Jolie Skirt by FAM {Testing}

Let me proudly introduce a lovely skirt pattern that I helped test...

The Jolie Skirt by Filles á Maman

Currently the pattern is only available in the Australian-based digital magazine of One-Thimble. Be sure to check it out!

The Jolie can be made in knits or woven, which makes it so versatile! You can also choose to have the front pleat or to have a plain front. It has an elastic waistband with fun topstitching. I used a purple plaid from my stash; I believe it is a wool or a wool blend.

I picked up the fabric at a thrift store when we lived in Montana. Even after cutting out two skirts, the hat, the scarf and the hair bow, I still have quite a bit left. I love this skirt so much (and E has even asked to wear it a few times - score!) that I will probably end up making another one next year :)

I had a lot of fun planning this photo shoot. Of course, the week of testing was super cold, but I was still thankful for the snow so it didn't look too brownish-blah out. E did a fabulous job! As you can tell by her pink nose, she was pretty cold, but she smiled all the same - I think she was just thankful to be outside and stomping in the snow (she always asks to go outside "bys mysshelfs," but I don't let her go out when it's too cold outside like it was that week).

Because of the cold, I wasn't sure how I was going to style the skirt right away. Her nice church coat would cover the skirt completely, and her puffy snow coat wouldn't look very nice with the pretty skirt! And I definitely didn't have a nice winter hat for her to wear.... so I made the matching accessories and layered her with long sleeves and sweaters and tights and pants :)

The testing process was a lot of fun. Melanie did a great job at listening to the testing group and updated the pattern multiple times to make sure it was just right. She even changed the shape of the skirt pattern from rectangular to a-line... that is a lot of work for her! The testers just get the fun of sewing, sewing and sewing :) 

I always appreciate the opportunity to test as it always pushes me to explore new techniques. While this time around I worked with wool for the first time, the waistband was the main new technique. I've never topstitched over an elastic waistband like this before, and I was pretty nervous! However, it turned out so well! I love how professional it makes the finished product!

Credits:  

*Skirt (Jolie Skirt by FAM)  *Hat (The Blue Beret - Free! by Lil Blue Boo)  *Hair Bow (Original Design)  *Scarf (Loosely based on the infinity scarf pattern - free from M4M)  *Purple Plaid Wool of unknown content (Montana Thrift Store)  *Black Cotton Waistband (Joann's Remnant) *Black Knit for the Beret (Cotton/Lycra from Purpleseamstress on FB)

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.

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 the Girl

I've had fun sewing for the little girl lately...

I was going to wait until next year to sew this combo up, but I couldn't help myself!! It's a Made for Mermaids mash-up along with their free infinity scarf pattern (links at the end), and I just love how it turned out! A great, comfy Christmas (and after!) dress :)

Here is her other home-sewn outfit for the Holidays. 

We tried wearing this to go see Santa; she loved the thought of seeing Santa, but then we arrived in line and she no longer thought it a fun idea. Maybe next year ;) 

I'm thinking this outfit might work for around Valentine's Day... 

... it's red with hearts! The red fabric actually has the stretch going perpendicular to the stripes, meaning that I had to pick looser fitting patterns. The tunic and the skirts were the perfect answer to the stretch going the wrong way!

Ohp, there's a sneak peak at my next post (matching skirts!)

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Patterns Links

Made for Mermaids mash-up of Brooklyn (Link) and Riley (Link) 

Made For Mermaids Free Infinity Scarf (Link)

Love Notions Girls' La Bella Top (Link)

Made for Mermaids Bonny Leggings with Separate Skirt (Link)

Peek-a-Boo Seattle Skater Skirt (Link)

More February Finishes for Ev

A few more February finishes... it's been a good month for finishing up a few small projects that have been in my pile for awhile.

This was my first time sewing the Lulu Dress and Top from Cino. Here's a link to the pattern. I've had the pattern pieces and fabric cut out for a few months now and I was getting nervous about sewing the elastic casing with the knit fabric. Thankfully, I was worked up over nothing! This pattern was a quick sew... especially since I didn't hem the skirt :) I love making play clothes out of knits - they are a lot faster to sew than cotton clothes without all the hemming and seam finishing that you need to do with cotton!

This is the dress and cap-sleeve version... grey interlock from JoAnns and a blue, sparkly knit from Hancock. It's big on her now, but should be great by the time summer rolls around... 

Both knits from Hancock - the blue is very thin. I used the sleeveless top version of the pattern. This should be perfect for playing my parents' lake cabin! The top fabric is not as stretchy as the interlock, so it may not fit as long, but it should still work for most of the summer.

You've already seen this dress - it was E's Birthday dress for my ALYOF February goal. I finally took the time to try it on her and take some pictures. It fits and it should be perfect for her birthday in a few months. She loves the shoes I recently found for the summer. They have "bows" on them, haha ... aka flowers...

And finally, here is the purse I made with some of the skirt scraps and leftovers from the solid fat quarters. I had the ribbon and the pom-pom trim in my stash. Those pom-poms were not fun to sew, so I was happy to use them up! 

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This isn't a WIP post, but I just wanted to see how the old list and the updated list compare. I love feeling productive!

• 1 baby quilt needing binding (done!)
• 2 baby quilts needing quilting then binding (progress: quilting done with one half way done with binding and one needing the entire binding)
• 1 lap quilt needing quilting then binding (on the back burner)
• 9 baby quilt tops needing backs (done! Now, 3 of them need to be basted before quilting and binding... the other 6 will go on the back burner)
• 2 cotton Easter/Spring for E that are part-way done and one matching "purse" (done!)
• 2 knit dresses for E that have been cut but need some sewing done (done!)
• 1 pillow top ready for quilting and then needing a back (back burner until those 3 baby quilts are done... can you guess what my March goal will be?!)

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On a final note, we recently took the crib out of E's room! Her big girl bed was already in her room, but we took out the box spring, so the mattress is just sitting on the floor between the bed frame. She has slept great at night so far with her naps being decent.  We are so glad we started this transition when we did... once we started thinking about it, we're glad we don't have to fight the summer sun at night. Her room is pitch black at bedtime, which I'm sure helps her fall asleep without being lured to play in her room. So far so good! 

Ev Update {First Half of the Summer}

Beach Baby at Grandma and Grandpa's lake cabin.

Enjoying her new play structure in our backyard. 

We've done lots of driving and traveling! She still loves big beds and being entertained in the car... but now, she hands things back over her carseat if she doesn't want that item. She's getting a little more picky about what books, toys and treats I hand to her!

Always wanting to hold things. This is why I need to sew her a purse :) 

She loves sitting in chairs and being pushed on toys. 

• Her words include variants of "moo, ball, hi, yes, no." Her jabbering changes by the day and she is trying so hard to talk in sentences... she's just not quite there yet :)
• She loves fruit - grapes, watermelon, strawberries,  and blueberries. She loves pasta and rice and lots and lots of cheese. Yogurt is our go to dairy food at the moment, since she's just not loving milk yet. We had been tapering down on nursing and completely gave it up a few weeks ago. She hasn't seemed to mind.
• Cloth diapers in the house and disposables at night and when we're on the go... the front loader that came with our house hasn't seemed to mess up my washing routine too much yet!
• She cuddles with stuff animals and pretends to feed her dolls.
• She'll bring me books to read, although sitting through an entire book is hard for her still.
• She can build with her big legos herself instead of just knocking down what we build.
• She loves bath time, especially when there are bath crayons involved.
• One of her favorite pastimes is taking objects out of a container and putting them into another. So intriguing! :)
• She begs for stroller and wagon rides, although I don't like going too far, because you never know when she'll start to fuss.
• She loves putting things away... especially her shoes, and she loves throwing things away when we ask - so far, so good in that we haven't found any non-garbage items in the garbage!
• Last but not least, she enjoys being a helper. A smile will light up her face if I ask her to help carry something or if I ask her to take something to Daddy :)

While she may drive us crazy with her busy-ness and her short attention span, this is an amazing time of her development. She is learning so much and can understand a lot of what we say. It is so wonderful to watch!

