So, if you haven’t figured it out already, I thought I send along a photo hint of a “little something” I’ve been up to!

Baby #3 - 3mm long!

Yep, that’s right.

Baby #3.  I truly never thought I’d ever have to type those characters in that sequence in reference to ME!   But, after the initial shock and freak out, I’m settling in to this newfound blessing.

We are very very early in this pregnancy – 6 weeks today.  Most women wouldn’t even dare to post something like this right now.  BUT – my husband outed us on his blog last week, so there was no stopping the storm.  Plus – I think it’s a blessing all the way around, no matter what course our lives take, to be surrounded by people loving us, praying for us, and supporting us.  I feel confident (and sick enough) that the baby is growing well, but there’s only One Person who knows for sure.  For now, I just wait, pray and love……and vommit.

Well, the other day I was struck by how many scraps kept falling onto the floor everytime I’d open my fabric amoire – it was getting very annoying.  So, after much debate, I decided that only “natural” thing to do was to make a Strip  Quilt.

I’ve never done this before, but it really takes nothing more than lots and lots of scraps and common sense.  So far, I’ve only finished the top of the quilt – I will for sure have to do some research this weekend about what to do now…but I’m hopeful that the hardest and most time consuming part is over!

Here’s the finished product:

I made NO attempt to use a color scheme or make a design, I just wanted to use all my scraps and turn them into something tangible. If you like for things to be matchy, this will frustrate you. My apologies.

And now for the TUTORIAL:

Start with a BIG pile of MISC scraps!

Cut your strips. I chose to make my strips 4" wide because most of my scraps were pretty wide strips. If you have narrower scraps, then make narrower width strips. simple as that. For the length, I simply cut the fabric as long as the scrap - making sure to square off the ends. In this photo, as you can see the pink fabric on top will be longer than the fabric on bottom yet they will both be 4" wide.

Then just keep cutting strips for as long as you have scraps remaining. It's helpful to have little helpers around to fold your strips, otherwise, they'll just end up in a crazy pile!

Helper #1

Helper #2

Once all your scraps are cut into strips, begin sewing them to each other, making one long (okay, VERY long!) strip. I sewed every strip together in one long strip. Also, I used a very narrow seam allowance, as you can see in the photo.

During this step, I chose my strips at random - I just kept them all behind my sewing machine and would just grab one after the other. I don't think I ever even looked back there, just kept grabbing and sewing. (The only exception would be if I ever chose the same fabric twice - I did choose to make that a No-Go!) Even those of us rebels have to have SOME SORT OF STRUCTURE! geez.

The beginning of the long strip.

Next, in order to know how big your quilt can be, you need to measure the full length of your Long Strip. Mine was 30 Yards long (and of course, 4" wide)

I decided that I would make my quilt 2 Yards long....so the next step is to cut your Long Strip into 2 Yard Strips. Since I had 30 yards of fabric, I ended up with 15 strips - again, each was 2 yards long.

Okay - Now it's getting FUN!!! Now, you begin sewing each of your short strips together lengthwise. Shown her are my first 3 strips, but at the end, I had 15 strips sewn together! So awesome!

****Do NOT Ignore This Step**** Once all your strips are sewn together (and this is soooo stinking cool, I must admit! I think there must be some sort of "I just made a quilt Hormone" that gets produced when the last strip is sewn!) Then...YOU MUST PRESS ALL THE SEAMS!!

The top row of my quilt was nice and straight because that's where I began every seam. The bottom, however, was pretty jumbled, so I simply took my scissors and leveled it off. I suppose you could measure this to make it all exact and stuff, but that seems silly to me - Just cut the thing!

It really is as easy as that. Here is what I ended up with....I love it!!!! I personally LOVE how nothing is really in same color family or anything related, but it somehow works. Delicious if you ask me!

I hope you’ll try one….truly truly I say to you – If I can do it, YOU can do it!  AND, If I, of all people, enjoyed it, then you will too!  (gosh, sorry for all those commas!)

I thought I’d share two of those dresses with you….

1. Yes, another Strapless Dress!!!

This is a OOAK, made from Joel Dewberry designer cotton fabric - the most beautiful shade of blue and red...if you've been inside my home, you've seen these two colors ALOT!

Look closely - you'll see that I added a row of the red to the inside of the bodice ruffle...it looks really fun when worn! Especially if you get to slow dance with a tall drink of water!

wow, these pictures are showing up HUGE!!!  =)

2. two new My Ruffle Can Beat Up Your Ruffle Dresses…

I really do love this dress, but for some reason, I don’t sell it too often.  That was, until this summer!  Maybe ruffles are in the air, because this dress has been selling and I’m so happy about that!  The two dresses below are for the SAME lovely lady!  She first purchased the dress in black, then when she received it, she liked it so much she ordered it in another color.  Wow, I think I could take that compliment all day long!!!!

