Finished Baby Outfit

eadband

So, I finally finished the rest of the Danielle's baby matching outfit for little Zoe!  Here's the headband that goes with the dress.  I don't have too much to say in this post, but I do love Spring Break because it gives me the time to do most things that I can't usually fit in.

Baby Present

lower Bib


I made this quick little bib for a teacher new baby at my school.  It was from a pattern I accumulated at a 99 cents sale at JoAnn.  I used scraps that I had from various projects.  The pink and black were from my cousin Leah's apron, and the purple was left over from my wedding.  This was a quick project!  I hope to make more to put in my Etsy shop.


I made Pico De Gato model the bib, too.  

Speaking of my Etsy Shop, Dan said that he felt like a "Sad Etsy Boyfriend."

School Bag Makeover!

s you can see, here is the old school bag.  Notice the ripped seam, coffee stains, and random slogan.  It was left in my old house and I found it the day I moved in.  Why I adopted it as my daily stuff bag - I don't know.

No longer will I lug that bag around in shame of the coffee stains, or have it slip off of my arm with flimsy webbing straps.  Are you ready for the new replacement?  Drum roll.......

Taadaa!!  I designed and made this last night while Dan was in Richmond visiting friends.  I had a friend's Vera Bradley bag in mind as I designed this one, but I didn't look at any pictures and just made what I wanted to make.  I used a double-sided, quilted fabric that I got from Lib's Place in Rice (outside of FV).  One side is the main navy fabric you see, and the other side was this purple paisley you see as the contrasting straps.  The color is slightly off in the first picture; the colors are better represented in the lower picture here.  I love pockets, as I have mentioned before, so there is a big one on the front between the parallel "straps".  

I also put a pocket in the inside.  Of course, the possibilities are endless as to what I will put inside of it. 

You can see that the straps are very thick and will provide comfort as I lug 1989836268 papers home to grade, a laptop, lunch box, purse, coffee mug, water bottle, and keys. 

I am excited to have something sturdy, stylish, and 100% better than my previous bag.  The yard of material was $18.00, but if you compare that to the $78.00 bag version that Vera sells, then we can all agree it was a prudent purchase.  I am happy. :) Someone else was happy about it, too!  She saw I was taking pictures, and she wanted to help.  

Yep.  The bag passed her test. 

Danielle's Shower and Present

y friend Danielle is having a baby girl in about 5 weeks!  Jen, Kat, and I threw her a shower to celebrate!  It was fun to make one of the decorations for it.  In the picture below, you can notice the banner I made.  I wish I had taken a closer picture of it, but this is the best I have.  I made bunting out of 3 patterns of scrap booking paper, and cut out letters that said, "Baby Boyd."  I sewed the triangles on to the yellow ribbon.  

I also made some cupcakes and got to display them on my beautiful tree that I got for Christmas.  I thought that they looked really nice in the pyramid shape.

For Danielle's present, I made a little dress from a pattern I got at a big Joann's sale.  It is made from a moderate-stretch knit fabric and magenta bias tape.  Baby items are so quick to make, since they are about 1/10 the size of adult items.  I forgot to put in my personal tag, and I ran out of time to make the matching scrunching headband.  So, that will come later I suppose.  I'll post that when I finish it.  

Here is the front:

 Here is the back:

Another Laptop Slide

APTOP SLEEVE 


After my first laptop sleeve turned out so well, I decided I wanted to make another one for my old laptop.  I used some left-over heavy weight cloth for the outside, and some left-over pink cotton for the liner.  The white floral cloth was from a thank you gift for Lucy, and the pink cotton was from Leah's apron.  I think I could label this as a "stash buster" project. 


I used the same pattern as the previous laptop slide, but it is sized for my silver monster Dell from freshman year of college.  (As a side note, the computer still runs, and it is a good school or back-up option.) It was a quick project because I didn't spend a lot of time quilting the fabric together.

Laptop Sleeve

aptop sleeve


This is not really a recent project, but it is new to blog world.


This summer I finally made it over to Suffolk to visit my friend Laura.  We were able to have a whole day dedicated to crafting and hanging out!   She took me to this great fabric store and we both looked for some fabrics.  The one I chose was an Amy Butler design - of course.  I liked the trees and I thought it would coordinate with my left-over orange flowers.  Laura picked out some pretty fabrics, too!  We worked on making potholders that afternoon.  Laura and her mom also sent me home with this cute and EASY laptop sleeve pattern.  About a week later, I made the sleeve.  I found the green liner at Joann and I already had the sew-in velcro.  Besides the quilting, I finished it in 30 minutes.  I love my purple laptop peeking out of the pretty sleeve!  What a great memento to remember my fun day!

Happy 2011

RESS for Spring

What's a better way to kick off a new year than with a new dress? This dress has been in the works for a while now, but I FINALLY finished. I picked up this Amy Butler fabric a long while ago. I bought the main fabric specifically with a dress in mind, but I used the left over pieces from the pillows I made. They are in the same series, so they were meant to be paired. The piping, however, was just some gray fabric I found that matched. What I love most about this pattern and dress is the POCKETS! I know they are trendy now, but I love the practicality of them. (For some reason they aren't noticeable at first glance, but "Amy Butler" and "pillows" are links.)

Front:

I got to practice my invisible zipper skills for the dress. The pattern also instructed me to line the inside. I am not 100% satisfied with the fit of the dress; I couldn't figure out how to fine tune it enough to be happy with making changes. I'll give it a couple wears to figure out the exact issue, and maybe alter it from there. Perhaps I will wear it to my friend Emily's rehearsal dinner this July. :)

Back:

I enjoyed sewing over my school break. I also finished reading this book. If you are looking for an enlightening nonfiction book, I would recommend it. (In the second sentence, "this" is also a link.)

Anyway, my break is over. It's back to the grind on Monday.