sewing machine

we had some time today so i got out the sewing machine (and my huge pile of mending). i let madelyn use it to finish her quilt first. she was SO excited (and very focused)! i think we are going to work on a sewing project or two this summer.

her final quilt project from the pittsburgh children's museum.

manning has been wanting to wear his cape t-shirt every day this week so i used the fabric i had (just enough) to make him his own cape and yellow mask after i had finished all of my other mending projects.

why had i not made him one before? love.

homemade gifts

now that all of the gifts have been given, i can share some of our projects.

we made nativity candles for the grandparents. these were super easy and i think that they came out really well.  the kids draw with permanent markers on white tissue paper and use wax paper and a blow dryer to affix it to the candle.

for all of the 'specials' teachers (art, gym, school secretary, principal, etc.) we made pretzels and rolo candies.  i hadn't really planned on it but these were extra perfect because madelyn was able to do the whole thing almost by herself (i just put it in and out of the oven).  she was pretty pleased to be able to say that she made them.

for primary teachers we made hot chocolate snowmen.  these were great and the kids loved making them.  they really loved eating apple sauce out of baby food jars in preparation!  we also gave a few gift cards along with these.

i made a fairly simple scarf for my boss.

plain white gift bags turned out really cute with drawings and messages on plain note cards and red ribbon.

we love being able to make so many of our gifts. i hope the recipients liked them!  love.

monster jeans

i have not sewn in a long, long time.  in fact, there were items in my sewing bag that the kids had already outgrown!  oops.  after a few hand sewing mending, i was able to do a fun project that i have been dying to make!  i tried to talk madelyn into letting me make her some monster jeans last year.  she is the ideal candidate because she rips the knees out of everything she wears.  seriously, this girl is crazy hard on her clothes!

now i finally have a pair of boys jeans with a hole in them!  the sad part is that mason has outgrown the jeans and he wants to wear them.  but maddux, who they fit, wants nothing to do with them!  he likes them, but wearing them is a very different story.

maybe manning will like them...  love.

and still more sewing

and just since i had nothing else to do (heavy sarcasm), i whipped madelyn up a quick dress.  the fit isn't really what i was going for in the torso or shoulder, but she loves it.

and then i did make myself (and matt, hopefully) a larger version of madelyn's seatbelt pillow for us to use in the passenger seat. love.

more trip sewing

i wanted to make some little neck pillows for the boys to use on our long car trips.  i let them pick their own fabrics from my growing collection (maddux, of course, selected orange and mason picked superman).  i was pleased with how they turned out since i was just freehanding the shape and size.

doesn't maddux look great?  he was not feeling his best and that was his 'pretend sleeping' pose.  last night madelyn and mason spent the night throwing up.  so that 'food poisoning' i had last week must have actually been the stomach bug.  ugh.  that is not really what we want when we are leaving down tomorrow!  they way we figure it, everyone has had some version of this bug except for matt (maddux and manning have just felt lousy and feverish for a few days).  fingers crossed and prayers said for him not to get it during our 20 hour drive to fort myers!!  love.

seatbelt pillow

i have been a sewing machine (bah-du-dum) for the past three days making library totes for the nieces, nephews and our own kids (i had not made them any yet) and then today i got started on a few projects for our upcoming trip.  

madelyn was pretty excited about her seat belt pillow for sleeping in the car.  she had to give me a demonstration about what it would be like when she was actually asleep.

it just occurred to me that i should make one for me in the passenger seat!  okay, like i need one more thing to do before we leave...  love.

my first commissioned project

our neighbor friend, who i made the cape, mask and bag for her son, asked me to make the same for her daughter's birthday.  she insisted on paying me so this is the first thing i have made and sold.  making the set again made me realize how much i have learned and how much better i am getting (if i do say so myself).  so proud.  love.

kindergarten teacher gifts - done

hi, my name is michelle and i am a procrastinator.  i am also an overachiever and recovering perfectionist.  and here in lines my problem...  this is also why i was baking dozens and dozens of cookies around midnight!  but madelyn's teachers are now done.  she took everything to school with her today - before her last day tomorrow (just in case i was wrong like at christmas).

for all of her 'specials' teachers (gym, library, art, music, spanish), the two class aides, bus driver, principal and school secretary, we sent peppermint chocolate chip cookies with a card that said, "it 'mint' a lot to have you..." (i just love a good - or bad - pun!  and it made the cookies feel less christmas-y.)  madelyn also made them a picture of what she liked to do with them.  she was drawing them at breakfast this morning so i wasn't really able to take any pictures - we were just trying to get stuff done!

and for her teacher, we picked out some fabric together with the school colors (orange and black) to make a tote.  we put some cookies and notes in the tote too.  madelyn's teacher has been so wonderful this year.  she really knows madelyn and has made madelyn feel quite comfortable and confident in the classroom.  we are really thankful for such a wonderful kindergarten experience!

it occurred to me that some of these teachers (like the 'specials') might be receiving gifts from us for the next 8 years!  i had better pace myself and take some notes so that it doesn't get too repetitive.

now on to mason's teacher gifts!  thankfully, he doesn't have quite as many to bring.  love.

new dress

this was just a skirt i added to a tank top madelyn would never wear (because it was too plain).  love.

roll and go

here is my latest sewing project of my own creation...

still sewing

here are some of my latest little projects...

baby gifts for friends and family - i hope that the etiquette of having one year to send a wedding gift goes for babies too...

and this scarf for myself was supposed to be one of my first projects that i just got around to doing recently.

i have several summer projects planned (and have even bought some fabric) so there will be more!  love.

luke's party

i failed to take any pictures at the party because i left my camera at home. it was a beautiful day and the kids and matt and i walked to the party - well the kids rode their bikes and manning rode in the wagon while matt and i walked. we had a 'super' time at the hero themed party to celebrate luke's fifth birthday. and i am happy to report that he loved his cape and mask (and the other moms were pretty excited about the bag). his mom sent me this great picture of him outfitted up in a super hero pose:

i am so happy he likes it! love.

