EmmmyLizzzy

Ruffled Waterfall Crib Skirt

2012-02-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

I was planning on doing a tutorial on how to make this lovely crib skirt, but I ended up going into labor just after I started making it. I wanted to be really sure it was true labor before I went to the hospital, so I kept working away on this project, pausing every 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 5 minutes to grab the table, white-knuckled and try not to scream my head off. So sufficient to say, I did not take any pictures of the process. But I'll try to walk you through the construction nonetheless.

So basically a crib skirt is made up of a deck and three panels (I didn't make one for the 4th side since it would be up against a wall and you wouldn't see it anyway). The deck is just a measurement of the crib mattress size, which is a standard 28" x 52". The side panels are the length of the side and then the measurement of where you want the skirt to hit the floor.

With this crib skirt, I left it hanging a good 6 inches or so off of the floor. That way when the crib mattress is lowered when Penelope gets older, it will just brush the floor as opposed to puddling in a crinkled mess.

I ended up using exactly one yard of each fabric for the ruffles. I cut the bottom two colors into 6 inch tall strips and the top color into 5 inch tall strips (this makes all of the ruffles appear the same size since there is about one inch of overlap on the bottom two ruffles).

To get a full ruffle-y effect I cut my strips 2 1/2 times as long as each panel. So for the short sides, my strips were 70" and the long front panel strips were 130". Hem the two short ends and one of the long sides. Then I simply ruffled the strips by sewing a long basting stitch along the unhemmed side and gathering the fabric until it was the length of the panel, pinned it down like crazy, and sewed it to the panel.

For the topmost strips, I sewed them to the panels - wrong sides facing - so that the raw edges would not be exposed, but for the middle and bottom strips, I simply laid them so they were laying right side up because the raw edges would be covered by the ruffle from above. I didn't even bother to remove my gathering stitches since they won't be seen anyways.

Then I sewed the panels to the deck.

Ta-da!

Now since you've tackled the crib skirt, you can go on to make one of those fancy shower curtains from Anthropologie. But probably not for awhile. You'll be super sick of ruffling.

Penelope's Nursery

2012-02-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

Deer print is from here, bunny was thrifted.

I'm happy to say that so far Penelope has proved to be a pretty patient little baby, and didn't seem to mind that her nursery was still in shambles when she arrived.

Thankfully, she's also been a great sleeper, so I've been able to finish it up before she outgrew it!

We recycled most of the furniture and main baby items from Phoebe's nursery, but went with a completely different color palette.

Want to see a before picture (as in, before we bought the house)? Click here. But be warned, it's a little scary.

Once again, Polly finds herself right at home in the crib.

I want to secure and paint that darn cord the same color as the wall, but with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year old, I've got better things to do with my (almost nonexistent) free time.

I found that sweet little Hansel and Gretal lamp for $3 at my local thrift store and added a clearance lampshade from Target. The house lights up too!

More info on the ABC crewelwork sampler here.

I totally copied these doily clouds from here.

I picked up the bird screen print from local artist Marcy Davy of All Things Grow, the book was thrifted, and the cat was my great-grandmothers.

I made the crib sheet from one of my favorite vintage sheets using Dana's tutorial - which is ridiculously simple and fantastic. I ended up getting Phoebe to sleep in her big girl bed by letting her pick out her own fabric for her sheets. Now she has kitty sheets, snowman sheets, and butterfly sheets. It's crazy how much joy a fitted sheet brings her.

The stuffed lamb has been around for awhile, but has seemed to take up residence in the crib because she matches so darn well.

Stay tuned for a post on how I made this super-sweet crib skirt!
*The post is up! Click here for a how-to*

The doily lamp will be getting it's own post too.

The nursery at night. Such a cozy place for a sweet baby!

Now I know my ABC's

2012-02-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

Remember this project? Ya know, this one. Well it's finally finished!

I actually completed it just before Penelope arrived, but I didn't get around to framing it until as of late. It's now hanging in her completed nursery (well, as completed as it's going to be) that will be revealed tomorrow! Yay!

This project was my first go around with crewel and I am utterly smitten. I'm hoping that Alicia will come up with a new kit sometime in the future, but until then her Winterwood cross stitch sampler is looking very enticing....

I am not above bribery

2012-02-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if it's because we have a new baby at home, she's just getting over a cold, or because she's just being 2 1/2 (probably all of the above), but Phoebe has been particularly difficult and uncooperative lately - and that's putting it nicely.

She is particularly pissed off in the above photo (and this was the best looking from the whole screaming, crying bunch) because - 1. She's wearing a shirt that she did not pick out herself. 2. She'd probably rather be having a root canal than have her picture taken.

Bring on the chocolate chips....

Okay, let's try this again (and let's try to ignore the sock-covered hand accessory that she refused to take off)....

I'm testing out Rae's new pattern for her Skinny Tee. Can I say - what a freaking fantastic pattern!

I made this version out of an old shirt from the thrift store - which is my favorite source for knit fabrics. They're super cheap, and you get to take advantage of things such as already finished hemlines, and premade cuffs - which save tons of time and effort while sewing.

This is a must-have, basic pattern for anyone sewing kids clothes. Once you've made it once or twice, it comes together incredibly fast (we're talking 1/2 an hour, people!), and can be customized for soooooo so many different looks. Plus, it comes in sizes 12 months - 5T, so this pattern is going to get a ton of use in my house.

And no, Rae's not paying me to say any of this....
But she's welcome to!

The Skinny Tee pattern should be up on Rae's blog in the next couple of days.

Christmas crafting - revealed!

