Scrappy clutches

I just keep on keeping on with my crafty kick!

I recently made two scrappy clutches from the site fromanigloo.blogspot.com. This project, each time, took me several hours. Like maybe five. Each time, I did it on a Saturday and basically fell into a sewing trance where come hell or high water, I was not going to stop until the clutch was DONE, damn it.

Except, well, I did. Quit that is.

The first time, I simple missed the last step. Just didn't notice it! I kept looking at my purse with this one interior flash not sewed down and thought, Hmmmm, really? I guess that's normal?!

What an idiot! Finally a few hours later I checked the tutorial again to see it needed some top stitching to finish it up. Who'da thunk?

The problem was that my clutch is so small and fat, it seems impossible to get it in a good position on my machine to accomplish that top-stitch. It would stitch through the material but not feed it. I tried it several ways, and then gave up. Both times.

But oh well. They're still cute and functional, and if I ever stop being stubborn, I'll figure out how to actually put that finishing touch on them!

What do you think?

I'm enjoying using them! They're the perfect size to hold my wallet, phone and lip-gloss. I can keep all that stuff in them and then throw the clutch in a bigger bag if need be -- a diaper bag, my work bag. And then my essentials are easy to find.

Oilcloth book cover

Added 6/9: This project was featured as in the Prudent Baby Project Pool! Very cool, thanks Prudent Baby!

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We really put off our Mother's Day gifts this year. It was mid-day Saturday before we finally decided on a game plan. I had purchased some lovely oilcloth a few weeks back and had finally figured out a use for it. Oilcloth book covers! (From where else but Prudent Baby?) So my husband went to the bookstore and picked up two copies of The Help, which I keep hearing great things about. The idea was that we'd give each mom the book wrapped up in its very own book cover.

The idea fell apart about 11 p.m. that night when after completing one I realized a) I didn't have enough oilcloth for two and b) the first one I made somehow was too small to fit The Help into it. D'oh!

At that point, I threw the towel in and decided to go to bed. I would just keep the book cover for myself. The next day I searched for something that would fit in it, and behold! (Isn't it funny to say Behold!) My Bible fit really well! And honestly, doesn't it actually make more sense to put a Bible in a book cover than some random novel you will likely read once and then sell in a garage sale?

So behold! (again!) my oil cloth book cover.

What do you think? I really wanted a wider ribbon. But first my husband bought me some that was way off
(love you honey!), It was, first of all, not even fabric. So I had to dig out something from my drawer here, and this was all I had. I love the colors together! Overall, really love that my Bible has a cozy new cover. Makes me want to read it more, and that's a good thing.

Make-up bags

Attempt one. Took me all afternoon. Fabrics given to me by my friend Jen. It turned out somewhat functional but far from perfect. The outer fabric was kind of hard to work with. It was fraying terrible by the zipper and I wound up with holes. Also I was hasty when I cut the corners on the bottom and they ended up being uneven. This is a lesson I am slowly learning from sewing: there is no cutting corners. You must take time, measure, pin, recheck everything, and go slowly. That is typically not how I operate in life. Most of the time, I make up my mind (this is the part that can take me forever) and then I GO. I'm learning to focus on the details and take my time.

 See? Lop-sided.

Attempt two turned out much better. Used up the scraps from my apron and made another bag, this one a birthday present for my friend Aimee.

I think there might have been a hole somewhere in this one, too. That's one thing I have trouble with -- leaving enough seam allowance. But overall, I was really happy with this!

Then I decided to sew up one for my Mom for Mother's Day. She isn't much of a traveler or a make-up wearer. But I figured anyone can find a use for a cute zipper pouch, and at that point, I had no other ideas. So this is what she got.

Made up of Arts and Scraps fabric finds, so the total cost for this one was basically $2.

I'm going to make myself another one to replace the first attempt. Then of course I will need to buy all new makeup in nice clean packages. The outside of my makeup always gets gunky and then my make-up bags get gunky. Does that happen to everyone, or am I just an even bigger mess than I realize?


Oh, by the way, the tutorial is from, you guessed it, Prudent Baby! I'm kind of obsessed.

10-minute onesie dresses

I need to have a girl.

Seriously! There are so many cute things to make for girls. Boys, not so much.

