Check this out! My new favorite thing...

This is an awesome giveaway from a fellow etsian :) I love her stuff. She also made my announcements when my twins were born. Fabulous work!

I've been so busy lately with work and my etsy shop. You should check it out... there's lots of new stuff.

Also, some fabulous tutorials and great posts on modestmaven's blog. And I'm really hoping my friend Melissa will do a tutorial on this!

Stay tuned for a post on what I made for the twins 1st birthday this year. I can't believe they will be one year old in a few short days!!

Back to sewing one of these!
--Janna--

Pink Penguin Patchwork Drawstring Bag

My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow. I wanted to do something nice for her. So I made this adorable patchwork drawstring bag. The tutorial is on this site (along with many other fabulous tutorials). The polkadot fabric on the right (with the pink background) was sent to me by the author of the Pink Penguin blog when I ordered some of these adorable handmade stamps from Japan.

It is reversable. I used the same fabric on the inside that I used on my tabletop ironing board.
I love the Pink Penguin's tutorials so much. So perfect for gift giving.

We filled it with her favorite candy.

I think she'll like it.

Tabletop Ironing Pad

I made this little beauty about 6 weeks or so ago. When we moved in to my in-laws house....I didn't have room for a traditional ironing board. This one goes nicely on my sewing table (over my green cutting mat). I found the tutorial here. At one of my all time favorite websites. The ribbon is for rolling it up and tieing it.

It has actual ironing board fabric and insul brite inside.
The best thing is that when I iron it on...it smells like my grandma's ironing board when someone would iron on it and I'm instantly wisked away to her laundry room in Cardston, Alberta between 1984ish and 2002. They say smells can jog a memory better than anything else and this certainly does. It moves me through time and space. I miss her.
I can't take credit for the whole thing, however. My lovely friend, Jodi, sewed the binding on for me during one or our craft days ( I think I was sewing a ball for my shop at the time).
My next project...making 30 Key Fob Wristlets. I like making them. I include them in orders over $35 in my shop, well, actually, I include one in almost any order :) I love getting free surprises and I hope my customers do too!

A Purple Double Layer Skirt

My little girl turned 3 last month. She loves purple and ladybugs. I bought her a purple ladybug cake from target and made her a purple skirt. This skirt was on my list of things to sew over the summer. I finally did and it's pretty darn cute. Sorry for the lack of quality of the pictures...but this girl doesn't stand still very long.

Here is the link to the tutorial if you'd like to make one, too!

More Toddler Backpacks

Remember this post. My first summer project for 2009. Well, I've decided to sell them in my shop. Check out the two that I most recently made.

Look at all those pins! They are not easy to make. Definately not for the beginner sewer.

I will be listing them in my shop shortly. If you can't wait that long, please feel free to email me or contact me via my etsy shop.
You can also purchase the pattern at this site.

If you want to win the pattern...here's the link!

Double Shopping Cart Cover for Twins!

I'm long overdue for some blogging about my sewing. I don't sew as much since I went back to work teaching, BUT I still manage to sew...some.

Most recently I made a double shopping cart over. The twins are old enough to ride in the double shopping carts that they have at Randalls, Costco and Sam's Club...but they just looked so uncomfortable sitting on those hard, metal seats (my oldest looks equally concerned). Plus, I don't like having to adjust those little seatbelts that are way too high.

So I decided it was necessary to make them one of these...and don't they look so much happier.?!

I got the pattern from an etsy shop. I'm not sure if I would promote the pattern,because I didn't think it was very well done. It was a little confusing and didn't have pictures. Not for the novice seamstress. In fact, I strayed from the pattern because it just didn't have good instructions. It was cheap though, so I won't complain about it too much.

I do like the straps and buckles I put on and the little leg holes. Only thing I might do differently is add an extra layer of batting. It's still soft, but if it were me riding in that, I'd want it extra, extra soft and comfy.

I will not be listing any in my etsy shop, but I could make one for you if you convo me or email me. I think there's a link to my email on the righthand side of the blog.

Thanks for looking and happy sewing!

Toss 'N Play Ball Giveaway!!

Do you want to win one of these???



Here's the link to enter the giveaway!

I have been sewing. Just not as much. I will get some pictures of the things I've been working on posted soon. My latest project is a double shopping cart cover. It's almost done. I lost my seam ripper and haven't had time to go to the store to get another one. Unfortunately it's my most used sewing tool...well, not really, but I surely should have more than 1 of them. I think I'll buy two when I finally get time to go to a sewing store.

And the winner is....

Pili...of In Love with Handmade
Congratulations!! Just email me and I'll set you up. :)

Thanks to everyone for participating. Stay tuned for another giveaway. I'm moving over the next week....but let's play again once I'm settled in to my new place.

