Vacation

The Beach, which Juliana loves and Felicity pretends to love.

Felicity's most common picture face.

Josiah's first time experiencing weather under 80 degrees.

Hiking.

Even found an awesome fabric store!

Distracted

Okay, I got my Ice Cream dress/shirts all cut out for both the girls, and then I got...distracted. Vacation is coming up, (Yay!) but I needed a new bag, right? I almost always make a new bag when we go vacation. I found this pattern on Sweet Pea Totes. Love her patterns! I have made one of her patterns before, but I didn't blog about it. Don't know why cause it was cute! Lazy, I guess. :0p This was the style I was going for when I made this bag, but it wasn't really what I wanted. This is what I wanted.

I used some Wonderland twill by Momo that I have had in my stash for a long time now. I think the twill is perfect for bags. Sturdier than cotton but not too stiff. I lined it with some matching Wonderland butterflies, but I couldn't get a good picture of the inside. They always kind of turn out dark and fuzzy for me. I lined the outside with some scrap batting and the inside with Decor Bond (my favorite fusible interfacing!). I love how it makes the bag look soft on the outside but structure is still provided from the inside.

I didn't change any thing about the pattern, except adjust the pockets to the way I like them. I love the size. Although, it is a little smaller than I thought it would be. The *only* thing I don't like is that the strap is adjustable (really cool), but it is a little short for using cross body. SO next time I think I will make the stap about 10-12" longer. Otherwise, the pattern was great, and if you don't like the flap you could always leave that off. I like the flap though. Stuff is always falling out my bags.

I also got my blocks from the Mod Bento Block Swap. Aren't they neat-o? I really, really like them. I didn't make enough though! I thought I wanted to make a table runner with these, but now I want a whole quilt. Jessica is going to be doing another round, if you are interested. (thank goodness!) I am going to make another six.

Also, I love Coke Zero. *sip, sip*

Popover Sundress

(Do you see the other person in this picture?)

Okay, I have some big plans for sewing some clothes for the girls. I really enjoyed Kids Clothes Week and have been inspired ever since. I am hoping to make most of the girls clothes for when they start preschool. I am hoping to make them each

2 skirts
one sundress
one peasant dress
two shirts
one pair of pants
a couple of pairs of leggings

That is a lot of sewing, but I am hoping to just stick to some basic and easier patterns. Plus, I have about seven weeks to get it all done.

This Popover Dress is my first sun dress. I changed the pattern a little bit to make a pleat. I was totally inspired by this one I saw. I liked the little extra flair it added to this simple dress. I used some of Patty Young's new Playdate line. I just love the little dolls! I only used 1/2 a yard for this dress! I like to squeeze every last bit out of my fabric. ;0)

This is the back of the dress. I just left the back as is. I like this dress because as it cools down she can always just layer it with a t-shirt and use it as a jumper.

For my first shirts I am using the Ice Cream Dress pattern and using view C. Juliana picked the cute little girl print, and Felicity wanted the Princess and the Pea. Have you seen the Ice Cream Dress sew a long that is currently in progress? There have been some great versions of this dress already posted!

The Simple Reversible Skirt Tutorial!

I finished it! Yay! You can now make your own reversible skirt for that special girl in your life!
This skirt is very easy to put together and all you need is a couple of 1/2 yards! The pockets are the perfect way to add a little pizazz to one side!

You can download the PDF of this tutorial HERE.

Please let me know and share a photo if you do use this tutorial! I have started a flickr group here.

Let me know if you have any questions!

A Reversible Skirt

I have been wanting to make a reversible skirt for a long time. My girls wear skirts all the time, and they inevitably get dirty. Now you can just flip it around! I love making skirts too. They are the perfect use for those extra 1/2 or even 1/3 yds that I have laying around that don't necessarily go with anything else. I used my last bit of Flower Power for this side. I love that big bouquet of roses in the middle.

I added some little squares on this side and flipped part of it down and added some little yellow heart buttons for contrast.

For this side I just used a little blue flower print that I found at Joanns. I thought it was cute. I admit I think that Joanns is getting better with the quality of some of the fabrics that they carry.

Right now I am working on one for Felicity and hope to put together a little tutorial on how to do these because it really isn't too difficult. I like the weight of this skirt as well. The two layers gives it a nice heft.

We also painted out kitchen this weekend. Yay! Almost all of the rooms in our house are painted taupe, which is a nice color. I wanted something a little more cheery for the kitchen though. I love how it turned out!

Princess Backpacks

The girls will be going to preschool this fall, and I wanted to make them some backpacks. I decided to get any early start because knowing me I would be stressed about them the night before school started and not get any sleep. I like sleep.

I used Made By Rae's Toddler backpack pattern. She so generously let me have it for free since I was a judge for Spring Top Week. I think I will start a new motto: "Will judge flickr photos for patterns." ;0) It was a great pattern. Easy to understand and to put together. There is some thick layers that you sew through, so make sure you use a denim needle if you make one.

I used Heather Ross's new line- Far, Far Away II. Love it. The pattern calls for 1/2 yard of fabric, but I used two fat quarters for each of these backpacks.

I could only get Juliana to pose with her backpack. (I don't know why my photos of these turned out so blurry.) Felicity was too busy "Playing with toys." Horsies and castle playing come before taking staged pictures. Duh.

Here are the back of the backpacks. The only problem I had were the slides that I picked up for the straps. They are almost completely ineffective. I have to wrap the straps around twice to get them to stay.