But a few weeks ago, I whipped up these "10-minute onesie" dresses from Prudent Baby. Of course, for me, I think the first one took at least an hour, and the second one probably 30 minutes. It's true they're simple though, and fairly easy. And how cute! I'm excited to give these to one of my 13 preggo friends. It's hard to pick who...  If you're one of them and want one, you can bribe me with blue corn tortilla chips and white bean hummus from Trader Joe's. I think that combo is now one of the major food groups in this house.

I'll be updating this week with several more projects I've been working on.

What are YOU working on?

Apron!

I made an apron!

And I did it without a tutorial to follow or a pattern, besides the old raggedy apron I wanted to replace. I just folded it in half length-wise, folded the fabric in half and cut. The straps, the same thing, although I did start with one fabric and then switched when I couldn't flip the tube right-side out easily. I made the first tube too narrow using too stiff a fabric. This red backweight cotton was easier to work with, and I increased the size a little. I think doing it again, I'd make the bottom straps even thicker. I like a big thick strap.

Of course, there are a few little issues. I'm not sure how to best close the ends of the straps. I should have closed one end while sewing, but it didn't dawn on me. Attaching them was also a question, but I did what made sense to me -- folded them into the edges of the hems then then sewed them straight in as I stitched around the sides.

It has a nice double pocket on the front... might be a little hard to see.

For my first apron attempt, I'm pretty pleased!

After I was done, I did find a boatload of free apron tutorials via TipNut.com. So you don't have to freewheel it like me!

Baby burrito

When Luke was in the hospital, the nurses had this enviable technique when it came to swaddling. I still don't know just how they did it, but once that baby was wrapped, he was WRAPPED. Lights out.

 Baby burrito in the NICU, three days old.

 When we got home and tried to swaddled Luke, we realized just how amazing their skills were. For us, he was so strong, he'd just pop his little arms out in a matter of seconds, and the entire blanket would open up. Swaddle fail. Try as we did to replicate the magic of those nurses, we just couldn't figure out the secret.

 Swaddle fail.

So when I saw a tutorial on Prudent Baby for a DIY Swaddle Blanket, I thought suuuh-weet! Not for myself, mind you, as my 20-month-old bundle of energy is surely not going to let himself be contained by a mere blanket. But I do have, let's not forget, 10 pregnant friends. That's right, 10. I think we were at nine at last count, but then I saw my neighbor last week, who proceeded to gush about his "fat" pregnant wife. So, there you have it. 10.

Prudent Baby is like a godsend for me, because the tutorials are easy to follow, even for a true beginner like me. They feature lots of photos and clear instructions. I really need almost beyond clear instructions. Every little thing I do on my sewing machine, I wonder if there are tips that would make my end result look less sloppy. Maybe that just comes with time, I don't know. But there's no doubt about it: I don't really know what I'm doing. Somehow, though, with the tutorials on Prudent Baby, I feel confident to attempt a project like this.

And I think it turned out pretty well.

Even Luke can't get baby Teddy free!

This bear sings and lights up. I thought maybe the swaddle blanket would get it to shut up for once. Success!

I know there are so many more fabulous places to buy fabric than JoAnn's, but I do think you can find cute prints there if you really search. Both are flannel, although the flower print felt almost like cotton that when I got it home, I started to doubt whether it was the right material for the project. The yellow is indeed flannel, but it stretches, which began a problem. I didn't realize it at first, and I've never used my stretch stitches. So I trucked on with the normal stitches. And who the hell knows if that's a big issue or not.

Now, which baby should get this masterpiece? I only know the sex of one of the 10, and it is indeed a girl. But she's been showered with presents already. So I suppose this will go to the next one who is smart enough to find out the sex first and is having a girl. 

Unless I can't get Robert to give it up, of course. She likey.

 

Bibs and burpclothes

Excuse me, did I say in a previous blog post that I have eight pregnant friends?

Sorry, my mistake.

Make it NINE.

Sheesh! There is something going around, and please, I don't want to catch it quiiiiiiite yet. OK, body? Let's wait at least a few months more. Good? Deal.

In the meantime, I've started creating some baby crafts to give for gifts all year. With my first baby shower looming today, I started this week with bibs and burpclothes.

