I’ve been so busy crafting and planning away, that I just realized I hadn’t blogged in a whole week! Apologies. I’ve been playing the game of trial and error, both exciting and exhausting! In the meantime, here are a few pics to catch up….

With this much unruly hair, every day is a bad hair day! Can you believe this little big guy is almost 4 months?

Take a little time to enjoy the view: on the sofa, with a chubs in my lap…

Friday night we grilled out with friends and I tried to get a picture of the boys. Instead, I got: muscles, thumbs down, and upside down longhorns..and no one looking at the camera?

Dinner on Saturday night: Chinese take-out at the art table? A certain someone must have left their fabric all over the kitchen table again, ahem…..

Sunday afternoon: Pax and Pat went to see a movie together, a little date of sorts. Scout and I went on an excursion to the fabric store downtown! I put Scout in the sling and I roamed around for a few hours daydreaming about what I could make with certain fabrics, rummaging through boxes of old buttons, and indulging in all the eye candy of ribbons and trims!

Here’s to hoping I have some completed projects to share soon!

For the last few days I’ve been working on the Heather Ross Mendocino dress and it’s finally complete. I discovered Heather’s book, Weekend Sewing,  after falling in love with her fabrics when I made Scout’s quilt.  The internet and young designers have opened up the world of sewing so much since the days when my mom and I were making pillows and vests after thumbing through those giant pattern books.

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Completing this project has inspired me to make lots of things myself, including my own clothes! I already have a stack of fabric waiting to be molded into more summer dresses!

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The smocking was so very simple, just use elastic thread in the bobbin and sew straight lines! That’s it. Can you believe it?

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 The pattern included pockets and straps; both of which, I will omit from the next few dresses I make.   A simple, strapless, smocked dress would work just fine and could be complete in an hour or two. That’s my kind of project!

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I look like a total cheese in this picture, but Patrick, my photographer, was making me laugh and act silly!

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Hook, line, and sinker: I’m hooked on making my own dresses!

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Wishing you all a Happy Fourth of July! I’m headed to Oklahoma for a little summer visit with the kids and I’ll be back to the blog world when I return after the holiday! Enjoy a little sunshine.

I found sweet Annie and her Etsy shop ,Rose Knits, through Taryn’s blog a few months ago.  I ordered this charming yoga mat bag and I can’t tell you how much I’m diggin’ it! Rose Knits specializes in all kinds of bags perfect for knitting supplies, sewing notions, travel, or anything you want to fashionably store and tote around!

I was looking for a blank slate, away from all the rambunctious kiddos, to photograph the bag and ended up in the backyard.  It was a mini vacation out there!

A little peek inside and there’s a funky polka dot print!

My hot pink yoga mat is usually laying by the front  door and it was always in the way. Now it hangs neatly on the coat rack waiting for it’s next trip to the yoga studio…or to the backyard fence? Just whatever.

This little presh is called a fortune cookie bag and it’s just the thing to carry one skein of yarn, needles, and notions for the on the go, mindless projects like socks or washcloths.  I’ve been keeping it in my car and when we are at the park or waiting in a car pool line I can pick it up and knit!

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I promised I had a giveaway and here it is…

a FORTUNE COOKIE for you from Rose Knits!

Post a comment on today’s post by Thursday (I need plenty of time for the 4 people that actually read my blog to post), I’ll use my random number generator (Pax, numbers, a hat, and a fair conscience) and then post the winner on Friday!!  I think I’ll even write a little fortune on some paper and send it along to the winner! Oh, this is so fun! Good luck!

Check out all the places you can find Rose Knits, besides Esty.com!            

SHOWS:

July 24 – 25, Fiber Christmas, Kelleyville, OK (www.fiberchristmas.com)

October 9 -10, Indie Emporium, Tulsa, OK (www.indieemporium.com)

December 5, Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza, Mt. Magazine, Arkansas (www.AnneBeanVA.com)

SHOPS:

Loops (www.loopsknitting.com)

The Backwards Loop (www.thebackwardsloop.com)

Sealed With A Kiss (www.swak.com)

… and coming soon to The Fiber Fix (www.thefiberfix.com)

Scout’s car seat straps were rubbing on his chubby neck, so I set out to make some strap covers.  Again, not because I have time to turn my kitchen table into a sewing shop, but because we needed the strap covers. I’m starting to see a pattern here. I think I’m creating these necessities as a way to get some craft time in?

I cut 2 squares of fabric measuring about 6 x 3 inches (for a final measurement of 5.5 x 2.5 after seams) and a doubled piece of batting: everything left over from the quilt project. 

 I sewed some velcro on them.

