Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Autumn Banner


Here is the banner Nicole chose for winning my giveaway!! I love it! Congratulations Nicole, and thank you to everyone who participated in my 100th post giveaway!! I have the BEST "sweeties"!! Have a good Tuesday...I am off to the sewing machine "dr." to bring in my embroidery machine. Until later....

Monday, November 9, 2009

A few more baby items...

So I make it to 100 and then don't show up for a WEEK!!! Sorry, I have been very lazy this week! In between sinus FACEaches and fighting tension problems with my embroidery machine and lower looper problems with my serger I have just been wiped out!! But even though there is a Hurricane a'coming, the skies are looking bluer!! I think I FINALLY fixed my seger and I am going to bite the $100 bullet and bring my embroidery machine in and hope that it is just some minute piece of thread stuck somewhere causing my tension to be OFF!! So now that THAT is decided....on with what I have been doing!! Well, what I did before my machines went down...
First up, my first crib skirt!
It was much easier than I thought it would be and BIG thank you to Amy Butler's little stitches for little ones. I followed the pattern and instructions and it was super simple! This was for my new bloggie friend Elaine. We met at JoAnn's and she picked out this fabulous black and white print. And I had enough left over to make a little pillow and an 8" x 10" piece that I monogrammed for her to put in a frame for her little one's room. Too sweet!

I also finally finished this order and got it to my friend!
The bloomers with the band are courtesy of a super talented girl which I found through Made by Rae. I loved the look of the banded legs and wanted to try it. Her tutorial is for a newborn size and I needed a 9-12 mo size, so I used my favorite bloomer pattern and added the bands. It came out a little bigger than what I wanted, so I tried again using a 6 mo bloomer size. Still a little big, but definitely better than the first attempt.

So that is it for now! I will be finishing up the banner for my 100th post winner Nicole now that my serger is back up and running and hope my embroidery machine will do well enough until I bring it in Tuesday! I have a TON of things on my LIST of to do, so I will be checking in from time to time. But there is SO MUCH going on in the sewing world with the holidays coming up!! Sew Mama Sew is hosting another fabulous Giveaway Day, but I think I will sit this one out. I so enjoyed meeting everyone who visited, but didn't get hardly any time to visit any myself. SO I will be GREEDY and try my luck at winning....and you should too! :) Also, the sweet girls at Wee Folk Art will be compiling an AWESOME list of bloggers who have Etsy stores so I encourage you to check them out and get the word out to BUY HANDMADE this holiday season!! It will make you feel so good to know that you are supporting families and there are just so many TALENTED people out there! Just click on the cute little button on the left and it will take you to the list!! And while you are there, grab your own button to put on your blog!!

The weekend was filled with fun, we went to Movies in the Parc and watched The Wizard of Oz under the stars. And today, I finally took down the summer gels that were stuck on my back windows and let the kids go wild....

Until later...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

And the winner is......

Here are your random numbers: 7
Timestamp: 2009-11-03 21:42:32 UTC
Congratulations Nicole!! I will be emailing you soon!
Thank you everyone for participating, and helping me achieve my 100th post! If it wasn't for my sweeties, and a few random visitors every now and then, I might have given up some time ago!! You all mean so much to me!!
I have not one, but TWO machines down this week so I might not be back this week. My poor serger has a bent lower looper slide thingie, and my embroidery machine is having MAJOR tension issues! Thankfully my sewing machine is doing fine and dandy!!
Sew Mama Sew has already begun their Handmade Holidays, so check them out for giveaways, tutorials, recipes, gift ideas, and as ALWAYS tons of INSPIRATION!! Until later...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

My 100th Post Giveaway!!!

YAY!!! I made it to 100!! It was touch and go for awhile....I thought I would NEVER get this done! Without further ado....here is what I am giving away.....







This banner is made using burlap, felt, tulle, ribbons, and a thick "rustic" twine.




The leaves were cut using a pattern from my sweet friends at Wee Folk Art, then monogrammed with family names. I used a thin wire threaded through the back to help "shape" the leaves, and to make them stiff.
The banner is approximately 78" long...that's over 6 ft of burlap goodness!! The individual pennants are about 8" x 10", the 8" of course, being at the top of the pennant. The ends have been serged to keep the weave of the burlap from coming undone!