For the burpclothes, I used one I like as a pattern. For the bibs, I used a pattern I printed online from a site here.

The fabric in this case came from Jo-Ann's. Cotton (on sale!) for the front and terry cloth (coupon!) for the back, just like the other bib I made.

The finishing detail was the bias tape, and it makes a big difference in the final look. I had no idea how to use it but found a great tutorial video (and hilarious, PS) at this great site, Angry Chicken. Without her video, I would have been lost.

The pattern for the bib seemed really large, and I liked that, but the bib ended up being pretty normal sized. And actually, the two sides don't really meet in the back the way they should. I know that's my fault, because I'm still learning how to sew well. I am more of a big picture than detail sort of girl, and the details matter when it comes to something like sewing. It's easy for the project to look sloppy if you aren't making straight lines and doing everything just so. I'm working on that.

So just don't look too closely. Otherwise, they're cute, eh?

Now I have about three hours to wrap the present, buy a card, eat breakfast, feed the boy, guzzle coffee, shower, primp and preen, and get my booty to Ann Arbor for the shower! And... GO!

Come on feel the craftiness

When I get a new interest in my life, I tend to become obsessed. I don't jump into many new things without becoming absolutely drenched in them. I want to read everything I can find about them, I want to practice whatever the new passion is, I want to talk about it, think about it, live it and breath it. Whether it's cooking or writing or running or photography or triathlons...  I go in whole-heartedly. At first. Sometimes I then revert into a 12-year-old kid who SWORE he wanted a guitar, who plays it for about three weeks and then decides he DEFINITELY wants to go to art school. The obsession might die off in a matter of weeks or months. Sometimes years. Some passions, though, do stick around, albeit in less frenzied versions.

I'm in my first flush with sewing. It's impossible to know how long it will last. In the beginning, it always feels like forever. So take this with a grain of salt: I'm really enjoying this.

First I practiced making... pockets. Little bits of fabric that I sewed together like pockets without any pants. Listen, they sound ridiculous. I know. But they're actually cute. And I'm using them! I stuffed a little notebook and a book of prayers and a pen in one and just like that, it's a... prayer pocket. Look, I don't know what it is, but it was my first attempt at sewing. I hand sewed two of these pockets before I bought my sewing machine.

I purchased a Singer Esteem III. It's cute and mobile. I have absolutely no knowledge about sewing machines and nothing to compare it to, but whatever. I like it. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it was obviously purchased before and returned. How do I know this? Well, the instruction manual is filled with writing, with the Spanish sections crossed out. Um, hello, Target! Might want to looksie at the manual before you package it back up as if it is brand new and fool me into forking over my money for what I think is a new machine.

Also, it took me about four hours to locate the little baggie of accessories that come with the machine. Why? Because instead of coming in a nice vacuum-sealed package set carefully in the box, they were tucked into a mysterious drawer on the machine itself. My friend tells me this is where they always are, and I suppose it does say ACCESSORIES DRAWER right on the front of it but I don't know, I still blame that woman who returned it before me.

Once I located all the pieces and got to work, and once my friend Jen (who wants everyone to know she isn't skinny, even though she IS (and who will probably be mortified at this because she's such an I)) came over to show me a few things, like the fact that I don't need to press the pedal so hard that it ZOOMS out of control fast... I got to crafting.

I made two pillow covers for some old throw pillows. Here's one...

 

 

Fabric from Arts and Scraps! Meaning that in materials, this cost me about $1, if that.

I then moved on to something I've been really itching to make. A "softie" stuffed animal. I've had this book in my house for months, just staring me down, telling me to just buy a sewing machine already so I could make cute little animals for my EIGHT pregnant friends.

And so I did. My first try was a cute little beetle.

 

It turned out pretty well. I bought some thicker thread today, which would have helped to make the face features stand out more.All the fabrics were from Arts and Scraps. It was hard to find scraps that seemed to go together and that were the right material, but I think in the end it worked out to be cute.

Now today, I caved, and went and bought a heap of fabric. It was on sale! And I had a coupon!

And as I mentioned earlier, I have EIGHT pregnant friends. That is a lot of baby shower gifts.

I really hope none of them read my blog, and I'm pretty sure they don't. Is so STOP READING!

