11.29.2010

Lazy Thanksgiving Weekend

While I wish that I had something new to share, I did what should be done over a holiday weekend. Nothing.

Well, I can't say nothing. I cleaned some, cooked more, and spent a great deal of time with family. Oh, and EATING. Lots and lots of eating. Like, an-extra-5-pounds-worth of eating. So sad, but my bro-in-law makes the best mashed potatoes. . . you can't help but eat a ton of them, especially with awesome gravy.

Happy (late) Thanksgiving to you all!

Bring on winter and the Christmas season so we can listen to a lot of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and do a lot more sledding!

11.24.2010

the first wave of advent ornaments

Since I had already made the first part, I wasn't paying too close attention to the assignments. 2 weeks ago, when I read, "cut out your tree shape" I moved on and thought I had done that so I was still good. Then this last week the assignment was, "Make another 8 ornaments." 

Um. Another 8?

And then, of course, I was making baby shoes, so here is what I was able to accomplish since I started on Saturday night. 15 of the 16 isn't bad!


Holly Berry, Drum, Mitten, and Candy cane

Gifts 1, 2, and 3

Dove, Buddy the Elf, and Stockings for each kid

Baby Jesus, Angel, 3 Wise Men, The Shepherd's Sheep

There are several I used the template provided at Homemade by Jill, but the ones I made up are by far my favorites. Even the stockings that I used the template, I added little stitched names and it makes it that much more personal. I learned new tricks making these. I've never known how to do the edging called a blanket stitch. And I learned how to do a French knot, which is what I used for all the eyes and for the hair on Buddy the Elf.

Anyway, these are the ones I'm really proud of:

Baby Jesus in a Manger  

The 3 Wise Men
(This is the one that kept me up until 1am last night)

The Angel
(with an Asian husband, my red-headed self will always be outnumbered, 
so I had to do the red hair. . . not to say I think I'm an angel...)

True Candy Cane
(maybe you've heard this story, but supposedly it's only a true candy cane if it has one large stripe for the Atonement, and 3 little stripes for the Godhead, so I added in the little ones)

The Shepherd's Sheep
(I didn't want to make yet another tiny person, so I decided the sheep could represent for the Shepherd in the Christmas story)


Buddy the Elf
(if you haven't seen the movie ELF, you are missing out!!)


This is so much fun! And after pushing through 15 ornaments in 3 days, I think finishing the last 9 in a week is going to be a sinch!

It's 1am

and I just finished number 15 of the assigned 16 ornaments on the advent sew along. I can't wait to show you!!

But, actually, I can. Because I'm tired.

I'll take and post pictures as soon as I wake up (which I'm hoping will be after 630, unlike this morning. Thanks, Pretty).

11.22.2010

His and Hers

On Saturday, I went to a baby shower for my friend who is having twins. One boy and one girl. These are 2 of the adorable pairs of booties I've been working on.



Of course, blue for the boy:


And pink with a super pretty button for the girl:


Pair them with the sock monkeys and it's a pretty sweet gift.


She loved it!

And here's something interesting. See these shoes; the two styles are from different designers.


The boy pair is size 3-6 mo, the pink pair is 0-3 mo, and the last pair (made for Pretty) is 3-6 mo. Pretty is 8 1/2 months old and her pair is a bit big for her, even with socks.


I made the pair that are now Pretty's first and, when they were done, I realized they were a lot bigger than the boy pair. Luckily, I had time to make a second pair in the smaller size. And the pink 0-3 mo is still bigger than the wrap-around style in 6-9 mo. It's funny how much difference there can be  between designer's sizing...



PS: Thanks for the info on the web album. It turns out you can delete the individual photos (I was trying to delete an entire album), but it will remove them from your blog as well. I'm just going to stick with what I did. The $5 adds 20x the storage, so hopefully it will last for a while! Oh, and as you can see, it did not take 24 hours for the new storage to kick in.

Seriously?!

I was about to write a post, sharing the awesomeness that is the baby booties, when a message pops up saying I've run out of storage space for my photos in my Picasa Web Album, so I have to buy more space before I can load more pictures.

First off, I didn't even know I had a Picassa Web Album. Second, what?

After looking around, trying to delete some pictures (which they don't let you do), I gave in a bought some extra storage. $5 per year isn't bad, right? And then it tells me it can take up to 24 hours to process my new storage.

Why?

GRRR. This makes me grumpy. And all I can say is,

"SERIOUSLY?!"

11.16.2010

I'm opening a shoe making factory. and other stuff.

While I am sewing and working on projects every day, I don't really have anything new to share. As the title suggests, I'm currently making shoes. Tiny, adorable baby shoes. About 6 pair. . . This is what happens when everyone I know decides to procreate at the same time!

I am also working on Christmas ornaments for my advent calender AND real ones for my entire side of the family. I'll tell the whole story behind it all when they are done, but here's a bit of a preview.






Can you guess what they will become? If you can, you are amazing, because there is still a piece to make, then some assembly.

And lastly, I'm working on a cute little sweater upcycle thing that worked, but not quite. So I need to try again before I feel I can share with you how to make one. But let me tell you, it will be worth the effort (and the wait)!

Good night bloggin' friends!

11.15.2010

Advent Sew Along

Last year, I fell in love with the advent calender over at Inchmark. And then felt went on sale at JoAnn's and it was decided! I made the calender part, with a few changes.

First, I decided that hand sewing is for suckers. Not really, I just didn't want to hand sew all the pockets and tree on, so I used my machine.


 Next, my pockets are not the small 2.5 in square. I decided to make mine 4 in square. At first, I wanted to do this so that I wouldn't have to make as tiny of ornaments to fit in my tiny pockets. Now, I think the ornaments will still be small; but this way I can put in some candy as well.


