And a hair bow to match!!!

This is my first attempt at making a hair bow! I used this tutorial on how to make a fabric flower. I didn't have any felt to put on the back so I made a loop out of some ribbon to slide the alligator clip through. You can't see it but I hot glued brown ribbon with white polka dots on the clip and then glued the loop to the clip. I hope this will be big and strong enough for Hannah's thick hair!!!

Polka Dots & Stripes

I absolutely love this little dress. The fabric is so cute and fun! I so hope it will fit my niece! Michael has been at home sick with the flu, so when I wasn't taking care of him I was creating this cute dress. It is sort of like this handkerchief dress (which is a great beginner project), but is a little more involved b/c the fabric isn't pre-cut and there is a strip of coordinating fabric on the bottom. Here is the handkerchief dress and you can find the tutorial here.

This was my first clothing project without a pattern and directions or a tutorial. There are definitely things I will do different next time, but we live and we learn. I thought this fabric is great coming into the fall. I can see little Hannah in it with a long sleeve t-shirt and some cute tights. She will be so precious! Kris, I hope you enjoy. This one will be coming your way soon too!

More Fabric!!

These are the fabrics I am going to use for my upcoming projects. What the projects are is a secret. Yep, its that time of year when we (maybe its just me) start sneaking around and getting secretive! These are obviously going to be gifts so the final product will not be posted on until the recipient receives it! Such a shame b/c I am super excited about these. I will just have to be patient!

I absolutely love this fabric. It is so happy and cheery! And my picture of it doesn't do it justice. This is Peacock Whimsy by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller. This also comes in pink and green (actually flamingo to be exact). It would be super cute for a girls room. I think I might stock up on it once I get these projects well under way.

And of course, Halloween. It's right around the corner! I have a few uses for these. The scrapes are going to be used for appliqueing onto t-shirts for the nieces and nephew! They will look soo cute!

More to come. I will post the results as soon as I am able to!

Another project down!!!

Yea! I have been working on this one for a while too. My in-laws just finished adding on to their lake house. One of the rooms is a Harley themed room. Over the holidays last year I saw these pillowcases at Wal-mart (love the flames!). It actually came with a set of pillowcases and a set of sheets. The sheets were just black and white; not quite as hideous as these pillowcases!

I wanted to make two big pillows for lounging on the floor and two throw pillows for the couch or window seat. So after cutting these fabulous pillowcases this is what they ended up looking like.

Not too shabby if you ask me! I finished the first big pillow in April (that tells you how long it has been on my to-do list!) The second one has been half finished for a while, but I finally got to it AND I started and finished the small pillows today! That's really not a huge accomplishment for most, but it is for me who rarely starts and finishes something in one day.

I love the ribbon on this one. It is kind of hard to see it, but it is black with white polka dots that borders the orange. My husband wasn't on board with it, but I had to fru-fru it up a little. Now on to some more projects =)

It's about time...

Sometimes I find myself procrastinating and I don't know why. I started on this project (if that's even what you want to call it) several months ago. All I had left to do was sew a hem in the bottom and I would be done! Sounds very simple and it was! I don't know why I waited so long. The funny thing is, the more I thought about it, the more I put it off. Well today I finally tackled it. I used the tutorial found here to make this sewing machine cover.

The tutorial is super easy and should only take about an hour. Now I need to make one of these to match. Who knows how long it will be until I do this one!

The fabric I used was left over from making these cushions:

These chairs were my grandmother's and had a very dated fabric on them. So I fixed that! I think they turned out pretty good. This was my first big sewing project. Our dog decided to use the wood as a chew toy when he was a puppy so it needs sanding down and the edges need rounding off. I wanted to stain them a different color anyway so its not too big of a deal that he chewed on it. Thankfully he has learned from that and he doesn't chew on furniture anymore! Now to decide what color stain to use! I don't know if I will be able to.

What's that smell?

Zucchini bread!!!! Yum! I have never tried zucchini bread before, but I have been wanting to make it for a while. I finally came across a recipe that sounded delicious. It is a Paula Deen recipe so you know its gonna be good.

