Sewing – Page 4 – Thimbleanna

Emma & Myrtle

14 Comments / September 20, 2017 September 20, 2017 / Chat, Sewing

Brace Yourselves Kids — I actually have a finish from my sewing room! A month or two ago that cute little CrazyMom sent me some fat quarters from her new fabric line, Emma and Myrtle for Connecting Threads. Soooo Sweet — and I LOVE the name! I’d been wanting a little travel sewing kit for a long time, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make one.

I looked at lots of different sewing kits on Pinterest and then I just made it up as I went along. I decided on a tri-fold style (the size when it’s closed up is about 6″ x 9″) and wanted to do a little applique on the front. When I saw CrazyMom’s cute spool print, I thought it would be cute to use for flower centers.

When the cover is opened, there was another surface to decorate — I took the lazy way out and added a little sewing badge, some hand stitching and called that surface done. When opened fully, there were lots of choices to be made!

I knew I wanted one see-through pouch and I’d planned to put pockets for pencils and needles on the right-hand side, but then I started to think about things falling out of the pockets. So, I opted for another see-through pouch for security. Then, finally the middle. I knew I needed a pin-cushion and a place to store scissors. And something for needles. I had this adorable beehive needle keep sent to me by a sweet friend, so I tucked it into a vinyl pocket and added a crochet edge. And, just in case the scissors wanted to fall out of the pocket, I decided to make a flap to cover everything.

As a bonus, it provided a surface that could be appliqued ;-D. I followed the needle-keep’s lead and went with the beehive theme and added some bees. They really do have little white felt wings, they’re just hard to see.

My sewing kit has already been pressed into service and I’m looking forward to many years of use. Unless I decide to make another one. Haha.

XOXO,
Anna

Waldorf

16 Comments / September 13, 2017 September 13, 2017 / Chat, Sewing

Wow. Can you believe we’re in the middle of September already? My last few weeks have just disappeared — partly because we took a trip to see the kidlets in Utah. We can’t let FinallyAGirl go too many months without seeing her! We had a great time — playing, eating and hiking. I think I may have had a wee bit of altitude sickness on one of our hikes. Or maybe just a bout of outofshapeness LOL. Either way, I had to sit down for a minute and I had a raging headache that started about the time we reached the top of our mountain until we got back down. Hiking is so fun in the mountains — the views are spectacular!

Anyway, back to the title of my post. Waldorf. Are you thinking Salad? Astoria??? Or, if you’re thinking dolls, you’re on the right track. I wanted to make FinallyAGirl a little Waldorf Doll and I decided to make a baby doll, since she’s still so young. It was my first Waldorf doll-making experience and it was lots of fun. The web is full of great information! I found this kit for a doll that I liked — Loetje by Bibidolls.

The pattern is a pdf and the instructions are great — very detailed and with great pictures. I had a bit of trouble stuffing the doll with as much stuffing as was recommended (she tells you by weight how much each part needs) and I feel like my little doll ended up being fatter than the original LOL. The head was particularly tricky — I had to have TheManoftheHouse help me tie off the pieces so that I could get them nice and tight. She explains that the reason for stuffing so tightly is so that the little doll won’t end up too flat as the stuffing compacts over time.

I had planned to get a picture of FinallyAGirl kissing her baby or dragging her around, but she didn’t pay any attention to her. She already has a favorite little baby doll. I’m hoping she’ll pay a little more attention to this little Waldorf baby when she gets a little older. (Oh, and little Loetje doesn’t have lipstick smeared all over her face — the pink around her lips is the reflection of the flower. She has some red cheeks, but I took the pictures before I remembered to paint her cheeks on. Ooops.)

So, instead of a FinallyAGirl-Really-Loves-Her-New-Baby picture, how ’bout a shot of all the pretty fabric that arrived while we were gone? Lots of pretty florals (I LOVE those Chelsea Market prints from Blend Fabrics) and some more Japanese prints. And I couldn’t resist that Sheepie (!) print when I saw it at quilt market. They’re all in my little Etsy shop in case you can’t resist.

Now I’m off to watch a little tv with MeMum before bed. The evenings slip by much too quickly! Hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

The Dog Days

13 Comments / August 9, 2017 August 9, 2017 / Around the House, Chat, Quilting, Sewing

Well, I think I was on a little break again, only I didn’t take a trip this time LOL. I keep hoping something exciting will happen around here so that I’ll have something to blog about. But then I tell myself that these boring Dog Days are good. Very Good.

After a really busy May and June, July has been slow and wonderful. Our weather has been beautiful. Stunning, actually. The hot muggy summer days have been replaced by cool, perfect temps. I’m missing most of it while I’m locked away at work during the day, but I’m sure enjoying it when I get home in the evenings. We’ve had quite a bit of rain this summer and I think that’s why my flowers are doing so well. I’ve been slowly replacing a “vegetable” patch with a flower garden and it’s finally starting to look fairly decent. My favorite flowers are these pretty phlox. I have my gardener extraordinaire friend Pam to thank for these lovelies — I’d never really paid any attention to this variety of phlox until I saw her beautiful phlox when SweetiePie and I visited with her a few years ago.

My garden will never be as beautiful as Pam’s, but if these flowers look like this every year, I’ll be a happy camper. My little garden has taken a lot of experimentation — it’s hard to figure out what the rabbits won’t eat. So far, so good on the phlox. The asters and sweet william haven’t fared so well though — they’re mowed down regularly by the bunnies. Nasty Wabbits. These pretty little coreopsis are doing well too — I didn’t think I’d like this flower because they’re so little and wispy, but I love them!

