Thursday, July 31, 2008

maternity jeans

I have been needing maternity pants and jeans and am having a hard time finding some, mostly because I don't want to pay upwards of $35 for something that I'm going to wear for maybe 3 more months. Maybe longer, but depends on how early it gets cold and I need to switch to long pants vs. capris. So today I cut the waistband off a pair of linen capris that I've been wearing with the zipper half way undone and the drawstring tied, and then I sewed a stretchy band of fabric around the top. It worked, and I like them! So I decided to head to the shiny new Goodwill and see if I could find another pair of pants to cut up. I ended up with ultra low rise Old Navy capris, $6.99, and a size small black cotton lycra t-shirt, $3.50. Look what I did:



This is my version of that new (to me at least, last time I was pregnant was 2004) style with the "secret fit panel", and they're pretty comfortable. They're also staying up pretty well. It would be better if I'd found jeans that were not ultra low rise to begin with but this will work, for now. I still need to serge around the edges so the denim doesn't fray, and also patch that oh-so fashionable hole on the left thigh, but they're really cool, and they went together really fast.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

fall sewing update, and one picture

I'm still having problems with the new camera, should have had my husband pick up batteries when he went to Walgreens for chocolate just now. Anyway, I got a picture of my two wonky log cabin blocks:


And, it's starting to lightning outside so I need to log off, but the fall sewing update is that I'll be sewing for our baby girl who's due sometime the first half of December. I'm working on a sewing list (with a little knitting) and will share that next time!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

sewing day

I got a lot of sewing in today and am having camera issues, so I can't post pics until later. I made the first 6 blocks for my husband's grandma's quilt, made from Grandpa's shirts. He just passed away this March. I'm sort of using the Happy Hour pattern as inspiration (saw it on Crazy Mom Quilts), and making up 12" blocks. They are in blues, greens, and dark reds, mostly plaids.

And I decided to start making some wonky scrappy log cabin blocks, inspired by Krom Mama. I even tried taking a picture of these with my phone but it has no flash and the picture was horrible. I'm feeling like my wonkiness is a little too wonky but I'll get better at it I'm sure.

It was nice to have a day where I had the energy to do this again. Hopefully I'll be able to get pictures up tomorrow.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Paper Piecing

I am working on a Noah's Ark quilt for my sister's new baby. Here are the flamingos:

These are from the bookA Quilter's Ark by Margaret Rolfe. I've had this book for a long time and this project is the first time I've used the patterns in the book. I'm enlarging all the animals by 50% so the finished animal blocks will be 6" square instead of 4". I've also made some zebras that I'll show pictures of next time.

I'm having a hard time being motivated to work on this, but I need to get it done. So... I'll set a goal now to finish another pair of animals this week. I'm also going to sew up another maternity t-shirt and show pictures of the one I already made. I just got a box of fabric in the mail and have a few pieces of maternity clothing I need to make for myself.