Back to the Future Wednesday

"Children will not remember you for the material things that you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them."
~Richard L. Evans

This year for Christmas, based on a tradition Gwen has for her nieces and nephews, I decided to take my niece who's 9 and my nephew who's 11 fabric shopping as part of their Christmas present. I told them that I wanted to make them pjs and they could pick out whatever fabric and basic design that they liked. My niece desperately wanted footie pajamas, but I was unsuccessful at finding a footie pj pattern during our shopping trip, so she settled for a nightgown and we chose this pattern:

As you may or may not remember, this is the pattern from which I made my twin nieces pjs, so I already have some familiarity with the pattern! Score! But this time I get to make the gown instead of the two pieces. For her fabric, she fell in love with this very fun, very fishy seersucker fabric.
My nephew wanted a short sleeve t-shirt pj, so we picked this pattern for him:

and he was instantly drawn to these two simpsons cotton prints. He wants the bottoms made out of the blue "I didn't do it" fabric. For the top he chose the fabric on the right called "Where's Bart" and much like "Where's Waldo" you search for Bart amongst all of the other Simpsons characters. My nephew just thought that was so totally awesome and was very excited about his pjs!


I have a few other things to finish before I get to these pjs, like my mom's outfit, and my Dad's and B's ties, but since the present was the afternoon out with me and the purchase of the fabric there's no real hurry to get them done. Though they are definitely marked high on the priority list.

Back to the Future Wednesday

"America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people."
~Gloria Steinem


I really really really LOVE these pincushions:


by Betz White. I need to buy her book, Warm Fuzzies and make them. They're made from old sweaters which is what gives them that neat texture. The only problem is that when I moved to Florida from Reno, I decided I didn't really have any need for sweaters anymore so I gave all mine away. Sigh... That's ok though, I'm still keeping them in the back of my mind as a future project. They're just so cute and sweet!

Back to the Future Wednesday

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
~John Lennon

Ok so I'm starting to run out of future project plans. :) I'm not completing them fast enough to get more added on.

Though I guess the project that is most looming that I haven't talked about yet is an ornament for the bloggers ornament exchange that I'm taking part in. I'm still in the design stage and haven't really settled on anything yet, but I have a few ideas, and have made a few prototypes.

I implore you, though, if you know of any cute handmade Christmas ornament tutorials, I'd be interested in seeing them. :)

Back to the Future Wednesday

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
~Albert Schweitzer

This week's featured future project is Simplicity 9004



I want to try my hand at a non-garment sewing project, so this looks like lots of fun, for me to make and for my kitties to enjoy. I can't decide which one to make. I'm torn between the fish because, well, it's just super adorable, and the tent because then I could use a kitty print fabric.

I want to mention that these projects that I'm featuring on Back to the Future Wednsesdays are projects that I actually plan on getting to relatively soon, and pretty much in the order I'm presenting them. This may be one though, that I'll work on a little throughout to help alleviate the frustration I can only imagine will come with this project. :) I'll keep you updated once I choose which to make and once I have the fabric for it!

Back to the Future Wednesday

"I've found that you don't need to wear a necktie if you can hit."
~Ted Williams, American baseball player

This week's featured future projects are the ties for B and my Dad (since neither one of them can hit). If you recall I'll be using this fabric for my Dad and making it as a Christmas present

and this fabric for B as his souvenir from NYC, albeit a few months after I actually returned.

I bought this pattern to use.

The tie seems fairly simple and straightforward, and it seems like they'll be really fun to make. Though this is my first time working with fairly expensive fabric, so I'm a little nervous about cutting into it.

Go Rays!

Past project Wednesday becomes Back to the Future Wednesday

Well I've now gotten my blog up to date on all my past projects, so past project Wednesday is now converted to Back to the Future Wednesday where I will report on the projects I have lined up and/or need to get to.

Next on my list is an outfit I'm making for my mother, she picked out Simplicity 4193 for me to make her the skirt and the jacket as a Christmas present.

She's coming to visit the second week of November, so while she's here we will go shopping for the fashion fabric and hopefully I will have a muslin version ready for a fitting. I think she's a brave woman agreeing to this considering these will be my first adult pieces of clothing to sew. :-O

Though she may not have actually realized this yet.

Fabric Stash

Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique.
~anonymous

Whilst in New York I did a bit of fabric shopping. Here are my finds:

• 2 tie silks.

1 for B as his souvenir from NYC and the other for my dad. I let B pick the one he liked. So he'll get a tie out of this



and my Dad will get a tie out of this for Christmas.

• 2 silks

along with this pattern for...drumroll....me!


This will be my first sewing project for myself. My friend Natalie assisted in the selection of the material, and I have to say she did quite a fabulous job. The pink silk matches the flowers in the print perfectly. So eventually I will have a nice print skirt and solid top for myself. I'm rather excited about this prospect.

• a fun polka dot print (not sure what the material is, perhaps rayon?)

I don't know what I'm going to do with it just yet, but I'm sure I'll figure out something.

• and finally this cotton print for my nieces.

I really debated on this one. I fell in love with it in the store, but it's so summery and with winter coming I knew I'd need to wait to make anything out of it until at least next spring to be sure that it will fit them (since they're growing like weeds). But I went ahead and bought it and I have to say I'm quite satisfied that I did. It's probably my favorite of all my purchases from New York. Now I have quite a queue built up. I guess I better get busy! :)