In addition to little bits of gardening and pulling weeds, there have been lots of routine boring jobs around the house. We’ve cleaned a few closets and done some long overdue painting. And I’ve managed to sneak in a little sewing. I made myself a shirt from the Rifle Paper Co. fabric that I used to have in my little shop. The pattern is Simplicity 1279 — I took my time, enjoyed the process and I’m really happy with the results — it fits just right.

I also finished up a little throw quilt just for me and the tv. A year or so ago, I saw this adorable deer fabric at Hawthorne Threads (I was going to link to the fabric but I don’t see it listed anymore) and I HAD to have it. I LOVE deer. Among my best childhood memories are watching Bambi at the movie theater and sobbing while I read The Yearling, one of my very favorite books. Now I have a little quilt and I can cuddle some deer!

For the rest of the fabrics, I raided my little etsy shop and used the japanese dots for a border, some cuddle for the backing, and that fun japanese stripe for the binding. I think that stripe is just perfect — it matches those cute little black deer noses. The quilting is just some random machine quilting — easy peasy.

So, that’s it for an update — just wanted to check in. I hope you’re having a great summer!

XOXO,
Anna

Baby Sewing

23 Comments / June 23, 2017 June 23, 2017 / Baby Oh Baby, Sewing

Thank You for all the birthday love for our little FinallyAGirl. We sure had a fun birthday weekend and I wish we could do it all again! Sadly, the little family is moving to Utah this week — they’re in the middle of the move as we speak. The U-Haul full of goods is somewhere in Wyoming, FinallyAGirl and her Mummy are flying today, and the Girls Roadtrip Car Brigade (that’s MyDadLovesMeBestSister, MeMum and I) will be leaving soon. I LOVE a good Roadtrip, so I can’t wait!

As I mentioned in my last post, I made some clothes for FinallyAGirl for her first birthday. In the rush of getting everything done, there wasn’t time to get any pictures of her actually IN her new clothes, but I’ll be working on that in the next week or two. In the meantime, here’s all my fun sewing:

I made two little dresses/tops and two rompers. Here’s the first dress — a little ruffly, girly sundress. The pattern is Elyse by Bonnie Blue Designs and the fabrics are Sarah Jane’s Summer Garden Bloom and the Japanese honeycomb dots in pink.

This is a super easy pattern — although, with all those ruffles, not particularly quick. I do love a cute little ruffle-butt though!

For the other little dress, I wanted something fairly simple-looking. I had a white linen blend in my stash and I teamed it up with the Spechler Vogel Pima Cotton Classic 1/32″ Check in Red from my little etsy shop.

I embroidered these little red and blue flowers at the pleats and then gave them a tiny button center. (The instructions for these flowers are contained in the Blair romper pattern mentioned below.)

The pattern is Butterick 3405 and I had to make a little Purl Soho sunbonnet to match. FinallyAGirl will be living in the land of sunshine-all-the-time, so she’ll need a little face/eye protection. We LOVE those Purl Soho bonnets!

SweetiePie will probably not thank me for having buttons all the way down the back — FinallyAGirl is a wiggly little baby — she doesn’t have time for dressing as it interferes with play time! Hopefully a little flag ribbon and stamp at the side seams will make up for it ;-D.

After dresses, I made two little rompers — we LOVE babies in rompers ! The first little romper came from a free pattern that was included with the Summer 2016 issue of Classic Sewing Magazine. It’s called the Blair Romper and I very unimaginatively used the same fabric that they used in the magazine – Liberty of London Phoebe in pink and aqua. There are four white flower buttons at the shoulders, but I had to wait to put them on until I had a rough idea of where to place them. FinallyAGirl will have a little growing room in this bubble.

I’ve saved my favorite for last ;-DDDD. This little bubble is from a downloadable Australian pattern (of course!) — the Rose Bud Romper by Felicity Sewing Patterns. I LOVE this cute pattern and the instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. The straps are just pinned to the hanger in this picture, but they’ll actually be tied into cute bows on the baby’s shoulders. The fabric is Liberty of London Felicite in Pink and Blue.

Another sunbonnet and ruffle-butt! I can’t wait to see FinallyAGirl wearing this little outfit.

So, Grandma got a little carried away this time. Can you tell that after only boys, I’m having a great time sewing for a little girl LOL??? Ok — must run — lots to do! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
XOXO,
Anna

Three Things

31 Comments / May 3, 2017 May 3, 2017 / Baby Oh Baby, Sewing, Smocking

1. Yipee! We have a finish over here! FinallyAGirl’s little spring bunny dress is all smocked and done. It would have been nice to have finished it by Easter, but we had a little unplanned hospital time with TheManoftheHouse, so there were other priorities. It’s all good though — little bunnies are just as happy in the spring and summer as they are at Easter!

I purchased my patterns online at The Children’s Corner Store. The dress pattern is Lee and the pattern for the smocking is Baby Bunnies. There are kits available, but I had my own fabric — the pink 1/64″ pima cotton microcheck that is available in my little etsy shop. I love this teeny little check — it’s so sweet and it was a dream to smock.

I put my favorite little flower buttons on the back and added white piping where I could. I really wanted to add piping on the sleeve cuffs, but I wasn’t sure those little bias strips of fabric would be very happy with a straight-cut piping putting a crimp on their stretchy style. There’s a deep hem in this dress — maybe with any luck, FinallyAGirl will be able to wear it next Easter. Or, maybe, with even better luck, she’ll wear it out this summer and I can make another dress! ;-D

2. I updated my blog header. Yipee Again!!!

3. I was surfing around Ted Talks the other day and ran across this interesting talk by the author of “Still Alice”. “What You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s”. My first reaction was to go learn how to knit. But I already know how to do that, so, I need to find some new skills to learn. Every. Day.

Here’s to smooth sailing into the weekend!
XOXO,
Anna