Bending the Rules Sewing

Last Saturday, I went to a double baby shower for my neice Brianne and neice-in-law Angie. Both were due to have baby girls within a few weeks of each other. Brianne's baby Aubri came three weeks early! Angie is due on February 29th. Many, many moons ago, I bought some sweet pink fabric to make the girls the scalloped blankets from Bend the Rules Sewing. There it sat and sat and sat waiting for me to start the project. Finally, the week before I got started.

I decided to use flannel for the back and Warm and Natural batting in the middle to make it nice and snuggly since it's so cold right now. I made the first one and it seemed so tiny. I followed the directions for cutting the top at 30x34 but must of not got the scollops on right because it was tiny. It's now a very warm, new blanket for Mia's babies. Second attempt I tried to make the size bigger, but only had 30 inches width for the batting. So it made kind of a oblong quilt, but it was okay. Until I put it in the wash and the flannel didn't wash that good and I didn't know that I was supposed to hand sew the scalloped edges that were open and well, they were a bit on the wonky side.


Okay, let's try it again! The day before the shower, right before work, I ran to the store with my fabric stashes in hand and found the cutest fabric and started it at 9pm when I got home from work. I found a much better size, using a yard of fabric for each and used flannel for the lining like the, uh, directions said to use. They turned out sooooooo darling!!! I only had two seconds to snap picture of each after then came out of the dryer before I headed to the shower.

Luckily, I found out that Angie didn't want pink for her baby so I changed quickly and matched some cute purple gingham fabric with the sweetest floral top. I was very excited about it! I made the diaper wipes container with some fabric from my stash.


Brianne's blanket took a whole new turn when I found the vintage looking rose print. Found the perfect dark rose for the backing and I was sold. I made her travel wipes container with the matching dark rose background and pink braid trim. I wish that I would of used red thread, but otherwise, it turned out great! It's hard for me to decide which one was my favorite!! Of course, they each got 9 billion blankets. I just really wanted to make them and I am glad that I did so I know how they go together.

(Wish Blogger would fix spell checker!!)

Halloween Dress - Now new and improved!

Finished the dress! I was thinking about putting on a ghost pocket, but Sharmyn had the great idea of putting on a kitty pocket. Mia loves our kitty black Hattie-cat and she loves the new pocket. It might also have a little bit to do with the fact that I put candy in the pocket. (Oh yeah!! I am pulling out the big guns trying to talk her into it!)

I think it turned out pretty cute but you will have to use your imagination because I could not get a decent picture of it to save my life! Ugh! That's the best of the worst pictures. One day! One day I tell ya! I will get a new camera and it will be shiny and new and sharp!



I made the pocket out of felt and appliqued the eyes and nose on then embroidered the whiskers, eyebrows and eyelashes and mouth on. My favorite part are the sparkly green eyes. My mother-in-law Sharon gave me a bag of her old notions and there were lots of these sparkly things. It's big enough that she could wear it again next year. Silly kitty took longer than it took to make both dresses. Wish you could see it. It's a pretty cute little kitty!

Halloween Dress - Take Two

Remember this little project? It's been given to the cutest little girl Kelsey and her Mom has already sent a thank you note. That girl has got it together I tell ya.

Finally sat down and finished Mia's dress today. Because I miscalculated on the measurements of the first dress, which I was attempting a swing top length, left me with much less fabric than I needed for the 2nd dress. I had extra orange fabric and some solid black so I improvised and it's not too bad. I used the black to make wide straps instead of ribbon ties. I gathered the fabric and put a wide band of fabric on top. I am still debating on putting large orange buttons on the straps which was my original plan. Votes?

This dress is much cuter on the intended cutie. She just didn't want to participate. Wish I could say that Mia loves it. She doesn't. She says that she doesn't like orange. Only pink and green and purple and yellow and well, not orange. I have been trying to talk her into it. Big excited "won't it be so fun to wear for Halloween!" talk. It reminds me of Teryn except Teryn totally can do it. She can talk anybody into being excited about anything. It's a gift I tell you.

I think that a pocket or two would help things along. Yes, pockets are needed. That girls loves pockets. Hmmm? How to do that?

Oooooo! Spooky!

I originally started this post with the intentions of telling you all about the cute little swing top that I made for Mia to match the cute little bow that Matt's girlfriend gave Mia for Halloween. And how cute the cute little swing top it was going to be and how adorable Mia would look in it. And how clever I was because on making a little matching dress to give to Melissa for her daughter because I am sure that she has a matching bow for her. Yeah, no. It doesn't look adorable on her and I haven't made a 2nd one yet. The proportions are off. My stellar math skills made the top 2 inches shorter than I intended. It's now a really darling little baby dress. Really, it is. I tried it on Fat Sam much to Ryan's dismay. Obviously, he doesn't know about this incident.

Hmmm......what to do? Can't add more of the same fabric because when I went back to WalMart....I know! Walmart for fabric. Good choice when it's something seasonal that I didn't want to spend big bucks on......anyway, back to WalMart last night to get more fabric and it was gone. Both of them. I just bought it on Tuesday! So, what to do?? I spent an hour last night looking at all of the fabric they had and nothing but basic black would of matched. I didn't choose Halloween fabric so I am totally shocked that it was gone. So I have this darling baby dress now. Maybe it will fit Melissa's girl since she is just 18 months. Now it's back to the drawing board with just 10 inches of black and white polka dot and about 15 inches of orange fabric to make Mia one. I am going to need something more to make it work. Let's get the creativity juices flowing. Ideas???

