Eat, Pray, Sew

Ever since I first saw Christy Turlington on the cover of Vogue (October 2002) I have wanted to learn yoga. However, being a very awkward and uncoordinated person I was convinced I could never muster the grace these yoga poses required. 8 years later I finally got up the nerve to attend a drop in yoga class, while I wasn't graceful I did manage to do most of the basic poses and best of all...I loved every minute of it! I left the class completely relaxed and content.

Later that day I contemplated the fact that I may have actually found a form of exercise I actually ENJOY. To celebrate I made myself a fancy shmancy yoga bag. I found the pattern on Amy Butler's website (it was free!). For the exterior of the bag I used a pint paisley print fabric. The interior is a burlap print cotton. I changed the pattern in a couple small ways: I didn't put pockets on the exterior and I added a drawstring.

Smelly Socks

I bought a new cell phone a couple months ago. Too poor to purchase an iphone, I opted instead for the Samsung touch screen model. The phone is pretty sleek compared to the old dinosaur I previously had. I was as pleased as punch with my new purchase until I notice a couple small scratches on the touch screen. I freaked and started searching everywhere for some sort of case that would protect the phone while it was in my purse. There are not many options for this model and those I found were pretty ugly. For the time being I started protecting my phone by stuffing it into a sock. Surprisingly the sock, while not stylish, did work fairly well. Regardless I needed a more permanent (and chic) alternative. Here is the case I made...

Summer Fun and Fairs

I grew up in a small town and this weekend was the annual summer fair. 3 whole days of amusement park rides, a kick ass parade and lots of food! Ethan and I enjoyed every moment. Here are some highlights:

Ethan waiting for the parade, pretending he can't smile because the sun was in his eyes.

The rides. He went on 16!

The art/craft show. I purchased a print from Camilla D'Errico. Camilla and I graduated from the same high school and I feel so lucky to own one of her amazing paintings. I can't wait to get it framed!

By the end of the day we were sunburnt and exhausted but very happy!

Ruffle a few feathers

The end of the school year is approaching. My full time teaching contract has ended and I am back on call, thus I have some time on my hands. Here I am bored looking for inspiration when I stumble across Jennifer's blog Tattertots and Jello. I loved her burlap ruffle table runner. But not having any burlap at home I decided to take her idea, tweak it and turn it into a pillowcase. Luckily I just happened to have a feather pillow laying around just begging for a pillowcase.

I had a whole bunch of Amy Butler fabric in blue/green tones so I grabbed a few, cut them into 3.5" x 40" strips and created 7 long ruffles. I used 2 fat quarters for the front and back of the pillowcase, attached a zipper and created a pretty funky pillowcase.

The front:

The back:

Did you notice my last 3 posts are all colour coordinated? Ha!

Eco Lunch

For the last couple weeks it has become glaringly obvious that I have the ugliest lunch bag. My lunch bag looks like a suitcase...and yes I have had some snide comments tossed my way at work. For example: 'wow! you must be hungry!' or 'Are you moving in?'. I happened to have some extra fabric left over from the purse I made so I purchased a pattern off of Etsy and low and behold my lunch bag is now to die for!!!

My old lunch bag:

My new lunch bag:

This pattern was ridiculously hard to sew. I actually had to bust out my sewing machine's walking foot for the top stitching. I used oil cloth for the inside and sandwiched between the interior and exterior is insulated batting. As difficult as it was to sew I am pretty pleased with the finished product, it keeps my lunch cold and it is tiny. No more snide comments!

Pretty Perfect Purse

Ok, I finished my Amy Butler purse eons ago but I have been so busy admiring it that I forgot to post some pictures. Amy Butler patterns have, hands down, the easiest and clearest instructions to follow. It took more time to fuse the interfacing and fleece than it did to sew the purse.

I have had so many compliments on this purse it is crazy. Random people will stop me and ask where I bought my purse. I love being able to tell them that I MADE it!

This and That

ok.... so once again I am extremely behind with my posts. Let rectify that shall we?

1) Left over Easter goodie: I made Ethan another little bunny stuffie for Easter. This pattern was super easy (and I think its cuter than the sock bunny). For the fabric I used 2 of Ethan's old baby t-shirts. I love the stripes and the embroidery on the face kinda makes him look like a chubby, grumpy bunny! I found the pattern at Chez Beeper Bebe.

2) Ethan's birthday party: This year I decided that I would throw Ethan a REAL birthday party (i.e. one that did not just include family members). So Ethan invited all his little friends from daycare. For a theme Ethan picked robots...I thought that this was a pretty do-able theme, after all you can still find tons of transformer merchandise. Well I was very wrong! I did manage to find wonderful robot party invites and goody bag toppers at Wendolonia. After scouring all of the shops in my small town I was unable to find any little plastic robots for cupcake toppers. Here is what I can up with:

The party turned out pretty well! Ethan and his little buddies had a blast. We found a Transformers pinata that the kids could not break into! They ended up tearing this poor Transformer apart with their bare hands! So savage!

3) Our new pet: Ok I know this has nothing to do with sewing or craftiness...but I would like to introduce you to our first family pet: Peanut. Peanut is a butterscotch teddy bear hamster.