A belly tale

Once upon a time, way back in June 2010, there was a girl who was in a show with a bunch of other girls. She made a bunch of make-up bags for the other girls with their names on them, because it made her happy to do so.


And she made a big bag, a make-up bag, and a cookie kit for the teacher, because that is how she rolls.




And they all lived happily ever after, shimmying into the sunset.

The end.

Slowly emerging from the doldrums

Christmas sewing killed my mojo. It is only recently that I have seen a glimmer of it returning. But in the meantime, here are a few photos of the gift madness.

My army of Gingermen ornaments, ready to take over the world.


Gingerbread cookie kits, with cookie mix, cookie cutter, ornaments, and bag


Hot chocolate kit, with mix and bag


Holiday collar (as modeled by a horse, because I don't have a dog!!)


And that doesn't even include the quilts and gift tags. I will do those next week. Shew!!

Very Productive, just not here...

I have been sewing TONS in the last month, but you wouldn't know it from my blog! Two reasons--I have been working on deadline for a lot of my projects, which means I actually have to buckle down and work on them rather than leisurely toodling around my blog. And second, a lot of them have been gifts and I didn't want to post here until they were sent and received.

I have some project updates coming up, but in the meantime, here is a super quicky embroidered shoe bag I made for a dancer friend of mine. Just in time for H. P. Lovecraft's Birthday!

Shoe bags

Dancers need shoe bags. So I made a couple for some of my swing dancing friends

The monkey bag.


The robot bag. I love this fabric.


Just stitched up a rectangle and threw some ribbon in the top for ties. Easy peasy.

Of course, I never seem to get around to making one for myself, no matter how easy it is. Sigh.

Works in Progress

Since the dragon bag isn't working as my daily bag, I am making a new bag, using the Carry All bag from Nicole Mallalieu. I figure a bag named "Carry All" should be good to...well...carry all my crap.

I am going to applique an owl on it, because I have a thing with owls lately. I have over a dozen owl fabrics, but they are all quilting cottons and I want to use a more substantial canvas for my every day bag. Here is the owl pattern and my pile of fabrics that I plan to use laid roughly in owl shape to see how it will look.


I am set on the body fabric, but the rest of them I am not sure about....

Another work in progress is a toddler quilt. Cars and trucks is the theme, and this is the quick sketch I made for it. (Lame sketch I know, but I use Paint to do it as that is what I have available. I am sure there is a better way.) I am going to do yellow lines down the black sashing so it looks like roads.



The focus fabric is Dig It by Michael Miller.


The fabrics for this one are all washed up and ready to cut. I think this one is going to be really cute.

Dragon Bag

Front of bag, fussy cut for maximum dragon showing


Back of bag. I didn't have enough fabric to put a full dragon on the back, so I did a patch pocket of a dragon face. Handy for my metro card!


Well, I have used the bag for a week or two, and it just isn't good for me. It is really pretty and if I didn't haul so much crap around all the time, I would love it. But I really need something bigger for my daily bag. I need to fit my lunch, purse junk, and a book for the metro and this just ain't cutting it.

I made it from Nicole Mallalieu's Sling bag pattern. Her pattern instructions are really super, and I love how she gives lots of design options for you to personalize your bag. I would absolutely recommend the pattern.

I am not sure whether to keep this one as an occasional bag or give it away to someone who will use it more. I love this fabric and I don't have much more of it....

Brains.....BRAIIIINSSSSS

So what do you bring as a hostess gift to a Zombie Party?

Well, we were all out of brains, so I decided to make some zombie potholders! Because really, who couldn't use another potholder (even zombies use them, I am sure).



The embroidery is from Urban Threads. Although that bunny was originally holding a carrot. I used my digitizing software to alter it into a bloody arm. Because I don't think there are vegetarian zombies. I could be wrong.



After I made them, I wanted to wrap them nicely....so I made a little pouch and put another bunny on it. I love how his little teeth hang over the flap.

But not for me

I have been doing a lot of sewing lately, but not for me. Alterations and other commission work. Including this diaper bag that I whipped up this weekend.



I experimented with my usual diaper bag pattern and added a zipper closure on top by request. It turned out pretty spiffy. I love the fabric and now have lots of scraps that I think will become a bag for me!

This weekend is The Husband's birthday (he is a pi baby!) and we are going to a dance down in Richmond. So hopefully I will have a new dress made for me by then. I am making the Hot Patterns Kimono Wrap Dress and I really hope it turns out. Sadly, I have not always had the best of luck with Hot Patterns, but I love their styles so much that I keep buying and keep trying. I have it all cut out ready to sew.....but sewing for others sometimes kills my mojo, so I have a backup dress in the closet just in case I don't get to it. Or in case it turns out to be a hot mess.

And before I forget (again!), big thanks to Amy and Ann for the Sisterhood Award nominiations! Yay!

The Mojo Rollercoaster Continues

I tried making a new Jalie top that was such a disaster I didn't even hem it to give to Goodwill. Straight to the trash. Sigh.

But then I made a bag that turned out super cute.



One of the ladies at The Husband's office asked me to make it for her after she saw the cuteness of the Secret Santa treats. She had pictures of a bag she liked and I basically made up the pattern to get the shape she wanted. She choose these fabrics from my stash. It isn't my style, but it turned out nice and she loved it.

