Titus' quilt

My friend, Kim, had a baby 8 months ago. I'm JUST NOW finding time to sew this quilt for him. I really like how it turned out.

giveaway

I'd LOVE to win a $25 gift certificate from The Fresh Stitch! Head over to Spearmint Baby and find out how you can enter to win too!

teaching ella to sew

This is the same concept as a lacing card. We are starting with large dots on fabric, a hoop, a large blunt needle, and embroidery floss. My mom has saved a few bits of fabric that I sewed on when I was 3! She would draw simple designs onto fabric and I would follow the outline. She'd also give me the button can and turn me loose! What a good and patient mommy I had/ have :). I've had good intention of starting before now, but at least we started. I plan on having Ella stitch the A,B,C's onto separate squares of fabric and then we'll make a little quilt together out of them.

wipes container

jewelry shelf

This was an old wood country looking shelf. I decoupaged scrapbook paper onto it and now hangs in the girls room to hold their jewelry.

wristband thingy

Recently I needed to come up with a creative gift for a good friend. This is what I came up with. The fabric I used is jersey knit. (it's actually the scrap off of the bottom of a dress that I shortened- shhh.... don't tell!) I'm not sure what I did- LOL! I really liked it though- enough that I made myself one also! I created the cuff part with the sewing machine, but the flower I hand stitched and then attached to the cuff. That might not make sense without step-by-step pictures and instructions. sorry. If I ever make another one I'll try to include those. So, what do you think?

a giveaway

Hop on over to Brown Paper Packages for a giveaway! I'll see you there.

kitchen clock

When we moved to this house 2 1/2 years ago there was an old (50's) clock hanging up in the kitchen above the door leading into the girls room. I took it down to discard it and found that it was covering a large hole in the wall where an old doorbell was. For awhile I tried to find something different to cover the hole, but the truth is this ugly clock was perfect- and perfectly affordable! I recently found the time to decoupage it with these old adds (a project that's been on my "to do" list for 2 years!) and now it's just right.

Women's skirt= girl's dress

I enjoy making dresses for Ella out of my old skirts. Here are 3 pictures that show the progression of this simple transformation.

1. Decide how much to cut off of each side, depending on the width of the child. Leave the top alone. Decide what length you want the dress to be, depending on the height of the child.

2. Use the side pieces that you cut off for straps. Decide how many inches the straps need to be, again, depending on the width and height of the child.

3. Finish the straps and sew them to the front and back of the garment. Here's the dress! It's that simple.

We've been painting...

TILES!

Thanks pumpkin

Pillowcase dress

These pics uploaded completely backwards, but this way  you can see the finished product first. I've been wanting to try a pillowcase dress for quite awhile.  It's a very easy concept that only takes about 15 minutes to make- literally!  I used an old pillowcase from my grandma's house.  I like how it turned out except that it really looks like a pillowcase to me (duh)!  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't think I'll put this on Ella (normally a size 5T - the length of a standard pillowcase).  It would be cuter cut for a smaller girl.  I'll cut a good 10 inches off of the top (the sewn edge of the pillowcase) and make one for Kate next.  I'll post pics of that soon!  There are all kinds of tutorials and videos out there for making these so I won't try to give many details.  The following pictures (starting at the bottom) show the progression of laying out the pillowcase, cutting off the top sewn edge and J-shaped notches in the corners for the arm holes, finishing the armholes by turning the edge under twice and sewing, make a casing across the top and back to run ribbon through and then tying the ribbon together at both ends to form adjustable straps.

If anyone would like to send me a pillowcase,your child's height, and $10 I'll make you one!

dress-up skirt

This week I made this skirt for our neighbor, Maya.  She turned 2 and every little girl needs dress up clothes, right?  There's nothing simpler than this.  Gather a length of fabric (in this case I used the bottom 11" of a curtain I made 4 years ago) and sew it to a ribbon.  Tie it around the waist of your cutey and she can twirl all day!

rag doll clothes

This old little doll needed some new clothes so I took apart the old ones and used it to make a pattern.  

I love the new clothes!  I might just have to re-clothe all the dolls in this house!  What do you think? ;)

for Ava

A new sweet baby girl needs a new bib and a cute headband to match!

jeans to skirt

I remember seeing these jean skirts back in my college days and thinking how clever they were. I've been saving old jeans and hoping to make a few skirts for years now and just recently took the time to tackle this project.  It was surprisingly EASY and FAST.  That's what I'm all about so that's why I'm sharing with you!  I didn't take before shots, but it's easy to explain.  Lay the old pair of jeans on the table in front of you.  Start cutting along the inside seam from the bottom hem of one leg up to the crotch, through the crotch, and down the other leg.  Repeat on the other side of the seam.  You don't need to seem rip the whole thing.  That's not necessary.  Just cut it out!  It might be easier to cut the seam out by turning the jeans inside out.   If you want to make a short skirt (most of the ones I've done are because the jeans have holes in the knees) then you should cut across the middle of the jeans at the length you'd like your skirt.  It doesn't need to be very exact.  Don't be afraid- just chop off the legs.  The 2 leg pieces that you have will become the triangle section in the front and back of the skirt.  Piece one of the leg pieces in the front and one in the back.  Pin them in place and trim the excess fabric.  sew right on top of the pants  in the outline of that triangle.  You'll have to do a little bit of work at the crotch to fold it over (see pics) and make it lay nicely.  I had to cut a little more out of the back than than the front.  The denim will fray nicely when it's washed and dried.  I do two rows of stitching to enforce the seam and then 2 rows of stitching around the hemline to prevent too much fray.  That's really not necessary though.  I completely forgot to hem a skirt I made for myself and it's perfect!  This is seriously fast and simple.  If you can get past the intimidation of chopping up some old pants then you're almost as good as done with this sewing project.  Let me know if you've done this before or if you try it.  I'd love your to hear your comments!  

Oh, if you want a long skirt ( I love how LONG these are- touching the ground!) you'll need a second pair of pants to cut apart for the long triangle section in the front and back.  You can always use another fabric for the pieced sections though.  

Giveaway

I just came across a new blog today that I'm anxious to look through and it just so happens that there's a giveaway. So, head on over to The Story of a Princess and her Hair and if you hurry, you might win some cute hair clips!

Tag, you're it!

I've been tagged by Coralie to post about the 6th picture in my 6th folder.  Then I am supposed to tag 6 others to do the same.  So, here goes! 

This is a picture of Ella that I am "someday" going to turn into a silhouette to put on this canvas. I put each of my kids on a chair in front of the window on a sunny day and turned the flash off on my camera.  This is what I came up with.  I'm just going to cut around them and then trace the cut out onto the paper I want for the canvas.  I'm then going to decoupage that onto the canvas.  The last picture of this post shows where they will hang on my living room wall.

And here are the 6 really cool people I'm tagging.  

Cathy at Cranberry Cottage

Pam at Pam Warden Art

Meg of Meg Anne Design

Pleasant at Pleasant Vonnoh Photography

Hannah at LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

Erin at Future of Hope