I can't wait until it cools down so I can try a slice. I actually had to try some already. You see that crunchy part on the left pan? Yeah that had to come off (and it was good)! You can't just leave it like that it might hurt somebody! The recipe makes two standard size loaf pans, so the second is perfect for a friend or to freeze for later.

Another 1st!!!

Appliqueing!!! This is just one more thing that I have been wanting to try for a while. I often put off trying new things and techniques because I am such a perfectionist that I don't want to mess up and not be able to fix it. But I am learning that I have to start somewhere and practice makes near perfection. So my sister has been the "guinna pig" for most of my new sewing endeavors, or at least her daughter. The applique part was super easy; however, I do need to practice on sewing the border. At least from a distance you can't tell where the flaws are!

I have two adorable 3 year old nieces. These pink shirts are going to them! I hope they will come in handy this fall.

My sister has two girls and a boy. Now the two girls have semi-matching shirts! I know Hannah will think they are "cute" as she says it in her southern draw.

And the final one!! I think is so cute. I know it isn't even Halloween yet, but I had to make this one. It is made from some fabric I had left from the Christmas apron. I think it serves a good purpose. This is for the newest addition for my sister's fam. I think she will sport it quit well!

We don't have a printer so these letters were hand drawn. I just found some cute fonts online that I wouldn't be able to do free-hand. So I am sure there are going to be some more appliqueing going on with cuter fonts! More to come....

My First Re-fashion!!!

After looking at other re-fashion projects, I started looking through my closet. I found this skirt that I probably only wore once, and that was the Thursday before my wedding to our wedding kickoff party/surprise birthday party for my parents. I am proud to say that it still fits (or did before the re-fashion!). So I saw this in my closet:

And immediately thought of the super cute Kirstin skirts. Like this one found here. And by the way, I can't wait to make one of these too.

So with that inspiration I created this:

Too bad my adorable neice isn't here to model. It is not very different from the original and is not as bunchy as the Kirstin skirt, but I think it will be adorable on her. I removed the zipper from the back and sewed it back up. I added button holes (my first time doing those and I was pretty impressed!) and made a hem for the ribbon to go through. I can't wait to see it on her. Kris, its coming your way soon! I want to see pics!

What does post-it notes, picture frames, scrapebook paper, and a spice bottle have in common?

These cute little post-it holders! I saw these at Sisters Stuff and just had to do one, or four! There is a short little video here. I went to the Dollar Tree to buy the frames. They didn't have any, but they did have some cute scrapebooking supplies (who knew?). I bought a few stickers and a set of stamps. I used the spice bottle to trace a circle. Yes, I know there are circle cutters out there, but I haven't broken down and bought one. But I am thinking that would be a great gift for Christmas ;) I will have to whisper that to Santa soon!

These would be great teachers gifts (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both teachers so they are definately getting one!) or gifts for friends or co-workers. They are supper easy too! I went ahead and did two more to have on hand.

Past projects

So I was going through an apron phase last year. I haven't made any in a while, but I have some ideas for gifts. I haven't found the perfect fabric, but I am looking. And when I find it, it'll be on! I used this pattern here. It's not very pretty, but I was only using it for the pattern. As you can see I made it reversible and I used ribbon instead of the fabric. So easy! (And I apologize for the pictures!!! I am not handy with a camera. Photography is something that I would LOVE to get into, but it's happening now!)

This is the first one I made. I made it for myself, just in case I totally screwed it up! I think its too cute, but I will admit I don't use it very often =(.

This cute Christmas apron I made for my sister. I used the fabric for the neck and waist tie. I think it turned out rather cute!

And my final one I made for my mother-in-law. They just renovated their lake house so of course she needed an apron to match!

These are very easy and great for beginners. I haven't been sewing for very long and found it easy to follow and easy to add my own touch to it.

Getting started

After following several blogs for the past few months and after the encouragement of my sister, I have finally started my own blog. I will try to be diligent about posting regularly, but I will make no promises. My husband and I are currently in the process of trying to sell our house so there are times that I am apprehensive about getting out all my craft accessories, just in case we get a call to show the house. The creative juices have been flowing these past few days so my to-do list is growing. I am very antsy to get started!