Big Box of Goodies

I love getting a big box of goodies, but even more, I love sending a big box of goodies and imagining the happy faces opening it. I sent such a box to my oldest and it arrived yesterday, so I can now share all the handmade goodies in that box with you here.

 The first item is this blouse I made for my daughter. I had to have her send it back to me as the sleeves were too tight. I found a wonderful video on you tube to show how to adjust sleeves to fit better. I had to find and order another half yard of the fabric to do it, but Etsy came through for me. The adjustment was so easy and now I have a new skill in my tool box.

 Next up is this fleece robe for Miss N with sock monkeys all over it. I found the fleece at Fabric.com and the pattern on Melly Sews for just $2. This is a great pattern and so very easy too. It seems Miss N needed a robe of her own because she kept stealing her brother's robe, even though it was way too big for her.

 Here is the back of the robe. The one adjustment I made to the pattern is I sewed the sash to the center back of the robe, instead of making belt loops on the sides. I like to keep kids robe belts with the robes. This works great.

There was so much fleece left over, so my sister suggested a pair of sleep pants. I found a free pattern on line (just google it) and they took about 15-20 minutes start to finish. I didn't hem them as I thought they could be rolled up now and then down as she grew. She is already loving them and they are so soft.

 Next I made this little pouch for my daughter to carry things in her purse. I had made one for her years ago and it is so worn and dingy from being in a purse for more that 5 years.

 I used a bunch of 2 1/2 inch squares from my scrap box in green and a simple fold over velcro closure.

 I also made her an Open Wide pouch in large, for her knitting projects. She has several that I made over the years. It has been so long since I made one, that I had to actually look up the directions to refresh my memory.

The chicken fabric is some of her favorite and I just recently found some more on line at Fabricworm. The pom pom is one I made back when I was filling my days with such things during my cancer treatment.

 Next up, two new Geranium dresses for Miss N. I recently bought the expansion pack as I already had the pattern (you can get both together as well) I wanted to be able to add sleeves since the seasons are changing and getting cooler back east. This is a Sara Jane border print I have had for awhile.

 The top is the last bit of one of my favorite Sara Jane prints which I have used in several quilts.

 Then, there is this cutie. As I mentioned earlier, one of my daughter's favorite prints and I had made her a boxy pouch out of the one fat quarter I had that someone had given me. When I saw this on Facebook at Fabricworm I just had to grab some. The floral print is from the same collection.

 I used a fat quarter of a yellow print for the lining of the top. It matched up well with the flowers.

 Add some fun buttons from the button jar in my sewing room and voila!

These buttons were bought for something else and not used. I love that they sort of blend in and don't really show much from a distance.

 This is a close up of the cute fabric with the chickens. It is an Alexander Henry fabric.

 And lastly, some fall/Halloween decor. I googled fabric pumpkins and dove into my orange fabrics to make these for the kids (and their mom)

It was just a quick little fun project. And that concludes the contents of the big box of goodies. Thank you for reading along with all of this. Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finishes

Well, yes, here I am back again today with not one, but two finishes.  I have wanted to get these done since I got this fabric:

This is Locally Grown by Andover Fabrics.  It is a cute collection of farmyard prints.  The most unusual thing to me was the use of so many different greens. There are 3 different greens in this collection.  Each is cute, but it makes it look like more than one fabric collection. Okay...moving on.

 I wanted to make a market bag for my daughter and one for me, to take to the farmer's market this spring/summer.  I had this idea in my head of how I wanted it to be.  For the first time, I was able to translate that into this.

 She loved the chickens the best, along with the chicks and eggs, so I used those.  I  wanted a flat bottom, outside pockets for phone etc. and handles that go under the bag for added strength.  I was able to do all that.

 It's big and roomy and the lining is a cherry print by Mary Englebrite.  I put a piece of heavy duty Peltex in the bottom, between the lining and the outside fabric to lend a bit of structure to the bottom of the bag.  I had it leftover from the diaper bag I made last year.

 Here you can see the chickens and the pockets from the blue chicks and eggs fabric.  The pocket piece is only on one side and is divided by the handles into 3 smaller pockets.  I don't know if you can see, but I sewed one of the chickens on the back of my label.  Too cute to not use every bit!

 The handles are made from the chicks and eggs fabric as well.  Then I used a bunch of twill ribbon I had been saving off of Moda fat quarter bundles.  I knew it would come in handy eventually.  The handles are just one big loop that goes under the bag and up the sides to make the handles.  This adds strength underneath the bag for heavy produce.  I will be making another one for me very soon.

 Next up, another wide mouth pouch, this time made with the green meadow from Locally Grown  I was originally going to make the market bag from this, but daughter wanted another pouch for knitting projects.  Seems they are handy for that. The lining is a plue from the Sweetwater Noteworthy collection.

 I made a bigger zipper end because this sheep is too cute to cut up.  Love him there on the end.

 And the cute little ring of flowers and kids? I couldn't just leave it bare...so I put her initial in it.

 I did it on my machine with my Bernina stitch regulator.  I had to put a small bit of batting behind it for stability, but it worked.

 All ready for another knitting project.  Have a great weekend!  Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it up Friday!

Making Progress

One of my goals for this year was to finish some of last years starts...before the end of this year.  I took a mini vacay from work and stayed home for 4 days.  I did not sew constantly, but I did get lots done.

 First, I got one of my two March blocks knocked out for the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.  This one is for Jeepgirl300 who requested that I do cream scraps. Others are doing grey, brown and black for this elegant quilt for her livingroom.

 Then I pieced my first block for the Retro Flowers Quilt.  Technically, it's a new project, but I bought the pattern last year so, I am counting it as last year's project.  I scrapped all the fabrics I had pulled for this one which have been in a pile in my sewing room for months and started over with a new idea.  I will share it soon.

 Then I whipped up this Open Wide Pouch from some of my Noteworthy fabric that I had picked out.

 I love how big and open these are.  Pattern can be found on Noodlehead's blog.

 The bottom is a bright crosshatch fabric that I love.  The name escapes me right now.

 Next up is this top, finally finished.  It is made with Lawn from Connecting Threads.  I am going to "quilt" it to some white flannel and use it as a summer throw.  It is so soft!

The last thing is this little beauty.  My daughter bought the fabric bundle in NY at the Purl a few years ago. She had delusions of making a quilt.  She is a wonderful and prolific knitter, and she can sew, but it is not her passion like it is for me.  She cut the fabric into 2 inch squares and put it in a zip bag...that's it.  So after about 6 months or more, I offered to sew them into something for her.  This is what I came up with. It is about 45 inches square.  There are still more 2 inch squares, but I was done! Now to get it quilted.
Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.