Sew With Me Spring Calendar and Links to Patterns

Alright, it isn't Sunday anymore, but here's the first few weeks of my plan if you want to sew along with me:

Monday March 24 - The Everyday Skirt by Liesl + Co.
Monday March 31 - The Ruby Top and Dress by Made by Rae
Monday April 7 - Hide and Seek Tunic and Dress by Oliver + S.
Monday April 14 - The Out and About Dress by Sew Caroline
Monday April 21 - The Penelope Peplum and Girls Pippa Peplum by See Kate Sew
Monday April 28 - Hanami Top and Dress by Straight Grain

I'm still planning to show you The Everyday Skirt I'll be back in a little bit.  It's spring break for us this week so we're enjoying a little more of a relaxed schedule this week!! 

Sew with me spring (and summer)

It's no secret I have a lot of patterns.  I have women's patterns, kid's patterns, bag patterns, baby shoe patterns, and then some more patterns. 

So I'm making a goal: at least one pattern per week. 

I thought it'd be fun to share this with you guys, and maybe you'll even want to sew with me through the spring and summer!   

I'll follow the pattern, and then let you know what I liked, didn't like, adjustments I made, and if I'll be using it again, along with where you can get the pattern if you want your own copy. 

I'm working on a calendar of my plans this weekend, along with links for you to buy the patterns on Sunday so you can follow along if you want to!

I'll share my results each Monday, starting this coming Monday, and give you a heads up on what's coming next. Now, I'm giving myself a one pattern minimum, but not limiting to one.  

I'm going to start with The Everyday Skirt by Liesl and Co.  I've had this cut out and sitting around for a while, but no time to get it sewn up. If you want to sew with me you can purchase your own copy here.

*And just to be clear, I came up with this on my own (not that it's a new idea) and am just sharing because I thought y'all would enjoy following along, and it keeps me honest.  All opinions are mine and I'm not compensated or affiliated with anything...and so on :) 

HAPPY SEWING!

Meow quilt progress

Abby's birthday is sneaking closer every second and is now only about 2 weeks away! 

I've finished 4 more blocks for her quilt, making a total of 6. That's only halfway, so I've got some work to do.  I spent some time this afternoon cutting out the rest of the block pieces so it'll just be a matter of sewing them together next.  

I said before how fast they are and they really are.  The longest part is the cutting.  I'm hoping I can sew these up tonight with a bit of Veronica Mars to keep me company.  

I've never seen the show before now and am a little into the first season now. Pretty fun to watch! And totally reminds me of high school (though I was waaayyyyy less dramatic) and a little bit of Twin Peaks, but much less creepy.  So that'll be fun.  

Next week is Bens spring break, and though he does need to work, it will be excellent to have the tiniest respite from the full time regular chaos.  Happy almost Friday!! 

More cat blocks

It's been slower progress than I'd like but things have been busy.  

Here are the next few cat blocks I have finished for Abby's meow quilt for her birthday.  I finished the top and now just need to do the rest. 

Fingers crossed I have an amazing week and can finish it this weekend, her birthday is this Wednesday!

You can call me Matt

"Mom, just call me Matt"

Um....and just like that he's practically grown up.  He will be 5 years old soon and the attitude growth has just showed up in the last week and a half. 

No longer does he believe that 100% of whatever I say must be true because nothing beats what Mom says.  We're at about 89% which is still awesome, but I can see that he's starting to come into his own, and the sparks of becoming an independent person are there, just flickering behind his gorgeous eyes.

One of the girls he has preschool with told me that he looks really nice when he smiles (after he was out of earshot of course), and it made my mom heart grin because she's totally right. 

I don't seem to do as much sewing for this man child as I do for the girls and there's a reason for that.  If I make something he doesn't like, he won't wear it.  No fighting about it, it'll just get lost at the bottom of the drawer never to see the light of day again, until it's too late...and he's too big for it.

So I'm particular about what patterns I try for him since he is our only boy (so far).  He saw me making two Bimaa Sweaters for Abby, and requested one with a red hood. 

And so it was done.  Probably not as quickly as he wanted, but he is always so grateful and excited anyway.  I love making things for him.  

Drawing class

If you guys are anything like me you already follow creative bug on several different places, and have seen many people talk about this recently.

If not, you should get yourself on one of those lists, follow them on one of their platforms, and go sign yourself up for Lisa Congdon's Line Drawing class.  It's the most fun I've had learning something in a while.

Lisa is so sweet, and teaches in such a wonderful way that is kind, exciting, and just wonderful.  If she ever does any more classes I will take every single one of them.  Seriously, I plan to.

Just look what I've been able to do with her lessons! It's so much fun.  

There are four lessons in this class spread over four weeks and these doodles are from weeks one and two.  Next week is week three. 

I just wanted to share because I thought you might be interested in doing something like this and it you've been wavering, consider this a friendly push from me to get you going! I hope you share your progress too! 

Red Scrap Basket

For the February Handmade Birthday Club, we made fabric scrap baskets from the pattern in Sunday Morning Quilts, which is a fantastic book with lots of creative projects and gorgeous pictures.

I picked red, though it's one of the colors I use the least, so I'm not sure why, but it worked out fine.

I've never sewn a 3D object like this before, and it was a little challenging.  The directions in the book were excellent, it was just tricky for me to do.

I used fusible interfacing to give the basket some standing up power instead of cardboard, and omited the label because I don't have any vinyl.

I imagine it will hold a good amount of red scraps!  My piles aren't well organized so really, this is a project I should do for myself someday!  But don't hold your breath : )