2012-01-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

With Penelope being born so soon after Christmas, it got kind of hectic meeting up with friends and family to exchange presents. Actually, I have yet to exchange secret santa presents with a group of friends from my modern quilting guild - so I do have one handmade present that I still have to keep under wraps.

I kept it pretty simple regarding the amount of gift sewing I took on this year. Just a few simple projects for those closest to me.

In addition to the nesting pouches I've previously posted about, I've been working on the following....

My sister does a lot of traveling, so I made her a zippered dopp kit for her toiletries, using this tutorial from The Purl Bee, along with some additional pouches to go inside. I'd been eyeing this tutorial for a long time, and am glad to say that it was generally super easy! The most difficult part was sewing on some of the bias tape on the inside seams (those corners!), but thankfully those aren't visible unless you go looking for them.

Phoebe's best friend got a dachshund necklace to match her own.

I finally cut into my closely hoarded stash of voile to make a square dance scarf that I've been seeing all over Pinterest. Such a simple, lovely project, and the voile was so wonderful to sew with that I wondered why I hadn't made anything out of it sooner!

These were my most time consuming projects of the holiday season. From Alicia Paulson's book Stitched in Time, I was excited to finally try the patchwork picture frames project. This was my first attempt at printing photos on fabric, and I'm amazed at how easy it turned out to be! I picked up a package of printable fabric sheets from Joann's, and just ran them through my printer (which is nothing special or fancy) on plain paper, normal setting, and they came out perfect the first time. Score! You can find the full instructions in Alicia's book, of course.

Thanks for sticking around during the sporatic posting - I've got tons of stuff to show you, but I've been using every free minute to cuddle my dear little Penelope. She's pretty much the sweetest baby in the world.

Gratuitous baby pictures

2012-01-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

I had a crafty post planned for today, but then some sneak peeks from Penelope's newborn photoshoot were posted, and I can't seem to tear myself away from them.

If anyone in the Southeast Michigan area is looking for a great photographer - especially with babies and children, I highly, highly recommend Kari Breker Photography. She is incredibly talented, fantastic with kids, and happens to be a dear friend of mine :)

Check out some more from our photoshoot here.

A blanket - just in time for baby

2012-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

For such a simple blanket - just about the entire piece is made up solely of double crochets - this has become my favorite crocheted project ever.

I finished the actual blanket shortly before Christmas, then feverishly worked to whipstich some doilies on the top - because heaven forbid if the baby would come and her blanket was still doily-less! I was crossing my fingers that I had enough yarn, and some of the blocks were finished with a mere inches left on the skein. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky with the green and if you look in the bottom right corner, you'll see that I was one row and three stitches short. Instead of waddling out to the yarn shop on Chirstmas eve, I just went with it and threw in some more yellow.

For the edging, I ended up using the same method used on Dottie Angel's patchwork blanket - a row of double crochet, a row of single crochet, then a simple picot stitch to finish it off.

So even though she didn't feel like waiting until the crib skirt was finished to make her arrival, this cozy blanket was completed and waiting to wrap up this precious little bundle.

Penelope June arrived on December 30 at 4:10pm, weighing in at 8 lbs, 13 oz - one week early, and not even 24 hours after my last blog post where I was bribing her to come out. What a well behaved little girl :)

Becoming a momma for the second time has been simply wonderful. With Phoebe, I felt like I was wrapped in a new mommy fog of worries, anxiety, and post partum depression that lasted for months and I can barely remember her little baby days. This time I feel like an old pro, where I can just relax and nuzzle my face into her sweet smelling baby hair for hours and hours. It's simply divine. Plus, as any momma knows - newborns are a piece of cake compared to toddlers!

Nursery sneak peek

2011-12-29T18:35:00.000-08:00

I've got a couple more projects for the nursery that I'd like to tackle, but I have a feeling that I'll still be working on those even after she arrives.

Can you tell I have a thing for doilies?

With each project I work on, I keep telling myself, "She just doesn't want to arrive until this is finished" and then, "She doesn't want to arrive until that is finished..." Well, tonight it's "She doesn't want to arrive until the crib skirt is finished". I figure a good bribe can't hurt. But maybe I should take a cue from her sister and offer up some chocolate.

Merry, merry

2011-12-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays, dear friends! Did everyone survive? We kept Christmas pretty low-key this year since my husband had to work and I was (and still am) much too pregnant to go too crazy.

I simply love that little chipped tooth!

Phoebe had an absolute blast, got waaaaay too many presents, and made Christmas all the more exciting for every one of us here.

I was hoping to finally reveal all of the Christmas goodies I've been working on the past month, but I still have a few family members and friends to exchange gifts with, so it will have to wait a bit longer. As for myself, I was surprised by my husband and parents who went together to get me a brand new, shiny camera that I've been coveting for the past year, as well as some gift certificates for, what else - fabric!

And as if I wasn't spoiled enough on Christmas morning, my family has taken Phoebe off my hands for the next couple of days so I can take it easy before all the chaos of a new baby takes over.

Even though I usually like to keep the tree and decorations up until after New Years, I figured I'd better get everything back in order while I had an empty house and before baby arrives. I hope the birds enjoy their Christmas treat!

Another project that will take me forever to finish

2011-12-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

Wowzers that was a lot of comments! I had a blast reading through your Christmas wish lists and adding some things to my own :) Looks like a lot of you are hoping to find new cameras, notions, and sewing machines under your Christmas trees - and not to mention fabric! Especially Lotta Jansdotter's new line, Echo. I wouldn't mind finding some of that myself.

Well, Mr. Random.org choose lucky commenter #397 - Staci of The Confused Quilter, whose present came early this year when she and her husband treated themselves to a new TV and surround sound system. Nice! Congrats Staci - I can't wait to see what you create from these lovely fabrics.

