Kim's Krafts

Next Project...

2011-12-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

So Sara from Sew Sweetness has done it again! Check out this bag!!

and then it opens up to this

The instructions are here!! I will be making one real soon after the holidays and can't wait!!

Here and there

2011-12-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

On top of getting my own gifts sewn, I had a couple friends as me to do some for them. The first was an Ipad case for a gal at work. She picked out the fabric from hancock fabric and I whipped it together for her. It is super cute and have foam quilted into it.

Then another friend wanted pillow cases for the pillows on her couch. First time doing this and they were easy and cute!!

And now back to my sewing for gifts!!!

My Christmas Gift.....

2011-12-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time coming but I finally got something I have been hoping for for awhile. I said goodbye to my untrusty Rodeo.....

We tried to trade in the little boy but they didn't want him!!!

And we said hello to my new to us 2010 For Flex!!!

I love it!!!

Wayyyy behind.......

2011-12-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

So what can I say? Decembere happened and caused me to fall behind. Then I got the message that my uncle in OH was going to be taken off of life support so we jumped in the new car and headed out for the 20 hour car ride to be home. Needless to say we have been busy with funeral stuff and now I am helping my aunt get everything figured out. Right now we have a day of relaxation so I thought it would be time to do some updating.

Here are 2 more blocks from the quilt a long. I think I have one more left at home to finish. I really like the peppermint one. The socks are pretty cute too!!!

The wall and another block down!

2011-11-23T17:24:00.001-08:00

I was kinda late in posting last weekd blocks but here is one of this weeks plus I got everything hung up on the wall to see where I want the blocks placed. 9 down only 3 more!!!

I am definately getting better at applique stitching thanks to this sew a long!!!

Enchino Creation

2011-11-23T17:17:00.001-08:00

Well this week we got one of our "family" Christmas gifts. A new Kindle Fire. I love it!!! (the little that I have been on it!!) It is kinda like an Ipad but is thru amazon. Has all the apps and games and can watch movies and check out books. The boys have spent the most time with it (of course)!!! Once it was on its way I decided I needed to make a case for it since I didn't want to spend $40 on one. So I got up my courage and pulled out some fabric from the Enchino swap. There is more coming soon so I thought it would be ok to use a little. I found a tutorial here and kinda did my own thing off of it.

The elastic and I didn't get along very well but here's the end result!!

2 more blocks

2011-11-20T17:58:00.001-08:00

Here are the next 2 blocks I made.

Another craaazy week!!

2011-11-20T05:20:00.001-08:00

So this week was the week before Thanksgiving break and it kids at school were craaaazy!!! Home life was also craaazy and not a lot of sewing got done. On Wed a teacher asked if I could help her with a gift idea for a cousin overseas that has a little girl and she needed it by early next week! I suggested skirts and she loved the idea so Wed night I was at the local Hancocks texting her pictures of fabric to see which ones she liked. We finally decided on 2 cute ones and I knocked them out Thur after school and I gave them to her Fri and she was super happy with the results. Here they are!!

This picture was taken on my kitchen floor as I was heading out for school Fri morning.....I almost forgot to take a pic!!

My plans for Turkey break are to catch up on the last 2 blocks from the Christmas sew a long- as well as the 2 new ones coming this week. I have 2 bags I am making for Christmas gifts for my mama and my ma in law. And I am writing a tutorial on making a diaper bag (actually I will be making 2 of them) for gifts. If I can get all this done as well as the traveling next weekend I will be a SUPER happy person!!!

Have a great weekend!

2 more blocks........

2011-11-13T15:18:00.001-08:00

Here are this weeks 2 blocks from the 12 Days of Christmas sew a long! The first one is the snowflake. The lady that gave this tutorial makes a TON of stuff from the selvages of fabric- which is the white strips that most of us cut off and throw away. That is what snowflake is made from. The second one is 4 presents. The pic isn't very good but they came out cute!! Can't wait to see what the next ones are!

2011-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

So the wonderful Sara at Sew Sweetness has started a 12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt along. I just had to join so my little boy and I went and picked out some Christmas fabric and I have been enjoying doing the fun blocks with different styles of doing it. Here are the first 4. The best part is that I will be done with this by Christmas!!

