Square Neck Top and Quilt Skirt

I picked up a charm pack back before the holidays. I didn't know what I was going to do with it until the other day when Demi asked for a new skirt. I knew I needed 3 rows of quilt squares for the length of the skirt to be long enough so I split the squares into 3 piles and made them into a 3 row skirt. Then used a bit of lace on the bottom. It was a very quick project. Didn't need any type of pattern. For the top I cut up an old maternity tank I had. I used Child's Play to draft the pattern. It was also a quick project.

I should have given her a bag of candy to hold to keep her in one place like I do with her little sis! Below are ACTION shots. I swear I can't get her to stand still for one minute.

I have no idea what she is doing with her hands in the pic below.

No idea what kind of pose she is doing in the next pic. I was saying "Please look at Mommy". This is what she did.Another failed attempt with please look at mommy.

I asked her to please stand still for one minute and this is what she does...

I now find the picture above funny. I was not laughing at the time I took it!

Picture of skirt.
I know she does the opposite of what I ask... Anyone have any advice on taking photos of little children who don't like to stand and smile on command?

A-line flower dress.

I made this simple little A-line dress and matching headband a couple weeks ago. I made it from Pink Posey Michael Miller print a generous friend gave me a very long time ago. I used Child's Play software to make the pattern. The tapered wrist was a bit too tight so I picked it back out and used a bit of the seam allowance to give a better fit. The flared hemline was a bit more than I wanted but I made this dress before the retro one. I think I finally got the flared hemline sweep setting figured out.





Yes, I give candy to play with to get her to stand in one place. Daddy bought candy when he went food shopping.

January finished projects.

Here is my mosaic of projects I made in the month of January.

Pics going left to right top to bottom...
1. Retro dress for Demi
2. Blue flower top for Zee
3. Embroidered leather heart hair clip
4. Make up bag for me
5. A-line flower dress with matching headband for Zee
6. Embroidered soft leather shoes for Zee
7. Square neck T-shirt (made from old maternity tank) for Demi.
8. Strawberry top for Zee (my favorite).
9. Legwarmers for Zee
10. Retro dress for Zee
11. Quilt skirt for Demi
12. Headband for me
13. Retro headband for Zee.
14. Embroidered kissing frog yoga pant for Zee (made from old maternity top).
15. Church dress for Demi
16. Retro headband for Demi
17. Church dress for Zee
18. Peasant top for me
19. Glitter peasant top for Demi
20. Ladybug top for Zee

I know I didn't blog about all of them. Please forgive me and understand that I can't blog and sew at the same time. ;) I will try to find time this week to catch up but honestly that might not happen (I have a stack of sewing for this month piled up next to my machine already). I hope to remember to snap a quick pic of everything I make again this month. Happy Feb. crafting everyone!

Jan challenge. So the theme for January is YOU!

OOPS! I am writing this a day late... I didn't take on the challenge to win anything... I just wanted to try to find time in the month of January to make something just for me! Last week life got busy and took away a lot of my computer time (my reason for being a day late). Am I the only one wondering how February slipped in so fast?

I am happy to say I made 3 things for myself! I made a simple peasant top. Nothing exciting but a finished project.
I made a headband.

And a makeup bag.

The makeup bag I really needed! I hope to make a few things for me every month this year. I now need to rush off and put my name down that I completed the challenge and take a look at the challenge for February.

I will be back later today or tomorrow with a collage of all my January finished sewing/knitting/craft projects (another thing I wanted to have put together and blogged before the end of Jan).

My Retro Girls

My children gave me fabric from the local quilt store for my birthday (I know that is no surprise to most of you). My youngest picked out a very cool retro print by timeless treasures (I'm sure Daddy helped her pick it out). I didn't know what to do with it. It kept yelling I'm retro and won't look good sewn up any other way. I used Child's Play software to draft the pattern (I am starting to really love this program). I drafted up a knee length, zipper in back, A-line dress that I thought would give a 70's retro look. Tiny pink bias tape was added to bottom of skirt and sleeves. I made up some wide headbands to finish the look. A lady came up to me at church and told me she had the same dress exact dress (only in brown) when she was younger. Hearing her say that made me feel like I got it right. It is a dark day so my pics are not that nice. I will try to get some better pics in the next few days. The good looking young man in the back is my son. I don't sew much for him. He likes to shop at the mall like other children his age.