Here is the Giveaway info:

The Giveaway will start NOW and go until sometime Monday, November 2nd. I will be out of town this weekend and possibly away from my computer so if I don't get a chance to thank each of you for visiting.....THANK YOU FOR VISITING!! :)


All you have to do is leave a comment...interesting ones are the BEST...tell me what your plans are for Thanksgiving....tell me what you did for Halloween...and for all of my "out of the States" visitors, tell me what SEASON it is!! :) (YES! I am shipping internationally!!)


Make sure you leave an email, blog link, or some other way for me to get in touch with you if you are the winner!!

The winner will receive a Burlap Banner. If you like the FAMILY one...great, but I would be willing to do FALL or AUTUMN. If you prefer all one color on the letters...I can do that too! Tulle and ribbon colors can be your choice also. I'm always open for suggestions, so tell me what you like!



Well, I guess that is it for now! I will be back Monday to announce the WINNER!! Thanks again for visiting and Good LUCK!! Until later...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Halloween Costumes and a Treat Bag

When my SIL asked me to do a treat bag for my sweet little niece...it was a no-brainer!! OF COURSE I WILL!! For one thing, she is my niece and I love doing things for her, and the other is that I knew I would not have to THINK about it!! My SIL is excellent at knowing exactly what she wants!! She knew the color of the bag, the color and size of the bows, and which design she wanted on it!! She even sent me a link to the embroidery website she found the design on! Awesome. You know being creative all of the time is HARD WORK!! Sometimes it is nice to have someone tell you what to do because after that, your own creative juices are refilled!! I guess that is why I am addicted to so many other sewing blogs! I can just look and look and get the best ideas and inspiration. And if I am lucky, there is a tutorial that tells me what to do! :)

So this treat bag was made using another bag as a template. I just cut all of the pieces of felt, sewed them together, then did a good top stitch all the way around for extra reinforcement. I did two layers on the front and back panels and sandwiched the straps in between, and also added a second layer on the bottom, for extra support. Very easy, and such a cute outcome!



This is what Ms. Priss picked to be her costume this year. I said, "Sure! I can make that!"


So what do you think? No pattern, just a picture to look at! Not bad, eh? The flowers were made courtesy of the MANY blogs I read, and would never have thought of doing had it not been for the inspiration I receive from them! Thank you!

Here is the back, with a beautiful action shot!



For the flower in her hair, I threaded some embroidery floss and added some seed beads in the middle of the petals. Then ran the floss through the flower a couple of times, and tied it around a rubber band. She loves it!

The Middle Child chose to be a witch, so of course I thought....TuTu!!


I made a pair of pantaloons for her to wear under the Tutu, and used elastic thread around the leg holes for the easy "ruffled" effect. I wasn't going to do a top at first, just a black tee with embellishments on it, but decided at the last minute to "try my hand" at it! I loosely used a Simplicity pattern just to cut the pieces, and figure out how to add the "V". Once it was all together, I added a little sparkly around the "V" and pink ruffles at the bottom of the sleeves. I probably should have made it a little longer, but the Tutu does a good job keeping her shirt from rising up! For the hat, lots of embellishing on a $1 hat from Target!! I sewed the pink marabou boa around the rim, then hot glued the ribbon, pompoms and rhinestones! I guess that means I am friends with my glue gun again! :)
Here is another beautiful action shot!


For The Boy I was just going to buy him something, but again...at the last minute came up with the idea for him to be Ms. Priss' dance partner. The black pants were the ones I made for my cousin's wedding. His cummerbund is a satin ribbon joined in a circle with a 1/4" elastic piece. And his "ruffled" shirt is a long-sleeved white onesie with 6 strips of red satin ribbon with 1/4" elastic zigzagged down the center then joined to form a ring. Slip them up the arm and VIOLA! Instant Flamenco Dancer Shirt!! I SO love EASY!


