My Two Hobbies Collide

Last Friday I took the day off work to enjoy and Stampin' Up! Demonstrator even featuring Amy Johnson of Utah! I was really looking forward to this even as it featured sewing!! My two main hobbies were colliding and in a very good way. We used a the Big Shot and Scallop circle/square dies to create a quilt! It is refered to as low sew because all you have to sew is the borders to the main panel. Then you glue down the circles and you are done! Amy recommends having a professional quilt stitch the quilt, but I am pretty fearless when it comes to tackling a new sewing project. Maybe it's just me being nieve because I don't know exactly how easy or difficult something is until I get into it.

Since my sister is pregnant with her first baby,a boy, who will join his twin boy and girl 3 year old siblings, I thought I would be practical and make the quilt as a gift rather than an example. I wanted a fabric suitable for a baby but not so baby that by the time he is 3 or 4 he'd want to get rid of it. I loved the safari fabric with the animals in the jeeps so I used that as my inspriation. Once I saw the small border fabric with all of the wonderful colors and animal patterns, I was hooked! Animal prints it is! My sister seems to love zebra prints so it seemed like a win-win! I am hoping my nepheew will grow up loving his special quilt made by aunt Amy. He better, after all of the time I am going to take stitching it. :) I am already dreaming about my next one! To purchase the instructions, please visit Jill Olsen's website. I like to give credit where credit is due! http://stampingjill.com/quilting/patterns

My House is No Longer My Home

My dreams of creating beautiful roman shades for my huge windows is still just a dream. I moved in with my sweetie with the plan of getting married and building a house withing 5 years. I wanted to post pictures of what my house looks like after I painted it. The fabric choice for the living room may make more sense now. :)

Baby Sling

If you are looking for a nice gift for a baby shower, a baby sling is quick, easy, and inexpensive to make. I made this one out of some home decore fabric I had gotten for $5 for 2 yards at Big Lots. Here are the instructions for the sling: http://www.mykarmababy.com/pages/BabySlingPattern.php
You do need measurements to ensure a good fit but there are guidelines for "average" sizing.

T-Shirt Bags

Back in May, my friend asked if I would help her 2nd grader with a school project. She had to create a product and a business around this product. She had to make a prototype and decide how to market product. This was a big task for a 2nd grader. I helped here research some options and we came up with the theme of going green by reusable bags out of old T-Shirts.
We got the idea from this blog: http://wildonionstudio.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/tee-bags-a-tutorial-to-recycle-a-tee-shirt-into-a-shopping-bag/.

It was so quick, easy, and fun. Even her older sister wanted to make one. They both were running around the house looking for shirts they could use!

Lucy's Wedding Dress

It's only been about 8 months since the wedding but I thought I would finally bog about how thing went.

I ended up using Butterick pattern B5325 for the majority of the dress and made a pattern fom Butterick pattern 6406 for the top. I made a sample dress out of muslim to see how all the pieces fit together and how it fit her. I had her make aduct-tape dummy which helped me with fitting.

Some of the issues I encountered were matching the seams of the dress pattern with the darts and seams o the top pattern. I think this caus some issues with seams and ended up the dress was too small to zip up all the way. I ended up putting gussets in the back by the zipper. It didn't look too bad, I just wish I had caught the mistake earlier and been able to fix it. The muslim sample didn't quite fit the dummy either but it fit her.

I also was unsure how to add the lace trim to the bottom of the dress What I ended up doing was cut the edge off of the lace that the pattern pieces were cut from. Then I had to measure the dress for length and add zig-zag stiched the lace on the bottom. It was more difficult getting the correct length than I thought. Even with measuring the bride twice, some how it came out a little shorter than expected.

Overall, the fit was a lot better than any store bought dress I have seen. It was gorgious on her and very flattering.

I also made a little jacket ding ome simple modifiations for Butterick patern
B4926. I used pattern A without a coloor and rounded out the front of the jacket at the neck line. The jacket was made out of the same lace as the dres with cording around the edges. I had never sewn cording on anything before. I whip stitched it on by hand. I was not sure how well it would hold up with it being whip stitched to the lace. Unfortunately it fell apart right after the ceremony but made it through the pictures.

All and all, the dress was a success though I am disapointed with some mistakes and flaws that were made. Luckily the bride and her mom were wonderful to work with and appeared to be pleased with the results.

This was definitely a learning experience for me. I enjoyed the project and the new learning and insight I acquired. I am not sure that I would tackle a paying project of this size and type again though without acquiring more skills on fit and finish. My first few sewing projects were prom dresses but this was my first time working with lace and modifying patterns. I have even been urged by my boyfriend not to make my own wedding dress when the day comes. It doesn't help that I am a procrastinator. Maybe there is a class for that? lol

Making a House a Home

When I bought my house 3 years ago, all the walls were off-white and each window was covered with vinyl blinds and a valance. For those of you that know me, know I enjoy color. The first thing I did before I moved in was paint every room and remove the valances. My very puzzled step-dad asked why I "had" to paint when my house was in move-in condition.

Painting my house was not only an expression of who I am but it also allowed me to invoke feelings when one was in a certain room. I chose a rust color called ice tea for the living room. This added an inviting warmth feeling. Brick red went into the dining room and the paneling was painted white. Rich reds and greens as well as yellow bring food to mind. What a wonderful thought for a room full of friends sitting down to a meal.

My house was built at the turn of the 19th century. The woodwork and style of the house as well as the large rooms is what I fell in love with. I was sad to see the window casings had all been painted white. I also hate the look of the valances which seem to shorten the room and the ugly vinyl blinds that accompany each window.

I had this wonderful idea that I would make my own window treatments. I have made window treatments in the past so this was not a stretch by any means. I scoured websites and books trying to find the perfect solution for my windows that would not only provide a beautiful window treatment but would also block out the hot sun in the summer and help keep the house cool in the winter. I also didn't want to cover up the casing. I decided on roman shades. I found this wonderful website with detailed instructions on making your own shades as well as a resource for the hardware. I was also able to purchase a sample shade kit. http://www.terrelldesigns.com/

After a few years of collecting fabric for each room and "planning" I finally bought a sample shade to make. I started it about a year ago, and like many other projects, set it aside for something else. My own personal sewing always seems to take a backseat to something else or another idea will take root and some investigating work just HAS to be done.

Last night while sitting on my couch in my chilly 60 degree controlled environment, I felt a draft and was reminded of this neglected project. I have made it my goal for next week to finish my sample shade. I finished some quilt tops for Mary's Guild at church and will not feel guilty working on a "personal" project. Oh and yes, for those of you actually reading this, please do hold me to my next week's goal.

Here are pictures of my living room and dining room as the previous owners had it prior to selling. Also there is a picture of the fabric I picked out for my living room roman shades.

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