LSU Crib Set Order

Well, I think I am happy with how the ol' blog is looking...so it is no longer under construction. :D

So here is the order I got from someone who lives in Baton Rouge!! She and her husband drove all the way here to Lafayette to pick it up...so sweet!! They saved me from the Post Office...YAY!!!



This was my first attempt at a crib bumper, and it was somewhat challenging! But in the end, I was pretty happy with it...and so was the expecting Momma! I used foam padding instead of batting to make sure it was good and firm. I used the tutorial, so generously offered at Craft Hours, but obviously not patchwork...it was work enough with just a solid piece of fabric, whew!! And thankfully, this is what my customer preferred. Anyway, I was able to get through it and think the next time will be easier. Isn't that always the way?


The quilt is just 6" squares sewn up with my signature wonkiness *ahem*, with some machine embroidery sprinkled around on the solid pieces. The paw print squares are fleece, and the backing is a solid flannel. It ended up measuring approximately 40" x 60", which is the perfect fit for when the crib gets converted to the toddler-sized daybed.


And there you have it, enough cuteness to turn any baby into an instant FAN!!! Geaux Tigers!!

I am very humbled when someone happens upon my blog and likes what they see enough to place an order with me! Thank you so much Dawn for being patient with my 50 questions and also for the time line you gave me to complete it! :) As most of my sewing friends know, starting and completing projects with small children is a task within itself. Add in the fabric and materials collecting and the process and labor itself...whew, miracles are happening!! ;) It makes me really appreciate the patience I receive from customers AND my family!

Anyway...if someone else is "happening" on my blog someday and is interested in placing an order, this crib set with LSU team fabric and specialized monogramming is priced at $200. It comes with bumper, skirt, and an approximate 40" x 60" quilt. Fabrics will vary with availability, but we can talk about that later....hence the previously quoted "patient with my 50 questions"!! :D

Hope you all have a safe and fun-filled Labor Day weekend, I am off to the beach!! Until later...

Girl's Ruffled Aprons and More Gifts

So after a super long absence....I'm BACK!! I do have a good excuse for being gone for so long....BUSY LIFE!! I'm not sure how the rest of you do it, but I just can't seem to keep up with my blogging while running after three children, cleaning house, doing laundry, grocery-getting, dog training, dinner making, SEWING, etc... you get the picture, right? I am just in awe of those super bloggers who manage to do it all, AND make their blog look neat and orderly!! Anyway, I have been sewing and managing to keep my sewing room neat. :D

I had a couple more birthday gifts to make before school started, so I wracked my brains...then went blog hopping. I found a couple of ideas and got to work. First up, ruffled aprons!

Aren't these the cutest things EVER??!! I spied one over on Wildflowers & Whimsy and followed the link to an Etsy shop for the pattern. I really didn't have much time to buy the pattern, so I set out to figure it out on my own...graph paper and all!! I think they came out ok, but a little tricky...so I might end up getting the pattern anyway!



I also did this one for my niece, which was the first one I made. The colors matched her birthday party theme.

I did fabric straps for this one, but for the strawberry and cherry one...I used grosgrain ribbon. Of course they were loved by all... I foresee doing alot of these for family and friends!

Next up was a gift for my nephew whose birthday was in April....I know, I am terrible!!



I think he wanted more of a sleeve, but I thought the handles would come in...handy! :D I used matching fleece for the inside padding, thought I had a picture of that...oops!

Then a tutorial I've been wanting to try all summer, the Lunch Money Cuff from A Lemon Squeezy Home.


This was for a friend of Ms. Priss! It fit her perfectly, thankfully...next time I'll make it bigger! Overall...awesome tutorial and a pretty easy sew. Her folks were surprising her with a last minute trip to Disney World, so I threw this in too.


Well, that is all for now!! Next up will be all of the back-to-school monogramming, and projects!!! I also finished the order for an LSU crib set...YAY!!! I'll be getting it to the expecting mother today. Now that THAT is done, I can start on all of the things I've been wanting to do!! Oh, and I already got an order for another ruffled apron :) Until later...

Sewing Room Make Over!!

Hello everyone!! Hope your Summer is going well...when does school start again??! ;) I am just popping in to let you know that I haven't been too lazy lately. My good...make that AWESOME friend, Kathy "moved in" last week and wouldn't leave until my sewing room looked like THIS!!!

Our 23 yo moved out and left this HUGE corner desk!! It fits all of my machines beautifully! The hutch is not the one that came with the desk, but it fit better!!

Some of my fabric neatly rolled and stored....YAY!!

AND....I have a cutting table!!! I knew it was in this room, someWHERE!! HA! Oh, if you look against the far wall you can see the original hutch! It is that BIG, that is why I couldn't put it on the desk! :) But it fit perfectly in that spot and holds all kinds of little trims and things!!

