Happy New Year's Eve!

So, I have this pattern in my pattern stash now. This is the next project up on deck. I picked a black polyester lycra material to make the leggings from. I have traced and cut out 3 sizes. I have one for each of my dd's and one for me. I am not sure where I would wear mine (I guess I need to make a casual skirt to wear leggings under.....). The girls, I figure they could wear theirs to gymnastics and under their skirts or shorts. It is a super simple pattern, I think I probably could have adapted this from another pattern, but as I write that I already know that is just more than I want to fool with, so the pattern is in my stash. Don't know if stirrups would ever come back into style?? (Honestly, I hope not!). While my legs need a lot of work to be seen in a mini that short......it could be cute for the kids (with tights or leggings).

I probably won't get to this until Sunday at best. My mother is visiting and she is staying in the room where I sew, so no sewing until she leaves (which is sunday). Not that I am counting or anything! :)

I have been reading about how much fabric people have added to stash and removed from stash and I truly wonder where I fall in that category.....I am scared to add it up! I just know, that the area I keep my fabric in is getting more and more cramped! I have 2 big bins and 2 big boxes of fabric, plus a cupboard with some smaller bins of stuff that I don't like anymore (may be good stuff for American Girl clothes....), plus some overflow that won't fit into the bigger bins. I did categorize it somwhat into knits, wovens, swimwear (or gymnastic wear), and fleece, sweatshirting, t-shirting, & ribbing. The new stuff sits on the side waiting for room to fit in!

Well, I don't really have any sewing related goals. I enjoy sewing and try to do it as much as I can without neglecting my children or any of my other responsibilities. It makes me relax and feel really good. I enjoy creating things and people are always astonished when I tell them "I made that...". I don't know very many people who have ever sewn (besides my blog friends!) and they treat it like it is some sort of magical power that I posess. Anyhow, I really get a lot of personal satisfaction from sewing and I am really happy to have found this hobby! My dh bought me my first machine when our older dd was almost a year old. She is almost 7 now. So, I have been sewing for about 6 years. I attribute my sucess to getting a great first machine (Viking Platinum 770). I now have that machine, my brother innovis 1500D (which does embroidery also), and my Babylock Evolve wave (serger/coverstitch). I probably use my Babylock the most and the brother comes in second. I think the viking is a better machine than the brother, but the brother has more creature comforts I have become accustom to using. I would use all three if I had more room....I only have room for two machines to be set up at a time. I think I lost track of where I was going with this rant. Oh yeah, I love sewing! :) It is great to have found this sewing community! I learn so much from reading other's blogs and from pattern review. A few years ago, I didn't even know there was such a machine called a coverstitch machine and I had seen sergers, but thought those were embroidery machines! Ha! Now, I can't live without my Babylock! Well, I know everyone created loads of great stuff last year because I read it all! Keep up the great work, and keep blogging! Happy New Year!

Sewing Again!!

I can't believe my own eyes! I actually broke out of my rutt and found a couple of hours to fit in some sewing time! I picked a pattern that I had already tried before and knew that it would be easy. I spent half and hour cutting out these two nighties while playing games with my dd's. Then, while they watched G-Force, I sewed them up these two nighties! These are from Ottobre 6/2009. Yeah! I am so happy to have something sewing to put on my sewing blog!

I knew that they liked them, because they took off the jammies they were already wearing so they could wear their new nighties. They must have been comfy, because she fell alseep quick!

Well, one of them did anyhow!

Sewing related - I also purchased 6 new patterns! I purchased from sewingpatterns.com because they had their simplicity patterns for $1.99 and their shipping rates aren't too bad. I just missed the Joann's simplicity pattern sale... Are you wondering what I bought? Well, I am not big on their patterns for things I would wear, but I have a little girl that I needed some patterns. An American Girl! My youngest dd got an American Girl doll for her birthday from her grandmother. She is taking very good care of her and after looking at the cute clothes in the catalog, I knew sewing was going to be the only way this girl was going to increase her closet! Their clothes (albeit very cute) are way to expensive!! They cost more than what I usually spend on my dd's clothes (or mine for that matter!)!! Anyhow, six patterns are on their way! I have left over of the teddy bear knit print I made dd's nighties from, so I can make her AG doll a matching nightie!

