Blustery Day

Well, more like 3 of them in a row now. I finally figured out the door banging I've been hearing all morning. The door to the crawl space. It's now got a stick stuck in the clasp to latch it. I've had the pleasure of catching up on blogs I read and trying to keep the dog from licking to death the ac/heat guy and the garage door opener repair guy. We have heat, just it's 2x yearly check-up. The garage door opener broke. The part would be $190 to replace or just $300 for a new one. As it is 15 years old, I'm going with the new one and adding one of those nifty keypads on the outside. One of the veritable joys of home ownership. I have no fun projects to share, I'm working on something that will be a present and 2 others are done and the same. So, no sharing yet.
Now, I need to walk the dog. Let's hope we both withstand the wind.

Plans

I have lots of plans. Plans to make things for my daughter, my niece to be, a friend's birthday, another niece, and even for myself. First, I have to find my work table top. It is there, you can see a couple of inches peeking out. It actually is cleaned off now. Thanks to a friend visiting and needing to stay in that room. Here's what my immediate plans are for sewing:

Making a short sleeve version in 3 month size for a niece-to-be.

A dress for same niece to come home in, a plain batiste fabric.

This for my daughter for spring/summer. I really love this fabric...part of the Swell by URBAN CHICKS for moda.

And an apron...for someone...from the same fabric line. It may not end up being the same pattern. I may wing it on the design.

That's what I have immediate plans for, meaning to do within the next month or so. I have several other things I'd like to make and a few things in process with the knitting/crocheting. I'll share those another time. The good news is it's cold and rainy out which keeps me in. I might just get to all these projects!

I hope to be better at finishing projects this year and start fewer. I have enough yarn for a year's worth of knitting/crocheting. I hope not to buy much of that this year. I do know myself well enough to say it won't happen at all. You never know what kind of incredible deal you'll find somewhere. I'd also like to work down the fabric stash a bit. The moda fabrics above are from the stash, almost 2 years old now. The others, I bought recently. It's not the kind of fabric I buy to stash. I buy with a particular project in mind, because it isn't cheap and rarely goes on sale. These are, hopefully, going to be heirloom garments.

Then there are all the house/yard projects that have long been on a to do list. Sometimes we dream about moving, but really, we wouldn't escape a to do list. We have good schools, close to shopping, decent commute for the husband, our church is close, and we have good neighbors and great friends here. There is much to be thankful for. And that is the biggest plan of all: Remember to be thankful for what we have been blessed with and do the best we can with what we are given.

December 2009

I'm always behind blogging about things. I thought I'd get to a decorating post about Christmas. nope. About Christmas itself. nope. Here's some of what we did in December:



We made lots of sugar cookies and decorated them over the break. You can see a bit of the oj carton manger that was made at another girl's craft day.

Christmas Eve in their new jammie pants made by me. (my gift to them)

Craig and I at his Junior cotillion parent dance night. Such a neat time. Probably the last time I see him dancing. ever.

School winter party craft. She's wearing the Christmas dress I made last year, knowing it was big and would fit at least throught this year too. It's a modified Children's Corner Lucy pattern. It has a pleated skirt bottom and giant rick rack ribbon trim.

We had a Cocoa, Cookies, and Craft party the week before Christmas. The girls decorated cookies, made reindeer felt wreaths(turned out awful because they would not glue together), and decorated cardstock mittens from PaperSource.




The girls handiwork. The tiles are trying(vainly) to make the felt wreaths glue to themselves.

So there it is. December in a nutshell. Cold, lots of rain, plenty of time spent with family, and lots and lots of sweets eaten. All ready for 2010.

Recycled Gift Bags

I thought I'd share one of my 'green' ideas. I recycle shopping bags as gift bags. I'm sure it's not a new idea, but I love some of the bags I get places and think it's a shame to just put them in the recycle bin. So, add some wrapping paper, mono adhesive, and off we go.
This one just has writing at the bottom, so I took a roll of $1 bin wrapping paper(last year at Target) and roughly measured a length. I folded the paper in half length wise, not quite making the sides meet and the long side to show. You can use a little adhesive to make the halves stick together. Then lay out the paper so your start will be on the short sides of the bag(not the front or back with writing). I then put adhesive on the front along the edges and where the top of the paper will be(using the paper laid out as a guide). Then carefully fold the paper over and adhere.

Do the same for the other sides, making sure to put adhesive along the crease lines on the sides to help the paper fold with the bag.

For the end, I folded the last edge over on itself, making sure to use adhesive to make it stick to itself and then again to make it stick to the rest of the paper.

Now, a perfectly generic gift bag. Just make sure to color in the name on the inside with marker. Or, if it's printed, use a piece of ribbon or scrap of paper to cover it up.

This one was printed across the middle. Used big scraps of a favorite paper from years ago.

The bag in the previous photo is the bottom left one. The beauty at the back is a Paper Source bag. Just LOVE that store. Their paper and paper ribbon to make it a fabulous gift bag.

Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress

This is the jump rope drees I made. I did the long sleeve version in a print from Fabric Finders(I think). It is such a sweet pattern. I love the clear, precise directions.

The details are just so great. The gathered pockets, the turned cuff on the sleeve, the top stitched placket just make the dress.

It is all the more special with the buttons from the stash I inherited from my grandmother. I am excited about making the short sleeved verison for the spring. Might just turn out to be an Easter dress.
Stay tuned for Christmas decor posts. It's all done, and I'll share it.

Clothes I've sewed this year

Oliver + S swingset tunic made the largest size, added length to the straps, bottom and sides of top. It is now way too small. LOVE the pattern.

Applique on a clearance rack t-shirt. I made the dog design myself. it's a hit with Megan. I did learn to not cut out the fusible webbing first. bond to fabric, then cut out shapes.

Little Prairie girl top (My FavoriteLittle Things) in an Amy Butler fabric I've had for over a year. I made a size 7/8 and it has plenty of room still for my 7 year old. The 5/6 did not fit at age 6. It got way too tight around the chest and shoulders. Those pics are on the external hard drive and I'm not spending the time to get to them right now.

I really don't need to make much for her right now as the drawers are overflowing due to some awesome hand me downs from a friend. should give me time to finish some home sewing, huh?

what we've been up to

Ren Fest entrance

Mother and Daughter witches


Is the goop that nasty, son?

Really, it's not that hard to get thru the maze.

I'm not sure he's going to get any milk from that cow.
ok, so really, that was October. But don't my kids make fabulous faces? Corn Maze, pumpkin carving, Halloween(I don't have a picture of the 11year old too cool to go to the neighborhood parade with us), and Renaissance Festival. Trying to pack in some fun activites around all the cold and wet weather has been difficult.

I'm up to my ears in projects to attempt to finish and have had a nasty hacky cough that has made me waaaaay less productive than I need to be. So off to finish a renaissance costume for the middle schooler for his project and then, well more work to do. I will post about some of my completed things very soon.