Procrastination Zone

I'm seriously procrastinating from doing the things I have to do- niece's prom dress and the covers for sil's nursing chair. Both projects need to be done by May, the earlier the better even though Prom is the 31st and due date is the 29th. Both "clients" are a bit anxious. Personally I'm the type that is still sewing 5 minutes before my date comes to the door. Oh well.

In the meantime, of course, I've been doing other stuff. Made another McCalls 5271, only this time the fabric was too stretchy so I'm going to have to fix it- will take off the bottom band, shorten and put in a center seam to pull in the shoulders a bit. I also have one cut out for my mom plus I modified the pattern for a higher neck to wear without an underlayer. That one is cut too. I'll post pics when they are all done. What else... I cut 2 pairs of pj pants for my nephew who turns 15 next week. Wow time has really flown by, I still remember him as an adorable 4 year old.

Well since Photobucket is not cooperating (and pics are on the other computer) I'll post pics later.

Presents for the Girls

My ds was invited to a birthday party last week so I had to whip up this outfit. I so need a girl to sew for! My nieces don't count since this will really be the last year I can make such girlie outfits for those girls. Bummer.
And the reverse-side:
I also made a taggie blanket and ball for a baby girl born to a Norwegian couple here. The embroidery says "Born in the USA."

Baby Bounty!

My sil had her baby shower a few weeks back so I sent a few items. I held back since they don't know if the baby will be a boy or a girl. Much more fun to sew specific- plus I can do more embroidery that way. Whatever. I still had fun. They are doing a seaside theme for the nursery but unfortunately I picked out the fabric before I got the final color line up. Its more of the brown and blue seaside in the nursery. I like my fabric better!



First up is the baby bunting, weird pattern (Simplicity 7418) . It was easy to put together but odd to put on baby. It sort of opens up completely on the top, you slide the baby's legs in then fold over the top and snap the arms together and the shirt together. Then fold up the bottom and snap the huggie arms over that . Its still cute.

Here are the burps and bibs. The burps are the New Conceptions freebie pattern plus some long narrow ones like the Carter's ones I saw at the store. The bibs are a traced pattern from a bib I liked for ds.


I also made a hooded towel, some washcloths and a double layer flannel receiving blanket. Everything was simply serged together, well the blanket was also quilted together.



Lastly the taggie blanket and ball.

Robot Fleece

I thought this fleece material was so cute plus I noticed that ds was growing out of his current fleece so why not. I used the holey pocket tutorial on SewZannes for the pocket.


DS loves it! I did have to adjust the sizing on pattern (Butterick 5164). I cut a sz 2 width with a sz 4 length. I love that pattern- it sews up fast, just runs very large.

Froggie PJs for Me

So I've been playing with the Ottobre Design magazine- mostly boxers and baby stuff. The 1/05 issue had a women's top so I thought I'd try it out. It sewed up fast and other than my stretching the binding looks pretty good. The only trouble is that it is too tight on the bust- weird since I'm a B-cup. Its still cute and wearable.

Chances are I won't make this again- not so much for the tight issue but its way too modest for me.

Thank you Gifts- Grocery Bags

So I wanted to send my brother and sil a thank you gift but, you know, they are the kind of people who can buy anything but don't. They are so careful about each purchase they make, sometimes I envy that. Anyway, I decided to finally make them the grocery bags I had planned for Christmas. I used the same tutorial from Queenofdiy on Craftster that I had used for my bags. I did make a couple of changes based on my bags. First I made the pocket full-size since it fits a bottle of wine perfectly. Second I made the handles a tad longer and narrower, it might be because I have small hands but I found the bulk a bit much for me. Then I added an elastic on the pocket to use when folding the bag up.

On my sil's bags I used a snap and elastic to make it super easy. (mine just fold over) Also I made one of the bags for my sil with a convertible strap so that she could throw the bag over her shoulder if need be. (They mostly walk to the market.) I also used the leftover fabric to make a little bag which she told me would be perfect for those "delicate" items like soft cheeses and squishable fruit.

The Best part is that my Sil loved the bags!

That Darn'Kat Wallet

This wallet turned out really cute and it was much easier than I thought it would be. Of course, lazy me didn't double check the cc slots so the slots on the left were too big. I did makeshift them to work but definitely teaches me!

Here's the tutorial if you're interested.

More Vacation stuff

I know its been a while- I blame Photobucket entirely! Actually I should lay equal blame on Cox and photobucket, for whatever reason I have been unable to log on to photobucket for a few weeks. Anyway, excuses, excuses.... On the plus side I've been doing a lot of sewing so I guess its good I haven't been able to log on.

Here's the rest of my vacation stuff. These are some embroidered shirts I made for ds and for my nieces.

(The bottom two are ds'.)

I also made a t-shirt dress for my other niece:












And embroidered a onesie for my coming niece or nephew:








Oh and the soon-to-be also got my first Ottobre Design baby outfit:


So thats the vacation wrap up, finally!