Hello terrible twos, buh-bye sewing time.

Whoa, time flies when you're - well, let's just say it flies. I have been up to my eyeballs in the terrible twos here and it is no fun. Not only do I have a whining, crying soundtrack to my day, but we are also having sleep problems. Ugh. I think we've finally "fixed" the nighttime issues that cropped up when we were staying at my parents' house, but we are still struggling with nap time. He went from a 2-3 hour nap to mostly no nap! A couple days this week I got him to take an hour-long nap, but it's still hit or miss.

Which means that my sewing time has gone to almost zero. Boo.

I've started trying to sew while he's awake, hoping he'll just play quietly by himself. Sometimes it goes that way. Sometimes I'm fighting him off my machine pedal, keeping him from maiming himself with the iron or just playing referee between him and the dog.

However.

I am determined to sew. It keeps me sane! It must be done. So, I have gotten a few things finished.

A couple months ago, I came across Hoodie's Catch of the Day line. I knew that I had to have it and had to make something for my mom with it. I was a little disappointed in her reaction to the quilt I made her for Christmas, so I needed redemption. So I decided to think small and made her a couple of kitchen towels and potholders.

 

She loved them. Thank goodness. I didn't really use a specific tutorial, just kind of winged it. For the towels I just strip pieced the fabric and appliqued it to a couple of (perfectly matching) towels I got at Target. The potholders (that's front and back of two up there) I put together by looking at ones I had and reading tips online. I sandwiched a 9" square of Insul-bright batting between 2 squares of cotton batting and then the fabric on either side. I did simple diamond quilting (with cotton thread) and then made some double fold bias tape to bind, turning a little loop over at the end. Pretty simple stuff, but I think they turned out well!

I managed to eek out a homemade Easter gift for Jack, too, though I was sewing this up the night before Easter:

I saw these I spy bags on the blog homemade by jill and thought it would be the perfect quick and simple gift for Easter. The fabric is Michael Miller Plaid Portation that I had in my stash - because I knew it would be perfect for Jack. I found the poly beads at Michaels, along with several little toys and scrabble letters. It actually wasn't as cheap as I would have liked, but it was last minute. If I had more time, I could have found cheaper items for the inside. I did end up making another one (in a flowery fabric) for my friend's daughter's second birthday, so I was able to split the items up, making each one a little more - economical.

I made the little pocket on back for the card, as well, though I didn't take pictures of everything before it went in. I figure I could just type it out, or maybe take pictures of each item laying in the poly beads. Or he could store some goldfish snacks in there. Whatever.

I am still slogging away at April's Craftsy Block of the Month - english paper piecing hexagons - and I am giving my friend her quilt this weekend, so I can finally post pictures of that, woohoo! If my 2 year old doesn't kill me first.