31.5.10

Mending Week: Just Checking In

I've been making progress on my list and it feels good! One major accomplishment today was 'fixing' the rail on Zachary's crib. This crib has been through quite a few kids (my sister-in-law's four kids and two of mine.) Here it is before.



Pretty ugly, isn't it?

First I duct taped the ugly spot.



Then I covered it with a patchwork rail cover. Just like on my playpen. And I know, this isn't technically mending, but it certainly is a fix that I have been meaning to do for a long time.



And if you are wondering why my photos are blurry at times. This guy is quick! He's trying to attack the camera.

Mending Week: Ready, Set, Go!

Good morning!

Are you ready? Do you have your pile of mending sitting right beside your sewing machine? Needle threaded? It's Mending Week here at Making More with Less. We aim to get that mending pile out of the way (or at least most of it!)

For more information about Mending Week and what it's all about you can look at our original post.

You know what I just realized? I looked at a 2009 calendar when making the Mending Week button. It says June 1 - 6, but it's May 31 today. So, my apologies, but Mending Week starts today.

I've made a list, because I'm a list type of person. I like crossing things off.



Today I plan to plug away at this list amidst taking care of my children, housework, laundry and baking bread.

Now, over to Suzanne...

***
Wow!! That's a long list Alisa!  I hope you make some good headway on that this week!

Here's my list:

about 4 pairs of L's holey pants to make into shorts
T's pink shirt - fix seams that are coming out
2 pairs of L's "good" jeans with holes that need patches

make A's brown leggings into capri or short leggings
fix a stuffed animal with it's ear off

I think that's it.  Mostly bottoms as you can see and mostly our 6 year old sons!  He went through so many pants this year I finally figured out how to put a patch on (thanks to my SIL!) and I'll share that with you later this week.



PS Don't forget to email us with photos of any creative mending you've done so we can feature it here on the blog. Also, any links to mending tutorials would be welcome!

29.5.10

Old to New

Pillowcase to nightgown.



It took me 30 minutes and could have been faster with pre-made bias tape.



I didn't use a particular tutorial but there are many out there. Just google "Pillowcase Dress."



And doesn't she look adorable. Even though it's unseasonably cold right now she still wants to wear it. She says it's soooo comfortable.

Have a blessed Sunday. See you all Monday for Mending Week!

28.5.10

My Quilt Festival Quilt



I'm almost too late but here's my entry for the quilt festival! I wanted to blog about my first quilt I made but I can't seem to find the pictures anywhere. So those of you who've been around for a while would have seen this quilt but it is my favorite from last year.
It started 3 years ago when my sister and I were having a wonderful day out together as our family was visiting for a few weeks that summer. We were at Quilt Essential Fabrics in Abbotsford where they were having a sale and selling all there sample fabrics by the pound! We had so much fun pulling stuff outta there! So I had the fabrics in my stash and every once in a while I'd do this...
...with my little helper(s).  Then last fall I pulled them out again and started cutting and piecing.  I ended up using the "Lucky Stars" pattern from Atkinson Designs.  It's a great pattern and perfect for scraps.  It has become our Bright Quilt for the basement and sometimes a bed and it makes me very happy!

27.5.10

Mending Week

Do you have a stack of clothes that need mending? Holes in the knees, hems out, buttons off? Do you have a quilt that is ripped, or blinds that need a fix? What about clothing you've made that just needs a little this or that to make it work better? Would you rather sew something new and exciting than mend?

Join us for Mending Week here at Making More with Less!



Here's the plan for Mending Week:

1) Join us! Gather up all your mending and get to work. Mend or fix and then tell us about it. We'll have a Mr. Linky up on Thursday and you can link to your blog post or flickr photos from Thursday through Saturday.

2) Email us! If you've finished up some creative mending (past or present), we'd love to feature it here. Just email a photo and caption to gordandalisa at gmail dot com or email with a link to your blog.

3) Features! We'll be featuring some creative mending as well as a list of mending tutorials from all over.

4) Win! We have some great prizes for those who participate in Mending Week. Two winners will be drawn randomly from those who link up.

We have a couple of wonderful prizes thanks to two great sponsors.

First prize will be for a three-pattern package from Leila & Ben! The patterns are for crochet and sewing, designed by two moms (from Alberta, Canada.) The patterns are modern and simple. See?





They also offer a free pattern for a vest on their site which I would love to make for Zachary this coming fall. Adorable.

Our second prize is a charm pack from Above All Fabric. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to deal with Melanie at Above All Fabric. She goes above and beyond and answers email questions fast. Her online shop is great and she leans heavily toward the apparel end of sewing (rather than quilting) which I think is fun and refreshing. She has a ton of stuff on sale right now, but it ends very soon so get it now.

A charm pack is a great prize for Mending Week. Think patches. Fun! What would you pick?





