piles

Piles is what describes everywhere around my house as of late.  The above pile is a pretty one at least, a batch of dish cloths waiting to get the rest of their tags.  I have other piles, like dishes, and laundry, and toys, and piles on the kitchen island.  And piles and piles of cut out sewing projects.

I haven't been getting much done for the past two weeks, I have been sick with a cold turned sinus infection, I think I am finally on the mend though, still sick, but feeling more like myself.  So, this finished project makes me super happy.  Being sick and not feeling like doing anything but napping and playing Dr. Mario on the Wii kinda drives me nuts.  I like getting stuff done so when I can't I kinda feel useless.

I have some fun news! I get to sell my things at Fleaology on January 21st!
it's located at
Olson's Garden Shoppe 1190 W 400 N Payson, UT
10am-5pm

A bag

 This was my sewing summit swag bag.  There is a contest to decorate it or repurpose it into another bag, just as long as it was still a bag.  I decided to decorate mine.

 I used new and vintage fabrics, lace, rick rac, pom poms that I made, and some embroidery.

I am excited with how it turned out and can't wait to use it.

Plus it gave me a little break from the whirlwind of sewing that I have been doing for holiday shows, it felt nice to make something for myself :)

Ballet Bags

All three of my girls wanted to be in Ballet this year.  So, they needed a little bag to carry their ballet shoes in, they all picked out their fabrics and what they wanted appliqued on it.

Jade's is the pink one with a mustache with eyes :), Kinsley's is the blue one with the flower, and Sage's is the velvet green one with a squirrel.  I think it is super cute how their choices for their bags show their personality.

And gosh it's expensive to send three girls to ballet :)

patchwork

I finished up these patchwork tote bags a bit ago.  These were a happy accident.  I was starting to clean up my fabric area and I had a whole bunch of upholstery fabric scraps that I just couldn't bear to part with.  I added doilies and ribbons and lace to them too, I am happy with the outcome. 

I am busy getting ready for next weekend, I have two shows, Oh Sweet Sadie, and The Avenues Street Fair.

Today I am thinking:
Why every time we get Casey's paycheck is it immediately gone?  Seriously, what the crap?!
Being poor sucks, but hey we have lots of love around here :)
I'm glad our fridge and pantry are full of food, which makes me think of the delish freshly cut watermelon, I should eat some of that.
That my newly cleaned and organized fabric shelves are beautiful and they make me super inspired to sew.
I am making lasagna for dinner, yum!
It's kinda nice having the girls back in school, I think they like the routine, and I like that they don't argue and pester each other as much :)

I hope you are having a lovely week!

Hi there!

 The girls started school on Monday, so far they love it.

 I've been doing tons of sewing, here are some skirts I finished a few weeks ago, these were some of my favorites.

And just because I needed to add another quilt to my list of quilts in progress, I started another quilt last night.  Using Denyse Schmidt's fabric from JoAnn's.  I found some of the new Sugar Creek yesterday and had to play with it along with my collection of Picnic and Fairgrounds.

 

photo belongs to Diary of a Quilter

 The idea for the quilt came from Diary of a Quilter, when I saw this vintage lattice quilt, I knew I had to recreate it.  I love the slight wonkiness of it, and I am trying to make mine slightly wonky by varying the width of the strips in the string blocks.

I'm using a mustardy yellow color for my lattice, I had a bunch of it and it looked good with my other fabrics.  I think it would be fun to make a red lattice one with some of my vintage fabrics.

 

Recent projects

 I finished a small batch of purses this week, the hot air balloons are my fave, they are made of a vintage velvet upholstery fabric and they are so soft.

I made Jade and Sage a new dress, I will be making Kinsley one too, I just had to order another yard of fabric to make hers.  Looking at this picture, the pink one looks like the pockets are uneven, they aren't, I just made Jade run in here because she is wearing it so I could check it.  I absolutely love this fabric, it is by Tina Givens and it is called Opal Owl, Kinsley's will be in a blue color :)  The sleeves and pockets are from vintage sheets, I had striped ones to match each dress perfectly.

I've been busy this summer with kids and cleaning, and sewing for shows, among other things.  This blog of mine has taken a back seat to everything, sometimes I just don't have the time or desire to blog.  I will say this though, I LOVE when I get comments, I don't have ads or sponsors for this little blog of mine, so really, my rewards are in your comments :)   I feel like no one comments anymore, I don't know if that is just because my posts are super boring, or if people are just too busy to comment or what.  I get super excited when I get comments, whether it is from someone who has commented before, or a new commenter.  I try my best to reply to every comment, if I haven't replied to your comment, it is probably because you don't have your email linked, so I can't reply :(

Anyways, enough of that.  