 These were completed in a matter of 20 minutes, start to finish. Not because I’m skilled at any part of the process, but because my babe was fussy and other than the clean side, no one would ever see the handywork (or lack thereof).  I didn’t even switch out my white thread on the bobbin to match the brown thread I used to sew….such a rebel!

So, there you go.

No trip to Babies R Us needed,

just a quick visit to the sewing closet!

No more rub on chubs!

I love to shop the antique stores, sometimes looking for something in particular, but usually just browsing for a treasure that calls my name!

A few months ago I found some of my favorite treasures, thread and buttons. Simple, I know. But I’ve completed many projects with these old notions. There’s something nostalgic about threading the needle on my machine with an old wooden spool of thread with the price of 10 cents on it….. or using an antique button on a knit hat.  A crafty woman out there had collected all these notions long ago and now they are in my little collection waiting for their turn to be called up!

Happy Weekend All!

Yesterday’s sewing adventure was sparked by these handsome little onesies with a tie on the front. I wasn’t sure where to start, so thank goodness for Betty Lou, she’d been there and done that. For those of you who don’t have a magical, crafty, on-call family member, here’s my clumsy rendition.

Let’s begin.

You’ll probably need to purchase: fabric for the tie, Pellon WonderUnder/Lightweight (at any Hobby Lobby or Hancock’s, it’s on a bolt, ask the sweet ladies working there to help you) , and a tee of some sort.

To gather from around the house: iron, ironing board, sewing machine, matching thread, sharp scissors, and the like.

Trace or draw your pattern onto the smooth side of the Pellon paper (there’s a grainy/rough side and a smooth, fyi).

Iron the rough side to the wrong side of the fabric. Rough side, wrong side, rough side, wrong side….just keep repeating out loud as you work….I did.

Here’s where I messed up (first of several)…I turned that fabric/WonderUnder combo down just as you see in the picture above. After pressing my iron down, I realized the WonderUnder paper was stuck to my ironing board fabric. Lesson learned, let your fabric swatch be bigger than the paper you are ironing on.

Now you cut along your traced image.

Peel back the WonderUnder paper off of your fabric to expose fresh surface to iron onto your tee.

Now you iron the fabric onto your tee. I used 2 different pieces for the tie because I liked the way the contrasting line directions looked. Which leads me to mess up #2 (I’m no Martha Stewart). As soon as my iron hit the fabric I realized I should have overlapped the two pieces to look seamless.

I stitched around the edges, about a 1/4 inch seam? It will fray around the edges over time, but this is how they make them on Etsy…who am I to argue? It cuts the assembly time in half, so just go with it.

Time out. We both needed some lunch before I propped him up for the photo shoot finale.

Ta-da! Handsome babe.

So, I learned a few things through the first attempt. That’s how sewing always works for me. I can’t wait to make lots more!

Try it out.

While organizing the baby’s room last night, I realized how many special, handmade things were all around me. Here are just a few of the handy works from our family and friends…..

Wooden mobile-carved and sawed by Papa Rick

Striped blankets-crochet by Mema

Sunshiny, wood shelf- built and crafted by Mema

Big Bro shirt- freezer paper stenciled and painted by Paxon Presley

Burp clothes- sewn by MeMe

Hand painted canvases for the boys’ doors- gifted by Erin Hofmann

Thank you all.

I’m not sure if my recent sewing/crafting extravaganza is due to an instinct to have everything ready for baby…..or if I have just lost my mind? Either way, here’s some pics of what we’ve been up to.

Pax hanging out with his friends over the weekend in the new tent he got for Christmas! We’ve had beautiful weather and when the tent comes out….the neighbor kids come!

In an effort to jazz up some white onesies, I experimented with some freezer paper stenciling that I kept hearing people buzz about.  I love it and by the time we complete this project, there won’t be a plain white tee in the casa! Here are just a few of our first projects…..

After a bit of improvising how to make baby bedding, a few needles lodged into our carpet (luckily not in our feet), and a weekend of Patrick yelling…”When are you going to turn that machine off already?”……Houston, we have baby bedding!

A small sampling of the mounds of burp clothes I whipped up for the little man!

Super simple baby receiving blankets : After each one was complete, Pax snatched it, snuggled with it, and begged to keep it.  We had lesson one in sibling sharing.

Just completed Scout’s quilt (my first ever) and I must admit that there is nothing like pulling a newly made quilt out of the dryer for the first time! It’s all puckery and soft….ahhhh! I’ve been sewing all kinds of things lately for the babe so I’ll post some more pics soon when I lay off the sewing machine pedal for a bit! Oh, and one last minute pic to prove I am indeed expecting and have….as Paxon calls it…..”A Big ‘Ole Momma Bella!”