A Birthday Gift for my Mom

**Don't forget to enter my current giveaway!!**

I revisited the Pink Penguin tutorial for a fabric basket.

This time I enlarged it 150%. Ayumi does have dimensions for enlarging the basket, but one of the measurements was wrong. The large piece of linen needs to be 9 x 15 1/4 not 9 x 14 1/4 as stated here. I think I will email her about that.

A couple things about this...

1. I love the Michael Miller thread fabric.

2. These aren't fabrics I would normally choose...but I had bought the purple one to make a birthday skirt for my daughter (which I still need to do) and the navy polka dot fabric was a remnant at JoAnns as was the linen. I think it came together really well. I wish I was better at co-ordinating fabrics like my friend, Melissa. She makes the cutest kitchen towels and is really creative.

3. I made this for my mother...who is a wonderful seamstress and quilter. It's hard sewing for someone who you know will look at every single stitch to see if it is crooked or not. When I sew items for my shop I am extremely meticulous and take a lot of time to make sure my stitching is just so and everything is done neatly...sewing for my mother almost threw me in the looney bin. But in all reality, I know she'll be thrilled no matter what. :)

Have a great week everyone and happy sewing!

Summer Project #14 Cozy Kitten

**Don't forget to enter my current giveaway. **

This pattern attracted me because I like the Japanese cartoon character look to it. I think having 5 Japanese students in my class this past year...had an influence on me.

The pattern itself...was strange. Anyway, if you make one you'll see why. I think it's supposed to be beginnerish. But it's cute. I should have used a better flannel than this one. It just isn't very sturdy for this particular project. For the price I thought it would be better quality. It tore in a few places when I was stuffing it, so I had to repair it with a needle and thread. I made one for my daughter for her birthday next month (she's going to be one spoiled princess this year) and one for her little friend who has a birthday around the same time.

Ladybugs, Purple and Worms- Summer Project #13

** Don't forget to enter my current giveaway!! ** I'm loving all the comments :)

My almost 3 year old's favorite things right now are ladybugs, purple and worms. So I wanted to make her something that incorporated her very favorite things :)


An I Spy Bag! Perfect. This one was my first one, so please don't look at my sloppy stitching. I was in a time crunch. How is it that as the twins get older, I find I have less time... I'm trying to figure that out. Anyway, these I Spy Bags are so easy to put together. There are lots of tutorials on line. I sort of used this one.
These are the things I included in J's.
Angel
Balloon
Baseball
Bell
Bird
Blue button
Canoe
Carrot
Cherries
Clothes pin
Clover
Domino
Dragonfly
Easter egg
Elastic
Eye
Fish
Gecko
Girl
Heart
Orange button
Pacifier
Pink butterfly
Pink flower
Purple flower
Purple ladybug (Can you believe I found one??)
Red ladybug
Safety pin
Snowflake
Snowman
Soccer ball
Stocking
Tractor
Yellow button
Yellow flower
Zipper
I also included the letters of her name.


I mostly used buttons and some things that I already had. It's an investment when you start buying things for the I Spy Bag because you have to buy in bulk. They don't sell just one little baseball at JoAnns. So, I decided to make a few more.



I added most of the things I put in J's to these ones as well. I'll just wait until I have a recipient and then add the letters to his or her name and a few other trinkets, the poly pellets (I love saying that) and then close it up. Make sure you use JoAnns coupons when buying the poly pellets. They cost 6.99 at regular price and you need half the bag for one I Spy Bag. I used those 40% off coupons that you get in the mail.

You also need to include a label of the things inside. You can print it on fabric printer paper and sew it on the back, but I only have a laser printer and all the fabric paper I saw at JoAnns use an inkjet. So what I'm going to do is print out the list of items, laminate it, and then attach to my label that I sewed on the bag with a binder ring.

They really are easy to put together. It may just take awhile to collect some things and the best way to keep costs down is ask your crafty friends for trinkets and trade with them, make a bunch at a time (they make great gifts for 2-5 year olds...and older kids and adults like to play with them to). Use coupons!!

Custom Designs and a Giveaway!

My sewing came to a screeching halt last week when I got the stomach flu for 4 days, followed by 2 lovely days of mastitis. All while my husband is studying for the bar exam non-stop, and my mother-in-law was out of town. Nuff said.

This week I was lucky enough to work on this custom order for a friend of mine who frequents my etsy shop. Thank-you, thank-you!

I made a large buttercup purse.
Two wristlets (different sizes).
8 Wristlet key fobs.

The apple print by Michael Miller is my FAVORITE right now!!