Well, that's all...just wanted to show off my "new" sewing space!! I got an order for an LSU crib set from a first time Momma in Baton Rouge!! So I am busy, busy!! Until later...

Beginning of Summer = Lazy Days

After the crazy comes the calm!! Just popping in to let you know that we have started our Summer off with some eXtremely lazy days!! :D The girls and I joined our Library's Summer Reading Program...so that is what we've been doing. Lounging around and reading books in our jammies.....BLISS!!

Ms. Priss had a Girl Scout camp last week so I made a few things for her...but in my state of laziness, only took a picture of her cape.

The theme for her week at Camp was "Super Heroes". She picked out the colors and fabric, then I just cut a shield and letter "I" free hand. Quick, easy...done! I also made her a new "sit upon" which is basically a pillow with a handle...sorry, no picture. While she was at camp, The Middle Child was at my folks, so it was just me and The Boy lounging around reading and watching movies. This week they are all back home and it is a little more hectic and loud, but we have a Zoo trip planned, then back to the Library to get more books!! I also have some birthday and Father's day things that need to be made, so I guess I will saunter into my sewing room at some point....see, LAZY!!

But, I was feeling a little guilty at the end of the school year, having made something for all of the teachers and leaving out our poor forgotten bus driver, so I whipped this up the last day of school so Ms. Priss could run back on the bus and give it to him.

Just a wonky little free hand cut bus banner for him to hang by his seat.

So...back to my lazy lounging reading fest....hope ya'll are having a "SUPER" summer! :D

Until later...

Spring Events have taken OVER!!!

Today is the last day of school for Ms. Priss....YAY?? Although I love the lazy Summer days of not having to do much and NO SCHEDULE, being cooped up with THREE kiddos all day/every day can sometimes be trying!!! But with the way I have been running this past MONTH, days of doing nothing will be a welcomed change!! :D And I just want to say "Thanks" in advance to my awesome folks, who will be taking my children from time to time this Summer...it HELPS!!

So what Spring Events have taken over? Well, I have officially "retired" from Girl Scout Troop 043!! We will have new Leaders taking on all of the responsibilities...and I CAN'T wait!! We had our last meeting/ Pizza Party at my house last Friday! 22 girls and some Mommas = a whole lotta chaos and FUN!! I had about 9 of the 3rd graders sleep over as a last hurrah...ummm...fun? Let's just say it was alot like Survivor...alliances were made, then came the betrayal!! If 8 and 9 yo girls are like this...HOW will I handle the teen aged years?? GAH!! But we ended up all friends, and everyone went home happy!!

Sunday was our Awards/Bridging Ceremony, and I was the MC so I had to write a little speech...then actually speak!! Everyone said I did ok...but I know how nervous I was...slip ups and fumbles were involved!! I was also in charge of decorations, that was the fun part. Thank goodness for Dana over at MADE!! She just knows how to put everything together...then shows you how to do it!! :) Ruffled streamers anyone...?

My girls had a fun time ruffling the crepe paper!! It was good practice for learning to stitch a straight line...and because it was 69 cent crepe paper, I didn't stress too much if they messed up!! ;) Basically we just overlapped two colors of rolled crepe paper, put the settings on the longest stitch, turned the tension way up to the tightest setting, ran a straight stitch....and viola!!

The Bridging Ceremony is when a Girl Scout officially moves from one age level to another. All Bridging Patches are some sort of Rainbow, so that is what I went with to decorate our Bridge.

Our Girl Scout office misplaced its Bridge, and couldn't find it in time, so we had to use the Boy Scouts' Bridge. It was nice, but no hand rails for me to hang the Rainbow on...so I had to get creative....kinda cute, huh? Thankfully, it didn't fall down during the ceremony! :D

With the left over crepe paper, I ruffled one color and made flowers.


You know me and my banners! After ruffling the crepe paper, I shaped it into a flower, then glued it to a paper bag. I cut out circles using fancy-edged scissors, then stitched it on some jute twine. Simple, but pretty!

Another simple, pretty, and best of all...CHEAP decoration was giant tissue paper flowers!

These were hung on the backdrop behind the stage, along with the banner!

So as I said...I am officially retired from Assistant Troop Leader, and so is our actual Troop Leader! She has been our Leader since we began 3 years ago as a Daisy Troop, so I wanted to do something extra nice for her.

Of course we all teared up when I gave it too her...although it is not Good-Bye, because her daughter is still in the Troop! :) I put a pretty ribbon on it, just in case she wanted to hang it.

The badges, patches, and pins are all mixed, representing the Daisy and Brownie Troop she led! And with The Middle Child starting Kindergarten in the Fall, I have a feeling that I may have to step up and lead her Daisy Troop, if no other mom does...so don't feel sad for me!! HA!

