another pin cushion

A few weeks ago, I made a couple of pin cushions for friends,

well I made an extra one for myself,

using the same tutorial from My Go-Go Life.

I made it using 2 Liberty of London print and linen,

my favorite combination of course!

And it looks perfect with my little sewing case.

I must admit I like making things for myself,

now if I only had a clean sewing room....

Oh well at least I have pretty tools!

Happy sewing!

on winning fabric

I rarely enter giveaways,

not that I do not enjoy them but the odds are usually not good,

after all it is easily 1chance in 300 or 400 or even thousands....

Well for this one, I did not realize I was entering it,

I just loved the project and left a comment,

so I was quite surprised to hear I had won,

and no, it was not so bogus lottery in far away land!

It was a gift certificate for Sew Mama Sew!

Wanna see what I chose?

Mechanical Genius by Mo Bedell,

extremely cool boy fabric,

may be Brick Master is not too old for this fabric!

You can see here and here some great ideas with this fabric collection,

from the designer's blog: lime gardenias.

Now it is decision time: what am I going to make?

Happy sewing!

duck season

Now that we are done with rabbit season, it is duck season right?
The kids have been watching some old Bugs Bunny!
(rabbit season-duck season-rabbit season-rabbit season-duck season-pow!
the classics, so non-PC!)

And nothing says duck season like baby showers....
Or may be it is just me!

My sister's best friend is having her first baby
in a couple weeks, so of course I had had to make
a little something.

I went with a simple set of burp cloth and a binky clip.
I used a fat quarter set I received for Christmas,
it was the perfect project: sweet and modern.

For the binky leash, I followed this tutorial from Made,
it is cute and easy.

For the burp clothes set, I followed this tutorial, also from Made.
I used some soft flannel for the backing, and 3 coordinated print.

I think all together it make for a great little gift.
Welcome to the world, Baby Mara!

Happy sewing!

one more bunny

When I use Liberty of London fabrics for projects,

I keep all the scrap pieces, no matter how small they are,

after all the fabric is very pricey,

easily over $30 a yard.

I often wonder what to do with them,

they are beautiful and so soft.

Well when I saw this template from Nana Company,

I knew exactly how to use some of these precious pieces.

I traced the bunny shape on some fabric,

and covered it with 1/2 inch wide pieces of Liberty,

stitching them on both sides.

Of course I had to use linen with all the Liberty,

they seem to be the best combination!

I used a larger piece of linen and revered applique the bunny shape,

cutting out the linen.

I cut a rectangle just slightly smaller than my card,
and with my unthreaded sewing machine,
I stitched around the card by itself.
I then hand stitched the linen to the card through
the holes with embroidery floss.

It turned out really cute,
and went perfectly with chocolate!

Happy sewing!

more bunnies

Earlier, I showed you a bunny,

the bunny I made for Miss C.,

with ivory chenille ears and tails,

flowers and turquoise bow.

Beautiful and very girly,

well I took the same pattern from Gingercake

and I made a smaller version for Birck Master.

For this bunny, I used some fancy linen and regular linen,

giving it a more masculine vibe.

The bow fabric is Kona, matching perfectly with the dot of the linen.

The size is about 65% of the original.

And since I was having a lot of fun making bunnies,

I made one more for Baby K,

in a more traditional girly fabric.

And here are the 2 smaller bunnies together:

I hope the kids enjoy their bunnies,

as much as I had fun making them!

Happy sewing!

some bunny

I purchased this pattern from Gingercake

just in time for Easter.

I could not resist it,

it was just too cute!

It sews very well, quite fast,

the stuffing is the most time consuming part,

well may be it is just my least favorite part!

The really tricky part is as always

selecting the fabric,

so many decisions, so many fabric

so few bunnies!

This one is made of 3 quilting fabrics and some chenille,
I changed the tail from a pompom to a stuffed yo-yo.

Well you know what happened?

I had to make a few more of course!

Check them out later!

Happy sewing!

a doll hutch: cupcake display

Last year, I build this hutch for Miss C.'s dolls.
I used this tutorial from Kristi at Pieces for Reese.

It turned out OK, not perfect (I am much better with fabric than wood!)
But since I only scraps of pine, MDF and bead board,
it was basically a free project.

(my starting pile)

Miss C. has been enjoying it a lot,
it is perfect to play and store all the kitchen supplies,
some are from AG, some from Target, and others
 from various locations as I was been looking for accessories that are the right size.

One of our latest fine: the egg box.

Originally it had egg shaped chewing gums,

 I replaced them with
"real eggs" from Michaels.