It's My Day to Twist, Twist, Twist!

I've been getting some good vibrations from this blog hop so far, haven't you? Really, I'm having such a ball with all these throwback projects. I haven't done too much with batiks in the past, but now I'm a believer in the fun of batiks (especially after buying some microtex needles, ha!)! I'm so excited that I finally get to twist and shout with my 1960's inspired batik projects :)

I had no idea what I wanted to make when I signed up for this fab hop. I scoured Pinterest and Google searching for inspiration. Then, I thought, "You know, I think need a purse." So, that's what I planned on. Well, then I made this, and I didn't need a purse anymore - but I made another one anyways!

Here it is... the "Twisted Flower Purse."

After completing it, I realized that it could be a fun Christmas gift to my niece (she's in Kindergarten!). I just hope that her friends don't think she has the cooties with a homemade purse. Instead, I hope she feels decked out while wearing it. Once I determined it would be going to a young girl, I needed to shorten the straps.... thus, the need to create the bows :)

I think they are perfect for a little girl's purse! They even have her name stitched on them. I'll be sure to fill it will lots of fun pink and sparkly things for my favorite (and only) niece!

I used this free pattern for the purse, although I printed it at 75% instead of 100% to make it a bit smaller. I added the fold-over magnetic-button closure instead of using the button closure in the pattern.

Here's a close up of the "twisted flower" - finding this tutorial was one of the first inspirations I had once I decided on a purse... I mean, we are supposed to be "twisting" to the 60s, right?!

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"Fab Flowered Mug Rug"

Well, after completing the purse, I decided that I wanted to make a few more projects with my batik scraps, so I had to brainstorm. Finally, I thought I'd help my mother do some California dreamin in her classroom on such a winters day (you see, my brother's family lives in California, so I'm hoping this flower-powered mug rug can put a smile on my mom's face as she thinks of her two sweet grandsons on the beach in California...) I used fusible fleece and did a quick, sketchy reverse-applique flower. I also added some rough strips using a decorative stitch on my machine along with my mom's name to liven it up. Having the fun stitches on my machine helps me out when I don't have time to actually embroider!

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Flower Power Kerchief

My last project was inspired from all the pictures from the 1960s boards on Pinterest. I love the bandana/kerchief look, and now that I have short hair again, I needed something that can keep my hair out of my face while cooking, cleaning and giving "my girl" a bath... This was an experiment, since I couldn't find the right kind of tutorial; next time, I'll make it smaller, but it works for now :)

Now, after you send me a postcard... err, comment... (only if you want to, of course), make sure you head on out and pick your leader of the pack from amongst these other swell ladies! Just remember to stop in the name of love and cheer those ladies on with some lovely comments, too!

Seams To Be Sew

Words & Stitches

Banks of Frog Creek (You are here!)

Quilted Delights

Also, make sure you let Mdm Samm know that you are having a blast hopping along this blog hop - I know I appreciate all she does to organize and cheer us on! And specifically with this 60s hop, we need to go to Mary's blog and give her some skin of appreciation for being our cheerleader!

 After that, why don't you go dance to the music? I know you have at least one song from the 60s playing in your mind after reading this :) I think I'll go sit on the dock (bridge) of the... creek with my little ankle biter and sing her some good ol' oldies as we enjoy such a wonderful world.

PS: I don't have pictures from the actual 1960s, so this is the closest thing I can show you! These are from Homecoming Week dress-up days my freshman and sophomore years of high school (early 2000s). I made my bell-bottoms from an old pair of jeans, red corduroy and green fringe. The dress that I'm wearing in the top right picture was actually made by my mom in college (Home-Ec major). You can't see it in the picture, but the fabric actually has woman's heads on it surrounded by flowers - it made my friends laugh!

Thanks for stopping by.... now, peace out.