On the HILL and Looking OVER...

...should I take the plunge??  As I am writing this, the clock is ticking away bringing me closer to FORTY!!  Yep, the BIG 4-O.M.Gosh!!  When did this happen??  Just last week I was 30, getting married and having my first baby!!  WOW, the time has flown by!!  Oh well...guess that means I need to stop PROCRASTINATING so much and actually get things DONE!! HA!  And to help me accomplish things just a little bit faster, here are a few goodies I got for Christmas and an early birthday present!!

My two big Boys gave me a gift card to Joann's, so I picked up a few yards of fabric and a really cool circle cutter!!  See that yellow thingie?  It's made by Olfa and has an 18mm (teeny tiny) rotary blade...which BTW Joann's doesn't carry!!  Haven't used it yet, but it has got to work better than me cutting circles FREEhand!! ;)  My Awesome man gave me those wonderfully shiny and new Gingher Shears!!  I was in DESPERATE need of new scissors!!  And my friend Rhonda was just bragging and going ON and ON about the Bias tape maker she got for Christmas...so that HAD to be my bday present to myself!!  I have used that and it works AWESOME!!  I also got one of these...

It's a Tulip light from OttLite!  It's called the tulip because of the way it looks...and the neck pulls out...

COOL, huh??  I love it, it really adds just the right amount of light to my sewing room!! :)  

Ok...so I know that I have been VERY absent from the bloggy world for a while...I've been busy being LAZY again!!  It must be this crazy January weather!  Our 24 year old finally left my couch and went back to his apartment (and he is doing well, thanks everyone who asked about him!)...so I couldn't use him as an excuse to NOT take down my Christmas stuff...so I did that, and some cleaning...and LOTS of laundry!!  And then the birthdays, other than my own, began!!

One of Ms. Priss' friends requested a pillow...claiming her AWESOMENESS!!

10 year olds are so FUNNY!!  And while I was at JoAnn's I found some chalkboard fabric...for $3.99/yd!! I couldn't believe it, because I had just priced some on the internet and it was $10.99/yd!!  Is there a difference?  Has anyone gotten this fabric from different places and found them to have varied qualities?  Anyway, I've been wanting to try making a playmat...so Ms. Priss' friend was my official "tester"!

It sewed really easy, and seemed to take the chalk well..even though I didn't read the instructions about how to "prime" it before use!!  Basically you just rub the chalk across the fabric by the width of the chalk, not just the tip.  So I told the little girl to do that!!

I used a vinyl table cloth scrap for the backside, and some bias tape...THAT I MADE!!  I know, plain boring fabric..I could have just used store-bought!  But I didn't have blue...see, that bias tape maker is already paying for itself!! HA!  Anyway, she thought it was super cool, so now I need to make some for my own kiddos!

My nephew turned 7!!  He had an ice-skating party...so FUN!!  He only asked for a wallet for Christmas, so I had NO CLUE what to make for him!!  Then I remember seeing this bag on Pinterest...don't you just LOVE pinterest??!!

It is the Explorer Bag from Chez Beeper Bebe!!  She has some really good tutorials...go check her out!!

I used an Army green canvas for the outer bag, and some fun frogs on a simple cotton fabric.  I really LOVE her choice of fabrics for her bags, but I didn't have any homespun plaids!

I didn't find the bag too hard to do.  Even the accordion pocket on the front was explained well.  Here is the link again for the tutorial.

The Middle Child had a birthday party to attend!!  She was SO EXCITED!!  It might have been her first one that wasn't family related!  So I went to one of my old stand-bys...

Just can't go wrong with a monogrammed hooded towel! :)

My SIL's mom is going to a big Mardi Gras bash and requested an adult-sized tutu...

This was the first adult-sized one I've done...and I underestimated the amount of TULLE that would be needed for it!!  I had to go back to the store TWICE!!  It is 22 inches long!!  That's 45 inch strips I had to work with!!  Once I had all the tulle, it actually went pretty fast....except for that leaving to go BACK to the store part!! ;)

Ok..that's all I've got from me...for now!  I do want to take a minute to BRAG about Ms. Priss!!
She and her partner won Honorable Mention in the Fourth Grade Social Studies Fair!!

They did it on the History of the Teddy Bear, which is named after President Theodore Roosevelt...which I didn't know...until we started this project.

Her partner was my friend Kathy's daughter...those two are BFFs so of course they would partner up! :)  I am so proud of the work they did...and Kathy and I did a little too ;)

Kathy even found a copy of a 1908 Sears and Roebuck catalog with an advertisement for Teddy's Bears!!  It is in the previous picture with the red box around it.

