New Fabric/New Find Friday #68

I have been reading all over the blogosphere about elastic thread and all of the great things that you can do with it. I have been wanting to try it out so while at my local sewing store a few weeks ago I picked up a spool to try out. I got the Gutermann brand and it looks just like this image below.

I have yet to try it out, still working on a backlog of other projects but I look forward to winding it on my bobbin soon!

You just put this on your bobbin and use regular thread on the top and it will help create a gather while you stitch. I have seen it used to create smocking, which I think is super cute on babies and my mom is currently working on something for baby bee. I have also seen it used to create gathers on shirts that are too large. I think this is what I would use it for most, to take shirts that are too long on me and make them more flattering, in length and to help hide that baby belly that just seems to want to stick around.

I love finding new ways to make things especially when they feel like shortcuts!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway 2011 Winner

The winner of the 2011 Sew Mama Sew giveaway is:

Kristine who said...

I'd love to win, Thanks for the giveaway!

Congratulations to you Kristine and I will have your cover mailed out to you by May 30th.

Thank you to everyone that stopped by and left comments, they were all so uplifting even if you just left them for a chance at a prize. I hope some of you continue to visit and for my regular readers I have some fun posts coming up that I am excited to share.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaways 2011

*****UPDATED: Giveaway Closed*******

Last year I participated in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway and I am excited to do the same this year!

I can not believe it has already been a year. This year I am giving away a breastfeeding cover. Last year I had a bit more time on my hands so I had four fabrics to choose from to make the cover...this year with a baby the time constraint is a bit harder so sorry to say there will be no fabric choices for the cover. Without further ado here it is...

Here is a picture of the cover. I hope you can see most of the pattern. I love this fabric but decided it was finally time to let it go.

I hope you can see more of the colors on this picture. It is a bit brighter in real life than in this picture.

Here are the rules:

• Post a comment on this post to enter.
• You have until May 25th to comment to win.
• Winner needs to be from The Continental United States no international shipping.
• I will pick a winner via random.org.
• I will ship the item on May 30th.

For those of you who are new to my blog....welcome! I hope you have a chance to look around at all of the fun things that I make. For those faithful followers thank you so much for sticking by me and please go check out some other fun blogs and giveaways listed here. Don't forget that I have a new Etsy store where you can purchase my products. You can get to my Etsy page from the products page here on my blog.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #67

I am trying really hard to not go out and buy fabric that I do not need since I have a TON. Instead of buying new I need to start making things with the stuff that I already have but, when I step into a fabric store I just have to get something. I did go a few weeks ago and left with nothing but this last trip did not go as well.

I needed to go pick up some green and white gingham fabric and when I did that I saw this green and brown stripe fabric. I have this fabric in the blue and brown colorway and I really liked this green and brown combo, it seems so fresh and spring like and hey it goes with the gingham. The blue and brown seems a bit more vibrant and almost electric blue where as this green is not as shocking and maybe that is why I like it.

Maybe I will make a little apron out of these two fabrics! Check back to see what I do with this green and white gingham.

Giveaway Pillow Finished

I bet you were all wondering what that pretty fabric that I showed you HERE for the giveaway ended up looking like as a pillow. Here it is all finished and ready to go to the winner.

I sewed it and stuffed it and gave it to the winner over the weekend. She really loves it and I can not wait to hear where she puts it in her home. I think it might look nice on a green chair that she has or maybe her sofa?

I was excited to get this finished and am in the process or working on a few pillow covers with zippers to be used with inserts. I can not wait to show you those finished products.

Onesie to Tote

A little over a year ago I made a THIS cute onesie with a picture of my friend's one year old on it taken from the Birthday invitation. It did not survive on the onesie and I told my friend I would put it on something else for her. It has been sitting around my house and I did not get any further instruction so I decided with baby girl's second birthday to do something with it. So here it is...

I put the image that was on the front of the onesie on the front of a neutral colored tote bag. It does not stand out too much on the tote but that is what I was going for, something subtle. I was going to put ribbon around it but it looked like a bit too much.

I decided to put that ruffled ribbon on the back of the tote where there are three pockets. The ribbon is sewn in at the top of the pockets. A simple accent on the back to balance the cute image on the front.

I think this is perfect for this cute 2 year old to play with and put all of her special items in when going out of the house or when playing house at home.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #66

I am really excited about this new find. I read a few months ago that Cotton Babies was going to try selling their cloth diapers at local Walgreens stores. I didn't think anything more about it until my coworker told me the other day that she saw them at Walgreens and thought of me. I of course launched into a bunch of questions... what kind did they have? What color? Singles or in boxes? Did they have inserts? Did they have any other accessories? She didn't look so I had to go find out for myself.

I went to the store near my work and they do not have them. I guess they only have them in select stores. I haven't tried others yet but I hope to in the next few weeks. It sounds like they are selling Bum Genius diapers and Flip diapers and in the standard colors.

