sew happy!

I know, the cheesy title, it's too much. But I've been sewing lately, my friends, and with GREAT results! I'm so excited to share with you! This is not a tutorial, this is a LOOK WHAT I MADE (and here's a link to the tutorial I used).  As our summer trip has been coming up I've been probably going overboard trying to think of ways to entertain Madeline on airplanes and in cars... just trying to make life easier on all of us. I've hit up so many dollar stores/dollar sections for "little stuff" to give her and they're all wrapped up like it's her birthday. That unwrapping gives me like 30seconds to take a breath! But I also wanted to make her a few more meaningful things. 

So on to the sharing! I'm so excited with how everything came out. So happy. You'll be overcome with the cuteness, I promise. Best for last, of course :)

First we have a colored pencil holder. Madeline LOVES to color, collect things that are similar and put stuff in and pull it out so I know this will be a hit. I didn't use any pattern or tutorial, just figured it out on my own and went to town.

I had all the supplies, just spent 97cents on a new box of colored pencils. bam.

All tied up :) So cute!  Next is a little messenger-style purse. I'm not sure how much she'll use this yet, I think the idea will grow on her eventually. 

Hopefully I made the strap long enough to let her use it for a couple years.

I put a zipper in. No biggie ;)

My favorite part of this purse is the 'quilted' treatment I did to the fabric. It turned out so cute. Far from perfect, but I still love it. Homemade stuff shouldn't be perfect, anyway, right?! A tutorial I kind of used (more for inspiration than anything) can be found here.  Mine is so much cuter ;)

Next is a doll that was supposed to be in her stocking last Christmas... I made the doll probably last October, but struggled with the clothes. I was up late Christmas eve trying to make it work but I was really stuck. I ended up making the the clothes that come with the body tutorial. I guess I just didn't have the right fabric yet. Anyway, glad it's finally done :) Madeline likes her, too.

The above doll, however, doesn't even compare to the cuteness of what you are about to witness. I was so excited to come across this tutorial over at Make it & Love it.  (excited to have found the blog too!) 

I'm so in love with how her eyes turned out. I hand stitched the eyes and mouth. She doesn't stitch the eyes on the tutorial, but I'm so glad I did!

I just can't take how cute she turned out! She's much bigger in person than she looks in pictures. I'll have to get a picture of her with Madeline after Madeline gets to open her on the airplane.

The lace matches a dress I made for Madeline for her birthday last November.

Now to think of a name for this cutie :) 

Wow congrats to those of you who made it! Sorry for rambling, I probably made no sense, I'm just so excited! Yay for sewing! Yay for actually completely projects and for having them come out cuter than you anticipated!