plushies!

A & G came to me last week and asked if I could sew them luma plushies. After finding out what a luma is, we got to work. They googled and found a pattern for me to use.


We then hit the local fabric shop where they picked out their fabric, stuffing, thread, and felt for the eyes. Ready!


I sewed and cut and stitched and stuffed - with help from the boys, of course.


It is a decent pattern, so the result was...luma plushies!


They turned out great and now my guys have decided to put me to work making them a full rainbow of luma - I think I might need a thimble! :)

garden notebook cover give away.

I have always thought of noting anniversaries, dates, memorable post numbers and all of that with a give away of some sort. But somehow those dates blow past each and every time, and I realize - oh! Another year! Oh! 250, 500 (or 550) posts...weeks late. So I decided to do a give away just because. Just because is a good reason! I also like to see who is out there - while I love comments from those who are familiar, I also enjoy new comments too, and this is a nice excuse to say 'HI'! So old friends or lurkers - leave a comment!

I pulled out the sewing machine again last week and made a few gardening notebook covers. I like having a nice cover for my notebook obsession...they are great for unlined sketchbooks, lined journals or notebooks. They just look nice, keep things together, and when a notebook is full, you can pop in a new one. This one holds a standard 8.5 x 11 size notebook.


I'm not a professional seamstress, so you will have to forgive me my tiny imperfections, but as it is meant to go with you in the garden (or the cafe) as you write, draw, scribble and dream, it will pick up the earth along the way and develop a character all its own. I will also be adding a surprise to the give away box in addition to the garden notebook cover!

To enter the drawing, comment on this post. I'll do a random drawing this Wednesday, March 11, so be sure to comment by 5PM CST on the 11th!

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added 3/11/09 : 8:30 PM

The random number generator picked a winner - comment # 9 - which is Brianna at serendipity.

Brianna - you can email me your snail mail address at scorch_dc@yahoo.com and I'll mail out your goodies!

Thanks to all for playing! I love all the comments, and am happy to have a lot of new blogs to visit! :)

Journal Cover.

I am a notebook person. I usually have a few going at a time - at least one for idea sketches, one for garden notes, and one for writing. I wanted a way to tell them apart quickly, protect the pages from kid spills a bit, and give me a place to put pencils or notes. So, today I sewed my first rough draft of a journal cover.


I like how it turned out, and I got the general size right - not bad for a rough template. I plan to make a few more with multiple pockets, some appliqué or embroidery on the outside, and perhaps a tie to close it now that I know how it pieces together. I just need to decide on the fabric!

Bunny!

Today G kept talking about plushies and animals. I am not sure what gave him the idea, but he wanted me to make him something! A bunny.


He helped me dig through all of the fabric remnants (that is, after all, where all the fuzzy stuff is) and picked out some bunny body colors with me. He said the bunny had to have a carrot, so we found some orange and green as well. I sketched a bunny on paper and then cut out the fabric pieces and sewed everything together. G must always participate in the stuffing of anything, so he filled the bunny until it was just right.


I don't think it turned out too bad for a first try. G loves it and snuggled his bunny all afternoon.

A wants one now too, of course, so we picked out some fabrics to make one for him tomorrow. I'm going to tweak the second one a bit - nothing like repetition to get it right!

Blue & Ice.

Another Sunday at home. More crazy weather - such an unusual winter.


Luckily we knew this was coming, so we re-arranged our plans to visit the Model Railroad Show and get out for some errands on Saturday. We just happened to pass by one particular quilting shop while we were out - so I picked up a few things for some projects I have been wanting to start.


The bold blue in the swirl batik seems even more intense in this world of white. A welcome blast of spring color.

One More - Hearts.

Last one, I promise! My last craft for the boys is felt bean bags. Well, I used rice since that is what I had available, but same idea!

I used two colors of felt, and cut into 4 1/2 x 6 inch pieces. I cut out small hearts from a piece of the color I used on the back, and embroidered it onto the center of the front piece.


I sewed around the edges using a zig-zag stitch (so rice won't easily come out), leaving a hole open on one side to fill. I filled mine with rice which was scented with a few drops of sweet orange essential oil...but you can make it unscented or using beans instead.


After stuffing with the rice, I stitched the hole closed on the machine, and then using pinking shears, trimmed around the edges.



