My Sewing Journey

I have a friend who recently asked me to help her make her children a couple of presents. She wants to sew them and just needs someone to help her along. I am honoured to help and last night we got together for the first session. "How long have you been sewing?", she asked. I had to really think about it, because it was kind of gradual, but there was definately a time where I became interested to really learn and not just fake it anymore. It isn't my mom's fault that I didn't sew until so much later. She tried to teach me, but I didn't want to learn. I would rather just know then put in the effort to learn. Isn't there something you'd love to just know and not have to learn? Piano? Guitar? Art? It was sewing for me. I first dabbled when I was about 17 or 18. I'd use a cut off leg from blue jeans to make a purse or hack together a bag from some random bit of fabric. It wasn't until I discovered online tutorials (the same year we bought our first Mac) that I decided I wanted to know bad enough to learn. I borrowed my MIL's machine (I called her Helga) so that I could learn. I didn't want to invest in a machine if I hated sewing, so I strong armed Helga onto our tiny apartment table and worked through my first tutorial. Thank you Melissa, you have no idea what your tutorial sparked in me! I asked my pastor's wife to walk me through my first pattern and the rest is history.  Rather than bore you all with the details, we'll do an overview through pictures of my progression. This is about 9 years of sewing....

This is the early years. Not the very beginning. I wish I had pictures of my first projects - they were so bad! Hahaha. These are from the first year. As you can see it started with my love of bags and that love has not diminished.

These are from a couple of years into sewing. I loved tutorials and patterns by this point and was happy as a clam to sew bags, bags and more bags!

I even started to feel confident enough to alter patterns or design my own bags.

Zipper pouches and wallets are still a favourite go-to gift for me.

Dolls. My first doll (top middle) has been my most loved doll and I am so honoured that she was the favoured cuddle toy for my friend's daughter. My boys' super dolls were a huge hit and are still played with regularily. 

Baby presents for my babies and friend's babies. How I love to give handmade treasures.

I've tried my hand at some children's clothing and with my mom's help sewed cloth diapers that I loved!

Did I mention bags? Yup, I have sewn a LOT of bags.

Notebook covers in large and small sizes. Gifts and sold in fundraisers. 

I've had the privilege and honour of teaching some beginning sewists.

I've been stretched and challenged by commissioned orders. Things I had never made before and were trusted to do and afterward so proud of finishing.

I've challenged myself with projects that I wanted the finished product of and again, through the challenge and perseverance of it I was very proud of the results.

I've started and finished (most) several mass producing kind of projects. (I still have a partial picnic blanket in my WIP bin)

I love the creative process of sewing things from a flat piece of material into a work of function and/or art. Thanks for walking this journey with me. I plan on continuing on for many years to come.

Baby Crafting

I didn't do much sewing during my pregnancy with Hannah, but I like to make something for my babies. Hannah spits up a lot and most of her bibs are hand me downs or they are super big on her yet, so I made some ridiculously cute bibs. Tutorial and pattern here.

 The tutorial had no measurements for the pleating and I'm not super happy with the spacing, but if I didn't say anything, I'd be one of the few to notice.

I like to no fuss option of using lace instead of the pleating, cute and quick.

 Of course, it's super easy and fast to do no embellishments.

A little reverse appliqué is cute, too.

Before Christmas I wanted to crochet myself a hat. I found a pattern I liked and when I didn't have the proper size hook or yarn to make the gauge requirements, I decided I would practise using what I had and I figured it might fit Abby or Hannah. Sure enough it looks awfully cute on my Hannah. I ended trying one for me later and it was a big fail. Oh well.

Crafty Check In - Baby Dolls

I haven't been completely lost, but I have been busy and look what cute-ness came out:

(Claire, Ava, Alysha and Tessa)

 More baby girls born to my girlfriends, mean more baby dolls being made. Once again, this pattern is from Emily Martin, The Black Apple. I printed this one at 200% and shortened the legs a bit. I love this little dolly and I had fun putting together some new ones. You can see my other dolls here.

Abby also had some craft time and made this scarecrow that came in her Clubhouse Jr. Magazine. I love seeing her creativity coming out!

With baby being due somewhere around Christmas, I've had Christmas presents on my mind a lot lately. David and I have a list of handmade things we want to do, so that will likely be my crafting focus for now. I don't want to get caught unfinished in case baby is early. I still want to re-cover my couch, but we'll see if that happens this year or not. My "new-baby-new-bag" wish may not happen this time, but I have plenty of bags to use and not so much time or money to spend on the fabric wish list to go with it. Again, it might happen in the new year. If only the house would take care of itself. *sigh*

Checking In

We're still buried in snow, but the sun is shining and there is hope of spring. That also means that spring break is coming! Although, that makes a financial dent in our lives, I'm sooooo thankful that we get to have my David home for a whole week! We hope to take a little day trip to go scope out some property for some of my family, I have my (hopefully last) road test booked and we plan to spend some great family adventure times together. Let's get to what's been going on:

• Micah is 9 months! I can hardly believe it. He's cruising (slowly) around my furniture these days and he's so proud of himself when he pulls himself up that he gives a little giggle. So cute.

• Remember when I told you that one of my favourite teas had been discontinued? Well, apparently it isn't in the states, so a friend of mine recently brought me home two boxes! *sigh* It's been lovely!

Honey Vanilla White Chai Tea - Celestial Seasonings

• I won another blog giveaway! Thanks, Heather for providing the pattern and thanks Make IT Snappy for hosting the giveaway. I am looking forward to giving it a try. Interested in your own? You can find the pattern here.

