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!)

I've been bad...

a VERY bad blogger lately. There is just so much going on! T-ball, birthdays, I am completely pooped!

Paige graduates kindergarten tomorrow. I can't believe it! Look at this little girl:

She's still supposed to be that little. This year has flown by and we are really going to miss our amazing teacher Mr. Willis. To celebrate I got her this:

She really loves jewelry. My grandmother took her to the jewelry store to get her first real ring when she was three and an obsession was born. My grandmother got her another one for her birthday this year and gave it to her in January because she was scared she wouldn't make it to June.  As you know, she didn't, but she wanted to make sure both the girls got equally from her. She was very big on that. So, I thought this would be a great throwback to her as well. By the way, she wears both rings everyday and never takes them off without telling me. I wrapped it in this:

I got it from Target. Isn't it cute! Look at the rick rack and buttons!

On another note, my blogiversary is May 24! I am planning on giving away an apron and opening up to some questions and suggestions. So be sure to check back on that day. I have 3 birthdays this weekend so I will probably not be back until then :)

Speaking of birthdays, check this out:

I just got this pic of Brice and the girls enlarged and framed for his birthday on Friday. He wanted something to remind him of us in his office.

I'll leave ya'll with more pics of what we've been up to :)

Have a great day ya'll!

Working through anxiety and pain...

I have been absent this past week because my grandmother has taken a turn for the worse. The doctor gave her 3-4 days on Friday. She is only getting IV meds and is not responsive. My heart is breaking and I wish I could be with her every second of the day. Obviously, with 2 young children I can't though. While sitting by the phone reliving memories of her I have been doing a little crafting. Crafting has been a sanity keeper the past few days.

Obviously, I may be absent for awhile. My grandmother and I are very close and this hurts a lot. Please keep my family in your prayers.

A little organization is all I need.

Now that I have gotten my computer fixed, (YAY!), I can start blogging during the peaceful hours known as naptime again! It's so quiet right now. But I have been thinking about how I want to do my blog, and I have come up with a schedule so I can say and talk about everything I am busting to talk about. So, here it is:

Sat & Sun- NO BLOG

Mon-Inspiration

Tues-Things I want to buy (I will be featuring ONLY handmade or WAHM things)

Wed-What I have made

Thurs-Thrifty/Vintage Goodness

Fri-More things I have made

I think I can stick with this fairly well, and I think it will make it easire for me to get everything I want to talk about in. I will be starting on Monday :)

Ok-now on to what I've been doing. I had forgotten how inspiring having a computer around was. Since I have gotten mine back, I have been looking at flickr and custom boutique items on ebay. It has really given me a kick in the rear, and I am so ready to make all kinds of things. I started this week on the first bits of clothing I have sewn since before Christmas.

Paige's dress is an e-book pattern from Farbenmix altered a little. I love the colors of this fabric! I almost put a ruffle on the bottom, but decided on te crochet lace instead. I like the old fashion-y look it gives it. This is a great pattern that I have even used with the less stretchy knit fabrics like cotton/lycra and jersey. You can do a lot with it.

I made Kelsey a shirt to wear to all the Easter egg hunts we'll go to. I remember getting an e-mail of a pic with a chocolate bunny with a huge bite missing from his ear, and I thought it would be a cute applique. Her shirt is an Ottobre pattern made from blue cotton/lycra. The applique turned out even better than I thought it would.

Doesn't she look like she took a bite of him?

And look it's almost Spring around here! My Bradford Pear tree has buds on it:

Have a great day ya'll!

I think I can...

I think I can. Like the little engine that could, I keep telling myself that. I have so much going, and am doing so much, that that is the only way I can keep going. Funny isn't it? But, this week has been a good one, motivation wise and personal wise. I hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine's day and enjoyed the long weekend. My Valentine's Day was VERY good:

Brice did good. I was VERY surprised and I love it soo much! It fits my style perfectly. I guess he really does know me better than anyone else ;)

And I have been working on something. Here's a little sneak peek:

I am really excited about this and am hoping to be done with it tonight, and the whole project hopefully by Friday. That's a big hopefully considering I am getting 2 crowns Thursday. Ugh.

I have been doing a little thrifting lately. Make that a LOT of thrifting. Someone at my local Goodwill store keeps dropping off NWT Gymboree clothing in my girls' sizes. There's new stuff every time I go which is usually about twice a week. I have also found some new Fire King:

My collection is starting to get quite large. I also found this great vintage German how to draw book:

It's got some great drawings in it. You can see them at my flickr.

Also, wow, we drove through some of the tornado damaged areas this weekend. It was devastating. My county has had three deadly tornadoes in the past nine years, but seeing what devastation they cause never becomes something that you get used to. We were driving by one spot and I noticed a stroller high in the trees. In another place, there was a house that was completely intact, but torn from the foundation and thrown back 50 feet. Two guys that worked for us were affected, and I have been quite proud of how the company has pulled together to help. Some of our customers even saw one of them on TV, and are asking to help in any way they can. It's nice to see people pull together. I can't imagine losing my home and everything in it. Please keep the affected in your prayers. :)

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!

I am doing something.

I know my blogging has slacked off, but this school thing is kicking my butt. Getting up early, getting THREE girls ready, dropping off, to Brice's office, errands, picking up...It's starting to get a bit repetitious. Add on the still searing heat, and NO rain, not even the chance of rain and it's enough to make a girl mad :) I get a little crazy when I start thinking about the heat. When I dwell on it too long, I get depressed and I just want it to rain sooo bad. An entire front passed through the area yesterday, but all the rain skipped right on by us. Ugggh!

Enough about that. I actually have been sewing. I made some dresses from a Farbenmix E-book. I used some of my hoarded Japanese fabric, and they turned out wonderfully:

and

The Hedgie dress is up for grabs. It's a sz. 5. $40 . I just don't like the way it looks on Pay.

I also got my August FQ swap this past week. Look at all these gorgeous pinks! It will definitely go to use in my house full of girls!

and what I am about to send out. Late I might add.

And just look at these fabulous new Farbenmix patterns. I really need these: Antonia and Celina.

First Day of School :(

It went really well. Paige was ready and she had lots of fun. She also tested wonderfully and made a new friend. Kelsey and I on the other hand moped around and missed Paige. When we went to pick her up, the girls ran to each other like they hadn't seen each other in years. Kelsey yelled "Paige!" Paige yelled "Kelsey!" Then they hugged and hugged and hugged. They really missed each other. :) Some pics: