Balloons.

My sister was here for a brief visit (mostly this trip was to visit her in-laws), and she made these fabulous balloons for Finn.

A Challenge Met

I recently participated in a challenge on a sewing forum. Sew a lot, buy no fabric. For one month. There were points awarded for each yard sewn, and points lost for purchasing. I bought no fabric. (I've made up for that in October, and we're only three days in!). Here's a slide show of my projects, about 50 items, nearly 40 yards of fabric sewn.

I also tidied up all my fabric. This is how it looks now. I'll spare you how it looked after a month of sewing & not folding. :) Have a great weekend, I'm off to Marineland tomorrow!

Sewing Giraffes

This is a very popular fabric, and I had just 2 yards of it, one yard of the Ice (blue/brown/yellow) colourway, and one of the Grass (green, light green, brown) colourway. I know that the green is for something for Finn. To match these great giraffe shorts from JJBB.

But, I wanted something more permanent that wouldn't be outgrown as well. The fabric's too thin to be a bib or blanket, and even those would eventually be less used by Finn. So, I made a shirt for me! And, while I was at it, I delved into my collection of cotton/lycra ribknits for a pair of cropped pants with a very relaxed feel.

I love both these pieces, although I'm not certain I'll often wear them together. I did get lazy and not change the thread colour for the top stitching, so the pants have contrast top stitching in pale blue.

Happy Long Weekend to my Canadian Readers :)

Wordle

go play! www.wordle.net

Some finished sewing.

First, finished these for a friend who's baby is due soon. Cushions for her rocking chair, 3 swaddle size blankies, 12 wipes, and 4 travel/mini wipes.

Next, some items to help organize my packing for an 11 day vacation - sharing one large suitcase with a 18mth old is going to require serious organizing! So, we have a packing envelope, to keep shirts nicely folded and wrinkle free, as well as mesh/cotton bags to contain socks, tank tops, small things that get lost in the bottoms of suitcases. These have mesh on one side so it's easy to see what's inside, and pretty cotton to coordinate with the envelope. Finn has a set of bags as well, but I haven't taken a photo of them yet.

Oh, YUM!

I am all of a sudden very hungry for potatoes. Not just any spuds, but these. Don't they look lovely? I guess that solves the ever present dilemma of what to eat for dinner tomorrow.

Orchid Place Anniversary

I've been sewing quite a bit lately, but these are the only things I've taken photos of - 12 bibs. How thrilling. They are for the Anniversary sale at Orchid Place on July 22.

I'll try to get photos of the rest of the sewing later - new shorts for Finn and more.

Kawawaymog, Amable Du Fond & North Tea

We arrived home last night from our Algonquin park trip for this summer. It was a relatively easy trip - except for the paddle home across Kawawaymog (or Round) Lake - Dave ended up walking in the shallows, pulling the canoe while I held Finn as he napped. The wind & waves were just too much for our paddling talents.

It was a good trip, we saw one moose, one deer, several loons, the usual seagulls, a few herons, and I spotted a duck with ducklings along the marsh. We all saw another duck with older ducklings on a dock. The only other 'wildlife' we encountered were the mosquitoes. Not too bad, though we all have bites, the wind Saturday & Sunday kept the bulk of them away.

We camped at a site about 2/3 of the way down the West arm of North Tea Lake, on the North side. We were pleased to see we had our own private beach when we arrived, nice gradual sand entry to the water. The wind on Saturday gradually pushed the waves up the sand until the beach was gone, and on Sunday there was no sign of it at all, the water was right up to the plants & fallen log.

Three hours of rain on Saturday evening caused us to get very cozy in our little tent ... I think 'two man' is right! Two adults plus toddler is quite cramped for anything other than sleeping. But, we survived, Finn thought it was fun to climb on everyone and everything, and did a great job playing with the very few toys we'd brought.

In case we ever forget ... someone remind us ... NO MORE east to west paddles across big lakes. There's always too much wind, it's never a good time, and we always forget by the time we plan the next trip!

Smokey Bear for Finn & I

I drafted my shirt start to finish last night, and hemmed Finn's this morning ... three whole days before we leave for our first camping trip of 2008.

