Other odds and ends

I have the quilt laid out in the front room to pin base it

So I did work on other projects while my mom was here. I have another shirt cut out that just needs to be sewn up. I also worked on my smaller feedsack quilt. I completed the corner pieces and the borders, got it completely pieced together and pin based the whole quilt, so now I just need to quilt it and bind it.

I am making view A, but with sleeves, a neckline that is not as deep, thicker shoulder straps and a dress that is slightly longer. Even though I am making a lot of changes, it is still tons easer to work from a pattern

The thing that I spent the most time on was altering a dress. I got this pattern back in October or November, I can't remember and got this really neat black fabric to make the dress out of. Well I need to alter the pattern quite a bit, I need to make the shoulder straps a lot wider, and make it so the neckline isn't so deep and add sleeves. That is A LOT of work, so I haven't really touched it since I bought it. Well when my mom is here is a great time to work on a project like this because she will give me clues on how to get things to fit me better because she has so much experience with clothes making.


Anyway I spent a lot of time altering the dress pattern pieces, sewing up mock ups, trying sleeves out in the holes, designing my own sleeves. I think I have a bodice that fits really well and is more modest. I also got this lovely orange fabric to make the dress out of instead of black, because what I really want is a bright color to wear, not black. I got the dress all cut out, which took close to 2 hours, with all the lining and everything. So I am excited to sew that up and have a dress that fits really well, and is designed to fit my body, yay!

Princess Purse

My 25th complete project for 2008!




Autumn had a birthday party she was going to for a 6 year old today so I got this vinyl from a fabric store, which I realized afterwards is the exact same pattern as her new princess shirt. I used the patter from this site and modified the size for a child. I don't know if I would recommend using the vinyl, but it did turn out pretty cute.

The Chicken Shirt

my 24th complete project for 2008!




I have been eying this fabric the last couple of times that I went to Joann's, but I hadn't found a fabric that I like for the collar, because I thought a coordinating collar would be fun. Well when my mom was here I found a fabric that I thought worked. Once I had sewn up the shirt though, I thought it was a little more wild than I had been expecting with the polka-a-dot collar, and I was worried that I would look like I was wearing those creative scrubs. I still like the shirt, it is really comfty.

Preschool outfit

My 22nd and 23rd complete projects for 2008!

the Disney princess shirt

Autumn picked the red jeweled button for the shirt

Autumn's strawberry pants

There is a funny story associated with these pants. I have a couple of my kids patterns out and about because I have been cutting out a lot of clothes for Autumn for this summer and a couple of for Prairie. I had this great idea that if I cut the pants extra long I could put a cuff on them to wear right now and then this next winter I could undo the cuff and then she would have longer pants. So I grabbed my pants pattern (not checking the size) and added a bunch of inches when I cut out the pants. Well after I had cut them, and there wasn't enough to cut out another pair, I noticed that I had used my 2T pattern and not my 4T pattern, so all the extra inches I added, made it so the pants just barely pass her ankles. Oh well for my great plans, atleast I added that much extra so I could still make her pants, because that is what Autumn really wanted.

Autumn in her new outfit for the first day of preschool

Fruits of my Labors

I love seeing the quilts (or any project for that matter) that I made enjoyed.

No new finished Projects

So any of you out there that thought I suddenly became a very conscientious house keeper, you are sadly wrong. I have still been avoiding folding laundry and mopping my floor by sewing, but I have been working on projects that take longer than a t-shirt for Autumn. I have been working on my queen size feedsack quilt. I finished piecing all the blocks, but I haven't pieced them together to make the quilt top yet. I also have been drafting out the exact plans for my sheep quilt for Christmas, and I have been working a wall hanging that is a present, so I won't post any pictures of that work in progress because it is a surprise.

One of the finished blocks

the stack of 22 finished blocks for the quilt, no more set in seams, YAY!