Photo courtesy of Daniele, whose dear husband cut her gorgeous head out of the picture! he still gets kudos for taking the photo!

and in GREEN…

I just mailed this out to her today...hated to see it leave my sewing room! I have decided that Ellie needs one of these too!

I have been a little stretched lately, but somehow in between feeding my children, endlessly cleaning my house, and fulfilling Etsy orders, I’ve managed to also do some daydreaming AND some creating for FALL!  Yikes, good heaven’s to Betsy, can you even believe it’s almost FALL???

Here on the surface of the Sun (Austin, TX), we have a heat index of 110.  It seems a little ridiculous to be creating long-sleeved, dark colored, heavy-weight fabric dresses….but such is the call of a dressmaker, I suppose.  If not, then it was just simply a whim completely without reason.  I can live with that, too.

Either way – I’m waiting to find time to take “real” photos of this one so all I’ve got is a teaser.  OOOOOHHH, scandalous!

You’ll notice it’s a nice deep heather gray – and I’ve added just the most fun embellishment out there – YOYO’S!  And to top it off, the yoyos are made from the most beautiful and luxurious fabric ever – straight from the streets of PARIS!!!  (That’s why I used it for the yoyos – I couldn’t bear to cut into it and lose it forever.  This way it will slowly but slowly just disappear.  I like that.  I don’t like quick goodbyes)

So here it is….sorry for the lame-O photograph.  If you saw my iphone, you’d understand!

It's a Long-sleeved dress that's accented with these little fabric Yo Yos - and the bodice and sleeves are finished with bias tape from the same fun fabric!

First, I simply MUST brag on a group of gals who just so happened to have comprised my latest sewing class (which by the way, a new one starts tomorrow and I have 2 openings!)  Five fabulous, beautiful and very ARTISTIC women …we never say “crafty” do we ladies???….finished the course, and they all walked away either with or in a pair of pajama bottoms.  Way to go ladies!!!  Trust me, it only gets easier!!

Poor dear Aubrey got cut out of the group picture by the Polarize app, so she gets her own little spotlight.  I hope this isn’t your 15 minutes of fame Aubrey, I really do!!!

We always learn everything there is to know to get you sewing on your own and reading patterns, and these ladies were fabulous.  I hope to see you all again in one of my advanced classes!

And now…..

for the drawing….

The WINNER …of her choice of either a fabric covered necklace OR a magnetic covered button bracelets IS……

Congratulations JULIE!!!!

Be sure to tell me which you would like – and give me an idea for a color scheme!!!!

more coming soon!!!

When they told me that I needed to have a photo shoot with them  (oh gosh, really?  really?  REALLY????  awesome!!!), I calmly accepted.  When I hung up the phone it hit me – WHAT WILL I WEAR?????

I’ve been wanting to include dresses with SLEEVES for a long time, I just haven’t taken the time to create the dresses.  Since it’s the September issue, I decided that now is the time – Fall Fashion typically includes sleeves.  Okay, maybe not in Texas, but in most places in the universe!

I only had about 4 hours, so I was able to come up with 2.  The first one I really really lOVE and the second one I really like.  I made it a little big for me, so it’s hard to tell how it will look.  Maybe one of you needs to purchase it and send me a photo!

Anyway, the two dresses you see here will be popping up soon in various version on my shop.  I truly truly appreciate your TRUE feedback – as in – It’s TOTALLY OKAY to suggest changes, improvements, etc!!!

Also, I wanted to note here that I have felt so much love and encouragement and enthusiasm from so many of you this week as I prepared for my interview and photo shoot.  THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!  It’s hard, often, for women to celebrate other women’s joys, but I have felt nothing but celebration and elation from y’all – I feel truly blessed!  Free Tribeza Magazines for Everyone!!!!  (okay, there always free, but I’ll keep one reserved for y’all!)

This is a navy, gray & charcoal wool blend with navy/white striped accents.

I will wear this with navy tights and gray booties!

This one is just above the knee, but I think shorter would be super cute.

There are ruffles in THREE places on this dress - yay!

And now for #2:

I offered this style in a camel & ivory version very early in my shop, so this is sort of a reappearance!

navy, red, yellow plaid suiting fabric with an ivory background, gray pleats down the front.

I just LOVE nicely matched plaids!

So that’s it for now….I’m busy busy busy making things around the house, so do stay tuned for another tutorial!

You know what – I feel like a giveaway…..leave me a comment, on Sunday I’ll randomly choose a winner.  The winner will receive your choice: a covered button bracelet OR a fabric covered necklace!

anyway, here are the two new dresses I’ve just added to my shop – feel free to snatch them right up!!!

