fun in the mail

I've had so much fun this last week getting all the fat quarters in SewMamaSew's Fat Quarter Swap! First to arrive was from Lindsey in North Carolina. She loves chocolate brown just like I do! Thanks, Lindsey!


The next day I got this cute bunny print from Lori in Wisconsin. She also sent along some vintage buttons - so fun! Thanks, Lori!


Then a couple of days later Lesley from Virginia sent this gorgeous print from Amy Butler and the red yo-yo. Thanks, Lesley!


And today I received my last fat quarter from Lisa in Massachusetts. I love limey green with blues and browns. Thanks, Lisa!


I hope you all enjoyed the quarters I sent to you. If you make something soon, please send me a photo! I'll do the same and will also post photos here. This is so much fun getting to know new people in the crafting and sewing world. I hope we can keep in touch.

Have a wonderful weekend. We're looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow after a very busy week. Speaking of that, I stayed up late finishing up my mom's birthday gift compilation. I kept getting inspired to add to what I had already done. I only stopped because I ran out of coordinating fabric! I'll post photos in a few days.

welcome home gifts

Our friends are safely back home from Ethiopia with their daughter and newly adopted son. We can hardly wait to meet him! I've been busy working on a fun welcome home package for the kids, and I just hope everything fits! You can find the cute shoes tutorial here.





My mom is coming for a visit this week - we're all very excited! Our birthdays are coming up (hers is March 2, mine is March 8), so I'm going to work on some fun things for her. I'll have to display the projects later so she doesn't get a sneak peek.

Sarah and I have a Sewing Day planned later on in March. I'm really looking forward to that! I think the plan is to have the guys watch the kids! Luckily it's not a lot of work since our kids love playing with each other so much.

ahhh ..... completion

What a great feeling to finish making my first purse! I'm very happy with the results, and at the same time, I plan to get better at lining up those handles next time around! If you didn't catch it on the last post, this is the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey. I added pockets to the inside of the purse because I always like to have a special spot for my cell phone, keys, chapstick, whatever.


I'm heading over to the post office today to mail it out to another birthday girl in our midst (she's too busy in college right now to get involved in crafty blogs, so I'm not worried she'll see it before she gets it!).

Although I'd love to jump into my next purse, alas, I'm going to shelf that project for a bit so I can get started on those baby and toddler gifts for Kylia and Solomon! Here's a peek at the fabric I picked up the other day - the clerk hadn't even unwrapped the bolt yet!

mini iron saves the day

I'm so thankful for this new handy little tool. I meant to buy thick fusible web interfacing for these purse handles I'm making, but when you're at the fabric shop, shopping for multiple projects and have all 3 kids along because of the President's Holiday, ya tend to take some shortcuts! As it was, I didn't realize that regular interfacing measures 22" wide, instead of 44" like most fabrics. So I ended up heading back to the store because I thought they cut it wrong - oops, I just didn't pay attention! I had forgotten the magnets too, so I picked those up.


So far the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey has been pretty straightforward. I've got the main body of the bag done, and now I'm working on the handles. But this will take some time because I'm using Quilter's Edge to tack down all the little pieces around the handles - there are 2 handles, each with two sides, so that's four handles essentially! This is where my Wonder Iron comes in - at least I'm not pressing the whole project over and over again with a large iron! It's been great for this detail work.

Alright, no more avoiding the hard stuff... onward!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

What do you get for a great friend who is incredibly crafty herself?? Something handmade, that's for sure! And now I can finally put up the photo of this cute top that can either be a summery dress with leggings, a funky top over jeans, or something colorful to put over a longsleeve shirt during the drab days of winter! I used Simplicity's Pattern 3807.

And since I loved the fabric myself (from Joann's), I made this camera case using SewMamaSew's Fat Quarter Project of the Day Tutorial.

Some friends of ours are traveling home right now from Ethiopia with their new 1 1/2 year old son! He joins his now 3 1/2 yr old big sister in the family who is also from Ethiopia. So I'm endeavoring to make some toddler booties, matching bib and a coordinating skirt for sister. I've been scouring tutorials trying to find some cute and easy ideas. If anyone has ideas to pass on, feel free to let me know! I'm itching to go to the fabric store tomorrow to see what cute, hip (they're pretty hip parents) fabric I can find!

My kids had fun decorating cupcakes with their babysitter on Valentine's Day. They even made one for Gavin and I to have when we got back home! Guess who's got eaten right away!