It seems like lots of friends and co-workers are having babies these days.

Two girlfriends of mine have babies who are less than a year old.

Being a fan of Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing,

I recently purchased another of her books: Simple Sewing For Baby.

So far I’m loving it!

It’s filled with projects that are practical and fun.

Some of the more whimsical items may not match your personal esthetic,

but they could be easily modified to “make them your own”.

The first project I tried from the book was the Tag Blankie.

And I’m so happy with how they turned out!

It was fun to choose fabric and then ribbons to match.

The sewing was very easy.

This one is for little Robyn.

I double stitched the edges to make sure those tags stay on.

And this one is for little Mylo.

I hope he likes robots (as much as I do)!

I washed both blankies together on gentle with woolite, tossed them in the dryer and they both came out looking great! This is a wonderful project because these sew up very quickly (and isn’t it satisfying to start and finish a project in the same day?), and they make a lovely handmade gift for a friend, or your own little bundle of joy.  I’m also proud to say that I had ALL the supplies on hand to make these – no trip to the fabric shop was needed.  I’ve been saving scraps of ribbon in the hopes of finding a project to use them for and this worked perfectly.  I used satin-y ribbon scraps that I hadn’t washed before – and they came out of the washer/dryer just fine.

My next Lotta project will be the Soft Rattle toy.  Again, I’m going to only use materials that I have on hand.  I’ve already had a learning experience washing cotton velveteen to use for this project.  I was very nervous about how to go about washing/drying it, as I have very limited experience (ie: none) with this material.  But you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss.  I just stitched up the raw edges and threw it in the washer, then dryer, and to my delight – it came out looking better than when it went in.

I’ll let you know how those rattles turn out!

____________________________________

Have you tried any new projects lately?

Experimented with a new material or technique?

Tell me about it!  : )

Cheers – Jenn : )

So, what’s been going on with those Japanese fabric scraps I blogged about awhile ago?

Well….

I got out my favorite Clover pins.

(Technically these are for light/sheer fabrics,

but I’ve used them for many fabric weights.

You can buy them on Superbuzzy, but I’ve also found them at Joann’s.)

Did a little chain sewing…

…see how you can save thread if you’re

sewing lots of pieces together at once?

Gave them a good ironing with my Clover Iron.

(Also purchased at Joann’s.)

Stitched them all together with a bit of linen in the center.

Ironed on a little teapot sketch.

Got out my smallest embroidery hoop.

And embroidered this steamy little fella.

Time for a tea break!

Be back soon with the finished piece!

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Wow – this week seems to be flying by.  It’s already half over, tonight is a new Lost episode, and somebody will be leaving American Idol.  Whew!

Josh and I took a trip over to Bainbridge Island Wa this past weekend.  We lucked out and had a very sunny day.  We took the car over on the ferry and visited new friends at their beautiful home.  It was such a nice day trip – I’d like to go back again soon and visit all the little shops there.

I was so preoccupied with the gorgeous weather and our new friends that I forgot to take any photos while we were there.  But I did get this one of Josh on the ferry.  Can you tell we were having a great day? : )

_______________________________________________________________

I want to send out a big thank you to Liz over at LavenderLizard for including my little orange needlebook in her latest blog post.  Thank you, Liz!  If you love great Etsy finds like I do – I hope you’ll take a gander at Liz’s fun collection.

_______________________________________________________________

This morning I did a big shop update…well, big for me anyway. : )

I’ve got a brand new Project Tote.

And a matching needlebook.

And something a little different…

The other day I made up this tasket prototype.  This one is quite a bit bigger than my usual taskets.  I used linen (reinforced with fusible fleece) and this new Japanese canvas I just got from Superbuzzy.  Over all I’m very happy with how this new design turned out.  I think there’ll be some larger taskets in the shop soon.

This one does have some slight puckering of the lining at the back, but all-in-all it’s sturdy, roomy and cute.

Since it’s a prototype, I’m offering it at the same price as the smaller version, even though it’s quite a bit bigger.

So if you like a good sale and need a cute place to store some fabric bundles, knitting supplies etc… I hope you’ll give this tasket a home!

Sold – and on it’s way to NV.

Have a great day, everybody!

Jenn : )

Here’s a sewing project that I finished recently.

This Project Tote was a special custom order,

made for a young lady who is learning to sew.

She named the little monkey on the front “Banana” – isn’t that cute?

I’m so happy that she likes it!

Jenn : D

The following is a public service announcement for all of you who sew!

I do all of my sewing on a Bernina Activa 240. Not too long ago I learned an important lesson about using the walking foot while doing stitches that require alot of forwards and backwards movement. In a nutshell: DON’T. I learned this lesson after breaking several needles mid stitch… which, for those of you who’ve never had this experience, can ruin an otherwise pleasant day. Imagine sewing along, building up speed, when all of a sudden there’s an eardrum splitting screech and flying metal. One experience like that and washing dishes starts to look like fun.

About a week ago I got yet another lesson about the walking foot.

And hopefully, this will be the last one.

I was having a heck of a time with my stitches.

They would look alright on one side (either the front or back)…

…and terrible on the other side.

I fiddled with the tension. I double checked to see if I’d forgotten how to thread the machine. I changed the needle. I gave Nina a good talking to. I even shook my fist! To no avail.

Finally, with a heavy heart I bundled Nina up and took her to the Bernina shop to see the repair person. When I got there I discovered that the issue wasn’t the tension at all. The problem was with the timing. Fortunately for me, some poor woman had been experiencing the same problem days before I did and because of her (she took her machine in 5 times before they figured out what was wrong), the folks at the shop had a solution for the timing issue.

My goal here is to save you the frustration of going through what I went through. This may not apply to all brands of machine or all styles of Bernina machines, but it’s something to keep in mind. Particularly if your walking foot is not built in and must be manually attached.

Each time the Activa 240 is switched on, the machine runs a mini diagnostic of itself, testing the needle and various parts to make sure that they move smoothly and correctly.

*Because of the way the walking foot is attached to the needle, the walking foot stops the needle from moving properly when the machine runs it’s start up diagnostic. Basically, if you start the machine with the walking foot attached, the needle isn’t able to move freely when the machine runs it’s diagnostic and eventually this will throw off the timing of the machine. To prevent this, do not start the machine with the walking foot attached. Either remove it when you are finished sewing, or remove it before you switch the machine on.*

I am so relieved to have discovered this!

I hope that Nina will not have to visit the repair person again until it’s time for her annual tune up.

And I hope that by posting this I help others prevent this unnecessary problem.

Happy sewing and creating to you all!

Jenn : )