My New Treasure Chest

I got lots of exciting sewing and craft gifts for Christmas. My hubby and children bought me fabric, soap making stuff, machine needles, embroidery thread, and other fun crafty stuff. My Mom gave me a very generous gift card to Joann Fabric (my favorite store). Rob's mom gave me a crafty box. This crafty box is kind of like an old pirate's treasure chest only it's for a craft lover (me).





The box was so full it wouldn't close.





Look at all the wonderful treasures inside!





Polar fleece!





Fabric with a Japan stamp on it. Last year my hubby bought me a lot of Japanese fabrics. I don't remember any of them with a stamp like this on them. I find it very interesting. I think I need to pull out my Japanese pattern book for this fabric.





Pic above is muslin, some lining fabric, canvas, and the green stuff is a table cloth or drape fabric. It is very interesting... Very different from anything I have ever used before.






Bottom weight fabrics. Denim and twill!




Blue is knit material. Other 2 I think one is like a satin (might have wrong side out). The brown is a very thin, light weight,sheer type of fabric.





Trims. Very cool funky trim! I know everyone knows I love my trims! I have about 50 ideas on what to do with the green trim and 4 ideas for the white.



More trims and do-dads.




Even more trims and some thread.



Yes even more trims!!!!





Dodads!





Patterns!






And this very cool fabric. It is a very heavy fabric. It looks and feels very vintage (I love vintage stuff). I know many other things in the box are vintage and that makes this box of treasures more fun for me to have!





Other than my dream box of treasures she also gave me a coat box FULL of ZIPPERS!




This box must have hundreds of zippers in it! I have already used over a dozen and the box is still over the top full! I will put all this to good use! I will try to post pics of all my completed projects. I have to admit I have 5 items sewn but I haven't taken pics. I hope to do a little photo shoot with my girls this weekend.

fix before and after pics

I had to post the first try and the fixed pics side by side because I feel it is such an improvement I want to remember this. I often make mistakes and toss them out so I don't have to remember ever making a mistake. I rather pretend they didn't happen then try to fix it. BTW I didn't fix this because I wanted to fix it. I did it because my 2 yo loves her new flower shirt. I learn so much from my wonderful children!
Before pic.


It is to large. The amount of excess fabric on the sides are EXTREME!

After pic



Fit is 100 X's better. Don't you agree?

One more look...
Before

Look at all the extra fabric on the side.

After

Isn't that better?

Note to self: Taking a few minutes to fix a mistake can be worth it even with cheap fabric. This fabric cost $1.50. It only took a few minutes to fix and made one little girl very happy!

80's legwarmers and a fixed top

I fixed my messed up flower top. It only took about 15 minutes to fix. I washed it, cut out all the extra fabric on the sides, stitched the sides back together, fixed a tiny pucker in the arm, and ran an iron over the embroidered flowers. I think it looks 100 times better!
Now when she lifts her arm you don't see a ton of extra fabric!


Here are a pair of leg warmers I knit for her.

Pony tail on the side of her head and leg warmers... YUP! This 2 yo is rock-n it 80's style!

Leather hair clip

I embroidered a sample heart & Z before I did the embroidery on the black leather shoes. I didn't want to toss out my sample but what to do with a leather Z heart? I thought of lots of fun ideas but in the end it became a small hair clip.

All I did was trim around the heart and stitch it to a little hair clip. It was a 1 minute project.

I stuck it in her hair when she was having a snack. That is why she has cookie on her face.

Church Dresses

Rob gave me this fabric for Christmas. It was 3 yards and I used every last bit of it to make 2 dresses. Both dresses have a zipper back and pleated skirts. This is not one of my "cheap" projects. I know we could have bought dresses cheaper in the store than the price of the fabric. The dresses took a lot of time and fabric to make (set in sleeves and pleats made this a very time consuming project). I think the pleats look nicer than a gathered skirt making the time worth it. I think the fabric is pretty so the cost of the fabric was also worth it. You can't see in the pics but the fabric has gold in all the flowers.
Here is a pic of all my children ready to go to church.
Forgive the writing I still have my headache.