I had high hopes of posting this Saturday night, and when that didn't happen I thought for sure I would sew this banner Sunday night.  Nope.  Apparently I was really, really tired and fell asleep both Saturday and Sunday night well before midnight.  What a waste of an evening!!

I thought a *celebrate* banner for myself was in order after all the sewing I did last week.  I'm sure this week won't be nearly as productive, but I still have a couple projects mulling around in my brain.  


Now I'm going to celebrate that I finished my sewing before midnight, and I have a sitter coming tomorrow.  Hurray for summer vacation and baby-sitters!!  

Almost.

The Italian came home a day early from his trip to LA, so I made plans to do a long run with a friend early in tomorrow morning (my body must be out of my house BY 6 a.m.).  That means I'm NOT going to be able to stay up until 2 a.m. to continue my sewing To Do list.  I'd call this week a success as far as my sewing challenge goes, but I'm slightly disappointed I didn't get this simple project completed tonight.  Why must life be about choices!?!?

I hope to get this banner sewn tomorrow.  
Stay tuned!!   

New to Knits

Tonight I decided was the night to work with knit.  I've seen several tutorials that I'm interested in trying that use knit, but they all intimidated me until now.  One of the reasons I enjoy sewing is because it is challenging, and I was up for the challenge tonight.

I think it paid off.  I used 2 lime green t-shirts.  I cut 1/2 inch to 1 inch strips out of one of the shirts.  I took each of those strips and did a basting stitch down the middle and then pulled the bobbin thread to ruffle them.  (Sorry I have no pictures of my process!!)

I made circles out of my ruffled strips and pinned them to my shirt.  Then I dropped the feed dogs on my sewing machine, switched my presser foot to my embroidery foot and used a free motion quilting stitch to get the ruffled strips to stay put.

Knit is really frail, so I had to go slow.  I definitely need work with my knit sewing skills, but tonight was a great start.  I'll definitely be searching the Old Navy sales table for more $3 t-shirts!!

Here's a sneak peek of what it looks like one.  The problem with sewing at night is that one one is up to take a picture of you!!

I also made a little tote bag for Grace tonight.  She liked the skirt I made her last night, but she was "feeling just a little bit sad" that she didn't get a new bag like George got.  In order to make her dreams come true, I sacrificed a little sleep.  I'm sure it will be well worth it in the morning!!!

Good night!!

Something for both of them.

Tonight's projects were all for my babes.

George carried around this huge box today with his prized possessions inside it.  He has a backpack, but he can't put it on his back by himself.  That's a problem when all you want in life is to do things by yourself which is the stage of life George is at.  So, I made him a basic tote tonight.  It's not too large, but I'm hoping it's big enough for the essential trains and cars that must come with us wherever we go.

My next project that got started at 10:30 p.m. was my favorite of the night.  I'm crossing my fingers Grace thinks its as smashing as I do.  I used the basic Lazy Day Skirt Pattern, but I embellished it with ruffles.  Lots of ruffles.  Who doesn't love ruffles?!?!  

Any guesses on what I'll be making next???

Two on Tuesday

Two table runners that is!  Today's project was to spruce up my bare table.  I used the table runner link from our sidebar.  I made two patchwork table runner tops, and sewed them together.  This way I now have a reversible table runner.

One side is a brightly colored one which feels like my signature color combination.

And the other is a more neutral colored one with a splash of a bold yellow, because what is this world without bold and bright color?!?

Now I just need a cute centerpiece....

Til' tomorrow friends!!

One a Day

I decided that since I was such a slacker last week in sewing and posting to MOM that I'd try to make up for it this week.  I'm going to TRY to sew a project a day and post the finished results.  Now I sew at night which means that you probably saw the Gracie dress on Monday, but really that was my Sunday project.

So for Monday's project....

First, I had to have a photo shoot this morning with my Grace in her Gracie dress.  I knew it would look cuter on Grace than on my kitchen floor.  The bodice and yoke are a little bigger than I'd like them to be, but there is NO WAY I'm doing anything about it other than waiting for Grace to grow into it.  My favorite feature of the dress is how full it is because of all the gathered material.  I had Grace twirl for me so you could see its fullness.

Then tonight I quilted 2 quilts for the NICU at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.  I recruited lots of friends to help me sew blankets for the babies that have to spend time in the hospital.  I've been there with my little George, so I know how the quilts George were like a hugs from a stranger.  I have to thank Annee's Quilting Club in Osan, South Korea for piecing and sewing the top of the quilts.  I can take no credit for that.  All I did tonight was bind the edges to the back and quilt the tops.  Doesn't sound like much, but I didn't get started until 10, so here it is 1 in the morning!!!

Good night!

Done!

This past week wasn't my most productive week ever.  I'm going to be okay with that.  For some reason Sandi Henderson's Gracie dress gave me sewing block.  I love the look of this dress, but I've now made it two times, and I'm still not loving the bodice and yoke.  I'd elaborate, but at 1:30 a.m. I'm in no condition to put words together.  They will just end up not making sense.  I'm also questioning my fabric choices as I look at this picture, but I'm hoping the dress will spring to life when I put it on my Grace E.  I'll do a post-edit when my model wakes up in like 6 hours!!!

P.S. - Sorry for such a lame, boring photo.  It's late.  Please forgive me.