Stitching Studio for another class. This time it was for the twirly skirt. Yes I could have made this skirt on my own, but I might not have finished it, or I would have missed out on the techniques Ann taught. I learned several different ways to do casing, three ways to gather, and a couple hem options, I left with my $ worth of info and Emily (my local model and freind) got a new skirt! Emily's Mom has been taking pics of the clothes I have made for Emily but I haven't receieved any yet so once I do I replace the still pics with the model wearing the clothes. I had made Emliy some overhauls recently that I forgot to take a still pic of them so hopefully we will get a pic of those soon. Looking forward to making more twirly skirts for the girls in the family. I love putting multiple fabrics together it's one of my favorite parts. Need waist and length measurements (child's backside from waist down to where you want the hem to hit).

Pay It Forward!!! Get in now.

As most of you know I'm a big believer in it's better to give than recieve so I how could I not jump on this....... it's the best of both!

Pay it Forward (PIF) what a wonderful idea. I learned of this from http://shellsspecialty.blogspot.com/ where I signed up to be a receipent. (P.S. by following the PIF blogs I ran across several cool blogs!! It was a fun treasure hunt!)

So here's how it works, the 1st 3 folks to respond to this comment that they want to participate will receive a surprise crafty something in the mail between now and the next 365 days. The catch is you then post on your blog and offer to 3 folks. Seeing how only family really has this link and probably only 2 read it, I may need some help passing the word to fufill my commitmment of 3. LOL! What fun!

Glasses cases

Sew I'm not quite done with using up all my "HUNKY" scraps. Today I used them to make cases for my glasses. The other is used with pink Elvis fabric. I had bought a cute pink & chocolate polk a dot case from the Austin Stitching Studio. Luuuuuuuved it, but it was just a little to tight and was warping my glasses slighly. She had made them originally thinking of readers glasses. Sew while taking a curtain class recently at the Austin Stitchin Studio, I asked Ann (great sewing teacher) about them and she gave me the skinny on the quick directions. That's what I love most about Ann's style she likes projects that are quick and cute. I love going to her "Ladies Night" she host once a month as all the ladies there are spunky and fun, as well as avid sewer's and I'm always picking up tips and great ideas. Check out her site and the Ladies Night -its a great! www.austinstitchingstudio.com

Morgan's decoupage jeans

Sew my neice recently visited and had these jeans that she doesn't like so well because the top of the jeans didn't fade with the rest of the jeans when washed. Sew I said I might be able to help...... let's pick out some fabric from my stash. Sew we did and here's what the result got us. I had seen the pattern for jeans similar to this on www.youcanmakethis.com by the Brassyapple. This is my 1st try at it, I tried several different ways to keep from having a bit of slack in the applique pieces but I haven't perfected that yet. I wish I was a better photographer because you can really see the details of the fabric on this pic. Hoping to get a photo of my neice wearing to replace this photo with in the near future.