Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas PJ Pants

Merry Christmas!  It has been 3 years since I've sewed a pile of PJ pants for Christmas presents.  Most of the flannel I picked out was in my queue for PJ pants for 2 Christmases ago!  It feels good to get a bunch done again.  

For this batch, I made 5 pairs.  I'm making 11 in total this year.  Including one for me!  I only had to buy flannel for 3 pairs this year.  The rest had been bought 2 years ago.  And this pink Snoopy flannel was in my stash.  I made my mom a pair out of this ages ago, and it must've been on sale, because after another pair, I still have a bunch left!  These are for Allee, my 14-year-old friend who loves to sew.  She saw this in my sewing room and requested a pair of PJ pants.
 This funky neon animal print is for my brother's girlfriend, Elisha.  This was one of the 3 flannels that I bought.  I found this at Fabricland.  Isn't it awesome?  I knew she loved animal prints.
 I made 2 pairs of these camouflage pants.  One for my dad, one for my husband.  
 And these Homer Simpson pants are for my husband.  He loves the Simpsons.  I honestly can't remember where I found this flannel.  Isn't it awesome?
Allee got her pants and posted this on Facebook for me.  She says they fit perfectly and they're her new favourite pyjamas!  I always love hearing that!
 Elisha absolutely loves her pants!  She wore them to bed Christmas Eve (we had a sleepover at our grandparents' house), and all day Christmas day.  They fit perfectly!
It's nice for me to see the pants on people.  It  confirms for me that the patterns I use fit really well.  The pants I make for myself are from a different pattern, so I'm glad to see that other bodies fit in them.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

I'm not dead!! And on that note, Merry Christmas!!

This year has been full of challenges, so I haven't been sewing much.  Over the past few weeks, I've managed to finally get back into my sewing room, and the sewing bug is biting me!  I have 7 pairs of PJ pants cut out already, and have lots of Christmas sewing to do, plus some new stuff for myself.  It has been way too long (Feb/Mar 2012) since I made a garment for myself.  I'm ready for some new duds.
 This flannel is for my PJ pants.  Technically, it's the only flannel I can show you, as the rest is all for Christmas!
A few weeks ago, as a quick and easy new project to make to get my sewing mojo flowing, I decided to make a bag/purse.  The pattern is McCall's 4851.
Sewing it up was easy enough, although it turned out a lot bigger than I had anticipated!  You can fit a whole binder in the bottom of it!  And since it has cardboard in it to keep its shape, it sticks out a lot when carrying it.  It's okay for stuff when you need a lot of space (a weekend bag, perhaps?), but I took it to West Edmonton Mall during a crazy-busy weekend to go shopping, and all it did was get in my way.  
I'm not much of a purse person to begin with.  Any chance I get, I'll downsize and stick my wallet, phone, and lip balm in my coat pockets and leave the purse behind.
Anways, even though it's too big, I'm sure it'll come in handy.  It's fun and colourful and cute, and I enjoyed the simplicity of sewing it together.
I hope to have lots more to share with you in the coming weeks.  It's good to be back in the blogosphere!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Kimmi came to visit! Sewing Night - Apr 24 2013

My cousin Kimmi came out this past week from Manitoba to visit our Grandparents.  I did my darndest to wrangle up as many peeps as I could for sewing night this week, and they all came through!  We were only missing 2.  Not bad!
I found a pattern for making stuffed letter pillows, and Emily started working on a couple letters from her name.  Avril is giving her some guidance.
 Benita came tonight!  As always, she is the life of the party, and Kimmi got a "taste" of her craziness.
 Of course, Avril was all up in that.  :D  These two...honestly.  LOL
 Nadine was as industrious as ever, and I helped her hem the armholes of some sweaters to make them sleeveless.  She's full of great ideas!  How she ended up not being in a picture tonight, I don't know!
 Avril recently went shopping at Quiltessential in St Albert, and she brought her new stash and did some brainstorming.  She doesn't use patterns; she lets the fabric tell her what it wants to become, and she creates them into stunning works of art.  Benita is learning "the process".
 Avril is showing the girls the pressing technique she shared with me at the upholstery shop this week.  We don't have an iron at the shop, so when we occasionally have to press something, we get creative.  This is the method of turning your seam nice and flat, and rubbing it against a sharp corner.  Works like a charm!
 Avril's idea is starting to come together!
 And after a long, hard night of sewing, we started doing our nails.  Benita actually got some tools out and glued some nails on.
 I was thrilled to finally be able to paint my nails after many weeks of seeing them bare.
 Aren't we just the cutest?
I'm so glad we got to show Kimmy one of our busy, fun sewing nights!

Quilting Bee at Church - April 13 2013

We had another quilting bee at church to make blankets to send to Mexico.  
 I had Allee for the weekend and brought her along.  Our fingers got a good workout, and she got lots of practice using pins and needles.
 There weren't as many of us as there were in January, but we still had lots of fun, and managed to finish 8 quilts!  I think we're getting faster!
 Allee did great, and everyone loved her.  They told me to bring her back next month!

Sewing Night - March 27 & April 17

 The last few sewing nights have been fairly quiet.  We've had a small handful each week, and we've been plugging away, working on repairs and various small projects.
 The week leading up to Easter, Emily wanted to make some stuffed bunnies.  I remembered there was a bunny pattern in one of my quilting books, so I got Mom to print me a copy of the pattern, and we attempted to make one.
 We sewed up the arms as legs as directed, but it was a bit tricky, because the body/head of the bunny is supposed to be at least twice this size.  It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to sew it all together!  Kinda makes me wish we still had that big old photocopier we had several years ago.  Oh well.  Our disproportioned bunny still looks kinda cute!
Allee has been sewing up a storm!  She decided she wanted to make PJ shorts, and I guided her through the first pair, and since then she's cut out and sewn 2 more!  She's a natural, and she absolutely loves it.  The fun part is, she doesn't like it when I "hover" when she's sitting at the machine.  She shoos me away, then totally gets into the zone.  I can't wait to see how she progresses!  The best part is, she's helping me get my sewing mojo back, because I'm realizing how quick and easy some of these projects are, and it just makes me want to whip out a pattern and make something!  

