Valentine's Garland

Okay, I love this project so much!! All I did was cut out about a bazillion felt circles in three different sizes. It wasn't as labor intensive as it sounds, because I cut two layers at a time and did it over a couple of days while watching tv. Then I used invisible thread (wow, SUCH a pain to use, by the way) to stitch the circles together. Once I got rolling, I sewed them all together in less than ten minutes. I could totally see making these in other colors for birthday parties and other holidays. I was even thinking that they'd make a cute bulletin board border in my classroom. You could cut other shapes too, like leaves, and then it would look like a lovely leaf garland. How cute would one of those be in autumn colors around a classroom door on the first day of school??

Next Fall's Pillow Covers

I started these back in November, but only got around to finishing them today. I love the colors, especially the green background (I used the same felt for Sophie's dress), and it will make September a little more exciting getting to use these!

P.S. As evidenced in the picture above, Baby Kitty can't seem to stay away from me when I'm sewing. Maybe it's something about all that thread being twitched around, but she lays on my fabric when I'm trying to cut, bats at my spool as it spins on the machine, and swipes at my tape measure whenever she gets the chance. Don't let that cute mug fool you - she's trouble.

New Curtains

I haven't posted much this week, because I've had several projects in the works, and I only finished most of them today (I'll post the rest of them soon). This was my biggest project to date: new curtain panels for my living room.

When we moved in, our apartment had standard-issue miniblinds, which we never bothered to replace with anything nicer or more insulated. As anyone who has cats can attest, miniblinds are no match for a feline who is determined to get to the windowsill, so needless to say the blinds were getting a bit battered and nasty looking. They also let in too much cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer.

I ended up buying way too much of the same fabric I used for my table runner, and I started looking around for a way to use up the rest of it. I tacked it up over the window just to see how it would look, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. So I went back, bought the rest of the bolt, and embarked on this adventure. I just finished them, so I haven't gotten to see them in the daylight, but I love how they warm up my living room.

And I lined them! Check out my blind hem-fu!

I really like how these tabs at the top turned out.

Update:

Here are some daylight pictures.

Grocery Bag Holder

This was the easiest project I've done so far! I used this online tutorial as a guide to make this grocery bag holder. It took me about 30 minutes start to finish, and it turned out great! I hung it in the bathroom right next to the cats' litter boxes, so that the bags are handy when Jonah is changing the boxes.


As a fabulous added bonus, I have several under-sink cabinets that are now much neater and more accessible, due to the removal of enormous clouds of grocery bags!

Ellie the Elephant

This is Ellie. I finished Ellie late last night, and I'm planning for her to be my first toy drop for Toy Society. I used a pattern (which my mom helpfully informed me that I'd paid way too much for), and really enjoyed seeing my little stuffy take form! The hardest part for me was machine-appliqueing the toenails onto her little feet. I'm just starting to be able to sew a smooth curved line, and those sharp little curves were a real challenge!

I used 3 fat quarters (I had a lot left over of the blanket and inner ear fabric), and about $0.70 worth of felt. I'll definitely be using this pattern again, although hopefully future projects will look a little more finished.

Sleep Shorts

Yesterday I passed a new milestone in my journey with the sewing machine: I made clothes for myself! I found this really adorable fabric at the store and bought a yard of it without having any clue what it would be for:

This is the design, although not quite the same colors. Tres Tokidoki, no?

I decided to try some pj shorts. I found this really helpful tutorial and dove right in. They aren't the most fashionable article of clothing I own, but they are by far the most comfortable! I already have plans for a matching t-shirt and sleep mask. :)

New Table Runner

A couple of days ago I packed up all of my Christmas stuff, and was left looking at a new living room. You see, right after Thanksgiving we got new carpeting and a few new pieces of furniture, but I put up Christmas stuff right away and so hadn't really had a chance to see how the new changes looked on their own.

One thing I decided I needed right away was a table runner for my new sideboard. I had a couple of Ikea ones, but none of them looked quite right. Yesterday I headed to the fabric store in search of some nice, sharp damask to use. What I had in mind was a very crisp black and white, kind of like this:

Instead, I found this pretty, slightly more subtle twill from Amy Butler's Nigella collection:

I still might keep looking for something with slightly more contrast, but I think it has a very nice, wintry look, don't you?