• We filed our income tax on Monday and we'll be getting a decent refund. Some of our plans include to replace our printer (it will be here tomorrow - yippee!), build a triple bunk bed for the littles, cover financial baby step one and begin our snowball! It's pretty exciting!
• My blanket is on pause. I purchased yarn on sale (BOGO), but I don't like the colours with the ones I've already used. No yarn budget right now, so it might be awhile. It thrilled me to bits, though, when my Malachi "demanded" a snuggle with the blanket. He was so cute, playing with his toes in the holes and saying things like "hey, green! Hey, purple!" etc.

• I have 9 small all in one diapers that I didn't need. Two were finished, but seven have two more steps to be finished. I've decided to finish them up and sell them. I'm just waiting for my supplies to come in. It would be nice to make a little cash and to actually have them used instead of sitting with my fabric (taking up valuable real estate). 

• I have another mei tai on my sewing desk, no, not to replace my lost one, but for a new baby.
• Abby goes downstairs most weekdays after lunch to play. My friend and neighbour looks after two boys after kindergarten for a couple of hours and invited Abigail to join them. Every time she hears a sound from downstairs she blurts out "Is that the boys?" Abby has grown to really look forward to her times with "the boys". Here they all are sitting on their snowmen.

• Abby picked out a card for me last time she ran errands with her Papa. It had to be a musical card! It was so sweet of her, she insisted on the card for the song and didn't realize that she got me a baby congratulations card. Abby, by the way, wants another brother and a sister. No comment.

Checkin' In

January is gone. It was a looooong month and yet, I find myself surprised that it's over. Funny how that works. The weather and a broken car kept us housebound for most of the month, I usually love winter, but am feeling a longing for spring. Let's get to it.

• We celebrated our Abigail's fourth birthday this month. We kept it simple and as a matter of fact most of our Winnipeg "family" couldn't make it this year. We had a simple family celebration on her actual birthday, then we had a tobogganing party (it miraculously warmed up last weekend) followed by cocoa and cupcakes a week later. We had a good time.

I asked her what she loved and this is what she said.

• I made an e-reader cover for a friend who was going on vacation... unfortunately, we both forgot to make sure she got it before she left and is away on vacation without it. I didn't use any one tutorial, but the features of several. I researched on Pinterest and went from there.

• A Christmas present I haven't shown you yet, was for Micah. He was our only little without a hooded towel and since I found a different tutorial than the one I used for the other ones, I thought I'd give it a try. I like the hidden seams, but it does make the hood smaller and it won't fit him this well for long.

• After having rainbow cupcakes for her third birthday, Abigail requested to have them again. This time David made them and his colours were so vibrant and beautiful. He did a great job!

• I have an iPad mini case under construction for a friend's birthday. I was far too tired to touch it today (the littles were up way too much last night), hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow.
• I forced Micah to like his soother again. Thankfully it's working.
• Still working on my crochet sampler afghan. I'm loving it, though I am also dreaming of crocheting some Hudson's Bay stripes onto a pair of scarves for me and my David. He thought of it and now I can't stop thinking of it. I'm itching to give it a go. Finding the right colours for the stripes may be tricky, but I'll love having the iconic stripes in my wardrobe. I've also pinned quilt and knit versions of the point blankets in hopes of re-creating my own version someday. Unless I can score a second hand one, as new point blankets cost BIG bucks!!!

• I failed my road test. I have my next one booked for the 6th. I want a party when this is all done. Phew! What a crazy experience it's been. Maybe I'll blog about it sometime. UPDATE: I re-booked for the 13th - the logistics worked better that way.

• We have an awesome second hand children's store here. I recently picked up a pile of clothes for Abigail and a pair of shoes for Malachi. The total would have been $32, but I only paid $2.95 after selling a few clothes and using up a gift card that I had. I love the thrill of a good deal.
• I recently confessed something to my friends here and I was so blessed by their gracious and loving responses. I am beyond grateful for the beautiful community we have here. Ladies, you are so precious to me! Thank you for forgiving me and loving me through all my "stuff".
• We are all feeling tired of the cold. My poor littles are about bursting with cabin fever, not to mention this Mama! We went to the mall and let the littles run in the play area for quite awhile last night. It was cute, Abby learned that in order to play tag, you eventually have to do some of the chasing, too. We all needed the change of scenery. I am, however, still loving the snow scene outside my living room window. We live in such a pretty city.

Checkin' In

Happy November! I am loving it so far. I hope that I'll have a lot of projects to show you over the next couple of months. Christmas is coming and the handmade gifts are in full swing. Let's get to it, shall we?

• November means Handmade Holidays! I love these blog posts by Sew Mama Sew! In fact, Handmade Holidays was among my first blog tutorial loves!

• I'm on my fourth colour on my afghan. My edges are rough, but I will border the whole thing and fake it until I make it. I'm loving the colours together.

(red is really hard to take pictures of!)

• Baby tie onesies are a fun gift to give! Micah "needed" one (he's getting dedicated this Sunday at our church).

• Whipped up some new pin cushions recently. I'd been using the same little flower that I made years ago and it was kinda sad. I was given some vintage linens to craft with (there are some holes and it's quite worn, but that makes it great for projects - you don't feel guilty for cutting into it) and I love how they turned out.

• Dolly's had some creative time, too. Auntie Grace helped her make this lovely necklace.

• I finally whipped up hanging towels for my kitchen after making and liking my mom's last month.

tutorial and pattern found here

• Friends of ours are opening their own Tim Hortons next week! I will share pics etc next week.
• Speaking of openings... On November 26th, my David and I are going to a private shopping preview of Winnipeg's new IKEA! The store is open to the public on November 28th and Peggers have been waiting a long time for their own store. I'll share all about how we got invited and what it's like after the event.