Babies galore!

This post probably isn't what you think it's going to be ;) My little girl has discovered how much she loves, loves, looooves her baby dolls! The other day she decided her babies needed a blanket... so she toddled into the kitchen and found what she though would be suitable....a tea towel!!

I decided that that would just not do. So, off to my sewing machine I went! My mom had purchased a whole bunch of Strawberry Shortcake fabric when my niece was born but never got around to making anything with it... so I took advantage when my little pumpkin was born! The fabric I picked was about a yard so it was perfect to make two baby blankets... which is exactly what I am used it for.

I measured the fabric, cut it in half, and folded it right sides together. After pinning it together, I simply sewed around the edges and left an open section of about 2-3 inches to be able to turn it. Once I turned it, I pinned it again so that it wouldn't move and I top-stitched all the way around. Now the babies have a proper cover:

Doesn't she look so much happier? One of my next projects is going to be a super hero cape for my son. Right now he uses a Black and Decker play vest tucked into the neck of his shirt.... silly but creative!!



Have a blessed day,

B3P's!

If you have ever read made by rae. You know what my title today is all about! If you don't, you completely have to go check out her site! She is an amazing sewer/retired teacher. The B3P's are Big Butt Baby Pants. This is a pattern that she developed for her adorable little ones who often model for her on her blog. Well, I've been wanting to buy this pattern for awhile...and I finally did! It even comes with a license to sell so I might venture into that area in the next couple of months if I get good at it. But for now, here's my first attempt at a pair for my littlest pumpkin:

I used a material that I got from two fat quarters at Jo Ann's. Adorable!

I ran out of fabric for the back so I used a coordinating white panel.

Cute! They look a bit saggy in this picture but they really aren't that way in life. I love the pants on her though! This pattern is fantastic. I will definitely be making lots and lots more of these!

Have a blessed day,

So, so happy!

Hi there! I feel like it's been forever since I've posted. After our snowy vacation, going back to work has been rough! I'm super tired but I still want to craft. :) I hoping for a bit of time this weekend to be able to sew from my hubby. B wanted a lumberjack hat with the flaps and all. But I haven't been able to find a pattern out there yet. Well, at least not at Joann's where I looked. I need to turn to the internet for my search. If you know of one, please let me know :) Instead of that, he's going to be getting this instead:

I'm going to be combining the bottom two pictures. Basically his jacket will zip all the way up but without a hood or the little pocket on the sleeve. If you like the look of this, the pattern is McCall's M5538. I also would like to give them credit for the picture :) B picked out two really nice colors of fleece to make this in. He will have a jacket that is a medium blue and then the accent pieces (yoke, collar, and under sleeves) will be a chocolatey brown color.

If you'd be interested in a sew-along, please let me know. It's always more fun to sort things out with a friend! Speaking of friends, thank you to all of my new followers! I'm so excited that my little corner of blog-heaven is beginning to reach people. I hope that you enjoy my ramblings and projects. I have 90 more to go for the year!
Have a blessed day,

Oh so very excited!

So, earlier today I got this comment left on one of my earlier posts:

Jennifer -- You WON one of the Jamie Christina apron patterns!!! Congrats! Please send your mailing address to me at shawneeh @ yahoo.com http://flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com

                         By Shawnee H on About Me at 11:15 AM

I won one of these patterns:

I absolutely love, love, love these aprons! I can't wait to see which one that I won!

If you would like to buy your own, they are designed by JaimeChristina. I am a follower of their blog Pretty Ditty. The aprons are absolutely adorable and extremely well priced. I already have the perfect fabric picked out for an apron :) Believe it when I say I will let you know which one I get!

Have a blessed day,

Project #8 and #9- Finishing up a past project

I know I announced my blog renovation yesterday but I'm counting that as project #8. Doing research, getting it all to work, and dealing with my incredibly slooooooow and out dated computer took all afternoon yesterday. I figure it counts. Don't you?

