UTH bag

Next week is our church's National Youth Convention.

Super excited about that.

Months ago, a friend and fellow youth staff member, commissioned a messenger bag for this occasion. She wanted something big enough for her Bible and extra "stuff"--including but not limited too her bunch of Mini Sharpie markers.

UTH is text speak for Youth, in case you were wondering.

The letters were freezer paper stenciled on to the flap before I sewed the bag together.

One of the coolest parts of the whole thing in my opinion is that she had these old coast guard patches of her husband's. I just love how personalized they make this with out being over the top and loud.

Because anyone who knows this friend of mine knows she is anything BUT over the top and loud. . .

(said with a wink and my best sarcastic voice)

The zipper pocket instead of the traditional open pocket on the back was a special request.

She and I, well, we share this "thing" for pockets and organization.

It might be a little OCD. Maybe. Just a little.

We might have gotten a bit carried away with the organization thing. Maybe.

You be the judge.

Flaps on the front of the bag open up to reveal more pockets and a few clips.

The main body of the bag is a light blue chambray which gives the bag great body and structure. (although I still used a layer of fleece interfacing)

The lining fabric is the viewfinder reals from Ruby Star Rising and was the inspiration for this whole thing.

I used an Ikea stripe for the zipper pocket linings and an Amy Butler sun spot dot for some accent pockets.

The ruffle trim is elasticized and I love it. I found it at Hobby Lobby. I like that it makes this bag just the slightest bit girly. I'm all about subtle details.

The strap sports a patch pocket and. . .

Just a little bit of appliqué on the other side.

And yes, because I despise turning long tubes of fabric I opted to finish the strap edges in navy blue bias tape. I really like the end look of it.

Inside, more pockets of course.

You can never have too many. Especially when they zip.

There is a key fob and an elastic top pocket on each interior side panel. I'm thinking one of these might hold the infamous Sharpie collection and perhaps keys and a phone in the other.

I am pretty sure my sewing machine may never forgive me for this project. We exchanged words, my Brother and I, on a few occasions and I had to coax him through the thick spots. But we made it and I think we are still friends.

I had no idea when I started this project how time consuming it would be but I think the end product was worth it. I made her promise to bequeath it to me in her will. It was that hard to part with.

Even better than the finished product though was the sheer joy on my friend's face when she finally held the bag in her hands.  We two creative types have been discussing this bag and the possibilities since spring (you think I am joking, I'll send you the e-mail chain) and it's sort of been much anticipated.  I hope it works well for you Staci and I'm so honored to give back just a little for all of the joy and laughs and stretching you've brought me. It seems a small thing to give when you consider, I am a better person because of our friendship.

Your love of "our kids" and your desire for personal Spiritual growth are inspiring to me and despite the fact that our two personalities couldn't be more different, I am so glad we are friends. Because really, we are more alike than we ever would have guessed. Love you girl!

~Lindsay

The Lauren Wallet

My dear friend has a daughter who needed a wallet to keep track of her very important things.

You know, that first library card, a house key and money for the pool snack bar.

 And I needed a quick, fun project to help aid in the process of pushing me out of my creative funk.

So. . . tada! The Lauren wallet.

Made from a conglomeration of tutorials across the world wide web and a whole lotta "just wing it".

I suppose that's appropriate considering the butterfly and bird theme of the fabrics.

Ha!

I crack myself up.

Totally just thought of that. . . right off the cuff. . .

And you are getting this for FREE folks!

Learning to make zipper pockets has rocked my sewing world.

You think I am exaggerating?

Well if that zipper isn't cool enough for you, check out the amazing pink ruffle trim I scored on sale at Hobby Lobby.

A little inside and a little outside.

I think it totally makes the wallet over the top awesome.

You know, if you are six.

And a girl.

  I think I'm well on my way to being de-funked.

(and if you think that sentence doesn't make me laugh out loud to the point of snorting and nearly falling off of my chair. . . well then, you probably don't know me very well)

~Lindsay

Sewers Block. . .

Is there such a thing? If there is, I have it.

Bad.

I just can't seem to motivate myself.  Yeah, I've been sewing but I'm not excited about anything right now. It's not that my list of projects is any shorter or less interesting.

I'm just in a funk.

In an effort to yank myself up by the boot straps, I made myself a skirt.

I NEVER sew for myself. 

Not clothing anyway. Purses and bags, yes.  

Things that require measuring and fit? No.

But I had a glimmer of project excitement when I saw the bias skirt tutorial by Corinnea on Crafterhours and I thought I'd better take advantage of it.

Not one to "waste" good fabric on myself (self esteem issues? who me?), I opted to use a vintage sheet.  I love the sheet and it was cheap so if I screwed up I knew I wouldn't be out much. Add to that an up-cycled tee shirt waistband and unbleached muslin lining and my thrifty excuses were out the window.

