Ella's patchwork circle/twirly skirt

I bought this beautiful brown paisley fabric, the blue, and the houndstooth from my friend. The cream colored piece was an old tablecloth (the one I made for our tiny table when we got married) and the pink was a fat quarter from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I followed somewhat the tutorials that I have linked to on the right side of this blog. This skirt was really fun to make and easy except that all the gathering took a lot of time. Each row is 2x the length of the previous one. The bottom row was 15' long! That was a TON of gathering. And the applique on the front of Ella's shirt was so fun! I'm really excited about doing more of that. There's not a good picture of it, but the process was the same as the church bag.

Soft soled baby shoes

Kate NEEDED some new shoes! :-)

Bib

Isn't this cute baby fabric? I made a bib out of it.

Church bag

Jonas needed a little bag to take his "stuff" to church in so we made one. We used this fusible webbing to create an iron on applique. It was really easy! The possibilities are endless. I'll be using this stuff a lot more.

Jonas chose an airplane from the fabric I used in his bedroom.

You stick the "steam-a-seam" onto the fabric, cut out the shape you want, peel the paper backing off of the webbing and then iron it on. I cut up an old jean skirt to create the little bag.

Here it is all packed and ready to go. This whole project only took about one hour.

Kate's Birthday Dress

This was my very first time to sew a real dress for one of my girls! I am so pleased with how quickly it came together and how it turned out. It's kinda sad that I had to put long sleeves and tights with it because it's still so cold here, but it will be really cute without a shirt this summer. I got this pattern from a thrift store back in highschool and I've been saving it for "someday". I was so happy to be able to finally use it. I cut out the pattern and fabric and then realized it didn't have the instructions. It was really easy to figure out though. Isn't this a cute pattern?


I'm NOT confident with my button hole or zipper abilities yet so I just left 2 straps to tie together at the shoulder.

I used a different pattern for the shoes this time. I like the other one MUCH better. So I'm gonna stick with that one for the future.

This felt cupcake and the ribbon that ties around the middle that says "my little cupcake" are scrapbooking embelishments from the $1.00 spot at JoAnn Fabrics. When Ella first came to the hospital when Kate was born she called her "baby Cake". It's kind of been our little family joke to call Kate "baby Cake". So the little birthday cupcake seemed fitting!

Sneak Peak

Today's project for Monday's birthday girl

Purple child's apron

I'm toying with the idea of making child-size apron's to sell at the Calico Barn. I've committed to the fall season there and I need to start sewing! This past week I made a baby boy quilt and this apron below. I think that apron's for little girls would be easy to make and cheap. I could use my scraps! This apron was a skirt I had made for myself years ago and never wore. The pocket on the front is half of a vintage hankercheif. I'm not good at doing ruffles yet. Actually anything besides a straight stitch for hems and seams is not something I'm comfortable with! I'm learning.