Look what I won!!!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is the gift that keeps on giving! Not only did I get to "meet" lots of great new bloggers, and share some love from this little blog of mine, but I WON something too!!!

I won a set of four patterns from Foot Loose and Fancy Free Boutique. Her shop is here. I won the Crochet Cloche hat pattern, along with the pattern for that pretty ribbon flower attached to it. The hat pattern will be sent along to my buddy Joyce, because as she well knows, crochet is not my strong suit! So not only do I get prizes, but I get to share too!

I also won patterns for the Sew Stylish Pillowcase dress and the Sew Adorable Under Slip. That slip can totally stand alone as a dress, too!


Thank you, Sandra! I can't wait to get started with these!!!

Winners!!!

Thank you all SO much for joining in! I ended up with a total of 215 comments and gained a few new followers- It's so exciting that folks are interested in what I'm doing!!! Such a welcome change from my husband's usual, "Hm, that's neat" response to my sewing chatter!

HUGE huge thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew for taking on this massive undertaking!

I was SO tickled to read the comments that corresponded to the random number generator-- I love making people happy!

Without further ado, the envelope please...

The winner of the table runner kit was #106, "O My Word!?!" who said "I gotta have this! Thanks for the giveaway!"

The winner of the bias tape maker was #82, Jennifer Ladd, who said, "Great giveaway! I've been wanting to try one of those bias tape makers!" And hey, she's a fellow Wisconsinite! Hi from Madison!

And the winner of the vintage fabric squares was #188, pinsandneedles, who said, "Another awesome giveaway! My favorite is the fabric squares. Thanks!" And she's a midwesterner too!

Ladies, I'll be emailing you shortly, but if you see this before then, send me your mailing addresses and I'll get your prizes out ASAP!!!

For everyone else, I'm sorry I didn't have something for everyone, but thank you SO much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed Giveaway Day- I'd love to see/hear about what everyone won from other blogs!!!

I have now reached the internet capacity for exclamation point use, so I must end here. Thanks again for stopping by!!! (snuck in three more- HA!)

Book Bags

Did you know it was already mid-May? And that preschool ends before Memorial Day? Yeah, somehow that slipped my mind. I now have four teacher gifts to make in the next week, as well as a birthday gift for a little girl friend of my daughter's. We didn't get the teachers anything for Christmas or Teacher Appreciation Week, oops! Allison has loved her first year of school and I wanted to make something useful for the teachers. My mom was a teacher and I remember her coming home at the end of the year with dozens of mugs. So, mugs are out! I figure everyone can use a good tote bag, especially teachers, so that's what I'm going to do.

I love this Drawing Room print from Anna Maria Horner, and it's such a nice smooth sateen. I snapped some up when it was on clearance at fabric.com (it still is! Just this colorway for some reason, only $4.54/yard!), intending to make myself a library bag with it. I also thought if I had enough I'd do something like this pillow from Parrish Platz. To link where linking is due, she was inspired by Amy a la Mode.How totally cool is that? I'll have to start thinking which book titles I'd use.

But back to the case at hand. Bags for teachers! The pattern repeats four times across the 54" width of the fabric, and I wanted to get as much bag for my buck as possible. My first thought was to just use one column per bag so that I didn't have edges of the next column peeking in. I did french seams, trying to keep it nice and simple. But then I ended up with this sad little 9" x 12" bag. I didn't even bother putting handles on, it wasn't worth it. I guess this one can be that library bag I wanted! After I fix that crooked top hem, that is! Yikes!


So I went back to the drawing board and decided to go wide. I had this teal canvasy fabric that was a close match to one of the "books" so I added that to the sides, boxed the bottom, lined it in a cute ivory and teal polka dot print, and had a much more serviceable teacher bag! I did cut it straight with the grain, by the way, the print is kinda slanty like that.


So do you think it would be odd to give all four teachers the exact same bag? I thought maybe I could use different lining so they'd know whose was whose?

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day!!!

Comments are closed!!! Winners are listed here!

It's here! It's here! It's finally here!!!

This is my second time participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day. Hundreds of awesome blogs participate, giving away supplies for sewing, knitting, crafting, quilting as well as handmade items- bags, skirts, kiddo clothes, dolls, jewelry... You name it!!! You get to "meet" lots of new bloggers and maybe win prizes! What's not to love? Just like last time, I have three prizes up for grabs today.

First up I have this adorable table runner kit.

I bought this at Nancy's Notions annual warehouse sale (the first photo is theirs). It was so cute and I knew Giveaway Day was coming, so I grabbed two. It includes the pattern and all the fabric you need to make this cute table runner for Spring! And hey, if a Posie table runner isn't your thing, gift the pattern to a quilting friend, and it's free fabric for you! The second picture shows the fabric, but not the pattern or the big purple ric rac that's included!

