My Semi-Homemade Holiday

I hope this post finds you all warm and cozy! Above you'll see a slide show of most of the gifts I created for my loved ones this Christmas. I didn't get pictures of the stepping stones we made for my Dad's backyard. With a bag of cement, a bucket and pie pans, we handed over a moment in time. The stones including Andrew and Kaitlynn's handprints and Mitchell's footprint. They are permanant yet portable. I also made a NASCAR themed blanket for my Mom's husband that I never caught a photo of! I was able to really break in my new sewing desk last week. Most of the projects were sewn in a matter of 3 days - nothing like waiting until the last minute?! That's pretty much protocol in my house!

Have a VERY MERRY and Happy New Year!

Shhhhhhh......

......it's a secret!

I'm working on a Christmas gift for someone, although I can't say who. (I think they read my blog) I'm about halfway there and hoping to finish it up tomorrow sometime.

The Sneak Preview -

I cannot wait to share this one with all of you once the holidays are over! I love it so far :)

Behold the Almighty Table.

I feel like I've been waiting a lifetime for this wondrous piece of sewing furniture. I'll admit it's only been about 4 - 5 months since I first spotted it, but it has felt like forever. I originally found it on Walmart's website for about a hundred dollars. Unfortunately shipping & handling was somewhere in the range of 30 dollars, which is what kept me from acquiring it for so long. In the meantime, I purchased a "vintage" desk and matching swivel chair from a consignment shop in town that was going out of business. The desk was a bit roughed up... it's definitely got some history. But for 45 bucks, I planned on making that my project, my second hobby, my baby. We bought a sander at the local hardware store and I got to work on it one night. Do you any of you realize how hard it is to sand something with that many layers of finish on it? Holy Moly is all I have to say. Since we moved a few weeks ago, my "baby" has been on the back burner for sure. Cory tried to talk me into getting rid of it, while we cleaned our garage last week, but I wouldn't budge. Which is what forced him to spill his guts about the sewing table he had bought for me! He put it together tonight and it is sooooo absolutely stunning. If this doesn't get me motivated to finish my Christmas sewing, then I don't know what will!





And now I present to you, the Sauder Sewing and Craft Table, Cottage Home Collection:





Anyone interested in purchasing a partially sanded vintage desk with matching swivel chair??

Been awhile...

We moved just over a week ago and in turn any extracurricular projects have definitely been put on the back burner. But I squeezed in a quick project tonight. It's for Baby Aidan. A taggy, with real tags -

Hope Mommy Heather likes it!

And check out that super sweet new dining table in the background ;)

Job #2

I got hired for sewing again! YAY! My friend Heather requested a Christmas apron for herself, a matching one for her four year old son and a matching bib for her baby. So here they are!

Next project for my sewing machine: Christmas gifts. I've checked out a few blogs recently in which the blogger explains how she likes to have alllllllll the Christmas gifts made/purchased/wrapped/ready to go by the end of October... or as soon as humanly possible. That way they can spend Novemeber and December actually enjoying the holidays. What a concept, huh? I won't be done by the end of October (obviously) but it'd be great to have most things) ready for giving by December 1st! That's the goal.. I'll update this blog soon and let you know how I'm doing.

Tutu Virgin.

My husband's work had a 90% off clearance sale one day a few months ago. I couldn't shop at it, but he picked me up 20 yards of Organza. I've never worked with it before and wasn't sure what I'd eventually create out of it, but this morning I finally figured it out. I'm no longer a tutu virgin. All of us who craft, or who have young daughters know how trendy these pretty little things are right now... and there are some REALLY gorgeous tutus out there! This is my first one - it's taken a ton of tying, trimming, tweaking (and it's very basic) but I've finally gotten it to the point where I am slightly satisfied. I have so many ideas running through my head for these...........my bank account better watch out!

Did I mention that Kaitlynn can be a bit corny at times?

But she can be precious too ;)

FREE!!

Yes, I said free. This amazingly talented lady is having a giveaway for her 100th post. You don't want to miss it - it's gorgeous!

Visit her blog to enter the contest!

The Final Project.

I started out National Sewing Month stating that I'd like to end the month with a big bang. I toyed around with quite a few ideas, but only one ever ended up coming to fruition. I decided on (drumroll please.....!) a scrap quilt! This quilt, aside from the backing, is made solely from scraps I had leftover from previous projects. My idea started out really well if I do say so myself. I had JUST enough scraps for the squares I needed, cutting was easy-peasy and I liked the way it was starting to look. Somewhere in all that perfection, mistakes started popping up. Problem is I didn't see them until it was all sewn together. But you know - I'm OK with that! It's a scrap quilt, it's not supposed to be perfect! Most important thing - my kids love it. They are enjoying pointing out what each square is from - which dress it came from, who's blanket I made with that fabric... etc. etc.

