I am an Awesome Seamstress

and by "awesome" I mean SO. NOT. awesome. 

Hear my tale of woe...

This weekend I finally had nothing pressing to do AND was in a highly motivated creative state.  This never happens!  The stars were aligned!  So off I go to JoAnn's fabrics to get fabric for the back of this quilt and also to get some fabric for a super fun pillow pattern I had. 

Well being the awesome seamstress I am, I had no measurements with me whatsoever.  So I eyeballed it.  I thought I knew how big my quilt was...and actually I WAS right, but I forgot that I had sewed some borders on it making it only this much bigger and therefore I needed this much more fabric than I ended up purchasing.  So I drive all the way back to JoAnn's to get a smidge more fabric. 

Feeling confident about my purchase and ready to sew, I lay out the backing of my quilt, iron it, and pin it in place.  I pull out the batting I purchased for the middle and of course, I bought the wrong size!!  The dimensions on the package are marked in inches and I guess my math totally failed me...well there's that and the fact that I didn't exactly know the dimensions of my quilt to begin with.  Lordy. 

At that point, there was no way I was driving back to JoAnn's a third time, so I decide to start my pillow instead.  I get to step one and OMG.  I can't cut the shapes she asks for out of the size fabric she told me to get!  I really, really tried hard to understand the pattern.  I mean, it wasn't difficult.  I could totally make the pillow if I HAD THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF FABRIC.  urg.  I think it was a typo. 

Forget it.  I'm making a neck pillow. 

And here it is.  The fruits of my creative weekend...

It's actually kinda cute huh?

Gift Card Cozies

So remember the Gift Card Cozies I was gonna make a few weekends ago??

Well...here they are! 

I whipped these little darlings up today...

Kinda cute, huh?

They would certainly jazz up an otherwise un-cute gift that's for sure ;)

Didn't Quite Make It In Time...

Yup.  

Halloween has come...and Halloween has gone...

...and my little ghost, my little 3.5 inches of felt, are totally still sitting here un-stitched.

 

I mean seriously, I couldn't find 10 minutes to finish this little guy??  What have I been doing?!  OMG.  I suppose there's always next year...I now have exactly 364 days to get him completed.  

Lordy.

Back To School...

Well, summer is officially over.
*sigh*

I headed over to my classroom today to start getting things in order for the new school year. This first week before school begins is kinda bittersweet. It's always a bit of a downer to see summer come to an end, but at the same time, it's nice to get back to work and on a regular schedule...the start of a new year is always filled with energy and excitement and it's fun to be a part of that.

I thought I'd show a pic of the quilt I made years ago that hangs in my classroom.

I love it.

I just hung it up today to symbolically ring in the new year.

Also I found these and think they are the greatest back to school snack.

Ever.

I kinda want to make them for my kiddos. But being that I teach junior high school, I not only have like 180 kiddos, but also they are SOOO COOL and would probably not find edible crayons to be as cute as I do.

image credits: edible crayons by Gourmet Mom on-the-Go

Coupon Clutter

Every now and then...
(ok, ok, ok, very often)...
I get into CRAZY cleaner SUPER organization mode.

Today was one of those days.

Cleaned the apartment top to bottom...

weeeeeeell...I did skip over the dust collecting on my mini-blinds as that is the worst cleaning task EVER. But in exchange, I tackled the incredibly large pile of coupons sitting on my counter.
It needed to go.

STAT.

Sooooooo...

I made this:

to hold my coupons!! It's kinda fun...

p.s. these are seriously terrible photos...please disregard the quality :P

All Hemmed Up

In my opinion, getting a package in the mail is pretty much the best thing.

Ever.

Especially when said package contains a brand new pair of jeans.
Yep I finally found THE jeans and they arrived TODAY! *big smiles*
Really nothing compares to the look and feel of a new pair of jeans...the wash is just the perfect color and the crisp new denim hugs in all the right places...they are just perfect.

Well..................

almost.

It seems that jeans these days, are being made for extraordinarily tall people. I need to dramatically hem each and every pair. And at 5'6" I don't think I would be considered a short person. Anyways, the new jeans arrived today and they were waaaaaaay too long. Since I am heading out of town this weekend and want to bring them with me, there is no time to take them to the alterations place. So I decided to learn how to hem a pair of jeans on my own. I simply looked it up on the web and found this fabulous tutorial and well...........
hemming is like THE EASIEST thing!
I can't believe I've been paying someone else to do it for me all this time!
So my jeans are all hemmed and ready to go. Yay!
Here they are...and no, this pic isn't my actual pair, it's the image from the web of the same jean :)


Rock and Republic Kassandra Book Cut Jean

My Yoga Mat Has a Home Now...

As I was sitting in my yoga class this morning...totally focused on the zen of my being of course...I noticed that the gal in front of me had the most adorable bag for her yoga mat. In that instant I realized that I simply MUST have one too.

I'm a sucker for cute.

Well that, and the fact that I lug my mat around from class to class only to have it unravel completely in my arms in the middle of the gym while the studs on the stair climber smirk. Yes. This has indeed happened to me...

Hence this:



Yep. I whipped it up this afternoon and now my yoga mat has a snuggly home. *big smiles*
Say goodbye to those embarrassing moments of unravel!

