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.

Documented Faith 2015 Introduction

Three posts in less than a week? I guess I have a lot to share ;)
I want to show you my progress on my Documented Faith (DF) planner. I joined an online community run by Stephanie Ackerman. We get a word of the month to focus on and weekly verses to study and pray over. There's a lot of latitude to make it your own and I've explored on Pinterest many pages from the sister group Documented LIFE. I've explored Stephanie's blog for inspiration and in the end I'm just winging it. I want my planner to be a mini journal of sorts, a beginner's version of an art journal, a place to remember what God has done and is doing and a creative outlet that has some daily function. I think it's going to be a collection of "me" on paper. I'm loving it already.

First I prepared my planner with suggested washi taped edges. Then I made monthly tabs with labels I cut into circles. I sewed on a happy scrappy house on the cover (yes, with my sewing machine).

Next I did a few pages inside.  Happy New year page - more painting tidbits and the date circles as inspired by this lady's pages.  My contact page resulted in wanting to use my practise paintings and needing a cover up for the stitching from the cover. Finally a few family pics. I followed Stephanie's instructions for printing little pics from iPhoto. It worked great and I'm sure I'll be using this technique a lot over the year. Alberta or bust packing list - colouring page inspiration from here. 

Stephanie posted the list of words for each month and suggested we use these month at a glance pages in the beginning of the Moleskine (a suggested planner, but NOT required). I realized after I posted this on Instagram that I made an error and that January's word is TRUTH not trust, but I'm using both hand in hand. We can know truth, but we need to trust in that truth. 

I've seen on Facebook groups and Pinterest and on blogs that I follow, that people have been choosing a focus word for the year. OLW has in-depth details, but I'm not following a specific group or project to go with this. I am praying that God will show me more of what this word means for me this year. FIGHT. This word came to me for a few reasons. At the end of last year, David and I went for prayer after church and the gentleman who prayed for us prayed that we would get our FIGHT back. I'd said many times last year that I was tired of just surviving and wanted to thrive. I think it's something I need to FIGHT for. This is just the starting point and I'm excited to see where this goes.

So, week one's verse was Jeremiah 29:11 This is a favourite verse of mine and I was happy to journal it in my Bible as I hadn't done it yet. (The beauty of DF is that is works hand in hand with Illustrated Faith aka Bible journaling).

Here's my week one at a glance. The right side is a tip-in. The TRUTH image is from Stephanie and I journaled under it. On the left there is a Bible verse on a mini tip-in that I wanted to remember as it was the focus verse from the sermon on Sunday and wouldn't fit in the space I had left. I just used washi tape. I've been keeping track of the temperature (it's not necessarily the temperature that lasts all day, just whatever is listed when I look it up online - just a general idea) it's been crazy cold the last few days -40, -45, -33 (I always use the windchill temp. because that's what you feel). This is celsius and for reference, -40 is the same in celsius and fahrenheit. "Stupid cold" as my friend says.

Opening up the tip-in reveals, in the middle, our verse of the week and underneath in another tip-in (it was how I chose to make it all fit) is a declaration that was read at our church this week. I'm waiting to find out the source to share with you, but they had print-outs to take home and I wanted to keep it and re-read it often. The picture on top of the tip-in was a free colouring page offered up by a lady on my Bible journaling FB page. I coloured it with watercolour pencils. On the right is a quote from the sermon by one of our pastors, John Mickelfield. He preaches the best inspirational messages for the new year! This sermon isn't posted online yet, but here's the link to the sermon main page and it should be listed soon.

"The Covenant of Purpose" - I'll share more in detail when I get the information/permission if you're interested

UPDATE: Rick Warren wrote this declaration and led his congregation in declaring it for the first time on their church's 25th anniversary. You can read an article about it here.

Here's how the little tip-in flips out.

It's busy, it's messy, it's full of nuggets and it represent me. So glad to be a part of this journey.

Our 10th Anniversary Party ~ the Creative Details

What a great day! We had so much fun and from what I've heard, it sounds like it was fun for everyone. I've kept details under my hat for so long that I hope to remember everything I wanted to share. Let's begin with our save the dates.

I printed these on card stock and used marker to mark the date. I chose this format so that I could design and print them before even confirming the date. 

Then the invitation:

These are Wonka Bar knock~offs complete with golden tickets. This was a Pinterest find as many of my details were. In fact, I've just taken the private lock off my anniversary party idea board if you're interested in seeing most of my inspiration.

The main crafting project that kept me busy for weeks was the backdrop. A few notes before I show you:

• I had help. A few of my girlfriends came over for an evening to help and my sister also helped me for an evening.
• Even though the backdrop got destroyed (wind and transport etc) I would do it again! I loved the result
• The end result was not quite the end I would have left it at if I had more time. 
• I loved this backdrop!

The details: there are 12 foam backed poster boards attached with zip ties covered in paper flowers. The only thing I used was plain printer paper and glue (low temp glue gun). I researched tutorials on Pinterest and in the end I just made things up as I went. It took an average of 2 boards per evening to complete. 

A close~up from my Instagram

I wish I had followed my original instinct to make some extra fill flowers, but as I finished two nights before the party and having out of town guests, I decided to call it finished. The gaps are obvious. Within the first hour of having set it up, I lost one of the larger flowers in the wind and I decided not to try to save it. Transporting it was a bit of a pain. If I make one again, I hope to sell it to a photographer. I think it would be especially nice in a studio.

The only other decor piece we had anything to do with from the picture above was the program.