So I know I had promised some sneak peeks of the new nursery, but by the time I finally got around to hanging some shelves today, all of the natural light was gone and pictures were a no-go. So later this week - for reals.

Another project that I've just started involves my recently completed collection of Folksy Flannels. Like most of my fabric addictions, I wasn't enamoured with these prints when they were first released, but after seeing them in person and browsing all of the lovely things made with them I decided that I had to have them all! It's always fun to go on a hunt for an entire fabric line over a year after it's been released. Especially when two of the prints have become discontinued.

Have you ever heard of a biscuit quilt? Neither had I, until I saw one at a quilt shop a couple of years ago. It's basically a quilt that is made out of individually sewn "biscuits" or "puffs" that are made out of two pieces of fabric, of which the larger top piece is pleated, sewn to the bottom piece, then stuffed to form these individual little puffs. I picked up these handy little clips when they were on super clearance at Joanns, and they really get the job done and give me perfect little pleats on each side.

Since the top and bottom pieces are sewn right sides together, the bottom is completely finished as well. So once you aquire a whole mess of them, you can just whipstitch them all together and you have this awesome, cushy, textured, and super warm little quilt.

As you can see, I've made a ton of progress on this quilt. Four whole biscuits. Each finished puff is 2" square, so I'll only need about a million more to get a nice sized little throw. Add in the hand sewing and this should be done in no time!

Project snippets, updates, and a giveaway!

2011-12-11T18:23:00.001-08:00

**Giveaway is now closed! Thanks for everyone who played along - winner will be announced once I get my act in gear and take some photos for my next blog post :)

Welcome Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway groupies - and of course my lovely friends and followers. I'm finally getting over my never ending virus (knock on wood!), and I think my nesting is finally kicking back in - we're in the home stretch regarding all things Christmas and new baby. Eeeks!

Here's what I've been up to.....

Making my favorite Christmas recipe to package up for gifts - Salted Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Bark. You can find a link to the recipe from last year's post.

Remember this quilt top from waaaaaay back when? Well I finally got it basted and ready for quilting. I'm really hoping to get it done before new baby gets here because it will be great for the whole family to cuddle under since it's so ginormous. Although I think my arm muscles keep chickening out at the thought of manuvering that monstrosity through my machine.

Here's the progress I've made on new baby's crocheted afghan. Two more strips to go, weaving in some ends, and possibly a border if I have time. I'm finding it funny how much the color scheme from this blanket and the above quilt match each other - especially since I started both projects about eight months apart!

I'm absolutely loving Dottie Angel's tutorial on joining the squares as you go - I think it looks amazing and it saves so much work in the end!

In shop news, I had great luck picking up some simply gorgeous vintage sheets this weekend. They've been washed, ironed, and are already for sale in my Etsy shop!

I also found some simply stunning vintage baby quilts in pristine condition. Each individual fabric is just more beautiful than the last. I'm keeping this one for myself, but I've got one more in the shop that I'm forcing myself to part with.

And as if I don't have enough projects going on right now, I finally completed my Folksy Flannel collection thanks to Pink Castle Fabrics (who currently have bundles of the entire line in stock!) and have something fantastic in the works. More on that later....

And because I couldn't resist, I also picked up these flannel prints from Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi line (from Pink Castle as well). You know how luxurious her Folksy Flannels are? Well, if it's possible, these are even softer and cozier!

Okay, giveaway time! This giveaway is sponsored by none other than Pink Castle Fabrics! I'm super in love with the Ruby line by Moda and these Sundae Stripe prints are my favorite.

Just leave a comment telling me what you hope to get for Christmas this year, and you'll be in the running for a fat quarter from each of the colorways - six in total! As for me, I'm hoping that this baby will arrive early, but I'm definitely not holding my breath :) I guess I'd settle for a Liberty Mini Fabric Bundle - I've been pining after one of those for a long time!

Good luck everyone - the giveaway will stay open until Friday at 5pm EST and yes, I'm willing to ship internationally. I'll be back in the next day or two with with a sneak peek of the new nursery!

Stopping to enjoy the season

2011-12-09T20:17:00.001-08:00

Christmas is always crazy and busy and hectic, but this year is all the more so with my due date looming a mere 2 weeks after Santa's visit. Throw on top of that an incredibly nasty virus that invaded our house over a week ago, took out the entire family, and yet still hasn't left. Sigh.

In between all of the cough medicine, hot tea, and holding down a screaming toddler about 50 times a day to wipe her faucet of a snotty nose, I've made a little bit of progress around the house. Some Christmas presents have been made, decorations are going up bit by bit, baby projects are coming along, and I have finally started setting up the nursery. But I could definitely use a couple extra weeks - and a whole lot more energy!

I took a break tonight to relax on the couch and work on some popcorn and cranberry garland while watching White Christmas. Definitely one of my favorite holiday traditions - and our tree is looking a bit naked without it.

Be sure to come back Monday since I'll once again be participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! It's been tons of fun in years past and this time will be no exception!

Tree cutting and christmas crafting

2011-11-30T18:58:00.001-08:00

It's not even December yet and already our holiday festivities are in full swing.

We cut down our Christmas tree, took obligatory 34 weeks pregnant photos (please disregard the look of exhaustion and no makeup on my face), and decorated every square inch of our house.

It has been the most fun holiday season that I can remember because Phoebe is super into it this year. I couldn't even count the number of times that Phoebe "ooooo'ed" and "aaaahhhhh'ed" and said "That is so so pretty/sparkly" while we got out our decorations. And she tries her darndest to hug and kiss the Christmas tree about 20 times every day. "I LOVE my Christmas tree!"