Project #9 is actually me finally get up off my tushie and finishing a previous sewing project. Do you remember this tunic that I had to finish:

Well, yesterday I finally hemmed the sleeves and the hem. I am so excited that I have it finished. I'm really bad about not finishing projects. Or planning projects that I never do. You should see my library of craft books! I have about 8 -10 amazing books that are tabbed with sticky notes galore... on projects that I have yet to do. I admit it I am a procrastinator! But, that's what my challenge this year is about, getting things done! Creating out the whazoo! And, I'm on my way..... How are you doing with your resolutions so far?

Have a blessed day,

Best sewing ever!

I'm really excited about this project that I almost have done. This project comes from the wonderful creators of Sew Liberated. If you haven't ventured there before, I strongly encourage you to at least go and look around. They have a fantastic book, Sew Liberated, (go figure, right?) and you can also purchase additional patterns on-line.

My new project is the tunic that they feature.... loooooove it!

I adore this tunic and as soon as I had ordered it I began looking for the perfect fabric to go with it. The first fabric I bought to use for this pattern was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! See:

The picture doesn't really do justice to the amazing colors in the patterns. Unfortunately, I was about 1/2 yard short and wasn't able to find another bolt of this fabric. Isn't that how it normally goes? So I went on another search and found the fabric that I ended up using:

I think it looks somewhat similar to the fabric that Sew Liberated used. What do ya'll think? Here is the tunic (minus hemming and casing the sleeves):

I think I love it!

What do you think?

Hubby made the comment that a bolder fabric would look better.

Any who.... hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday! I'll be posting more Christmas ideas soon!

Remember this?

I started this skirt weeks ago and promised a tutorial about it :

Well, then life got in the way! I wanted to walk you through how I made this skirt though. It all started with a pillowcase. I was at a thrift store and found several really cute 70's looking pillowcase that I thought would look adorable as either a skirt or a pillowcase dress for my little pea pumpkin.

I started off by trying to make this pillowcase into a skirt, so I measured to see how long I was going to want it (utilizing the already finished seam!!) and then added 2" for a casing at the top. After wards, I cut off the extra from the top and tried it on:

I am SOOOOOO not showing you a picture of me trying it on, as it was skin tight and somewhat see-thru! Anyways, my next step was to lay it out on top of  fabric and use it as a pattern. I added a little bit to each side ( 4" to the left and to the right, plus 2" to the bottom to allow for hemming)

I also did a second layer for this second skirt so I could have a contrasting underlining. I also made sure to utilize the finished edges on this fabric too since I was repurposing an old sheet.

Next I started by sewing together the sides on each of the layers. Make sure to pin the right sides together! After both sides are sewn together, you can either clip close to the seam with pinking shears or use another type of finishing strategy that you may know.

Next, I pinked the bottom edges of my skirt before hemming them. If you are re purposing material that is already hemmed, you shouldn't have to hem unless the hemmed area was unusable.

Make sure to pin your casing down evenly all the way around the bottom of your skirt for your hem. I made my hems between 1/4" to 1/2"

** skip if you are doing just one layer!!**

After each of your layers has it's waist band sewn, then you need to put the layer you want on the OUTSIDE on the INSIDE of the layer that you want on the INSIDE. Make sure that they are both inside out. Pin them together and sew the two layers together.

** Come back at this point if you are using one layer

Next you are going to do your waistband casing. Make sure to pin your casing down evenly all the way around the top of your waist band. Keep in mind the width of your elastic. My elastic for each skirt was 7/8" so I did a casing of 1.5" on each of the waist bands.

 You need to sew all the way around leaving about 2" open so that you can feed the elastic in and all the way around. Once you have the elastic all the way around, overlap the two end pieces and sew them together. Then, sew close the remaining 2" you left open.

Congrats: You have an adorable new skirt!

** As soon as I have my elastic threaded I will show you a picture of my finished skirt! Post up pictures of your finished ones. I'd love to see your wonderful work!

It's for the birds...

Isn't this just the prettiest skirt ever?

I love, love, love the fabric! It had to be used for just the right fabric. I will be making another very shortly and posting up a tutorial to help you make your very own! You know the great thing, it took me all of an hour to make this dress (including the cutting). Amazing right? I love it. I wore it to work today and received so many compliments on it! So for about a yard of fabric, a yard of elastic, and 4 seams you can have your very own skirt! Watch for the tutorial in the next day or two!

