All Aboard!

My granddaughter loves trains so when I saw this conductor hat tutuorial on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to make her one for her upcoming 3rd birthday. I found this a cute pink, brown, and green striped fabric on clearance that would be perfect so I happily bought it and skipped all the way home to whip this easy hat up!

I was about halfway into it when I realized that this hat was going to be way too small. So back to the fabric store I go. And of course the cute fabric is gone. So I search and search and search for something similiar and finally decided on a fabric that looked absolutely nothing like the original fabric. Oh well....

The tutorial was easy to follow and it really didn't take too long to make; after the fabric debaucle, maybe a couple hours. I chose to leave out the elastic on the hat band, though, so that may add another 15 minutes or so.



The inside is lined with red corduroy scrap fabric I had. I also added some red ric rac around the the hat band for some decoration. OK, it's actually to cover up some funky stitch lines but whatever. And since I went to the trouble, I finished the smaller one for Little Sister:





I don't know how excited they were about them but at least they kept them on long enough fo rme to snap a few pictures :)



And here's goofy Keeley and her Thomas the Train hat:



(Excuse the dog butt behind her) And little sister Kira:



Pretty cute, right? And the hats didn't turn out so bad either :)

Whimsy Living

Take a look over to the left.......yep, that's a link to my new etsy shop, Whimsy Living! Right now, there are three different versions of a vintage looking plush bunny....just in time for Easter! Pretty cute, right? I've only got a couple items for sale right now but I will be slowly adding new items over the next few months. Stay tuned!

A Fun Spring Purse

I am having so much fun with Adelaide 3000! The sewing is soooooooo smooth and there's so many fun things that can be done with it. I'm still learning my way around it and, as I've been playing with it, I realized something: since I've been sewing, I have yet to create something for myself! So I took a day, poured over my mountain of patterns, and found this one:



How I love a purse! I had this great fabric I bought eons ago at Goodwill so I went to it. It only took a couple of hours and I think it turned out not too shabby:



I used a contrasting fabric for the inside but used the same color thread as the outside:



I added a pocket and utilized one of the 225 stitches that Adelaide 3000 has to offer:



I'm loving it....such a fun, little Spring purse! I even got a compliment on it the other day....from a complete stranger! Gotta love that!

Ch-ch-changes

Well, hello there! It’s certainly been awhile! There have been a lot of changes in our household over the last several months and I’ve just never found time to update my little blog. I’m hoping to turn over a new leaf and be more consistent so wish me luck on that!

Like I said, there’s been a lot of changes, the biggest being a major move. We moved out of our house that we lived in for 11 years and are now currently renting in a small 1950’s era house. I’m not gonna lie…..I don’t love it (the house I mean, not the move). I think it probably has the potential to be pretty cute but for the life of me, I cannot get it there. It doesn’t help that, after 5 months, I am still unpacking boxes. I’m still slowly going through everything and trying to get it all organized. I’m still at a loss for how to arrange what little furniture I have left (I got rid of a bunch of stuff in the move……if I didn’t love it, I didn’t keep it). What I would really love to do is get rid of EVERYTHING and start from scratch….for some reason, Big Daddy is not on board with that plan. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to share with you the progress I’m making at getting my house “cute-ified”.

Another change: after 13 years, I finally had to part ways with my beloved Adelaide. She just pooped out on me. The week before Christmas. When I still had a few gifts left to make. She’s always been fickle like that. When the repair guy said there was nothing that could be done, I kind of felt like this:



It was pretty heartbreaking. So I did some research and some price comparisons and found my new love:



Hello Lover! She’s electronic with 225 built in stitches, an LCD screen with push button selection, 5 different feet, 6 automatic buttonholes, and an alphanumeric setting. Oh, she is lovely! I ordered her through Overstock (I got a killer deal!) and when she arrived, I felt like this:



I call her “Adelaide 3000”. And I love her.

I’ve made a few things already and have been trying to finish other projects that were started months and months ago. Stay tuned…I’ll be posting about those soon!

Gettin' Organized

I've been trying to get my sewing room organized and back to its original glory. What used to look like this:



Now looks like this:



I'm such a slob! If you notice in the above picture, the cat bed for the window I made for my sweet little kitty is empty but the basket of fabric on top of the shelf is not:



What an ingrate!

While cleaning, I discovered (or should I say "re-discovered"?) many, many unfinished projects so my goal is to finish them all up before I start any new projects. So this little project I started, oh, about a year and a half ago. I had been wanting some sort of cover for my back seat so when I travel with the dog I can put stuff on the floor of the back seat without her getting into it and keep her in the backseat at the same time. I came across this pattern and thought I'd give it a try:



And I started it. Then got completely irritated because it was so large and awkward to work with. So I put it in the closet. And there it sat. And sat. Oh yeah, and sat. But this past week I decided to tackle it again and actually, it was pretty easy to finish :)



Love me some leopard print! I used a turquoise fleece for the other side:



One small downside...it doesn't quite work like I had planned:



Ahem.....much better:



(By the way, I took about 50 pictures before I got one of her cooperating)

I'm slowly plugging away on more projects...some old ones, and some new ones...I know, I know but I can't help myself.

Quilts!

Since it's been awhile, I wanted to show you all some of the quilts I've made over the last year. If you've been reading here long, you've probably seen some of these. One of the first quilts I've ever made is this little cutie for my granddaughter:



I didn't use a pattern or anything...I just sort of made it up as I went along. Then, I figured out how to read and use a pattern AND I discovered rag quilts. This one is my first attempt:






Not bad, huh? Then, I went a little rag quilt crazy and made this one:






And this one:





And this one:







These rag quilts were all made from a Simplicity pattern. Then I found the pattern for this little gem on A Vision to Remember :









I love it! I am currently working a new quilt and have more planned. Can't wait to show you!

Catching Up

Um, Hello? **sheepishly looks around**

**Crickets**

It has been awhile, hasn't it? I guess I let my blogging duties lag during these past several months. While I have still been creating and sewing, I just haven't been blogging about it. With going to school full time and life happening, I underestimated the amount of free time I would have. But not anymore!

Welcome to the new and improved Adventures with Adelaiade! (She's cute, huh?) While I have recently graduated and am no longer a full time student (Yay me!), I will be working full time soon (hopefully) but I resolve to be more consistent with my blogging. Not every day, maybe not even every week, but I will be posting more often and showing off my creations :)

I have lots of things planned for this coming year: new projects, a craft fair, possibly even opening an etsy store! But first I want to catch you up on some of the things I've made. These are mostly from Christmas time and I won't go into all the details about how I made them, I'll just show you a bunch of pictures :)

First, some baby blocks:



But, look! They actually spell something!




A baby for my grandbaby:



Slippers!







How about some wallets?



Here's a closer look at one of them:



Some felt food! First, a toaster and some pastries:



A BBQ set:



(If you really want your mind blown with felt creations, check out the blog Takin' Care of Business)

And how about some stacking rings?



I don't know about you, but I am pictured out! Stay tuned...I'll be posting about some of the quilts I've made soon!