Other sewing related news, I received my new Jalie pattern! I had pre-ordered the new Jalie leggings pattern. I received it on Saturday after Christmas. I am excited to give it a try. I want to make the girls some leggings to go over their gymnastics suits (it is freezing in the gym) and that they could also wear everyday. I also kind of want a pair. :) I have some black stretchy material in my stash that would be perfect! I just need to find my dining room room table under all the christmas gifts to trace out my pattern....that is going to be the hard part!

Lastly, sewing related gifts! I received an invisible zipper foot and a binding foot for my sewing machine. Both I am eager to try out! Also, I received one of those huge boxes of madeira embroidery thread - you know the ones with every color thread? Really cool, and it comes with a disk of embroidery designs! Awesome! I had a great Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve with my sister's family and mother. Then came home and spent Christmas night at our house. Later Christmas afternoon, we drove to my in-laws house and had Christmas dinner and spent the night up there. Then back home the next day. Lots of running around, but, still enjoyable to be able to spend time with everyone! Hope you all have had a wonderful holiday!

How many things have you sewn this year?

I just added a new poll in my sidebar. How many items have you sewn this year? I had to go through my blog to remember everything, but I came up with 53 items. That averages 1 a week! I am actually very surprised considering it has been so dismal here in the month of december with my sewing. Tell me, dear readers, how many items have you sewn?? Take a minute to reflect and then pat yourself on the back! You are a creative soul! I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope you eat well, and visit with your loved ones until your heart is content. Happiness to all (and to all a good night)!!

Happy 4th Bday!

My youngest dd's bday just passed. She turned 4, feels like only yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital! She had a great time at her party with all her friends. We had a string art project, pin the paw on the puppy, pass the puppy ( a version of hot potato), a freeze dancing game, and a pinata. All the kids seemed to have a great time. There is the birthday girl! The pinata didn't make it through all the batters!

The kids are looking for my koi! The fed them my whole jar of food! They won't need feeding for awhile!

This was the dancing game...

It is always hard to plan a birthday party in the middle of all the christmas hoopla! I don't want to cheat her though. After she opened her presents from us (after the party), she turned towards the christmas tree and asked to open more. I told her she had to wait. Like she didn't get enough ??!! She was a good girl, though. She got two zhu zhu pets (the new hot toy this year) from her friends and she decided to give one to her sister without a thought to it. Her sister was thrilled!

I am in a sewing void. I would soo like to be out of this void. However, I have presents to wrap, christmas tortillini soup to make, family to visit with, and kids to take care of!! After christmas........ (I did order one of the new jalie patterns.)

I am jealous of all of you out there sewing, I just get to type!

Christmas is in the air

I cannot believe how quickly the month of december is progressing!!! I am not even close to being done shopping, or baking, or maybe getting a sewing project in!!! We did, however, get to go to Christmas on the Prado, which is a cool event that goes on here in San Diego every year. It is down in our Balboa park. The museums are all free during this event, there is live music at the amphitheater (pictured below), and lots of food at all of the international houses! We ate our way around, then listened to some music, and went into some museums ( the train museum is one of our family favorites....), and then back for some more food and music. It was fun and very christmassy. That is going to be my christmas card picture this year!

Last christmas, my best friend got me a gift certificate for a mani and pedi together. We just got around to using it this past weekend. I added some paintings! The guy doing my nails did an awesome job on the pictures! I got a christmas tree and a snowman on my thumbs, then a christmas tree and a snowflake on my big toes (I am way to cold right now to photograph my feet - they are staying in my warm socks and shoes...hhmmm wonder if anyone will see them?).

I am really craving some sewing time. I washed up my new fabric purchases and keep thinking that I would like some yoga style pants (notice that I said "yoga style" because I don't actually do yoga or even exercise to the point I need exercise wear) to lounge around in at night. I looked up on patternreview and saw a lot of people made kwik sew 3115. I was looking for something with a little more detail like a front yoke . Anyone have any good patterns for pull-on close fitting pant with a more boot or straight cut leg?

What is everyone sewing? My dh actually asked me for some sweatpants. I will have to dig into stash and see if I can come up with anything appropriate. Most of my sweatshirting material is pink.

Ta ta for now! Hopefully I will have some project pictures next time we chat!

