birthday gift

Now when my kids get invitations to birthday parties I get so excited because I want to come up with something to make. Of course, this is a bit challenging when my 9 and 6 year old boys have parties, but I am trying. Freezer paper stencils and Pokemon characters usually fit the bill in those cases. It's really great when they get invited to little girl parties. I guess I get selfish and don't even give them the opportunity to pick something out at the store, but start making something right away and show them what they are giving their friend. Yeah, I need to at least involve them in the process, don't I? This was for Gage's little friend, Anna, and it was so much fun to make. I just took one of the aprons I bought for my kids a long time ago and traced the pattern and then lined it as well. I wanted to find little kitchen utensils to go inside the pocket, but ended up with just a whisk and measuring spoons. My mom made me one of these when I was about 6 or 7 and I LOVED the mini utensils that she had in the pockets. Now, I am just trying to spread that love.

cherry dress

My mother in law was cleaning out her basement and found her stash of fabric. She showed it all to me and told me to take whatever I want. How do you tell a collector of fabric to take whatever she wants and expect her to not look greedy? I just tried to play it cool and really just take a few pieces. One of the fabrics was this cherry print. I used part of a Simplicity pattern (the same one I used for this dress) for the top, but made the elastic smaller since it was a 2T pattern and I wanted her to wear it now. I eliminated the ruffle at the bottom, lengthened it, added a band, and a pocket. It came out pretty much like I hoped and it was SIMPLE - key for me.

the secret's in the sauce

Tobasco to be exact. This salad dressing is so good and so easy to make when you need something quick. It's light and has just enough flavor, but doesn't over power. It's great for a single salad with just enough left over for the next day.

1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetale oil
2 T. sugar
2 T. vinegar
dash of tobasco

addicted

What won't I applique on? I might stop at underwear, but then again, I might not. We'll see. It's just too easy to not add it to all my girl's shirts. I have to stop soon though because she is running out of shirts. I can't think of anything to put on the boys' shirts that they won't cringe at, so in the mean time....hello girl shirts.

tried this too

I haven't been on my blog because we went on a family vacation and I am obsessed with the Olympics. In fact, I might have to quit watching into the wee hours of the night because school just started today and I was wiped out getting the boys up. I have been staying up every night since they started. I just LOVE the swimming and gymnastics. I have decided that I need to start training for something. I haven't decided what just yet, but I think I need to be in shape like these athletes. I think I want to be a runner. Oh to dream! Last week I was in the mood to sew a skirt by following a tutorial I had bookmarked in my favorites. Do you know how many I have bookmarked? It's quite the list and someday I will get to them all...yeah, yeah, yeah. In the meantime, I am in love with this little tiered skirt. So fun. Of course, I made it way too big and have to wait until she grows in to it next year, but just like everything else...it's something to look forward to.

Nantucket Weekend GIVEAWAY!!!!

Nantucket Weekend GIVEAWAY!!!!

freezer paper stencils continued

one to keep

I finally realized that instead of just making gifts, I could applique on my kids' shirts as well. Better do it while they still let me!

saved

My husband's company bought some land awhile back that they are building houses on. Today the old farm house was coming down. Now, that does sound sad, I know, but I will be the first to tell you that it wasn't the quaint farm house you are imagining. It had had it and it had no insulation whatsoever and was a mess. They decided not to save it pretty quickly after they bought the land. But, we did go through it and find some old things - like door knobs, a chandelier, etc. - not much, but fun. This morning as the gigantic claw reached up and pulled some of the house down to put in the dumpster, my husband saw a quilt fly out. He had the man stop and found a box that had 5 unfinished quilt tops in it. A few seemed older than others, but they were all pieced and just needed to have the binding put on them and quilted. All that handy work and it almost went in the dumpster. I am so excited about these. The colorful polyester one is by no means an antique treasure, but it is so colorful and will make a nice picnic or beach blanket. So, now I am going to finally have to learn how to bind and quilt. I am afraid of binding - it actually makes me shake, but I will do it. Oh, what a save!

rocket ship and birdie

Babies are popping up everywhere around here. But, many of those mamas are having boys. Each time I make something for a boy, I try it for a girl too. Some lucky friend having a girl will get more than their share from me because I have a few gifts stockpiled now. My neighbor had a baby boy last week, so hence the rocketship onesie and matching pants. I had a pattern (Simplicity 9380) for the pants that called for elastic on the bottom and I like them. But, when I made a set for a baby girl, I used this tutorial to eliminate the elastic cuff and make them more like mini lounge pants. I used a pillowcase I picked up a few weeks ago for a $1 and added grosgrain to the cuff. I wish this outfit was in my size.