We've also been doing some holiday crafting. I have to keep Phoebe's projects a secret for right now since they're gifts for the family, but this is a little something that I whipped up for my Modern Quilt Guild's ornament swap that took place at tonight's meeting.

I can't take credit for the adorable pattern - I spotted it on Pinterest (of course!) a couple weeks ago. You can find the full tutorial and printable pattern here.

Phoebe was pretty bummed when I had to wrap this one up to give away, so I think I'll be making a couple more of these sweet little cottages to grace our Christmas tree!

More projects from the couch

2011-11-25T18:30:00.001-08:00

I get bitten by the same crochet bug every fall. Once the weather starts getting cooler, I find myself venturing into yarn shops and scouring my studio for misplaced crochet hooks that haven't seen the light of day since last winter. You can definitely call me a seasonal crocheter.

This year I'm more in love with it than ever since 1) Just about all of my projects are for the new baby, and each stitch gets me more and more excited for her arrival 2) I've pretty much surpassed beached whale status and it's incredibly uncomfortable and exhausting to do most any activity that doesn't allow me to lie on the couch with a carefully calculated placement of at least 20 pillows.

My main project that I'm working on at the moment is an afghan for the new baby. I guess I've set the trend that each new baby gets his or her own quilt, cross-stitch, embroidery, and crocheted afghan. This is what Phoebe's looks like.

I picked out the yarn before I even started looking at patterns (because I like to live dangerously :), and finally settled on 7 shades of Berroco Comfort yarn in a worsted weight (white was on back-order at the time so it's not pictured).

Patchwork diagrams - I ended up going with the top right sketch

After falling in love with this blanket (the whole room really) on Pinterest, I followed Dottie Angel's basic how-to for joining the squares as you go. But basically, each square is made up of 15 rows of 25 double crochets. It's incredibly relaxing since it's a simple stitch with basically no counting, and you can actually carry on a conversation while you're working without losing your place.

This was all the progress that I had made back in October since my white yarn was on backorder for FOREVER, but since it finally arrived last week the blanket is now just about halfway completed.

But in the meantime, I had found the last two skeins of Berroco Plush for half price in the discontinued bin, and they were so soft and frothy that I just had to make something for my winter baby. This is an incredibly basic baby hat pattern that I have made a million times, but it took me forever because the yarn is so fluffy and fuzzy that it was near to impossible to see or count my completed stitches. After ripping it out more times than I'd like to remember, I finally just winged it and guesstimated the entire thing, adding and subtracting stitches when I thought the hat started to look lopsided.

Does anyone else have any great baby crochet patterns to share? I'm looking for my next project!

Celebrating Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T19:20:00.001-08:00

Anyone else out there celebrating Thanksgiving? Or has everyone skipped ahead to Christmas?

Don't get me wrong, Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday of the year and I like to go all out with gingerbread houses, cutting down a fresh tree, and coating our house in multiple layers of tinsel and glitter, but I've always loved Thanksgiving and it makes me kind of sad that it gets the shaft - being stuck there in between Halloween and Christmas.

When I was younger, Thanksgiving consisted of me sleeping in, and waking up in just enough time to watch the parade while helping my mom make pumpkin pies (she made the crust while I made the filling), going to my grandparent's for the absolute best meal of the year, then playing games and eating said pie the rest of the evening. Such a low-key, cozy holiday.

Taking a day to give thanks became even more important to us three years ago when we discovered just a few days prior that our cycle of IVF was successful and we were expecting our first baby after two years of trying to conceive. When we went around the table to say what we were thankful for, we passed out pictures of our precious little embryo.

So I've definitely been trying to make Thanksgiving meaningful in our house and talking with Phoebe about the first Thanksgiving (and as one of my friends said, "Without going into the whole Trail of Tears thing", lol) and what it means to be thankful for what we have.

The major bummer is that there really aren't a lot of decorations that scream "Thanksgiving", and since I like to keep things festive around here, I've resorted to making a lot of my own.

Phoebe became really smitten with finding pretty leaves in October, so we ended up pressing a bunch of them and suspending them from our big picture window. Of course my husband walked in and immediately questioned my sanity as to why there was a giant stick suspended in our living room (as I'm sure most of the other moms at playgroup were when I found it in the park and drug it back to my car a couple weeks ago).

I also took some inspiration from Pinterest and made a bunch of these simple garlands by cutting out random leaf shapes from some felt scraps and sewing them together with a basic running stitch.

This little crocheted turkey and pumpkin pie have actually been around for quite awhile, as I went crazy during the early days of amigurumi and crocheted pretty much any free pattern I could find. The turkey pattern can be found here, but I can't seem to find where the pie pattern came from.

I hope all of you have just as much to be thankful for!

"I like things you can put things into"

2011-11-13T16:54:00.001-08:00

That was one interesting quote by Andy Rooney that I picked up during one of his many tributes that have been playing on the news lately.

Sure, not the most eloquent statement - but what person doesn't like to have an assortment of boxes, bags, and pouches in which to organize their life?

And nesting pouches? Even better! A pouch to put all of your other pouches into.

I made these using an assortment of Denyse Schmidt's new fabric line for Joann's - Daisy Mae. The largest pouch is 12" square and the rest decrease in increments of 2". I layered all of the outer pieces with some light batting and quilted them all with different straight-stitch designs.

I highly doubt that these would be Andy Rooney's top fabric choices, but I think the recipient will be happy!

More coziness

2011-11-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

Since I really don't need many baby supplies for this second little girl, I decided to splurge when it came to making her some special keepsakes.