So, is anyone else on board? Who wants to take care of that mending once and for all? (Yeah, we know. There will always be mending as long as we have kids around.) If you'd like to pass it around, please do! The more the merrier!

25.5.10

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2010





Some of you may have seen this quilt before, but it is one of my favourites so here it is again.

A friend of mine gave me a fat quarter pack of Momo's Wonderland, just because. It was a thank you for teaching her to quilt (a few years ago.) I had been drooling over the fabric for quite some time so it was a wonderful gift.



I used 7 fabrics from Wonderland by MoMo. I also used a linen that I've had in my stash since I was 18 (really 13 yrs! I bought it in Brazil.) As well, a repurposed cotton/linen dress shirt from Gord, a vintage fabric that I've had for a number of years and a brown cotton that is left over from another project. How's that for a mixture?

The quilt is now in the bottom of the playpen, which is in my living room. I see it all the time. It doesn't scream 'baby', but it's so child-friendly. Does that make any sense?



I also love the quilting on it. The piecing and the quilting was inspired by Red Pepper Quilts, but I can't find the actual quilt on a blog post.

I also made some rail covers that match.



Don't forget about Mending Week, coming up next week. More tomorrow.

23.5.10

Quilt Top, Victoria Day, Rotary Cutter

Hello there! Suzanne and I really enjoyed reading all 374 comments on our Giveaway Post. Yes, 374! There are alot of fabric lovers out there.

In reading the comments we noticed that:

a) You all like tutorials alot.
b) Many of you like photos of quilts.
c) Many of you also like our Thrifty Threads posts too. This makes us happy!

I've been working on a quilt top for my mom. I started making her star blocks last year in May (for Mother's Day actually.) I posted about them here with a tutorial on how to make them. Every couple of weeks (or months) I would give her a couple more. Sometimes I sent them in the mail. It was fun! She got quite a collection and then I took them back and put them together in a quilt top with a border around it. The top is together, but it may be a while before I get it quilted.




I showed it to her last week and she likes it. It will look even better when it is quilted, mom.

Tomorrow it is Victoria Day in Canada. For us, it means a day off and we are planning to head up to my brother-in-law's 'ranch' in Merrit. My kids were interested in what Victoria Day was all about so we looked it up in the World Book Encyclopedia. You know, the encyclopedias on the shelf, the book kind, not the online kind.

Victoria Day commemorates the birthday of Queen Victoria on May 24, 1819. The people of the Commonwealth Nations have always celebrated the birthday as a patriotic holiday. Did you know that Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne after her uncle, King William IV died? He had no heirs. She was only 19 years old when she began her reign and by my calculations, she reigned for 63 years. One more thing. She had 9 children. And, obviously, she was well-loved by the people if we celebrate her birthday every year.

Are there any Australians reading this? Do you celebrate Victoria Day tomorrow too? Just curious.

Has anyone had their child cut themselves on their rotary cutter? Melissa (7) just cut off the tip of her finger a few hours ago. My feelings were mixed between feeling horrible, guilty and angry (because she has been drilled about not touching my cutter and scissors.) Rotary cutters are sharp! And yes, the safety was on, but she can take it off, of course. She was showing her friend how it works. ( I wonder what her friend is going to tell her mom.)



And don't forget about Mending Week, next week. More on that in a couple of days.

20.5.10

And the winner is...

#102!!

Off I go to count... 

It's Addy who said... "I'd love to make a skirt just like yours!"
 
I don't think it's quite enough to make a skirt but hopefully it inspires you to make something else.  :)

Thanks to everyone who entered!  It was a lot of fun reading all the comments and we'd love to have some of participate in Mending Week!

19.5.10

Party Time!!

The giveaway post is here or scroll down a couple of posts. :)

I feel like I could have written Alisa's post from last week.  Life is busy here, the weather has been gloriously warm and we've been spending a lot of time outside.  A comment from our wonderful Mother from that post: 

"Time is like the rain. No one can buy it, no promise can bribe it and no device can produce it. Both are gifts of God and both are vital necessities if life is to continue."
 A saying I found in my stash.
Love mom 

Don't you think it's just great that she has a "stash" of sayings :)!  We love you Mom!

On to birthdays and parties... Our first three children are all born in the second half of May so it's a busy time of year!!  Anneke's was on Monday so this Friday is the first party.  It'll be combined with twin girls from her class so lots of girls and (hopefully) lots of fun!  I made these "Poochie Bags" using a tutorial from the Happy Zombie.  I left off the pockets and used just one fabric for the lining and outside.  I also did the "milk carton corners" after I had the whole bag together so the insides have little triangles.  To me they look just fine that way and in the second picture you'll find out why I made these shortcuts!  :)
Here they all are...

