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As you can imagine, i’ve fallen pretty far behind on my Etsy orders after enduring that evil virus. Now, I’m all better and have been hard at work today (in between painting with two toddlers) to catch up on those orders.
Fortunately for Ellie, I can’t really work on Etsy orders while the kids are running around – it’s just too risky to have other people’s fabric too close to my darlings’ little fingers. SOOOO, I took an hour to make Ellie some of those pillows I’ve been planning on making. I’m super impressed with myself because usually these “plans” take about 3 years to come to fruition.
You will have to wait until tomorrow for proof…I’m just still too lazy to find that camera. I lie to you not, though. Today = 4 new pillows!
Whew, what a bout with something fierce!!!! I am almost back to normal – how I’ve missed my daily makings – including the ones that bomb! I’ll be back this evening with something new, and I’m confident I can get back on track.
In the meantime, I saw the CUTEST quilt on Moda Bake Shop’s blog this morning, and I thought I’d pass it along. This blog features a free tutorial on how to do it. I have never made a quilt…but who knows, this might just be on worth diving into!
See you soon! Stay well, stay creative!!!
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That’s pretty much all I have to say tonight. If you’ve noticed there has been no DIY’ing on my part, it’s because I’ve been “otherwise occupied” with a totally horrible and disgusting virus. It’s over for me, not for Jonathan, but I’m too weak to do much else than watch the Olympics. I’m not even going to apologize….I feel like I’ve won a gold medal just for enduring the last two days!
I hope to be back tomorrow!
Good night.
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I am working on a project for a decorator friend of mine (she’s also a killer Real Estate agent!)…it’s 6 curtain panels of beautiful red dupioni silk. So gorgeous!!!
Before I cut into the fabric, I wanted to be sure i knew my gameplan. How better to do that than make some curtains for ME….or, actually, ELLIE! yes, I finally made it around to sewing up Ellie’s curtains for her bedroom. (the grand reveal forthcoming!)
It took me exactly 1 hour to make both panels. I used 2 plain sheets from Ikea ($2/each) for the lining. I cut the lining/sheets to be a couple inches narrower than my fabric and a few inches shorter. Then, I hemmed the bottoms of both the fabric and the lining. Joined them together on the sides, then turned right side out and ironed the sides. I serged the top and folded it over to form the casing. All done. So easy and I love the impact it makes in her room!
(by the way, I just remembered I owe y’all a giveaweay winner…stay tuned, I’ll draw that tonight!)
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My little baby girl Ellie Christine turned 3 years old today….Happy Birthday my little Lady Bug!
After celebrating over breakfast, I hurried upstairs to finish an Etsy order – a blue Team Spirit Dress for a lovely soon-to-be-mother-of-two.
Then I got busy cleaning my house to prepare for Ellie’s party tomorrow afternoon….and thus, appeared my latest DIY opportunity…something I must admit I had not “made” or, as some would say, “cleaned”….in THREE YEARS! Yes, that’s right, I have no shame, I have not cleaned my oven since we moved into the house in March 2007. We’ll be baking during Ellie’s party, so I figured NOW is the time. This isn’t my typical DIY project, but I think it is WAY exciting….and I’ll be happy to do it again in three years!!!
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I was actually finished with today’s DIY project before 9pm!!! But, of course, as my life goes, my internet was down until just now. Oh well!
So, I’ve been longing to have “things” in the kids’ rooms with their names on them…I just have this notion that nothing fits kids’ rooms more adequately than their names and photos smeared all over the place.
Tonight, I took one small step in making this a reality.
I took photo frames from Ikea ($5/each AND they come with the mat!) and added decorative scrapbook paper under the mat (4/$1 at Joanns). Then, I went to my newest addiction – Teacher Heaven – to purchase the cutouts. I was just about to buy a package of letters for $6.50, when the employee told me about DIE CUTS… OH MY GOODNESS!!! For about 2 cents per letter, you can make your own and it is sooooo cool. Pick out your construction paper color, cut it into 1/4ths, then cut the letters using their die cutter. (I have no idea how to spell die cutter, I hope this is right!)
So, finally, I came home and attached the letters with a piece or two of tape. I left Owen’s as-is so he doesn’t have a Mommy’s Boy Room but rather a Big Boy Room! For Ellie’s though, I took some scrapbooking flowers that already have adhesive on the back and attached them above the letters of her name. I had so many left over, that I also made her 2 bobbies.
Total Assembly Time: probably about 20 minutes – half hour.
Cost: Owen’s – $21.15, Ellie’s – $26.55….. more than my usual projects, but this is ART! And that’s a pretty good price for art. I’ll post pictures of these hanging on their walls once they wake up!!!