Right now I'm in baby blanket production mode since all of Phoebe's baby blankets have been claimed by, well, Phoebe of course.

I have been madly in love with fabric designer nani IRO for a looooong long time. Not only are her prints incredibly gorgeous, but some of them are printed on the softest, most lovely double cotton gauze - of which I have been completely smitten ever since Heather Ross' Far Far Away collection came out.

So why isn't my entire house swathed in this fabric? Well, at about $22/yard, it's definitely a splurge for our current budget. But after a couple of good Etsy sales, I went ahead and order a yard of this print...

.....and a yard of this one - both from Superbuzzy.

All of these blankets are pretty simple with just one piece of fabric for the top, and one for the backing. I sewed them right sides together, turned them out, then used a decorative topstitch around the edges.

I paired each of them a little differently - this one has the double gauze top with a voile pastry line backing....

.....and I pieced a backing for this one out of all of my leftover Far Far Away double cotton gauze.

Finally, this one has a Little Folks voile top with a Folksy Flannel backing - both purchased from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Each one is softer and more luxurious than the next, and I think that both baby and momma are going to love cuddling together with these.

And Polly too, of course.

A quilt for the new baby

2011-11-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Did everyone out there have a wonderful Halloween?

This little bunny rabbit did! Although she looked more like a chocolate Easter rabbit by the time the night was over :)

In addition to costume sewing, I've been busy working on a quilt for the new baby and am thrilled to have gotten it finished just in time to join in the Blogger's Quilt Festival! I think that the festival is nearing almost 600 entries, so if you need any quilty inspiration, or just want oogle some beautiful quilts, this is the place to be!

It took me awhile to figure out what kind of quilt to make for this new little girl. Phoebe's was easy since I based her entire nursery off of the fabric I used to make her quilt, but since I don't really know which direction I'm taking the new nursery yet, I was a bit stumped on where to start.

I didn't want to make anything that screamed "baby!", because I hope that she'll keep this quilt close to her throughout the years as she grows up. I ended up turning to Pinterest (of course!) for inspiration - and fell in love with this mini quilt.

I've always loved the wonky stars pattern, but I especially love how in this pattern they're all interlocking, which cause pinwheels to form in the negative space.

I guess you could call this a scrappy quilt, but most of it came from me finally cutting into yardage of some of my favorite fabrics that I had been hoarding for way too long - some Flea Market Fancy, Munki Munki, and other random prints that I'm just smitten with. What better project is there to use your prized pieces in than a quilt for your new baby?

I backed the quilt in a fun rainbow stripe fabric from Alexander Henry, and quilted it in a free motion loop-de-loop pattern. The binding is patchworked together from more favorite fabrics.

Now it's just waiting for an action shot with new baby (no we still haven't picked a name yet!). 9 more weeks to go!

Handwork

2011-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

It's becoming more and more uncomfortable to sit at my sewing machine for long periods of time, so I saved a lot of embroidery and other handwork pieces for the end of my pregnancy.

I was never really into cross stitch until I discovered the most darling patterns by Gera.

I made this Hansel & Gretel one while I was pregnant with Phoebe, and I enjoyed it so much that I thought new baby should have one as well.

I ended up purchasing the Little Red Riding Hood pattern, and as you can see - I've still got a ways to go. Since I was new to cross stitch when I made Phoebe's, I used 18 count Aida cloth. However, this time I figured, "Oh, I'm an old pro at this", and went with some 28 count (28 stitches per inch). Oh boy, does that make for some tiny stitches - and much slower stitching!

Little Red herself is barely bigger than a quarter - and the pattern actually calls for 32 count, so I can't even fathom how teeny that would be!

I'm also still plugging away at my Daisy Chain Crewelwork Sampler, and wishing that Alicia would come out with another one sometime in the future. This has been such a fun, relaxing project to work on.

And when I do get a little burst of energy here or there, I find my way back to my sewing machine and sew up some blocks for new baby's quilt. Now who wants to come over and baste it for me?

Costume sewing

2011-10-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the week long absence - thanks for sticking around! Let's just say that I have never been a happy pregnant person, to put it mildly, and I've been in some sort of pregnancy funk lately. It doesn't help that I always end up getting a ridiculously huge and larger than normal pregnant belly (I didn't even leave the house my entire last month pregnant with Phoebe because people would seriously gawk at me), and I have been super uncomfortable, tired, and short tempered lately. But I doubt you came to listen to me bitch about that - so onto more fun stuff!

So one thing that I churned out during this last week was Phoebe's Halloween costume. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh? When I was little, my grandma always made costumes for my sister and I, and when we got older, my parents kind of left it up to us to create something for ourselves. Aside from some wigs and makeup, we never bought prepackaged costumes and I'm pretty sure that is what instilled my anti-manufactured Halloween costume beliefs.

Halloween is such a great time for kids to be creative and help make something truly unique to wear on a day where anything goes. I vowed before I even had kids that they would never wear one of those cheap, plastic, out of the bag costumes that promotes no imaginative thinking.

*After rereading this I realized how harsh it sounds, and by no means am I trying to belittle parents who do purchase costumes from stores. Not everyone knows how to sew, nor has the time - and who knows where I'll be next year when I've got two kiddos to sew costumes for. Just my own personal thoughts regarding Halloween - and it's my blog and I can say whatever I want :) Stepping off my soapbox now....*

So initially, I had wanted to dress Phoebe up as Rainbow Brite for Halloween. However, Phoebe has made it well known to everyone that she has her own opinions and ideas now, and hence I was informed that I would be making a bunny costume this year.