Ok...since it is Ms. Priss' last day of school, I FINALLY decided on what to make for her Teacher.

It is the Everything Tote from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing!!! This is the first time I've made this...LOVE IT!!! I will be making one for me...hopefully soon!! Here's the inside...

Very easy to put together. It takes a 1/2 yard of two different fabrics, depending on what you line it with...but WOW!! It is HUGE and carries nicely. I know, I am behind on the Weekend Sewing projects...I've had the book for over a year!! Better late than never, right!!??

So now that GS and the school year is done...I'm free!! Yeah, right. I OWE!! I've missed a couple of birthdays, so I have a few projects that are screaming at me!! First and foremost, I have to CLEAN my sewing room...again!! I don't even want to be in there!! I pulled out one of my sewing machines and sewed on the craft table in the recently redone front room, because it is NICER in there! So neat, and clutter free!! So, that is what I will be doing until you hear from me again...cleaning!! UGH!! Until later...

All About The Mickey

Well, we've been back from our Disney World vacation for about two weeks now, so I guess you've waited long enough to see what has been keeping me so silent here on my blog! Sorry it has taken me this long to update, but since we've been back I've had to clean, do LOTS of laundry, sell Girl Scout cookies then settle up our accounts and deposit LOADS of money...unfortunately NOT into my bank, HA! and take care of not one BUT two sick kiddos with upper respiratory infections...YUCK!! Everyone is on the mend, I am back to my regular laundry routine, and the final Girl Scout cookies have been sold and settled...so get ready for an EXTREMELY photo heavy post!!! :)

Animal Kingdom:


Everyone got a tiger Mickey including my Momma and two nephews! The lone cheetah Mickey belongs to....GUESS!!!


Ms. Priss was the cheetah in our group, but she had a sweet cousin helping her flaunt the cheetah, girl!! :) All of these were cut on my Cricut Expression then sewn on with my sewing machine! The Middle Child was the only "Minnie" with her purple bow and I was able to get another use out of the tiger/LSU ruffled pants I made last fall!! YAY!!

Speaking of LSU...



I promised my brother a shirt, and Ms. Priss liked it so much she had to have one too!

Couldn't leave out the Saints...


This was a machine applique I designed with my embroidery software by merging about three different designs!! LOVE IT!! I am telling you that there were soooooo many Louisiana families at Disney World. We felt right at home in our LSU and Saints apparel!! This shirt was done for my 9 yo nephew, he was so excited....well as excited as a 9 yo boy can get and still look cool!! ;)


The Middle Child had an outfit for ALL EIGHT DAYS of our trip!! WHEW! But thankfully I was able to use ruffled pants that were already made, and I found a couple of bargains in the clearance bins that just needed to be appliqued or embellished!


The yellow polka-dot pants were $2 at Walmart.


This T-shirt was a size too small which made it very short at her tummy. So I added the polka dot ruffle and viola!! I LOVE the multiple Mickeys!! The gingham ruffled pants were part of her Halloween costume, so they were already done!! Oh, did I mention that I will be adding "action" shots? I ran out of time trying to finish outfits and didn't take pictures before I packed them...so there will be LOTS of action shots to display some of the sewing I did!


Ms. Priss is soooo hard to make pants/shorts for. She has such an odd body type that it gave me FITS trying to get the pants to fit her backside withOUT having too much "crotch" hanging down in the front. Any and ALL suggestions are WELCOME!!! I ended up doing lots of creative cutting and folding/sewing around the waist where the casing for the elastic was!!

The Boy's shirt is just the left over fabric from a Mickey cut out!! I used my machine to sew around the outside square, but the Mickey silhouette was too hard so I ended up using some chunky red embroidery thread and did a running stitch. It is hard to see in this picture, but I really liked the effect!

Oh, and I must tell you that the Autograph Books I made all of the kids were a HIT!! They got loads of compliments from all of the characters that talked, and a couple of thumbs up from the ones that didn't!! And I am happy to report that they all used their backpacks during the whole trip!! YAY!

We had dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table where The Middle Child wore her Cinderella dress that her Grammy and Poppie gave her for Christmas. So I coordinated every one's outfit around her Princess dress. This is for Ms. Priss.

This is a machine embroidery applique. I used clear vinyl to give it the "glass" effect for the slipper, and it's hard to see but it says, "if the shoe fits..." HA!

For The Boy...

The pants I made last Spring, so the shirt was all that was needed. Even Mom and Dad got in on it!

My husband had a TON of shirts from the last company he worked for that were just sitting in a bag in our closet. I used a lot of creative Mickey's to cover the company logo!!

Epcot:

The tie-dyed shirt was $1 at Walmart!!

The Earth Mickey is a combination of machine appliqued circles for the ears, and a Filled stitch machine embroidery design. I did one for my husband too...sorry no photo!

