holiday handmades

Here's a quick look at a couple presents I made for the holidays. I was bad and didn't take pictures of everything I made - darn it!

For Lukas's grandma I made this apron. I really loved the sweet, feminine design when I first saw this. But I had to work to make it not to "cute-tsy" for Lukas's grandma. I found this brown fabric with Asian inspired flowers at Jo-Ann's and paired it with some matching bias tape. I kept it simple - and am happy with how it turned out. Let me tell you though... sewing on a curve and having to make sure I caught both edges of the binding all at the same time gave me quite a few headaches. The seams ending up being so small that in several places I had to re-stitch many times. It'll be a little while till I totally forget this and make one for myself. {ps. She liked it!}

For Lukas's mom I made a little boxy pouch, but no pictures to show you. I even bound all the seams on the inside - fancy! I followed a tutorial {not this one, but it's really similar} and it was a breeze to sew up. I filled it with some yummy peach-ginger tea and some maple spiced pecans.

For my mom, I made here this lunch bag. She always brings her lunch to work in a plastic shopping bag. She brings her left overs in little Tupperwares, so anything I made her had to be big enough to fit those. I used some doggie Heather Ross fabric 'cause my mom loves dogs and lined the inside with a green polka dotted laminated fabric.

For Matt's girlfriend Michelle I made a coffee cup cozy. I followed this tutorial from House on Hillroad. I used a little elastic instead of the recommended hair tie 'cause that's what I had on hand. But other wise I followed all the directions and it worked just fine. I got her a little gift card to Starbucks and put it in a clean to-go cup with the cozy on the outside {pretty much copying Erin - thanks for the good idea!}. I'll definitely have to keep this tutorial in the rotation for future gift giving. {again, no picture}

And for Lukas I made a scarf. He picked out the flannel plaid and brown fleece - he always makes good fabric choices. I sewed the two together in a long tube and turned it right side out. Then to keep the two layers together I quilted it with diamonds. They're hard to see in this picture, but it does the job and looks good too.

"It keeps my head warm this way too!"

sausages

Here we have bed sheet dress try number three. Try number two was just a remake of the pieces I'd cut out for the first version, but I actually sewed the seams with the correct seam allowance. That one fit correctly {yay!} but lacked sleeves.

So, on to try number 3. I brilliantly thought to modify the pattern to add sleeves using a 3/4 shirt that I have. Good idea in theory, but I forgot one major thing... the jersey material of the shirt stretches, bed sheet doesn't really stretch. So I sewed it up and tried to slip my arm in the sleeve - it wouldn't go in. I narrowed the sleeves over and over again until the seams were scant 1/4 and busting open in some places. Then I could finally get my arms in - kinda. They looked like tightly packed sausages. And it was hard to tell if the rest of the dress still fit because these were so far off. So, I'll be needing to cut a couple need side/sleeve pieces and try again. I will not have sausage arms at my wedding!

On the theme of sausages... {random transition} I found the yummiest sausages at Trader Joes last week - sweet apple and chicken. I got super excited when I found that they weren't in pork casings - so I could actually eat them. They cooked up into yummy sausage sandwiches with bell pepper and were extra good when paired with eggs for breakfast.

And now, to round out the topics that don't really fit together is a picture from my way home from work today. We've been hit by a big storm here this week {thunder and lightning and RAIN!}. This morning at 5:15 when I woke up for swimming just as I was rubbing the sleep from my eyes I saw a flash. Or thought I did, but wasn't quite sure so I listened for the thunder. And it came, so I got back in bed. No swimming in the lightning! I was worried though that I had just made it all up to get myself out of swimming. I had trouble falling back to sleep and then through closed eyes I saw another bright flash and heard the thunder. I went back to sleep just fine after that, knowing I hadn't made it up. The storm raged on my way to work but it broke for a bit when I went home. Enough for a beautiful sunset.

positive thinking

I just began reading The Secret on the train on the way home from work today {thanks SF public library reserve system!}. I'm not really sure if I totally buy into it, but it did get me thinking about the power of your thoughts and positive thinking. And then I came home and was checking blogs I like to read for updates and saw this video linked on one of them. And that made me smile and then think some more.

I love getting the random compliments - those simple, "I like your shoes", "That's a nice scarf" coming from strangers. Who cares if they're not sincere? I don't even question their sincerity. Because it's nice just to take it at face value and it makes me smile. The other day in the elevator on my way to work I complimented a woman's bag - I really liked it. She was surprised that I broke the code of elevator silence - but she smiled wide, said thanks, and continued to smile for the rest of the ride. It's just as fun to be the one giving the random compliments - spreading smiles.

And... those are my deep thoughts for this Thursday evening.

December Blocks

I don't think I've shared these latest Tethered Threads blocks for Kathy. So here they are!

I had fun planning these out, but it was challenging with what I wanted to do and the amount fabric I had to work with. I always seem to forget that the more you cut it the more gets lost in the seams. So, plans may have changed mid-cutting, but in the end I'm really happy with the way they came out.

Now, I'm already planing the next blocks for Rebecca. She sent fabrics from Heath Bailey's new line. So fun to see these in person! And have a chance to sew with them. I love them, but problem wouldn't have picked them for myself so it's fun to use them for someone else. Hopefully those blocks will be done this weekend.

Other goals for the weekend - wedding dress version 3 (sleeves!), wedding favors (got to keep those under wraps), a little hiking, and what ever comes my way.

Happy weekend!