A different kind of stitching

Hey, did you notice my new button?  It's over there, on the right.  That's it :)  I'm taking the Kids Clothes Week Challenge!

I've never sewn any clothes for my kiddos, it's one of those To Do's that haven't made it off the list.  I'd like to make something for each of my boys as well as my goddaughter.

I don't have any definite plans yet, but these fabrics have been hanging around with no purpose for a long time now:

The top fabric is a paisley I-forget-what -it -is-called, the pink floral is seersucker I think, and the red on bottom is corduroy.

And from my garden:

I'm so thrilled my daffodils are blooming!!!  I'd cut some to share with you if I could, but we will just have to settle for virtual flower sharing, won't we?  These are new to my garden this spring.  My Mother-in-law shared some bulbs she divided last fall.  They were originally planted around the family farmhouse decades ago by my husband's step-grandmother.  I like having flowers blooming in my garden that have a family history.  :)

Easter sewing

Look what bloomed while I was out to Easter lunch Sunday :)

What do you cook for your in-laws, or company in general?  I have a habit of cooking something new, something I've never tried before.  Sometimes it is a total flop. But even when it isn't, an unfamiliar recipe under pressure can be stressful, you know?  I usually kick myself a dozen times over and vow not to put myself through that again.  And then I do.  I suppose the reason I search out new foods for special occasions is that our usual fare is rather dull.  I have better odds of getting dinner into the kids if it is simple food.  :)

Well, this weekend I did kind of the same thing, but in front of my sewing machine instead of the stovetop.  You see, I decided to bring a hostess gift for my Sister-in-law to Easter lunch.  Instead of flowers, I decided to sew her a little zippered pouch. 

I'd never sewn one before,  or any zipper at all.  I bought the fabric and zipper Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday morning sewing.  This is what I came up with:

It turned out fairly well I think, although I had my doubts for a little bit.  See, the directions called for a zipper foot, but somehow mine is missing.  I can't think what could have happened to it, I've never even used it.  So I made do with my walking foot, but the zipper pull knocked everything out of kilter when I had to stitch beside it.

I had a teensy bit of trouble when I didn't follow directions, and used too small a seam allowance.  Oops.

The corners on either side of the zipper are a bit odd.  There were openings on both sides of the zipper, because of the wrong seam allowance, that I had to hand stitch closed.  Oh, well, my sister-in-law liked it, and I'm planning to give it another go when I locate my zipper foot.  And I'll follow directions this time :)  If you're interested, I used a tutorial from Kelbysews.  And just to be clear, all problems I had were my own creation, the tutorial was great.

I love this picture :)
As for Easter lunch, I decided to ask the kids what they wanted me to bring - corn on the cob and ants on a log.  Nice and simple.  :) 

Happy Easter!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter celebration with friends and family today :)  My three boys got up to go to Sunrise Services with me, then on to breakfast at church.  I didn't forcibly drag them out of bed either, they wanted to go.  Can't tell you how happy that makes me :)   The sunrise was beautiful (my boys loved the colorful sunrise as much as I did, enjoying it with them was well worth the loss of sleep), breakfast was yummy.

I had planned to have a picture of some lovely flowers for today's post, but I just don't have any.  There are buds, but no flowers in the garden, and my Easter Lily hasn't bloomed yet.  Oh well, that just means I'll have it long after today, right? :)   But I couldn't let a lack of flowers stop me from wishing you and your family a joyous Easter.   *Happy Easter!*  :)

Adding Toto to the list...

My Aunt bought these fabrics as part of a kit, but decided she wasn't going to make the quilt, so she gave it to me.  Wasn't that sweet?  Nothing has been cut so technically this isn't one of my UFO's yet, but Mr. 7 has already claimed it, so I'll probably start working on it soon.  He likes the Toto fabric that is for the backing. He likes anything with dogs actually  :)

Now, back to the coffee talk

Yesterday I showed what I've done so far on a coffee cozy/mug rug set for my cousin.  Here is the set for my grandmother (still in progress):

That's the backing on the left, front on the right.  I've had a fat quarter of the Hydrangea & Raspberry print in my stash just waiting for the right project to show it off.  I don't think I would have ever thought to put Hydrangeas and Raspberries together, but it works somehow :)  The whole fabric has a shimmer that you can't see in the photo.  I'm planning to bring the backing around to the front to bind the mug rug.

I need to get a cup of coffee so we can have a fitting session before the button gets stitched.  Looks like tomorrow I'll be making a trip to my favorite coffee stand, Aroma Joe's  ;)

I. love. this. button.

I hope you are enjoying your stitching as much as I'm enjoying this project :)
Happy Springtime!
edited to say I am linking this post to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

This is what the best dressed cups of coffee are wearing ;)

I've been working on coffee cozys and mug rugs lately, one matching set for a cousin's birthday and another for my grandmother, just because.  I used a tutorial from house on hill road for the cozys, but did my own thing for the mug rugs.

This is the front of the mugrug for my cousin. I used Fairy Frosts and gold etched fabrics, and tried improv piecing for the first time.  It is still waiting for binding, but here is the back:

the finished coffee cozy:

I like this button bunches.  It is wonderfully sparkly and pretty, but my poor photo doesn't show it off well.

I have more to show you, but this post already has plenty of photos, so I'll leave the rest until another day.

Anyone for a cup of coffee?

today was about...

rain boots, mud puddles, homemade doughnuts, and planting seeds with my boys.  :)

Stitching Again

Hello!  Wow, I can't believe how long its been since I had anything to share with you.  I haven't touched my quilting for a couple weeks, just too busy with life, you know?

Well, today I did something I don't normally like to do: I let the boys play Nintendo for recess so I could sew uninterupted.  Hey, desperate times and all that :)

Hopefully I'll have more to share with you later this week. 
Happy Springtime!