Our Youngest and Our Oldest

she turned 2 on sunday!

she is a teenager today!

Mini Market Bag Tutorial

i thought it might be fun to make up a little tutorial for the little bag i made the other day. (i am by no means an expert seamstress or sewist.)

i just thought someone else might like to know how i made that little bag. so that they could share it with their own little sweetie!

let us begin!

you will need:

you will also need:

scissors
sewing machine
thread
an iron

place the 9 x 12 inch fabric in front of you.
fold down the top 1/2 inch on the short side of the fabric and press with an iron.

next, fold down the same edge an additional 1 1/2 inches. press.

place the ball trim underneath the folded edge. pin in place.

using the sewing machine, stitch the trim and the folded edge. also, stitch along the top fold.
repeat this for the other piece of 9 x 12 inch fabric.

the french seams

with wrong sides facing, pin both pieces of fabric together.
use a 1/4 inch seam allowance and stitch down one side, along the bottom, and up the other side.
snip the bottom corners.

turn the bag inside-out. press flat.

use a 1/2 inch seam allowance this time, and sew down one side, along the bottom, and up the other side.

note: this part is a little tricky for me to explain in writing. so look through the next 4 pictures BEFORE you stitch the corner triangles.

pinch the corners together. make sure to match up seams on the inside.


this is what it looks like on the inside. make sure to match up the seams.

stitch across the corner.

this is what it looks like after the corners have been stitched with the sewing machine.

turn the bag rightside-out.
this is how the bottom now looks.

the straps (follow these instructions for each piece of 4 x 16 inch fabric)

fold in half lengthwise. press with an iron.

next open up the fabric. then fold in one edge of the fabric to the center fold. press flat.
repeat for the other edge.
it should now look like this:

again, fold at the center fold and press.

stitch down both sides of the strap with a sewing machine.

now you're ready to attach the straps to the bag!
fold the strap end under 1 inch and pin to the bag.

repeat for the other strap end, giving a space of 3 1/2 inches between ends.

using the sewing machine, stitch the strap to the bag in a square.

snip all thread ends.

Voila! a handy-dandy mini market bag. just right for little hands.

 

in the Garden

 i'm glad for...
peas and onions that are growing.
a bright, sun-shiney day.
and an oldest daughter that has diligently watered our garden boxes.

i'm glad for...
a little-big boy that likes to eat chives almost every time he goes outside.
and a tiny, little girl that likes to be barefoot.

(tomorrow i'll be posting a tutorial for that little bag i made yesterday!)

Birthday Surprise!

the baby is having a birthday this sunday! she will be turning 2 years old.

she really likes to carry around purses and bags. she particularly likes one of her middle sisters. but that sister doesn't particularly like to share.

so i thought it would be fun for her to have her very own. a little bag to carry her own things. books, baby doll, shoes. it's a mini version of the market bags i sometimes make. and the fabric is so bright and happy! perfect for a birthday.

Spring Art

all five children are home this week. the schools are out for spring break.

it takes a few days for everyone to adjust to being together all day long. (meaning squabbles, fights, and arguments.) but by the end of the week, i hate to see everyone go back to school.

we do so much together: play, work, craft, paint, clean, weed, sew, water, garden, hike, bike. it always ends up going by too quickly. so for now, i'm going to enjoy the moment!

For the Birds

i know, i know. i'm sure there are tons of tutorials on this. but here is ours...

 you will need:

pinecones
peanut butter
birdseed for wild birds
bowl
plastic spoon or craft stick
yarn


1. tie the yarn onto the pinecone.

2. cover the pinecone with peanut butter by spreading it with the plastic spoon or craft stick.

3. fill a bowl with the birdseed.
4. roll the peanut butter-covered pinecone in the birdseed.

5. hang the pinecone birdfeeder on a tree branch.
 (make sure to hang it from a branch that has another branch underneath. that way the birds have something to sit on while they eat!)

we read bird books and listened to birdcalls from our area on enature.com. we also painted and cut-out bird shapes, then flew around with our paper birds. 

Crochet Cushion Cover

i've been crocheting a cushion cover for my oldest daughter. her birthday is at the end of this month. i have the pieces for one mostly finished, but i ran out of yarn!

i've never made a cushion cover before. have you?

since she's going to be a teenager, i wanted something a little more grown-up and modern yet vintage and romantic at the same time. 

what do you think?

also. one use for empty cones is a megaphone. so you can loudly tell everyone to "please, quiet down!"

and on a totally different subject...

we took our christmas tree down on saturday. it was so lovely having it up for the extra few months. i just moved it into a corner and pretended it was an extra large houseplant. i just couldn't let it go earlier. it was still giving us such wonderful fresh air!



New Sewing Book

i got a new sewing book in the mail today!

i'm excited to give the patterns a go. anything simple sounds good to me.

fyi: i added some information to my onion post.