The Sew Liberated Woodlands Shirt pattern has been on my cutting table for a couple of weeks, along with the fabric (beautiful unicorns from the Far, Far Away line by Heather Ross for Kokka). I finally remembered to wash the fabric, so it seemed liked perfect timing to whip up a cute little shirt for my little sweetie.

If you have not touched the Kokka double gauze, you’re missing out. It’s so beautiful and soft, really just a gorgeous fabric. Sewing with it was easy peasey and the weight of the fabric is just perfect for clothes. I think I need to pick up some more for spring and summer sewing.

I really like how the top turned out, although I wish I had added some length to the sleeves and bodice. Miss L is a size 5 but has a long torso, which made this shirt a perfect fit for her — as long as I did a narrow hem (unlike the nice double-stitched hem called for in the pattern directions).

I almost left off the funky buttons but decided the shirt would look even cuter with them. I’m glad I did! They’re really fun and Liesl loves them. She also likes that she can manage the snaps all by her big girl self. Yes, the independence thing is a big one around here!

I’m looking forward to making this top again, maybe in more of this sweet double gauze or even some of the Anna Maria Horner voile. It’s a nice, easy-to-wear piece and flattering, too.

I’ve been a little fixated on cupcakes lately. OK, “a little fixated” is a bit of an understatement. “Completely obsessed” is likely more accurate. But they’re just the perfect little treat! Easy to make, fun to decorate, just the right size for a sweet, singular indulgence.

I was beyond excited when my new cookbook — Cupcakes: Luscious Bakeshop Favorites from Your Home Kitchen by Shelly Kaldunski — arrived last week. I thumbed through it, drooling over the beautiful pictures and appetizingly named recipes.

Luckily for me, I had a great reason to try out the new addition: My son’s 19th birthday was Thursday and we had a trip planned to see him at college. Of course, I had trouble narrowing down which recipe to try so I decided to make three different types of cupcakes to take with us. Each recipe only makes one dozen cupcakes, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal. And the kid does live in a dorm, with plenty of friends who likely would love to help him scarf down a cupcake or three.

After consulting with the other two kids, I narrowed down the choices to PB&J cupcakes, Salted Caramel cupcakes and Black & White cupcakes (which featured a yummy cheesecake center).

Here’s the part in the story where I go off on a little tangent and tell you that I learned three very important lessons while making these cupcakes:

1. A cooling rack full of cupcakes is apparently irresistible to my cat, who nibbled off the tops of two of them while I took Miss L to preschool that morning.

2. Our beautiful, sweet greyhound discovered that her snout is at the perfect height to snatch cupcakes off the butcher block while they are cooling. Another two gone, including cupcake papers.

3. The chickenese is not content to let her big little sister eat all the goodies and can, in fact, knock a cupcake off the butcher block and onto the floor by jumping up and down vigorously enough. No lie. (This is actually how we discovered the greyhound’s cupcake pilfering.)

*sigh*

The cupcakes were amazingly good. Like, so good that I can’t believe I handed over the boxes to my kid and let him have them all.

The Black & White cupcakes were the most challenging, mostly because the centers tried to fall out through the bottoms when I took the cupcakes out of the pan (they aren’t cooked in liners). The Salted Caramel required the most work, since the buttercream has caramel swirled into it and that had to be cooked from scratch. Well worth the effort, though, although we all though they didn’t really need the chocolated-dipped caramel on top of them. I used my favorite seedless raspberry jam with the PB&J cuppies, plus some organic peanut butter in the frosting. I’ll probably use regular peanut butter the next time I make them to see how it compares.

My only complaint is that the directions say to “distribute evenly” when filling the cupcake pan, even with the cheesecake filling of the Black & White cupcakes. It would have been a bit more helpful to give an amount for people like me who are a little challenged in the dividing-batter/filling department.

We ended up with leftover frosting and chocolate glaze, so I made a batch of Devil’s Food Cupcakes today. I topped them with the rest of the peanut butter frosting and then did three with the Gooey Chocolate Glaze. They were just as delicious as the others — only I get to enjoy them a little longer.

My friend R’s sister died in 1993 after a too-brief battle with ovarian cancer at the age of 25. After her sister’s death, R began sleeping on her sister’s pillowcase and continued to do so right up until this fall, when the last pillowcase she had finally disintegrated.