Bend the Rules Sewing

So I finally broke down and treated myself to a new book. A sewing book as you can see. This book has so many cute little projects in it that I am very excited to try! I just need to decide which one to start with. She writes with a fun, casual style that makes you feel like she is talking to you. The beginning of the book has some helpful information about the basics of sewing. I have never taken any sewing classes, so any help in that department is beneficial to my confidence. The crafty blog world is exploding with great ideas and I think it's wonderful that she got a chance to write a book because of her blog. You can read her blog to, angry chicken, and she has a flickr group that you can check out some finished projects.

Now, I am off to decide which project to do. I have a friend that's expecting a baby girl any day now. Oooooo! I have visions of darling little handmade gifts. I hope that I can pull it off!

Treasure hunting and butterflies

Darling little pillowcase dress I made today. I have been practicing on making the dresses with ribbon instead of seam binding. Much cuter I think. This one was made to wear day or night. I think a little t-shirt or denim jacket and leggings underneath and it will be cute in the fall weather. Mia picked out this material. It's a smooth rayon and you can't see it in the picture, but it has gold sparkly circles on it. Very cute!

Now, for treasure hunting. The other day, I got the best deal! I was so excited when I saw this outdoor light, brand new with the tags still on it for only $3! $3!! Come on now!! It just needs a bracket and the local lighting store carries it, I just have to go and pick it up. I think that it is going to look so good and I am so excited about it!

Another treasure that I found were a bunch of vintage apron patterns. These are so cute and fun and I want to make one for me soon. I don't know what happened to my apron in the move. I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that I still haven't unpacked all of our boxes. And, of course, I had to get the little piano for Sam. He loves it! Once he figured out that it made sounds when he banged it he gave me the biggest, proudest cheesy grin. It just makes me melt! He has been playing with it quite a bit since we got it. Maybe he will be my little musician?

They are just "sew" easy!

Sorry for the pun. The other night, I just couldn't sleep. So, instead of fighting it, I watched The Astronaut Farmer and sewed a few nightgowns. I had enough fabric leftover to make a cute little baby sized one. With visions of squishy baby rolls peaking out of the little dress, I made a cute little baby sized nighty. And I used Sam as the size model. He's going to hate these pics when he gets older.

Then to toot my own horn just a bit more, I have already given the nighty to the darling Briella! Huge since her mom just happened to be visiting from Texas for a few days. I think that the blue will look so cute with her tan skin and light blond hair. It's funny that I am so happy with the project because it only took 20 minutes to make. Really, it's "sew" simple! Har, har, hardy, har, har.

This weekend, we had a bridal shower for my niece Chantel who's getting married in two weeks. She looked beautiful in her crisp white dress and red heels. Ah, to be without kids. Pretty clothes and time to spend getting ready. It will be fun to go to the wedding. She's been keeping her dress a complete surprise so that will be fun to see. There's no doubt that she will look gorgeous. Also, Mia is practically counting down the days to see Chantel in her "marry dress".

Today was a pretty good day at church. That's a blessing in itself. Afterward, we have been enjoying playing games together. And the dollhouse that I got so long ago got some good playing time in today. By all the kids. As luck would have it, as soon as I took the camera out for a picture, they all scattered. Never fear, I learned well from my mama! "Wait! Instant replay!" said I and with all the familiarity of doing this way too much, I had them recreate the scene and got mediocre results. Still, it makes me smile remembering all of the staged pictures of my youth. All of which came with less than desirable results.

Harry Potter and the half painted desk

Neglectful.

Yep, that's me.
A Harry Potter induced neglectful state. The kids have been getting a bit restless. It might the be the regular sugar overload they have been getting. It seems that I am really an easy target for treats when I am busy reading. It's just so hard to put down. Painfully hard!

But, I do have some things to blog about. Last week, I made Mia two cute nighties from this tutorial. They have been popping up all over the internet ever since this clever girl made some. They turned out pretty cute. They are really fast to make. Less than an hour. I haven't had a chance to get a picture of it because Mia wouldn't pose and she has been wearing one of them non-stop. (Yes, I just love that she loves it!) Today, she hung it up on her little hanger in her room and it just looked so cute! All wrinkled and loved.


Oh, and did you notice that she hung it on the hooks that have actually been hung in her room?? I did it!! I put holes in the walls! I hung the oh so darling garage sale hooks, two cute little shadow boxes next to the mirror and a few photo frames and shelves over the desk. All thanks go to Teryn who took about 2.8 seconds to figure out the layout in her room. I had been staring at them for 3 months and she figured it out so quickly. I am not kidding about the speed that she did it! She is amazing!
And another thing that I have done! If you squint really hard you can see that I made a little plaque for Mia that says her name and underneath "Daughter of a King". It was very simple to make. Just need some ribbon bows around the iron coil and it will be finished. I will post a better picture when I get around to buying the ribbon.
Mia's room is just about finished! I use the term "finished" loosely because I am sure that there will always be something that needs to be done. Like her curtains. But, her room is the first room in the new house to get pictures on the wall. Whoot! Whoot!!

*now looking at the picture, I realize that I didn't do the best spacing job on the pictures. I might have to redo. Maybe. If I feel like it.