I made this for a swap. Her favourite colours were pink and green. I wanted to incorporate both! I found a fun patterned fabric and made the outside green and the inside pink. So now when you open up the bag it's like biting into a piece of summer. :o)




Just to be funky, I did a little macine ebroidery on the handles to make them pop in that same way as the case.



Yummy! It's matching pattern in a different colour.



And because I don't go half way on anything, I wanted this case to protect the laptop against all lifes foibles. I have chosen an unorthodox source for my padding, but it is so so so strong! (So strong I broke a needle going through it!!)

This is a foam bath mat. I DOUBLED it for the padding (and in the bottom it's triple!)

Satin Dress

I've never worked with this material before! It wasn't as hard to sew as I thought, but it was SOOOO hard to cut! This stuff is crazy slippy. Very hard to make sure everything is lined up.



I learned a new technique while making this dress. I knew I didn't want any stitches to show up on my bottom hem, and I also wanted it to drape properly. I got out my "blind hem foot" for my Janome, and I made a blind stitch!



So there is no line or indendation running across the bottom. The backside of it looks like this:



The top of the dress is done with a casing showing a little bow on the shoulder. So it's fairly adjustable. All in all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! I might try satin again sometime.

Cupcake Apron

What girl doesn't love the irrisistable charm of cupcakes? I know I love them! When I saw this fat quarter I knew I had to have it. I had some pink fabric in my stash that made the perfect trim!



I used a foot called the ultimate ruffler, which works amazing if you get the knack at it! It would take forever to make perfectly even ruffles by hand.



The first recipe I wanted to try with this was actually cookies. I knew someone who was in the hospital for a lung transplant who was coming home soon after some recovery time. What says ooey gooey love more than some fabulous home made chocolate chip cookies? Straight from the heart! I highly reccomend checking out this recipe I found - it is hands down the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever used.

Happy baking everyone!

Tattoo Banner

I made this for an art quilt swap. My partner loves tattoos, and I really wanted to reflect this in the banner, plus her love for sewing!



The idea behind the banner comes from Ericas love of tattoos, traditional tattoo designs using swallows, and her love of sewing! My concept is that the birds are creating their own tatoo banner of Ericas name! They're busy making themselves a home nestled in the fabric.

Here's some shots of the process. Click thumbnails to enlarge.





And here are some yummy detail shots!

Grey Circles Dress

So, while meandering aimlessly (okay that's not true, my aim was to buy something fun!) through Fabricland, I came upon the sale section, as per usual. I looooove a good deal. I came across this beautiful fabric, which was 75% off! That put it down to $2.75 a metre. It was lovely in every way - a great pattern, silky to the touch, quite unique.... but it was a stretch knit. I have not made clothes with a fabric like this before. If you'll notice, almost everything I've ever sewn is with a cotton of some sort.

Do I dare???


I dared. And it wasn't flawless. And it wasn't easy. But after using WAY more pins than I was used to, and winging and shaping it as I go, I came up with this dress.




I wanted scrunched up shoulders, and a flat straight across neckline.


The dress flows really nicely, and hides the curves I don't want seen while showing just at the part of my leg that will make me look taller.



I got kinda bored, and started being a goofball. :o)

The "Cousin It", The "Hair Stand", The "Pokahontas",


The "Treasure Troll", The "Vogue Look", and the "Help I'm Being Blown Away!!"


*giggle* I love strobe lighting. Fun Fun. ;o)

Car Accessories

I got my first car a couple weeks ago! I'm really excited about it! It's a 2005 Toyota Echo, and it hasn't even reached 50,000kms yet! It's a totally cute little rounded shaped hatchback. It got great ratings everywhere I looked, and people I know who have owned them have said nothing but stellar things. One guy even takes it through harsh Northern Canadian winters. Sweet that the lil' thing lasts so hardilly!

So for my new car, I decided to give it a lil' home sewn love!

I designed this tissue holder to attatch to the back of the seat. No more fumbling for the tissues in the back seat, no more snow from your boots saturating the tissues with yuckiness. It's always right where you can reach it now!






And of course, once you are done with said tissue, you can't just throw it on the floor! (Well you could, but ew.) So also in perfect reach is this handy waste bag! I also added a front pocket to store plastic baggies or whatever.




To top it off, I lined it with oilcloth! It's a waterproof fabric that people usually use to make table cloths with. But I found a really cute damask fabric in the summer, and it's come in so handy! This fabric waste bag can handle any mess! But no messes in my new car or you'll ride on the roof! :oP

Crazy Stitch Wrist Cuff

This was a fun little project that I made as a thank you for someone who made a little extra effort on my behalf, just because. She had wished for something just like this, so I took my own spin on it as a surprise for her! She should have it in a couple of days. :o)





I used zigzag stitches and free hand machine quilting for most of it. I used some yarn fibres to give it a little texture, and I used seed beads to make a leaf to go with the flower button that I had.


I got my new labels in! Love them!


I'm pretty happy with how it came out. It looks funky! It was a lot of fun to make, like a kid with fingerpaints is how it felt. Always good to try a project that doesn't need to be neat and tidy. ;o)

Pretty Pink Apron

Just a quickie post to show a cute apron I made for a swap! I like how it came out. It has a tie at the neck that goes through a casing, so you can make the top really small or quite wide. It fits anyone just nice!

Peanuts Christmas Dress

I wanted to make a dress for Christmas this year that would be something that would be 100% unique!

I'm a major peanuts fan (especially snoopy), and I chose a winter fabric featuring the characters playing in the snow!

I had the intention of wearing it for Christmas eve to church. When I was a kid I played Snoopy when we put on the Charlie Brown Christmas play one year. It was so much fun getting to be my favourite little cartoon character, and it's quite known that I've always adored the comics. I was a little sad that a lot of my friends weren't at the same service this Christmas, it wasn't the same without seeing them. So I didn't get to show them the dress either. But I still had a ball wearing it out!











Side note:

It makes me soooo happy when I see things like this on the home page of craftster.org! Yay! ;o)

Heeeeere Kitty Kitty!

I made Jessica a kitty cat hat for Christmas this year. She loved it! She was boudning around with a huge smile on her face when she opened it. We took some fun photos in the studio of it!

It was just a simple cap pattern with increasing and working in rounds. I just made up the ears as I went along and then I sewed on the pink parts and stuffed them with polyfil.



And just for fun to scare you...