And since I won 5 giveaways from 3 different sites in the last week, I figured I had better do a giveaway for my 7 faithful readers ;)

Here's what's up for the giveaway:

Isn't she lovely. Made with all designer fabrics. It has a pocket on the inside and even has a zipper to keep all your goodies inside your purse.

Here's what you need to do to enter:

Leave a comment.
You don't have to do anything else. But, it is such a great giveaway I know you'll want to tell all your facebook friends about it :)

I'll use random.org to choose a winner on Thursday, July 30th. Not sure what time...just whenever I feel like it (that's the last day of the bar exam, so I'm going to be one happy lady).

Summer Project #12 Pink Penguin Pen Case

It's cute. I know. And I love it.

But don't be decieved by this seemingly easy project. I think I spent more time with my seam ripper than I did actually sewing anything. I do love it. I do. I'm just trying to forget about what it took to get it to this. The tutorial is fine. I just need more practice with zippers and bias tape and I probably should have read through the whole tutorial before I began (big oops). It's not a normal sewing pattern where you just sew it together and turn it inside out. It was truly unlike anything I have ever done. I still love it. I'll probably make another one.

Thanks to Jodi for the wool. It is really cute on this. I love having friends with great fabric stashes. What's next on my summer sewing list?? I think the old list is buried somewhere.

Summer Project #11 Pink Penguin Basket

Is this not the cutest thing you have EVER seen?!



I was trying to keep it hidden from my almost 3 year old, so I could give it to her for her birthday next month...but she saw it, and wanted it. Well, actually she requested one in purple, but I don't have any purple fabric (I'm serious, I don't) and so she "settled" for the pink one.
I think I need to make one for my mom for her birthday.


I loved making it. I needed something theraputic to do today during naptime. Here's the tutorial for you to make one, too. Ayumi is a very, very talented lady and I'm so glad I found her blog!

Check one off the list!

Thanks Jodi...for giving me some linen :)

Stay tuned for a fab giveaway. I'm moving soon and don't want to pack all the stuff I've sewn, so I'm going to be giving some away! :)

Summer Project #10 Eco-Friendly Wet Bag

What is this you ask??

It's a wet bag? What's a wet bag? Well, moms that cloth diaper use them. Eco-friendly moms use them. They are a great thing to keep on hand to throw anything wet into. When you are done with them, you just throw them in the wash and you're done. I made this one to keep Jillian's swimming suit in. That way it won't get everything in the diaper bag wet. It's about 11x13 inches.

I made it with a zipper:

The liner is PUL. A waterproof fabric used to make diapers. You don't have to use PUL, you could use an old shower liner. But this is what I have on hand and it's such a pretty color.
Let's look at that zipper one more time:

This project wasn't exactly on my list of things I wanted to make this summer, BUT I have a zillion zippers and using them and being more comfortable with installing zippers on pretty much anything is on my list of things to do. Sew....there you have it.

I found the tutorial here.

This is a fabulous site! One of my favorites. So many great tutorials, ideas and giveaways.

I really need to cracking on my real summer sewing list. So much to sew, so little time.

Summer Project #9 Wristlet Key Fob

Okay, I admit...this was never on my summer project list until a week or so ago. My friend Jodi (who has a giveaway on her blog right now) made a bunch and I had to make some, too. Cute gifts. Something fun to make that doesn't take much time or investment. I followed this tutorial that Jodi referred me to. I did buy an edge stitch foot AND the bias tape maker. I love sewing gadgets and they really did help. I'm terrible at keeping lines straight. I normally use a 1/4 inch foot (the one quilters use) and LOVE it. The bias tape maker saved a lot of time.
I got my materials from this shop on ebay. Excellent customer service! These are going to be included in orders over $35 in my etsy shop!

Summer Project #8 Happy Birthday Banner

I had to take a week off from sewing. I needed to do some parenting professional development. Thanks to the public library and nap-time, that is done. I'm now ready to parent twins during the toddler years (eyeroll) and I'm fully versed on 1-2-3 Magic (it really is magic). Now, if there was a book that I could read that would make the babies sleep longer than 30-45 minutes at a time, that would be great.

Anyway, I did put together this little number.

It didn't take as much time as I thought it would. I cut out 13 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 pieces of muslin and 13 pieces of equal size of my fabulous fabrics (this is a great way to show off your fabric collection). I used heat and bond to secure the letters to the fabrics. I used biased tape that I made with this little number (I have the 1 inch size) to secure the letters together. I've made bias tape before, but this made the whole process so much faster and therefore, worth it to make your own.

I'm hoping it will be something special for the girls to hang when it's their birthday. Something they will remember and look forward to (and a way for me to remember my favorite fabrics ;).

I really want to make name banners for my three girls. What a great, inexpensive way to decorate a child's room.

Let me know if you are interested in one or want more instructions on how I made it. There's a "email me" button on my blog.

