a week at a glance, part 1

Getting Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts in the mail yesterday, (gotta love birthday cash) was amazing even just a quick flick through left me thinking the woman is a genius and that I may never need another craft book ever again (wanting is another story).
I have watched my friend from Our Ilan & Quinn hand applique circles onto cushion covers and quilts but I've never tried it myself. Anyway seeing it again in Martha's book made me want to try it.

Not having any family close by and the penned in feeling I get in winter lead me to putting my little man in day care for an afternoon a week (he gets as much out of it as I do). So what do I do with myself for 4hrs... that's easy do something craft related. Today I ran a few errands first, which always means a leisurely look through the thrift store, where I bought this gray tee for a dollar.
Then I grabbed a few things from home and headed for fresh baked cookies at A's place, so this is what I put together... not bad for a 1st. Then just for extra detail I hand stitched with embroidery floss around the edge.

On Saturday to escape the sky falling down in my world I went to a local craft space (The Art Station) and just spread out some stuff and set about printing a few things, some new stencils & some old. Oh my goodness it was so relaxing.
Here's what I did, a pen (that I have since added too and will post soon) and the birds from a earlier post.

a week at a glance, part 2

I bought this dress in Australia at the thrift store, I love the idea of wearing this flowy thing, but it just never worked. As usual I have hung on to it for a year, before I decided to upcycle it. There is enough fabric to make two skirts plus some.

You can't see it but there is a seam running around the waist of the dress, so I cut it there and then just used half of that to make one skirt. Next I decided how to do the waist, I have had a lot of fun with elastic thread already and didn`t have any thick elastic so I used two thin bands sewn separately so that it creates a thicker waist band look. Super simple but I like it and will enjoy wearing it.

best part of the day, checking the mail

This week has been a week of pressies.. due to my birthday 2 weeks ago (snail mail takes that long) and a few things I ordered in February. First of all a friend gave me some wonderful jelly roll fabric pieces, then my fabric order from Kiiss arrived which I absolutely loved. From my mum and sister a kilo (yep 2lbs) of chocolate, a dress, and a sliver bracelet, oh they know me so well. This was all extremely well timed as Rio and I have had a contagious bug all week (meaning we have been a little lonely) on top of which I received some really bad news... But what can you do except trying to take my mind off it with chocolate. Thanks all.

recovered from a long day by getting crafty

Yesterday was a long day, we were both under the weather and my little man was also a bit ratty. By the time Aaron made it in the door at 7pm I was exhausted. So to relax I.. hit the craft room of course, I needed to take my mind off a few things and TV just doesn't hit the spot.

I made a diaper clutch a few months ago, however I saw this one over at Noodle Head and thought I just had to make it. I didn't have any fusible batting so I just used flannel, I also don't really like Velcro so I used a button.

In the noodle head version the lining fabric comes up and over looking like bias around the top... I have no idea how but when you have to put the outer pocket into the inner pocket to sew around the top it was like they were the same depth.. so alas there was nothing spare. Also when I put the travel diaper wipes box in and 1 diaper (there is room for 2 or 3 diapers which is nice) the pocket isn't quite deep enough. :( This is a lesson I refuse to learn even if following a pattern, measure (as in the depth to fit the travel wipes that I buy, they might be different from the one used to make noodle heads pattern) before I cut and sew!! Oh well I love that I was able to use one of the prints I did the other day.

Friday night and hubby heads out for a few drinks with the boys and my little man is all tucked in...what's girl to do? Get crafty of course!

I had done a few prints earlier in the day so I thought I'd put one to use making a passport cover. I was going to make just a cover.. however it kind of made sense to make something that could hold all of our passports and any important cards we need as well. I decided to make this one over at Chubby Hobby. I am so happy with the way my print looks and the little stamp on the inside.

The front fabric is a linen blend, the back and inside center piece was from a thrift store table cloth, the rest were scrapes that kind of went with the rest.

One point I would change: The bottom seam was quite thick to sew and then just looks a little thick compared to the top half of the book. I would raise the bottom pocket so that is didn't go all the way to the bottom (where the mushroom stem is). This means that I would sew it to the Ivy fabric (to create the pocket) before I put everything else together.

odds and ends

I have been doing some thinking about where to from here... and still not quite solidified my new direction. So I have made a few things to keep me busy. A practical laundry basket, an upcycled tee for Rio and just now a few prints.

I am really happy with these, Rio's tee is going to go into a competition over at I Am Momma and the prints are just for fun, patches for future projects I think.

Getting inspired again

So the market came and went and I didn't get as much sold as I had hoped... but in the end I made a few dollars to buy more supplies with and I got to hang out with a couple of girlfriends for the day.

Having a week off after the market was a much needed break I had a few other things going on. Hubby came home from his trip wednesday evening just in time for me to make it to craft night (which I haven't done since Rio was 9months old). With such short notice I didn't have a project prepared so I decided to vamp up my plain gray diaper bag.. I used a stencil and paint brush (screen printing doesn't work unless you can completely flatten the the item).


Hanging out at craft night with the girls from Our Ilan & Quinn and Just Felt Creative gave me some inspiration to get back into sewing. I made this fabric bucket today that my buddy had made and found on Vlijtig, I followed the measurements given.. the bucket is about 10 cms high. Next time I would have made it 150% the size. It was fun to get it done though.

a night off

So as you know, I have been sewing like there was no tomorrow, but after a longish day I find the sofa is calling my name. Rio has been up since 4:30 had a nap for 2hrs and still isn't asleep yet. I also miss my man who is away on a family guys trip in the sunny US. Not having the energy to search Netflicks for a decent movie I am watching angel eyes on Tv... it's not worth watching so here I am.

I did sew a project for myself last night, I had a funky pair of pants from the thrift store that didn't quite work on me, so I set out to turn them into a tote. I was going to take the front and back of a leg and sew up where the zipper would have been.. well after hitting them with the iron I melted the lace that made the one pocket interesting. Anyway I replaced that section and then chose a fabric to line them with and sewed a strip on the outside to add a little something. The final product is a little smaller than I planned but that's ok, it's suite water bottle and snacks.

The tally for the market is 20 items!!