Sewin' again!

From bridal showers to weddings and fall cleaning to party hosting, the last few months have been fun, but busy. I'm definitely ready to get back into routine and squeeze in a little down time...namely sewing. Christmas is right around the corner, and I'm hoping to finish a couple aprons for gift-giving. They are actually almost finished, but now my serger decided to be cranky, so I think I need to bring it in for servicing. Blah. At least I was able to finish a custom order diaper bag, which didn't require any serging.

It was a custom order for a friend's sister. I hope she likes it! She seemed pretty flexible about the dimensions and details, so I kept it simple. It was fun sewing a diaper bag again. I haven't made one since before Sweet Pea was born, and that one was kind of complicated. Lots of measuring + mathematics = headache.

My goals for this month are to finish Peanut's quilt (remember that quilt I started MONTHS ago!), make a pinafore/apron for my niece, and finish a custom duvet cover. No, these things shouldn't take too long, but I tend to plug away at my sewing projects a little bit every couple days. So, it does take a little while. On top of that, I do like to sit down and relax with some knitting every few nights. My hands like to stay busy, so eventually everything will get finished :).

what I've been up to the last couple months...

I've been just a little preoccupied with the latest addition to our family. Our precious baby girl arrived in late April, and we have been busy loving and cuddling her. She's our little Sweetie. So, that's why I haven't been blogging very much lately. My understandable (I think) and lovely excuse.



In the midst of the snuggling, I have been able to finish a few sewing projects. I haven't been able to make all of my ideas a reality, but I have the rest of her life to make little dresses and girly things, right? :)


I sewed up a pair of kimono-style pjs for Sweetie from Amy Butler's "Little Stitches" book. The blanket in the first photo is also from this book. There are some cute projects in there! I'm excited to sew some more projects from this book for Sweetie and also for baby gifts.


Before Sweetie arrived, in the midst of nesting I decided to give the car seat a good cleaning. Well, after much scrubbing, the car seat still didn't look 'great'. So, I decided to sew a carseat cover. I made a pattern by removing the existing cover and pinning muslin to it. I didn't line or quilt it with any other fabrics. It fits nicely over the existing cover and it comes off easily for washing. Bonus!

Here are a couple 'non-baby' projects:


I sewed an apron for my niece's birthday. I added a little gathered inset for fun - I had to do a little girly sewing :).


I also painted a tree in Peanut's room last week. Slowly, but surely, his room is coming together.

Yep, we're staying busy over here. But it's a good busy - it keeps me out of trouble ;).

A monkey for my little monkey

Peanut is growing up so fast! He's about ready to be moved into his 'big boy' room. *sniff* *sniff* The upside to this is that I'm having a blast planning projects for his new room. Too many ideas, actually :). I'll have to tackle the major ones now and get to the other ones over the next year or so.

This is just one of the many projects I hope to complete for his new room. I bought Amy Butler's "Little Stitches for Little Ones" last year, and ever since I saw the "Cheeky Monkey", I knew I had to make him a part of Peanut's new room. I'll be venturing out of the theme a bit (the quilt and most of the decor will be bug and nature related), but I couldn't resist adding this cute laundry bag.



The brown stripe fabric will be incorporated in the new quilt as well. I thought the chocolate brown would wash out Mr. Monkey, so I used it for the lining fabric instead. I also LOVE the blue diamond fabric for the outside fabric. I'm so glad I could put it to good use. The monkey is made out of micro-fleece, so he is cuddly and soft despite his inevitable home on the bedroom door. :)