Pickle Apron!

First of all, I must apologize for the disgraceful picture! You'd think I would iron that bad boy first, right? Oh, well. A friend of mine makes the best pickles ever, and she has decided to go into business selling them. I made this apron for her because I thought it might come in handy when she is at a farmer's market selling her wares. The embroidery design was taken from her logo. To transfer it to the dark fabric, I used dressmakers transfer paper. I put it face down on the fabric, put my printed logo over it, and traced with a pencil. (You have to press firmly so it transfers nicely) It rubs off fast, so I ended up tracing over those lines with colored pencil. The pattern is the Granny's Clothespin Apron from One Yard Wonders.

Cheeky Bookbag

Around Christmas time, I saw a bag on Etsy with the quote: 'I like big books and I cannot lie.' I thought it was hilarious and knew that I had to make it. The original song (which is really not classy at all...) was popular in the late 90's and it said 'I like big butts and I cannot lie.' I have a friend who shares my sophisticated sense of humor so this was made for her. The bag is nothing fantastic, just corduroy lined with a feed sack print. The white text is hand embroidered with the chain stitch, and the 'big books' text is iron on letters. You have no idea how hard it is to find matching letters in the same color at Joanns. That's why I used yellow. I left the store feeling slightly hostile after tediously sorting through the poorly organized bins of rubber-banded iron-ons.

Covered Button Earrings

I've been ridiculously busy for the last couple of months with the new job and the holidays. I haven't sewn anything for months and am feeling crafty withdrawal.  While this project isn't anything earth shattering, it was just nice to make something.  I've seen quite a few button earring tuturials and decided to make my own.  All you do is cover a button, cut off the shank and hot glue or epoxy glue the posts on.  I used hot glue and it worked just fine.  You could also just use interesting buttons and cut the shanks off instead of making your own covered buttons. Easy. Quick. Cute.

If you need a quick craft pick-me-up, crank out a few pairs of these and feel smug that it only took you five minutes. I have plans to raid my vintage button collection to round out my jewelry box with unique, Anthropologiesque pieces to add subtle interest to my work wardrobe.

Stockings!

I have been a total slacker in the Christmas stocking department. None of my kids had designated stockings til this year. I felt I could no longer bear the shame of stocking-less-ness. That, and my oldest kept pestering me about it. :) These two stockings are for my boys: very simple and easy. I plan to embroider their names on them, maybe by the year 2018. Ha!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Felt Play Set

Twice a year one of my favorite blogs, No Big Dill, hosts a series called Once Upon a Thread. She sews projects that are literature-related in some way or another. Last year, there was a guest post where the woman made a set of felt food from the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I loved the idea and I got the wild idea to make two sets, one for us and one for James' teacher. Guess who's set is sitting unfinished on my sewing table? That's right. Ours! I got a little crazy and decided to make a caterpillar book bag, complete with a zipper mouth so the Hungry Caterpillar could devour his food. It ended up being a lot more work that I had anticipated, mainly because I kept saying 'oh, I could just do this....' For the food, I just sketched the shapes onto scratch paper to make the patterns. The food is hand-stitched with embroidery thread. The bag applique is wool felt, and the bag itself is made of navy blue baby wale corduroy. The bag is lined with a heavy striped cotton, to give it a little body and to make it look nice inside. (yes, that means I had to make an opening for the zipper...a pain!) The cherries in the pie are red pompoms. As I was frantically finishing this the night before my son's last day of school before break, I kept wishing I could keep it. The teacher did seem to really like it though, so that made it a little better. Now maybe I'll get ours done by Easter? Next Christmas?! :)