making fabric baskets

I decided to purchase Lisa Cox's new book, "A Spoonful of Sugar" and, boy!  it has some awesome projects!  She's doing a little sew-along with prizes right now.  We're actually on Round 2, but here's what I made for the first round:

A couple fabric baskets made from Penny Rose Fabric's Milk Sugar Flower line of fabrics and a basic pink and white dot.  I'm really loving little florals and dots and tiny trim so I added a little white lace and delicate pompom to them.  Then I embroidered a few little flowers to match the inside of the second one for the applique.  I'm still working on the art of hand embroidery, but this was a really fun project to make!

Go check out her book, it's full of fun projects you'll love.  Happy sewing!

Lil' Red quilt

I started this adorable little quilt a few weeks ago, but once the top was finished with alternating squares and 9 patches and white sashing, I had to wait on batting.  We live WAY out away from places that would sell it and Amazon didn't have a good price, so I opted to wait for the next time I was "in town".  SO...I finally got to town, bought batting, and got to finish working on it.  Yay!

Backed with a soft, pink minky and quilted simply by me on my little machine.  I'm really happy with how all my points turned out, but still perfecting my quilting skills.

spring & summer wreath

So, I try to keep things simple around here.  My front door needed a little oomph.  It has a big beautiful window in it, like 2/3 the door size big.  Living out in the country hasn't made me regret having a window in my front door, like it would in the suburbs, but I thought it would be nice to make a wreath for it.

I grabbed the grapevine wreath, flowers and ribbon from Taipan Trading, got a hot glue gun and got to work.  In order to be sure they'd stay on real tight I used A LOT of glue (we get winds that blow trampolines out into fields around here!)  And voila!  I have a wreath I can use in both spring and summer and would look really cute if I change out the ribbon or add some colored flowers throughout the seasons.  (But we'll see if I get to that...)

(Bonus points if you see my baby gate by the front door and the little escapee himself peeking out!)

hello summer!

On my last trip to visit family all the gals got together to work on a wood project from the Wood Connection.  This little lovely was supposed to say "hello" on the pendants, but since I always seem to do things differently, I changed it up a bit.

I added some burlap and butterfly lace to the pendants.  And I'm so happy with how it turned out!  Now we just need summer to actually GET here, lol!

And on a side note, this mantel was something that wasn't really how I pictured it, but turned out great in the end.  Last year as we were finishing up the house and needed a mantel I told my brother in law (our builder) that I wanted a rustic barn wood fireplace.  He called us not too much longer with this beauty!  There is an old bridge in front of my husband's house that is falling apart, the wooden full of lichen and old beauty.  He went over and got some and whipped this up in no time!  And now we have a little bit of history in our family room.  Awesome!

a tiny fairy for my girls

I got this idea a while ago to make a tiny doll.  I've made large ones for my girls before and even made some for nieces, too.  They're a lot of fun.  And addicting.  And just so adorable.  So, I thought, what if I could make a tiny one?  Why haven't I ever seen someone make one???

Well, there's a reason.  Those teeny tiny little limbs are so small they're difficult to turn, once sewn.  I tried it.  IMPOSSIBLE!  Maybe someone with tinier fingers than I could do it, but I just couldn't do it.

Then I thought maybe I could just use felt for the arms and legs.  Tried it.  And they seemed to work, but I accidentally had made the head too big for the felt to fit back through the neck when I flipped it to the right side.

SOOO, I finally got it right (well, a LOT closer) and ended up with her:

 I just love her face!  And the little bun.  But she's just the prototype.  (Not very perfect.)  But, shh!  Don't tell her that.

She likes to play in the flowers and bushes outside our house.

I'm hoping she will keep my girls busy outside this summer.  And maybe I'll try to make a few more.

Making Jammy Pants

I got to work on a little project for my husband this past week.  Every year I make or buy new pajamas for my kiddos to open on Christmas Eve and this year my husband made a comment that he would like some, too.  So I pulled out my trusty machine and got to work!

Pajama pants are super simple to make!  I didn't even use a pattern, just laid some pants in his size down on the fabric and cut.  If you try this at home, just make sure you fold the pants in half along the waist with the inseams on one side and the side seams along the other.

Your fabric comes folded.  Just fold it again the long way so the fold runs the longest way (in school we called it "hot dog" style not "hamburger") and lay the side seam of your folded pants along the fold.  There will be 4 layers of fabric to cut plus the old pants on top.

Now be brave and cut about half an inch away from the edge of the pants, along the inseam.  Cut 1 inch away from the bottom cuff and 1 1/2 inches from the waist edge at the top.  This will allow for a casing for the elastic and a new cuff at the bottom.

Now for the fun part!  Take the fabric pieces you just cut and separate them.  With one in hand, fold it in so that the right side of the fabric touches.  Pin and sew along the inseam, or shorter edge, with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  Now do the other side.

To put the two legs together, flip one out so that the right side is out and put it inside the other leg, right sides of fabric together, matching up the waist and inseams.  Pin and sew along that curvy part that is like a "U", starting at the waist on one side, down and up to the waist on the other side.  Sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Pull that leg out of the other and, voila!  You have pants!  To finish, serge all seams and around the bottoms of the legs and the waistline.  Or, if you don't have a serger, fold down the waist 1/4 inch to the inside and press.  Fold again, 1 1/4 inch and press (if you used a serger, continue with this step).  This is your casing for the elastic.  Starting at the back, center, sew on the inside along the fold, backstitching as you start and stop, stopping a couple inches from where you started.

Measure waist.  Cut elastic 1/2 inch longer than what you measured.  Put a safety pin on the end and thread it through the casing you just made at the top of the pants, making sure not to lose the other end inside the casing (not that I've ever done that before, wink wink!)

Make sure the elastic is straight, try it on, then overlap the ends of the elastic 1/2 inch and zig zag stitch them together, going over it a couple times.  Then straight stitch the opening in the casing closed.  You may need to stretch out the elastic a bit to get it just right.

To finish, fold the cuffs 1/4 inch to the inside and press.  Fold again, 3/4 inch this time, and hem around the cuff, close to the fold.  Repeat for the 2nd cuff and you're done!  You made some pants without the help of a pattern, good job!

And here's how mine turned out.  They're even doing a happy dance, too!

Local "Spirit of Christmas" Craft Fair

I got a booth at our local craft fair recently and brought several dozen items to sell....my dresses, skirts, tiny dolls in tins, hand warmers, toy pouches, hoop embroidery, and more!

It was a good learning experience and I'm already planning for next year.  Hopefully I can get some things made before November and avoid the big stress-out my family had to endure this year, eek!

It's just a work in progress, but I'm really enjoying the ride.  And buying lots more cute fabric with the money I made at the fair...hee hee!