Sewing makes me happy

I did most of my sewing when my oldest was a toddler and before the second became mobile.   I picked up crochet specifically because it was a more kid-friendly crafty venture.  Well, I tried knitting first and failed miserably at it.   But either way, crochet allows me to pick it up and put it down easily, I can do it in any room of the house, even outside while waiting for the school bus and watching a kid play bubbles in the yard.   But now that my kids are getting old enough to give me space to work with sharp objects and an iron, I am enjoying the venture back into sewing.

Little known fact, my first sewing project ever was a cloth diaper.   I will have to dig up some old pics of that bad boy!   Actually, it was the Honey Boy pattern that I taught myself to sew with.  Ahh...memories.

Anyway, back to today.  I made up 5 more of the gift card holders for my son's teachers.

He has some special needs, so I always appreciate any effort he puts into something like this, but he really worked hard drawing a picture for each individual teacher that we laminated and slid into the side of the pouch opposite the $tarbucks gift cards.

These are such a fun little project.  I have a bunch cut out, I might whip up a few more to have on hand for last minute gift ideas.    So quick and cute, too! Oh and I may have snagged one to use as my own little mini-wallet.

Next up, Pillow Case Dress PJs for the girls.  I had some cotton that I bought years ago thinking I'd make curtains, but it's so thin and sheer, I didn't think it would look good against a bright window.  So it seemed perfect to try my hand at pillow case dresses and use as lightweight nightgowns.

The hardest part was the ties.  Since I planned on washing these often, I decided to use fabric ties vs ribbon.   The woven one was fine, the knit one took forever to turn and my hands were both cramping.  

I tend to be a "cut-twice, curse often and measure after the fact" kinda sew-er.  So I was thrilled to see that the ties were actually the same size!

And then when I tried one on my older daughter (the one with the knitted waffle ties that took me sooo long to perfect) she hated them.  I was instructed to cut them off and add a button.   Well, I chopped and sewed to make straps (eyeballed, of course) that will hopefully please my uber-sensitive princess and the pea.

And finally, the one with the real ties.   Will hopefully get pics of both being modeled tomorrow night at bedtime!

And lest you think I have forgotten about my poor hooks, I have been crocheting up a storm.  A couple projects are gifts and cant be blogged yet, but I do have two My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic hats to show for my school break crafting madness.  I present Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, complete with cutie marks....

And in play:

Yeah, they aren't great, but I have 4 more ponies to perfect my craft.