Awesome Finds

I had to leave the house. Which, by the way, I don't like to do that often. I will be running around all this week to get things ready for The Boy's first birthday. So I ran out of stamps when sending out already late birthday party invitations, and while I was out I was drawn to this used book store. I love book stores, but haven't been to one in ages. Look what I found!

The first book, Bookshelves & Cabinets is a BIG hint to my awesome man, but I'm not going to push it right away! The second book, Dating FABRICS, looks very interesting and might help with my color and coordinating issues, but I just like to look at the fabrics.

The third book, Better Homes and Gardens 167 Things to Make for Children is from 1975. It is pretty awesome! It has stuff for knitters...

...and crafters, painters, woodworkers...

...and sewers. You know there is SO MUCH MORE! Whenever I get around to making some of them, I'll post the pages too.

But for now, I'll be frantically trying to finish up last minute things for the birthday party. I will also be making a pool cover-up from a tutorial I got last year from Sew, Mama, Sew! I made one last year for my cousin's daughter, and it came out great. And I have another LSU quilt due by the end of next week! Until later...

Again...not sewing!

I tried my hardest to get the Child aprons finished to give to Ms. Priss's Daisy Troop before we had our planting day, but because of unforeseen family issues and BIG time embroidery machine issues I just couldn't crank out 13 aprons on time!! But they are coming together easy and will be done before our cooking day so... Thank you Elizabeth for the awesome tutorial! So here is what we accomplished. BEFORE:

AFTER:
The girls really enjoyed the day! We planted Marigolds and Zinnias and sprinkled Shasta Daisy and Painted Daisy seeds between the bird bath and bush. I say "sprinkled" but it was more like, (DUMP)...."more please!" So I will be waiting to see how they come up! This bed is at the elementary school. I think I will do a little flag to let everyone know that our troop "beautified" the school! I hope to post more before the end of the week. But for now, it is CLEAN THE HOUSE day! Until later...

So NOT About Sewing...

But I am so excited!! Thanks to my awesome man and wonderful folks, I finally got what I always wanted!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL? Of course I meant, for the children....NOT! This is definitely me being selfish, but everyone benefits right?

See, they can't stop playing it already. Ms. Priss will begin lessons as soon as it is settled in and tuned.

LOOK how TALL it is! I love that. I did not want something that would be destroyed! This is solid tiger oak people! It was originally a player piano that was converted. See where the big foot paddle used to be? And the mirror is where the roller was. I will be doing some research on this piano to find out more about it.

It needs to be tuned, but sounds really good. At least, by my NON-expert opinion! The tone is nice, not bright at all! It is from Story & Clark, Chicago, IL. There is a place online where you can look up all about your used piano by doing a search on the serial number.

Ok, enough already! My new toy obsession will wear off soon, I'll be back to sewing next week! Until later...

Why Leave the House?

All of this fabulous fabric comes right to your door! I love getting packages, especially when I know it has all of this material goodness in it! And look, Fabric.com is having an anniversary sale so they included a package of flower seeds thanking me for helping them "GROW". Too cute! I am so excited at the possibilities of what I can do! At the top is some great cupcake fabric that I am going to do aprons for the girls. And the black and white polka dots, either something for me or maybe opposite/matching dresses for the girls. And if you notice along the bottom is my WINNING charm pack of Wonderland by Moda. Thank you again Sew, Mama, Sew! I wish I could win every week!! And also in the bottom right corner is some black elastic thread so I can do some more shirring! I think I will pull out my "older" machine and see if it likes shirring better than my new one! I know it has something to do with the bobbin, but I don't want to take any chances and mess up my new machine! I also got some Bias Fusible Stay tape. I've never used it before, so that will be a learning experience.
Well, I am off to do some cutting before I pick up my good friend/ future piano teacher for Ms. Priss. We are going to look at and possibly purchase a piano I've been wanting. Then a birthday lunch, since Sunday was her birthday! Until later...

Another Sundress from Habitual

I really love how fast this dress stitches up! I decided to do a dress for the middle child at the last minute. I did this Thursday morning in about 2 hours!! Having a serger helps alot, but I think even without one it would be just as fast. The results are so satisfying, I recommend everybody make one!! Here is the link, and here are the results!

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Sorry this post is short, Spring Break is here, and I do mean BREAK!! The girls are at my folks for a couple of days so I am taking advantage! Until later...

