burp cloths for baby king.

i know, all my posts lately have been about babies, babies, BABIES. subject of the times, I guess :) while i was organizing my pics i realized i've been sewing quite a bit these days but never shared any of the projects...

i actually tackled these burp cloths back over turkey day when my fam was in town. they're easy-peasey and don't take very long at all!

basic ingredients: cloth diapers and fabric (i used fat quarters)

pin the fabric on the cloth diaper and then top-stich.

my fam was a BIG help. auntie justine helped iron all the fabric, mom oversaw the sewing and uncle jon actually busted out a few moves on the sewing machine. wish i had a pic of jon's fat fingers using the machine to share :)


next sewing-for-baby project up: diaper & wipes case!

ode to my singer.

dear ms. singer,

i thank you for your hard work & dedication the last few years. from the first moment I swept (read: stole) you from my mother (who demanded to have it returned but i managed to steal you back) you have given me all the attention, love and most of all PATIENCE a sewing novice could ask for. and i thank you for that.

you're about as old as me, but much, much wiser in sewing years. you've stood by me with all my rookie mistakes, and despite the lack of online help/tutorials for singers 3 decades old - we've made it through several rough patches together. you've allowed me to create clothes, aprons, placemats, pillows, and oodles of other FUN projects!

a month ago, when i thought you gave up on me, i was happy to part ways given our last hurrah together was this itty-bitty baby dress (free pattern courtesy of one of my favorite sewing blogs, madebyRae). i fully admit to shopping around, taking demo classes on newer machines with LOADS more features, and even flirting with the idea of spending nearly 2x our mortgage payment on a younger model. even worse, i day-dreamed about all the good projects to come...

i shamefully admit this to you b/c thanks to my mother - we're back in action again and i don't want any hard feelings. she's reminded me, once again, that most all my sewing hurdles are related to operator error. i don't want any hard feelings as we glide back into our normal pace again, ok? we've got quite the backlog of projects as well as new baby ones on the docket... so let's get to it!

yours truly,
miss sewing-novice nicky

ps - in the spirit of full disclosure, i refuse to take the Emerald 830 off my christmas list. there is room for two in my craft room :)

rosette felt pillow.

speaking of felt, I found an EXCELLENT tutorial on etsy the other day. a pillow filled with clusters of gorgeous felt rosettes. i love the orange but don't have a place for it so I'll have to find another suitable color. FUN!

homeade vintage apron.

recently I've had the urge to find my 'inner-seamstress'. no more passing on FUN projects that involve sewing b/c of fear of the sewing MACHINE. my mom is a whiz so I thought i'd be a natural. well i'm not. so i've resorted to taking videos of her so I can practice REPEATING!

i've been working on 2 projects, one of which is this apron I just finished. before I turned it into an apron - it had LIFE as a pillowcase. I got it from the VVA for 99 cents and YES - I did wash it before I started sewing!
i'm happy to report my biggest challenge was threading the darn machine each time my bobbin ran dry. i found myself wanting to buy several sewing machines... each to hold it's own color thread! i'm also proud of my first POCKET! I think it looks cute ;-)

Check out the project pics on my Kodak Gallery page. if I keep this up - perhaps I can launch my own table linen clothing line!