tiny lil skirt

I've had this skirt in the planning, started, almost finished pile for a couple of weeks. I kicked my buns in gear Monday night, because it's most definitely a Christmas skirt! And ready or not, Christmas is COMING!!!

This one's for the Lexinator. (Lex, this skirt is a pee-free zone, girlfriend!)


Not my most wonderfullest photography skills on this one, but it was COOOOLLLDDD. And raining. And 7:30 a.m.

No pattern used, just stripwork from a vintage-look Santa fat quarter, lime dot, and red dot. Printed candy cane strip binding finished the hem.

I have more to finish up and share, but I gotta figure out how to eliminate sleep from my day first.

Love, love this one....
(Not just the song, the movie too)

patchwork tissue cover

Still have time to stitch this up for a quickie little gift! It's a patchwork cover to pretty up the portable tissue packs! Who wouldn't want to reach for a tissue housed in this?

And we're off! First, choose 4-8 patchwork friendly cotton prints. I used my old standby, charm packs from Moda. These are from the "Nest" charm pack by Tula Pink. You'll also need a bit larger scrap of fabric for the lining/bindings.


If you're using yardage, cut 4 strips 1-3/4 x 7 inches. OR if you are using charm packs like me, cut 8 strips 1-3/4 x 4 inches.


Seam your 4 strips together using 1/4" seams. I pressed one set of seams to the right, and the next set of seams to the left.


For the charm pack version, sew the two 4-strip sections together to make one long patchwork section. I flipped one over so that they are even more patchy & fun at the center seam!


Press this seam open!


Now we're ready for lining & bindings. I used my pieced section for the pattern piece.


Cut your lining piece the same width but 5/8" longer on each short end as shown below:


That extra length on each end will act as our binding! Yup, we're lining & binding in one step! Match one short end of the binding to the pieced section & stitch RST with 3/8"-1/2" seams (this depends on how wide you want your finished binding. I used 3/8") Next, pull the other end of the pieced section to the other end of the lining. (see below) Obviously the patchwork is quite a bit shorter than the lining so you'll have an odd bump out of fabric on bottom. You'll see the magic in the next step. Just go with it!


Turn your patchwork/lining right side out. You can already see the magic happening!


See how the extra length of lining acts as a "binding"? Press well!


With your patchwork facing up, bring the binding edges into the center. If you used the 4" pieces to start with, you'll have a nice center seam to match them up to! Pin in place along the short edge. You can also overlap the ends just a little for a snugger tissue cover.


Stitch across both ends!


Trim a little and finish up your seams with a wide zigzag. Mine was 5 width by 1.5 length.


Turn your pouch right sides out & poke/roll out the corners. There you have it! A really sweet patchwork tissue cover, perfect for anyone on your gift list!

song for today

to-do's

My To-Do list is getting longer by the minute!! How's yours?? I haven't had a spare second to work on my Threads top OR my BWOF sewalong, and Friday found me down with an ear infection again. (That's my 2nd this fall and my 3rd in my LIFE. Isn't that weird?)

Anywho...I did stitch out this cute Urban Threads bad bunny tee for Lu:


Isn't he a cutie?? Of course as the nature of my life goes (I never win Karma's toss, no matter what you've heard elsewhere) while trimming the stabilizer from behind the design, I cut a teeny hole in the tee. This was more than a little frustrating since it was washaway stabilizer to begin with, I was just trying to save the scraps. Argh.

Here's the whole tee, a $3 clearance short sleeve from WallyWorld! I darned the tiny hole & added some festive little bows to hide it.


Back to the list...I have this cute book from Tone Finnanger:


And it has the CUTEST little boots and ice skate ornaments in it. It has several cute projects, but the boots & skates are on my list for today.

I also want to try this little pattern from All People Quilt. They have a quarterly challenge, and this was the 3rd quarter challenge. Go HERE for the pattern (scroll down a bit.)


I love this bag pattern from the Oh Frannson! blog. It's called the Margaret Sling Bag. It's a free download HERE.


I don't have a recipient in mind for the Margaret sling but I thought I'd share it in case one of you need a quick, snappy project for someone on your list! I'll definitely be trying it out after Christmas though.