Today’s DIY project came about completely by accident. LITERALLY! At 10:00pm, I began working frantically to create a new dress for February’s birthstone – Amethyst. I am trying to create a new dress each month for my Etsy shop – using that month’s birthstone as the poster color. Well, I’ve been thinking all day about what I was going to do…simple neckline, slight a-line, fun, flirty ruffley thing on the bottom. Well….let’s just say things didn’t go as planned. And certainly, the dress looked WAY better in my head than in real life. I suppose that little “frantically” part might have played some role.
As I began sewing and serging, I just kept making error after error after error, until finally, there wasn’t even a hint of what the original neckline looked like. AAARGH. By then, it was 10:45pm – what’s a girl to do???
Make Pajamas!
So, I decided to turn the entire piece into a strategically haphazard night gown! I serged the edges of the neckline and armholes, and then I decreased the size of the ruffle at the bottom as I randomly placed the gathers around the bottom edge. Now, I completely admit that this is NEVER something I would sell or even discuss beyond tonight…but it has kept me on track with my DIY 365 challenge. I never said I was going to make something “fabulous” every day, I just said I was going to make something! Feel free to heckle….the best heckling comment by Saturday night, will win a set of napkins! Go ahead, I can take it!!!
Sunday morning I received a very fun email from Erin Tyrell (gosh, she’s the meaning in my life, she’s the inspiration)…she gave me a link to a blog that was explaining how to create a ruffled headband. Me, being the queen of ruffles, had, of course already made one of those HOWEVER I loved the reminder! Seeing as I have on hand about 32 headbands, and seeing as I have on hand a Mount Everest of scrap fabric…I went to work.
Today I created two new ruffled headbands. The orange one is made of Marimekko fabric purchased from Crate & Barrel Outlet. The green and blue one is made from Amy Butler’s Nicey Jane line – and I could have a WHOLE HOUSE decorated in this line, it’s fabulous!!!
Take a line of fabric, sew a tube wrongside out. Flip it to rightside out, close edges. Create a ruffle and hotglue right onto the headband. (For the green one, I added a covered button before I hotglued it onto the headband)
My camera needs recharging, so I’m stuck with just my iphone tonight…sorry for the lame pictures!
Time: about 10 minutes each
Cost: FREE * (since I used scraps and on-hand materials. If you made this “out of the blue”, it would probably cost about $1!)
Goodnight sleepy heads and headbands!
I have been thinking alot about how much I am influenced by the people around me … specifically, how my friends and family have such a wonderful impact on not only WHO I AM, but also WHAT I MAKE!
First and foremost, my inspiration for sewing is my beautiful Memaw (now 93 years old!). She has been sewing since she could hold a needle, and she has taught me that a sewing machine holds tremendous power for a woman, a wife, and certainly a mother. Thank you Memaw, I love you!
For today’s DIY ditty, I was inspired by several friends: 1. The beautiful new mommy Erin Tyrell. She has a self-proclaimed addiction to fabric napkins and china. 2. The gorgeous adoptive-mommy-to-be Jenny Rose Ford who taught me the joy of setting a table with fabric napkins. A mindset she learned from her dear mother. and 3. Lacey Prewitt – the darling mother of 2 who delivered a pound cake to my house this weekend….wouldn’t it have been fun to have had THESE on hand….
Oh Gosh by Gosh By Golly, the details on these are SO exciting…SO FAST and SO CHEAP!
I bought 2 “fat quarters” from Joann’s when they were on sale for $1/each. ( A fat quarter is a 1/4 yard of fabric, but it’s cut “fat” so that you get more usable space from the cut) I cute each fat quarter into 4 equal parts, leaving 8 squares total. Then, using a rolled edge, I serged each side. Done. 8 Napkins. Are you kidding me??? Awesome!
Time: 10 minutes
Cost: $2….are you reading this???? $2 for EIGHT NAPKINS!?!? I want a million of these! I think these are so fun to take as hostess gifts, wedding gifts, and just plain “i like you” gifts!
Now, these I left pretty plain because I had too many Etsy dresses to make today, but I have a suspicion another set will pop up soon…but next time, they’ll be embellished! I’m salivating. Someone get me a napkin….oh, wait…
This is MeMaw making Covered Button Bracelets with me and mom this Christmas! Sew Fun!
Well, it seems only fitting for this week that my post just barely makes it in before the clock strikes twelve!
I am in Dallas tonight to spend time with my MeMaw and my dad. I was in such a rush to get on the road this morning, that I forgot to bring along my DIY project – how embarrassing!
So, I snuck out to the neighborhood Walmart – which was even packed during torrential rain, WEIRD! – and grabbed these little totes for the kids. Then I just ironed-on their names with premade letters. I don’t expect to get a book deal from this project, but I like them WAY more than I thought I would!
Time: about 5 minutes total… If you don’t count the time it took my stepmomto find her iron…. Don’t judge-she doesn’t sew!
Cost: $5.60 each