Yes, his cummerbund is crooked...he was sleeping when I measured his waist!! :) We had so much fun at the Boo At The Zoo today! And everyone was very impressed with my costume making abilities! Sometimes I surprise myself!! :)

So, guess what? My next post will be my 100th!! Make sure you come back and leave a comment to enter to win my FABULOUS giveaway!! Until later...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Halloween Banners

Ok, so here are pictures of the rest of the decorations that I hinted at on my last post:

Ta-Da!! Burlap banners!! I have been having fun working with burlap. I read about it all of the time on Maya Made, but never really thought of incorporating it into any of my sewing projects until my sweet Bloggy friend, Chelle introduced me to The Polka Dot Pig!! Have you been to this blog? AMAZING!! She is so full of GOOD STUFF!! Ok, I have now used that on two posts...Martha has Good Things...I get STUFF!! :) Anyway...back to The Polka Dot Pig! She was having a giveaway for one of her Spooky banners, and sadly I did not win. So I thought about it....and wouldn't you know that JoAnn's was having a sale on burlap that week...AND felt. So the next thing you know, I'm there buying stuff!! I quickly made a couple of stencils and set out to make myself a banner!

And one for my Momma:

And a couple for my SIL's sister, whose baby Boy is turning 1 on November 2nd, so she is having a Halloween-inspired party the weekend before.

As you can see, the more I make, the more "creative" I get!! I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas....maybe I'll do some for those Holidays as well!

But why wait??!! The fabulous aforementioned Katie is WAY ahead of me, she has already begun! She also makes awesome name photo albums and other Scrapbooky type things, AND she designs blog pages, so many things to choose from. She is truly inspirational. Thanks Katie!!

My banners are made with burlap and felt. For the first one I did, which is the purple SPOOKY one, I used a sticky-backed craft felt. I thought it would be easier to hold the letters while I sewed them on. It worked out ok, but I wanted to use different colors for the lettering, so I switched to just regular felt and pinned it on. Also on the first one, I noticed that the edges of the burlap unraveled a little, so on the next ones I decided to serge the pennants. I really liked the clean finish it gave. And because I use my serger ALOT...I have tons of scraps. So when I saw that Sew Mama Sew! was having a Scrapbuster's Month, I started thinking of something I could use my serger scraps for. That is how the idea of a little spider and ghost came about!! Don't you just love how creativity works??!! It is never ending!

Well, I am almost finished with the kids' Halloween costumes. I'll be back to show them off once I am done!! And don't forget to keep checking back for my 100th post giveaway...you are going to LOVE it!! Until later...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Serger Scrap Stuffies!!

Those of you with Sergers, THIS has got to be a familiar sight...



If not....then I guess I just keep showing my TRUE clutterbug self!! :)

So I am kinda bummed! I thought I would have this AWESOME idea and submit it to Sew Mama Sew! for the Scrapbuster Month Contest....little did I realize that the contest is for a TUTORIAL!!! UGH! I have none, sadly! :( I think I am the LAST sewing blog to NOT have a tutorial! I've got to get it together! So anyway.... I decided to at least SHOW you my idea!


So there you go....Serger Scrap Stuffies...softies...stuffed thingies....whatever you call them! Now, obviously these are NOT to be used in toys for children. I am making these into HALLOWEEN decorations! YAY!

I will be back later in the week to show you the rest of the decoration!!

But here is one...and it comes with an AWESOME pattern and TUTORIAL...just not from me!!


Isn't this the cutest little kitty?? This is from the most generous and talented mother/ daughter team on the WWW! Wee Folk Art! If you haven't been to check them out yet...WHY NOT??? Their blog is FULL of such good stuff!! And Kimara has even ventured into POWER TOOLS!! You've gotta go see....I'll wait!
Alright, now that you are back.... check out what's inside...

yep, more Serger scraps!! The Middle Child enjoyed diving into that big ole box and throwing scraps around! She even managed to get some in the kitty! This kitty, by the way, is actually a door stop! Pretty neat, huh? Well, I don't have any doors that need stopping, so it just sits on a shelf in my living room looking Halloweeny!! :) I did all of the stitching during the ride to Texas.

I didn't attach the tip of the tail so it would have a little "flared" effect!! Love it! Thanks ladies...I've got so much MORE to do from your blog...so keep the good stuff coming!! :)

Now, just for a little bit of inside information....I know of this one blog that is about to reach her 100th post, and she is thinking about having a FABULOUS giveaway to celebrate!!! Here's the link:

IT'S ME....sillies!! :) I have the greatest thing I am going to be starting-to-work-on-SOON-I-promise....and you are going to love it!!! So...if you are visiting me for the first time or tend to be more of a lurker....make sure you come back and SPEAK up!! All you will have to do is leave a comment, I promise! Well...I am off to bed, maybe....or maybe I'll be remembering to post my link over at SMS for my NON-contest entry!! :) Until later...