Under the weather

If one must stay home with an icky stomach bug, one should at least have a cute pair of slippers.

Made from Ayumi's pattern in Stitch magazine.

At least my feet are happy.

A Pattern for YOU!

Remember this little goodie?

Well, from the beginning there was interest in a pattern but I just didn't have the time to get it together. Is this a good time to mention that when I make an original pattern, I generally don't make a copy of it? Since most of my patterns are hand-drawn rather than generated on a computer, once I make the pattern, it's gone. I'm thinking that might need to change......

Anyway, apparently this has been making the rounds on Pinterest and there have been a number of new requests. As a thank you to everyone who comes by my little blog for a visit, I finally wrote up a pattern!

Paper-pieced Sewing Machine Pattern

It's not slick or fancy and it does assume that you know the basics of paper-piecing. But I hope a few of you find it a fun little project. 

***Edit: For those of you who have commented or emailed that you're able to access the instructions but not the pattern - the pattern is on the instruction sheet. There is only one page and it's all there. Really! :-)

Now that the kids are back in school, I'm finding a little bit of extra time to be creative. What are you working on right now?

Not sewing

There's been a lot of not-sewing going on around these parts. But I'm slowly getting my mojo back now that the kids are back in school and I can eek out a little bit of time during the week.

Meanwhile, we whipped up a batch of homemade cheese crackers that won little Miss B a blue ribbon at the county fair. Not bad for a four year old!

She loved kneading the dough - "just like play dough!"

And she got to use a fluted pastry wheel to do "real cutting!"

And the all important job of using a toothpick to poke a hole in each cracker.

Where is the finished product you are asking?

Um, we'll have to make another batch. These disappear pretty quickly around here!

* Blink *

Where, exactly, did the summer go? 

Looking back, of course, it went to swimming lessons, ballet and Tae Kwan Do classes, trips around our beautiful state of Oregon, play time with friends, reading late into the night, eating outside, playing in sprinklers, hiking in the woods, going to the county fair, and backyard campouts. Little sewing and even less sharing about it here.

And then this morning I sent this little fella on to first grade!

Hard to believe the little mister is going to be in school all day. He did half-day kindergarten last year and I really enjoyed getting to spend our afternoons together. But he looks pretty ready to start the day in his new classroom, with his new teacher, and a fresh box of crayons on his desk.

His sister starts preschool next week. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get back to posting with some regularity!

Catching Up

I'm sure that some of you will understand the complete and utter relief that is felt when you finally get caught up on your bee blocks! That's how I feel after spending a sewing day with my awesome PMQG peeps and getting these Cocorico blocks finished.

First up is Leila's block. Her theme is A Woman's Work and she wanted blocks that reflected the everyday tasks of a proper 50's housewife. Here's my (almost) finished block:

In doing some research for this project, I learned that in the early 50's, only about 1/3 of households had electric washing machines. Most people still did their laundry by hand. This is when I sent up a big fat prayer of gratitude because I'm pretty sure if we didn't have an automatic washer and dryer then my kids would wear a wardrobe of dirt.

I still need to embroider the little hand crank before I send it off. Hopefully, Leila will like it. It sure was a joy to make.

Next up is Kylie's block. Her theme is Best of the British. This was a very fun block to design and stitch up. I hope Kylie enjoys it.

I'll send along some black buttons for the centers of the wheels but I didn't want to sew them on in case they get in the way of assembling and quilting. It seems a bit busy but I just couldn't resist the crown fabric for the background.

In the midst of everything else, I'm also in the process of reorganizing my sewing space. It will be fun to share pictures when all is said and done, but I'm afraid it's going to be one of those things that gets much much worse before it gets better.

Summer is winding down here so we're all filling our days with as much sunshine and fun time as we can. Hope you are enjoying life as well!

Brace yourself

I actually made something! And I'm posting about it!

It certainly wasn't my intention to spend the summer ignoring my sewing machine or my blog, but sometimes that's just what happens when there are swimming lessons, Tae Kwan Do classes, ballet, and general summery mayhem happening all around at the speed of life. 

But somehow I managed to steal away for a little bit and FINALLY make my June Cocorico block for Amy. Her theme was The Artist's Studio.

At first I wanted to try an easel but luckily, Kylie beat me to it. Her block is stunning and no doubt much better than what I might have come up with.

What I did end up making was this:

A calligraphy pen and inkwell. I wish I had taken a better picture so you could see that the steel blue fabric on the left is actually a calligraphy print with writing and different nibs, but it looks pretty washed out in the photo.

One of my favorite parts of this block is the text above the pen nib. Part of it reads, "postpaid, safe arrival." If you've ever participated in an online bee, then you know the worry that can grip you when you hand over a block that you've worked really hard to make and you hope that the postal system won't let you down. Over at Cocorico, we seem to be a particularly nervous bunch while we wait to hear that our blocks arrived safely so I thought Amy would appreciate this little detail.

I promise I won't wait another month before posting! I actually have a lot of things in the works and am excited to show them off. Meanwhile, hope you are enjoying the summer with friends and family.

Ballet Bag for Bailey

My daughter is four and a half. She's the girliest tomboy I've ever met. When we were making plans for what to do over the summer break, she wanted to take ballet classes. Since her ballet classes are on the same day as swimming lessons, we knew we wouldn't be able to make it home to change into her dance clothes. It seemed a very good excuse to make her a little ballet bag!

This is the wonderful Bento lunch bag tutorial from Ayumi. It's really a perfect little bag. Cute and stylish with some lovely details in the construction that make the whole thing sew up like a dream. I especially like the drawstring cover that lets things stay securely inside even when a certain four and a half year old swings the bag like a lasso.

The cute ballet fabric is a Japanese cotton canvas print from Cool Cottons. Handles and drawstring cover  are Alexander Henry farmdale and heath. The blue dot is an unknown from my stash.

This is the third or fourth time I've used this pattern and I love it. Go make one for yourself!!!