Fields of Gold Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fields of Gold Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

the dora reward

Today I took my youngest to the doctor to have her bandage taken off. Three weeks ago she fell on a chair and wedged her fingers between the chair and the baseboard resulting in fractures and deep cuts. When he took the bandage off I was a little fearful of what I would see. But, they looked amazing (a bit gross with the black fingernail and remaining stitches) and have seemed to have healed almost perfectly. She still has fractures in her fingers, but those will heal on their own over time. As she took a nap today I decided to make a blanket for her to have when she woke up as a reward for being so dang good today and throughout the whole thing. She LOVES Dora the Explorer and it's one of the few words that she can say, so I bought some Dora fabric at Hobby Lobby that she wouldn't let go of. I am not a fan of buying stuff (clothing, fabric, shoes, etc.) with tv characters on them, but it was kind of cute when she wouldn't let go of the bolt and kept saying, "Dora, Dora, Dora." So, I gave in and found a pink and white polka dot to go on the other side. I made it like the scallop blanket in Amy Karol's Bend the Rule's Sewing book, but with just two layers and bigger scallops. It turned out fine - it was quick and she loved it. That's all I wanted.

simplicity 5695 and other stuff

I have had my parents in town for the last week and a half and it has been bliss. Totally wonderful for both me and the kids. My dad left Wednesday and I sent my mom sadly off today and am trying to help my three year old understand that I can't call her and just tell her to come back even though he wants me to. In the past few weeks I have attempted the Built By Wendy Top semi successfully because I think I need a bigger size (this does run small, right?), made sleeping bags for Webkinz, sewed some pjs for a nephew, and watched my mom make me the Emmeline Apron. After she left today, I decided to delve in to a dress for my youngest. I used a Simplicity pattern 5695. It was a simple dress and I love how it turned out. It's a 2T and she is 18 months so it's a bit big on her, but something to look forward to.

does a better apron make better cookies?

Gage had a cute lime green apron that we bought a few months ago, but we (okay it was me) decided to dress it up a bit. I did give him the choice of what animal he wanted on the front and monkey it was. Fits him perfectly - both the apron and the monkey! I think he was a better chef with this apron. We made some yummy chocolate chip cookies and even added a few dark chocolate m & ms for mom.

i tried these too - so glad i did

I think I am quite the copy cat sometimes. I do think of my own ideas (sometimes), but I like to copy what others have done because it's oh so cool. I love reading all of the great ideas out there on the web. What did I do before this? Was I more productive because I wasn't on the computer as much or less because I wasn't as inspired as much which leads to creating? Intersting thought. Well, I have seen these lounge pants made all over the web (check out the cute ones at Linaloo here) and I had the Amy Butler "In Stitches" book with the pattern so I thought I would try them out with the thrifted sheet I found at a garage sale for .50 cents. I only ended up using half, so basically these lounge pants were .25 cents (.27 if you add a bit for thread!). You can't beat that or their comfort. Yeah, I am on the hunt for more fabric to make a few more pairs of them whether that be a thrifted sheet or whatever. Anything that is comfortable will do! Love em.

yep, we finally tried it

This freezer paper stenciling is so great. I think we are the last ones on the planet to give it a whirl, but we did this week and we (the boys picked the designs) are hooked. I followed a few different posts about it - here - here - and here. There is actually a flickr group dedicated to the lovers of the craft here and I saw so many cute ideas. We just made a shirt for Gage and one for Boston. Trevor doesn't have any extra t-shirts that aren't already printed on first, so we'll have to go out and get some of those. I really love the prints on the onesies (of course) and will be branching out it that world soon I am sure. I also just bought the only fabric paint I could find at Hobby Lobby, but I read that this is the best paint for these sorts of projects. So, I'll have to investigate that. In the meantime, I am searching the closets for available t-shirts and dreaming up new stencils!

i'm in love with onesies

I love making these onesies, as you can tell. Felt is the easiest fabric for me to work with when it comes to appliques. I love it and so many colors. Unfortunately, there aren't too many fabric stores around that have felted wool, so I have been making them with the acrylic stuff (cheaper and tons of colors), but I will admit that it's a tiny bit harder to work with than the felted wool. I have been washing the onesies first and then I wash them again when I am done to make sure that everything is staying in place. I don't want them falling apart when I give them away. "Great gift Traci...it fell apart the first time my baby wore it!" That's something I fear I will hear. So, I am trying to give them run throughs and still hoping they look new. If I do a lot of stitching or embroidery on them, then I add a layer of light fusible interfacing the the inside to cover up all the thread and knots.
Here's the lowdown - 1. vintage caboose iron on transfer 2. snail out of felt 3. guitar out of felt 4. heart to patch up the tiny hole i made in the bum cause i caught it up in my machine. there's always a solution!

teddy bear onesie

Just another one to keep on hand. Of course, my friends that are having girls are slim - everyone is having boys these days. But, I can't help making some just in case and because I am in a little girl world right now.

more popcicles

We found a great steal on rotten bananas at the store (.15 cents a pound) and we froze them all. We made smoothies with a few frozen bananas, some cut up strawberries and a few spoon fulls of vanilla yogurt. The smoothies were great, but the popcicles that we made from the extras were better. I think we will experiment with popcicles all summer.

birdie tote

I had to come up with a diaper bag that the ladies at my church could easily make to donate along with baby products to a local charity. My friend, Melissa, had come up with a pattern for these cool tote bags a few years ago and we revamped it to work as a simple diaper bag as well. I beefed up the straps (on the final pattern, I made them even wider than the ones in this photo) and added a long, divided pocket on the inside that is actually sewn in the seam. It's big enough for a wipes case and two bottles. Here is the final product. I will include the instructions (I want to make sure it's okay with her first) soon since it is so easy to make.