Next up, a Clover 1" bias tape maker. I bought myself one a few months ago and it's so much fun. I liked it so much that I bought myself a multi-pack with lots of different sizes, so I expect I'll be using lots more bias trim in the near future! I wanted to share the fun with you- create your own bias tape to match any project! No more "close enough" colors for your trim!


And last, a lovely little stack of vintage 2.5" fabric squares. This is another set of the squares I mentioned in my hexagons post. There are over 100 squares, all of them different! You have so many options with these- make hexagons, try out the quick-piece squares, make fabric baby blocks, cover buttons, or use them for all kinds of quilt patterns! Here are just a few of my favorite prints:
And here's the whole stack:

To win, just comment on this post! I'll draw three names using the random number generator, and the prizes will be awarded in that order: First name wins the table runner kit, second wins the bias tape maker, and third wins the squares. I'd be ever so happy if you'd follow my little corner of the blogosphere, but it's not a requirement for entry and won't get you an extra entry. Equal chances for all! I'll close the giveaway late at night on Thursday, May 20 and will announce the winners then! Good luck and have fun visiting all the fabulous Giveaways today!

Heaps of Hexagons!

After seeing so many blogs about hexagons, I decided to give it a try. I'd been looking for a project that was all hand sewing, since we spend a lot of time in the summers at a lake cabin in northern Wisconsin. We spend the days fishing and rowing around in our little boat, spotting birds, turtles, all sorts of woodland creatures, and generally having a blast. But once night falls and the girls are asleep, my fingers get itchin' to DO something! We have no internet and no cable (ahhhh... peace!).

So last time we went up I brought a stack of pink scraps of fabric and made a bunch of hexagons. The piece on the left is the result of that trip. I think they'll be the front of a throw pillow for my older daughter's bed.


The pile on the right are the hexagons I made this past weekend. The new ones are 1" hexies, and they are being made from a fabric jackpot I hit at a garage sale recently. Hundreds and hundreds of 2.5" squares, mostly adorable vintage florals mixed with some stripes, checks and polka dots. I sorted them all out and made a stack containing one of every print- I think there are over 200 different prints! I'll add some from my stash and eventually they will all become a lap quilt to keep Up North.

Texas Freckles' blog has played a HUGE part in setting me down this hexagonal path. She warned that they're addictive, and she's right!!! When I started I didn't think I'd get hooked and I just wanted to finish those pink hexies and move on. But then I found those squares, continued reading her blog and picking up tips, and now it's going SO much faster and I'm loving it! I keep all my supplies in one little case so I can bring it with me easily, anytime I think I'm going to be sitting and waiting somewhere. Love it! Thank you Melanie!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies, Grandmas, Great Grandmas, Aunts, Godmothers, sisters, Daddies who are Mommy too, daughters, social workers, teachers, and anyone else who fills the role of Mother.

Fabric flowers tutorial available at Going Sew Crazy. The photo is hers. Isn't it gorgeous???

Percolating...

I am not a big coffee drinker- When I do drink it it's usually an icy frothy creamy confection from Starbucks that barely qualifies as coffee. But I have this great old percolator coffee maker that belonged to my grandparents. It makes THE best coffee, but my favorite part is when it's brewing, you can see the coffee bubbling and dancing in the little glass knob on top. It sounds so cheerful!!!
So that has absolutely nothing to do with sewing, but that percolatin' feeling is how my sewing life has been lately! I have lots of things going, lots of fun smaller projects finished up, and I'm feeling excited about all of it!

I made two more ModKid Emma skirts for my friend Joyce. I used wooly nylon in the serger for the first time and I absolutely LOVE how it looks in the rolled hem on the skirts' "petals." And I grabbed that knitting book for her at a garage sale for ONE dollar! Joyce is an amazing knitter, I swear she has magical knitting needles.

I also made this Tabitha bag from Flossie Teacakes' pattern for my sister. I bought the pattern from the CraftHope Etsy shop. It was a lot of fun to make, and some of the instructions have become trademark sayings with my sewing group- Such as, "This is a precision moment!" Love it! This was fun for me because I have very different taste from my sis-- This wasn't one I could make from stash fabric, as I had NO solid black fabric at all! Nor zebra. And she sent me pics of Juicy Couture bags because she wanted a bow. Apparently bows on bags are a "thing" now. I had no idea. Hope she likes it!

I have a couple of dresses for myself underway, and even have one almost finished! It's the Prairie Girl dress from Favorite Things, in Amy Butler's Memento fabric. I've got a few tweaks to make to the fitting, and then I'll post pics.

Lastly, I had a fun shopping day today! I went to the annual warehouse sale at Nancy's Notions. I think their demographic skews a little older than my taste (lots of converted sweatshirts and more traditional quilt patterns), but there is still lots to find at great prices! I got a few patterns, this nifty bobbin tower, and loads of fabric. And I picked up two kits to make this Posie Pots table runner:
And guess what? I bought two. I certainly don't need two. Guess what else? Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day is coming up on May 17! Watch this space!!!