We are going at a rate of 2 a week and the next one is tomorrow and I can't wait to check it out!!

I am also working on a sew a long for oven mitts. I am using up my scraps and giving them away for Christmas presents. Once I am done with some more I will post some pics!!

New toy

2011-11-07T17:19:00.002-08:00

So thru the various blogs that I read and follow I have seen a lot of stuff being done with hexagons. Check out this pillow and this one and a cute bowl cover and a mini quilt and an eyeglass case.

Some people hand cut them and others use different machines to cut them out. I have a BigShot so I broke down and ordered the 1 1/4 hexagon Sizzix die cut which cuts out 4 hexagons at a time. I just happened to pull this fabric out from my leftovers box and started playing with it. Can't wait until I have time to play with this more. I think a bunch of these would be cool to sew together for an oven mitt. It is also a good way to get rid of scraps!

2011-11-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Remember this picture? I am slowly getting closer to making it. I have all the materials. I chose a black fabric with a white swirls on it and a deep pink interior with black leather straps. Here is the flower I made. It is removable so I can make more. It is all hot glued together and I love me some hot glue!!!

What I have been up to,,,,,

2011-11-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

I know that it feels like forever since I have posted an update! Well get ready to see what I have been doing.
You may recall that I won a couple Amy Butler patterns. Well my friend wanted a Spice Market Tote made so we went shopping together which was super fun and I can't wait to do it again! We went to this awesome quilt shop in the small town of Salado, Texas. They even carry Amy Butler fabric! She was able to get some AB fabric on the clearance rack. This bag is HUGE and I need one now too!!
Here's some pics!!

I promise to be back soon with more stuff I made!

And have I mentioned I custom make bags?

If you ever need anything let me know!

ooooooh so happy!!!

2011-10-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago I joined a Enchino fabric swap. This week I got it in the mail!!!
Here is what I got!!

They are all 10 in squares and I have NO clue what I will be doing with them but I can't wait to use them!!!

2011-10-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

So I got 5 yds for $5 of this awesome grey knit fabric last year at walmart for one of their specials. I have been keeping it for something good. I found this pattern and knew that I had to make it from this fabric. It was super easy and worked great!!! I tried it on and had my 5 year okld take some pics caue the hubby was busy with football. I promise it looked even better in person!!!!! The ruffle was super easy and waorked great!!

I love the mail!!!!

2011-10-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

So I got the mail yesterday and usually it is just bills, bills, bills..........but not yesterday!!!
Here is what came:

Two of these patterns I won from a contest. The middle one I had to buy cause I love it!!!!!

The ones below are from Stitches magazine......best thing ever!!! I love these bags and the pillow looks hard so maybe one day I will try it.

So it looks like I will be keeping busy makine me some new bags!!!

2011-09-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

Please help out in sponsoring this wonderful cause!!!!!!

I enjoyed payday......

2011-09-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well Friday was the first payday of this school year so after school I booked a place for my son's 5th birthday party and then I went to Hancock's Fabrics. They are having a SUPER sale for their 54th anniversary so a ton of stuff is 54% off. I only had a few things on my list but I walked away with 2 big bags full of stuff. Here is a rundown of what I got and what the plan is for them!!! And I will prolly go back for more!!

The ribbon I got to make my fall wreath (already cut up into strips)

This is the button I got for the back of the dress I am TRYING to make......no promises on this one!!

This is the softest fleece ever!!! For a nice warm wrap this winter

I promise this is red- my camera just sux- more fleece for a wrap

This is a remnant and it is sooo soft that I will use it to line something!!

This is some fabric that will be the lining of a purse I am making for someone!

This fabric was $2 a yard and will make a nice warm comfy skirt!!!

I couldn't believe how cheap this fab was and I can just see it as a nice warm skirt with leggings and boots. It is warm and wooly!!!

I was in heaven when I saw this. They have a whole coordinating section for home decor with these colors and I love them.....just soooo stinking expensive.....hopefully I find more like this in the remnant section!

