new old jeans

before:after:
I found these 5T babyGap jeans at a thrift store and thought of my little neighbor who just turned 5... and that she hands all her clothes down to Zoe so I'll get them back eventually. I wear jeans with holes in them, but sometimes I don't think that's too cute on kiddos... so I wanted to cutesie them up for her. These flowers came off a thrift store vest. Don't worry, I never intended to wear the vest, just use the applique flowers. Oh, and I had to applique them on by hand. The only thing I like to do by hand is bind quilts, so this was an act of love.

Sew & Tell - quilt top & pillows

Here's a quilt top I made on a whim Tuesday morning. I was bored. It's for a certain friend having a baby girl next month. I love batik. I am getting a little sick of the brown/pink combo though. It helped that there was blue & yellow in here.

I thought it needed a little more, now it's about 36x44. Which one of these should I bind with? I'm thinking the yellowish one.

Here's a little retro sew & tell. I made this for Zoe last year, and it fits her perfectly now! So cute!!

I got this simple abundance for our living room valences, and now I'm working on pillows for the couch. The two solid ones will have those jelly roll strips as ties on the front. I think I will back them with muslin, unless I can find something else in my stash to use up.

Here's proof that I actually finished my blush baby quilt. I'm having attachment issues... meaning, I don't want to part with it!

please go visit Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday and see what everyone else has been working on this week!

Sew & Tell - Crayon rolls & baby seat

I made this little portable fabric chair thingy for an upcoming trip. I've seen the idea a couple places, but these are the instructions I used or a link to them, or something. Saw this on fresh poppy earlier this week (or whenever you gals first posted it... see, it's their sew & tell too!) and set to work right away! The purpose was to be able to contain Zoe in an adult chair, without having to bring a high chair. Luckily, the place I am going is equipped with a high chair with straps because I Tell You What... that little princess is crafty (and by crafty, I don't mean that she makes stuff) and whipped herself right out of 3 layers of velcro faster than I could say "you'd better sit down on that booty." To which she proudly replied "booty!!" and gave herself her own spanking while standing on the chair. I tell you! I will be finding some extra clips around here somewhere in order to Zoe-proof the seat before our trip. She must be contained!!!

On to my next (and more successful) endeavor...

Love to make these crayon rolls for gifts! They're fast, fun, and I haven't met a child who doesn't like them! I gave these to a friend whose 2 little girls are the same age as Joshua and Zoe, and in the same PDO classes. I still 'owe' 3 gifts, 2 boys & 1 girl, so I'll be making a few more in the near future!

Please visit Sew & Tell Friday at Amylouwho's and see what everyone else has finished this week!

A dress for the princess - Sew & Tell Friday

Zoe's new favorite word is princess. We can tell how excited she is about something by the volume with which she expresses herself. She consistently shouts at-the-top-of-her-wee-little-lungs the words 'princess' (except of course in the video) and 'eat.' ('daddy', 'cheese', 'Lightning' (as in McQueen), and 'blue' (her toothpaste is blue so that's what she says when she wants to brush) are not far behind)

Now that I've lured you into hearing about out little Princess Zoe, I'll tell you about her gown... er, dress. I saw this fabric at the Lobby of Hobbies (30% off, thankyouverymuch) and thought it would make a cute dress for her. I went with the 3 year old size on the pattern because I always like to buy clothes big since they grow so quickly. From the looks of it, she'll be able to wear this dress for the next 2 or 3 summers (maybe as a shirt the 3rd year :) It was a pretty simple pattern - would have been simpler had I read more carefully and not done it wrong - now I know. I think I'll be making another with different fabric to see if I can get it right.

This is only the 2nd piece of clothing I've made so I have a lot of practicing to do. If you have a favorite free pattern or tutorial for little girl clothes, please let me know in your comment!! If you haven't already, please visit Sew & Tell Friday at Amylouwho's, and check out all the other great projects!

She didn't want to stop playing to try it on until I told said "but it's a princess dress"

Quilt for my Grandma - Sew & Tell Friday!

Welcome to everyone visiting from Amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday! And everyone else too! Please go visit and check out everyone else's projects if you haven't already!

Here's the quilt that I have been making for my Grandma. I started it on Saturday night and have 1/2 the binding left to put on. I would have finished it tonight, but I had a hot date with the hubby. The binding can wait :)

It was going to be a rail fence pattern, but when I laid it out I got dizzy so I had to make the lines a little longer. I didn't feel like stippling because I felt like straight lines would be faster, so I did that. I got more than a few puckers on the front, so I'm going to try hand basting the baby quilt using this method that Anne told me about.

Well, it's far from perfect but I'm hoping that my Grandma will know how much she's loved every time she sees it (hopefully not in the back of her linen closet :)

Blush quilt top for a baby girl on the way

** a couple edits here, folks.

1. NO, I am not pregnant.

2. Blush yardage is on sale today at piece n' quilt! **

Here's the layout for my quilt top. I need to go to the LQS for backing & binding. I'm not going to add a border since it's already about 40"x40". It's made with the new moda blush, tumbled 9 patch (or whatever you want to call it) with layer cake squares. I made 2 x 9 patches, and made one last square (bottom left) w/ two layer cake squares and a charm square. I started it during the Super Bowl and sewed it together yesterday (that was Tuesday) while Craig was home from work (YAY!) I had planned on adding a picture of the finished top, but I left it at my neighbor's house (Booo)

I forgot to submit my finish for last Friday, so if you're visiting from Sew & Tell, please check out last week's finish if you have time! Go Here

Go visit amylouwho's to see everyone else's Sew n' Tell Friday projects

**I'm not really out of my blogging slump, I've just been scheduling my posts so it seems like I'm blogging a lot :)**

Friday Finishes

Yay! It's Sew & Tell Friday!

I realize I haven't been here in a while, but I've been stockpiling projects to blog about! I just got a new camera battery today, just in time for Friday! Here's what I've been working on...

Obligatory folded quilt photo. This is Zoe's quilt. I had lots of fun making it, and it's my first quilt using 'real' fabric (fabric I bought specifically for this quilt, rather than repurposed from something else). It's 4' x 5'
Here's the back. I really Really cut it close with this. When I trimmed the backing & batting, the most backing I trimmed was 1/2".
I was also pretty excited that it came out squared up, all the seams met up where they were supposed to, and I quilted it without any puckers. All in all, a success. I suppose I should quit while I'm ahead and never make another quilt. Unfortunately, it's too late for that since I'm already 3/4 through another quilt top.

I went with stippling and had a much better experience than the first time. I used transparent thread on the top & white in the bobbin. The transparent proved a little tricky, but I like how it turned out.
Zoe likes it too. And she likes her feet.

Other little projects have included making flowers & ruffles with scraps from our neighbor Maddie's pants that I hemmed & embellishing Zoe's shirt with them.

chocolate face!And a new little obsession. These are so quick, it's hard to stop making them! The black one was for my neighbor Erin, the bottom one is Zoe's, and the pink one is for Maddie. I've also made 2 headbands in the past hour. I can't stop!!!

I've been working on adding a little color in our bedroom & living room also. I got some Simple Abundance fabric and have made these valences for our bedroom (expertly hung by my wonderful husband!) and similar ones for the living room, of which I have yet to take a picture... you'll have to wait!

hanging on the wall here is my Grandma's little 'herbs & spices' cabinet. I hung it on the wall in the bedroom above my sewing table (not photographed because it's a Disaster!!) and put all my thread, ribbons, and whatever other little notions I could get in there.
So, no, I didn't finish all of these today. I think I did finish them all this week, though... so it still counts. I have more cute pictures of the kids to post, etc etc. Stay tuned... and don't forget to check out all the other finishes at Amylouwho's sew & tell Friday!

Sew & Tell - rice wrap

Happy Sew & Tell Friday!! I couldn't post my finish last week because I want it to be a surprise to my wonderful hubby - sorry I didn't get a chance to visit everyone and see your finishes!

I took a break from quilts last night and made this quick project. It only took me a little over an hour! I was only planning on starting it while the news was on, but was so close to finishing I just had to! Great instant gratification, and one less thing on my to do list for Saturday!!

Here's a little more detail on how I make them... mine weight 5 lbs, so that's how much rice to fill it with

Many thanks to my cute model. Maybe he thought it was a cape! See my cherry quilt there on the couch screaming "QUILT ME!!!" Audience participation please: I am working on getting the tension on my machine right first... yeah, that's my excuse... Anybody have any tension tips? I know every machine is different (I have a Kenmore 385.19233), but I'm sure yall can help me :) Also, anybody want to recommend their favorite gloves (or way to grip/maneuver the quilt).

Here's some good, thorough tension advice I found. It's not novice advice either, so unless you're a tension expert, you might benefit

too many t-shirts?!

Here are two pictures of my tshirt blankets (they're not really quilts). I'm thinking about taking them back apart and quilting them, but they are well loved and we use them all the time. I used to run & do triathlons kind of a lot, and these are tshirts from races as well as my time in college & in the beloved US Army. The two in the middle of the larger quilt are from my first HS XC race. I have only great memories from all these tshirts, and I love having a practical way to keep them around.

About 7'x7', I made this one in 2003

About 4'x5', I finished this one about a week before Joshua was born 3 years ago. I've accumulated more tshirts since then, so when I get enough, I'll probably make another.

Sew & Tell - Tis the Season!

It's Sew & Tell Friday again!

It being the day after Thanksgiving and all, I figured it wasn't too early for Zoe to start wearing her cute new legwarmers. I cannot begin to express how cute these are!! And how easy they were to make. Just find some cute socks, cut the feet off, turn inside out, cuff twice, and stitch. I did a zigzag stitch over both layers, and my cuff was only about 1/4" I unintentionally stretched the fabric as I stitched which made them flare & ruffle at the bottom - SO ADORABLE!!! I have a few more pair of socks to 'convert' as well as an old sweater to try to make leg warmers out of. You won't catch me in a pair (not this year anyway) but for Zoe's sake, I'm so excited that leg warmers have made a comeback!!