Anyone have an creative idea for a game that would involve picking a bag? I thought maybe just musical chairs and when they are "out" they get to pick a bag...
Any other ideas?

17.5.10

Mending Week

Looking for our giveaway? Scroll down to the next post or click here.

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Mending Week here at Making More with Less.



Mending Week you say? How can that be exciting?

Mending does not usually excite us. Making new things is much more exciting and that's why our mending sits around in piles for so long.

So we've dedicated a week to our mending and we thought you'd like to join us. We hope to mend and fix our way to the bottom of our piles. Along the way, we will showcase some of our own and some of your mending. And there may be a prize or two...

What constitutes mending? I'll give you an example of what is on my list...

Holey jeans - these will be made into shorts
Buttons needed (yeah, I'm that bad)
Roller Blinds that need fixing
Crib rail that needs fixing and covering
New cuffs needed on a sweatshirt
Shirt that needs hemming
and the list goes on...


Please feel free to copy our button and link to our blog to spread the word about Mending Week.

Are you an online fabric shop or etsy shop? Would you like to sponsor Mending Week by providing a prize? We would love that and will advertise your shop in exchange. Email Alisa for more information.

16.5.10

Giveaway Day! - CLOSED


http://www.sewmamasew.com/store/media/blog/giveaway_button_2010.jpg 
Sew, Mama, Sew is hosting another giveaway day!  Hello and welcome to our blog! 

Remember (or not if you're new here :)) this skirt I made?  Well I have more of the fabric but don't think I'll be making anything else with it so I'd love to pass it on to someone who will!  There's about 3/4 of a yard of the one and roughly a fat quarter of the other.  They are both from Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley collection.

For a chance to win have a look around and let us know what type of post interests you most.

Become a follower, leave a second comment letting us know, and you'll get a second entry!

We'll randomly pick a winner the evening of May 20th.

Also, stay tuned for "Mending Week" coming soon!  We'd love to have you join us in trying to make a "less fun" sewing task "more fun" (and it'll help us work through our piles before they get too big!)

13.5.10

Thank you all...

Thanks for all the words of encouragment and understanding about the auction quilt.

Just in case you are wondering, yes, I will make quilts to donate again! Of course. Donating a quilt is very different than an auction quilt. In this case I would have rather just donated the money (or more baking for the bake table.) I look forward to making baby quilts again for the pro-life society.

Two years ago I made a quilt for the auction with a friend of mine. It also didn't go for a terribly high amount. But, I really enjoyed collaberating with my friend. The making was fun! Here's the quilt.



It was all from scraps and stash fabric.



I don't know about you all, but this time of year seems to be b-u-s-y. We've been working outside in the yard planting some bedding plants, pots and baskets. And then there is trimming, weeding, digging, cleaning, painting and planting seeds. I love it! Then I have this problem in my mind. I would like my house cleaned, organized and dejunked before the kids are off for summer holidays. (So they can mess it all up again, right?) And then there are all the things I want to sew and make. Not enough hours in the day, that's for sure. Anyone want to sell me some?

10.5.10

My Happy Garden Baby Quilt

I used the Yellow Brick Road pattern to create a quilt for our school's silent auction.



I won a set of fat quarters about a year ago (and I can't remember where from and it's bothering me.)



It was fun to make a quilt with such an easy and familiar pattern (this is at least the fourth time making it.)



The fabric was wonderful to work with, very satiny. I backed it in a teal flannel.



The quilt didn't sell for very much. I'm not making a quilt again for an auction. Ever. Friends, remind me of this okay?

7.5.10

Baby boy coin quilt

I made this as a gift for friends who just had their 4th boy (they do have one girl sandwiched in the middle too). I used Amanda Jean's tutorial but made it a bit shorter and the sashing a little narrower.  I love how it turned out!
Lots of scraps used in this one :)  I had a bunch of extra rectangles that I added to the binding for fun too.
I quilted it with a loose all-over meander which looks okay but in hindsight I think straight lines would have looked better...
I'm linking up with amylouwho's Sew & Tell. Go on and check out all the wonderful craftiness!

6.5.10

Modern Meadow

A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway on Joel and Laurie Dewberry's blog.



A set of 10 fat quarters and a cute birdie! Thank you so much.



Now... what am I going to make with them? Quilt, patchwork skirt for one of my girls, patchwork skirt for me, totes....?

Any suggestions?

4.5.10

100

Our last post was our 100th! We've been having fun with our little blog, trying not to stress out over it and enjoying doing it together.

We thought we'd make a list for you...


100 Things about Alisa & Suzanne


I (Alisa) am going to start by telling you 50 things about Suzanne. I hope I can do this without giving too much away. (We're pretty close you know.)

