Book Sharing Monday :: embroidery for little miss crafty

This time I would like to share a book picked up for my older daughter and myself from the library. She has just started learning embroidery this past Christmas and seems to enjoy it.  I also saw a couple of cute little projects.

"Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty" is written by Helen Dardik (from Ottawa!).

You can visit her website at: One Lucky Helen.

Last minute stocking stuffers ~ bookmarks

I made these bookmarks this afternoon for the kids stockings. They're reversible! The one with the cupcake is for Adrienne,

she did the cupcake when she learned how to do embroidery.

I made one for myself too ;)

I used scraps of fabrics with a little bit of heat and bond in between.

Link for the juice pouches bag!

A few have asked for the instructions, I followed roughly the ones on this link:

Juice Pouches Purse


I made sure to wash the pouches, after cutting them at the bottom, and dry them completely. I sewed with my machine and it worked fine.
Have fun and let me know if you try it out!

Recycled juice pouches bag

I wanted to try making this type of bag. It was pretty easy to make, not sure how strong it will be..Celeste has claimed this one as her own already!

Another way to re-use what we have!!

home made gifts

shhh... these are for my oldest daughter, she is turning 12 on july 12.
andre made her a little pouch, he wanted to learn how to embroider and we both came up with the idea of a little pouch to put into the purse that i made her. he embroidered her name and then sewed the pouch together, he insisted on doing a fancy stitch on one edge and added the button for the dot on the i. once the pouch was done, then he figured out to add some ribbon so she could close it, and used the button to fasten it! i think he was quite clever!

here are a few photos from his project, the first 3 are his pouch, then the last 3 are of the purse i made her. it is embroidered following a free pattern from sublime stitching and the pattern for the purse can be found here.

Swap mama sweetness

I had participated in DQS6 (doll quilt swap) a couple of months ago..had made this little quilt for my secret partner:



but it never arrived to its destination...lost somewhere in postal land...

My swap mama sent me a little care package filled with goodies for my trouble. How sweet is that? Here is a picture of what she sent me:



So sweet...

Another freebie from Sublime Stitching!

Jenny at Sublime Stitching is giving away another free pattern suitable for embroidery! These fireworks are really cute. Adrienne and Andre want to learn how to embroider over the summer and I think this design might be perfect for them to practice their new skill.
Click on the fireworks for the link to flickr to download your own pattern!

A purse just for me made by me!

This bag was fun to make! My husband cut off some of his old pants to make shorts, so I used the bottom leg parts of one of them to make this cute purse.
I followed the tutorial found on Ric-Rac : 1 hour bag tutorial .

Free Pattern from Sublime Stitching!

I found out about Sublime Stitching a few months ago when I wanted to try out embroidery again. The website is full of great fun patterns, kits, tools, and books, and even a few tutorials. As the header says, "this ain't your gramma's embroidery!"
Anyway, not trying to do advertising here, but I wanted to share with you that she is giving a free pattern! You can print the design, transfer it to your own fabric, get some embroidery floss and stitch a beautiful creation! This cute girl reminds me of Adrienne, with the short hair style, and I think it would look really cute on a little bag...maybe a birthday gift ?

Follow this link to flickr to see the pattern and get your own copy : Free Pattern - Flower Girl from Sublime Stitching.

Ready-for-summer headband

I just made one of these fun headbands this afternoon and now Adrienne is ready for the heat!!

The tutorial at Old Red Barn Co. is perfect, easy with lots of photos. The only adjustment I will make on the next headbands is the width of them, a bit too wide it seems on Adrienne's head...

Here is the link for you : headband tutorial.

What to do with a fat quarter?

A fat quarter is a piece of fabric that is 18x22 inches, usually found in fabric shops, especially quilt shops! I haven't bought much fabric lately, just using my stash and whatever scraps my aunts give me, but fat quarters are fun to "collect" and a good way to build up your fabric stash.

I found this great link tonight, from Sew, Mama, Sew with a long list of projects to do with fat quarters. Some use more than others. I honestly don't need any more projects on my list at the moment, but some of these are so cute!

These project ideas and *free* tutorials were part of February Fat Quarters. Click on the button for the link.

quilting and sewing

Here is what I have been working on these last few weeks:

This past weekend I helped my aunt with sewing nurse hats. I had learned how to make these this past fall from her, but she was busy after our first meeting and we hadn't met since then. She is catching up on her orders now, and gave me one of them to work on this weekend. My aunt is an operating nurse and has been making these hats for her co-workers for the past three years. Here are the twelve that I made, I didn't think of opening one to show the style, I will try to remember doing that next time!

I liked the fun look of placemats from house of krom so I decided to give it a try starting with one for Andre. It turned out a little funny, I didn't follow a pattern at all, just free-style! I had so much fun anyway that I decided that 2009 would be "placemat year", meaning that for every one's birthday I will make a placemat for that person. Here is Andre's finished placemat he received last week for his 10th birthday:

Another small gift that I gave to Andre for his birthday was a night cap. He had asked for one a few months ago (you can read my post about it: night hat? help!), poor guy..waited all this time! I did finally make a simple hat for him and he loves it! He was sick on his birthday, and kept it on the whole day!

