The Twins

So who missed the twins here?  Well, they've been sewing hard. They are growing up fast too.  They are identical twins and inseparable, but they are developing their own individual taste too.  So it happens to be that they don't want the exact same project or fabric.  I guess it is a part of growing up, so they've been taking lessons separately these days.  Now take a look what they've made...

The most recent project, a scarf. This is Amelia who made it for her teacher who loves pink...

Sarah wearing a green scarf for her rookie teacher who is from Ireland...

Tote shoulder bags...this was the last project they worked together in the same session...

Goofing around and posing and just having fun...

Bag making takes a lot of prep work so I had to choose the fabric ahead of time and I did so based on the fact that they don't want exactly the same look anymore. They chose the straps.  See how different their tastes are?

Here is Sarah looking a little younger (the photo is from last fall). She is wearing her first bag she had made last summer. 

The first bag was much smaller than the second one...

Here they are together again posing for the work-in-progress picture.  For this advanced project we had to have two sessions. One together, one separate...

No, Amelia didn't forget to put on her clothes.  It was pajama day at school...

Amelia about to do a back stitch...see where her right hand is?

She was so proud of herself that she wanted me to take this picture which shows how straight her stitches are.

Now it's Sarah's turn...

She is so comfortable with the sewing machine...

Ta-da!!! It's a boxed pouch!

Remember the cat they had been working on?  Well, Sarah finished it!  She worked very patiently with her hand stitching...

Okay, here is Amelia's cat.  Well, she wasn't so crazy about hand stitching and while her cat is still a work in progress (yes girl, you gonna finish it), she made a cat pillow...

Can you see the whiskers and tail?

Oh, I love this picture of Sarah making a pot holder for her grandma...

You know what I realized?  They really love their teachers because they always want to make something for them.  How lucky are they?  Here is Amelia holding a lavender sachet for her teacher...

right: a rough design sketch for the sachet...left: the finished sachet looking exactly how she designed for...

Not making a mess, just getting crafty...

They once told me that they wanted to get away from each other, but they still love working together.  Well, of course! They are twins!

Oh, I almost forgot...here is Sarah holding a gingerbread man ornament she made in her class last Christmas.  It was a perfect opportunity to show off her learned skill at school.  She did it all by herself.  I'm so proud of her!

From the Sewing Nook...

It's been a week, but how was your Fathers' Day, everyone?  Sadly, Fathers' Day is treated as if less important than Mothers' Day.  Maybe it is because it's hard to think of a gift for men in general. But, that's not the case for the twins. Well, thinking of the right gift, yes, it was hard. But, it is as important as Mother's Day. So our secret (maybe not so secret after the Mother's Day mission) plan had begun. There were a few project possibilities that came up, but we decided on the eyeglass case...because "Daddy always loses his glasses," the twins said.

Amelia cozily sewing a pincushion for her aunt who is a quilter.  A perfect gift for her...

Sarah is quilting the eyeglass case...her first quilting work!

Sarah is on a roll...finished the case and went on to the cat...

Oh no!!!  I pinned the right and the wrong side together instead of the right and right, but it was a good lesson.  Remember girls, learn from your mistakes and a seam ripper is a sewer's best friend. 

Here it is!  The pink button is their choice, but their father likes pink according to them, and it picks up with the pink glasses on the fabric.  Sarah did a superb job on the quilting!  I'm sure their dad loves it and hope he won't loose his glasses anymore.

They made a couple more things for other members of their family whom they will see at the family reunion.  I forgot to take photos again :-(

Sew & Tell

As I have always said,  a modern quilt is easy and beginner friendly.  Here is Bonnie's windmill quilt.  She tweaked the traditional windmill pattern with Lotta Jansdotter's Glimma collection.  Simple and cute!  Love the colors.  Thanks, Bonnie!

And here are three familiar faces, Noelle, Evie, and Charlotte.  I was a bit worried about their skills for the granny tote, but they handled it pretty well.  Of course, there were a few accidents, but they were always eager to learn.  The results are right here.  Fantastic job, girls! 

