W.I.P. Wednesday : Wee Gallery Goodness

Don’t you just love happy accidents? I found the lovely Wee Gallery totally by mistake one day, and what a happy find! Just gorgeous prints and other lovelies for babies and small children…though I feel I can speak for adults when I say I love them, too!

I was extra lucky the day I found Surya’s blog, because that very day she put out a call for some testers to sew up some kits to make soft books and I was chosen! Fortuitous, indeed.

Shortly afterwards I received a lovely and very complete Soft Book kit to sew up. This is a very satisfying project because it is a one-sit affair : very easy to follow instructions, nothing to measure or fuddle with. Depending on how quickly you sew and if your iron is set up, you can have this project done in 30 minutes flat, maybe less. Or longer, I suppose if your thread jams up, your telephone keeps ringing and you notice that there hasn’t been any noise from Guppy’s bedroom in a few minutes – silence is always a bad sign. Even with those distractions I was done in less than 40 minutes, so there.

Surya also had some just beautiful Circus Coloring Cards up for grabs. She graciously sent me the PDF file, and Guppy has been really enjoying colouring them.

Though Guppy recently turned 4, she does usually colour a little neater (she doesn’t get that from me!). I asked her about the jiggly lines and she looked at me, somewhat exasperated, and sighed, “Mumma, they’re moving!”. Well, silly me. That should have been obvious I suppose.

These sweet colouring cards are now available in her Wee Gallery Etsy Shop. You should also check out their Wee Gallery Store for other beautiful prints. And thank you again Surya for allowing me to test your pattern! It was a real pleasure.

Are you being buried by a pile of unfinished W.I.P.s (or is it just me?). Whatever your works-in-progress, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.

W.I.P. Wednesday : Let’s Tie One On! An apron, that is.

It’s time to Tie One On! Amy Karol of Angry Chicken fame just loves aprons, so much so that she also has a blog devoted solely to aprons, Tie One On. There you will find all things apron-y like great apron links, apron books, apron resources…you get the idea. Amy also runs an event where she announces an apron-making theme every couple of months, and the kids at home can play along, making an apron from the pattern of their choice, using the criteria Amy announced.

May’s theme was “the no money apron”, and it required making an apron but not spending anything to make it. I thought this was the perfect theme as we just celebrated Earth Day, and using things we already had or upcycling fabric and giving it a “renaissance”, is about as earth-friendly as we can get.

I’ve been wanting to make an apron for myself, mostly because I’m one of the biggest slobs ever. No, strike that. I’m just very passionate and into what I’m doing and can’t be bothered by things like splatters and drips and finding a towel to wipe my hands on. The thing is, I just couldn’t see squandering my little fabric stash on myself, and each time I thought I had something I could use for an apron for yours truly, I instantly came up with four other giftable projects it could be used on.

Enter this month’s Tie One On. I decided I would use fabric that I couldn’t possibly use for someone else – you know, “rag bag”-worthy stuff, that way, I was giving some un-loved fabric a second chance, and I wouldn’t be “wasting” otherwise beautiful fabric on a project for me. Win-win, really.

I give you a few examples of the stained, the torn and the ugly :

Can you see that big coffee stain?

I think this is a tomato-y sauce one.

Snags & Tatters – nope, not a rock band. My fabric.

This 80’s big-flowers fabric was used to cover my sister-in-law’s Mother’s couch. When I got my sewing machine last year, she gave me a few pieces of nasty fabric she had lying around her house for me to practice on and play with. I gladly accepted them, but never got past their obvious imperfections, and in the fabric pile they sat. A well-loved apron is going to become stained and get lots of tough love, and I reasoned that these big flowers could help hide new stains. The sweet and talented Amanda made a gorgeous apron for my mother using Amy Butler’s “Easy Apron” pattern. When I saw how beautiful Amanda’s apron looked I was inspired by the pleats and thought they would be an excellent way to dissimulate stains!

Here’s a picture of the apron in Amy Butler’s In Stitches :

Nice pin cushion, hey? Thanks again, Sophie!

Ta da! This picture just doesn’t do it justice, which is really too bad because my new apron is just gorgeous! I absolutely love it! The fabric I used for the trim is also from my SIL, and it’s got these horrible sun-bleached spots on it, but they are folded into the inside, so you can’t see them. I also couldn’t believe that I hadn’t noticed the two fabrics worked so well together before.

I’m still a bit of a novice in the apron department, but I must admit, I just love making them! My first one was back in June. Next, I made this apron, a 30th birthday gift for a friend and my first Tie One On participation. Then I made another nearly just like it (since I had enough fabric) for my sister’s birthday in October.

I can’t wait to see what everyone else has been up to! Whatever your endeavours, have a crafty week, and don’t forget to see what the other Wipsters are up to, and to check out our W.I.P. Wednesday Flickr Pool, too.