Because I want you to be surprised when you open a cute homemade bib from me! Here's my first attempt, which will go to Luke.

It was hard to get a good photo of the fabric, which features tons of little robots. The back is made with terry cloth perfect for wiping messy faces and hands when meal-time is over. I need to add a snap or some velcro as a closure, and then it'll be done. I think I'll be making a lot of these bibs!

As long as the sewing bug lasts anyway.

And lookie here! Although I have no plans to stop crafting, one item from my list is officially crossed off!

Hey, it counts!

So technically, I had breakfast out with friends on Saturday. The key word being "I." They, my two lovely friends Kelly and Jen, just had coffee, those skinny bitches. I had a gingerbread waffle with apples and cinnamon. We sat in a massive booth. We talked about Kelly's upcoming wedding and sewing machines. So I ate and they didn't, but this counts for me as my monthly breakfast out with friends!

After breakfast, I went back to Jen's apartment after picking up Luke and my bag-o-fabric. We had a sewing summit, in which we did not even complete one stitch. Too busy gabbing about everything in our lives. Then we made a delicious whole wheat pizza. It was divine.

Later, I crumbled and bought a sewing machine. Let the crafting commence!

Luke and Jimmy are dancing in the family room right now to Robert Randolph's "I Need More Love."

The sun is shining.

I've had two cups of coffee.

I love the weekend.

Fabric loot

I have been sewing.

I went to Arts and Scraps yesterday. That place is great. You fill a brown grocery back as packed full of goodies as you can for $7. That includes as many fabric bits and scraps as will fit! And so... check out my loot!

I really don't know what I'm doing with any of this...

But it makes me happy to have it!

A few random bits

I updated my header. What do you think? Does the photo look distorted? I wanted to get the words in a better place than Blogger was allowing me to put them, so I enlisted the help of Photoshop. But I really don't know what I'm doing on there, so please, give me your feedback.

I'm kicking butt drinking water today. Why? Because I'm working from home and the faucet and the bathroom are both mere steps away. No doubt about it, that's me biggest problem at work, getting up over and over to walk to the water and the bathroom. Lately, I haven't been doing so at all.

Started reading the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society this week. Very good so far. And it's great for my little thing about writing a handwritten letter! It's showing me just how poor I am with my letter-writing. I just straight-up don't know what to say. Isn't that kind of sad?

I went to the library last night and checked out three books on crafting. I'm soooooo geeked. I want to make 10,000 things. I'm planning a trip to Arts and Scraps in the morning. And maybe Michael's later tonight, if I think Luke can handle it. Or if I can handle it -- I'm not feeling well, despite all my water and a cup of hot tea.

Also want to recommend this blog I came across the other day. I like it. And I'm very interested to try the whole wheat bread recipe she created.  I wonder where I would find vital wheat gluten. Whole Foods?

Finally, who can tell me the difference between whole wheat flour and WHITE whole wheat flour. Is this a fake whole grain or a real one?

Tomorrow is date night!

Reading elsewhere

Go on six dates with my husband

Here's a blogger who is shooting much higher than me. She's doing a date each week with her husband. They stay home and don't spend money, which is makes it interesting. They take turns figuring out what they'll do during their designated "date" time. She has a contract on her Web site if you want to participate. I feel like I could never do this! But it's a great idea.

Drink more water
Here's a five-step plan to help anyone who is trying to drink more water.

Establish a 6 a.m. workout plan that works.
Another mom who blogs is also playing with working out in the morning. Maybe she's on to something -- going to an actual class to ensure she's up and working out. It's really easy to tell myself I'm going to skip it (as I did all week) when I'm just going downstairs to workout to a DVD.

Make something crafty
I love these mosaic garden planters. So cute. Maybe this will be my craft project? We'll see. I'm going to collect a bunch of ideas before picking something.

Eat more whole grains
Oprah had Michael Pollen on her show this week. He's the writer who came up with the phrase, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." On the Big O's Web site, she has a little guide to cooking with whole grains. I think that can be the stumbling block for a lot of people who look at these bird seed looking stuff and think, 'What the heck am I supposed to do with that?'

Do a Random Acts of Kindness each month
I noticed this story. Kind of cool. Someone dropped a pair of rings into a Salvation Army bucket, and it's being chalked up as a random act of kindness.