I bought a yard and a half of ultra cozy, micro-fleece at Joann's, and used two patterns that I already had in my stash. The pants were made using the quick-change trousers pattern from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings, and the hoodie was made using Heidi and Finn's Urban Unisex Hoodie pattern - previously blogged about here.

I free-handed the ears, whip-stitching them into place, and used a knit shirt from Target's clearance rack to line the hoodie and make the pink for the ears.

The only part that I'm super bummed about is that I should have gone up a size when making the hoodie, because it's a little short in the arm and waist length. This kid is just growing way too fast!

But Phoebe absolutely adores her costume, and hops to her little hearts content when she has it on.

Now we're working on the "trick or treat" part. Phoebe absolutely refuses to say it, for some unknown reason, but would instead prefer to say "Booooooo!" followed by announcing "Phoebe's kinda scary!".

Some other fall going-ons...

2011-10-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Other stuff that's been keeping us busy around here but isn't really worth an entire blog post....

A trip to the pumpkin patch

Followed by pumpkin carving (Phoebe requested that her pumpkin "have a happy face with oval eyes, a circle nose and a tiny mouth"

Making button magnets (we spent a good deal of time washing them first - kept her busy for a solid 20 minutes!)


Multiple trips to the apple orchard

Making baby shower cupcakes. Designed to coordinate with the invitation.

3rd trimester already - eeeks!

Thrifting find of the year.... or at least the last couple of months

2011-10-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit of a thrifting maniac lately. I attribute it to a couple of things....

1) I've been kicking some butt in my Etsy shop

2) I know my thrifting days are limited once I'm dealing with two kids instead of one. Phoebe's pretty good at getting in and out of the car and even asks to go to garage sales every so often, but dragging two kids in and out of carseats will be another story. Plus, I'm sure it will be a lot harder to dig through piles of junk with a tiny baby in my arms.

3) It's totally in my blood. My dad started taking me thrifting when I was Phoebe's age and once you start making those amazing finds and getting great deals, there's just no turning back.

Also, all of this old "granny chic" stuff (as I like to call it), is completely my style, and you just can't find these things in stores nowadays. Unless of course you go to Anthropologie, but then it costs an arm and a leg :)

Sooooo imagine how thrilled I was to find this amazingly, fantastic, wonderful vintage chenille peacock bedspread at one of my local thrift shops this weekend. It was balled up in a bag and laying on the floor.

I actually didn't even know what was on it until I got home, but I saw the multi-colored chenille and the price tag of $2.50, and didn't think twice. Turns out it's in amazing condition with no stains or holes, and there's only a few small spots where some areas of chenille have been pulled out.

I've never seen anything like it, and after a quick search on Etsy, found that they are currently going for $150-$300, based on the condition, design, and size. Zoinks!

Of course, my husband is giving me major hell for not listing it in the shop, but I've decided that this lovely lady will be staying with us for the time being. Plus, Phoebe is enthralled. She keeps petting it and insists that it be laid out on the floor at all times for her own personal gymnastics mat.

Here is is on our queen sized bed. Not exactly the style I'm going for in our bedroom, but definitely something to plan an amazing little girls room around someday.

Why don't we retire to the bedroom?

2011-10-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Remember this little sneak peak from way back when?

Well I have finally, oh finally finished painting all of that damn trim and cleaned up enough to the point to show you my progress!

You can see before pictures from when we bought the house back here, and even though it's taken us almost a year, it feels sooooo good to get that old person vibe outta here!

As I mentioned before, our "master" bedroom is really just two rooms with a section knocked out between them by the previous owners. We actually find the whole setup incredibly annoying since there's two entrances to our room (basically right next to each other), there's still enough of a wall that there's no good way to set up our furniture, and we struggled on what exactly to use that extra space for.

We were previously using it as kind of an office, but there was still a ton of wasted space, and we hated having our bedroom in full view when guests wanted to use the computer (mostly because it's always a mess).


Please excuse the messy closet and piles of laundry - it's definitely my lest favorite chore. Also, the closet doors will probably be going back up after they are repainted or covered in fabric.

So it actually worked out rather well when we found out we were expecting baby #2 and decided to turn that awkward space into a nursery.

We closed off that extra door (well, we put a large piece of furniture in front of it) so it will be nice and quiet, and of course it's super close to our bed for all of those late night feedings.

Now that the painting is done, I'm excited to start decorating! It's definitely a departure from Phoebe's soft, girlie, nursery that was full of pinks and yellows. I'm looking forward to a new design challenge!

My current dilemma - too many ideas! I've been browsing way too many amazing nurseries on Pinterest and I want to incorporate ideas from them all! Editing has always been my biggest design challenge.

If you're wondering about paint colors and curtain info, I talked about it in my earlier bedroom post that you can find here.

Another post about apples - but with fabric!

2011-10-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a love at first site type of person; when it comes to relationships, or my preference in fabric. In fact, some of my favorite lines of fabric I particularly hated when they first came out. I guess it just takes awhile for them to grow on me, and it usually always helps if I see them in person. Us sewists are tactile people, and viewing a fabric online never really compares to handling the actual bolt.

Anyway, this has been the case with Aneela Hoey's latest line of fabric, Little Apples.

After a few nights of helping my friend fill orders for her shop, two of these charm packs ended up coming home with me because I could not get them out of my mind. It's such a fresh fall palatte - not the typical browns, reds, yellows, etc - and I just adore the addition of that dark olive. I've seen so many people make quilts from this line and omit the olive colorway - but I think that's what really makes this line great.

Since I only had two charm packs to work with, I added in some solids borders to make the quilt a little larger, and the green dots are from an older Moda line that I had in my stash. I looked high and low for a solid olive that matched the charms, but nothing came even remotely close and I didn't feel like waiting around to order yardage. Nevertheless, I think the dots work really well with the rest of the fabrics.

