My last stash game item

I figured I wouldn't have any time to sew on the last day of February which was a Moday. But Nelson was out running errands and the girls went to play with the neighbor girl. So I sat down and traced a shirt from the new women's Ottobre magazine, cut it out and got half of it sewn before everyone showed up. After the girls went to bed, I sat back down and finished it!

As soon as I saw the version in the magazine, I knew I wanted to make it. But the magazine version had this little skirt thingy attached and drawing attention to my hips is the last thing I need. So I left the skirt thing off and added a couple inches in length to make up for the length I lost. The shirt fits perfect in every way! I was so drawn to the sleeves and the manner in which you put them together is pretty nifty. I can see myself making another one of these, but really, how many of the same ruffly sleeve shirts do you need? Says the woman who made 4 of the same v neck hoodies.....

My challenge entry

My entry for the Lil Blue Boo/Dharma Trading company challenge!!


I completed this awhile back, but I am just now getting the pics up! When I first completed it, it was sooo cold outside, I took one quick picture. Once it warmed up, I was able to get a few more. Too bad I don't have any modeling shots. I don't know any little girls this size! But hey, I had to work within the size limits of the RTW shirt from Old Navy.

The top of the dress is a shirt from Old Navy, a cute little mermaid with lots of sparkles! The bottom of the dress is the Studio Tantrum Redondo pattern with 5 knit panels that curl around to make a really full fluffy skirt that has great twirling potential. There is one navy blue panel, 2 purple panels and 2 panels of white that I dyed blue and purple. I took a big scrap of white interlock, scrunched it up into little mounds in various places and then with tulip dyes in spray bottles, I sprayed in random patterns over the fabric.

Because of the little swirly mounds I made in the fabric, the dye looked almost tye dyed. And the blue and purple matched the Old Navy shirt and the other interlocks perfectly! I love when that happens!!









What do you think?

Hot pink pants!

Who doesn't love hot pink pants? Nin is growing faster than I can keep pants on the poor kid so I saw this pair of pants in a sewing forum the other day and set right out to make them. They are super fussy with all the topstitching and all the details and pockets, but I really wanted to make them. Now, whether Nin will wear them is a different story. Sometimes she goes through these phases of "pants are for boys and I won't wear them". Then other times, pants are just fine. She seems to like them but hasn't worn them yet...

I used about 1 1/2 yds. of hot pink twill along with ribbon, interfacing, button, zipper, size tag, a kellybellykids tags and lots of thread. Great for stash game. These pants alone are worth 21 points. That probably means nothing to you, but trust me, its a good thing!

Pattern: Ottobre Design 1/2011 #13
size- 128, the largest size of this pattern

The pants fit spot on straight from the pattern. I did add 2 in. of length so I could make an extra large hem so that when she grows in 2 months, I can let the hem down and not lose all my hard work!





Look at that zipper! And yes, I had a hot pink zipper on hand!



Leg pocket





Look at all this topstitching!!!! Double and triple rows. There is no way these pants are falling apart..



I love this pattern. The directions were easy to follow, I love all the details and I really like the way you add the pocket on the side of the leg. There is no visible seam on the bottom! Clever! I also love the back pockets that are tucked into the yoke. If Nin will wear these, I will certainly make them again. KK wants a pair, but 128 is the largest the pattern comes. I could probably get away with keeping a size 128 waist and adding about 5 or 6 inches of length. But that girl has more clothes than she can wear.

Just wondering....

You think it's time to pull this sucker?



My poor little jalepeno plant! I tend to leave the plants in the garden and then till them under in the spring. Sort of a compost if you will. The plants break down by composting and adds some nutrients to the soil for the next year. I usually end up with volunteer plants in various places through the garden. Sometimes they produce veggies, sometimes not.

Miss me?

I have spent much of the past 2 weeks in bed or sleeping on the couch.  The weekend before my birthday my lovely child who was sick at the time coughed in face.  She slimed me!  And in turn, I wound up sick.  And just when I thought I was getting better, the sickness turned into a sinus infection.  When it finally became more unbearable to sit at home, than in the Dr's office, I went in.  See, I hate Doctor's, loathe them.  I just never seem to have good experiences with them, misdiagnosis, prescribing the wrong medicine, etc. 

But I went, and I got an antibiotic and things are looking up!  However, when you spend so much time asleep, you don't get a lot of sewing done.