Here are two outfits of The Middle Child's that were $2 a piece from Walmart last Fall.

The tees were screen-printed with a peace and apple design that I covered with Minnie's. You can see the screen print through the green Minnie a little bit.

But it was still a cute outfit!!

Happy (belated) Mardi Gras!!!

For the boys...two of these were for my nephews, the other was for The Boy.

I am sorry to say that I didn't get a good "action" picture of my girls' Mickey's. I could probably do one now, but I haven't had the time!! Maybe it will pop up in my slide show! HA! The yellow fabric in Ms. Priss' pants is denim!! I LOVE it! I found it in the clearance bin at Joann's for $2!! I had enough to do these capri's, and the ruffled shorts that went with the tie-dyed peace Mickey!! SCORE!!

Me and The Husband!! Another "creative" way to cover that old company logo!! My shirt is a tissue tee aka REALLY THIN SHIRT!! So I had to use a BIG Fleur de Lis and a couple of Mickey's to keep myself "covered"!! ;) I really liked the effect!

And last but not least...we couldn't leave the Dinosaur shirt at home...

This was originally a Santa Hat Dino that I cut the Santa Hat off and added a New Year's Eve Party hat then cut that off to give the little fella some Mickey ears!! What will he wear next?? Stay tuned...

WHEW!! that was a very long post with TOO MANY pictures!! Thank you for your time! :) So when all was cut and sewn I ended up doing 38 shirts, and 11 pairs of ruffled pants...and because I am such a procrastinator it was all done in a 2 week time period!! I've got to start earlier next time!!! :) Enjoy your day...Spring is here and we are having GORGEOUS weather! Next up, sewing for Easter!! Until later...

This Doll has EVERYTHING!!

Ok...not YET!! :) I've been busy trying to save money by NOT buying American Girl outfits! So far, it seems to be working since Ms. Priss gets excited every time I make something new for Jasmine...yep, that is her AG Doll's name! Here are a few things keeping me busy...

This was the first thing I made. It is just an easy coat and beret made from a few scraps of fleece. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sew such small seams, so I didn't want anything too complicated. Can't get any easier than fleece. Having no hems or edges to finish makes it less scary and it went super quick!! The pattern was from some free American Girl patterns I found and downloaded. The coat is Molly's raincoat.

Ms. Priss was so excited to have something new! Some of her BFFs wanted to get in on the "momma-made" trend!

Some super quick jersey nighties.

These nighties were made with one of the slip patterns. Cut up tee shirt for some "free" fabric, and add appliques from even more scrap pieces...instant goodness!

Some undies. Now, the pattern told me to do a stretch zigzag stitch along all of the edges...not liking that at all. Is it really needed for stretch jersey? I used a 75/11 stretch needle, but it still seemed to "eat" my fabric...what happened?? PLEASE make some suggestions oh wiser friends of mine!! :)

This one is Ms. Priss' favorite!

She is currently going through a cheetah faze! I used a McCall's pattern for this outfit. I got them while they were 99 cents at JoAnn's. Now if I can just replicate that charm!! HA!! I am currently working on a pair of corduroy boots, I am hand-stitching them because WOW do they have some itty bitty pieces!! And, oh...I did a matching cheetah bag too, but it didn't make it into the picture for some reason!

Yesterday, while Ms. Priss was "busy" on her Nintendo DS, the Middle Child and I made Jasmine a wardrobe to hold all of her new clothes.

This was made from a diaper box, contact paper, scrapbook paper, and a chopstick!! The Awesome Man said he would make a "real" one out of wood soon!! YAY!! My woodworker is back in business now that Football Season is OVER!! Ok, not yet but when the Saints lost...so did his interest in the NFL. YAY!! I mean, not for the Saint losing :( but for having my DIY hubby back!! Anyway, it was pretty simple, just cutting and sticking. We made some "hangers" using chenille stems, that idea could be re-worked since the clothes are a little bigger than one stem so maybe I'll try one and a half!

Well, lots of other things going on...just don't want to overload you on photos! I'll try and post more sooner! The MAIN reason I have been soooo busy is THIS guy:

Meet Houston. This was my Husband's Christmas present. Since this picture was taken, he has probably doubled in size!! Could be all of the SHOES he is eating!! UGH!! I have to be very adamant about PICKING THINGS UP!! And with three children, FIVE if you are counting the two GROWN boys...which I do since I am PICKING up after them too (?!), I have to make sure EVERYTHING is off of the floor or it is fair CHEWING game for this one!! I have my kennel cleaned and READY!! Many of my friends have suggested crate training, which I am WELL aware of because that is what we used for Floyd, but because of Abby (the world's BEST dog) we have gotten spoiled to the ways of a WELL trained dog. But, now that not one, but TWO of my Crocs have been eaten...I am ready!! :) Wish me luck and until later...