Sew I actually have a gift ready far before the deadline, a first for me.! I think I'm more excited about being ahead of the game than the purse. I'm always rushing to get gifts made at the last minute. (The receiver never looks at this blog, so it's safe to post) This bag is made with the Moda Mary Englebright Christmas fabric. I used a purse pattern I picked up from Craft-O-Roma but altered it a bit. This purse is bigger than the dimensions recommended and the embelleshmints with yarn are not included in the pattern as well as the interior pocket I added. How can you have a purse with out an interior pocket?? The pattern was quite easy to follow and I would recommend it for anyone looking to make and finish a project in one day/afternoon. Just remember to add the pocket!

Sew I have been itching to try my hand at upcycling. Cousin's Holly & Alisha talk about it often and then I went to the Maker Fair in Austin recently and it was all the rave. Go Green! Sew my WSM (wicked stepmother) recently gave me some boxes to go thru for potential upcycles. This was one of her sweaters. When I saw the sweater a little girls dress immediately came to mind. I didn't want to work on any of the projects I had today so I thought well lets see what we can do with that sweater. I appliqued the flowers on the knit top, which was tricky for me. I had practiced with my Mom a couple of weekends ago when I was in Dallas and found it very frustrating, this time I used a fusible web to help hold it in place which helped a lot but I'm still not completely satisified with the finished look. Practice makes perfect sew I shall try some applique's in the future. This project took me less than 2 hours. Yeah for upcycling! Starting with prefinished garments takes less time and is less expensive. I'm pleased with the outcome for the small investment of time.

Happy Halloween! Two things to share, one is we got Boo'd. What a neat idea, we received a note and box full of sweets, we have no idea who left it and the note says don't try and find out. So we don't know if it's Boppi's school friends, or neighbors, Angie or one of my crafting buddies we only know a few people in Austin. The note also says we have to boo 2 other people so I shall TRY scatter that together today.

Second is my halloween baby, Mr. Santana. My Dad said he would disown me if I went all out on a halloween costume for our pets, I hope he doesn't consider a holiday sweater a costume :-)

Sew....here is the project that took way to loooooooooong. I cut the UT fabric wrong on 2 of 3 pieces, which I didn't catch until after. I pretty much have seam ripped every piece on this shirt and some more than once. UGH! I ended up leaving one of the strips on the front running the wrong direction as it was because I would have to undo everything and start from the beginning and I was at the end. Needless to say I'm happy to have it completed. I still think it's cute but it isn't my best sewing quality because I just wanted it finished so I could move on to another project.

Here is the blanket I finished today for Hillary's baby girl Tatum that is due at the end of this month. It was a kit I found on sale at JoAnn's. The back is flannel with carrot's on it, I love that fabric for some reason.

This is the size 2 smock that I made today. You can't see the purple fabric well but it has little owl's on it, they are so cute. We tried this smock on our neighbor who wears 24 months from the store and it was too LARGE so below is the size 1 I made yesterday and it fits much better.

This is similar to the 1st smock I made, but added the cup cake material in the middle panel. Up close the cup cakes are too cute. (this is the size 1 on a 2 year old)

This is a gift set I made for a friend at work that just had a boy. These are also sets I plan to sell at the craft fair. I have cut out about 2 dozen so I can sew them up quickly in one setting.

Wrap Skirt Party

So back in August we had a wrap skirt party at my Mom's house. Holly, Alisha, Kaylee and Jennie where over and we all made a skirt. This was a class I had taken at Craft-o-Roma. The skirt is made of one cut piece and bias tape, can it get any easier??? For my sister's b-day she wanted one, the original fabric I choose ended up being a bit thin and see through and wearing a slip didn't seem reasonable so I attempted doing a reversible one, it turned out great!! Sister loved it, but we forgot to grab a pic while she was here :-( The pic is of the one I made a Craft-o-Roma, I love this fabric!!!

This is what I call the "Jen" purse because Jen Reagan Smith taught me how to make it. This is one you can complete in 2 hours or less so its a favorite. It's just the right size for nights out on the town or if your a compact purse Carrier. It will easily hold glasses, small wallet, tissue, phone and lipstick.

So I'm back tracking for journal purposes. These are the purses I have made in August & September testing out patterns and function. This is the ying/yang pattern, the function of this is the best of the 3 so far. I made this one for fun and find myself using it most weekends. I'm get quite a few comments on it, which surprised me because I wouldn't consider it trendy.

The Red, Black & Yellow flower fabric is the Amy Butler Birdie Sling pattern. I love the look of the purse but the functionality is not for me because the it is HUGE. This is also a class I took at Craft-o-Roma.