All laid out and ready to become a quilt.

The top before I decided to add the strips.

And the finished project -

I hope you all enjoyed National Sewing Month 2008 as much as I did! There are many more posts to come seeing as Christmas Day is just 2 months and 23 days away!

Week #4, Project 3 and 4.

Hi readers!!

I hope you like this one. The Bakersfield SAHM Meetup is having a Fall Festival at the park this evening. To raise some money for our group, I created a couple of items that will be given away in a raffle. A Fall themed apron and coordinating quilted table runner -

A Pretty Package if I do say so myself!

Week #4, Project 2

Nothing exciting to report around here. A few months ago I made some great hot pads for my sister out of dish towels. Problem was, she forgot to take them home from my house, and ME being ME, I started using them. She's came into town this morning and I had the urge to sew this evening, so I whipped her out a new set. Pathetically, I have so many dish towels on hand that she was able to rifle through my stash and find ones to match her dishes and kitchen perfectly. Here they are!!

On the side, my sister had a seam coming apart on her New York & Company top that she wore over here today. She was going to take it to a dry cleaner to have it fixed - until I volunteered to do it. I managed to find EXACT matching thread in my cabinet and I actually fixed it! Kinda proud of my little seam repair... Hey, after the tooth fairy pillow disaster, I'll take success wherever I can get it.

Week #4, Project # 1.......

.........is a total bust. My 6 year old has his first loose tooth. I made him a tooth fairy pillow this morning, but it's so embarrassingly horrific that I will not be posting pictures. Luckily 1st-graders don't check out patterns, hems or seams. We'll have to use this one for now, unless I get around to making another one this week.

Happy Sunday to all!!

Week 3, Projects #1, 2 and 3.

I've been holding off on sharing this one and it's been killing me! This project was made for a dear friend of mine who I sew with every Tuesday morning. I had been thinking about what I should get/make her for her birthday (which was today, the 19th) and on Wednesday night it finally hit me! I remember her mentioning before that she liked my pin cushion (given to me by my other dear sewing friend, Christy). Currently she keeps her pins in the plastic container they came in. The pin cushion just didn't feel complete though, so I also created a sewing machine cover and a case for her scissors. I went out on Thursday morning with the intention of finding coordinating polka dots (her favorite) and ended up with something slightly polka dotty and a super duper awesome geometric print to go with it. Here is the finished project -

The sewing machine cover is trimmed with medium ric rac - my very first time working with that stuff, interesting experience to say the least!

Here's the pin cushion! I read all kinds of suggestions as to what it should be filled with - Dried coffee grounds, polyester fiber fill, hair (weird?)..... This one ended up with rice!

Here's the scissors case that I actually "invented" on my own last Saturday night. Now, I'm not sure whether or not I should be bragging about that, but since this picture doesn't really show of the mistakes, I'll take the credit for now!

And check this out - the case for the scissors and the sewing machine cover are (drum roll please!).......................reversible!!

Happy Birthday Billie Lynn!

Week 2, Project 3 and a First.

National Sewing Month is halfway over and I have had the privilege of completing 10 projects in just 2 weeks. The following pictures are of project #10. This was started on Saturday night. I spent a couple of hours on printing, cutting, pinning, cutting again, interfacing and cutting appliques... again. Only to realize at 10:30 p.m. that I did not have the correct color of thread to sew them on with. How disappointing :( At about 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, I ran over to Walmart (again!) and found the perfect thread. I was able to knock out the project before lunchtime! And I am so happy I did. I absolutely love, love, love this blanket. It is soooo comfy, without being bulky and I think the 10 year old girl I made it for is going to be as in love with it as I am. I was told she loves pink and cheetah print, so this is what I came up with - My First Appliques!!

So what did I learn with this project?? Don't applique with material that stretches! Seriously, how many times can I learn my lesson.. before I actually learn it?! I am really tempted to make one of these for each of my kids for Christmas. I think they'd be something really special that Andrew, Kaitlynn and Mitchell would love for years to come!

How is National Sewing Month going for all of you???

