Covert Robin gift! :)

I received my beautiful Cover Robin gift and here is the lovely Allison to tell us about herself and the gift she so kindly made for me:

Hi there!  I'm Allison, wifey, mom of two, crafter, sewer, wannabe cook, fabric hoarder, and blogger over at My Raina Sunshine!  I'm a stay at home mom, currently trying to balance the needs of an energetic 3 year old, a 6 month old who thinks night time sleeping is optional, an amazing hubby, and a lovely sewing table that wishes I could spend more time with it.  (The feeling is mutual!)  While being a mom has always been my dream job, I studied elementary education and art in college, and have always looked for a career that would allow me to balance all of my loves.  While I wouldn't call a blogging SAHM to be a career, it definitely allows me to combine my love of children (and they're my own!  bonus!), art, and learning.  I feel pretty lucky.  Most days :).  My favorite things to make are gifts and accessories for tiny humans!  Some of my favorite projects have been my personalized rainbow taggie (best seller in my etsy shop!), this rapunzel hat I made for my 3 year old, this dress I just finished, and these awesomely adorable dino hoodies.  Really though, anything I make for my kids is my favorite project of that minute!

 My little loves, my biggest inspirations....

When I first read about the covert robin, I was super excited.  I'd never done a craft swap before, and was up for the challenge.  I was NOT expecting the crafter's block that followed!  Finally, after a few stalls, I came up with this lovely pillow, which I was tempted a few times to keep for myself.  In the end, I decided it deserved a home where it was safe from mac and cheese fingers!

Like I said, I had some stumbles here with this swap gift.  Making a gift/craft that was not meant to please a child/baby or said tiny human's parents was a huge challenge for me.  I made a few things - a ruffled scarf, a decorative picture frame - but what I settled on sending is this bright ruffly pillow!

My first thought was that pillows are an easy way out.  But I NEVER make pillows!  And there are so many fun ruffly pillows that I would love to make... but that would be destroyed in my toddler and baby inhabited household!  So I settled on it. 

The front is made from a home dec weight fabric - the same one I used to make the baby snuggler for Miss Lucca last fall.  I love the bright floral but not too girly pattern.  The ruffles are made from the main pillow fabric, a strip of bright pink flannel with white polka dots, and a light pink ribbon with white polka dots. 

The trim is actually bias tape - and instead of rounding it at the corners, I folded it, to give it a little more interest.  The back is pink minky.  You might think minky is my favorite fabric, since it is always appearing in projects and as my backdrop.  I'm not sure I'd call it my favorite, but I make plenty of things from it, and I always have plenty of it on hand!!

Some day, when my couch is not a magnet for dirt, crumbs, spit up, and ketchup, I'll make a few more ruffle pillows to keep for my very own self!  :)  

...So there you have it!  A finished gift, that I was very happy to send off in it's giant box!  :)  Hope you love it, Cecillia!  

My little blog is always looking for some love, and some new readers... so please come on over and take a look if you get a minute!  I have some great giveaways in mind for the future... but I need some followers before I can make it happen!  Show me some love!  Please?  :)


Thanks again Allison!  Your daughters are so cute!  I really enjoyed visiting your blog and seeing the adorable things you make for your etsy store! 

Birthday fabric loot - FINALLY!

I've been using my birthday money to buy fabrics (of course).  Since I'm in Canada, shipping and customs can end up costing more than the fabrics.  Luckily, I have family in the US that let me ship to them.  However, that means I have to wait for a family member (aka fabric mule) to go a trip before they can bring my purchases which can take a month or two. But of course it was worth the wait!

A rainbow of Robert Kaufman's Metro living circles squares:

 Some Tufted Tweets:

 1001 Peeps (to add to the other prints I already have):

 Some random fun fabrics from timeless treasures:

 I love Tula pink so I'm happy to have some prince charming:

I'm planning on a quilt for my bed with white/grey/yellow fabrics (and you can't go wrong with some Echo and Joel Dewberry) so I'm building my stash for that:

Yah!  :)

WIP Wednesday: lack of progress

Completed: none  :(

In progress:

1) quilt for mom - finished all the HSTs finally and started piercing the top but then ran out of the thread..ugh!

2) covert robin gift - finally started making it and have only a couple of days to get it done and sent out before the deadline...I'm such a terrible procrastinator!  Here's a sneak peak: 

No Progress:

1) Bee blocks - hate that I'm running up against the deadline but am determined to get it done in time!