When I saw R post on Facebook in November that she couldn’t sleep and needed someone to make pillowcases from the sheets. Normally, I won’t do anything that resembles “chore” sewing but I’ve known R my entire adult life and I know how close she was to her sister. I couldn’t help but say I’d help. Within three days, I had a box in my hands with a full-size set of sheets.

I quickly pressed and measured the flat sheet to calculate how many pillowcases I could make from it, then cut and sewed two, boxed and shipped them the same day. I then had to set aside the project until after I wrapped up work on a big deadline that was looming over me, a guilty feeling nagging at me as the fabric sat untouched for a few weeks.

The holidays took us to R’s little corner of the world, so I made sure to finish the delayed project because I could deliver the remaining pillowcases in person. Between the two sheets, I was able to make nine pillowcases — enough to give R a lifetime of peaceful sleep. From the larger scraps that remained, I made a small throw pillow and embroidered it was a single R, the initial shared by my friend and her sister.

About two years ago, I got it into my head to try my hand at making a kilt for my oldest. I blame my cousin, really: She’s the one who brought up the whole UtiliKilt thing in the first place. While the kilts are amazing and worth every penny, I thought I could make one and save a few pennies.

I surfed around until I found a tutorial, bought about five yards of olive green twill and … procrastinated. To the point that my teenager wondered if I were ever going to start, much less finish the kilt in his lifetime. Rotten kid. Note: When adding the link to the tutorial, I noticed that an updated version has been posted. This happened after I found and printed the one I used, so be aware that all comments refer to the original manual.

Part of the reason I put it off so long was the length of the tutorial: More than 20 pages, most of them text. And the beginning of the tutorial said it would take about a week to sew, which really didn’t help matters.

Fortunately, it does not take someone who sews regularly anywhere near that long. I think I finish J’s in about a day, maybe 1 1/2 days, and much of that was trying to make sense of a tutorial written by someone who does not sew.

The tutorial did not take into account ease and I failed to add any on my own, so I think the kilt ended up a little slimmer than needed. And maybe a little shorter than intended, too. I’m still not super clear on how the darned thing is supposed to close but I added buttonholes and buttons to the inside of the waistband and am optimistic they’ll hold appropriately.

The final product isn’t as nice as a UtiliKilt but the boy seems to like it. And his girlfriend bought him a nice pair of argyle socks to go with it so his skinny legs won’t get quite so cold while wearing it.

Early in 2009, I made a Sleep-Over Quilt for Miss L using some of Patty’s first line for Michael Miller, Andalucia. I realized right away what a great gift it would make and planned to whip up some for Christmas. Little did I know that I’d be swamped with a major deadline around the holidays and would not have the chance to stick with my plan!

Of course, I wasn’t willing to give up on making at least a few gifts, especially one I thought would be enjoyed by my nieces. So I took an unexpected detour and bought prequilted fabric. It may not have the same cachet as something sewn and quilted personally, but I took a gamble that our 4- and almost 7-year-old nieces wouldn’t mind.

I found the fabric at JoAnn ETC and was surprised to see Dena Designs on the selvedge (Dena also designs fabric for Freespirit/Westminster). A quick sprint through the aisle helped me find two coordinates I could use for the pockets. (The green dot binding came from my stash.)

Originally I thought to use the trimmed quilted fabric for the straps and would just bind the edges but that didn’t quite work out the way I envisioned. Instead, I used some nylon strapping I had on hand. I’m optimistic it will hold up as well. It’s not an heirloom type of quilt, so the modification didn’t really bother me.

I added a personal touch to each quilt by embroidering the girls’ names on the outermost pocket. The personlization stitched out while I worked on the pockets, and really didn’t add any time to the project. All in all, I think I wrapped up both blankets from start to finish in one day. Not bad for a last-minute homemade gift!

I’m not sad to see 2009 go. There were some great high points last year but it had its fair share of lows, too. As the final days of the year approached, I found myself wishing for time to speed up and the new year to dawn so I could have a fresh start.

That’s not to say the year ended on a bad note. Far from it! With my oldest child off hunting with his grandfather, I found myself traveling with the other two kids to my hometown — and a bit beyond — to catch up with family and friends. It was such an amazing time, catching up with everyone. And while I managed to neglect my camera somewhat, I did capture some great pictures of the impish Miss L with my Tante (my late mom’s older sister). We were truly surrounded by love everywhere we went.

