It's Friday Already?!

Yes it is and I haven't gotten one single thing done on any of my projects. Yuck!!

I've been a bit under the weather due to allergies and by the time the kids get in bed (my sewing time came around) I was so tired that I just got in bed as well. I have gotten some things done. I moved my sewing area out into the garage. It makes for a much cleaner bedroom and I don't have to worry about keeping my husband up when I sew late.

All my projects are at the cutting stage and I think that's also why I've not started any. I hate cutting but it is needed if you want to actually sew something.

Pray for us this weekend as we are having a special Ladies & Girls Spring Event for the ladies and girls of our church. We have a special speaker (one of our missionary wives), food, and a lot of fun planned. (This has also kept me very busy this week.)

I had a wonderful birthday and received many lovely cards and gifts inside the cards (WOOHOO fabric store here I come!) but with all the busyness haven't yet sent out (or purchased) my thank you cards. I think I'll try making them using this blog post as inspiration:

Bernina: Make a Greeting Card on Your Sewing Machine.

And did any of you see this oh so cute tutorial?
Mother Huddle: Hanging Fabric Baskets
I can think of a few places where these would be handy!

So I've been busy....

I know it's been a little ok a long while since I've posted but I've been busy! First there were those Easter dresses to make and 1 Easter tie (my husband wanted one too but I didn't have a pattern to make one for him). And they all turned out just lovely and just a few days before Easter. The tie was actually made the night before Easter but it's a simple project.


(And in the middle of all this Easter sewing mayhem I had to quickly make 5 red scarves for a ladies activity we had the Wednesday night before Easter)

Once those Easter dresses were done I breathed a big sigh of relief

*SIGH*

Now for the fun to really begin!! On the Monday after Easter was my littlest girl's birthday and I wanted to make her a special birthday dress with fabric I had purchased long ago.
And on Monday we were leaving for a family vacation to Disneyland! After Sunday Evening service I went to work washing clothes and getting things ready to pack. While waiting to switch loads of wash (I live with a constant Mount Washmore so having things already clean is silly) I started on her dress. By 3am it was complete!! I love how it all turned out. (Sorry no pic of the back of the dress) I bought just enough of the red heart lace peeking out at the bottom. Whew! Making the skirt full was fun with the tulle (I cut just enough as well!).


Needless to say she loved it! When she saw it in the morning she gave me a hug and said, "I love it, Mommy." in her sweet little 3 year old voice. =)

Completing all these projects has let me cross some things off on my Pattern Challenge Goals list:

1. finish the jumper planned for Glory.
2. make matching skirts for the girls.
3. make a Sunday dress for each of the girls.
4. repurpose 2 shirts for Caleb.
5. make a tie for each special Sunday for Caleb. (Easter, birthday, etc.)
6. finish the planned shirt and skirt for myself.
7. And to do this all before Summer.

We are now settled and back from vacation. Even the bags and van are all unpacked (and clothes washed!). The next projects I want to tackle are the shirt and skirt for myself as well as a dress, repurpose some of Travis' old khaki pants for Caleb, make 2 Pencil Rolls. And that should do it for now. =)

So much to do in so little time.

Pattern Challenge Update

1. finish the jumper planned for Glory.
2. make matching skirts for the girls.
3. make a Sunday dress for each of the girls.
4. repurpose 2 shirts for Caleb.
5. make a tie for each special Sunday for Caleb. (Easter, birthday, etc.)
6. finish the planned shirt and skirt for myself.
7. And to do this all before Summer.

Getting to work on my Pattern Challenge. Remember my goal is to finish it all before Summer. =) Well, some things are coinciding with this Pattern Challenge so I'll be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Right now my major project is Easter!


For Easter I want to make the girls semi-matching outfits and Caleb a matching tie (possibly even one for Daddy to match Caleb's!). I'll be using the Frida pattern from Modkid. I bought the whole lot as a kit from Above All Fabric. That will take care of #3 and part of #5.

And guess what? It's coming again....
I wasn't able to get involved last year (too new to sewing and too scared to try and make a top for myself). But this year, especially with goal #6, I'll be putting in an entry. Made By Rae
makes the cutest things and has a really cute Spring Top pattern I may try out. But then again I have the Funked Out Peasant Blouse that I've been meaning to make as well.

Hmmmm....decisions, decisions.

The skirt I want to make is not from a pattern but from a picture.


Isn't that such a cute skirt?! I saw it online at a shop that I'm kicking myself now for not saving the name of the website. ARGH! Oh well, maybe I'll find it again. It'll be fun figuring out how they made it and trying to duplicate it. Now to find the perfect fabric for it! =)
*Found it! ModCloth

We will be going to Disneyland very soon and I'd like to make the girls (and Caleb) some cute outfits or skirts (the girls) for the trip. Which should take care of goal #1, #2 and #4. A while ago I bought some Mickey Mouse fabric that was on sale and wanted to make Glory something with it (she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "It's her FAVORITE!" lol as she tells me everytime she watches it). Since we'll be at Disney on her b-day and she wanted a Mickey Mouse/Princess party I thought I'd try to make her a frilly princessy jumper with the fabric.

Hmmm...that got me thinking...maybe I'll use this new pattern I bought from Olabelhe for the jumper!


The only problem with some of these lofty goals is that I want them all done at the same time. lol (Not the summer deadline but much sooner) We'll see how it goes. =)

Pattern Challenge and Double Layer Twirly Skirt

To keep myself on track for sewing this season I joined a pattern challenge at Come and See the Seitz. Here are the goals I've laid at for myself:

1. finish the jumper planned for Glory.
2. make matching skirts for the girls.
3. make a Sunday dress for each of the girls.
4. repurpose 2 shirts for Caleb.
5. make a tie for each special Sunday for Caleb. (Easter, birthday, etc.)
6. finish the planned shirt and skirt for myself.
7. And to do this all before Summer.
   

Ok now I can keep going on and on here but I better stop. There are so many other things I have on my mind to make but one of the things that Sarah states is to make these attainable. So I can't put too many things on this list or else I'd never get them all done.

One of the things that I wanted for this list was this Double Layer Twirly Skirt but I finished it before I was able to post about the pattern Challenge. I made this skirt sans pattern and I'm happy with how it turned out for the most part. I made the waistband too wide so I'll be fixing that later. I like how my gathers turned out. (I don't like gathering!)

I don't claim to be the genius who designed this skirt. I saw the Modkid Julia pattern pics by Patty Young and thought it was so cute but too impatient to wait to order a copy so I thought I'd try it out on my own. It's not exactly like the Julia skirt (remember, no pattern) but what do you think of it anyway?