P.S. RIP MJ....

Edited to add: When my almost 3 year old came out of her room from her "nap" she saw the banner and said, "That says, 'I love Jill'". Yes, sweetheart, yes, it does :) :) :)

Continuation of the Buttercup Purse (summer project #4)

I've been playing with the buttercup purse pattern.
Here are the changes I made to it:

-added a zipper (have I blogged about how many zippers I have??)


Here's a close up:

-changed the pleats

-added a fabric button to the front

-sewed the straps on the inside instead of sewing them to the outside

There's still a pocket on the inside to hold a blackberry (or any other hand-held device).

I'm out of distilled water, so the pressing isn't perfect, but I think it turned out really cute. I'm not really a purse carrying gal (I'm more into diaper bags at the moment)...so I'm not sure what to do with the purses. I'll probably sell them at ridiculously reduced prices (since I am extremely particular about what I sell and these are "practice" bags) or give them out in my etsy orders to repeat customers, customers that spend more than a certain amount of money or something like that. What do you think?

Summer Project #7 1st Birthday Bibs for the Twins

A fast project. Took me less than an hour. My husband took some precious time out of studying for the Texas bar exam to draw the "1" for me. I used heat-and-bond to secure the number to the bib and then used a zigzag stitch to applique the number on the bib (I like the look of it that way). Then I sewed the cotton print fabric to soft, white chenille.
They turned out really cute. My twins are only 8 months old...but you can never be too prepared for birthdays. I love these bibs because they are a really nice size (approximately 10x10 for the actual bib part). Complete coverage for those cute outfits I plan to make for my little bundles of joy. So, do you think these bibs are gender neutral or are they too girly for boys to wear??? Just asking.

Summer Project #6 Itty Bitty Baby Dress

This itty bitty baby dress was on my list of things I wanted to sew over the summer. It melts my heart.

Here's the pattern. This is a size 1-3 months. The pattern states it will fit 9-11 pounds, but I think it will fit a bit bigger than that.

That almost makes me want another baby...almost!

p.s. This is a quick sew. Doesn't take much time at all...and there's an enlargement for a size 3T.

Summer Project #5 Dabbling in Japanese Fabrics

I have wanted to buy and use Japanese fabrics for a long time now. I just didn't want to fork out the extra cost to do it when there are so many other cute/trendy/fabulous fabrics by well-known designers that you can get on etsy or at fabric.com for $6-7 per yard (after shipping and coupons). Anyway, long story short, I purchased 2 lovely Japanese fabrics. Here is one of them. I can't exactly call making this little pouch a project since it only took me 20 minutes to complete, but using the fabric is/was on my sewing to-do list.






Aren't the little hedgehogs adorable. My daughter saw this when she got up in the morning and immediately started putting things in it and thanking me for making it for her...uh, you're welcome sweetie.

Sorry about the quality of picture. It is over a 100 blasted degrees in all the gulf coast humidity outside (where I normally take pictures) and I'm not going out there today!

BTW, here's the tutorial for the little boxy pouch. I want to make another one but make it a little more square, put a handle on it, line and interface it, too.

Summer Project #4 Buttercup Purse

This is the reason why my house is messy and the dishes from making cookies with my almost 3 year old this morning are not done yet... Why clean during naptime when I can sew :) :)

It's a buttercup purse. You can find the free pattern here. This purse measures 15 x 9 inches and has a strap that is about 20 inches long. It is fully lined and has a pocket on the inside that fits my blackberry. I also interfaced it so it will hold it's shape fairly well. It's big enough to throw a couple diapers and wipes in there as well as a bunch of other stuff. It's adorable, IMHO.

Contact me if you are interested in this or anything else on my blog. I added an email button to my blog or you can contact me through my etsy shop (you will need to sign up for an account).

I guess I better go clean now...oh and then study for that pesky ELA teacher certification test that I have to take on Saturday. Before long I'll be certified to teach anything and everything in Texas.

Summer Project #3 Two Quiet Books

There they are. Two stinkin' quiet books. I'm soooooooooo glad they are done, because this was my least favorite sewing project ever. So tedious and so time consuming. They better keep my kids quiet! ;)

I think this is the part where I should explain which each page is...but I'll leave that out. I think it's pretty self explanitory. It is after all...for babies and toddlers.

Some of the pieces are snapped on. Some are attached with velcro. If you would like the pattern and to see another fabulous example, click here. My friend Jodi put together the pattern from a quiet book she had. Cute idea...just make sure you have loads of time and patience before you start. Maybe the fact that I made two at the same time made it seem to go on forever!! :) But I'm glad I made them.

UPDATE:

Okay, so they work. They do keep the girls quiet.....except:

I should have made three!