Week 2, Project 2

This MAY be my favorite so far! I found a great (and simple) tutorial online for baby bibs. The writer instructs us to use terrycloth on the back of the bib so that it can be used as a washcloth after meals. Unfortunately, I had none stashed away, and no time to buy any, so I ended up just using a washcloth out of our linen closet! I'm really happy with the way the end result. Next time I plan on making it a bit longer so that we can cover ALL of Mitchell's front. I didn't realize it at the time I purchased the fabric, but the animals on the bib are the same as his nursery theme - The Bazooples! And here's my little model -

Week 2, Project 1

The much awaited I Spy Bag... well for me anyway. I've been itchin' to make one of these for awhile. I finally got all of the supplies together with some help from a friend. So here it is! It's only been finished for about 10 minutes and the kids are already fighting over it. Looks like I'll be making some more of these very soon :)

Week 1, The rest of my projects.

First things first. I found this comfortable (but unfortunately stretchy) material at Walmart awhile back for $1/yd. I had intentions of pajama pants for Kaitlynn and this week I finally made it happen - she loves them, so I love them.

Number two project. This was done on Sunday morning. A dress! From a pattern! And it worked! Crazy, crazy I know... I hate patterns. But Christy had given me a few that she found awhile back and I finally got brave enough to try it ... ALONE. Scary - but it worked!

Not much to say here. A Coaster. A criss cross coaster at that. Google these little cuties and you'll see how easy they are. I plan on making a full set, but for fun I wanted to try just one with some scrap material I had in my hall closet. More on these later!!

Saving the best for last - The wine bag and set of coasters made for a pajama contest at the Mom's Night Out at my house on Saturday night. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really "make" the bag. I read the pattern, cut out the pieces, sewed the lining and attached the boa. Miss Billie did everything else - including the coasters!

Week 1 of National Sewing Month 2008 is completed. Goal - 2 projects. Completed - 7.

Week 1, Project 2.

I'm in slight disbelief! I found a tutorial for pajama pants yesterday. It wasn't very self-explanatory, which is not good for me. I have discovered that I'm a visual learner - I need to SEE how things go together and what they are going to look like....... to just read instructions? It does me no good. But, today is Andrew's 6th birthday and I've been holding on to this thermal Pirates material for awhile now. So I thought, why not? I'll give it a shot. I modeled these pajama pants after a pair of jeans we bought during back to school shopping. Remind me to never use thermal again, or anything with ANY stretch for that matter. Regardless, I'm just happy they LOOK like pants, let alone are actually something he will like and wear. The fabric was purchased at Joann's in the remnant bin. Total cost, not including thread and elastic??

57 cents!

Does anyone have an idea of some kind of coordinating accessory I can make out of the scraps I have left??

My Promise To You.

Let's celebrate!! September is National Sewing Month! It's one of those holidays I never even knew existed. And if you're like me, you may want to visit http://nationalsewingmonth.org/index.html



I shouldn't be making promises like this - then I might be known as the blogger who breaks promises. But, here goes nothing! I vow to create two new projects each week for the entire month of September!





For week #1 I've made the two aprons and tomorrow I'm going to be creating a gift (of which cannot yet be divulged) for the Bakersfield SAHM Meetup group. I hope to finish off the month with a BIG BANG!

I would love for you all to join me in:

SEW, WHO'S UP FOR THE CHALLENGE???

My First Job.

I got my first sewing job this week. A friend asked me to make her two aprons for the preschool internship she'll be doing this semester. She was going to pay me - so technically it was a job :) But I was just going to use that money to buy her GORGEOUS hair bows off of Etsy anyway, so we just ended up trading one homemade art for another. Below are the finished products! Each apron is large enough to cover all areas of her clothing (you know how crazy preschoolers can get with paints, bodily fluids and food) and even though it's hard to tell, there are 3 equal sized pockets across the front. I hope you like them Jannice!

DOH!!!

An approximate recap of a recent coversation regarding my first quilt.

A couple of weeks ago....

Billie Lynn: Hey, I got this super duper cute quilt kit at Joann's. It's got everything you need in it to make a quilt.

Me: Oh how cool! I think I'll pick one up for a birthday present for Mitchell.

(I then proceeded to Joann's a week later to buy a pirate themed quilt kit on clearance for $14.97)

This morning....

Me: Hey Billie Lynn, check out my super duper cute quilt kit I got at Joann's!

Billie Lynn: Yes, that is super duper cute. I can't wait to make mine, but I still have to cut everything.

Me: HUH???