Sun Protection for the littlest one of us

We're planning a 3 day trip, to visit with my parents during their week long camping trip, as well as our own 3 day canoe trip, and I thought that Finn needed some sun protection, we got him a great hat at MEC, but solar weave clothing is far to expensive for a little guy who's going to outgrow it very quickly.

So, I ordered some Solar Weave (UPF 50 or so), for 9.49$, and made him a pair of pants & long sleeve shirt.

I'm very happy with how the pockets turned out, they're hard to see in the above photo, so for your viewing enjoyment, here's a close up.

My good friend Stephanie, kindly squeezed me into her customs list, and these are on the way for Finn.

I also made a diaper cover for Finn, but it's in the laundry already, not photographed. It's red for Canada Day - July 1st.

Lots of sewing

Three baby gifts, a sewn card and a pair of pants for me. I am very pleased with these pants ... I followed all the directions. The pants have 4 pockets, and a real fly with zipper and button. They weren't as hard as I thought they'd be, but I'd have been lost without the illustrated instructions from Ottobre to install the zip and fly. You can see in the detail photo of the blue/green carrier - my new tags!

Ruler Folded

All my fabric (well, not the fleece, but everything else).

Doesn't it look lovely?

Now, when I'm ready to sew, it's quick and easy to view and select fabric. The real trick will be putting it back the same way, when I'm finished cutting out new projects.

Inspired by this blog, and the many Sewing Mamas with incredible, organized, stashes.

Another Shirt for me ....

A forum I'm part of is having a challenge in June/July to sew for yourself ... I can't seem to wait till June! I made another shirt for myself last night.

This pattern is great, goes together quickly and logically, and fits well. The fabric is a very soft brown bamboo/lycra blend.

Today we're off to celebrate my mom & my brother-in-law's birthday, and Finn needs to shop for a gift for Mémé -- we'll actually need to tackle shops on a weekend, something I really try to avoid.

Other Sewn Things ....

It was brought to my attention that I don't update often, so I'm going to review my recent sewing for you .... (you lucky readers). Self-drafted Dress

Self-drafted skirt

Reconstructed T-shirt pants

Some Girly Sewing (gift for a friend's daughter)

Apron for a swap

Shirt & Bib for Finn

That's one of my favorite bibs ... I should make more in that style ...

Run, Ro, Run ....

In my lovely new running gear ... which I stayed up too late to finish! But, I wore it for my run this morning, and I'm very happy with it, a couple little tweaks to the pattern for the next set and it'll be perfect.

Why do laundry ... ?

When you can just sew more bibs? I hate the velcro bib chains that come out of the dryer, so I'm making new bibs, and getting rid of all the ones that have hook/loop closures.

These are all simple, serged 2 layers, with snap. And a couple matching wipees w/ the scraps.

And, my newest bag, this one is mine. All mine. I'm not parting with it. It's the perfect size, holds my wallet, phone, camera, dayplanner, note pad, pen and a couple snacks.

It's very soft dark brown corduroy that doesn't photograph very well, with fishy coords.

Outer:

Showing Lining & Inner pocket:

Party Preparations

Our little guy is going to be ONE on Friday!

I've been sewing like crazy to get ready for his party. A few months ago I got this great custom shirt from BTRT. I then got wool longies to match, and a diaper from JJBB.

Once I had a theme narrowed down, I bought several different fabrics to go with the theme. And started sewing ...

There'll be more photos of the party decorating next week.

Pretty Things

Unless I sew for myself, I don't have many opportunities to sew 'pretty' things. Finn's sewing is fairly boring ... raglans, pants, simple boy stuff.

I did recently make a jumper for a friend's daughter, and now that I know it's arrived, here's a peek at what I created (drafted myself for the most part).

Another opportunity for me to create pretty things is a swap on a message board I am on. I've made two of these aprons, and will tackle some kid-themed items tomorrow.

They were simple, and fairly quick to put together. I really love the Amy Butler coordinates and was happy to find a project that suited the leftovers I had after nearly finishing a shirt for myself (no photo of that until I find the perfect button for it)

A challenge

Stephanie has thrown up a challenge ... which I'll gladly take up ... :) And, since I made my last shirt before the challenge, I'll even make a new one for January (working on it now!).

And, I've made another round of spotted box samples. Sixty freebies shipped this morning.

Cup cozies & business card holders.