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.

Boxie Bags and Baby Love

I admit...sewing has been hard to achieve lately since the baby has been born (as has blogging. ;0p) Felicity doesn't nap very often anymore and the baby likes to stay up until midnight.

I have been wanting to make a little bag to take to the gym with me, as I attempt to lose these extra baby pounds I seem to have. (What is up with that?!) I tried Indie House's tutorial, and it was super easy. Granted, you can see some seams on the inside, but who looks at the inside of their box bags? Not me. This only took me twenty minutes to make, so I made another.

The blue flower one is for a friend's birthday. I love both of these fabrics. These little moons from Far Far Away II are my favorite, I think, from Heather Ross's new line. I love all the different faces.

However, this is mostly what we do during the day. Hug and squeeze this little guy. We are all in love. Felicity's love can be a little dangerous, but he seems to be getting used to it.

French General Love

I made this table runner for our coffee table to protect it! The girls love to play, eat, draw, sit, you name it on this table. It is only a few months old but is already well dinged. I have always loved French General's Rouenneries line of fabric, but I wasn't sold on Rural Jardin when it came out until my mom showed me some prints that she bought. I was sold and bought a couple of charm packs to make this runner. Easy peasy. I tried to make it niiiiicccee and big to cover most of the table. I tried practicing my stippling. I have only stippled on little practice blocks, so this was my first "real" project.

This is the back, and you can see the quilting a little better. Now don't look too close please! I think I was starting to get the hang of it. It really was rather fun thanks to the new machine! I haven't washed it yet, and I am kind of scared too since I forgot to prewash the linen that I used for the back. Woops! I am sure juice will be promptly spilled upon it. ;0)

In other news I have extended the summer sale in the shop until Friday! Head on over for 20% off!

I also have been doing some fabric reorganizing and have some fabrics up in Flickr that are up for swap!

Summer Pattern Sale!

I am having a big summer sale in the shop! ALL patterns are 20% off (including the patterns in the sale section!). Just check out, and the 20% off your total purchase not including shipping will be refunded to you! Sale ends June 21st!

There are lots of new patterns! The London Peasant Top/Dress is made just for tweens!

Sew Serendipity has a couple of new dress patterns including this one! Perfect for summer!

I am also trying to get some more quilt patterns in the shop. Check out this Cameos quilt pattern by Fig Tree! Do any quilters have any suggestions for patterns they would like to see?

A Pillow and a Pincushion

I have finished putting together my pillow for The Pillow Talk Swap. I admit I agonized over this too much, I think. I just don't like it anymore! Hopefully, my partner will, and she won't notice all the mistakes that I can't stop looking at. I used Oh Fransson's tutorial for the block, and it went together well. It wasn't as difficult as I thought, but it was time consuming. My triangles also stretched a bit. Any tips on how to stop that? I did have fun trying out different stitches for this pillow on my new machine. I added some piping to give it a little more of structured look. I really like the look of the piping contrasting with the white.

For the back of the pillow I used some Anna Maria Horner Good Folks that I have had in my stash for awhile. I really think it compliments the front of the pillow well. I was going to put in an invisible zipper, but got pillow burnout and just went with a simple envelope closure.

After I finished the pillow I decided to play with my scraps and make a "practice" pincushion for The Scrappy Pincushion swap. This was literally made only from scraps, and I like it so much I think I might just send this one of to my partner. I was inspired by these pincushions on Purl Bee, but I changed it up quite a bit. I left the edges ragged for a more "scrappy" look.

Swap Talk

I finished my blocks for the Mod Bento Block Swap! I used almost exclusively scraps for this project except for some of the Kona solids I used. I always love busting my scraps. You can see the other two sets here and here. I am thinking of making a table runner for the dresser in my sewing with this project. So far all the blocks everyone has made look great!

I also got my partner for the Scrappy Pincushion swap. I was thinking of using some of these Rural Jardin charms and some linen for this one. I have been really been inspired by these two French ladies recently.

Last but not least I received my pillow from The Pillow Talk swap from Mary on Lake Pulaski! Isn't it great? She got her hands on Sweetwater's new line, Pure, at quilt market and used it for my pillow. It goes perfectly in our living room, and I couldn't be more pleased. I am working away on my pillow for my partner and am almost finished. The closer I get to finishing the more nervous I get about whether my partner will like it or not, and if she will notice all the blunders I have made putting it together!