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sewing Night - March 20 2013

This week at Sewing Night, we had a bigger crowd than the past 3 weeks.  There were 7 of us in total.

For the first while, Sue, Allee, and I were the only ones.  While Sue and Allee cut out Allee's pink camo sweater, I showed them a few of the patterns I'm excited about.
 As of tonight, all the pieces for Allee's sweater are cut out.  We forgot to cut 4 pieces for the shawl collar, so we had to piece the last 2 together to get it out of the scraps we had left.
Allee worked on a few more seams, and she got her patch pockets sewn onto the front.  She also got one of her sleeves sewn in!  I don't have a picture of Allee, because she was the photographer tonight.
 When Nadine and Emily arrived, they asked me to hem Emily's snow pants, because the bottom 2 inches were getting torn.  I did the snow pants, and Nadine was a busy bee and fixed 2 other projects!
 Benita graced us with her presence, and I was thrilled to watch her show Emily how to run a sewing machine.  Emily is only 8, and I'm excited to watch her learn to sew.  She also cut out the fabric for 2 stuffed Easter eggs.  I helped her pin them, and encouraged her to sew them at home, with her mom's help.  
 Surprisingly, there were no shenanigans tonight!  We were all working our tails off!  At the end of the night, we were all busy.  Benita and Nadine were working furiously on their projects, Emily was cutting out her eggs, and I was hemming a quilt from my church quilting bee back in January.
It was a very productive night!  Corrin also showed up for 15 minutes to visit and give hugs.  We all hug each other every time we leave sewing night.  It's one of my favourite things about this wonderful night.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Sewing Night - Feb 27, Mar 6, Mar 13 2013

The last few sewing nights have been more quiet.  Feb 27, we had a decent sized crowds, but the shenanigans were kept to a minimum.  Perhaps it was because a couple of the "trouble-makers" were away.  In any case, we had a great night.  

Tara (she's coming soon, but you haven't met her yet; she works at the upholstery shop with us.) donated a bag of old jeans to be cut into squares for rag quilts.  Emma had to check that out right away.
She fell in love.  Cats are so funny.
They finally got some pictures of me!  Here I am enjoying freshly mixed iced tea, and making a goofy face that turned out hilarious!  :D
Fast forward to Mar 6.  It was a very quiet night.  Only Corrin came, after her yoga class.  I took advantage of the quiet and finished 2 repair jobs, and started working on my beach dress for my birthday party on March 16.  I'm having a beach party instead of a St Patty's Day party this year.
This is one of the half a dozen maxi dress patterns I bought last year.  I was really hoping I had more fabric, but alas, I have to settle for the short version.  Oh well.  It'll be cute, too.
I got it laid out and pinned, ready for the scissors next week.
And on March 13, I did get it cut out.  I also got to coach Allee again.  She came to the shop for the day, and practiced sewing on the industrial machine.  This girl has natural sewing talent!  I can't wait to watch her hone her skills.
 She's making a sweater out of this pink camouflage fleece.  She got all the primary seams sewn, serged, and pressed.  Next week, we'll conquer the sleeves, cuffs, shawl collar, pockets, and bottom band.  It reminds me how easy fleece is to work with.  It's about time I make myself another Jalie hoodie, I think!
It was another quiet night.  For the first half of the evening, Allee and her mom, Sue, hung out with me, and later, Corrin came.  She brought cake, since it's my birthday week.  Aw!  She's such a sweetie.

I will take lots of pictures share a post about my beach birthday party, and my beach dress.  Stay tuned!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sewing Night - Feb 20 2013

We had another big crowd at sewing night!  We're starting to get more organized now.  At least we're not letting the food take over the cutting table!  Took us about a month to figure that out!  LOL
We had a lovely variety of snacks, including some delicious leftover Valentine's Day treats, and some healthy stuff like fruit and veggies and rice cakes.  Later on, Benita brought Spinach Dip in a bread bowl, and fresh bread to dip it in!  Yummy!
I cleaned the table off shortly after this photo was taken, and I'm happy to stay it's still clean!  And finally being used for productive purposes!
I finally decided to give away my baby pink fleece sweater that I made years ago.  I came to the conclusion that it is never going to fit me just right, so I gave it to Allee, who was thrilled with it, and still has room to grow into it.  Her favourite colour is pink!  And isn't Emma looking absolutely adorable?  She's such a sucker for attention.
Sue fixed the bobbin case on my gifted Singer in a cabinet.  None of us could figure it out!  Thanks, Sue!
Nadine brought a pair of her son's pants to repair.  She's getting better!  All this practice is making a difference.  I'm happy to see her progress.  Great job, Nadine!
Some of the girls just come to visit.  That's okay, too!  Sometimes we need a break and just want to hang out.
Every week, there are some kind of shenanigans going on.  This week Avril was the instigator.  She decided to arm wrestle some of the girls.  Round 1: Avril vs. Benita.  
Round 2: Nadine vs. Benita.  Holy Cow, this girl is strong!  Poor Benita has been working out a ton, but she's still no match for Nadine.
Round 3: Nadine vs. Avril.  This was a close race, folks.  They both gave it their best shot and held on for a long while, but at the very last second, Avril came out as the champion.
And believe it or not, these two even started Indian leg wrestling!  I won't embarass them by posting the photos, but let me tell you, it was hilarious!  We have so much fun.  Who cares if we get any sewing done?!