I'm seeing spots!!

Last night I sat down at my sewing machine and after cutting, pinning, and sewing like a mad woman for 2 hours (along with some crazy funny dance moves while ironing) this is what I came up with:

I had decided that my new sweetie (my little model) needed her very own taggie blanket. My son had one that somebody had given as a present before he was born. He really loved it so hopefully she will too! 

Here is a closer view of the blanket. It's not very big as it's only abou 9" by 10". All the fabric came in a fat quarter pack at Jo-Ann's. The back looks like this:

I love all the polka dots!  Since they are super "in" this spring my little girl will totally stylin' and profilin'! I used my wonderful Cuttlebug to cut out the squares on the front and then quilted them together. I also discovered at this point that I am not a quilter! If I ever attempt an actual quilt I will definitely be practicing a lot before then so that my squares line up. However, since it's for my little girl, I think it gives it a bit more whimsical feel... and you really have to look at it to see that it's not quite lined up :) After I quilted the middle squares together then I cut and sewed the pieces around the front edges. The back is just one big piece and I added ribbons and pieces of the flannel around the edges as the  "tags".

Add in some crazy dance moves and bad singing... not bad for only 2 hours worth of work! Next up I need to make something for my son. I have the wonderful book called "One Yard Wonders".

There are some really cute toys in the back. I might try making my son either this adorable puppy or elephant that they have in the back. Probably the elephant as he has recently learned how to say elephant. There's also a cute infant swing jacket that I'm going to make for my little girl next too. So what have ya'll been working on lately? Leave a comment and a link. I'd love to see your newest craftiness :)

Dina in the kitchen...

Silly title huh? It's the first thing that popped into my head when I though about the project that I just completed. I'm really really happy about this one! I've been looking at this project for MONTHS on several different blogs. I'm really really psyched that I finally got a chance to be able to do it. What do you need for this amazingly fantastic project? Why a pot holder, a tea towel, thread, needle, and a button! How easy is that?

Okay.. a drumroll please..... here is what has me so psyched!

I know that I have seen them on several different blogs but I forget which ones to give credit to. (Sorry ladies!) However I will tell you the insanely simple steps to make these.

** My goal this year is to get organized with my tutorials so that I have pictures of each step!**

1) Find the middle of your tea towel.

2) Then (using your sewing machine) sew straight across the middle using the longest stitch on your machine. Pull one string to gather when you are done sewing.

3) Find the middle of your potholder. Line up the two middles (potholder middle and tea towel middle). Pin together. Sew across using your sewing machine.

4) Fold the potholder up so that the two edges meet. Using your thread and needle sew the button onto the front of the pot holder so that the "holder loop" will slip over it.

5) Hang up on your oven door and do a happy dance!!

Easy peasy right? I am adding these to my "Make for Christmas 2010" list. I've seen some gorgeous ones out there on the web. Keep your eyes open the next time you are at the dollar store! I just looooooove the cute vintage-y ones I found to make these!

Busy, busy, busy!!

I've been working at creating my own crafts as well as surfing the net to find the most creative ladies out there! I wanted to share some of things that I've been working on so hopefully I'll help to inspire ya'll as well! This was my first project that I started a couple months ago. We recently renovated our office so now I'm able to set up my sewing machine and keep it up. Before that it was hit or miss setting my machine up on the dining room table to be able to sew. I started off getting the pattern cut out... then 3 or 4 months passed before I was able to sew it together. I'm really proud of it (even with my few mistakes) since it was the very first time I've ever sewn on jersey fabric as well as one of the first things I've ever sewn truly on my own. So... drum roll please.......

Pretty isn't it? I think so :) Now imagine it with a thick brown belt around the middle and maybe a pair of brown boots lazily propped up against the bottom of the dress stand... *sigh* too bad I don't have either of these items to complete the outfit. Guess I have an excuse to go shopping right?

I think overall it turned out pretty well. I only had to call my mom (a.k.a. sewing mentor) a couple of times. I also learned a lot about interfacing as well! Oh well, I'm proud of myself anyways and that's what counts :)