I still have about 10 articles of clothing that I want to finish for Autumn for summer, so I should really finish those. Also Autumn has been getting a little ansy, and I decided that I should put her in preschool for the next month and a half until the pools open up and we are doing that almost every day. She is nervous about starting so I told her she could pick our fabric for a brand new outfit for her first day (next monday the 21st of april). It was a lot of fun going to Joann's and having Autumn pick out fabric. She wanted fleece, but I talked her out of that because it is getting so warm. After the trip she said that that trip was good to her, that usually going to Joann's is boring, but this trip was good to her, and it is fun to pick out fabric. Maybe she will be a sewer :)

Autumn wants a shirt out of the princess stuff (well she is a 4 year old girl) and she picked out the strawberry fabric for pants. That was a surprise since she loves wearing skirts constantly.

Not a glamorous project

My 21st complete sewing project for 2008!




So this isn't a glamorous project but I am using this blog as a record of all of my complete sewing projects in 2008. So I didn't particularly enjoy this project, but atleast I could post it and feel that it is stacking up my total of sewing projects.

This was a hole in our sheet, a cut actually. I don't know where, but Ben got a machete, but he has one, and I want him to get rid of it but he hasn't. He keeps it by his side of his bed, so he feels like he could protect our family, if we had a intruder. Well one day Autumn found it, and was using it draws lines in the carpet, and then did it on our luckily, unmade bed and ended up cutting a hole in the sheet.

Now the hole is no more, and I didn't have any purple thread on hand, and I was not going to spend money on this project, so we have a really cool blue "T" on on main sheet that we use.

More Purple Striped T-shirts

My 19th and 20th complete sewing projects in 2008!


Autumn does need some more shirts for the summer, but Prairie really doesn't, but Autumn loves them having matching clothes, so how can I resist? Now all three of us have matching t-shirts.

Front Room Quilt

Yay! I finished the front room quilt today. One of my new years goals is to clean out and get my home very organized. This is a long term, meaning the entire year goal. Part of that was to clean out my fabric stash and keep only fabric around that I have a specific purpose in mind. I also want to make all of my unwanted scraps into quilts to donate to Humanitarian Aid.

Anyway I made a quilt for my front room a little over 5 years ago. It turns out I bought enough fabric that I could make an entire second quilt from the scraps. So in January cut up all the fabric and sewed up all the blocks pretty quickly, like in a week. So I had the entire quilt top done in about two weeks. This was the first time that I have quilted a quilt that is larger than a wall hanging. It is difficult to move around that much bulk on a normal sewing machine. I got frustrated, took long breaks from it. Also I had this really nice fuzzy fabric leftover from a blanket I made for Jennie for Christmas. Well it is really nice, but whenever you cut it leaves little fuzzies everywhere. I think that is why it has taken me over a month and a half to get the binding done, because I hate the mess that the fuzzies make, but I am finally done.

Ben and Autumn were both very excited that they could use it. I know Jennie will be excited. She thinks I keep my apartment way to cool, and she will love staying warm with the nice fuzzy quilt.

The pattern used for this quilt was taken from this book, Easy Pieces. Since I finished the quilt I no longer need the picture in my sidebar as a book that I am working out of.

Polyester skirt

My 17th completed sewing project for 2008!




This is a skirt I made for Autumn for this summer. When my Grandma died 7.5 years ago, I found this really cool skirt in her basement (I don't have any digital pictures of me wearing it). It became like my favorite item of clothing, I would even maybe call it my signature piece of clothing my senior year of high school. This skirt is really special to me, it is the skirt I wore to the temple the day I got married. Anyways, my mom knew I loved this polyester skirt, so she bought some more fun patterned polyester for me on ebay. I made a skirt of one piece shortly after I was married and saved enough to make a skirt for a baby girl. I still have another piece of the polyester that I haven't made anything out of yet, so I made a skirt for Autumn out of the fabric.

Autumn loving her new skirt

April 2004 Emily and Autumn wearing matching polyester skirts

July 2006 Emily and Prairie wearing the matching polyester skirts