I also want to make some little travel tissue covers. Something along the lines of this from mixitgoods.com (I have this fabric! My stash is bottomless. LOL!) but more patchwork-y.


I'm sure there are a dozen and one tutes on this out there, but I'll probably be winging it, so I'll be sure & share the pattern I come up with!

I'd like to try my hand at scrappy patchwork belts too...Lord knows I have plenty of scraps and I'm pretty sure I've got a ultra cool belt buckle or two lying around. I'll photog the process if I get to those this week.

More to-do's...An art portfolio from the current issue of Quilting Arts Gifts (GREAT special magazine!!) & a Jonas Bros. themed messenger bag for Lu (Meg of Boutique Nutmeg totally gets credit for the idea, she has a spectactular one in her Flickr stream), personalized pillowcases for both kiddo's, finish my mom's table runner...whew. I'll never get through all that today! But isn't trying half the fun??

Listening to THIS.

muslin

Well...we're definitely still at the muslin stage with Simplicity 3684.

I always naively start a project thinking "this is the one that will fit me --mostly-- out of the envelope! the holy grail!" It almost never happens. Didn't happen this time either! But, it has promise. Here are some pics on Edith. (It's not even a wearable muslin for her, poor old busty girl.)

I only put one sleeve in. When I got to that point in construction, I had already tried it on and realized the CF at bust level was never going to button. Phooey. But I put the sleeve in so I could see how other fit issues were affected. Here's a front view (ignore that weird fold. Didn't smooth it out before photoging)


Looks cute, right? Except on closer inspection you notice that we definitely need more width in the CF! Just at bust level and a little below though, the hem meets fine. Mind you Edith is about 1" smaller than me in the bust too! I added color to outline the plackets since they are impossible to see in this busy fabric:


More wonkiness...odd "extra" bit of fabric around the armscye (even a bit when the sleeve is inset, although that helps). There seems to be a bit under the arm too. That's the least of my worries though! The darts are way high. Edith is quite perky and the dart needs to be lowered at least 1" for her (and a bit more for moi. Ahem.)


The good...Super cute sleeve. The notches didn't match though. Weird. I'm hoping it was a cutting or marking error, although I don't really think it was. I think they just don't match up very well. The sleeve still eased into place very easily. In fact, all the pieces went together precision perfect. That's another plus!


Edith & I both need a bit of swayback adjustment. Which I don't normally make (I've never done that one in fact & will have to look it up!) Mine is worse than hers, but you can even see the beginnings of an issue below on the dressform. Weird.

So, we're still at the working out the kinks stage. I'm in no hurry. I don't think there are major tweaks to be done. I will probably start by looking up the swayback thing. Then I'm going to add at the side seams. I'll start with width issues and then see where we're at.

Shannon & I are having a bit of a sewalong...except she's already done a muslin and is cutting into the real stuff and I'm still tracing. I think that might make it more of a sewbehind?

We're making this dress #120 from the October '08 BWOF:

Ya, we know that line drawing really sucks toads. So here's a better picture, a fashion photo:


Pretty cute, no? Shannon's got a whoa-mamma leopard red swirly print rayon poly thingie. I'm still stash diving.

Song for tracing (in the tree lights)

the list

I haven't made a Christmas List in a hundred years. Ok, maybe 20, but still. It's been a while. On the drive home today, to amuse myself, I started composing. It was kinda tough. Not that I want so much...it was more of letting go of the "you don't need that" or "that's impossible" and embracing the "I would really love..."

Simple or complex, luxurious or inexpensive, improbable or full of possibilities...here's my List.

A new windshield. Darn chicken trucks.


A coverstitch machine. Le sigh.
Viking Designer SE. I covet.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer complete boxed set. LOVE!


I-pod touch (because I'm obviously not spacey and lost in my own world enough already)


Five nights in Bermuda.


Smoking hot brown leather boots.


Nikon D60. Please, Santa, Please!!

Pink roses for no reason at all.
One more hour with an old friend.


One more day when they were small...

What are your fondest desires & secret Christmas wishes? Come on, spill. I won't tell anyone but Santa.