Billie Lynn: I haven't started cutting anything yet.

Me: HUH???

Billie Lynn: (Looking at me....)

Me: I have to cut stuff?? I thought this was a quilt kit, all ready to go.

Billie Lynn: Oh no girlfriend, that's just the fabric you still have to cut all your squares out.

Me: (in Homer Simpson voice) DOH!!

Billie Lynn: By the way, you picked a really difficult quilt kit. You have a lot more cutting than I do.

Me: Stupid me, I should have paid more attention to the picture on the front so I would have known what was in store for me!

All in all, it wasn't a death sentence. (although it felt close to it). While running my mouth during our sewing date, I wasn't paying enough attention to my cutting, and left one square an inch short. I pieced together a 5-square strip... then double checked and realized I really only made it a 4-square strip. My batting was sized ridiculously wrong after I cut it to what I thought was the right shape and size. Oh well! In the end, I like the quilt. It took me four and a half hours (off and on) and it was worth it. It was a great learning experience..... I learned not to talk too much... and that you still have to cut quilt kits - blech.

Got The Bug.

Can you tell the sewing bug as bit me again? Three new "creations" to post tonight:

First I've made my sister a new tote bag with the cutest dish towels - EVER! The last one I made her didn't come out too well, so I'm replacing it for her this weekend when she gets to my house.

Second, I scored some sweet deals at Joann's on Sunday so I've got lots of fabric & embellishments to keep me occupied (now that the kids are back in school). I purchased materials for some kid's aprons I'm making as Christmas gifts, and here's the first one.. finished in August.. now I have to stare at it for 5 months. (oooh, BTW - I'm still adding some cute stuff to it, but the basic form is done)

Lastly, I just had an urge to make a Taggy blanket today, so I decided to make one for my friend's Baby Miranda. This one was made all of scraps (that's why nothing is color coordinated) and it's filled with grocery bags to make it crinkly.

I'm sewing with a friend tomorrow and I hope to start and finish another project - stay tuned!

Sneak Peek

After watching Billie Lynn make her pillowcase dress yesterday, and giving me some instruction on it, I got brave enough to try it myself this morning. It's definitely a rough draft. I didn't have any super beautiful embellishments to go on it... and honestly I didn't have the greatest ribbon either. But all in all, I'm satisfied with how it looks so far. I'll have to make a quick stop at Michael's tomorrow for sparkling diva buttons to exchange out the pink hearts. I sure wish I would have tried these way back in May so we would have gotten a bit more use out of them. But with any luck, she can wear this until maybe October or so.... after that, maybe I can shorten it into a shirt and stick it with pants. - Any suggestions on that???

Ya'll like my new stuff??

I finally jumped back into sewing this afternoon, with a little help from my friend, Miss Billie Lynn. This month's CafeMom sewing group project was an apron with a pocket. And unlike the checkbook cover fiasco, this actually went well & I was able to proudly post a picture of my successful project!

I know it's hard to tell, but the front pocket is Baby Pink with coordinating white polka dots. I'd like to embellish this apron a bit more, but that's on the back burner for now... which means I'll be getting back to it when my youngest is about 23 or so.

Next case on the docket, an idea I found in Family Fun Magazine. A contributor in this month's issue showed how she took all of her sons' sports t-shirts and made a quilt out of them. That way she didn't have to just discard them, but she was also doing something useful with them. We only have one shirt like that for Andrew - or at least we did! It's now a pillow cover. Billie Lynn and I cut the HECK out of this t-shirt before we finally got it to work. Luckily she was there the keep me in line, otherwise you'd be reading a rant about my failure right now. Instead... here's the finished project!

Lastly, I have to show off the pillowcase dress she created today! Her first time, free hand, no pattern or tutorial in front of her. It came out beautifully! Here's a picture of her little Madison modeling it in all it's glory -

Andrew starts school on Monday and I'm just as excited as he is - if not more so! Kaitlynn will be in preschool for half days on Tuesday and Thursday, so I hope to be updating my blog more often with some new creations!

More Hair Decorations

Can you tell I haven't been sewing lately? But this is THE week.... I think. If not this coming week, then the following week when both of the older kids go back to school. We were buying Icee's this afternoon while taking advantage of Target's free air conditioning, so naturally I had to peruse the dollar area. They had Grosgrain ribbon for 1.00/5 spools. They also had sets of three spools of satin ribbon on clearance for 50 cents.... Add in some hot glue, 15 minutes and an alligator clip, and the end result is this -