Quilted Weekender Bag: Take 4

I finally finished my 4th weekender bag and have been so excited to share it with you all! After making my weekender #2 in two days and weekender #3 in 4 days I decided to keep to a leisurely pace and took my time with this last one. It was nice not having to rush for a deadline for once! 

I really love how funky this turned out! I knew I wanted to have leopard print velveteen handles and leopard print cotton piping. The rest of the bag just came together with lots of prints I had in my stash. Many of them are Anna Maria Horner but there are a handful of other designers thrown in there too!

Of course I have to credit the wildly talented Elizabeth of Oh, Frannson for giving me (and all of the sewing world) the idea of making a quilt as you go version of the weekender bag. I am constantly amazed at all of the versions that have come into fruition inspired by that one bag! She is definitely a trend setter! :)

I made this bag as a gift but it hasn't been gifted yet... Instead, it is on display at my very favorite brick and mortar fabric shop- Sew to Speak. So if you live in my neck of the woods you can see it in person there! :)

Although I don't have any plans to make another weekender anytime soon (never say never), I can't say that I am cured of the "Weekender Bag Addiction". Can someone start a weekender bags anonymous support group soon? I can be the treasurer! 

"Hello! My name is Ashley and it had been 1 month since I made my last weekender bag."

I hope you are all having a fun holiday weekend!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley

Pottery Barn Teen Inspired Christmas Stocking

A few weeks ago, I came across this PB Teen Christmas Stocking... 

(image source)

I loved the look of it and wanted to recreate my own version. Lucky for me, Bloomerie Fabrics had sent me a bit of Koi fabric and I knew it was perfect for this project!

I used Pennants Waving in Ivory for the cuff and lining of the stocking and The Way of the Flowers for the Peace sign applique and back of the stocking. 

I am not much of an artist, but I tried my very hardest to draw a peace sign with a fabric marker on my fabric and then cut it out and applied a heavy fusible interfacing to give the fabric a bit more stiffness and then just raw edge appliqued it onto my stocking with pearl cotton (hand stitched).

I used some wool blend felt for the letter applique on the base of the stocking. I freehanded the letters (inspired by the original stocking) and glued them to the stocking with fabric glue and then hand stitched around the edges with pearl cotton. I have never really worked with felt but I am a huge fan of it! I can't wait to use it in another project! The texture is really awesome!

I used a layer of batting in between the outer layer and lining of the stocking. Then I used a bit of mini pom pom around the bottom of the cuff. Overall I am really happy with how it turned out! Can't wait to send it to my little sis for Christmas!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley

Our Family's Christmas Elf

I have wanted to start a Christmas Elf tradition in my home ever since I my oldest daughter's first Christmas. I love the cute Elf on a Shelf tradition that so many families do in their homes, but I wanted our family's Christmas Elf tradition to be different in a couple ways... The biggest being that I wanted our elf to be unique.

Since Santa is very aware of the fact that I love to sew, I knew he would definitely be on board with me taking part in the creative process of our family's elf. All I needed was a sprinkle of Santa's magic after our elf was complete for her to come to life and carry on our tradition! ;)

I started looking for ideas/patterns online and just wasn't seeing anything I loved... until I came across this darling Little Red Riding Hood Doll Pattern. It was exactly the look I was going for! I ordered my pattern from Dolls and Daydreams on etsy. (I am so impressed with Sarah's doll patterns! This pattern was 55 pages long with step by step photos walking through each part!) The pattern was in instant download, so I had it within seconds! Perfect!!

Next I came up with my color palette. I wanted to go with something that wasn't super "traditional" red and green Christmas colors- so I decided on peach and apple green. I love this color combo!   

Since I loved the pattern so much, I tried to stick to it pretty close so that my doll was just as cute as the original. I did make a few alterations to make her an elf (instead of Little Red). The first thing I did different was added a little curve to the shoe pattern to make her elf shoes.

Then I opted to only use the hood portion of the pattern and not add the cape. (Although I do think she would have been pretty cute with that cape too- I just wanted to make extra sure she looked like an elf and not a green and peach version of Little Red.) I also hand stitched a handmade felt ball (made with wool roving) to the tip of the hat. And instead of the cute mushroom in Little Red's hair, I made a candy cane instead. 

I am so happy with how she turned out! She is perfect for our family's new tradition! And Santa has already made a special trip to our house to sprinkle some magic on her, so our Christmas Elf tradition is already in action! 

(Yes- I am one of those crazy Christmas people! We start Christmas traditions and decor as soon as Halloween is over at our house!)  

We named our Christmas elf Evie... I think it's a perfect name for her! :)

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley