Busy Bee!

I was looking through my photo library the other day and I realized that I have finished a lot of projects and haven't posted anything about them. And since I feel like I have really slacked off with my blogging and Elsie is napping perfectly, right now would be a great way to catch up.
Ty asked what I wanted for my birthday back in July and I told him that money would make me the happiest. That way I could get clothes and fabric and these patterns!!!
These patterns to be exact:

I have been drooling over this bag for months and couldn't wait to make it my own.

And I just knew that Elsie would look adorable in these dresses.
I had bought some fabric from Amy Butler a long time ago and it has been patiently sitting in my counter waiting to be used and I had been trying to find the perfect project for it. And thanks to Heather Bailey's pattern, we got this:


The fabric flower makes me so happy! The bag ended up being a lot bigger than I thought but that was okay. I took it with my to go see Wicked and I felt so proud to be carrying it around with me. I did have a bit of a struggle gathering the top part of it. After many MANY attempts and broken threads I was about ready to ship it off the Heather Bailey herself and have her finish it for me because I had it. But thank goodness for my fellow apron dorks for showing me the correct settings on my machine for gathering and opening my eyes. And they didn't laugh at me (too hard at least) that I had spent two years gathering everything the hard way and not knowing it. Let's just say, I don't avoid projects that require gathering anymore. I used to change patterns to pleats because I HATED gathering. Plus, pleats are so much more feminine to me than gathering. Anyways, thank you girls!!!!
And it is a good thing that I learned how to gather finally because this dress for Elsie is all about gathering!!!

I am in love with the neck line on this dress and can't wait to make more. Especially since this one doesn't fit Elsie at all. We put it on her for a photo shoot (which is just crazy, because 1 year olds don't do photo shoots) and I almost had to cut her out of it. No fear, the dress is intact and ready for our next little girl to wear. I have already finished another dress for Elsie in a size bigger that I will post picture of later that is in the most perfect blue for her eyes. I was so excited to have her wear it to show off her big blue eyes!!!
And than, to celebrate the Secret Stitch Clubs 2 year anniversary, we had a bag swap using the Buttercup bag from Made by Rae and this is the one that I whipped up for Maren.

If the flower I made for my own bag made me so happy, I had to spread the cheer to someone else. Lucky Maren!

And finally, my sister-in-law asked if I would make her a celebrate banner for her family and she told me, "I like polka dots and stripes." I love polka dots and stripes, I was so excited about this. I knew it needed to be gender neutral since she has three boys and one girl and this is what I put together:

I think Ty loves this one more than our own because he even wanted to help me make it he loved the colors so much. I'm not going to lie, I want to keep it too. I love how it turned out. She wants a matching table cloth which I am currently trying to figure out the best way to go about that.
So there you have it, I may have been M.I.A in the blogging world but that is because I have been spending a lot of quality time with Hansel (my Husqvarna Viking).