Sewing Lesson

I've come a long way, baby! Just a few months ago, I was a student in a basic sewing lesson with my sister. I made my first apron... remember? I kept at it adding a few more items to my repetoire. After a few months of practice... I gave a sewing lesson of my own! Can you believe it?!

Annie has a sewing machine on loan for the summer and wanted to put it to use. We picked out some cute polka dot fabric and set to work on an apron. Lucky for me, Annie's a fast learner! We cut out all the pieces for a basic apron and then... uh oh... I didn't know how to work the machine! It was so different from mine! We put the project on hold for a few hours until a phone call revealed that the manual was actually in Annie's trunk. Of course!

Finally I solved the riddle and was able to get the machine working properly. We snuck in a few seams before Vegebration and finished up after the dinner guests retired.

What a beautiful first sewing project! Turns out I'm pretty good at teaching intelligent women. (I hope the same is true for intelligence-developing children!)

The best part was how proud Annie was of her creation. I love it!

Vegebration 3.0

Every summer I host Vegebration (Vegetarian + Celebration) to celebrate my anniversary with Vegetarianism. It's a fun low pressure way to expose my friends to really good vegetarian food. The formula is... I provide soup and salad from my garden, everyone else brings a small meat/gelatin-free dish to share. We always end up with tons of delicious food!

This year marked year number 3! Circumstances called for not one, but two!, vegebrations!

Vancouver: (I didn't get many good shots that night)

Bellingham:

I don't know if I've made any converts, but I was told that Vegebration is a favorite event of the season... and that counts for something! Thanks to everyone who attended!

Market Bag 5.0 or The End of the Market Bag Parade (I promise!)

Just one more Market Bag to share with you... and I'll make it quick. This was another birthday present and came together quickly.

This version has double pockets on both the black and the blue sides (with velcro closures).

See... that was painless, right?

Market Bag 4.0

I'm actually in Bellingham or hiking the North Cascades/Mt. Baker as you read this! Scheduled posts are so neat.

Here is yet another version of the amazing Market Bag. This one I actually kept for myself!

One side is the pretty gold leaves...

And the other this fun mix of randoms...

scissors, irons, butterflies, alien-robot-cupcakes...!

This version of the bag has two deep pockets on the gold side that close with velcro. I've been using it as my go-to bag lately... no complaints!

The Carly Apron

I wanted to thank a coworker for being exceptionally warm and encouraging towards me this year. I spotted some Heidi Grace fabric that was perfectly tailored to her. She has a knack for unknowingly selecting clothing featuring little bird designs. Unfortunately, when I had time in my sewing schedule, the fabric had sold out.

Luckily, I had stash fabric that perhaps was even better suited to her.

What should have been a quick easy project turned into a heinous beast for reasons I can't fathom. At a certain point you just have to give in to the fact that some projects will have more "design features" than others. ("Design feature" is my sister's code for sewing mishaps.)

In the future I'd raise the pocket up a few inches... but considering all the trouble this apron was giving me, I didn't think it wise to rip it off and reattach.

The good news is she liked it!

Market Bag 3.0

The next generation of market bags! This one was made per special request for a friend's sister who is entering Portland State University. I made it in the university's colors without being overly school spirited. I wanted it to be more, "Hey, did you know your bag matches the school's colors..." instead of, "Wow, you must go to PSU!" ...

This bag has one big pocket on the side with a velcro closure and decorative button. Like the others, it's reversible!

I've been playing around with a new(ish) lens for my camera. It only has a manual focus so it's forcing me to practice... these photos are still on the blurry side! Oops!

Lemon Squeeze Apron

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and it bounces around mercilessly. Driving home from Seattle I just had to make Ann an apron with lemons on it! I'm missing her future bridal shower and wanted to still do something for her because shhh... she's actually a really great friend. (Just don't tell her I said that, please!).

The next day I was able to make it to the fabric store to snag the fabric I had in mind. She said her favorite color was yellow so...

I went back to basics with this apron because I've been strapped for time lately. The one change I did make was doing pleats across the front instead of gathering. I like this change a lot. It takes a bit more time to set up... but the actual sewing part is a lot easier. I think it also gives it a nice crisp look as well... just ignore the wrinkles in the photos.

Saucy Mermaids

I'm still having a hard time purchasing items off of registries. I totally understand the concept... but it's just not very fun! For my friend Liz's bridal shower, I told her in advance not to expect a registry gift. Luckily, that was ok with her (at least she said so!).

But really, she received some saucy mermaid dish towels... and that's just not something you can find at Macy's!

These were really fun to embroider but took FOREVER! Luckily, I had 30 Rock on Netlix Instant Play to get me through. Originally the plan was to make 7 towels, one of each day of the week. However, it turned out I only had enough material for 5 towels (I made those too!) ... and only actually liked 5 of the transfers.

My favorite is the little lady trapped in the net.

Apron Swap '09 Part 2

Now to reveal the apron Taune made for me...

It was with much anticipation that I waited for Taune's package to arrive. She previously told me that she had found an apron that "looked like" me. I just couldn't to see what I would look like in apron form!

Turns out, I'm a pretty cute apron.

I absolutely love the giant ric-rac and huge buttons. The fabric she found at an antique shop and reminds me of Easter (in a good way).

A very perfect apron!

Thank you, Taune!

Apron Swap '09 Part 1

And she's back with the sewing... A few months back, my friend Taune came for a visit and pitched a wonderful idea. What if we each made an apron for the other? We decided to mail the aprons on the last day of June. And oh good golly... I love the apron she made me. But first I'm going to show you the apron I made for her.

As previously mentioned, Taune loves the woodland creatures. While browsing at Bolt one day, I found the perfect fabric in the remnants bin. Squirrels, and birds, and mushrooms!

I already knew that I wanted to make a smock type apron and decided upon the Lilly Apron from Busy Bee Quilt Designs. The pattern was very simple to follow, although at times I did a few steps out of order. It just made more sense to me that way.

For some odd reason, I was having trouble with the tension while sewing the bits to make the apron gather at the chest. After 3 attempts and no luck, I decided to make pleats instead... which I quite liked.

Because I was a bit short on fabric, I used gingham for the ties. I felt like the pockets were a bit plain, so I added gingham there as well.

It's a pretty good tree climbing apron... but I bet you could wear it for baking and stuff.

"Nothing really changes..."

Part of our dinner conversation tonight and only loosely related to this (finally sewing-free) post. A friend (and former market bag model) has a birthday tomorrow... so we celebrated tonight by making a delicious dinner.

The recipe for the main course is Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad from 101 Cookbooks. Pretty tasty. The only change we made was adding a few teaspoons of sugar to counter the strong vinegar flavor. Teamwork tastes pretty good.

For dessert I baked a mini birthday Housewifery-Out-of-Control Pie, my favorite pie flavor. The original post about it is here, in case you missed it last summer. Thanks to my mom for offering up some fresh picked raspberries today.

Happy Birthday, Darby!

Market Bag 2.0

The sewing machine has been smoking over here... but gifts needed to be gifted before the sharing could ensue. I decided the market bags I made before (and loved) could be just a bit more lovable if only they had pockets.

This was my first attempt and I was working with a bit less fabric that I would have liked. I made each pocket into two in order to create spaces a cell phone wouldn't get lost in.

Happy Birthday, Julie!

Summer in Pictures

I started a little photo project for the summer. Taking a picture a day for each day of summer, beginning the day after school let out. Here are a few so far:

The rest are here.