yummy bird aprons

More Aprons! These are both made from Tina Givens' Fairy Tip Toes collection. I made the bias tape with my new bias tape maker. It saves a little time. Both patterns are from "A is for Apron".

In other news, Pittsburgh has a new fabric shop called Loom! I only got to peek in for a minute last week, but I will plan a field trip soon.

new life live

So, I was cleaning out my closet and attempting to organize my shoes. I came across these blue Miz Moos from a few years ago. I love these shoes, but they are shot. Too shot to even donate. I was about to throw them away, and then..

TAA DAA! I glued some fabric on the toe. Who Knew? They don't look perfect, but I can wear them in public now. I wonder how long the cotton and glue will hold up.

Octubre

So sorry it's been awhile! I have been working like a normal person, and man, am I tired! I love my job, of course. I mean I get to touch beautiful dresses that I am so excited about. Take a look at fall! So beautiful! I adore Giddy-Up. It looks amazing on everyone. But, enough about Kelly, this blog is about me, Amy J, so...

Here is my lovely birthday present from my dear friend, Joey! Thank you! The tags are perfect!On a recent excursion to my mother's house, I found this treasure! It was one of my favorite toys as a child. It scares the b'jesus out of Esmé. I have seen a lot of flip-dolls on blogs, but not turn-around-and-lift-up-the- skirt-to- reveal-a-big-bad-wolf-doll. The other side of the wolf is a granny, but I prefer the wolf.

it is fall

Why hello there! Esmé has finally began preschool and I have been working (the kind that I get paid for) a lot more, so sewing has taken a back seat. I do, however, want to start knitting again. So portable! I did finish the scarf or my mom and will post photos soon. Anyways, I thought that these photos were sweet. Esmé insisted on having her first day of school pictures taken while she was in her car.

hot mess!

Ok, the main reason for this post is to get those hideous aprons off the top of my blog! I mean, I love the aprons, but those photos are terrible. Something was off with my camera because I was messing with the auto focus, but now all is well. And, here are some well-taken photos of knitting! "What?" you may ask, "You still knit?"

"Oh, sure. In fact, I am making this lovely multi-directional scarf for my dear sweet mother" I answer.

"Still? Wow, Amy, you've really lost it. You used to be such a fast knitter. I had assumed that you completed that project weeks ago!"

"Ha! It was all going along well until my sister's evil cat, Isabella Rodriguez, attacked the delicate two- stranded yarn. Now this is what my progress is after several hours of de-tangling:

aprons, aprons, aprons!

So, on my quest for making the perfect apron, which will happen some day, but until then I hope to enjoy the aprons that I meet along the way, I took this gem out of the library. I highly recommend this! However, my only beef is that the actual patterns need to be enlarged with a copier and then assembled with scotch tape! That's fine for a waist apron which is merely a gathered rectangle, but the full body bib aprons? Oh well, I guess that it made the book more affordable. Anyway, I made this little number:

It's called "Mango Tango" by Joan Hand Stroh. She has a ton on her etsy site. The hard part was translating the pattern from a page in a book to human scale. Luckily, some measurements were included. It only used one yard of fabric with enough leftover for pockets! But, I spent my $ on nine yards of bias tape for the trim.

And, of course, we can't forget Esmé! So, here is the one I made for her:

I pretty much made up the pattern and used stash fabric, but it's not very complicated. She loves blue, pink and owls, so they are all here in this basic apron. For the owl appliqué, I cut out the pieces and then ironed on some interfacing then used a zigzag stitch.

Still gay for totes

This was my first attempt at quilting in a long time. I decided to start small and simple. This one is for my mom since she always bugs me about quilting. It's a nice way to use small amounts of great fabric. Unfortunately, quilting always involves pre-planning, and that is not one of my strengths to say the least.