Digital LO - Sweetheart

I got an external hard disk for my birthday (yeah!), so I finally have access to our old photos (I had to delete them from my computer before, because I didn't have enough space). So I can scrap some oldies. =)

 

Elizabet a long time ago =)

Credits:
Love Birds Page Kit by Meryl Bartho
Sweet Sayings by Heidi Kuester
Stitched with Love Handstitched Brights by Meryl Bartho
Font: Myriad

A productive sewing week

Last week I finally got to sew some more. My mom came over a few times and took take of the little ones, so I could get something done in the sewing room. Miriam had already prepared the patterns and cut some items out, so it went a bit faster. First I made her a simple pink shirt for school.

 

It is based on Jalie 2449, which is a crossover top, but we modified it into a regular top. We also lengthened the sleeves quite a bit, since that is Miriam's usual problem with RTW clothing. It's a very comfortable warm knit. Then I made her a beatiful white top for church, because that was her biggest need.

 

The pattern is from Burda Magazine - May 2009 (mod 103A). Although it's a pretty complicated pattern for a knit top (it has a band all around, back seam and darts in the back), it wasn't very hard to do and the instructions were pretty clear. We really like this pattern and will probaby make it again. Lastly we made a black skirt for the upcoming concert she is singing and playing at.

 

It's made with a pattern from Ottobre Women's Magazine -  Feb 2006 (mod 9). Originally this is a summer cotton skirt with a petticoat peeking out the bottom, but it worked also for this black  warmer fabric. This one took me a bit longer, since I haven't made a skirt in a while and the lining fabric was pretty crazy to work with. Unfortunately the fabric doesn't seem to be high quality and so we might try it again with something better. But it feels great to be sewing again!

 

A few more February digital layouts

 Not doing as much scrapping theses days, since I have been sewing much more. But here are a few more pages I completed:

 

I am so glad I finally have my older photos easy accesible on my EHD and so I can scrap some photos that have been sitting on CD's for quite some time. This is my no 7 year old boy standing on the grass where our current house is now built.

Credits: A Day in the Life by Heidi Kuester
Font: 1942 Report

 

I paired Erica's Beautiful Baroque with her Two Dream Quick Click.

Credits:
Beautiful Baroque 2 by Erica Belton
Two Dream QC by Erica Belton
Font: Be Safe

 

Since she was a little girl, Abigail loves jewerly and keeps putting necklaces on her neck.

Credits: Dolci II Large VC by Kim Liddiard
Fonts: Palatino Linotype, Selfish

 

This was 5 years ago, I made my younger girls some matching dresses and they posed for me in the yard. Lauren's kit seemed to have great colors for this.

Credits: Tranquil Forrest VC by Lauren Bavin
Font: Susie's Hand

Tackling the cable mess

We have two computer desks in our family room next to each other. One houses the children's desktop, the speakers and scanner. On the other one is the printer, the cable modem, router and my laptop. As we added these things slowly, we started running out of electrical outlets and kept pluggin and unplugging things and soon it got to be a horrible mess. Then we added another extension cord and it got to be an even more tangled mess. So, I turned everything off, unplugged everything, untangled everything and voila - not perfect, but much better!

Tackle a project in your home and join the Tackle It Tuesday Challenge on 5 Minutes for Mom.

February layouts so far

Some recent layouts for our family album:

Journaling: Benjamin, when you grow up, I want you to become strong and courageous, but never forget to also be gentle and kind to those around you.

Credits: CD Scraps of Style: Graphic & Grungy by DSP Designers

Font: Another Typewriter

 

 

Credits: The Art in Me VC by Erica Belton 

My grandfather was one of 11 children, but only 6 survived into adulthood. They all had very difficult lives, but were the greatest people I have ever met. Very simple, but industrious, funny, helpful, unselfish. I am privleged to have know all of them well when I was a little children. Unfortunately my grandfather died first of them, when I was only 7 years old. His brothers were great "replacement" grandfathers to us. By now all of them have gone from this earth and I miss them all very much.There never was one single picture of all of them together. This was one was cut (with scissors) and pasted together with glue to add the sister to the group.