The Twins

So it's graduation time, and the twins will soon be kindergarten graduates.  In fact, it's today!  Yay! Congratulations Sarah and Amelia!  But, they are not graduating from Peapod's sewing "school" just yet, so let's see how much progress they've made in this semester in reverse order (some projects are missing because I forgot to take photos).

The twins' grandma is in town for their graduation.  Amelia made a pouch for grandma, and Sarah made a heart ornament for their principal and this time she 98 percent made it on her own.

Tree printed summer skirts...

They are so natural in front of the camera...

The Mother's Day gift, the patchworked scarf...

Felted shoulder bags from the kit...

The cloud...

Heart ornaments for their teachers...

The bird and fish toys for their two cats...Dash is jealous...

Happy head bands...

Ribbon embellished drawstring pouches...

Monogrammed heart lavender sachet for mom and dad for Valentine's Day...

So this is where it all began...ah, their very first sewing project, the owl ornament.  I remember that they took 40 minutes to hand stitch the owl's eyelashes, so you see how far they've come.  While they prefer machine sewing to hand stitching, they now know how to do the running stitch, back stitch, and whip stitch by hand.  They can also sew a button.  Isn't that great?  I know there are plenty grown-ups out there who can't even sew a button.  While they still have a lot to learn, I am so proud of how far they've come and how much they enjoy sewing.  I love you girls!  

Mother's Day Sewing

Okay, here is what the twins sewed for their mom.  A patchworked scarf!  The twins wanted to pick the fabric, but um...you know, I didn't think their mom wanted to wear a yellow cats or orange monkey print scarf.  It was fine for their cloud mobile to be bright and fun, but for their mom, the six years old kids' fabric choice was a bit risky.  So I picked the fabrics the day before as their father depended on me for more subtle colors.  Yep, it was a secret team work to surprise the mom.  And it worked very well.  She loved it!

Sarah proudly showed Amelia how to hand stitch the cat's eye as she mastered it a week before...

Making a card for mom...

These were what they used...soothing, subtle, but a bit whimsical with the some creatures hidden in the print.  Very pretty! No cats or monkey, but wait, is it a frog?  We were praising how pretty the scarf turned out while they worked on the cards, and they cracked me up during the conversation. 

me: "Oh gosh, it's so pretty!  Your mom is gonna love it.  It's so classy."

one of the twins: "What's classy?"

me: "um, it means beautiful...and um, sophisticated."

the other twin: "What's Sophie scared of?"

me: "What?"  The twin repeated it. 

me: "Who's Sophie?"  I thought she was all of sudden talking about her friend.

the twin: "You said that Sophie is scared." 

I was puzzled for a moment and burst out laughing.  I explained it to them again, and we all were smiling.  They are just adorable!

Sew & Tell and Happy Mother's Day!

So what are you guys planning for today?  Lunch with mom?  That's what we are gonna do later today with my boy and get some flowers from the farmer's market for my mother's altar.  I don't know what these "bag" ladies are doing today, but I'm sure they will have their own quality time with their mothers. 

Kimi stopped by the other day with her gorgeous Birdie Sling.  She got some more fabrics to make more Birdies.  She used Anna Maria Horner's purple print for her first one.  Such a beautiful print! 

Next comes Koko's tote.  I gave her a private lesson to make this cute tote.  This is based on another sample bag that I was working on along with the granny bag.  She used Lotta's Glimma in pink, and this is her first time making a bag.  And she loved it!

So Sandra signed up at a very last minute for the granny bag class.  She showed up at the door to see if it was still available.  Sure, I took her in.  She is an experienced sewer, but there is always room to learn new things.  Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, but the bag has a black pin stripe chevron body and teal handles.  It actually is a very pretty combo!

And here comes Amy whose mom is an adept sewer.  She is a very beginner and just bought a sewing machine.  BTW, I am really impressed with her machine for the price and quality.  So if you are searching for one, check Brother CS-6000i.  Anyway, we decided to make her bag a bit larger than the original size because she wanted to make the handles a bit longer.  You know,  proportion is an important thing in bag making.  And we found out it is a really nice size.  Yup, I am stealing this size.  Thanks Amy :-) Your mom will be so proud!

 

Thank you, everyone!  They all look cute!!!

And have a wonderful Mother's Day!