In addition to my sewing funk I am also in a "I hate every pair of work pants I own" funk. And since a skirt is way easier to sew than pants well, this fit the bill for potentially catapulting me out of not just one but two major funks. 

I'm not sure I succeeded at either.

I like the skirt o.k. but I kind of feel like I'm wearing a bed sheet.

I braved wearing it to church Sunday and no one laughed in my face so maybe it doesn't scream "bed sheet" to others? Or maybe they were just talking behind my back?

I am open to thoughts on the matter because as you can see, I'm in a funk and I'm not seeing things clearly.

And please forgive my photos. I had a very irritable 3.5 ft. photographer who could only be bothered to take two photos.  You see her second shot here. Prop styling was all her as well. The lamb really sets it off though, right?  Yeah well, you take what you can get around here.

~Lindsay

May 1st Showers bring September 1st Babies?

A good friend of mine is expecting – in September – so we threw her a shower in May!  Yeah it was a little early, but there were a number of people that wouldn’t be around for the summer (college students & missionaries) so to accommodate everyone being able to come that wanted to celebrate this little life – we threw and early shower.

The new mom is in the doctoral program for linguistics at U of C – can we say smarty pants! And in general we had multiple conversations about classic children’s books – so it seemed like a good theme idea.

I had seen a number of similar “book” themed showers ideas (like here and here.)

Now I can’t take all the credit for this party, I had two co-“hosters”.  We divided up the work load; one in charge of invites and general organization, one in charge of food, and ME in charge of games. 

Decorations were simple, we just had classic children’s books around – the best part for the first time mom – all the books went home with her!  It felt good to help her start her stash – and I had fun classic book shopping with my mom (educated in such matters.)

The basic idea with the food was to get food that worked with a book title.  The above was a bit of a stretch in the classic book department (The Littlest Angel – angel food cake.)  But we had talked about having angel food cake – and I had just inherited my grandma’s angel food cake pan, so we just looked for a book about angels.

One of my co-host decorated the cake with berries in honor of the baby – whom the expectant parents refer to as “Berry” or “Baby Berry.”  It was a nice personal add.

 

Peter Rabbit – Veggies & Dip (just to prove not all the book-food ties were a stretch.)

But back to my contribution to the shower.

You may not know this about me – I LOVE GAMES.  I used to literally FORCE my sister to Family Game Night – I think she tried every excuse in the book to get out of those nights. However, I have one exception to that rule – I dislike (most) shower games.  You know melt the chocolate in the diaper – take a close pin if you say the “B” word (baby), gift BINGO – okay that one can sometimes be fun.

I had been wanting to try freezer stenciling for a while – and using pre-cut stencils of classic children’s book characters we were able to tie the craft right into the shower theme.  There is a great tutorial here – if you are interested in the “how to.”

 

It was a little involved for a shower game/activity, but the party was small and we had a couple people come late, so we had plenty of time for the craft.  And it was a pretty easy thing for people to get started on as they arrived.

I got a lot of compliments from the party guest on the “great idea.”

What I really love about this was it required as much or as little artistic talent as you had.  We had multiple pre-cut freezer paper stencils ready for those not handy with design or an Exacto knife.  But we also had a station set up for those that wanted to make their own stencils.

Only the guest of honor ended up making her own stencil, but it was a great opportunity for her to personalize a little onsie with a fun graphic beach design (the parents to be are from California originally.) I am sad that I didn’t get a picture of that one – you will have to take my word for it.

Though some people feeling a little more artistic went off reservation completely – skipping the freezer paper all together.  Did you catch the “Baby Berry” reference?

I was expecting it to be fun and for her to come away with some cute onsies – but I honestly didn’t know HOW great the stencils were going to turn out!

This one is my personal favorite – I love the color scheme! (note “Berry” is expected to be a girl – though you may have picked that up by the pink plates and flatware.)

And if you are interested in seeing the other creations, here is a little montage of all the “one”derful onsies (wah wah – sorry for the pun.)

This post is getting really long – I apologize!

But one last shower game idea (not really related to the theme – but I couldn’t resist)

“Baby Face”

Each guest got a template baby face (an oval with ears and a little curl) and then I had printed out a lot of different pictures of mom and dad.  Guests were then instructed to cut out features from mom and dad and create a picture of what Baby Berry may come out looking like.

I highly recommend this game if you enjoy ruckus laughter…

Or if you want to scare the mother to near death!

None of the creations pictured above are mine – so feel free to comment freely – especially on the make-up wearing baby on the left!

~Michelle

Crafting Hope

Our sewing group met again last week. 

This month we sewed little dresses and bandanna shorts for Haiti.

Since last time I posted that super cute photo of Jessica (to her chagrin) this month I give you a photo of myself. 

I gave my camera to the grand-daughter of one of our sewers to help keep her occupied and boy was it fun to see what she deemed photo worthy!

Liz from Little Lizard King patterns was sweet enough to give us a pattern to work with!

