January Goal Post {End of the Month}

My January Goal was to make 3 Hope Dresses for Violette Field Threads' Give Hope Campaign that they hosted during the month of January. 

Time ran short, however, since a few other sewing gift projects popped up, so I only finished one Hope dress. This fabric is from my mother-in-law when she downgraded her stash several years ago. It came in handy - don't the fabrics make such a sweet size 4 dress?

The pattern itself is very easy to follow, and yet this dress takes up a lot of fabric... and because it's reversible the hemline takes a little extra work than I usually enjoy putting into dresses (I can be quite lazy when it comes to tedious steps like ironing hems and such!).

I love being able to use my sewing skills to help out wonderful causes. This dress has already arrived to the VFT headquarters where it will wait with the other donations before being shipped to the Casa Guatemala orphanage. I hope that the little girl who receives this dress enjoys it!

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WIP (works in progress) List

• Pattern Testing a Skirt for E ~ Finished
• 3 Hope Dresses for donation ~ Only 1 done... the other 2 scrapped
• Several dresses/tops/etc for E and me (patterns and fabric chosen... need to cut and sew) - namely a Valentine's Dress ~ VDay dress is done!
• Baby Quilt for a friend ~ fabrics chosen, need to iron and then sew ~ layout chosen, now to sew the squares together
• Baste a baby quilt for another friend... then quilt and bind
• Onesies! I have fabric chosen and the pattern pieces ready to cut out... I'm so excited about this one! ~ 1 done... many more to go!

UFO (unfinished objects) List

• Twin size quilt top needing a border then quilting and binding
• A quilt top from my grandma needing quilting and binding
• 6 baby quilt tops needing quilting and binding - will need 2 done by February (see above)
• A pile of Christmas half-square triangles that need to be trimmed and then organized into a table runner/table topper/pillow/etc

Lots of Jackrabbit Hats!

With all the new babies in my college friend group, I decided to make some matching "Go Jacks!" hats for Christmas presents :)

My kiddos each received one as well. This was my first time making fleece pom-poms!

I was in such a rush to mail all the hats out, that I didn't take a picture of the big pile prior to packaging them up. In total I made 5 little ones and 3 bigger ones. I hadn't made a hat out of fleece since the 4-H days, so I enjoyed the easy construction of this pattern. I also used my snap press for the first time! Of course, I didn't decide to use snaps in place of the velcro until it was too late to put interface in the straps... next time! Always learning!

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Pattern: 

Tie Dye Diva's Aviator Fleece Hat 

Fleece from JoAnns.

A Year in Review {2015 Goals}

This is always a fun post - a review of all my monthly goals for last year!

January Goal

Baby Bags for Lincoln and Chase

Goal Post

Finish Post

February Goal

Two Dresses for E

Goal Post

Finish Post

March Goal

Finish Binding on 4 Baby Quilts

Goal Post

 Finish Post

April Goal

Make a Scrappy Pillow for E

Goal Post

Finish Post

May Goal

Finish the Air Force Pillow

Goal Post

Finish Post

June Goal

Make a Dress for E

Goal Post

Finish Post

August Goal

Finish Leah's Bag

Goal Post 

Finish Post

September Goal

Make Matching Cousin PJs

Goal Post

Finish Post

October Goal

Make Zander a Bag

Goal Post

Finish Post

November Goal

Finish JT's Stocking

Goal Post

Finish Post

December Goal

Finish the Christmas Quilt

Goal Post

Finish Post

My Own January Goal

Even though there isn't an official "A Lovely Year of Finishes," this year, I still hope to make and keep a monthly goal. Mostly, it helps me focus on what needs to be done, and it is a great way to keep track of my WIP and UFO lists!

 So, along with several other projects, I hope to sew up 3 "Hope" dresses to donate to Violette Field Threads' Give Hope Campaign for a Guatemalan orphanage. You can find more information here :)

I already have the dress pieces cut out, but I need to cut out the ruffles and then sew, sew, sew!

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WIP (works in progress) List

• Pattern Testing a Skirt for E :)
• 3 Hope Dresses for donation
• Several dresses/tops/etc for E and me (patterns and fabric chosen... need to cut and sew) - namely a Valentine's Dress
• Baby Quilt for a friend... fabrics chosen, need to iron and then sew
• Baste a baby quilt for another friend... then quilt and bind
• Onesies! I have fabric chosen and the pattern pieces ready to cut out... I'm so excited about this one!

UFO (unfinished objects) List

• Twin size quilt top needing a border then quilting and binding
• A quilt top from my grandma needing quilting and binding
• 6 baby quilt tops needing quilting and binding - will need 2 done by February (see above)
• A pile of Christmas half-square triangles that need to be trimmed and then organized into a table runner/table topper/pillow/etc

For the New Nebraskans

My brother-in-law recently accepted a new job position...

So, the family who recently moved back from New Zealand, will now be turning into Nebraskans.

Therefore, some specialized Christmas gifts were in order!

I used patterns that I already had on hand and bought the fabric on sale at a local store.

My nephew will be correctly decked out with a fleece sweatshirt and cotton/lycra comfy pants :)

He is only two months younger than JT, so he also got a grey pair of the footed comfy pants (I just made it at the same time that I made JT's pair). 

 Go Huskers!

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Pattern Links

Peek-A-Boo's Classic Sweatshirt (Link)

Peek-A-Boo's Happy Feet Pajamas (Link)

(The infinity scarf was put together after reading several different tutorials so I could get an idea of the different methods and sizes.)

Christmas for Me

When I was little, Mom made us matching Christmas dresses two years in a row. I enjoyed it then, but I never knew if I would want to make matching outfits for E and I. 

Turns out, that I did! Honestly, I felt a little silly matching my toddler daughter, but I only made a matching skirt - not the entire outfit. I paired mine with black leggings and a black sweater top, so it wasn't overly-matchy-matchy.

This was a quick and easy pattern, which was wonderful during the busy pre-Christmas season.

Who knows, maybe I'll be making more matching skirts in the future :)

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Patterns Links

Peek-a-Boo Seattle Skater Skirt (Link)

Made for Mermaids Bonny Leggings with Separate Skirt (Link)