Voila! The bags are fun for tossing games (get a few different sized boxes or bowls to toss into), playing catch in the house, or as doll pillows!

Cozy Hearts.

I have been sewing a few little Valentine's Day things for the boys as I have time this week. They always love little pillows that they can easily fit into a fort or tent, so I made a few using some "I Love You" fabric and red felt that I had in my fabric stash.


They are super easy to make - just cut out whatever size and shape of heart you want (front/back), sew around edge with right sides in - leaving a few inches open to reverse and stuff. Then just hand stitch the last bit closed! I used one full felt sheet per heart for my cutouts, so they are small enough to cuddle but big enough to lay on!

Red and Black.

My 3 year old has been particularly spunky the past few weeks, so I have only been working on sewing projects which can be done a little bit at a time. I found this beautiful red and black batik last fall and have been holding onto it, unsure what to use it for. The bright red color on my fabric pile kept attracting my eye in these white snowy weeks, so I had to use it. Napkins can be done in short spurts - and it seems we can't ever have too many of them - so we have another set of lovely bold cloth napkins!

Hankies.

This time of year with the viruses and cold air we go through so many tissues. What I like to do is make a stash of super soft hankies. I like using the softest fuzzy flannel. I have also made some with regular flannel - they get softer after a few washings. The nice thing is they are soft, re-usable, easy to wash, and take only minutes to hem!

The boys like the moose hankies the best. Cute pattern and super soft!


Note:: Ok, so G was concerned I only included the photos of the moose hankies, as he also likes the space shuttle hankies. So here they are:

Wood Crafts.

The thing I love most about snowstorms and vacation days is everyone is home and cozy. Lots of games, crafts, and family. We are just mere inches away from the snowiest December ever in our area and we just might make it. I shoveled it, I know.

Having family come the weekend after Christmas means I can have a few extra days to wrap up the crafting and sewing. Today we finished up some plaques for Oma and Opa who are coming to visit tomorrow. I also finished a scarf in my sewing which ended up as "extra" after evaluating how many gifts I had actually sewn, meaning, wow, something for me (never happens)!

For the plaque, I painted the base of the letters, so that all the little nooks and crannies were covered - with acrylic craft paint. The boys each painted the base of one plaque, and then with added some iridescent gold for some depth, and some shading and stripes (stripes with help) for texture. While the big wood pieces dried, we added some darker watered down colors to the letters for some shadow and then gave them a little iridescence too. After it all dried we used wood glue to apply (dries clear) and then applied 2 coats of non-toxic water based varnish. They are cute, and I'm sure Oma and Opa will appreciate the little guy touch. I think the boys did a great job!

Since my husbands' family speaks German, we wrote "Wir (heart) Oma/Opa" - Wir meaning We.

We also made some yummy peanut brittle--look!

Linen Scarves.

I found this lovely fabric several months ago. I couldn't bring myself to cut into it, and so it has been hanging up for me to look at until I knew just what to use it for. Today I finally took the plunge and made it into two scarves. I think these will make nice gifts for two particular relatives of mine. The linen is so soft and the stitching so colorful - I hope they like the fabric as much as I do. And...bonus...my twitchy sewing machine didn't leave behind massive balls of knots today, but worked perfectly. Ahhh.


A wanted to model one too--as he saw me having a time getting the right angle on myself. A bit big for him, but he wears it well!

Fabric Coasters.

I picked up a bag of odd fabric scrap strips at the fabric store -- thinking I could do something with it all. I think that fabric has been sitting on my table for over 2 months. I pull strips out, lay a batch together, look at it a few days, change them around...not sure what to do with them since they are so narrow. I finally decided to make fabric coasters.

This is a first try so they are not perfect - but I like the color and textures from the fabric and the stitching. The back has some contrasting thread and a different middle stripe. I think I must make more!

More zip wallets, sew, sew, sew!

I have been cutting and sewing and checking off my list but somehow I'm still feeling a bit out of whack - how is it November 15 ALREADY? I have been doing well at the quick things--the zip wallets, library bags, cloth grocery sacks, soap covers. I have a pile of things cut out ready to sew, and I've been making paper patterns for things I like so I can make multiples. So that is good progress--it just doesn't seem late enough that next week is Thanksgiving already. Maybe I just need some snow... :)

Library Bag.