It was a good send off to a year I’m happy to see gone. That chapter has ended and the one that’s just beginning hints at better things to come.

All you have to do to win is comment on this post between now and 5 p.m. (Eastern time) on Christmas Eve. I’d love to know what you’ve made to give for Christmas this year or a favorite handmade gift you’ve received, but that’s optional. I’ll randomly select two winners (thanks to Random.org) and forward your information to the sweet folks at YCMT, who’ll send you your prizes.

Merry Christmas, y’all!

ETA: Congrats to the winners, commenters #6 (Stephanie) and #30 (Cristie)! I’ll be forwarding your email addresses to YCMT and they’ll send out your prizes soon.

I was at the shop one day when the FreeSpirit rep was showing off upcoming lines and fell in love with the header fabric as soon as I saw it. I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s the new line from Dena Designs. love love love love LOVE

I promised Sarah I’d make her a sample as soon as the yardage came in and picked out the Lily Top from Pink Fig Patterns. I wanted something that had a nice, big area to show off those sweet birds and the Lily worked out perfectly.

The accent fabric is by Jennifer Paganelli (Pretty Please) and was such a nice contrast. There’s a blue/green version of the same print that looks equally as awesome with the birds. I opted for the pink, though, because I really wanted a bit more contrast.

I’ve never sewn a Pink Fig pattern before but I’ve made tons of peasant tops and dresses, so I didn’t actually read the instructions. I did not do a rolled hem on the neckline, sleeves and hem because I wanted to show how easy it is to modify if someone doesn’t have a serger.

The dress is a size 5 and I think the sizing is right on for Miss L. I definitely like the fit and she is completely enamored with the finished product. I really can’t wait until Spring when it’s warm enough to wear it.

At Market in October, I picked up the Torii Tunic from Serendipity Studio. I loved the look of the top and thought it would actually make a nice Mom top to coordinate with the ModKid Kyoko, since both have a bit of an Asian flair. I told Sarah my idea and promised to make some samples for the shop.

We had so much fun picking out the fabrics! I wanted the tops to coordinate but not be matchy-matchy. Both have a pretty yellow geometric print from the Monaco line by Dena Designs. The Kyoko has the yellow on the sweet obi belt with two fabrics from Jennifer Paganelli’s Pretty Please (and some Michael Miller bias trim).The Torii Tunic uses a stripe from Pretty Please along with a beautiful floral from Paula Prass’s Summer Soiree line.

I’ve written about the Kyoko before and still love it just as much as I did before, so I’ll focus instead on the Torii Tunic. This is my first Serendipity Studio pattern to sew (but not buy — I own at least three others) and I’m quite happy with the results. If I’d had more time, I would have sewn a muslin. Instead, I just winged it and sewed the XL. I think the L would have fit just fine but it’s OK since it’s a shop sample and I can make exactly what I want for me another time.

I do recommend opening the pattern and reading it before buying fabric, since the way you lay out the pattern for cutting affects the yardage. I ended up running back up to the shop to pick up more fabric because of it.

I did run into a weird issue with matching up front and back sleeves, with one side being longer than the other. I’m not quite sure what happened, since I did trace off the pattern and used that for cutting out the fabric. I just trimmed off the excess and moved on.

Other than that, I think the top came together pretty easily (even with the zipper) and I look forward to sewing another. Maybe next time, I’ll try the dress!

Sometimes, sewing feels like a chore.

I hate admitting that but it’s true. The last thing I want to do is give the impression on my blog and in my life that everything is all shiny happy glossy because it’s not. Right now there’s a pile of socks on one living room chair, a basket full of laundry to fold, dishes piled up on the kitchen counter and so many domestic landmines on my side of the bed that I fear for my life every time I stumble into the bathroom in the middle of the night.

For me, sewing became my go-to hobby because it could be something different and exciting every time I started a project. The possibilities were endless. There’ve been times lately, though, when my work necessitated doing the same thing over and over again. And it makes my favorite hobby something tedious.

It’s such a unsettling feeling that it actually makes me want to clean my house instead of sewing. Seriously. Two days ago, I was on my hands and knees at 7 a.m., scrubbing the floor of my shower.

Fortunately, I’ve managed to clear off my to-do list enough that I can take a break from sewing the next day or two and recharge. Miss L and I are going to do a little holiday baking and I may even fold that laundry.

Or maybe bribe someone else to fold it so I can clean my studio, which looks like a fabric store exploded.