Baby Ellie's baby bedding

Earlier in the month I finished some baby bedding for our friends new baby girl. I made the cloud quilt for them as a gift and Lynette (the new mama) asked me to make the rest of the baby bedding for them.

I really liked the way it turned out.

I threw it on Joseph's crib so I could get pictures of it. It is definitely isn't perfect, but it looks cute in her super cute room. 

When we went to drop it off we got to meet the sweet little girl and William liked her so much (she also has red hair) that he said he wished she was ours and we could bring her home. She is a few weeks old and still smaller than Joseph was when he was born.

I am going to make more baby bedding for a friend. I kinda, really like making baby bedding.

The past few days

I have had ear phones in listening to Harry Potter a lot. I usually only have one in so I can hear/listen to my kids. I have gotten a lot of cleaning done, but somehow my house is still a mess. One thing I got done was a crib bumper for Joseph's new crib (he is sleeping through the night!!!). Now I just need to make the crib skirt.

I have been getting some projects done and not cleaning them up. This basket of fabric scraps has been sitting in the laundry room for about a week.

And sometimes I even crack open a book. I can get through it so much faster when I read, but I can't get anything else done while I do that, so I have not been able to spend that much time actually reading.

And today I have to clean up my house, do laundry, get a young women's activity planned and ready, and then pack for a camping trip. We are leaving tomorrow and we are so excited to go to our favorite campsite that we have been to the last three years. It is always a good time. We will be close to Flagstaff so we can drop in there and see the new Harry Potter movie. 

You will hear from me again when we are back. Happy weekend.

Done and done

So, the project I was working on this weekend was this baby quilt.

Russ' bff Scott and his lovely wife Lynette are going to have their first baby. A little girl. Her shower was Saturday and on Thursday I thought I should probably get her something. Then  I realized that since she herself is a talented Etsy artist, she would most likely have a favorites page where I could browse her favorite handmade things. There I found a lot of items featuring clouds and the colors red and aqua. This quilt is what I came up with. I was able to finish it on Friday. Then Saturday (the morning of the shower) I decided I really wanted to make something to go with it. So I made this wall hanging.

Then I packed them all up in an old travel case and was off to the shower.

The shower was adorable, I mean look at the house it was hosted in. No, it is not a doll house, it is a real house!

I got nervous (like I always do) that she would not like it and that I should just stick to the gift registry. I just really like giving handmade gifts. But I am so glad I made it because she loves it. I am glad I was able to make  something that was what she wanted, cause it is not the kind of thing you could find in the stores.

And now, a quick description of how I made this little quilt.

I drew a cloud on the wrong side of the white fabric (I used the same fabric that I would be putting the clouds on)

Then lay it on the right side of the fabric you want the clouds to be. (Right sides together) Pin it.

Sew all around the pencil line.

Cut around the edges.

Cut an x in the back fabric.

Clip in the indentions? I don't know how to write that, just do what I did in the picture.

Then flip them right side out and press.

Then I laid all the clouds out on the fabric and decided how I liked them best and pinned them on. Then I sewed all around each one with a zig-zag stitch on my machine.

Then you could quilt and bind it however you want (so many tutorials of that on the world wide web).

Happy sewing!

she stole my kiss

Gracie calls thimbles "kisses". You know, like on Hook.

She is always taking them from the top drawer of my sewing desk and stashing them in various places.
Today I am sewing. Hand stitching to be exact and I need my thimble, but can't find it. So to save my finger nail I came up with this:

Folded paper towel under a band aid. For now it is working. 

Something I am learning about myself it that if I was to get a project done I need a deadline, and I work best if the deadline is soon. So I guess you could say I am a procrastinator. But man I go fast when I need to (and really want to).

I love what I am working on, hopefully I will remember to take a picture of it when it is finished so I can share. It has been fun to sew and even better because Joseph is feeling better. He has been grumpy the past few days (from teething, I think). 

Anyway, Happy weekend.

what I have been up to...

I got my haircut on Thursday night at the wonderful Curls Gone Wild.

I love it! I did like my long hair but it was:

too expensive

too hot &

too much time

plus I just really like short hair.

I plan to donate it to Locks of Love. Picturing a child wearing a hair piece out of my hair almost bought me to tears.

Then I had another basement sale. I love meeting the people that come and hanging out with the other vendors down there.

 And I made a swimsuit (top) with my mom. I got the skirt at Marshalls, but it would be super easy to make. 