These apples didn't want to show their real red color but it is cordorey like fabric with apples embroidered on it. Very cute and schooly!!!!

Well thats what I got and I am super excited to get started!! Not sure when that will be since we have 2 busy weekends coming up but it will happen soon!!!

The results are in......

2011-09-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

So I mentioned that I was a finalist in the Sewsweetness contest. Well the results are in and I didn't win the big prize but I was randomly picked for 2 beautiful Amy Butler patterns!!!!

I can't wait to try these pillows out!! They are TOTALLY not me but I know some people that would like them. When this is the case and I want to try something out and let a friend have it, we go shopping and they buy the fabric and I do all the work free and we both win!!!

Since I am a librarian, I am always toting things to and fro and the 2nd pattern is a big bag I can't wait to try! Not sure what colors I will go with but I have learned from the previous ones that dark patterns hide dirt better!!!

Is anyone reading this??

2011-09-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

So I entered a contest over at Sew Sweetness and I am one of the finalists!!!!!

Head on over there and check out the contestants and vote for your fav (which is hopefully mine)!!!!!!

As a Side note......

2011-09-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to mention that over the weekend I finished another of the green bags, a knit skirt I have been wanting to try and I started on a dress for myself that I found here.

I know it is for a little girl but I thought I could make it work for me.......nice thought......the biggest problem is getting a good fit for my "girls". I am rather blessed in that area and this is the first time I have made something for the top of myself......worse case, I end up with a kool skirt!!!

2011-09-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

So once I made my first Amy Butler bag, my mother-in-law just HAD to have one! So I came across an awesome sale at Hancock Fabrics with duck fabric for $3.99 a yard instead of $9.99 a yard. She picked out an awesome starburt fruit fabric. Her daughter also asked if I could make a backpack for her to take to school to keep her Ipad and Ipod in. I got the general idea here and then made it my own.

I am also in an Amy Butler contest with my 2 Amy Butler bags so sent me lucky thoughts this weekend so that I win something!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Skirts for me.

2011-09-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

I finally made more skirts for myself. The first one was from some fabric from Hobby Lobby that I have had for awhile and didn't know how to finish it. I looked things up online and came across this and this. They are also what helped me with the little girl skirts.

I didn't have enough of the fabric to make a full circle skirt but I was lucky enough to find that they were still making it so I was able to get more. Then I made the wrap skirt out of it!

I will apologize now for the pics- hubby took them and he isn't a very good photographer. I tried to get him to put them on so I could take pics and he wouldn't do it!!! LOL

(And ignore the pink tanktop!!)

The second skirt is a little different. Walmart had a series of fabric that I just loved so I got half a yard of all 6 patterns. I cut them into 8ths and sewed them back together. I did 3 rows. The 1st and 2nd have then going long up and down and the middle is longer going across. I sewed everything together and put elastic in it and I think it looks pretty good.

The only thing is that I have extra squares of fabric so not I am trying to figure out what to do with them.

I did come across this and might just use the fabric to make a quilt lol.....

2011-09-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

In the previous post I mentioned that a friend wanted me to make some bags. Well she sent them to me and after what felt like forever seam ripping them and working with patterns, I finished the first of the three for her and I am totally happy with them. Once I learned the basics of making bags it isn't hard to do at all. I posted pics for her and she is extremely happy with them which makes it all worth while!!!
Here are some pics!!!

The front is the slanted pockets from the suit- they originally had a zipper between them. I repositioned the velcro to the middle to attach the name to.

Adjustable straps

For the outer ends I used the bottom of the legs where there was a zipper to let them fit over shoes. I removed the zipper but kept the pleating to make some details......I am still working on removing those dang little threads!!!

All the inner pockets were on the legs and sleeves of the jumper. I added a snap to close it. I put stiff innerfacing on the fronts and back to make it stand up.

Did I mention that I LOVE these bags and can't wait to make the other ones????

Well its true!!!

The Next step

2011-09-09T03:57:00.000-07:00

Once a few people saw that I was making bags someone asked me if I would be willing to try making a bag out of an army uniform. I knew that I had a couple uniforms from my brother in law in the closet so I gave it a shot. I didn't do all the innerfacing but hubby has been using it for work. I made one for a girl and now another friend has sent me some flight suits to use for some kool zippered bags!!