Back to the placemats, I am almost finished making one for my husband. It was a little more difficult, because he doesn't like the scrappy look. I used leftover fabric from my wall hanging and kept it simple. I personally don't like it that much, but once it is done, I hope he will! Here is the top part of the placemat so far, I will post a picture of the finished placemat soon, his birthday is next Monday.

5 days of creativity ~ first week!

Monday ~ not sure if baking counts as being creative...but that is what I did on Monday! Adrienne was home from school because she had 6 teeth pulled out first thing in the morning. She did really well and was back to being able to eat a few hours later. We made this "palmiers" which I used to eat when I was little back in France, delicieux !

Tuesday ~ I tried a new little pattern from the Bend the Rules Sewing book, a cute little pouch and I had so much fun making it! I just need to find a big button and it will be complete.

Wednesday ~ I wasn't as creative today, with Celeste home with me, but we had a lovely day together. Actually Andre was home as well, his class was going on a field trip to see the Tale of Desperaux and we have already seen it together. So, not much creativity today, but lots of fun times with my children :)

Thursday ~ After seeing the black pouch that I made, Adrienne asked me if I would make her 2 pouches for her. One for her camera and one for her ipod. Again, I am missing buttons, but they turned out really cute. She picked the fabrics from my stash. The print one is the lining in the purple bigger pouch for her camera, and vice-versa for the smaller pouch...I did it that way because she couldn't decide which fabric she wanted on the outside of her pouches, so now she has one of each!

Friday ~ this day was spent packing for the weekend. We all attended a wedding out of town, and I packed for everyone, since I was home. I did find the time to start cutting fabric for a small quilt, that used charm packs fabrics. I didn't take a photo, but I will share that little project soon...

Kitchen chair cushions...finished!

Comfy cat

Clara now has a very comfortable little basket to sit in, and she couldn't wait to try it out...



I followed the directions in Amy Karol's book "bend-the-rules sewing". You can see many of the projects from the book, completed by a lot of talented people at this flickr group (like a show and tell!). Clara is now in that group too :)

Thinking ahead...Christmas 2009!

I know...how could I already? Well, I can relate completely to this post at Craft Apple. I wanted to make an advent calendar this past Christmas, but never got around to it. It is on my list of things to sew for this year, and I thought being part of this sew along would help me stay on track! These little stockings are so adorable, that I changed my mind on what I was planning on making...or maybe I'll end up with two advent calendars(one to give as a gift would be perfect). I did promise myself that this coming Christmas would be a lot more homemade...

Kitchen chair cushions...and a spoiled cat!

I am almost finished making these chair cushions for our kitchen chairs. All I have left are to hand sew the ties to five cushions! I am pleased with how these turned out, thanks to my aunt who showed me how to quilt the top and bottom layers before inserting the foam, and how to make my own piping. We will all be more comfortable during our meals now!

About that spoiled cat...The next on my sewing to do list is a cushion for a basket that the cat has claimed as her own. Fairy has picked up some soft fabric and has requested that I make her a cushion to fit that basket.

Cozy...

One cozy flannel nightgown for Princess! I used to make these for Fairy when she was smaller and Princess used to ask me for her own.
I have to confess that this particular nightgown has been in my "to finish" box since last Christmas...I know, I know... All the pieces were cut, but it never got finished. Now I am catching up!
I am planning on giving this to Princess on Christmas Eve. I hope she hasn't changed her mind about wanting one!

Photo of the Day ~ Dec. 16

It doesn't look like much right now, but it is one of my sewing projects on the go...a thank you present for one of my aunts. It is a pin cushion that has a little storage spot in the centre (very cute). The project comes from the book "Seams to Me" by Anna Maria Horner.
I will post a picture of the finished project soon...

The other projects are six kitchen chair pads (my Christmas present to my family), a nightgown for Princess (another Christmas gift), and a soft ball for a baby gift. Just like playing around with my camera, I have taken the time lately to reconnect with my sewing machine and I am loving it once again! Being creative has definitely put a smile on my face!

Lunch Box Cloth Napkins!

I have been meaning to sew some cloth napkins for the kids to put in their lunch bags for school...and finally got around to it today!
The kids had picked some fabrics a few weeks ago, we only bought a quarter metre of each. They picked a few winter/holiday theme ones, Princess chose a pink one of course, and Dragon had found a couple of neat "boy" fabrics (skateboards, and rocks??).

Napkins are pretty simple to make, but I did find a nice tutorial online at Chara Michelle that explains very clearly how to go about it. I started with a 12x12 in. square.
So far, I have made three napkins out of three different fabrics. The kids all love them!