A preview of Hallowe'en

I put together a Princess Leia costume for Lil'A and it turned out so great. I don't have time to post a tutorial right now but I will within the week. The Bun Hat was so easy and turned out so cute that I must share it with the world. It is great for Hallowe'en but I am sure she will wear it throughout the winter to keep her head warm (and her Daddy delighted)

A new cape and hat in time for the Halowe'en train

Inspired by this tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff blogger Disney, I raided my stash and whipped up this little cape. I added a hat with some ears and it made the perfect outfit to ride on the Hallowe'en train. Lil'A was warm and happy!

Yikes!

It has been way too long since my last post. Never fear faithful readers, I am not completely off track with my Christmas gifts. After I completed the awesome clutches I made the matching necklaces, sewed up the pad and crayon holders, cut out all of the fabric for the tissue holders, the car garbage and the car organizer. I also received my order for the Waldorf doll kit (so excited about that), ordered some wonderful felt from Lupin to make a busy book for Lil'A, won an Ebay aution for 4 cashmere sweaters (only paid $13.50 including shipping, score)to make Lil'A a cashmere quilt, won and received 12 awesome vintage patterns, celebrated Thanksgiving and my birthday, received two Japanese Children's pattern books (birthday gift from the hubby) and received a copy of Amanda Soule's new book, Handmade Home(birthday gift from a great friend). Whew - I have been too busy to blog, but I promise I will post about as many of these things as I think you might be interested in reading. I'll leave you with a snapshot from Thanksgiving!

My version of the artsy little clutch.

This gift is fashioned after the Arsty Little Clutch featured in Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. Again, I won't give you all the details but I will include some photos to give you an idea about how these are put together. I will say again that I love this book. I haven't had an opportunity to check out her new book but I am looking forward to it! I used quilting cotton for the outside and lining of three of these (the black one is lined with Amy Bulter home decor weight fabric). I used some felt I had leftover from last Christmas as a stiffening layer and I will say that it worked great - it really gives the clutches some shape and will be a nice cushion should they be used to store things like ipods, cell phones or makeup. I really love how these turned out.

I used hair elastic for the closure (thanks to everyone who blogged about that ingenious methods)

Once all of the pieces were assembled and sewn together I was left with a little opening (where the material is flipped so it is lined perfectly) to top-stitch. I chose to use some of my decorative cams that came with my Elna and crossed my fingers...

... I am glad I did. I love the detail.

They look so pretty lined up in a row. This is definitely another gift I will have to make for myself when I have some time.

and I weep with embarasment

It's funny how sometimes even with the best of intentions you can produce something you are not at all proud of. My blog post about nursing bras was one of those things. I just reread it and wow - I was going to funny and manic and I came off as, well, absurd. What I really wanted to emphasis is that Bravado has managed to make a bra that feels like it was made just for me and fits my specific criteria for a good nursing bra. Instead I rambled on about ogling men and expensive lingerie and gigantic breasts and weeping. To anyone who wishes they could get their 5 minutes back, I apologize. I offer you this picture in the hopes that it helps you capture a few moments of bliss.