Products:
Forever in My Heart Kit by Carole Harden
Font: Jane Austen

Credits:
Lost in Wonderland 2 by Nicole Young
Free Your Mind VC by Nicole Young

 

 

This is an old photo of Mimi.
Journaling: Miriam is always creating, drawing, doodling, designing, sewing . . . sometimes it's good to just take a break and dream

Credits:
Imagination Overload XVC by Elizabeth Weaver
Painted Photo Masks by Robyn Gough
Font: Another Typewriter

 

McCall's 4160 Plaid Jumper

Remember the jumper I promised Elizabet for her birthday? I finally finished it, although it took me a month. I had troubles figuring out how to match the plaids, had to cut out another bodice and skirt part, did a lot of ripping, but managed to overcome all the hurdles and she proudly wore it yesterday. The part I like most is that I managed to do it all without hand sewing (even lining is attached by machine and the hem is done with a blind hem stitch). The detailed review with more pictures can be found on Pattern Review


Here is the back view:

Wool striped tunic

 

Several years ago, I got some wool fabric remnants from a relative. I had big plans with them, but then came a pregnancy, building our house, moving twice, having a baby, etc. And they stayed stacked up in banana boxes in the deepest corner of a closet. Recently my mom asked about them and so I had to pull them out. She picked some pieces to make a sweater and a vest. When my older girls saw the fabric, it sparked their imagination and Tabita picked some pieces and sketched out an idea:

 The problem was that these are truly remnants and therefore there are not big enough or wide enough pieces:

 So somehow I cut similar size pieces and just sewed them together. Then we just pinned the front and back together at the shoulders and I kind of pinned the side seams on Tabita.

We decided to reduce the width of the strips and for the second fitting I cut a small neckline to assure betting fitting. I sewed the pieces together with regular yard on my old machine. I had a hard time deciding what to do with the seams, since I could leave them pressed open, so I just trimmed them and zig-zagged them. It's not the best solution, because it's pretty stiff and bulky, but I don't know what else to do. The neckline, armholes and hem are done with a double needle and wooly nylon in the bobbin. We also made arm armwarmer to match and she already wore them to school. The only downside is that it's really heavy warm wool, so it's almost too hot to be in it inside. Also that all it needs to be pieced and I do not know how to do it better without a serger. But we'll still try to use the rest of the fabric somehow.

Some January Layouts

Trying to catch up on the layouts created in January:

 

Credits:

Monodrama by Robyn Gough

Dramatically Different Quick Bit Masks by Robyn Gough

Fonts: Another Typewriter, VNI-HL Thuphap

 

Joyeux Page Kit by Suzanne C. Walker
DSP Abby by Suzanne C. Walker
All Kinds of Faces Deluxe Wordart by Christine Gundersen
Font: DSP Abby

 

Credits: Club Digital February 2010 by DSP Designers
Grey swirl plopper by Lauren Bavin
Keepsakes kit by Teresa Loman
Loving Wordart by Meryl Bartho

 

Credits: Love Post Kit by Kim Liddiard from Club Digital February 2010 by DSP Designers
Fonts: Bickham Script Pro, Bernard Modern

 

Credits:
Remember the Year Page Kit by Tina Chambers
Remember the Year Element Set by Tina Chambers
Fonts: DSP Abby, Times New Roman

 

Credits:
Grey background (slightly recolored for ornaments to be red) is from Yule Time Cheer 2 Kit by Heidi Kuester
Scattered diamonds from Antiquated Dreams Kit by Nicole Young
Masks for photos and red background from The Photographers Toolbox Clipping Masks by Nicole Young
Stamped harlequin (desaturated) from Touch of Gold Kit by Lauren Bavin
Heart from Rocker Chic Page Kit by Nicole Young
Edge overlays from Only Beautiful Stax Overlay by Kim Liddiard Freebie

 

Credits:
Ruthee Value Collection by Marcee Duggar
One paper from the Ruthee Freebie available on Marcee's blog.
Fonts: DSP Carla Script, Bell Gothic Std

Beni's Birthday Presents

Beni turned 7 last week. He had two wishes for things sewn. One was a small bag for playing and another one a sewn toy car. He picked the fabric for the bag and the embelishments.


I think this is the serious "I am a 7 year old" look!

The bag is made from a stretch denim jumper I took a part a while ago and have used for several projects already. It is embelished with some ribbons and ribbon animals I had once received from the US, but ever found a use for. It is lined with some blue checkered cotton and has a velcro closure.


The stuffed car he actually requested from his 10y. sister. She really wanted to make it for him, but sewing it on my crazy wild machine (which has a will on it's own and can't sew slow) was impossible for her. So, she designed it, made the pattern, cut it all out and then I sewed it together for her. We first made the pattern from an old bed sheet to test it, but once I stuffed it (with cut apart insides of a duvet cover), we decided to use that as a base and sew a removable cover for it. So the cover actually has a zipper on the bottom and can be washed if needed.

Digital Layouts - Animals

 

Credits: Nature's Ephemera Kit by Christine Gundersen
Masks from The Photographers Toolbox Clipping Masks by Nicole Young
Fonts: Gentium and Harabara Hand

 

Credits:
Adventures in Teal XL VC by Elizabeth Weaver
Font: Georgia