 

'super' boy gift

we are going to a birthday party this weekend for a boy in the neighborhood. it is a super hero party so i thought to make him a cape and mask and then i whipped up a matching bag too since our kids love theirs so much. i changed the dimensions of the bag to better fit library books and kind of made up the cape as i went based on a few designs i found online.

i must say that i am pretty proud of myself. and i knocked all three pieces out in two days. there is room for improvement, but i am pleased with the overall results. what do you think? love.

 

mason's valentine goodie bags

i had lots of felt left over from our christmas ornaments and thanks to the kids' library bags, i now knew how to make a 'box' bottom, so i sewed 18 felt 'bags' and mason and maddux glued on the pink and red hearts for me.  well, i straighted out a few of maddux'.

inside was a "boo-boo bag" to 'kiss' boo-boos (filled with rice and stored in the freezer or heated in the microwave to warm cold hands), two play dough hearts (one pink and one 'red'), two chocolate kisses and instructions for the "boo-boo bags".

mason was really excited about bringing them to school.  oh well.  i was pleased with how they came out. love.

manning's blanket

manning was pretty happy about the small blanket i made him during his nap. now everyone has something mommy made and i can get to work on the valentine's for mason's school party. love.

 

new library bags

today i finished the last library bag. i have been looking for something on the 'easy' side to make for the boys since i had made madelyn a dress. there are just lots more options of things to sew for girls than for boys - at least things that are almost cost effective to make. i could make the boys a pair of cargo pants which look like they would take me a week or more or i can just buy them for $10.

when i came across a pattern for a mix-matchy tote made from fat quarters, i thought i had a winner. (fat quarters are pre-cut pieces of fabric that do not require me to carry around bolts and get them cut to size - aka waiting in line with kids.) i took the boys to the fabric store after picking mason up from school on friday and let them each pick out three fabrics (with a little guidance).

they were fairly easy to make, the most time consuming part was the pressing and keeping the boys' excitement contained so that i could actually finish them. they came out a little smaller than i would have liked and aren't going to be ideal for picture books at the library, but the kids love them. madelyn was pretty bummed not to have one so i told her that she and i would go pick out some fabric soon for hers. instead of waiting, she just went through some fabrics i already had and we pieced enough together to make her one too.

the kids can fit board books, early readers, notebooks and coloring books inside their bags. there are also pockets on each side. mason put a bouncy ball in his pocket and madelyn put pencils in hers. i have a feeling that these bags will get a lot of use and i will probably modify the pattern to make a larger version for each of them that would actually fit larger library books.

i think i am going to make mason's class goodie bags and gift for his valentine's day party. we will see how that goes as my next project.

matt is happy that i have a hobby, but i think he hopes it will become a business because he keeps asking me how much the ideas i show him sell for... love.

 

my first dress

i made my first attempt at making a garment yesterday. making clothes intimidates me because i am worried about getting all of the pieces to fit in the end (not fit together, but to end up with a wearable garment). i found a dress online that i thought was cute and the blogger had me convinced i could do it. you have to make your own pattern (which, honestly, i prefer to the thought of trying to follow a real pattern). i used a shirt that fit but was a little big for my template to make the bodice, drew the sleeves freehand (the blog post showed the general shape) and let madelyn select the length. i wanted it to be knee-length, but she asked for it to be down her shin more. sure, why not? she was the one who had to wear it and we can always make it shorter later if she wants.

i started mid-afternoon with drawing and cutting my pattern and then cutting the fabric. that was all i was going to do yesterday because i had some other mending i wanted to do first.

after dinner, i had some time to myself and decided to start some of it because i already had the machine out. and, let's face it, i was a little excited to see if i could do it.

and then i only had a little more to go after putting manning down for the night so i got back at it. i did make a mistake when sewing the skirt on - the bodice was inside out on the finished product - and had to rip the whole thing off, turn it right and repin (twice) before i got it all together right. but i was quite happy with the finished product and could hardly wait for madelyn to try it on in the morning to see if it actually fit.

when she woke up this morning i showed her the finished product. she wasn't as excited as she had been yesterday to watch me make it. i asked if she liked it and she said, "not quite." disappointed, i asked why not and she told me that it didn't have a pink bow. (the dress i had shown her a picture of had a white ribbon tied around the waist and i had told her that she could pick the ribbon to go around her waist. we had not gone to pick the ribbon yet.) i told her that we could go pick out ribbon tonight and she told me that she really wanted to wear it to school today. how 'bout you try it on first?

i guess the fit over her head was a little tight, but other than that it fit about the way i wanted it to (only quite a bit longer like she had requested). i was very happy with it. and extra pleased that she would wear the finished product - once i got the correct ribbon. i told her that she could wear it without the ribbon but she really, really wanted a bow. so i dug around and came up with a length of white ribbon that would do the trick.

she kept telling me that she was "thankful for what [she] had" and that she was "content" so i guess she was grateful? she would not have worn it if she didn't like it. and it wasn't just wore because it was new. we had just picked up three dresses this weekend that she could have worn if she was after something new.

we have already begun planning her next dress. i need to make some things for the boys first so that they don't feel left out. i have some ideas, now i just need to find the time. love.