The Flash

During Celebrate The Boy month, there was an awesome tutorial for a boy's shirt  over at




I have been meaning to make one for Drew.  I have some T-shirts around here that would be perfect for it.  I prefer onesies for my little guy at this point, though.  So I decided to go for it.  I ran over to D.I.- yes, they have one or two of those around here- and found a couple T-shirts.  I made the first one this morning.  It took me about 90 minutes total.  I made some mistakes and had to redo a few things, so I think it will take even less time the next go round.
So here is how mine turned out:

I bought a onesie at D.I. so that I could cut it up and use it as a pattern (I don't have any extra onesies at home I can use).  It worked out pretty well except that the onesie was a very stretchy knit and the T-shirt I used isn't quite so stretchy.  Add that to the fact that I use cloth diapers, and the it ends up being a bit more snug around the bum than I like.  So the next one will get cut a bit wider at the bottom - hopefully that will solve the problem!  I plan to take pictures on the next one so that you can see how the bottom of the onesie is done.

If you are apprehensive about sewing with knits, DO NOT WORRY.  It really was easy.  I didn't use my serger because I need to find the tool used to remove the needle as it seems to have disappeared.  I just used a .5 width zigzag with a 3.0 length stitch on my regular machine and it worked great for finishing the neck and leg edges.  It was SO easy.  Go over to 

and get started!

Make it Monday

In following Knock-Off Wood, I found this great post. It really inspired me!  She made the floating shelves and then added her decor- and then she added more.  I love that she put in seasonal (4th of July) items to add some color.  That really inspired me.  I have several floating shelves in my living room with lanterns and pictures on them.  I feel it still lacks something- and now I know what that something is!   I need those little colorful seasonal touches.  Because I have white walls and off-white furniture, I can do anything with my decor colors.  I am even going to make throw pillow covers for the different seasons.  I mean, why not?  It is perfect! So, thank you Ashleigh of Bee in our Bonnet!  I don't know why I didn't think of this myself. 

So for this Make it Monday I challenge you to add a little seasonal decor wherever you can.  Make some covers for your throw pillows, add some colored glass beads or other filler to a glass vase or container you have on a shelf, or whatever you think will bring out the season!

Here are the pillows I have.  I am off to make some seasonal covers for them!  I use velcro to close them so they are easily removed and washed.

Wedding Gifts

As promised, here are the goodies I was working on for my sister's wedding gifts.

This dishmat was based on this tutorial and inspired by this post.

The 4 towels are based on the towels in this post.  The hotpads are from this tutorial.

Table runner inspired by this tutorial.  It is rather small because they have a small table!

I think she might just end up with the prettiest kitchen at the University!

A new bag

I bought this pattern quite a while back.  It wasn't really my style.  My love of all things Amy Butler dictated that I must buy it.  (Crazy, I know!)  I decided to make it for a friend.  It was quite easy.  Tons of ironing interfacing- but I am used to that, having made many an Amy Butler bag in the past.  The hardest part of this pattern is sewing the strap to the band, and the bands to the main body of the bag.  This is because of the curves.  I countered this by using a stay stitch and then clipping before sewing it together.   It is a great bag for someone who is starting out.  I highly recommend it!

This is the first one I made.  It was for Marianne's birthday.  Kristin offered to take it if Marianne didn't like it.  Unfortunately for Kristin, she did like!  The fabric I used was Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane.

It has been a few months now.  I planned to make a bag for my sister, but somehow the instructions got lost in our move to the desert.  I decided to make a bag for myself to be sure I knew how to put it together before starting her bag.  I only made a few mistakes on this one.  Sure am glad I made this one first! I used Amy Butler's Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern 2 fabrics for this bag.

This is the bag for my sister.  I used Heather Bailey's Pop Garden fabrics for it. I am excited to take it to her next week.  She is getting married!  I can hardly wait.  I am going to be making some goodies to dress up her kitchen.  I will post those after the wedding.

So if you like a nice big bag, this is a great one!  It is easy to make, and even easier to wear.  You will end up with plenty of scraps for more projects.  Large scraps!

Many people use it as a diaper bag as well.


**** This makes a great personal item when traveling via airplane.  With new restrictions on checked baggage, it is nice to have a LARGE "personal item" or purse.****