More fabric for stash

Like I need anymore?? Oh well, sometimes I just can't resist. This is my latest shipment from the evil fabric queen at Fabrics & Notions. I got a whole load of knits. Most of these will end up pajamas/nighties for the kids. Yes, my kids have lots of sleep clothes! They love them, though and that is what makes sewing fun (and they are quick and easy to make!). The pink camo one may end up on me. The black is rayon poly blend bottom weight knit which will make some nice stretch pants for me and the girls. The blue one is a juicy couture print with juicy couture written on it in a gold metallic. The grey one is more of a furry raised ribknit, could be pants, could by a top, could be a jacket. Not that I seem to have even an iota of time to sew right now! I have all of my time planned until christmas! So, since I have no time to sew, I ordered more fabric online today! HA! When I run out of money (hopefully never), I will have fabric to sew with for years! :) So, what are you asking for that is sewing related for christmas? I asked for an invisible zipper foot (a whopping $13 purchase). I think I have everything else.....I can't think of anything else that I would like to have (beside apparently more fabric that I won't have time to sew with...). Is there some great tool or machine that I don't know about that I must have? Let me know so I can get it on my list! I have been very good this year! :)

Done with the denim!

Here are the jeans! Done! I always forget how much longer it takes to do pants as opposed to shirts. So many pieces, so much topstitching, so many little details like belt loops, rivets, zippers, and buttons.

The good thing, she really likes them! She keeps bending over and meowing at people (yes, with her butt....). The one pocket has a kitty embroidered on it and the other pocket I used hot-fix crystals and made the word "Meow!". I meant for the pockets to be on the reverse "cheeks", but realized too late. Ce la vie!

The length is just right. The waist is actually a little big....I should have done the gaposis fix in the back. Oh well, they don't tend to fall down, and that is what is important. I wanted to give this pattern a try before I used up too much fabric making myself a pair. It was an easy pattern to follow. Sometimes, I was tempted to do my own thing, but I restrained myself and was very happy with all of the results exactly as written in the instructions. I didn't get a pictures of it, but I used a betty boop cotton for the insides of the front pockets. She really liked that!

I think they look rtw! That was the goal (and of course to have them fit......)! Happy Thanksgiving! I made my cranberry sauce and my apple pie tonight. We are off to have dinner with my in-laws tomorrow! I am looking forward to a wonderful day!

It's been awhile.....

Well, it has been quite awhile since I have blogged, so I decided even though I am in the middle of a project, I should get some sort of update out to you all! First off, here is the other nightgown that I made for my older dd. It is a fleece. You will notice that there is no girl in the nightie.....she announced that it was too hot and itchy to wear. Since when is fleece itchy?? I can give her the hot (our cold mornings are 63F in the house), not cold by many standards. I haven't even resorted to turning on the heat in the house yet. By about 10am, the house is in approaching the 70's and quite comfortable. Maybe in another month.....

This project below is the one I am currently working on....

It is the famed Jalie jeans pattern. I am making these for my youngest dd. I have cut them out in the smallest size and added a couple of inches of length.

As you can see, I am still working on the waistband. Then I have the topstitching on that, the button and button hole, and finally the hem. Soon, they should be done soon......

Part of the reason, I have had no blogs for so long, is that I have been busy! Last weekend, we went wine tasting for a friend's birthday. It was fun, she got a bus (there were 35 of us), and we visited a few wineries as a group, had a catered lunch, then set off on downtown Los Olivos to visit wineries of our choice (there are about 25 wine tasting rooms in a 2 block radius). Here is a picture of me below at one of the wineries. That is a jalie shirt (2788 twist top) I am wearing, one of my favorites. I made it about a year and a half ago. I love that pattern!

On that note, I am wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey, eat lots of pie, and most importantly enjoy your families and loved ones!

Nightie Night!

Here is Ottobre 06-2009-36, this is called the "Mocking Bird" nightdress. I prefer to call it a nightie! I used some fleece that I got from the Yahoo group, Fabric & Notions. It is a big hit! It was really easy to make. I even got to use some techniques that I don't use very often! It called for the sleeves to be flatlocked. I did this on the serger with a wide 2-thread flatlock stitch. Basically, you put wrong side together and stitch. Then you pull on the stitching and the fabric layers pull to lay flat on top of each other (more or less anyway).

All went well, until she realized that San Diego doesn't get that cold this time of year and so the nightie came off, then she got cold and put it back on. Then again it came off, then again went back on. Then she realized she could just pull it way up and not take it all the way off. Got to love kids!

I made another one for her sister out of a different patterned fleece. She hasn't put it on yet, so I will wait for a photo op and do a different post!