Ms. Priss and I put together the example fabrics and stuffings wall.  I didn't have any "real" looking fur fabric, so I ended up knitting some squares of wool, angora, and something synthetic and fuzzy that LOOKED like real fur!!

Ok..it is after midnight and I am OFFICIALLY 40, so I must bring my old and tired self to bed!! HA!  Have a great weekend!  Until later...

Christmas Gifts, and an EVENTFUL 2012!

How was everyone's Christmas and New Year's?  I hope Santa was good to you all! :)  We had a wonderful Christmas!  My children were all HAPPY with what they received!  And of course, that made ME happy!  While I was working on the school's ART Symposium, our girls really started getting into art themselves, so they were excited when Santa brought them LOADS of art supplies, easels, and even a fancy drafting desk with a cool ratcheting effect that makes the desktop raise up into an easel!

Our New Year's, on the other hand....well it was EVENTFUL!!  While I was at my folks with our little ones, my Awesome Man and our two BIG boys decided to go to a nearby Daiquiri place to shoot some pool...they should have just stayed HOME!!  While walking back to the house, our oldest was "clipped" by a car...YIKES!!  Well, his arm was fractured beyond a simple cast, so he had surgery yesterday to put a plate and TEN pins in his arm!!  He is recovering now, and will be back in the family fold soon...which means my house has been FULL and turned UPSIDE down!!  I am thankful that it wasn't much worse than that...but will be soooo happy when we get back to our normal UNeventful routine!! :)  Let's HOPE that is not a preview of how the rest of 2012 will be!!

So back to Christmas...I was able to finish all of the gifts for our extended family!  Of course, there are ALWAYS I.O.U.s, but for the most part everyone was happy with the gifts I made them.

For my three nephews, I followed this tutorial from Noodlehead!  It was so easy, and came out GREAT!

I used some scraps from my discarded Jeans stash!

And of course, it had to be LSU inspired!!  GEAUX Tigers!!

I didn't use any type of interfacing, so they are not bulky or stiff!  Just as a little extra, they also got an iTunes gift card to start the year off right! :)


For my baby sister, a nice little wristlet to hold her GC!  I've been wanting to make one, and would LOVE to have one for myself for the times I am just "running in" places and just need my keys and cell phone!  I found this really great tutorial...and it sewed up really quick, so I will be making myself one soon! :)

I lined it with  simple navy Kona cotton.

And just for fun...I used some of those Crown Royal bags she gave me a couple of years ago when I made her lap quilt.

The other one is for my cousin, but I found out that he was in the hospital with pancreatitis(sp?)  and decided it best NOT to encourage bad habits!! ;)

For my sweet niece, an art apron!

I've been wanting to try the iron-on vinyl FOREVER!!  It works really well!!   For the pocket, I ironed on the vinyl then folded it so the outside AND inside would be protected.  The backing is just a simple flannel for softness.

Now I owe ALL three of my children one!!

My cousin requested a simple A line with ribbon ties for her daughter to wear as a cover up over her gymnastic suit.

Of course, I couldn't just leave it simple! :)  I made it reversible, so she could use it TWICE as much!!

I even sewed two ribbons back-to-back to complete the look!!

For one of my other cousin's grand kids, I went with something old and tried something new!!  For the NEW, a ruffled drawstring bag!

I used the simple cotton bags that I embellished for our Disney trip as a template.  I decided to shorten the straps though because they were just a little too long when the kids wore them.

For the bag I used a cotton flannel and the ruffles were some cotton scraps.  For the boy cousin, my old standby...a cape!!

Well, that's it!!  Now that Christmas gift sewing is over I can finish up some orders, and start sewing for upcoming events!!  I kinda started already...for two of my nieces I did some quick bows!!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!  Mardi Gras is February 21st!!  We missed last year because we were at Disney World...NOT that I'm complaining!! :)  So this year I am super excited for the FUN to begin!!

And speaking of FUN!!  How much fun was the SMS Giveaway day this year??!!!  I LOVED how organized it was!  They did such an AWESOME job!  And I WON something!!

Isn't it soooo cute??   Check out Jenn's blog, Make Mine Blue.  She has a much better picture than mine!!  Thanks Jenn, I LOVE it!!

Well, that's the wrap up!  Now I have to take down all of my Christmas stuff, and get to work on those orders...and a couple of birthday gifts!!  Have a great weekend!!  Until later...