I hope you have a lovely weekend spending time with people you love :)

Getting back in sewing mode

I am trying to get back into sewing mode.  I have been taking a break for a few weeks, but now I have to get to work, I have shows coming up and things that I need to stock up on.

It's grey and rainy here today, the rain smells lovely, I usually like rain in the summertime, but I was a little disappointed at the weather today.  Casey had to drive to Bear Lake for work and I had the thought of going with him and spending the day at the beach, the kids would have loved it.  But the weather wasn't the best for hanging out on the beach :( 

I've been cleaning and organizing areas of the house, on Saturday we had a yard sale and made a bit of money and got rid of alot of stuff which always feels good.  

My brother redid our tile by the backdoor.  It was white and I hated it, I would clean it and then two seconds later it would be dirty.  So now it is a tan color and it looks so much better and I won't have to be bugged by the dirt because I won't be able to see it.  :)

The girls are still getting use to spending so much time together :)

I swear when something in our house breaks, it tells everything else to break soon too.  First it was the furnace, then the swamp cooler, the toilet, and now our washer is leaking.  The joys of home ownership :)  All that aside though, I really do love my home.

Nutella makes everything delish.  We've been eating pretzels, graham crackers, and  smores with it, yum!

Now I must go start a new sewing project and maybe wash the dishes.

What have you been up to?

A new shower curtain!

I know it's the crappiest picture, but it shows my new shower curtain!

I have been wanting to make one forever and finally got around to it.  This is our tiny bathroom, the only bathroom in our house :)  That is definitely one thing we will want in our next home, more than one bathroom, even my girls have requested that of our next house :)  What can I say?  We have a cozy home :)

gingham skirt

So, I am participating in Elsie Marley's Kids clothes week challenge.  I have been a bit of a slacker, having two kids home with pink eye has taken a toll on free time this week :)  They are all at school today though.  I have cut out 3 different sizes of the Oliver and S ice cream dress pattern, and have one of the dresses cut out, but I am having a hard time getting excited to sew with a pattern.  Patterns and I do not get along, I think I just don't have the patience for them.

I did make this skirt this morning though.  I purchased the brown gingham yesterday, I knew immediately that I wanted to make a skirt out of it, and Jade's birthday is coming up soon, so it was perfect.

I added a little apron trimmed with big ric rac and a doily, and also the French vintage eyelet trim at the bottom.  I love how it turned out, I would so wear this if it was my size.

A wardrobe for a doll

Kinsley's birthday was over the weekend. One of the things she requested was clothes for her American Girl doll. I decided she would also need somewhere to put all those clothes, so I modge podged a thrifted train case for her.

Not all the thrifted train cases I have found still have their little tray, this one did, it was perfect for shoes and accessories.

And the clothes fit perfect underneath.

I ended up buying a few things that I didn't want to make or couldn't make myself.

I ended up making two dresses. My favorite being the one on the right, I used a whole bunch of vintage lace and ribbons.

I made three different skirts, these were so much fun for me. Then I made a headband and a couple hair clips. And a bag with a little wallet.
I had to make myself stop making things, it was so much fun, and to see her face when she opened it up was priceless :)

playing catch up

I have been super behind for A Notion or Two. I got almost caught up today. Now I only have one more block left, yay!
The first block is for Meridith.

The second block is for Allyn.

I don't know why it took me so long to sit down and get these done, but it feels good to almost be all caught up! I decided that this year I wouldn't participate in any bees or swaps, I just have too much going on and I needed to cut something out, they have been super fun though!

The Wiener Dog quilt!

I am so excited that I finally get to share this quilt!
This is my favorite quilt I have made yet.
It is now presiding with my sister waiting for my nephew Preston to arrive.

I originally had started making my sister a different quilt.
But then I saw Dare to be square quilting by Boo Davis, and when I saw the wiener dog quilt I had to make it.

I used gingham for the back, so cute!

And I used Kona solids and some prints from my stash.
I was a little scared to attempt this initially, I was worried I wouldn't be able to match everything up right, but it was pretty simple and fun to make.
And so stinkin cute!