For some reason, I always hate having to shell out more money for quilt backs, so I usually end up piecing them with my leftovers from the front, and anything else I've got lying around my stash. Ohhhh, how I hate being on a budget.

Even though it's definitely not my forte, I ended up free motion quilting this in an all-over pattern of leaves and loops that I totally made up as I went along.

It looks pretty decent in this picture, but there are some very questionable looking leaves in other spots!

And the best part - this quilt is staying with us! I know - sewing for myself - how decadent!

Bite-size apple pies

2011-10-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else's house overflowing with apples? Well, this recipe won't get rid of a ton of them (I think I only used 4 apples for the entire batch of two dozen micro-pies), but it's certainly a cute and delicious fall treat! Everything is more fun in miniature, right?

I started by rolling out some of my great-grandma's fantastic pie crust that had been chilling in the fridge (roll it out between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment - it keeps it from sticking and you don't have to add any excess flour). Then I used a cookie cutter to cut out 3 inch circles of dough.

I nestled the dough into mini muffin tins and let the edges naturally crimp as they settled into place.

Then I mixed up my apple filling. Like I said, it only took about 4 apples (I used golden delicious, picked from Wasem's Fruit Farm last week) mixed with some flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to fill all of the tiny pies. Sorry I can't provide exact amounts - I always eyeball measurements when I bake - contrary to what people say about baking being an exact science. But then again, I rock as a baker, but completely suck at cooking. Go figure.

Fill your crusts with the apple filling, erring on the side of overflowing since the apples will cook down a bit.

Then I made my crumb topping. Once again, no measurements, but I promise that if you combine some butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oats (not the quick cooking kind), you'll end up with something delicious.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over your pies.

Bake at 425 for about 25 minutes, or until they are bubbling and the crust and topping looks nice and brown. Prepare for squeals of excitement when you bring them to your next party. Or just eat them all before 24 hours is up. That's what happened in this family :)

Martha Stewart craft paint review and project

2011-10-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you're probably sick of hearing me talk about my love affair with Martha Stewart's new craft paint line. And no, I am not being paid to go on and on about this stuff (I wish I was!).

First I was awestruck by the rainbow of amazing colors available in all sorts of finishes and their ability to paint on anything (wood, glass, plastic, fabric, metal, etc.), but what I really fell in love with was all of her specialty paints and finishes - specifically the magnetic and chalkboard paints. I've seen these types of paint before at hardware stores, but only for upwards of $20 or so for a small container. With my trusty Michael's coupons, I paid a grand total of $3.50 for the magnetic and $3.00 for the chalkboard paint. And hey, slap a Martha Stewart logo on something and throw on some lovely packaging, and I'm pretty much sold before I even know what it is. Sad, I know.

When we moved into our new house, we were lucky enough to have an updated kitchen with one of those fancy, stainless steel refrigerators. Attractive - yes. But I was bummed out about it's un-magnetic capabilities. So I decided to transform this skinny 2 foot wide section of wall into a magnetic chalkboard

I taped off a 14" x 56" rectangle and first painted it with 2 coats of the magnetic paint which used up the entire container - it is some really thick and gloopy paint - but of course myself and a couple of friends all squealed in delight when it actually held magnets :) And then painted it with 2 coats of the chalkboard paint, which took about 1/2 of the bottle.

Then I put my husband to work framing it out with some simple trim that he picked up from the hardware store (I have a bit of a difficult time cutting miters the correct length).

Next on the agenda? To whip up some cute magnets to accessorize this baby! I'm thinking some of these, some of these, and definitely some of these.

Have any of you tried out these paints yet? I'd love to see some of your projects!

Not only do I make quilts, but I can also read minds...

2011-10-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

I was recently commissioned to make a quilt for someone to take to a baby shower. The only info given to me "She's having a boy". Nothing involving the new mom's taste, nursery decor, likes or dislikes, etc.

So here's my interpretation of "She's having a boy".

I stuck with a pretty traditional "boy" palette of greens, blues, and browns. The only three prints in the entire quilt are Denyse Schmidt's Kitchy Tile in Cornflower, Joel Dewberry's Woodgrain, and Robert Kaufman's Carnaby Street. Then I threw in some green (some shade of Kona), and white from a thrifted sheet.

I quilted across each square 4 times - both diagonally, vertically, and horizontally.

The back is mostly Kona Ash, with some leftover pieces from the front thrown in. These photos were taken before it was thrown into the wash, but it crinkled up quite nicely in case you were wondering :)

After the quilt was presented to the new mom at the shower, I was told that she absolutely loved it and exclaimed that it would fit in the nursery perfectly since she was decorating the room in shades of green and was having a large mural of a tree painted on one wall.

I don't know whether to be flattered, or a little frightened!

Winner, winner - and shop news!

2011-09-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

Whew - what a week of giveaways! Definitely a great way to celebrate a year of blogging. Without further ado, Mr. Random.org picked the following winners....

The voile fat quarter pack is off to Susan, the vintage sheets go to Nikko, and the Flea market fancy/Heather Ross scraps go to Bree. Congrats winners! Your packages are already in the mail.

And after being flooded with comments about the Showoff Bag (thanks Rae - and thanks all of you for your kind words!), the winner is #74 - Alli! Congrats Alli, Rae will send you a copy once the pattern has been finalized.

Whew, back to crafting. I've got lots of things to post about these days, since I've been in full force nesting mode for the past couple of months. But first I wanted to let you all know that I finally got my act together and am getting my shop up and running!

