Going Sew Crazy

Lots O' Miscellany

I  have lots to post about so here goes....

Atlanta was fantastic! I took my camera but forgot my flash card, so no pics. It was fun though. We went to the Braves game on Friday and shopped on Saturday. I was lucky enough to talk Brice into going to ICE on Saturday and I had a ball. I got some new Sublime Stitching patterns, some yummy homemade soap and this fab necklace from here.

We got home and of course I went thrifting and yard sale-ing. I found all this fab stuff this week:

This groovy tin was just to great to pass up.

Jadite refrigerator dish. I paid $5.00 but I think it was worth it :)

Cute cross stitch welcome pic. It's destined for matting and a better frame, and glass that fits.

I got some great craft books in ATL that I can't wait to dig into:

I have started working on a quilt for my Doll Quilt Swap 4 partner!

Paige has learned to swim underwater. She's getting so big!

She's also getting very strong willed. She vetoed my idea for a cupcake themed birthday party and chose this Hannah Montana Cake instead. (that's our secretary's photostream) She turns six next week and I think there are something like 3 dozen kids invited so I ordered a bunch of cupcakes anyway. (we have a SUPER large family and this is her first "other" friends party) I am planning on taking her and some of her friends to the movies on her actual birthday. The week after we are going to go camping at the river for a long July 4th weekend too. I can't wait!

Have a great day ya'll!
(Blogiversary prizes went out today! Sorry for the delay!)

Sassy, Sassy Aprons!

I joined the Sassy Apron Swap this time after seeing the many wonderful aprons the first time and after learning the joy of an apron. I have had so much fun designing and making this apron it's crazy!

It's always fun to add little things that seem to make the apron like ruffles and bias binding

















or fun flower shaped yoyos with vintage buttons (yes the blue has to come off :) )






















It's even fun to find a vintage child sized one at grandma's with a flower pocket
















I am really starting to love aprons.

Check out my milk glass vases












I have a ton more, so I need to get a bigger window sill :)

And look!
Kelsey matches the newly painted chair!






















Pic without incredibly cute child





















and the sweet hands that did all the painting for me




















And last but not least, my new summer "EVERYTHING FITS" bag, made by me






















Be sure to check back next Monday for my blogiversary giveaway!
Have a great day ya'll!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE warm weather...

which means I haven't been around much, but high 70's low 80's with a light breeze makes me just WANT to be outside. I don't think we came in until bedtime last night. We may as well enjoy it before the humidity kills the party.

I have been quite productive though. Here's a quick look at what I've done:

Large quilt top using new Sis Boom fabrics. Almost finished sewing the quilt top.

Round neck dress lacking buttons from that*darn*kat's etsy shop. Great and easy pattern. Cute, cute, cute on!

Pleated beauty bag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I liked the pattern, but not with this fabric. I may have to try it again.

Maybe my most favorite thing I have ever made! My Home Sweet Home pillow.Made using Swell and Ginger Blossom FQ's. Embroidey pattern from The Floss Box.I love how it turned out!

And look at this little stinker! She just doesn't look like a baby anymore. They grow up so quick. And Paige graduates kindergarten in a couple of weeks. My mom said next thing you know it's high school. I immediately started to cry. I WANT THEM TO STAY LITTLE!

Have a great day ya'll!

Doll Quilt-a-palooza!

I finished my doll quilt for the doll quilt swap a couple of days ago. It turned out great! I am soo happy with it :)

Front:

Back:

I have started on a selvedge quilt too. Here's a preview pic:

I also hosted a doll quilt swap on a board I frequent. I am soo impressed with the quilts everyone made. I asked if I could blog them and they said yes!

These were made by Kelli. The top one came to live with me yesterday and I LOOOVE it! So perfect.

Krista made these rockin' applique quilts. She hand drew the second one. So impressive!

Tif made this beautiful quilt! I heart the fabrics!

Joy made this stunner from repro and vintage fabrics.

Shari made this sweet quilt. Love the chicken fabric!

They make me happy just looking at them. And trust me, I need some happy lately ;)

Some more happy I bought:
yum
yummier
yummiest

I saw that Jennifer Paganelli fabric on her blog about a month back and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Now, I just have to wait for the postal service!!!

I also got two great embroidery patterns, here and here. The first is so sweet and idyllic. It's destined for a patchwork pillow with some of the above fabric. The second is by Andrea Zuill, who is so talented.  I am so in love with her quilts, paintings, and free embroidery patterns. I would have stitched them all already if there were more hours in the day. She gives a free embroidery pattern out every month, so keep an eye on her blog!

I think that's quite lengthy enough for today! Have a great day ya'll!

Before i go to the bunker...

The weather is supposed to get pretty bad here tonight. I imagine we will spend part of the night with Brice's Granny because she has a storm shelter.

I wanted to show off what I finished last night:

This is for the tea towel & kitchen surprise swap on Swap-Bot. I bought a silicone spatula at Wally World, and painted the handle in the same color as the Sublime Stitching Krazy Kitchen embroidery. I hope she likes it :)

Well, I need to go pick up, because if my house gets blown away, at least it will be clean right?

Have a great day ya'll!

A few things..

I understandably haven't gotten to do much crafting in the past few weeks, but I have done a little.  I have quite a few swaps to complete, and I am behind on one I am hosting.

Aren't these girls cute?

I finished them the week before last. I am going to use them to hold embroidery thread and trim. They were inspired by kawaii cute things like decole. The girls keep trying to take them, so I may have to make them some to play with.

i made and finished this doll quilt during the Memphis/Kansas game. I REALLY wanted Memphis to win, but oh well, the Lady Vols brought another one home :) Back to the quilt, I used her favorite colors of blue and aqua, and one of her favorite things-hedgies. I am really starting to like working with linen too. Hopefully she'll like it.

