My sister in law is a relatively new Phlebotomist (the person who comes to draw your blood at the doctor’s ofice), so I made her this tote bag for Christmas.

This bag is currently available on Etsy.

This was easy and fun to make. And now I have a super fun camera strap!

There’s a few more, too. These are all Mediums. All going up on Etsy soonish.

OK, how cute are these? These are all smalls, I have some Mediums I’ll finish up on Monday.

The last one pictured is up at Etsy now. The others will make it over there next week.

The Two Summer Sundress. This is such a ingenious design - I hope it really works out the way it’s supposed to. This dress is supposed to last two years - the first year, with the straps crossed, the second year with them straight. We’ll see.

I made three total, but didn’t get a picture of the dress I made for my niece Joey. The ones pictured are for my friend’s daughter Liv for her 5th birthday later this month and for Genna for next summer

I’ve never sewed on my knitting before, and I’ll admit it was a bit scary at first. I did Genna’s dress first so if I messed up, at least it wasn’t a gift for someone else’s kid, you know? But it was super easy to do, and I didn’t screw it up too much. Now I just hope that they fit all the intended receipents!!!

Pillowcase dresses are SO SIMPLE!!

Yes, you can start with an actual pillowcase, but you don’t have to! In this case, I just cut some fabric, about twice as wide as she is big around. (So I measured her around the chest, and doubled it.) Sew up one side seam. Now you have a tube, right?

You can either hem the bottom (and you pick which side is the bottom, since when it’s just a tube, either side could be the bottom!) or you can add a length of seam binding, or make a decorative band with another fabric, whatever.

Once you get the bottom hemmed, focus on the top. Lay the dress out, you can put the seam in the back or on one side. Cut out armholes. Like this:

After the armholes are cut, you’ll see only ONE straight part of the fabric that’s not hemmed, right there, top front and top back, between the armholes. Make a casing out of each of those little flaps, just about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.

Now, you need to hem the armholes. You can just hem them, or you could use seam binding. I personally recommend seam binding.

Next, cut two lengths of seam binding long enough to thread through the casing and tie over each shoulder. I recommend sewing the seam binding closed for this purpose.

And you’re all done. Easy peasy.

If you want pictures, post here and I’ll take some and put them up.

Maundy Thursday seemed like a good day to finish up (and, really, start) my Little Dresses for Africa project.
I made seven little dresses, which isn’t a whole lot, but it was all the decent-looking pillowcases I could find at Goodwill when I went!

I enjoyed whipping up these little dresses, and will be sending them this weekend, along with prayers and good wishes, to the project coordinator.

Anyone interested in sewing some little dresses, they’re super easy, and you can read more about this project here.

If you live in Des Moines and you were hoping to send some dresses along with my package, please let me know asap!!

Incidentally, this gets part of one of my 101 projects in 1001 days items checked off!!

See, it all started mid-week a few weeks ago. I cleaned out the pantry. It was Pantry and Entry week in my modified FlyLady schedule. The pantry looked all spiffy and, after sweeping the back entry (where the pantry is), I decided that we really needed to paint the walls.

So I painted them. I used a light mint color that we had leftover from another project. Then, well, the trim really needed some work, too. I didn’t have time to remove the paint and stain them like I wanted to, so I painted them dark brown, also with leftover paint. So, four days later, it was all painted and looking pretty good.

But the old wooden blinds that were on the door when we moved in just weren’t right any more. Voila…a nice linen curtain with a nice Craftsman stenciled design.

Then I had to paint the stairs going down to my office (gray to match the walls in the basement entry - they were just kind of a mixture of all sorts of gross colors before) and then also installed a panel of fabric UNDER the stairs (which do not have risers) to hide the under-stair storage.

I’m quite pleased, and the only thing I had to buy was the curtain rod - $3.25.

 I have been able to sew for about two hours a day recently and am working on getting Wallypop restocked. I’m enjoying the work again, but also afraid it’s all for naught. We shall see.

In the meantime, I’m also going to be hauling some stuff to the Holistic Moms Network Potluck and Craft Show this weekend. That should be fun. I don’t get to go to HMN meetings any more - they are always on the same day I teach class. I used to be able to go to part of a meeting and still make class on time, but the location’s changed and it’s just far enough away from where we teach that I can’t do both. But events like this, held on a weekend, are a fun chance to get together with the HMN moms that I don’t get to see at other events.