Can I just say I love sewing with my mom. We whipped it out in a few hours and then she finished up a few things after I had to leave.

I got the idea from this swimsuit from shabby apple.

I love the loose fitting top. I think that is what made it so easy to make. And the fabric was only $2.99 at SAS (yes it is a lycra/stretchy fabric). You can't beat that.

Easter Sunday

This year I made Gracie's skirt and bow and William and Russell's bow ties. I also updates my sweater with flowers. Looking back I wish I had made a bow tie for Joseph. His tie is cute, but a bow tie may have been better.

I love Gracie's skinned knees poking out in this picture. It reminds me of Idgie from Fried Green Tomatoes. I love that movie.

Gracie is just cute and William is holding the "Elder Wand" from HP.

I am so glad I made at least something for Easter. My aunt posted something my grandmother had written about growing up in Colonial Mexico. One thing she mentioned is that she always got a new (handmade) dress at Christmas and Easter. This is a tradition I want to continue. She also said that growing up she had 2 dresses. One she was wearing and one being washed. Reading about her childhood (where she didn't have much but at the same time had everything)  made me think a lot about luxuries and what would have been luxuries then seem like necessities now. I need to be better about not taking the luxuries for granted. And not spoiling my kids...or myself. Cause you can be happy without a lot of "stuff". Maybe even happier if we can live without it and without wanting it.

I have everything I need and I am so grateful for that. 

Happy Easter.

Cardigan uplift

I found a cardigan that I kinda liked at the thrift store for a good price. I decided to get it because I really liked the color, length, and pockets. It just needed a little (easy) uplift.

I got some inexpensive trim (15 cents for a yard) in a nice navy blue. You can pin it where you want it, or just guide it along the edge as you go.

I just used navy thread and it didn't show at all so I didn't need to worry about doing really straight lines, but it  does look nicer the closer you sew to the edge of the trim.

Then I hand stitched the trim onto the pockets. You could also glue it with fabtac is you wanted to.

And I didn't have 7 matching buttons in the right color so I went with 7 different ones. I like how it turned out.

The finished product. You can also see me wearing it here (though I am not really showcasing it)

Should I have put trim on the sleeves? I didn't think of it until now. Oh well, I am already thinking about my next project...these baskets.

Just in case you need a case

I was at a show with my good friend Lindsey she pulled her camera out of her bag...wrapped in a sock. A very clever idea for protecting your camera, but not very cute. So I made her this.

I wish I had a full on tutorial to show y'all how to make one, cause it is fairly simple. But because it was the first time I made one it took adjusting and playing around to get it just right. But here are some pictures of along the way.

I used black felt for the outside and a black fleece scrap for the outside. I cut all the piece, gathered some buttons and layed it out how I wanted it. (I did see a lot of these camera cases online, but not one particular person to credit it to. Lots of people make them)

Then I used hot glue to keep everything in place and then hand stitched everything down. Make sure if you do this to place the hot glue in only places you don't want to stitch. It is much easier to stitch through when there is no hot glue in there.

I closed up the edged and put it all together (messily)with a hand blanket stitch. And I used Velcro for it to stay closed and that I sewed on with my machine. Maybe if I make another one I will have a better tutorial for you, now that I know how to do it.

I gave this to Lindsey as a going away present cause she just moved far away from me. I am sad she is so far, but happy for her to be starting this new phase of her life. I will miss you Linds. But not to worry, I will visit soon.

I really like projects like this that can be done in an afternoon.

Was my shirt, now her dress

So I have this shirt that I like, but it is a little short waisted and a tad too short in the arms. I didn't want to just get rid of it though.

So I decided to try and turn it into a dress for Gracie.

First I put it on her inside out and put safety pins on it to fit her.

I also used another dress/shirt of hers to help me with the measurements.

I drew a line with chalk, kept it from moving and slipping around with safety pins and sewed it up.

I also cut off the sleeves.

I tried just hemming the sleeve by top stitching the original shoulder seam. It looked funky so I made a casing and put some elastic in it.

Then using the die cut machine at the scrapbook store I cut out some owls from another old shirt of mine. Then I cut out some stars and hand stitched them on. I did this on a long car drive and while watching a movie.

I think it turned out pretty cute...but anything looks cute on her.

By the way, this is my kind of sewing. No confusing pattern and most of the sewing is already done. This will probably not be the last up-cycled shirt to show up on this blog.