making something with this...

This is an old skirt of mine. I love it. I have never found the right top to wear with it though. I can't stand the thought of getting rid of it. So, I've been thinking about a pilliow, a dress for Ella, hmmm.... the possibilities. Any suggestions?

Tea towels

I'm thinking about doing a tutorial on making rag quilts. Does anyone care about that or would that be a waste of my time? I'd love your feedback. I haven't done much sewing lately, I've been busy addressing wedding invitations for Mark and Amy.

A few months ago I bought several yards of vintage fabric at a thrift store. It was only a couple of dollars. It was a great find! I love the colors and the fabric is perfect for tea towels. I finally got around to making a few. I'm going to sell them at the Calico Barn this next season. I have enough fabric to make several cute sets of towels and napkins. I may even make a few aprons. I really like how they turned out and they are perfect in my kitchen! uh, oh. I hope they make it to my inventory list!

Baby quilt

I've decided to re-join the Calico Barn this next fall season as a crafter. I have sat out the past 3 seasons to let life happen (Jason finishing school, adding Kate tot he family, buying and fixing our house, the move, etc...) I need to have $1,000 worth of merchandise by mid-August, so I'm anxious to get started! It's been hard for me to keep up with the demand (NOT because of my great product- just because of the high traffic at the store). This time will be different though. I have help! My friend, Amy S, and I are going to make this a joint effort. She is knitting some very cute baby hats and helping me with my stuff whenever she can.

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.