Have a great day ya'll!

Just a short, quick one

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has commented about my grandmother. Kind words can really make someone's day, so thank you all very much. She's still hanging on and I am going to see her later, so maybe I can update on her tomorrow. I told my husband that the anxiety of waiting for something to happen either way is starting to get to me. He has been very understanding and picking up where I might be falling short with the girls this week. I appreciate him soo much.

I finished what I started with my birdy the other day. This is a quilt top for a swap I'm in. The hard part is over, now I just have to quilt and bind it.

I am really proud of this part. I freehanded that "tweet" there. I can't believe it turned out so well.

And if you don't have one of these, GET ONE! They not only smell wonderful, but they crackle like a fireplace too. It's very soothing, especially while stitching :)

Thanks again everyone, and have a great day!

Hmm..no catchy title...

Well, I was glad to learn this week that Paige is as excited about Christmas as I am. She presented Brice with a fully drawn diagram detailing what Christmas lights she wanted and where she wanted them to go. She then coerced my husband into going to Lowe's to see what they would need. I was quite a proud mommy at that point (especially as she had also talked him into a trip to the local Mexican restaurant too) That one is gonna be trouble. At the age of 5, she can already bend men to her will.

I joined an ornament swap over at Freshly Blended. I think this is the biggest swap I have ever been in. I have 9 ornaments to make. Here's the prototype:

This was made amigurumi style with beads and ribbon. As soon as I write the pattern out I will post it.

The girls and I also made these:

Button ornaments. SO much fun. The girls had a lot of fun picking out the buttons.

Some quick notes:
-I forgot to include Wee Wonderfuls Elves Stitchettes from my tutorial list last week.
-The new Country Living magazine has a very versatile cookie recipie in it. I can't wait to try it.
-Someone buy this already!

Have a great day ya'll!

A dress, some pumpkins, and a garland tutorial...

I had planned on having this up earlier this week, but Brice forgot to bring the laptop home 2 days in a row. I really need to stop being lazy and get my computer fixed, but I have been so productive without it that I almost hate to get it fixed. ALMOST. But anyway, I have a mini tutorial for the Christmas garland I just made for this swap:

I don't really know if you can call it a tutorial, more of a how I did it. I did a lot of beading and I'm not very knowledgeable about that kind of thing so I am sure there is a better way to do it, but oh well, here goes:

This is the finished product:

and here are the supplies I used:

1. Glittery chipboard letters
2. silver craft wire 24 gauge
3. Bead reamer
4. All in one beading tool
5. glass beads in shades of blue
6. Store bought crystal garland-I goth this one in the cake section of Wal-Mart
7. Pretty glittery snowflake ornaments

I got all this at Wal-Mart while browsing one day and it didn't cost very much. The first thing I did was wind all the crystals on the store bought garland around the actual part of the garland. THey were made to hang down and since I was going to hang the letters and the ornaments, I didn't want them hanging down. Ok, numbered directions from here on out....

1. I took a bead reamer and made holes in all the letters. On the m and the y, which had 2 prongs, I made 2 holes:

2. Then I cut a piece of wire with the all in one tool. I didn't really measure, I just made it as long as I wanted it to hang plus some for twisting around the letter and the garland.

3. I inserted the wire from front to back

and then I twisted the extra wire around the hanging part of the wire:

4. I put beads on the wire. I used silver and blue because I love those colors for Christmas. It just looks really cold to me :)

5. Then  taped the store bought garland to the floor and laid everything out to make sure of the placement:

BTW, I wouldn't bead the ornaments, just wire them.

6. I then twisted the extra wire at the top of the letters around the store bough garland:

and VOILA! it was done. Afterwards I found this pretty blue stars garland in my craft area and decided to twist it around the store bought garland. It turned out well I think. I hope the recipient likes it :)

Closeup of blue garland twisted here:

Paige has also needed some dresses for church and I got on that this week. This one is made from baby cord and butter suede and the pattern is from Ottobre 4/06. It went together well and the fit was perfect. I would definitely recommend it.

and modeled:

I also finished an amigurumi panda key chain for a swap-bot swap:

I'm working on an amigurumi Little Red Riding Hood and I can't wait to show it :)

Have a great day ya'll!

Costumes & swaps AKA I've been busy

So apparently, the upside of not having a working computer during the day is that I am WAY MORE productive! I mailed out 8 swap packages this week because I had loads of time to finish them. (Yes, I said 8, I have just discovered the wonderful-ness that is Swap-Bot) I also finished the girls' costumes.

They are medieval princesses. That was the theme for our church's fall fest. They both won the costume contest for their age groups. I also received a lot of compliments. We went to 2 fall fests today. One at P's school and then at church. It was a wonderful, exhausting day. But since I am running out of time, they will also wear these on Wednesday.

They had lots of fun stuff to do today.

Like stone throwing:

(I actually won the women's division stone throwing contest :))

and Archery:

(Kelsey wasn't really digging the games, hence no pics of her)

I have been itching to start on Christmas stuff. I am still looking for some advent calendar inspiration and working on a garland for this swap:

It's coming along really well. I have been taking pics along the way, and I plan on doing a tutorial for it. It has been fairly easy to put together and I thought I would share. I'll get some pics and hopefully the tutorial up this week. Check here for some garland inspiration.

I received a fantastic swap today:

and sent this one out:

The kitty pattern is from this book.

 

Have a great day ya'll!