Easter

I love Easter. Although it seems a bit like Christmas. I'm so busy making things, planning food, wanting everything to be perfect that it comes and goes without me really thinking about why we have these holidays, let alone teaching my kids why we have these holidays. Okay, that was a long ramble, off the subject. But, it's really bothering me. How do you balance the fun with the true meaning as a mom? Let me know.
This year, Miss K and Mr E got a few homemade things in their Easter baskets. Mr G did not. I just don't know what to sew for an almost 12-year-old boy beside jammies and costumes. Back to Easter. I really wanted to try these cute dollhouses. I convinced myself I could do it and just starting cutting fabric. After much unpicking, fudging seams and wondering why I was doing this - I finished them both. Wow! They were a bit of work, but the kids will love them. A note: be careful. I didn't realize until I was done with Mr E's that I put the 'grass' fabric on the ceiling. At that point it would have taken major remodeling work it fix it, so I didn't. Also, I cut my fabric twice as big as the dimensions given in the tutorial.

I also made a cute little dress for Miss K. When I found this fabric in the remnant bin at JoAnns, I grabbed it. I love the color, the embroidery and the texture. When I showed Miss K the fabric and told her I was making her an Easter dress from it, she said, "No mama, peeple (purple)". I guess she needs a purple (her favorite color) dress.
I also made some ties for Mr E. I'm in love with making ties. They are so easy and quick. Mostly, you can pick out way cute fabric instead of boring navy and red stripped ties. Another added bonus: Mr E cannot take these off himself as opposed to clip on ties which always get left at church. This was made with the Simplicity pattern. A note: I had to increase the boys tie by about six inches to give it enough length.
PS - My photography skills will improve someday!

Pink Knit Dress

When I picked up this fabric at Wal-mart for $1.50 a yard, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it - I just knew I liked the color and feel (so soft). Miss K looks so cute in this color; of course, it had to be hers. It is very thin and flimsy so I knew I had to layer it. I ended up doubling up the fabric. I also plan on having Miss K wearing it over a peasant slip. I loosely followed this dress pattern. I think it turned out very cute! Miss K spent at least 15 minutes twirling in it!

Stripe Skirt

I put this skirt together for Miss K this afternoon. I used fabric from my statch and matched it to a shirt Miss K already had. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It looks a bit like a too-long tube. I'm deciding if I should just leave it and use it for a play skirt (which was it's main purpose) or try to 'fix' it. Any ideas?

Conference Candy Bags

I love the blog, MADE. It is fantastic; check it out if you haven't ever been there before.
When I saw these cute bags on her blog, I immediately put them on my projects list. After looking at them a second time, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.
Last General Conference, I put together some bags to keep the kids entertained (after all, 8 hours of church is a lot!).
I thought I would add something fun each Conference to keep things exciting. One of my kids favorite parts of Conference is unlimited M&M's. Perfect! A cute little bag to hold their chocolate.
I've never made bags with the zipper like this. They are so easy and go together very quickly. This was also my first time working with plastic; a little tricky on the sewing machine, but it came together in the end. I think they turned out very cute and handy for my first go-around.

Miss K's Jammie Quilt

I'll admit, I'm cheap.
I made winter jammies for Miss K and Mr E this past fall. Having just started making clothes, I was shocked at how much fabric was left over after cutting out the patterns. I'm used to quilting where there is not so much waste. I threw all the scraps into a bag and put them in the corner of my sewing room hoping to find something to do with them.
Of course, what was I thinking? - A quilt!
Since most of the pieces where odd shaped, I decided on a crazy quilt. I cut the large pieces into 6 1/2 inch squares and then sewed the rest together in crazy squares.
I alternated the solid squares with the crazy squares. The quilt is 6 squares across and 8 squares down; not a big quilt, but big enough for a little girl to wrap up in while watching TV or have a picnic on in the backyard. It took a bit of time, but it was so satisfying to use up the fabric and throw only a minimal amount away.
I can't get the picture to turn and I really don't have time right now to mess with it. Miss K is playing peek-a-boo with you!
The quilt is not finished yet, but I wanted to get a picture with Miss K before she outgrew her jammies that match the quilt. She is so in love with this quilt. She keeps saying, "mine jammie blankie". I have squares done for Mr E's quilt; I'll post pictures when it is put together.

Happy Brithday

Since our family has two birthdays in February, I tend to go into birthday mode in late January. I've always wanted to do some kind of birthday banner and this is the year it finally got DONE.

I tried to find some gender neutral fabrics since I didn't want to make a boy and a girl one. I think it turned out fun. The kids got a kick out of it.

They really loved the birthday crown. The birthday child gets to sit in the birthday chair, wear the crown and open their presents. Wow! It's their special day. (The crown has Velcro on the back so we can adjust it to many head sizes.)

I made fabric bags a few years ago for Christmas presents and I love, love, love them. Not only does it save money and trees by avoiding wrapping paper, but I can wrap all my Christmas in 30 minutes - yes, 30 minutes. They are wonderful. My kids know to stuff the ribbon to the bottom of the bag so it is there when I wrap next year. It makes it so easy. I also made tags with my kids names on them. I know, a bit over-the-top, but I'm all about doing it well once and then having it easy after that.
Since I was wrapping a large wheelbarrow and a trike this year, I decided to do bags (good grief, how would you wrap a wheelbarrow and trike?) I found solid-colored fabric that matched the banner and the rest was easy. Obviously this is a smaller bag (I made a few different sizes. The wheelbarrow/trike bag was about 4 yards of fabric).


I probably won't do a lot of tutorials because 1. If I can do it, it's easy enough for others to figure out and 2. I'm really good at copying other's brilliance (I'll give credit where it is due).

Thanks for visiting!