An Outfit for the Queen

As you may have read here, my niece was a baby Queen for the Strawberry Festival. I decided to try my hand at the Habitual sundress pattern with the remains of the strawberry material I used for the girls. I loved it. It is a new take on the pillowcase dress, so it was very easy. The tie is made with a generous amount of fabric for an over-one-shoulder dramatic effect. It looked kinda short to me so I went ahead and made a pair of capris to go with it. I did an applique with her name and the fabric seemed to fray easy so I decided to leave the bottom of the pants frayed also. This is the side of the bolt fabric that has the little holes near the treated ends so I added the ribbon to cover them. I used different "patterned" fabric, as I am trying to expand my color mixing ability. What do you think? Does it go together, or am I still in desperate need of lessons? I did not do the french seams that is explained in the tutorial because I have a serger and I am lazy like that! But the pattern was written very well and the sizing seamed to be ok. This is also the blog that I got the Kimono robe that I made for Ms. Priss, and have yet to do for the middle child. The Kimono pattern is for a shirt, but I added a longer hem to make it a robe.
I met a new sewing friend this past weekend at a birthday party, and she made the cutest apron. She just got a monogramming machine so we just talked and talked, despite our kids running around, and her husband patiently waiting! We could have talked all day, but I guess there is a life outside of sewing! Anyway, here's to my new friend, I hope you find my blog useful in finding some great links to further your creativity!! Don't forget to check out Sew, Mama, Sew! They are having some awesome giveaways this month! I wish I could win more!! I got my winning charm pack and now I have to figure out what to make with it!! Until later...

P.S. Here is my gift for the birthday girl! As she requested...

Strawberry Outfits in Action

Well, another Strawberry Festival has come and gone. What fun! What a CROWD! Our little hometown festival gets bigger every year, but unfortunately the festival grounds do not. We were there long enough to ride the rides, play some games, see the parade, and run into some friends from my youth! Then it was off to my cousins for some great food, a dip in the pool, and tasty margaritas! Here are some pictures of the outfits made for the festival.

Ms. Priss' dress is my first adventure with shirring and I never quite got it! I still need lots of practice with tension adjustment. The elastic thread kept bunching and I really didn't give myself time to "work" it out, so I only did a couple of rows. I really love the effect and when it worked it was awesome and super easy, but when it didn't work it was frustrating and time consuming. I did one for my oldest and one for the middle child. I tried a little "bubble" effect for Ms. Priss since she wore it with leggins. Here are some closer shots.

Remember the reversible A-line? I changed it a little and added pants with a ruffle. I am still working on my button placement, so I saw a cute pattern that had a tie through the button hole. Well, this is much easier than putting buttons on both sides so I tried it. The ruffle for the pants was done on my serger, and yes I am still in love with that machine! So EASY! Here are some more shots of the dress...

So I am not sure if the back is supposed to be shorter than the front, anyone else do this pattern from Sew Baby!? I know that my friend at Kindershop did, I'll go ask her...

I did another outfit and a hooded towel for a bday party that I'll post later, until then...

Something for the festival

I am not quite finished with things for the Strawberry Festival, but I am going to go ahead and post some things that I have done. Some of these items are already in the slide show on the left, but I am going to feature them here anyway.

Some bibs:

Some shirts, which my mother hasn't seen yet so don't tell her!

Some kitchen towels, one is for my cousin and her husband. They host an awesome shindig every year during the festival! The fajitas are sizzling and the margaritas are free-flowing! Can't wait! Cousin, if you are seeing this...act SURPRISED!! :)

Well, I guess that is all for today! Hopefully I'll have more to post tomorrow. I made a couple of strawberry tu-tus last year, but they kept being mistaken for watermelons! They are in the slide show featuring tu-tus. I do have a couple of dresses done, but I think I want to put a monogram on them so I'll wait to post. Have a great day! Until later...

P.S. For those of you who machine embroider, my mom's shirt was 35000 stitches!! That is the most I have done at one time!! With 6 appliques, two colors! On a double knit Tshirt!! Needless to say, I had a time with that one! I think it came out ok, straight even...

So I'm checking out my bloggy friends...

And I see that I've been tagged! The fabulous (my new word, I can't stop using it!) Kindershop has challenged me to list seven things I love. So here goes...
1. My awesome man and beautiful children! Of course!
2. My folks. I couldn't make it in this life without them!
3. Being creative. I'm really happy that I have that in me.
4. Having creative children. Already! I can tell!
5. That I get to stay home with my kids.
6. That I'm 37, but still feel like a kid in my head. I can't be the only one!
7. SHIRRING!! When it works! I'm having issues, but will keep at it until I've conquered it!

For more on my shirring adventure, you will have to tune in tomorrow, hopefully! I've got one sundress done, but started having issues on the second, so... I am also almost finished with my "Strawberry Festival" creations! I can't wait to see my girls twirling around in their strawberry ensembles! Hopefully the weekend will be nice and sunny! Until later...

Oh, I almost forgot! I tag Allie, Donna, and Elizabeth! Ok ladies, I'll be checking your blogs! Once you post you list, tag 3 of your own bloggy friends!