Hustle and Bustle

Big things have been happening around here! Some of the biggest:

Reluctantly, this banner came down. Let's just stay we had a little spooky spirit right through Thanksgiving...
My mother and father-in-law came to visit and left me with a little gift.....A SERGER!!! Best day ever. They must really love me (just kidding, I knew they loved me before they bought the serger!). They are the best. Mostly I've been playing around with it and figuring out how to use it (the model I got is SO EASY to use, more on that later). I started with a little project that's been on my list forever. I had this little hamper from Ikea that was a a good design, but the actual bag on it was made of plastic: ugly, tearing off mess. I set it in my storage room to wait for the day I could sew a new one, and I did it! Easy. Just took apart the old one and copied the pattern. I'm lovin' it.


Next item: pajama pants for J. I used a Sew Easy pattern that it turns out is really boxy and goofy, but I'm happy because now I know how to make pants. They are SO EASY! Er, I mean sew easy?


Many more projects to update. Now I need sleep!!!

Two little indians...

Josie became set on being Pocahontas a few months ago and I stewed and stewed about how I would make her dress. Once I started, everything kind of just came together and I had so much fun making the pattern. I learned a lot and studied my sewing books on necklines, facings, sleeves, and zippers. "Tiger Lily's" dress was very simple to make and only took a couple of hours from start to finish. I sort of copied a dress she already had and made a diaper cover from Dana's pattern at Made.

My mermaid

Josie pretends to be a mermaid all the live long day. All the costume fabric at Joann's was 60% off, so for her birthday I decided to surprise her with a mermaid get-up. It was soooo much fun to make and I honestly feel like I've found my real passion in sewing....pattern making. Just having an idea in my head and working it out is my favorite thing and so gratifying. This one was easy - the only tricky part was not being able to try it on her while in the process, since it was a surprise!

Freezer paper

I learned about freezer paper from Dana at Made, and basically it is my dream come true because it's the simplest way in the world to screenprint. Where has freezer paper been all my life??? I have tons of fp projects floating in my head...

Halloween fever

I told u I've become obsessed with freezer paper, right???

Puzzle bins

I was going nuts without a place for my girls puzzles with millions of pieces, so I bought these canvas bins and decided to jazz them up a bit. I started with freezer paper stencils (which I'm now 100% obsessed with), then I used fabric marker and embroidery thread. They turned out pretty cute and my girls think they're hilarious.

Still here...working away....

I have been feeling so guilty for not posting anything this last week. I have to remind my perfectionist self that this project isn't about a beautiful blog, but about my own learning process. It's about gaining discipline in creating and motivation to finish things. I can't tell you how much I have learned and grown since I started this journey. With that said...I do hope to get better at documenting it! In the meantime, I'll just have to tell you that I have some fun things to share in the next day or two when I can get around to posting about them...Things I have had SO much fun working on.
PS: I'm so mad I missed Teen Mom tonight!!!