Sew Cross!

Going a little loco for stitching lately.  It’s an easy addiction in the summer, since you can really take it anywhere.  You can stitch at the beach, while you are watching kids kick around a ball or while sitting in the car on an unexpected long trip, or just lazing on the sofa watching a Lifetime movie.

Even though I love embroidery, I really love cross stitch, since you can really turn off your creative brain and just follow a diagram of squares.  The only problem that I usually have with cross stitch is what do you do with the Aida cloth after stitching?  So I came up with the idea of these peek-a-boo pouches that can frame the fancy needlework.

 

Mini Embroidery Kits

Lately I’ve been obsessed with embroidery and stitching together small little projects. In order for me to exactly that wherever I went, I came up with these little embroidery kits that holds an embroidery hoop, felt, beads, needles, thread, some muslin and little phrases printed onto fabric paper. With all of these tid-bits there’s always something you can create whether you’re at the doctors office, the DMV or just waiting in the car.

 

DIY Sarong Blouse

Here’s a quick simple blouse I was able to put together in less than an hour using a pre-loved sarong from my closet. I took advantage of the finished edges for the seams on the side and folded them in to make a width of 33 inches. Depending on your height, you cut your length. I’m short, so I made mine 46 inches plus an inch on seach side for the seam. What I cut off on the bottom of each end, I used as a sudo bias tape to sew around the collar.

After folding it in half, I cut out an opening for the neck. For the armholes, I just pinned and sewed two lines 10 inches down from the top to the bottom. Finish off the hem by folding in twice a 1/4 of an inch and sewing down.

Old School Patchwork

Now this is my type of patchwork.  Take pieces and bits of your favorite fabrics.  Some vintage napkins, an old shirt that you just can’t part with, maybe an old hankie and sew them all in there.  I have done this before with just plain squares, but I like this idea from wonderforest.  Pretty brilliant really, she sewed the little pieces together just made a point to keep the rows the same height.  You could back it with matelasse and wham! There is your beach blanket, which could turn to a lap warmer come fall.

Lunch Time Top

I recently saw a little girl in a top like this and my mind starting racing…  I can make that!  Gotta admit that my version was really not as nice as the one that the tween was sporting, but considering that it took me 1/2 an hour I am pretty pleased with it.  I literally just cut  rectangle.  Then made a snip at where the sleeves should be and sewed down the sides.  I finished up all the raw edges with self made bias tape (this is what took the longest).  The project probably would of gone better if my model was not so wriggly as I was trying to try it on her. But hey, we all know that models are difficult!  I’m calling it the lunch time top because you could really bang it out in the time that it would take you to put down a soup and sandwich.

The fabric that I used is from an old block print top of mine that had been stained. The fabric so pretty and soft that I could not stand to get rid of it.  This way I got rid of the stain and little miss get to get her boho on.

For the ties I just braided some silk ribbon and and attached some little red beads on the end.

 

Birthday Puzzle

My birthday was a few days ago.  My 18 year old daughter always goes beyond herself to make the day special for me.  This time she really got creative.  Since she was going to be at work she left me a 8 wrapped pieces that were to opened on the hour every hour.  Each had a puzzle piece.  When completed the puzzle was a clue to a place where she had stashed some lovely presents.  What  a great idea for a kids birthday, or any anniversary.  I’m no artist so I would maybe take a large a photograph and cut that up and hide the pieces somewhere.  Could also be a great idea for holiday advent calendar.

Pretty Pleats

Love the way this skirt turned out. The inspiration was this post from Mme ZsaZsa.  I great project that would be great big or small and does not require a pattern. We simply doubled the width of her waist and  made 8 pleats of 2 inches each, but really you could play around with the width and the frequency of them.  Our young sewista did a great job, especially with the zipper.

We had a little extra time on our hands so we quickly stitched up this little basket.  As a last minute idea we decided to stitch some letter beads on.  Don’t know why I never used these to sew on projects before.  Love it.

Vintage Up-Cycle

I found this beautiful vintage tribal inspired fabric.  Being such a small piece I had to keep my project on the wee side.  I’d been craving a small bag that I could just sling on for when I jump out …

2 Years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What?!   Already 2!  When did this happen?

Scented Eyeglass case

I recently found these scented cotton skeins and fell in love with the concept.  I saw this multi pastel skein at Walmart and decided the $1.77 was worth the risk. The scent smelled like clean laundry  I wanted to make a sunglass case and decided  to use a pattern that I saw on Pinterest from The Nearsighted Owl.  The bobbles would serve two purposes…. 1. Kill the monotony of crocheting rectangles and 2. protect my new shades.

I followed the pattern of the bobbles just changed 1 single crochet between bobbles to 2.

Pinned the zipper down and just sewed down with machine on both sides.

I had left a long tail and then crocheted all around.  I just barely made with the amount that I had.  Next time I would be more generous with the length.

Added a bunny pom pom on zipper for good measure.