Because the pockets are bigger, the tree had to be bigger too. Mine measures 20" along the bottom and the same 20" tall at the point. I also decided on using bright multicolored buttons because I've always been a fan of Christmas lights of the colored variety! 


Last year, since it was already a week into December, I was pregnant (aka TIRED), and realized that I would not be able to machine sew the tiny ornaments and have them look good; add on top that I would have to make up my own patterns for the ornaments and I was out. I used some little candy canes ornaments last year, thinking I would just make the ornaments (by hand) this year.

To my surprise, Homemade by Jill has decided to do a sew along of this exact calender! And she just posted some templates for ornaments that someone else sent in to her! I'm super excited! I may still make up a few of my own, but we will see.

I like how my bigger version has turned out, and I can't wait for the ornaments! Hero's a big fan, too. Since he's still working on number recognition, this is perfect!




Does I still count as a sew along participant when I made the first part last year? :-)

11.12.2010

Little Turkey Hands tutorial

Remember when we were in elementary school and would trace our hands, color in the fingers and turn it into a turkey? I decided to make this classic into a more permanent decoration piece.


I love that it's a keepsake of my kids this year.

Here's how it's done.

Supplies:
  • Wooden plaque
  • Paint
  • Rag
  • Scraps of brown fabric and fall colors fabrics
  • Mod Podge
  • Sharpie
  • Wood sealer
Instead of painting with a brush, I globbed paint on to the plaque, and rubbed it in with the rag.



This way, the grain is still visible.


I put the blue sky on first, the added green over top, using a new rag.


I traced my kids' hands onto paper and then cut them out.

you can see where I practiced the turkey on Pretty's hand :-)

Fold over the fingers and cut the palm and thumb out of the brown fabric.



To cut out the fingers, I cut the fingers off the pattern one at a time (so I didn't mix them up!). Leave about 1/4" on the bottom when you cut it out.



Place the pieces on the plaque with the fingers under the palm.


Carefully pull the palm off, leaving the fingers in place.


Use a pencil to mark the place of the fingers.



Paint Mod Podge onto the back of the fingers and place them back one at a time. Then Mod Podge the palm and put it in place over the fingers.




Here's what you should have at this point.


Cut tiny triangles and use Mod Podge to secure them as the beak.


Use a Sharpie to draw in the feet.


  If I had an awesome vinyl machine, I would probably have used it to make the saying. But instead, I used my pretty handwriting; writing it with a pencil first, then going over it with a Sharpie.


Lastly, I went over the whole plaque with a thin layer of Mod Podge (it makes it a bit shiny), then wood sealer.



Gobble! Gobble!

11.10.2010

"Girly" Dresses

Spoiler, Audrey! Don't let Rora see this!!


For my niece Rora's birthday, my sister asked that I make some Warhol dresses. I went to the thrift store and found two t-shirts for under $4 each.

This first one was made from a Women's XL fitted tee. Because it has been a while since I last made one, I misread the instructions and didn't make the tie long enough by half. Oops! I realized it while I was pinning it in place.


And then, because of the size of the shirt, I didn't have enough to make the second half. Rather than using a different shirt (because all I had was white, *boring*, or black, * Halloween-esk*) I  decided to use the short tie and add a button closure.


And to make the blue button less random, I added a flower using this tutorial with a second button in the center. Instead of using pinking shears, I used regular scissors and melted the edges with a candle after it was sewn on.



The second dress was from a Men's XL. This shirt was brand new with tags still on! The perfectly matching contrasting tie was just the inside of the shirt.


I love the fact that these adorable dresses are not in stereotypical girl colors, but they are still pretty girly. It fits her personality perfectly. I hope she (and her mommy) like them!



Happy Birthday, Rora!

11.09.2010

Scarf Winner!

If I knew how to get the image over here, you would see that between the numbers 1 and 13, random.org chose


#13!
 
Denise: "I also follow you. (And my fave color is purple, or brown, or orange, or maybe black. IDK)"


Who says 13 is unlucky? I was married on a Friday the 13th, and it was perfect.

Congrats Denise!

11.08.2010

Don't Forget!!

Only a few more hours until the giveaway is over! Your chances are pretty good. . . why not take a shot at winning this awesome scarf?


11.04.2010

Fall for You Scarf Giveaway! (closed)

I have been taking a break from sewing after doing so much for Halloween. It was nice to go a few days without making anything. But of course, it was just as nice to get back to it and create this lightweight scarf, perfect for fall! Introducing the Fall for You Scarf!



I used muslin for the scarf body, cut two rectangles 53 in x 7 in. On one end of one of the rectangles, I freezer paper stenciled a bare tree in plum purple. After it was dry, I sewed the two pieces together, right sides facing, on a 1/2" seam, leaving a small opening. Then I flipped, pressed the scarf and hand sewed the opening closed.

The last step was to make and attach the "leaves" (you can be making these while the paint of the tree is drying). I used V and Co.'s tutorial here to make 3 of leaves of each of the 5 colors. Then I arranged them to my liking and hot glued them on!





Just perfect for a slightly chilly fall day!

And here's the fun part! For the first time on this blog, I'm going to have a giveaway! I want to send this scarf to a lucky winner! Here's how to enter:

There are 3 chances:

  • Leave a comment telling me what your favorite season is and why. Or what your favorite color is. Or why you rock. . . or anything really. . . (1 entry)
  • Become a follower. (1 entry)
  • Blog about the giveaway, include the link in your comment so I can check it out. (1 entry)
Leave a separate comment for each entry. Make sure to leave your email address in the comments so I can reach you if you win! The giveaway will be open until 11:59pm Monday, November 8th. The winner will be selected by random.org and announced Tuesday morning.