This weekend I am determined to make some item of clothing for myself that I don't hate. Anything. I think I am going to make another of the Jalie sweetheart tops to get me out of the hate cycle. It is such a distinctive style that I don't want to make TOO many of them, but I do love it and I think it might be just what I need to bring back the love. Plus it is something that I can have in time to wear dancing on Saturday night!

I may be getting a surprise this weekend.....A sewing related surprise....but I am not going to post about it until it is actually in my hot little hands. Ha!

Parting shot: You know it is cold when the boys consent to cuddle with new girl.

Return of the Mojo

I spent last night in the sewing room making little simple things for the holidays, and I think I have gotten over my slump. Which is why I don't have pictures of the horrible Hot Patterns top--I didn't want to kill the momentum, so that will have to wait until this weekend.

The Husband's office does the whole Secret Santa thing and he asked me to make a few things for his person. He bought a bunch of little bath items and I made this Box Bag for him to "wrap" them. I found this bag on Stacy Sews and, like her, I can see myself making a bajillion of them because they are so easy and so cute. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, so my bag is only loosely based on that pattern. I changed the way it is put together and the dimensions....ok, so only the shape is vaguely the same. But that was my inspiration. :-)



I started out making the Noriko Handbag, available free from Lazy Girl Designs and it is SUPER cute, but The Husband ended up buying more bath things than he thought and they didn't all fit in this bag, so I get to keep it!



Being the nut that he is, The Husband can't just leave the gifts on her desk, but is sending his person on a treasure hunt through the office. He got a little cheap pirate hat at the dollar store and made a map and left clues all over the office. I thought that she needed a companion for her journey. So I made this "parrot" for him to leave on her desk with the first clue. The pattern is free from Spool Sewing and again is super easy--only two pieces--and a great way to use up those little scraps that I can't bear to throw away! I made a little birdie pirate eye patch, but forgot to take a picture of it. And sorry for the poor quality of the pictures I do have.



The Mojo is back! I think... And a good thing too because I have several knit dresses to make this weekend for the ladies in the office (nothing like a few commissions to get some extra holiday cash)!

Parting shot: I forget how little Bella still is until I see her asleep next to one of the boys. Here she is with Fred. She is so feisty that she seems much bigger when she is awake!

On the 13th day of Christmas

We all decorated with



13 FELT MONKEY FACES!


My company gives each floor of the office 100 bucks to use as they like to decorate or donate and then there is a judging with prizes. Our floor decided to use our money to buy lots of socks to decorate our tree (and then donate to a locale shelter)....somehow that turned into sock monkeys as our "theme". And somehow I volunteered to make felt monkey face hangings for everyone's workspace. They were very simple actually, just felt shapes glued on more felt. And then I used my embroidery machine to put everyone's name on their monkey.

I also brought in sock monkeys I made years ago to place throughout the office. :-)



And brought in items from my personal monkey collection, including socks, t-shirts, and a bag I made. It is kinda scary that I have this much monkey stuff just lying around (and I really didn't think I "collected" monkeys....)



The purse is pretty awesome. I made it using Lazy Girl's Miranda pattern. Very quick and easy to do, and her instructions books are amazing with full descriptions and color photos of every step. I highly recommend her patterns for a beginner, just because her instructions are so detailed.



And the end result is....I won the office decorating contest! Woo-hoo! I am off to spend my Barnes and Noble gift card (and what an appropriate prize for the librarian!)

Parting shot....
The boys are teaching Bella all about her duties to protect the house from squirrels. Of course, this is hard to do through the glass door. I swear that squirrel laughed at them and twitched his tail Nyah Nyah Nyah at them.....

Happy Divorce to You?....

Yeah, that is an awkward title, but that essentially is what this purse is.

Several months ago my baby sister told the family that she was getting a divorce. I wanted to give her something cheery, an "I'm thinking of you" sort of present. So I made this purse.



I didn't have a pattern, but I did base it on about a billion photos of vintage bowling bags and all the patterns that have come out for them lately. Her favorite color is pink and I had this fabric in the stash.

I discovered making this bag that I need to practice the whole piping thing. Yeah, that took several tries to get right. I used plastic canvas covered in fabric to make the bottom a little stiffer than the heavy interfacing I used throughout. I was trying to find little feet for the bottom of the bag, but the local shops didn't have 'em and I didn't care enough to mail order them.

I think it turned out pretty cute. I want one!

Doctor Bag

Finally got my camera to be happy again, so I may be a Posty McPosts-a-lot this week. I have lots of photos of stuff I have made the last few months.

Like this bag!



My 12-yr-old niece (this one by blood, not just by friendship like the three year old) had leukemia this past year. Many Many Many months in the hospital. She has been out since July and all of her tests have come back clean. YAY!

But she wanted to give her favorite doctor--who loves polka dots and turtles--a bag for X-mas. So this is what I came up with. I already had all the materials. The little wooden turtle button is a leftover from my grad school days at U of Maryland (go terps!) when everyone in the world thought it was cute to give me turtles.

Not totally useless

I have done a LITTLE sewing. I made these bags, as well as one I made for my niece that I never got a photo of....




And I embroidered these burp cloths as a gift for a friend.



And I made another dance shirt that I will post about this weekend after I have taken it out for a spin. And am in the middle of making a couple suits to wear to a big work event that is coming up in a few weeks.

So lately, I have only been lazy at posting, not at sewing. Progress! :-)