How great is this? I think it is wonderful to have them more accessible around town so people that want to try them do not have to drive to a local Cotton Babies store (which could be far from them) when they are open or order them on line and wait for them to arrive. They can instead just stop by their local Walgreens and pick some up. It would be great if we were ever out and ran out of our diapers and instead of buying a disposable we spent that same money on a cloth diaper...one that we would put into rotation at our house with the ones we already have. Not that we don't use disposables when we are out sometimes but I like the idea of having the option of buying cloth if need be.

VERY COOL! Good luck to Cotton Babies at Walgreen. Check them out.

PS. Cotton Babies had nothing to do with this post. I just love them and wanted to share this info with you.

Refocus

I think I have finally come to realize my limitations as a human being and that I can not do everything, no matter how hard I try. I try to be the best wife, the best mom, the best manager at work, the best friend, and make the best items for you! I have tried to do it after baby and I am doing okay but I am for sure not the best, nor will I ever be. I need to simplify my life a bit and instead of giving up anything I just need to know my limitations. So for the time being I am going to refocus my business. This is better for me, my family and you!

What does this mean? I am going to focus on making only a few items, aprons, breastfeeding covers, burp cloths, and designer pillows. I am going to make a bunch of these items and have them ready to buy on Etsy so that there is always something you can purchase from me without waiting for me to get around to making it. I am still going to do some custom items because I love the thrill of making something different and fun but please note that they might not be made as fast as they were made in the past. The onesies are one thing that I will for sure make custom because I just love them, they do not take as long as other custom items.
I think this is just the best thing for me to do right now until the babe is a bit more independent and can play longer by himself and my sewing area is finally moved to the basement. On the positive side for you is that I will have more blog posts than I have been having over the past few months because I will show you all of my items as they are finished and put on Etsy plus other random fun.

What do you guys think about this?

Neutral Breastfeeding Cover

Do you remember this fabric from a few months ago? It was a Friday Fabric, one of the few neutral fabrics that I have and boy did it come in handy. A friend ordered this cover for a female friend of hers who just had a baby and was a bit nervous about breastfeeding in public. She had seen me wearing mine in Church and asked to buy one for a friend. What a great gift for a new Mom, I love mine and use it everyday at work.

She wanted me to make a neutral cover and one that was subtle so that it would not draw attention to the fact that the mother was feeding her baby. I tend to like a lot of bright patterned fabrics and thought this was the most subtle of the ones I had on hand.

I made and sent this off to the new mom thinking that I would never meet her and then I was pleasantly surprised to meet her after Church last Sunday. She said that she liked her cover and that she would be spreading the word. I love to hear from happy clients!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #65

I am trying hard these next few weeks to not buy more fabric and use the fabric that I have. I have a list of projects that need to be finished and want to use the fabric I already have. So hopefully I will have some new finds to show you these next few weeks. Last week was a really busy week so I did not have a chance to find something for Friday.

Today I have these fabric weights to show you.

My mother in law is a big sewer and she bought these for me a few months ago. I have yet to use them but really think that they are a great idea. These weights are great for when you are cutting out a pattern and you need to keep it in place. I use these a lot when the window is open and my fabric is flying while working on another part of the project. I hope to use these more in the future.

Mother's Day

This Sunday will be my first official Mother's Day and I know just what I want and have already told my husband what that something is...a gift certificate. That way I can decide later what item to buy and he can give it to me the day of without much effort. I thought to myself...why don't I do this for my Etsy shop! That way anyone that is looking for something to get Mom or even someone special later can do so with little effort and get them what they want. Win win right?

Here are some ideas of what Mom might buy with her gift certificate: 

• Apron
• Breastfeeding Cover
• Designer Pillow (soon to be featured so grab a certificate so Mom can buy them later)
• Ruffled Scarf
• Burp Cloth (this is just as much for Mom as it is for baby)
• Journal
• Note cards

Finally you can find the Gift Certificate HERE on my Etsy site. The great thing about it is that not only can this be used for items listed in my Etsy shop but it can also be used on a Custom Listing so the sky is the limit on what this can be used for. Well there is a limit..I have to be able to make it!

I am very excited about my first Mother's Day with my little boy. Last year on Mother's Day is when we told our family that we were expecting...wow what happens in a year.

Adjustable Apron

Wow sorry that it has been so long since I have written. Time at the sewing machine has been few and far between and time with two hands at a computer has been even harder! I am working on lots of things in life and in my head so don't worry there is more where this came from!

This was a request a long time in the making. I was asked to do this apron by a friend of mine back in early January and just now finished it in April. Mom asked for an apron for the little one that would be adjustable so she could wear it now and as she grows. What a great idea! So after some thought I decided that some snap tape would be the best way for it to be adjustable in length. The tie at the top is a ribbon that can be tied at any length so that is adjustable as well. The ribbon at the bottom has cherries on it and I love how ruffled it is. I used my new favorite ruffle foot for my sewing machine. Watch out there might be more ruffles where that came from. I embroidered her name (as you can see) and when I was almost finished we both decided that she needed a pocket for color and to put her hands in. This girl loves pockets and often times I see her with her cute little hands in the pockets on her skirts and dresses. PERFECT!

It was an evolving piece and I think everyone loves the way it turned out. Especially Regina! Look how cute she is with her carrot.

Here is another shot of the apron.

Hope you are sticking with me and I will be back soon with more!