I love that spirit of generosity! Thanks so much Liz!

Please go check out her shop. Her patterns are super cute and there are several that are perfect for beginners.

We chose the Catie dress because of it's simplicity. Cute, quick and easy! I can't recommend it enough!

We didn't want to neglect the sweet little Haitian boys though, so we also made bandanna pants/shorts. The pattern we used was straight out of the Craft Hope book.

And we decided that there needs to be a little more quality control in bandanna making factories! Who knew, but no two bandannas are the same size? In fact, they are quite irregular. It made things an itty bit more difficult, not gonna lie.

This is one of the coolest things, in my opinion, about these sewing nights.  We have three generations participating.  Granddaughter is learning from mom (not pictured) and grandma.  I have such a soft spot for this handing down of the sewing bug since it was my own grandmother and mother who taught me to sew. Makes me tear up a little when I think about it.

I tried to get Jessica to model this little dress like she did the bib but she's onto me.

How cute is it that dress? She came with that striped fabric that she has had a hard time matching and I came with the green that I've had a hard time matching to anything and shazaam! They were perfect for each other!

And here is a pair of finished shorts!

The super cool thing is that this is the first item of clothing she has ever made!

I do love the "giving" aspect of gathering together and making items to donate. I think that's a really neat thing.

But even more than that, I love that several of the participants are new sewers. It's such a joy to share something I love so much with friends and then to see that moment when they see what they've made and are so proud.  That's what it's about for me. 

The real joy is in the sharing.

Thanks ladies for coming back each month and for all the work you are putting into this.  You girls rock!

~Lindsay

The Sophie Dress

So named in honor of the Bug's friend whose favorite color is yellow.

Without whose influence I am certain the Bug would not have worn a dress void of pink or purple.

Thank you Sophie. From the bottom of my heart.

The dress was inspired by the Daisy Maisy dress from Sewing In No Man's Land (which was inspired by a dress at Shabby Apple, so I guess that makes this a knock off of a knock off).  I wasn't able to use her pattern because the sizing was too small so I used a bodice pattern I already had and just "winged it" for the rest.

The day Kelly posted the dress I had just received this nice chambray in the mail from Fabric.com and I knew this dress had to be made. When I paired it with this Heather Bailey Pop Garden Paisley from my stash it was love. I have been hoarding this fabric for just the right thing. I think I found it.

I fastened things up in back with a few mismatched buttons.  That yellow scroll-y number is the last of my all time favorite buttons from grandma's button jar.

Just perfect for a day of family photos, wading and playing around with cousins.

~Lindsay

Ruffled Streamers

I don’t know how many of you subscribe to a lot of crafting/sewing blogs, but my sister and I are a little blog-obsessed.  My sister and I follow a lot of the same blogs, so when I saw two rolls of streamers sitting on her countertop – I said “Are you going to RUFFLE them?” (If you don’t pick up my reference check out the recent tutorial on Dana Made It for Ruffle Streamers – to kick off the Color My Summer series by Delia Creates and KoJo Designs.)  Mind you this is the MORNING of the party that I am asking her – and my sister was working on the Mermaid Cake.  So needless to say her hands were full – she looked at me with a sparkle in her eye and said “I wanted to” but with an undertone of  - but there won’t be time.

I took the hint – and the streamers – and headed up the stairs to my sisters sewing room – taking a brief detour to re-read the tutorial.

The project couldn’t have been easier.  Though I did have to refill the bobbin three times to get through one roll of streamers, so be aware you might as well fill the bobbin as full as you can.

I am glad I re-read the tutorial, because Dana did a great job of giving tips to make the process smoother, especially the tip about pulling them off straight instead of pulling them up in a spiral.  Putting the streamer roll on the ground to pull them straight worked just fine for the blue roll, but the pink roll was a bit more stubborn.  It wasn’t a perfect circle, and I was working on carpet, so every time I would pull at the pink roll, it would flop onto its side and start pulling off in a spiral.  So I came up with this solution:

I put a skewer in the center of both rolls and then propped them up on some bins my sister had in her sewing room that were high enough for the streamers to spin off the roll freely.

After that minor adjustment – it was SMOOTH sailing.  I got them done in plenty of time.  And the two streamers sewn together were enough to put up by the food table:

I like this shot because looking through them to my grandpa, makes them feel like sea weed to me.

And we hung some above the present area:

I love this picture because the Bug is dancing there on the side.

And there was still more, so we decided to hang some in the door way:

How adorable is it that the Bug ran out to greet every friend that stopped by!

Can you believe some thought we went over the top?  One parent was overheard telling her daughter not to expect something like this for her birthday.  :)

When I compare it to the parties I see on all the blogs out there – it seems normal, perhaps even tame compared to some, but perhaps to those less blog-obsessed than my sister and I, it may be a little over the top to take time to sew streamers together.

But then again you only turn 4 once!

~Michelle