Archive for the ‘2012 52 Projects’ Category

My baby is two years old! We celebrated Charlie’s second birthday yesterday with cake and a few little presents and, of course, a new mama-made outfit!

I sewed up my Buttons & Buckles Overalls using Ann Kelle Cool Cords in Whale Print and Argyle. I just love the weight and feel of these corduroys! They’re so soft, and they’re not overly heavy or thick. That makes them easy to sew and great for layering in the winter or wearing alone in the spring. I even have a few more yards set aside for summer shortalls.

I can’t believe how fast my little guy is growing! I thought I’d make the 3T so he’d have room to grow, and it almost fits him perfectly. Sigh. They don’t stay tiny for long, do they?

Pictures of Samantha’s birthday room re-do are coming soon! I just have a few little things to finish up.

Why, yes, I am a little behind on my 52 Projects already. I’ll be making up for it over the next week with Samantha’s birthday present! It’s going to be so cool! In the meantime, though, projects #2 and #3 are new winter PJs for Charlie and Jamie.

They’re apparently very comfy PJs! At Fall Quilt Market, the folks at Shannon Fabrics stopped by my booth and asked me if I’d ever tried sewing my knit patterns with their Cuddle Fabric. I hadn’t, but I was willing to give it a try. They shipped me a box of some of the cutest prints last month! You really have to jump over to their site and see their selection: Cuddle Fabric Prints.

I started out with my Charlie Tee pattern and my AJ Bottoms pattern. I did have to make some minor modifications to get them to work with this fabric. It does have stretch to it, but it’s not quite as much as a cotton knit. (Cuddle Fabric is a polyester plush fabric similar to Minky, Moda’s Snuggles and Joann’s Soft & Comfy.) Once I widened the necklines and narrowed the neckbands on the tees and lengthened the waistbands on the pants to allow for the difference in stretch, they turned out really nicely. My boys certainly think so!

My friend, Leigh, issued a challenge over at my home-on-the-internet, Make-Laugh-Love, to complete 52 handmade projects this year. Since I sew all the time, that’s not really a problem for me. I have noticed, however, that I sew a lot for business and sometimes overlook sewing things just for my family. That realization motivated me to jump into the challenge, but I’ll be working towards completing 52 handmade items this year specifically for my family.

Project #1 is a pattern that I’ve done zillions of times, but it’s what was on my list. Jamie got a pack of 24 twistable crayons from his big brother for Christmas, and he asked for a crayon roll to store them. These are so nice for little ones (and for mom) because they can see which crayon (or marker, or pencil) that they need right away, and they make cleaning up after creating quick and easy!

Jamie begged me to buy this football fabric for him the last time I took him to one of our local quilt shops with me, and he was really excited that we found something to sew with it!

One project down, 51 to go! This is going to be fun!