And I replaced the paper top with this sign,
I retraced the gum sign on white paper
and stamped the words, one letter at  a time.

It sits now perfectly on the shelves,

with all the other foods,

including erasers and polymer clay croissant.

Happy crafting!

pin cushion

I saw this tutorial from My Go-Go Life

and I had to make one!

Of course I used some delicious Liberty of London scrap (3 different prints)
and some peach kona solid.
I also covered a button in Liberty.

I liked it, but I had to try another version,
and after the paper pieced sewing machine,
I wanted to do more easy sewing.

For this one, I used some scraps from Miss C.'s quilt,

(5 different prints, 1 solid and 1 batik for the button),

I think it worked well too.

I was in need of cute little presents for some

of my sewing buddies,

I hope they like them!

Happy sewing!

paper pieced sewing machine

Have you seen all the new paper pieced patterns that have came out lately?

They are amazing.

You can see everybody's work on the Sew Out Loud Flickr group

So of course I had to get on it

and sew at least one of them.

I decided to start with this one from Charise Creates.

The "vintage sewing machine and notions" is a little easier than the "vintage studio",

but still pretty advanced, well at least more challenging than all the animals I made before!

(I still need to embroider the needle!)

I have very few fabric with words on it, so I was a little limited, but I was able to use the one
I had in quite a few places, like the bottom of the machine, the button jar,

and the thread.

The fabric I used is Vintage Notions by Amy Barickman,

it has a lot of different block, making it interesting.

Overall I am pleased with the result,
but I am taking a little break from paper piecing...

And I am keeping it for myself!

Happy sewing!

fabric book, part2

Here is the second part of the fabric book

I made for my niece's first Bday.

I really liked the idea of dress-up dolls that Girl. Inspired used in her book.

So I did my own version with these dolls!

The fabric is from American Jane (snippets), I purchased it many years ago,

keeping it for a special occasion,

well it was fun to use some of it!

I just fused the dolls and zigzagged around them.

I cut a few simple clothes, interfaced them so they would be easy to play with.
I made a simple envelope to store the clothes, with a Velcro opening.
I covered the top of the felt envelope with some fabric,
I hope it will make it sturdier for the little hands!

Since the dolls might be hard to play with for a while,

after all my niece is only 1,

I went with some conventional play book tricks:

Peek-a-boo!

I machine embroidered Peter Rabbit on linen,

appliqued it to the page, 

and added some fabric to cover it.

I made a velvet bunny from this pattern from Revoluzzza ,

the face is made of felt with hand embroidery details. 

It looks quite plain on this photo,

but the texture is great, perfect for little hands exploration!

I machine embroidered a happy face (same design than Miss C.'s jacket)

on denim and made a pocket out of it.

The white bunny is also machine embroidered, in the hoop technique,

I got the pattern a few years ago from Swak Embroidery,

but it seems they are not there anymore.

Apparently the bunny is Baby K's favorite part

of the book!

Happy Birthday, Baby K!

Happy sewing!

fabric book, part 1

I have been working on a special project

for my niece's (baby K) first birthday.

I decided to make her a fabric book.

I was inspired by the quiet book of Girl. Inspired.

Hers is beautiful, she has a great sew-along tutorial.

I of course changed it a little, hers was made for an older girl.

For the cover, I used a pattern for an embroidery design by French Knots

and made it into an applique that I machine stitched.

I hand embroidered the face details,

and I used my embroidery machine to stitch my niece's name.

It gives the cover a little retro look.

The first page is totally based on the tutorial,

I made a lady bug with black felt,

red pattern fabric and a 4inch zipper.

I did not make any little bugs, I was too afraid she would eat them,

at one, everything goes in the mouth!

The next page was a lot of fun to design: water based!

If I remember babies properly, they like to touch and feel different textures,

so I used interesting fabrics for appearance and feel.

I made my own pattern for the mermaid

and appliqued her by machine.

The water is some Halloween lame fabric, very shiny!

I cut out some happy and smiley sea creatures that were also machine appliqued,

a lot of zigzagged edges in this book!

Next page is a fish bowl,

well octopus bowl!

I used another fish fabric for the background of the bowl,

and applique over it some tulle.

I first bind the tulle with some blue cotton to made it sturdier,

little hands can be really rough!

With my embroidery machine, I made a little octopus on some white linen,

put some batting inside as to make a little pillow,

it is interactive but there are no danger of swallowing!

Next time I will share the rest of the book,

I hope she likes it!

Here is the second part of the book.

Happy sewing!