Tomorrow – I’ve got 2 new styles I’ll show you that sort of represent a Fall Preview….they both have SLEEVES!!!

Swirly Girl - Size M - $68

Urban Safari - Size M - $74

also tomorrow, pictures from my latest sewing class – they were FABULOUS!!!

The other day, while browsing the aisles of a hobby store, I happened to notice a NEW KIND of BRACELET perfect for gluing covered buttons onto.  Thus, today’s new Tutorial!

I don't LOVE the fabric I chose, but you get the point!

You’ll need:

bracelet – $3.99 regular price but, of course, i only buy when they’re 50% off!

2 buttons to cover

tiniest bit of scrap fabric

hot glue and glue gun

you can find the bracelet in "findings" section of a hobby store's jewelry department.

To begin covering your buttons, cut out a square of fabric much bigger than the button. Then squish the button and the fabric into the covered button tool...

Then cut away much of the fabric and tuck the edges into the tool...

before inserting the back of the button, be sure to remove the brads so that you'll have a flat surface to glue...

Then, using the 2nd tool, push the back of the button down into the top. You'll feel a little "gush" and will know that the button has been covered. oh yeah!

remove the button from the tool, hot glue each button onto your bracelet, and wear proudly!!! (sorry for the upclose shot of my epidermis)

For the fabric, you’ll want to choose a light weight fabric like a calico or lighter.  Also, since the buttons aren’t too big, it’s best to choose a print with a small scale.  I think mine would look cuter if I had chosen a fabric with smaller designs.

Time: truly about 5 minutes…probably less

Cost: $1.50 for bracelet and approx. $1 for buttons = $2.50

Let me know if you make one too!

Oh, and here’s shot of the other covered button bracelet style:

While away on vacation, I was sitting in my parent’s living room and if you know me… “just sitting around” isn’t really all that possible.  So, I remembered a little stash of felt and some towels I had packed for DIY emergencies…and I dug right in!  Bill was watching the Sundance Kid movie and just couldn’t figure out why I had not seen a movie that was nominated for Best Picture in 1967…. hmmmmm.  Maybe because i wasn’t born yet!

Anyway, I digress.

Here are some photos of what I created…I decided to make hand towels for the kids’ bathroom.  They have a fun rainbow shower curtain, so I wanted to go with a super hero theme to soften the cuteness of the curtain, and thus, making their bathroom a little more UP on the fun factor!  Sorry, no tutorial this time…just photos.  One day I’ll put together a tutorial for these too.

D for "Dodson" of course!

JROE has become our family signature - Jonathan, Robie, Owen & Ellie

time:  These are admittedly more time consuming than some crafts out there.  You have to figure out what you’re going to make, cute out the shapes, arrange them…and then, the crazy hard thing is getting all that embroidery floss into the eye of your needle.  I was using way too small needles, so this was painful!!!  all in all, I made 2 towels and a little onesie in about 1.5 hours.  (truly, if I had packed needles with larger eyes, I could’ve done it in half the time!)

Cost: towels – 50 CENTS each at Ikea, embroidery floss  – practically free, felt – practically free = approx. $2!

Signing off!

I created one back in the spring, but I just couldn’t find wooden beads  of a large enough scale to get it to look…Powerful.  I never wore the one I made earlier, but I’m feeling like I will be making and wearing many of these new ones!

Here is Take 1:

cute...but definitely not "smashing!"

Here is Take 2:

See the difference?

For the How-To….

You’ll need:

wooden beads – i like the 1″ size, you can find at Hobby Lobby in the wood working section.

fabric strip cut very long and 3.5″ wide

sewing machine …if you don’t know how to sew, remember I can teach you!

wooden beads - buy at half-off sale so they're only 75 cents!

cut your strip of fabric.

fold in half, right sides together, and sew your strip closed with a tight stitch - about 2.5

to turn your tube right side out, take a large safety pin and insert it at the top of the tube...

...then puch head of safety pin down in the tube...

....then you'll just keep inching the safety pin further and further down the tube, pushing the excess out the other side, and eventually you'll have reversed your tube to be RIGHT SIDE OUT! yay

Viola!

Tie a know in the center of your strip, then insert the first wooden bead into the tube, and squish it all the way down to the knot.

You're almost done!!!

I used 6 beads, but you can make yours as long or short as you want. When you've finished inserting all the beads, determine how long you want the strands, then sew the tube shut at both ends. Then, put on a killer dress or Tshirt, and show it off around town!

I love the big, dramatic bow and long strips in the back. I think that will be fabulous with a Tshirt!

Time: it took me a while to figure out how wide to cut the strap, but once I got that figured out, the necklace only took about 20 minutes to make.

Cost:….. 75 CENTS!   Isn’t that hilarious!

I dare you to make some and share with me the end results!