I made a little baptism outfit for a friend's baby.  The all white was driving me crazy!!  So I used an orange zipper and some little puppy dog material for the inside of the waistband. 

The pants are from Ottobre 4/2008 and the vest is from Ottobre 5/2006.  Both are size 86 but with no seam allowances added since they were a little big to start with.





The pattern didn't call for them, but I included d rings on the back to make the ties adjustable.



I also completed these 2 crazy skirts. I made this skirt before I had a serger and told myself that I would never make another. But with the serger, I could gather and serge together all in one and they went much faster. These are the Sudoku skirts from Ottobre 1/2009. The premise is to make 8 gores for each skirt. Each gore consists of 3 pieces. The tiers come in 3 heights of a, b and c. So in one gore you could have a 1b, 2a and 3c or 1c, 2b and 3a. The idea is to get an a, b and c in each gore and to make sure that the heights vary from gore to gore. So you don't want 2 1a's right next to each other. I was making 2 which made things infinately more complicated. I actually made a couple extra gores so that I could make sure everything was staggered!

I dug through my scrap box and pulled out some scraps which hadn't seen the light of day in years and divied them up by color (ish). Then I just started cutting, saving the bigger scraps for the tier 3 pieces. I needed 24 pieces for each skirt, or 48 for both and I used 40 scraps so each skirt has a couple of the same pieces.

The girlies love these! They put them on and immediately started twirling. All over the back deck. In fact, they wouldn't hold still for pictures. And that is what makes these skirts great. The girls love them, I love them, everyone who stops to look at them loves them. And I get to look at the scraps and remember all the things I made!











Wahhhh, my last piece of Tillbrook fairies!









I know, I know, another Antonia. KK painted this one back in January and I just got around to cutting the rest out and sewing it up.



Finally, the girls wanted to take their school spirit shirts and cut them up into something else. Seriously, what other kid looks at a brand new shirt and asks their mom to cut it up and make it into something else. Only mine.

So I obliged and got around to cutting up Nin's. Much to KK's chagrin. I turned it into a Mamu Sabrina. Not happy at all with it. It was more of a "get it done because the sinus infection is killing me" kinda dress. But Nin likes it and she loves that it has a hood!

Screw you sewing machine.

I can't believe after all these years you decide to give out on me right in the middle of a very busy month.  So yeah, you have been replaced. 

After my machine took a turn for the worse last week, I had to borrow a machine to keep on track.  She is very lovely.  I may never give her back to her rightful owner.  She is a 1950's Singer 401A Slant O Matic!  This machine produces the most wonderful stitches and just glides along.  After I had a falling out with my machine, I went to Amazon and ordered a fancy schmancy new Brother computerized machine.  It was a birthday/Valentine's present.  Isn't the hubby so thoughtful! 

I am still dealing with this crap on the back deck in order to take pics, but at least it was 50 degrees out and melting...



Anyways, once I got back on track I got a lot accomplished.  In no particular order...

a dress for KK and a dress for Baby Avie. KK loves her so much she slept in it. She is so easy to please.

Both patterns are Mamu Sabrina (which is matchy matchy to the Mamu Deborah's I make myself)
Kk's is size 134 and Avie's is size 68



She asked why I hadn't ever used this ribbon. My response: I have no idea. So I chopped off a piece and stuck it under the pocket seam.



This was her action shot. She asked "momma, will you take a picture of me running and put it on your blog?" Sure thing Darlin.



For Baby Avie
hood up


hood down


So versatile isn't it?

I also made 2 Farbenmix Celina's for the swap I joined. I love love love this pattern. Even though I profess my love, I have never made it for my girls. Gasp! I may get around to it someday. It just happens to be really cute in smaller sizes.

Both of these are size 98/104 about a 3/4.



Pocket on the front.





pocket...



I have made these shorts for Avie before so I thought I would pull the pattern back out.

Ottobre Design 3/09
size 74 about 12 mo.



cute little vent on the side



I then made this shirt to go with them. But this was in the middle of my machine crapping out. It's so horrible I am trashing it and just giving the shorts to Avie and hope she has a shirt to match.

Ack!



Next up is a Valentine shirt I finished for KK that was started a couple weeks ago and a Baptism outfit for a cute little ginger baby.

Make it wear it

I submitted my Mamu Deborah shirts for the Make it wear it party over at The Train to Crazy.  Go check out the blog!!

Make it wear it