Off to check everyone else's progress at Freshly Pierced.

WIP Wednesday

Wow a week goes by fast!  Good thing I have some progress to report.

Completed projects

I finished the present for our friend's new baby girl:

I think my appliques are getting better and I'm happy with the yo-yos I added to the closure tab (to hide my ugly stitches from attaching the velcro).

I also finished a gift for my SIL, a (modified) Keyka Lou zippy pouch made with some purple twill and AMH fabric I've been hoarding:

Ongoing Projects


Quilt for mom: I've made some more HSTs but will have a lot more to go...

Covert Robin gift: I have finally started it but it is still in the early stages.

Bee blocks: finally got my Kona white so I can get these done.



I am trying to hold off starting anything new until I have these finished these projects.

Off to Freshly Pierced to check out what others have been working on  :)

WIP Wednesday

I really need to get more productive with my sewing since there are many birthdays coming up and I keep buying more fabric (too many online sales that I can't resist).  To help me stay on track, I'm going to resume WIP Wednesdays.



New projects:
1) A friend recently had a baby girl.  We got them a gift card so they can buy what they need but also wanted to include something handmade, so I'm making them a couple of personalized bibs.  I've finished one (and have one more to go):

(sorry for the terrible pic!)

2. I've been wanting to make a quilt for my mom for a while.  Finally got started this week.  I decided on a HST quilt.  I am using the shortcut HST method that yields 4 HSTs at a time but it is still taking me a long time to iron, cut and sew all those HSTs.  Playing with the layout is also very time consuming!  Here is what I have so far:

3. I've been dying to work on my bee blocks based on this tutorial but I'm waiting for my kona white to come in the mail.  In the meantime, I did a couple of "test" blocks which I'll use to make a quilt for Project Linus:

4. I need to make a gift for my SIL's birthday.  I'm thinking of making her this super cute clutch.
5. My Covert Robin gift...only blog stalking my partner so far.  I have some ideas but I really should get started.

Here's to hoping that I'll have some progress to report by next week!  :)

Online swappy fun!

Lately, I`ve become totally addicted to online fabric swaps.  I`ve done 3 i spy swaps and 3 private swaps  other bloggers or flickr members.

Now that I`ve eased into the online swapping community, I decided to take on something more challenging...actually making something for the Covert Robin!



I`ve already started stalking my secret partner and trying to brainstorm about what to make.

Anyone have any tips on handmade gift exchanges?

Art Caddy Tote

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to win my pick of 3 Gingercake patterns.  I finally got around to using one of them: the Art Caddy Tote.

It turned out really cute and I think my little guy will love it.  However, I must admit, this was a lot of work.  A lot of pieces to cut and interface and assembly was tricky with so many layers.  I kept getting frustrated and putting it aside so it's actually been in the works for a couple of months.  I'm glad I finally finished it though  :)

As I tend to do with most patterns, I did make a few modifications:

1) I cut most of the pockets at about twice the height and sandwiched a layer of sew-in interfacing (aka scrap fabric) so I could avoid using more fusible interfacing and having to fold/iron/sew the top and bottom edges (i.e I just folded it in half, sewed into a tube and turned right side out instead).

2) I used home decor weight fabric as my main fabric, which allowed #3

3) I skipped the thick heavy double sided fusible interfacing altogether, which is not available at my fabric store so I just used more sew-in interfacing

4) I used webbing instead of ribbon for handles, because I wanted it to be more sturdy but was also too lazy to make handles from my fabric (which the pattern suggests as the alternative).

I found the pictures in the pattern very helpful.  I did wish that the steps were broken down a little more though, but maybe that is just 'cause I tend to skim and miss things when they are not in a short checklist-like form.  Overall, I'm really happy with it and I think it will get a lot of use!

I'm also happy that it was such a thrifty project!  

-I won the pattern = free

-main fabric was part of a piece of remnant that was $2 for a meter

-crayola accent fabric was a thrift store find - $3 for a couple of meters

-fusible interfacing used on the main body pieces I had on hand from when I bought some on sale for $1 a package.

-the webbing I also had on hand - I bought a huge roll of it from a garage sale last summer for $5.

So really, this thing only cost a couple of bucks to make and everything was from my stash, which makes it all the more satisfying!  :)