1. Suzanne's middle name is Elizabeth.
2. She's named after both of her grandmothers.
3. They used the nice names for me so they fell back on family names. :-)
4. Suzanne is 28.
5. Her birthday is on March 26.
6. She got married on August 17.
7. She had her first baby on May 17. (You can do the math.)
8. Suzanne and Conrad have 4 children
9. 3 daughters and 1 son
10. They lived in London, ON for 6 years.
11. They've lived in the Alberta for nearly 2 years.
12. They are going to move to Chilliwack soon.
13. That last statement was wishful thinking.
14. Suzanne has 5 brothers and 2 sisters.
15. She is a great seamstress.
16. And a very good baker.
17. And a good wife.
18. And mother.
19. And sister.
20. She is a good friend to many.
21. She is always willing to lend a hand.
22. She listens.
23. We are planning to go camping together this summer for a week.
24. We are both looking forward to it very much.
25. If I was to pick a best friend it would be Suzanne.
26. Oh boy, this is getting harder now.
27. Suzanne can be stubborn.
28. She now has a daughter that can rival her for stubbornness.
29. Suzanne can cry easily.
30. Especially when she's pregnant.
31. She did not cry at Tom and Yvonne's wedding.
32. Until I got married, we always shared a room.
33. We didn't fight too often.
34. But I did beat her up a few times when we were kids.
35. It was her fault, of course.
36. We have a younger sister, Karen.
37. We were overjoyed when she was born.
38. We both love her very much too.
39. Suzanne loves chocolate.
40. She hides chocolate from her husband, because he likes it too.
41. Suzanne bakes her own bread.
42. She loves fabric.
43. She bought some when we were at Hamel's fabrics.
44. Suzanne is a giver.
45. She likes to make things and give them away.
46. Sometimes she gives fabric.
47. Suzanne has funny feet.
48. She likes reading.
49. But nothing gets done when she's into a good novel.
50. Suzanne desires to serve the Lord in everthing she does and encourages me to do so too. We have deep discussions about many things and that's what keeps us so close.

Phew, that was a bit harder than I thought. On to you Suzanne -

Alisa, Karen (sister) and Suzanne in the middle and
two Sister-in-laws on the sides.
Enjoying a very bonding trip to Hamels a couple of weeks ago!

Alright...now I get to tell you a little bit about Alisa. Here we go:

Alisa...
...is a daughter
...a sister
...a wife
...a mother
...a wonderful friend
...is the third child of eight
...is 3 ½ years older than me
...has been married for 10 years
...has 5 children
...3 girls and 2 boys
...Went to Brazil for 3 months after high school helping in a nursery for sick kids
...had bed bugs
...and a major sunburn.
...Just completed a 100 day diet...
...had no sugar or substitutes for the entire time...
...and lost over 40 lbs!!
...started going grey at 16 and is steadily getting greyer :-p
...has loved sewing as long as I can remember
...made her first “quilt” for me
...kindled in me the love a fabric, quilting and sewing
...that is now a full blown forest fire that I'm trying to control :)
...Is a laundry nut – always on top of it
...I wish I’d catch that!
...has the biggest laundry umbella I've ever seen
...and I wish I had one like it.
...cloth diapers her littlest (with some new, wonderful, one-size fuzzi-bunz)
...makes bread every Monday
...home schools her kids for Kindergarten
...loves scrappy quilts
...has blue eyes
...has had permed hair more often than not
...has taught a lot of people how to quilt over the years
...who now in turn are teaching others!
...talks on the phone to me at least 3 times a week
...encourages me and others
...loves the Lord with all her heart
...and leans on Him for strength every day
...is caring
...and kind
...loving
...and giving
...almost feels guilty gifting something that's not handmade
...this is hard
...stole lots of "us" tidbits in her 50 that I can't use
...that's why I'm not using numbers
...hoping you won't go back and count
...because I'm sure I'm short
...oh yea
...she's the oldest daughter but the shortest and...
...uses family names for her kids middle names

I think I made it!

We hope you enjoyed hearing a little more about us...what shocked you most??

If it was December...

...this would be beautiful

But it's not :-p

I'm sure it'll be gone in a day or two...sigh...

1.5.10

Thrifty Threads #14: Round Neck Top

I made this top for a little girl's birthday this past week. Deanna helped pick out the fabric from my stash and in an afternoon (with interuptions, of course) I had this cute little top sewn up. Fun!



I think I've made this top 5 times so far. I bought it from thatdarnkat's etsy shop. It has been worth every penny. I plan to use it again and lengthen it for a sundress for Deanna soon too.



The red polka dots have been in my stash for a very long time. The floral is a fabric I bought for $4/m (if that) a long time ago. I've used it in outfits for my girls, in a quilt and also for the backing of a table quilt. I have a wee bit left. And the buttons? They cost me a whole quarter at BFM Thrift Store.