Cora's Doll

I made this doll for my darling lil' God Daughter Cora for her birthday present in 2008. I learned a lot: how to make moccasins, first wing dress I ever made, and how to weft hair! It has been so long, I must apologize I cannot credit my sources, but I googled most of it. I plan on making a doll like this for the County Fair one of these days, they actually have a category just for Native American Dolls! Anyway, hope this inspires one of you. . . besides Kyle, lol.

Dahlia Polka-Dot Hat

Well Buffy didn't feel like being America's Next Top Model today, so Brody was the best looking choice in town! My poor baby boy, as if his hair isn't bad enough I gotta dress him in girl's hats and take pictures to post on the internet. Isn't he a sweetie pie though? I guess I am a little biased.

Here is the finished product though, I'm pretty proud of my construction and as usual the new sewing machine REALLY helps! (Love you Kyle) This hat is meant to be worn a little side ways and low on the forehead which distinguishes it as a Cloche. I added a bit of elastic in the back to ensure fit, this was not part of the pattern. (Thank you Curiously Crafty) There is also an added sash of fabric across the front which covers the seam where the brim meets the hat, I slip stitched this in place. I did not follow the directions to the tee, and my hat turned out a smidge larger which I planned so that I could add that elastic. Anywho, everyone go make a hat and post your pics for me to see!

Modern Cloche (it's a hat)

Another project down, 257 to go! I thought maybe I would share some of my design theory that went in to this one, since that's what all the bloggers are doing these days (see my list of blogs to the right).

Becky, Buffy and I went to Bumbershoots 2008 and one of the vendors from Portland had really cute recycled hats with flowers on the side. Buffy tried one on and looked WAY cute in it, so I have been thinking since then that I would make a hat for her. WOOPS, that gives away the surprise doesn't it. . . Oh well, you just have to wait to see the end product! Anyway, I waited until last minute as usual and looked at several different patterns before eventually picking the first pattern I found last year. I have been sketching what I wanted for 2 years now-projects float around in my head for a LONG time before fruition!

Brody got a hold on this picture!!

I googled fabric flowers and found several patterns I like from Martha, this Fabric Dahlia is the one I used. Anthropologie hats are very inspirational, of course most everything is inspiring from their website since I can only window shop! I also like these old school hats like one found in this cloche tutorial. Humble Bumble B has lots of cute hats and she even has a tutuorial on Threadbanger if you google it. I liked her tutorial, but didn't think Buffy would wear something quite so 'vintage' haha. Anyways, it took me all day today but I got the hat done! I keep talking about making things to sell on Etsy. Honestly, I have got to speed things up quite a bit to make any money, 8 hours for one hat is pretty unreasonable! Check out some of the hats on Etsy, I searched out "hat patterns + sewing" to weed out the knit patterns. For you knitters, have at it and keep me in mind ;)!!!

I hate to say what my next project will be; really I fly by the seat of my pants and we all know it. Here is some juice to get you going though, this paintaing is called Ojibwe Floral Buds and its by my favorite native painter Daniel Ramirez. Who is your favorite painter?

Valentine Photo Frame and Pillowcase

This was a busy weekend! I love Valentine's Day, an excuse for my husband to buy me a really good box of chocolates. He bought me Godiva a couple years back and we both liked it so much he can't resist but to keep buying them every year! I'm going to get so sick of chocolate by the end of the week ;). So my last minute gift to him was this quick photo frame for the card I made him on Shutterfly. I cheated a little on the construction with a hot glue gun when I put the muslin pocket inside for the card, but hey it turned out alright! The fabric is actually a pair of pants I bought at Value Village, I added some texture with pleating and perpendicular straight stitches. Turns out my Brother SE-350 has a pretty good selection of stitches, too!

Then I did this simple pillowcase for Trevan's Valentine present. I missed Christmas, kind of skipped it by choice because of money and stress. I've really come to dread Christmas and hope to teach my children that its not all about the presents. . . Anyway, I printed a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to iron on, then let the Brother do the rest! Hope Trevan is excited, he's crazy for TMNT, no REALLY.

I told myself I would blog something today, so even if I don't get to my list of crafts to finish at least I got one thing done! Kyle has been doing well on his eating habits (me, not so much!) and mentioned that his Muscle and Fitness magazine had some kind of article on Oats and how good they are for you. I like oatmeal alright, but its a difficult sell to a Toddler. So I thought about my Finnish days: breakfast was usually Makkara (Finnish sausage more like pate) on Rye, Weetabix, or yoghurt with granola. I have recently rediscovered that I LOVE yogurt and granola! So, I Googled 'homemade granola' and found all kinds of recipes. The one I chose has cinnamon, honey, brown sugar, salt then I add a nut (Walnuts in this case) and raisins. Now if only I could purchase yogurt here like they have in Finland, its much less sweet and I really liked it better that way.

Still in the works on that Maternity top from a recycled shirt of Kyle's. I bought

Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified by Cal Patch yesterday (Potter Craft, 2009). Apparently Cal was a designer for Urban-outfitters, so I'm excited to delve into this one. She warns in the first few pages that if you don't follow from beginning to end, you may have to jump back to beginning projects to complete a project later in the book. That bummed me out, because the first pattern is for a skirt. Let's face it, I'm a huge whale right now and no one wants to see ME in a skirt. Oh, the joys of pregnancy!! Perhaps I'll focus on baby girl clothes, lol.

Heartseams CD Holder

I'm starting this year off on a good foot, two projects in the first month!! The pattern for this CD holder came from One-Yard Wonders, by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins, 2009. This particular one will be finding a home with my cousin Willi better known as my Wilsmy! He loves, loves, LOVES Lady Gaga and I must admit I've grown somewhat smitten with her since her Oprah Interview. While listening to Speechless repeatedly, this one line stood out to me "you popped my heartseams." Obviously anything with the word SEAMS is going to stand out to me, since I'm such a sewing fiend. Well, I couldn't use the embroidery option this round because the small hoop I ordered didn't work out and I'm in the process of exchanging through Ebay-you know how that goes.

Anyways, for a first go 'round on this projects it turned out alright. Hopefully Willsmy fills it with lots of Gaga CDs! Now what's next on my craft agenda? I really want to make a maternity shirt out of one of Kyle's old t-shirts. The Selfish Seamstress had an inspirational post on January 22nd and turned me on to Magashoni. Would you look at some of those tops!?! I love that ruffles, bows, flowers, etc. are in style. I'm thinking some kind of square neckline with a ruffle treatment, slightly elasticized puffy sleeves, an empire seam to make room for the baby, and a cute embroidery at the bottom-perhaps something like the sparrows from this pattern. I don't know, so many ideas so little time!

PS- hopefully we find out the sex of the baby TOMORROW!! Cross your fingers that baby doesn't have cord looped back and forth between the legs again :/. If its a girl-I'm going all out French, nothing but Mon Chaton, Eiffel Tower, and Sucre Creme!

Booties for Kadynce

I finally took some time to make my own "light tent" for taking pictures. A little Photoshop goes a LONG way, but the light box definitely adds a professional touch. To top it all off, I finished another project! Just this morning I put the finishing stitches on a pair of baby booties for Kadynce, my niece-in-law who will be 1 in March. I hope they fit her, they turned out smaller than I thought.

I found a free baby bootie pattern a couple months ago. It's actually a pattern from the archive of Molly Chicken. Great jumping point, and I added heel pulls and of course my own embroidery (gotta put that new machine to work!).

Must I say that adding my signature to everything really makes a project look complete for me! Every day that I sew, I am praising Kyle for the machine: "It's the best present EVER!"