We actually started late, but we managed to catch up and finish on timer anyway. We wanted to be sure families with littles weren't out too late. Anyway, the rest of the stage...gorgeous right? We were blessed to be hosted on a family farm by an awesome family who are no strangers to hosting events. Their property is beautiful and full of the host's creative touches. 

Our family outfits had some creative touches added here and there. Bow ties, boutonniere and a hat brim change.

Instead of making traditional bow ties that wrap around and under the collar, I removed the top button on the shirts and put a snap in its place with the other side on the bow ties. It worked quite nicely. I couldn't resist popping a piece of wheat into the bib pockets of the boys' coveralls. They looked so cute. I'll show you them dressed up in another post.

We decided that David wouldn't wear a suit but instead a dress shirt with blue jeans and suspenders. He looked so hot! Yes, it was a hot day, but I mean he looked really great! I whipped up his boutonniere with matching ribbon from the boys' ties and my hat brim.

This awesome hat I purchased at the Haberdashery here in town. Friends from church own this great shop and I was so happy to have an occasion to need a great hat. Luke hooked me up with this one and I love it, but the trim was black and my dress, navy. I took matters into my own hands and changed up the trim with a ribbon. 

It's not the best picture, but you get the idea.

I made some digital designed printouts, but I'll share those with you as I get into the ceremony details.

I had a lot of fun with this party. I had so many ideas and some of them didn't make the light of day, but in general I'm happy with the results.

I Made Something NEW!

I've finally finished a project that's been on my cutting table for months. David bought me the fabric for it for Mother's Day and I've had the pattern even longer. Thankfully, summer has meant that I get to have sewing time and I've been thoroughly enjoying it!

The pattern is The Iris Convertible Shoulder Bag by Canadian Designer, Celine of Blue Calla. I saw the pattern featured in the I Think Sew newsletter and knew I wanted to give it a try as soon as I did. I admit that it helped that it came from a Canadian designer, I love to support my countrymen.

I began making this bag in a different fabric that David had helped me choose, but the slippery nature of it and the straight stripes that refused to stay straight caused me to change my mind. Believe it or not, I found this fabric at Walmart in their pre-cut fabrics. It's a canvas weight and I'm really happy with the result.

The front pocket has a pretty little surprise under the pocket flap. The lace and vinyl trim is something only I will see, but it's a feature that I really like. It closes with a magnetic clasp and keeps my small items secure.

The vinyl was a challenging and fun new experience for me. Every needle hole shows and so you can't pin it or stitch rip and re-do. It's get it right the first time or you really notice! I'm really pleased with it. I took it really slow and payed very close attention to lining things up. It's recommended that you use a walking foot and I don't have one, so I had to trouble shoot certain steps. 

I lined the bag with a bold pink broadcloth. I like light coloured lining so that I can see into every corner with a glance and I like a pop and surprise of colour in every bag. The bag has a divided slip pocket and a zipper pocket in the lining. It's a very functional bag.

David found me this great rainbow zipper and I knew that I wanted to use it in the purse. It makes me smile every time I see it.

There are tabs on the side where I can attach a shoulder strap later, should I choose to do so. I'm not usually a fan of cross shoulder straps, so I may not do it, but you can't add those tabs later and I now have the option. 

PS I ordered my party dress and it's on its way! Thank you for all your support in my blog sale. I've left the blog sale post below and will keep it there for the time being. You're welcome to peruse and shop. I won't be showing you my dress until after the party, but I am pretty excited to have something pretty to wear.

TaDa!

I have finally declared my first crochet afghan FINISHED!

I began last winter and I wasn't 100% sure that I would even have it in me to finish a large crochet project, but I did it! I was inspired by this afghan when I saw it on Pinterest I thought to myself "I want to try one like that. By changing stitches often I won't likely get bored with it." Not having $80 to invest in yarn all at once, I grabbed a skein of red that I had already and decided that I would use it up and when I ran out I would go buy another colour.

Teal came next, then hunter green dark purple, grey, fuchsia and orange. This is where I really began to like my work and became a little bit picky. The orange I bought I didn't really like how bright it was in comparison to the rest of the colours. I left it after only one row, though I do enjoy the contrast right there.

I also didn't like the first section of red I did. The colour was nice, but it was a different texture than the rest of the yarn I had used and it was bugging me. On a whim I ripped it out. This almost wrecked my afghan! I was freaked out for several hours as I tried to salvage what I had done. I managed to save the blanket and replaced the red with chocolate brown. The seam between the two colours is horrendous, but my "fix" turned out kinda pretty as I crocheted a thin row of lilac right over top.

Chocolate brown then red (in the same brand and texture of yarn), cornflower blue and lilac finished the bottom. After the orange came navy and light green to finish the top. I then did a single row of kelly green to begin a border and finished with the dark purple. The process of this blanket was fun for me. I loved making it up as I went. Somewhere in the new red section, I got a book, Crochet Stitch Dictionary and my rows became even more thought out and fancy. Up to that point I surfed Pinterest and YouTube to decide my next stitch and often learned new stitches for a change. My favourite section (for detail, not necessarily for colour) is the cornflower blue. I love how it turned out. I added a little heart to the corner and eep!

I've come a long way in skill since I first began and you can visually see the difference in the skill level throughout the blanket. It's also quite a bit wider at one end than the other, though blocking did help some. I am so proud of the project, though and won't change another bit of it. The lighting wasn't great for these pictures and so, the flash kinda skews the colours, but I couldn't wait to show you, so these will have to do. Just for one, I've added one with my newest model, Hannah...

I turned off the flash so I wouldn't blind her, so it looks really dark here.