More Handmade gifts in the Etsy Shop

Rachel has been sewing up a storm and filling up our Etsy Shop.  Woohoo!! She's been working so hard I thought I'd show off some of her stuff. But before I get to that I just want to let you know that I get to be the curator for the Handmade Holiday on Sew Mama Sew today. Click over to their website to see my list of must sew Handbag tutorials for everyone on your gift list this year.  

Okay now for some Handbag goodness.

This bag is called the Vinca Zip Top bag. It has a pretty piecing on the front and back.

 The inside has a zipper pocket and slip pockets and the top stays closed nicely with another lovely zipper.

The piecing on this Vinca is a little different than the first.  I just love the way it turned out with the zippered top. 

She also sewed up some coordination Girlfriend Clutches.

This is the Pleated Shoulder Bag in Purple Zebra.  I love it's simple design and I think the zebra pattern on that purple fabric is cool.


The inside of this one has a zipper pocket and some slip pockets as well.

And one more  Pleated Shoulder Bag.

 

She also listed a bunch of Painter's Clutches. You can find more info about the Painter's Clutch in this post.

The inside of all of them has an invisible snap and a divider like pocket so you can keep your keys and phone separate

You can find more details on all of these bags in the Shop.

Happy Browsing!

Behind the Scenes

I've pulled out my Garden Tiles Bag pattern to work on lately.  It's been dusted off and is getting ready for a good polishing. Which means pretty new step by step photos. I've purchased a whole stack of beautiful Wild and Free fabric this week that I can use.

My mission of the day is to start cutting it up. I'll keep you posted on my progress on my Instagram feed. I will likely be looking for pattern testers for the Garden Tiles bag soon so let me know if you are interested.

Until next time.. Happy Sewing !

Newest Etsy Listings - Handbags!

Take a look at our newest shop listings! I'm clearing out my closet full of sample items that I sewed for my book "Just for You".  I had to sew a bunch of partially made items for the publisher to photograph and show all the steps in the pattern. Instead of hoarding all those partially made items I finished sewing them up am giving you all a chance to get your hands on them.  You know, for those times you look at a pattern and say "I would really like to just buy that instead of make it"... well here's your chance.  Check them out!

Here we have the Venna Tote.  Read more about the makings of this in THIS post

This is the Crafty Stachel designed by Sara Lawson

Here's another Crafty Satchel that I sewed up for Purse palooza. SOLD OUT!

The sweet little Mini Dresden Coin pouch designed by Amy Friend

 This is the Bella Pouch designed by Bonnie Rosales. This is not in the same fabrics from the book. It was one of the pouches I sewed up to test the pattern.

And this last one I listed in the Kate Handbag. It's not in the book but it's from a design I came up with and sewed up a couple years ago.  (like I said I'm clearing out the closet) It even has my "vintage" Blue Susan tag inside, lol! I love this bag! It's even the Pantone color of the year...Marsala!

Now if you actually want to sew one of these pretty bags you can find the patterns (except the Kate Handbag) in my book Just for You:Selfish Sewing which you can find signed for you in the shop as well.

Thanks for looking!!

Summer Sewing

Summer! I will miss lazy days of heading to the beach, visiting cousins, and no schedule. My kids go back to school this week. It's a little bittersweet for me. The "sweet" will definitely having a little more down time to sit and sew I hope. I thought I would show you some of the sewing I did this summer. I officially finished Thomas' blanket. 

I used some of a jellyroll of Cotton + Steel basics and loosely based this quilt off of one in the book Little Things To Sew by Oliver + S

I just love how it turned out. Maybe most though I love the backing where I improv pieced his name. 

I also tried out a little zig zag meandering stitching pattern.

He started growing out of his pjs and so I took an old sleeper apart and used it to make a pattern for a new one that's just a little bigger.  I used some jersey with spandex scraps that I had in my stash.  I LOVED the challenge of making this.   I missed a slightly crucial step though, I forgot to reinforce the snap and now there is a nice hole where it's supposed to be. live and learn! 

I've been running the Facebook page for the Just for You Sewlebrity Sewalong in my spare time. Have you joined us over there yet? Here are a couple of skirts I've made for it.

This one is the Night Circus Skirt. It's a 6 gore skirt that is soooooo comfortable.  I sewed it up in this woven dot fabric I picked up from the clearance rack at Joann a couple of years ago.

Next up is the Knit Faux wrap skirt. I sewed this in a Ponte de Roma that I bought from Girl Charlee.  You might recognize it, I used it for Meredith's dress mash up as well.

I've also been playing around with some new pattern designs. I made myself a little card wallet. Just a simple card holder with a little zipper pouch for coins. My sister is sewing some of these up for our Etsy Shop. I'll give you a heads up when they are listed.

And I made my sis a new handbag. I don't have a finished shot of it but I here's a little glimpse. It turned out really cute and I will be patterning it one day. For now you can enjoy a little taste of Anna Maria Horner's Folksong.

Okay that's all for now. Happy Sewing!!

Mini Tulip Tote - 2 chances to win!