I finished the first of many library bag gifts yesterday. This first one is a bit smaller - not for the guerrilla warrior library haul like we have each visit - but for the person who picks up just a few books. The straps are long, which I like, and there is a pocket inside for a library card.

This will be given with a good book tucked inside.

I plan to sew several of these for gifts - of different sizes, some including a media pocket.

Crayon Totes.

I have been working on some ideas for kids gifts recently, and trying out ideas and tweaking sizes whenever I have a moment at the sewing machine during the day. My 2 year old is a creative little person, and carries his crayons/oil pastels/Stockmar around in every sort of container you can imagine. So one of the things I wanted to work on was a crayon tote.

I have seen some really cute versions on some other blogs, but I didn't want a big roll ... I wanted a flat tote.


The first one I made for the Stockmar was *almost* right - but since they are fatter than the regular crayons, I didn't quite get it wide enough - but my second try was better.


I also made a longer version to hold the thinner triangle colors. I used cotton fabric for both sizes, but lined them in craft felt so there is some stiffness and weight. G picked out the fabric for the longer one I made today ... b&w fabrics with red thread & ribbon.


He spent a very long time after it was done putting them in ... taking them out ... putting them in ... taking them out...

I think I have a few little tweaks I still want to make to get everything just right, but I think it will make a cute gift template in the end!

Just the right size bag.

We have been tweaking our template around to get just the right size bag. This week we made some kid bags, and have been cutting and planning some cool adult gift sets for the holidays. A loves to help sew...although he doesn't go solo of course. He was very excited about this vintage style baseball fabric ("It is odd, I don't like baseball, but I just LOVE this fabric, mom!"). It was a remnant, but we squeezed 2 bags out of it...because what you make for one, you must make for the other! This size is perfect for a few toys, or a nature notebook/crayons/water for a walk, or a few library books. There are even a few pockets on the outside for extras.

A helped sew much of the bag - the easy straight lines and hems are great for that - and when finished had to Ooh and Aah over how it was just the right size, and sling it casually over a shoulder to walk through the house ... trying to see how it looks on him in passing reflections!

Fabric Banners.

I have been making cloth banners for holidays, birthdays and seasonal celebrations out of fun fabric. I like the idea of having something re-usable, and they just have more of an energy and style than those paper things sold at party stores which are also usually then discarded and go off to garbage-land. I am planning on making a few coordinating table items and some napkins, so that I have a little party decoration set for some of the upcoming birthdays, and our seasonal table.



I found some nice 2-sided fabric at a quilting sale, which doesn't unravel or fray at the edges. I cut it into triangles and sewed the pieces onto bias tape. Each banner is about 8' long!

So Ready for Fall.

I know, I know, it is *just* September, but I am in fall mode early this year. Perhaps the weeks of crazy heat and drought, followed by weeks of rain and more rain just made me ready earlier than usual.

I am the kind of person who likes change. I re-arrange furniture in rooms all the time. Literally - at least monthly (except for master bedroom where I cannot move the big furniture by myself). I also like change with the seasons. I have curtains, pillows, blankets, rugs...that I use to switch out when I need something new. I have a general palette I like to use, so that when I find fabric remnants or sales throughout the year I can try to keep myself in one general area so that whatever I sew such as pillow covers, tablecloths, table runners, napkins, chair covers, etc. all will work with what I already have.


So I have been bringing out the reds, the rusts, the deeper hues of fall. I put curtains back up on a few windows, and have changed my summer whites for deeper colors. I found several new fabric remnants recently that I liked, and I have been sewing covers for my pillows, a back piece for one of the couches, and a runner for the piano out of them.


This is my first set of pillow covers for the fall - too much of one thing all together, but as I add my other patterns to the rest of them it should be nice and cozy!

Embellishing canvas shopping bags.

I have been experimenting with embellishing plain canvas bags with felt and fabric creations - in my quest for personal and useful holiday gifts for this year.


Giving just a plain canvas bag to use for grocery shopping/whatever doesn't seem too unique, hence my experiments with shapes, styles, machine sew vs. hand embroidered...and so on.




For the apple bag, I sketched out and cut felt shapes to make an apple tree - laying it out on the bag helps determine scale.


Pin the items together, and hand stitch the main piece using embroidery floss.


When done, position the piece on the bag and pin - embroider the piece to the bag using more floss...

...almost done with the apple bag...and working on a machine sewn version using fabric instead of felt...and an abstract art version. :)