I used this tutorial and it was really just the greatest. It's a video tutorial and the gals is completely entertaining!

Pretty excited to cruise in style to my next yoga class ;)

Scraptastic!

Is it normal to have bags and bags of fabric leftovers from projects of the past?? I certainly hope I am not the only one who holds onto the tiniest of scraps. I mean seriously, the fabrics are spilling out of the bags and slowly starting to take over my craft zone!

Well, as an attempt to clear out the wilderness that is my fabric stash as well as tidy up my craft zone, I thought I would make a little scrap quilt.

I made this today:



Unfortunately I am very much NOT a patient quilter...
I like to see results...
IMMEDIATELY...
so this quilt is kinda small (small = quick = immediate results = very happy sara)and being such, it barely made a dent in my stash of scrappy fabrics.
Dang it.
But it's super cute and that's really what matters ;)

Super Easy Pillow!

So I was feeling like my quilt needed a coordinating counterpart...a little something to make my living room a bit more matchy-matchy. Soooo...I made this today!





Too cute...and SO easy to make! I followed a simple tutorial (you can find it here) and it took me maybe a half hour...that's it! I love it!

Searching...

for the perfect tutorial/pattern for pj pants...

I want to start making clothes...well, start TRYING to make clothes that is...and I think pj pants are the perfect project to start with...

I would love to make something like these ones from Victoria's Secret...



It's gotta be easy. Do you have any recommendations??

image above: Woven Cotton Pant, by Victoria's Secret

I Whipped This Up Today...

So today I visited one of my most dear friends, Linn...check out her blog here...it's SO inspiring. Anyways she is pretty much the most amazing gal ever...she's super crafty and artistically talented and the greatest mom ever. I pretty much want to be her when I grow up.

Anyways, she is a quilter like me, however, her work is a hundred thousand times more awesome than mine. Well, today I was just so inspired by one of her recent quilts that on my way home I popped into the fabric store JUST to take a peek at some goodies she recommended and to get some inspiration...HOWEVER, 50-ish dollars later I walked out with a stash of totally fabulous fabrics to make a throw for my living room...I have no restraint when it comes to gorgeous fabric.

Anyways, this is what I whipped up today! :) It is just the quilt top...no borders or anything so it's still definitely in the works...but I love it already! And as per usual, the colors are so not reflected accurately in this terrible photo...a photography class is on the books for next month ;)



So the eight other projects I have in the works are now taking a back seat to this one because it's my favorite of them all. Maybe I will actually focus and finish something in a timely manner for once! Ha!

Enjoy your day! It's beautiful here in Sunny So. Cal!

I Passed!!!

PHEW! I just passed the digital designer certification test for the course I took over at JessicaSprague.com. I am SO thrilled to have that behind me. The perfectionist in me kinda wishes I did a bit better, but some of the questions/answer choices were kinda written in a way that was a bit confusing...and I swear I marked the correct answer for a few and it didn't record...but that's ok. I got a passing score and am just thrilled with everything I learned :) I might start posting some things I make as freebies for you to enjoy! I would so love to see if you love them! But first I have to get my brand and logo figured out...we worked on that in the class but I think I want to change it again...decisions decisions...

On to other news...I can barely walk today. I've started up my yoga practice again and HELLO????? it can really be a tough workout...you can totally break a serious sweat doing yoga...I feel a bit more bendy-flexy too...I like that. I've been running a lot too this week so with those two workouts combined my muscles are in shock (but hopefully they are getting super toned too! I am noticing that as I get older it's a bit more challenging to keep things in shape :P )

Anyways, on to other topics...I finished this baby blanket and think it's pretty adorable. I made it from the scaps that were left over from a bunch of burp cloths I made...I came THIS CLOSE (imagine I am holding my thumb and forefinger super close together) to running out of fabric for the borders...I had to get really creative...but I think it turned out pretty cute. There are little buttons and bows on the two corners not pictured...hmmmm...I should have staged this photo a bit better :P

So Many Baby Showers...

I've been in twelve weddings...yes I did say TWELVE :)
and yes, I do have quite the collection of bridesmaid dresses...
But really I loved being a bridesmaid...it's kinda like you're a celebrity at the wedding. People notice you, you get special treatment, excellent view of the ceremony...it's cool. I used to have a hard time with the bridesmaid thing, since I haven't had a wedding of my own yet, but I have learned over the years that it is the BIGGEST compliment ever! Your friends chose you to stand beside them as they began a new chapter in their lives. That's very cool.

Well here we are today and it now seems that all those lovely marriages are moving into the next phase of life...they are all having babies! Oh too cute!
Well, I have a few goodies that I always make for the new mommies and babies. I currently have 3 baby showers on the books for the next few weeks so I need to hustle and get these gifts completed. I love to make baby burp cloths and draw name illustrations (if I know the name of the little one). Anyways, I am SO excited about the burp cloths I am making right now because I found THE CUTEST fabric ever. Check it out...



SO.
CUTE.
RIGHT??! (ok they may not look so cute in this terrible photo, but they are cute for reals)

When completed, they will turn out looking something like these ones here...



Anyways, I need to make eight of them and I only have four partially completed...guess I know how I am spending my next few days...

Hope you are having a lovely end to your weekend!