So as you know I released my first PDF pattern a couple of weeks ago. If you didn't get a chance to see it you can find it in my Etsy Shop. It's called the Mini Tulip Tote. Let me just say that it's been so fun and exciting to get feedback from you all. And I'm so grateful to my fellow bloggers who have helped me get the word out about it. 

 Caroline showed off her tote on SewCanShe last week. I actually gave this one to Caroline on her birthday a couple of years ago. At the time, we were in the thick of  writing our book Just for You.  She's giving a Mini Tulip Tote pattern away on her site and her giveaway is open until Wednesday so go click on over and enter.  Thanks Caroline!

Next up, Michelle from Falafel and the Bee posted her sweet blue Tie Dye version today. Head over to Falafel and the Bee to get the whole story and for another chance to win a free pattern. I just love her photography and her cute model. She is always sewing up something fantastic so you may want to take a minute and browse while you're there. Thanks Michelle! 

And last but not least, I got a sweet email from Maryann from Picperfic's Blog last week showing me the Mini Tulip Tote that she made after purchasing the pattern. You can read more about it on her blog.  Thanks for sharing Maryann, you made my day!!

Tagged!- Around the World Blog Hop

Tag I'm it! I was tagged by my friend and co-author Caroline to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop. Caroline is the brains behind SewCanShe.com.  She is one of those people who can accomplish an amazing amount of work in a day. She scours the web to find great tutorials to share with you in her daily newsletter, as well as keeping up a great blog where she shares a ton of her own free tutorials. In the mean time she is writing a new book and she's a mom of 4. There is no limit to what this gal can do. Go check out her blog hop post HERE. It's fun to see a few behind the scenes pictures of her as well.

So basically for this blog hop I get to tell you all a little bit about myself, and what I like to create.

What I'm working on.... 
Well, currently I'm working on snuggling this little newborn (I'm now a mother of 5!) and doing my best to finish unpacking boxes in our new house, (we moved the week after he was born, which was slightly insane).

So I've been busy doing some non-sewing related things over the last month.  Don't worry I have plenty of projects on the back burner just waiting to be finished up. I love to design handbags and I have always wanted to write up my own patterns. I have a couple of patterns in our new book, Just for You: Selfish Sewing, but have 2 more mostly written that I just need to finish up a few things for.

My Garden Tiles bag and the Tulip Tote.

 I also have a finished quilt top that is waiting to be quilted, here's a picture of it in process. I call it the Bejeweled Churn Dash.

I have big plans to use up more of my quilting cottons this year to make scrappy quilts. My UFO list seems infinite. I'm way better at starting projects than actually finishing them.

Why do you write/create what you do? 

I'm going to interpret this as why do I sew? I sew for a few reasons...
1. It keeps me sane. It is just the creative outlet I need to keep me balanced and ready to tackle the mundane daily chores of keeping house and the challenges of parenthood.
2. It is challenging. I like trying to figure out how things are constructed. I'm always looking at peoples bags and thinking about how I would put them together.
3. I LOVE fabric! "Love" might be an understatement here. I get a little rush when I go to a fabric store. It's just all so beautiful. I love how colors play together. Colorful fabric makes me happy!

How does your writing/creating process work?
I frequently think about how I want to make something when I'm going to sleep at night. I also solve my sewing puzzles by just digging in a sewing them up and unpicking along the way. Sometimes I have moments of brilliance when I figure a way to make something that is so quick and clever that I find myself saying "I'm a genius". Like the time I needed a light colored slip to go under a skirt on my way out the door to go to church. I took an old silky pillowcase, cut off the bottom seam and threaded some elastic through the hem. I was so excited I found myself saying "I'm a genius". It happened again today when I sat down to write this blog post and my little guy started crying.  I needed two hands to type. I needed a sling! Which I'm planning on buying or making, but who am I kidding, I needed it right now.  So I went to the giveaway box, pulled out my husbands old shirt and chopped the top off. Instant sling that took my 30 seconds to make.

I love solving problems with sewing!

That's enough about me, I'm tagging my friend Becca at Bryan House Quilts. I love her quilts and her color aesthetic. She has a new book coming out too, which I can't wait to get my hands on.

 Here's her bio:

Becca shares her creative journey and missteps over at Bryan House Quilts. She is a quilt pattern designer and her first book, Modern Rainbow: 14 Imaginative Quilts that Play with Color, is due out in only a month. She has 4 young children - 3 girls and a boy - and recently moved from Houston to St. Louis. 

Check out her blog next Friday to for her stop on the blog hop.

Happy Sewing!

Hello 2015!

 We have had a very eventful year already full of new life and new starts. I have a cozy little sleeper sitting on my lap as I type. He's almost 4 weeks old now.

We moved housed a few weeks ago too. Thankfully my sister was here and she did all the work unpacking the house. She even left me with 2 weeks of meals ready to go in my freezer. Thank you Rachel!!

I really should have been sewing for this little baby during the month of December but instead I was sewing Christmas presents. I was making Gingerbread man puppets...

Bubblegum machine ornaments...

Sunglasses cases...

and button earrings.

That's enough sharing for now. I've got a few more things to show you but that will have to wait. All in good time!!