As for upcoming projects, I got started on Jalie 2908 (jeans) for the dd pictured. I have such a hard time finding pants that fit her. She is almost 4, and very much on the petite side. Her waist is 18". Even the jalie size F (the smallest one they make), has a waist size of 20". I am trying it though! I have such a problem finding pants that fit her in the waist and length. Even the buttonhole elastic pants don't have enough elastic much of the time. If I buy a size 2 pant with the buttonhole elastic, it will pull small enough, but then the pants are not long enough! During summer I stick to capris, but come winter and she is continually pulling her pants up because they are falling down! (Oh, what it would be like to have that problem..........I probably did like 35 years ago before the booty kicked in!) Anyhow, sewing mom to the rescue! I hope anyway! :)

Happy Halloween and a project!

Happy Halloween!! I spent most of the day carving pumpkins! Here are a couple I did and a couple my dd's did: Here are 5 more - My older dd did the one on the right by herself and I did the others.....did I mention that I spent a lot of the day carving pumpkins??

Here is my sewing project that I finished up after carving the pumpkins and cleaning the mess and roasting pumpkin seeds......

These are the same pattern as the pink ones in the last post....Ottobre 6/2009-17 "neat beat" pants. I added the machine embroidery to the leg.

Here is a closer picture of the embroidery, it is from Embroidery Library:

Bad lighting shot....oh well....here are the finished pants!

Have a haunting Halloween! And get an extra hour of sleep tonight!!!!

"Neat Beat" Pants

Here is Ottobre 6/2009 - 17, they call them their "Neat Beat" pants. I used a bottom weight knit that I got from Chez Ami 's clearance fabric for $3.50/yard. It is not too stretchy and very stable. The pattern called for a stretchy denim or corduroy. This seemed to work just fine! The pattern is labeled slim, but I didn't add any to the normal size I cut for her, in fact, I forgot to add my seam allowance in some of the leg seams as I was cutting out! These were easy and fast and I think she likes them. I like the yoke in the front. I added topstitching in the butt seam....needed reinforcement!

They have a little bit of elastic at the back waist, forgot to get that into the picture! I hope to be making some more of these pants, they were easy, they look nice and she likes to wear pants that are "soft" as she calls them (jeans are not soft!).

My first Ever!

Creativ Blog Award!

Thank you to JC for nominating me! I have finally gotten a few minutes to do this!

Here are seven things you don't know about me. Here we go:

1. I love to cook and eat!
2. I hate cleaning house and do it as little as possible!
3. I have a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
4. I grew up overseas (Guam, Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong).
5. My favorite country that I have visited was Austria.
6. I am a libra.
7. I love to snow ski (and the apres ski afterwards)!

Thank You JC!

Here are seven blogs that I nominate!

1. Renee Always makes beautiful stuff!!
2. Dawn I can always count on something fun to read! She sews more than anyone else!!!
3. Angie I love to read her blog, it has such charm!
4. Trina She has always intrigued me with all her wonderful dresses and I love the photo shoots! First blog I started to follow!
5. Cidell I always get a laugh and I love the other stuff I learn! Second blog I started to follow!
6. Christine I love the stuff she makes!
7. Debbie I always am learning something new from her blogs!

Okay! I did it....that was a lot of work! So....here I am going to be lazy and not write to each person to let them know I have nominated them (and that is also the introvert in me....).....if you actually read my blog and see your name, Congrats!!! Carry on the tradition, and let us know about you!!!

I'll be reading you later!!

Pumpkins and projects!

Two girls in a sea of pumpkins! These photos are of the pumpkin patch at a farm close by, we go every year for activities and pumpkins! She found hers!

We were there with some friends....

The girls were so cute posing for their picture!

And on to projects! This is a close-up of the owl applique I put onto their t-shirts to wear with their leggings.... I made a shirt and leggings for both of the girls.

Here is the outfit. I wish I got them while they were wearing them.....instead I pulled them out of the dirty clothes to shoot a picture!

They looked super cute on them.....unfortunately, the pants I don't think are going to make it much longer without some work. The knit is pulling holes in it at the butt seam on both of the girls pants. I stitched them again inside of where they were pulling and they just pulled more. I was thinking that I could fuse some knit stablilizer to the seam.....if that doesn't work I guesss they get to go to the donation bin or garbage! I finally got my zipper last week. Remember how I had the perfect color and not the right length? I ordered up the right length, and decidedly got the wrong color! I don't know what I was thinking......I put it in anyway. My dh reminded me that it will be outgrown in a few months anyhow! Hmfph....

I like it still though. I will make this pattern again.