Weekend happenings

I worked on a few sewing projects over the weekend, I made new covers for two of the pillows on our bed. I used two screen printed tea towels that I purchased at the Beehive Bazaar. They are from The Full Spectrum. She made the screen prints from some of her Grandmother's doilies, so cute!

The back of the pillows I used some of Denyse Schmidt's County Fair that I have been hoarding.

Other weekend happenings:
Made good progress on my quilt top from the last post. I may finish it up today!
Accumulated more fabric :)
Picked up our Bountiful Basket on Saturday. I am loving participating in it. There is a different selection of produce every time we do it and we get to try some new things which I think has been fun. Some of my kids on the other hand, namely Jade and Sage sometimes don't love it so much. Jade and Sage can at times be super picky eaters. We got brussel sprouts in our basket this time, which I was kindof excited to try. I had never had brussel sprouts and we found a yummy recipe to try, we roasted them with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and some bacon, and OH MY GOODNESS, they were heaven. Jade and Sage didn't think so though :) Sage eventually ate hers, but Jade had a few bites (while crying I might add) and then she was making herself gag so much that she threw up. NICE. After that she went to bed early, oh the joys of having children sometimes :)

What did you do this weekend?

Hot air balloon shirt

While at Ross today, I found this fluorescent yellow shirt in Kinsley's size in the clearance section. I snagged it cause the neckline was how Kinsley likes them, she is very particular about the necklines on her shirts :) Happily, when I got home with it, she liked how it fit. I suggested that we put something on it, so we ended up with a hot air balloon and some clouds. Kinsley picked out the fabrics for everything. I love how it turned out, and now I want to make me a hot air balloon shirt :)

Edited to add: Do any of you with girls notice that alot of the shirts in the stores now have peace signs and love all over them? I am kindof annoyed at it, that's all. :)

triangle necklace

I've been inspired by triangles lately and decided to make up this necklace today.

I may make up a few more and see if they sell.

I kinda like it.

thrifting, fabric, and a new bag

I continue to go thrifting on Mondays and I keep finding awesome things. Yesterday it was a never been used vintage towel and the cutest tablecloth. I got all excited when I saw the tablecloth, I love the big flowers and the colors.

Here are some recent fabric purchases. I snatched up some of Anna Maria Horner's innocent crush, I love, love, love the star burst print. Those bird cages are from JoAnn's.
I have been having a crush on gingham lately and found the grey and tangerine colors and had to have it.

I was near IKEA yesterday and had a bit of extra time so I went in to check out the fabrics and found this wood grain fabric, and some cute placemats to repurpose.

I was excited and made up a couple bags like this with the placemats last night.

They are kinda funky and I love it. The back of the bag is the same stripe as the handle. I originally was going to leave it kinda plain, and then decided it needed a little embellishment, so I made a flower pin to put on it.

Now, I am off to cut out new bags as I have aquired a new pile of upholstery fabrics (for free I might add!) And I am so happy to have my sewing mojo back!

I think I found my sewing mojo

I finished up this batch of girl's bags over the weekend. I think my sewing mojo may finally be coming back. Good thing cause I have signed up and applied to about 10 or so shows over the fall and the holidays. I have to start gearing up for that :)

I say this every time I make a batch of something, but this has to be the cutest batch of girl's bags I have made yet. I even cut into some precious vintage fabric for some of them.

Triangle Skirts

I was at the thrift store yesterday and bought a package of fabric. Usually when I buy a package of fabric it is just for a couple of pieces in that package. When I opened it up I found this mauvey purple fabric and thought, that would make some cute skirts. Kinsley didn't want a skirt, so I made them for Jade and Sage. I have had this idea to put triangles on a skirt like this for about a year now, I don't know why it took me so long to actually do it. I was so excited when I got them finished last night, the girls were asleep, so I had to wait until this morning to see them on, I love them! And more importantly my girls love them! So stinkin cute if I do say so myself :)

Halloween, already?

Halloween in August? I know, super early, but that's what you get when you are preparing for fall shows :)

This was the first time I have appliqued dish towels for Halloween, it was fun! My fave is the Frankenstein even though he took the longest.

I hope you have a lovely weekend soaking up the last of summer!

Custom order

The lovely Steph of Stephmodo, asked me to applique some napkins with cherries on them, and then we ended up doing some cute notebooks for favors for her youngest daughter's half birthday party. She brought the cutest cherry sucker she purchased in France, that she planned the party around. So cute! You can see more of the sweet party she planned here.