It wasn't too difficult and now hubby has a list of things he wants included in a new computer bag for him!

Bag #2

2011-09-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

So as I was looking at bags to try, I came across this awesome blog which is where I found the first bag I made. Then I saw that she was having a contest. I decided it looked like fun and decided to make this. (This is also an awesome blog!)

Here are the fabrics I decided to use.

I was super proud once I got the fancy work done on the main panels of the bag!!

After a few days it came out looking like this:

I love it and once I posted it on Facebook everyone wanted to know where to get one!!So now I am working on one for my mother in law!!

A gift

2011-09-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I realized that next weekend is a birthday party for a little girl turning 1. She is the first granddaughter on both side so I know she will have plenty of toys and things coming her way, so I decided to make her a couple skirts. I looked for some tutorials online but couldn't find exactly what I wanted to I decided to wing it. She is wearing 18mths clothes so when I went to Target I measured the waist and length of a skirt in her size.

Since my next step was the fabric store, I decided to check out the fat quarter to get 2 sets of pairs that would coordinate together.

For the ladybugs, I ironed them and then folded them in half a couple times and cut on the folds to make strips. Then I sewed the strips together alternating white and black. When I was done, I hemmed the bottom and made the casing for the elastic and sewed it together!!

For the red and white I cut the fabric so that there were 2 strips 22 inches wide and sewed them together. I did the same for the white fabric and sewed it onto the red to let it show out the bottom.

I really enjoyed making them and I see more to be made for gifts in the future!!

What's been going on....

2011-09-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I had anticipated blogging about my old stuff before starting on the newer stuff but now I realize that it prolly won't happen. So I will start back up here....

At Christmas time my mother in law gave me another sewing machine. It is a Husquavarna Viking and it is a beast! I has a digital and program display and she had all the different feet for it and lots of other cool stuff. It has helped me do stuff I never thought I would do!!

Heres some pics....

So this is what I am playing with and using now and I have had lots of broken needles but I have learned alot and I made this bag.

And then came the next one.....

More things I tried

2011-08-14T05:46:00.001-07:00

Once I had mastered the aprons I decided to try some other things.

My sister moved into a house and wanted some toilet seat covers and a custom shower curtain!

Then my mother in law asked me to make her a custom table cover. This is the fabric I started with.

And this is what I turned it into!

And for Christmas I decided to make a table cloth for my mom.

And I found this set to make a Nativity scene to make for Grandma in Mexico!

A little brighter...

2011-08-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

So I had a really rough day today.....couldn't even keep sewing cause I was just defeated. Then a package got delivered and it brightened my day up a little but so I thought I would share that.

Lets start at the beginning. My brother (and girlfriend) work at Target and every month there is a newsletter with a special coupon just for associates to use. Last month it was for 40% off a Dyson vacuum on top of their 15% off already.....thats 55% off of a $400 vacuum!! Since my birthday is soon approaching I came up with the plan that instead of people giving me birthday money that they could just put it towards the vacuum! So my brother, mom, sister, and mother in law chipped in and got it for me!! And it came today!! I have already used it and love it!!!! Here are some pictures!!

How it started...

2011-08-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

So moved to Texas just over 2 years ago. I had a sewing machine from my mother in law that had been sitting in the closet for a couple of years before I finally decided to try it out- which was just after we moved here. I started simple and made some aprons. I got a paper pattern and we didn't get along very well so I decided to keep looking and found a pattern on fabric and used that as a template and it worked great. Since then I have made them as gifts and even sold a few here and there.

I am going to try and show some pictures of the ones I have done so lets see how it goes!

The first one I made was for me and simple out of black and pink striped fabric.

Then I made a fun one for my mother-in-law.

One for my awesome friend Pam who Loves Lucy!

Then I did a fun one for a wedding present!

Trying this out!

2011-08-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

I am going to try this out so others can see what I am doing and so I can link up to other blogs. I recently started making bags and love doing them!!

This one is my first one and I got the tutorial here. She has an awesome blog and makes some fun things!!