My stash of vintage linens is getting incredibly out of hand, but that doesn't seem to stop me from continuing to thrift for them, so I've decided to share the wealth! I've already listed a small section (and had a couple of sales - woo-hoo!), but I've got TONS more to go through - and even picked up a few more this morning (it's a disease, I tell you). So keep checking in.

Most of them are listed as fat quarters, but I don't actually cut anything until I receive an order, so most of the times, continuous yardage is available for your larger projects. I'll also be throwing in some pre-cuts, and handmade quilts as well - so stay tuned!

Showing off my Showoff Bag

2011-09-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

When Rae (of Made by Rae, of course) asked me to test out her upcoming Showoff Bag pattern, it couldn't have come at a better time. My current purse is filled with goldfish cracker crumbs, a miscellany of treasures such as pinecones, rocks, and leaves that Phoebe has collected over the summer, and smells of old milk from waaaaay too many leaky sippy cups.

And who really has time to go through all of that and give it a good washing? Not this momma! So when my bag reaches that stage - it's time to sew a new one.

I'm lucky enough to live in the same town as Rae and when she walked in with her lovely chevron version to our monthly crafter's meetup, I knew I had to make one for myself.

The pattern is super easy to follow, and anyone with a basic knowledge of sewing could put this baby together in about an hour or two.

It calls for a heavier home dec weight for the main print of the fabric, but this lightweight cotton print by Michael Miller (Ellie in Amber) was calling my name, so I backed it with a mid-weight interfacing which provided just enough stability to give this bag some shape.

The top panels and straps are made out of a heavy upholstery-weight pillow sham that I got for $1.97 when Linens & Things was going out of business. Score! The only bummer is that the sham was shorter than the length the straps called for, so I ended up having to piece them, which kind of annoys me when I look at the photos. I should have pieced them on the diagonal, but I get a bit lazy regarding things like that.

The best part - nice and roomy - my number one quality in a purse. Especially when everything you carry around is 95% for your toddler and 5% for you.

The other best part? Rae has so kindly offered up a free copy of the Showoff Bag pattern to one lucky EmmmyLizzzy reader! She'll be releasing it later this week and you can be one of the first to get it! Just leave a comment, any comment, and I'll choose a winner on Friday.

*Comments are now closed! Thanks for playing everyone. Winner will be announced soon.*

Balloons, confetti, giveaways! Happy blogiversary to me!

2011-09-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

*The giveaway is now closed! Winners will be announced soon. Thanks for playing!*

One never needs an occasion to get balloons - but I am pretty darn excited that my tiny little corner of the internet has been around for ONE year today!

I had put off starting a blog for forever because I absolutely hate to write. However, it turns out that I actually enjoy writing as long as I'm talking about things that I'm passionate about.

And adding lots of cute Phoebe pictures make the process a lot easier.

So to celebrate, I'm hosting a giveaway x 3! Just leave a comment telling me what keeps you coming back to my blog... Quilts, kid clothes, baked goods, home projects, fabric porn, my adorable daughter......etc. Or what kind of things you'd like to see more of in this little space.

I won't make you follow, tweet, or pass out fliers for extra entries, because I freaking hate that. I'll leave the comments open until Wednesday the 28th (at whatever time I get around to closing them), and I'll pick 3 winners who will have their pick of 3 prize packages (first winner gets first pick, etc.)

So what are these amazing prizes do you ask?

Prize package one has been generously donated by Brenda, owner of the wonderful Pink Castle Fabrics and is a fat quarter pack of all eight Pastry Lines in voile from Anna Maria Horner's little folks line. I really can't express how much I love these fabrics. I've got one yard cuts of them just waiting to be made into something fabulous for myself. And if you don't think a fat quarter pack will be enough to make a quilt large enough to completely envelop yourself in voile (which is what I plan on doing), Brenda has all of them in her shop right now at a pretty fantastic price!

Prize package two contains three large vintage pillowcases and eight vintage sheet fat quarters. If you've read this blog for even a short amount of time, you have to know how much I love using these in both my crafting and sewing projects alike. For past vintage sheet projects, check out some of my posts here, here, here, and for my most pinned vintage sheet project on Pinterest, click here.

Finally, prize package three includes a fat quarter from the always popular Flea Market Fancy line by Denyse Schmidt, and other large assorted scraps (some of those strips in the upper right corner are about 5" x 44") from FMF and Heather Ross - my all time favorite fabric designer :)

Whew! Got your favorite picked?

Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to coming back next week with more sewing, crafting, and other lovely things (like giveaway winners!) to kick off my second year of blogging!

The start of fall craft season

2011-09-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Why is it that people don't really decorate the house for summer? I guess we're all too busy doing fun things outdoors to really want to stay inside anyways.

Well now that the temperatures are getting colder and we're spending more time indoors, we're doing a lot more crafting and getting the house ready for fall. This project I found via Pinterest - the greatest place on the internet, in my opinion :)

After painting coffee filters with watercolors and markers, I cut out little leaf shapes, backed them in double stick tape, and let Phoebe go wild sticking them onto a large kraft paper tree I taped on the window.

Phoebe liked to stick most of hers onto the trunk (I guess that's what you get when you tell a toddler, "put the leaves on the tree"), and I took liberty in finishing the branches.

That extra branch turned out a little bit crazier than I had planned.

Stacked strips

2011-09-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

The top for this quilt came together in one evening, but commenced to sit in my studio unfinished for weeks while it waited to be basted and quilted.

Basting is my most unfavorite part of quilting - even more so now as my growing tummy makes it more difficult for me to crawl around on the floor smoothing, pinning, and readjusting. The cats don't help the process either. The minute you lay a piece of fabric on the floor, they take their cue to begin tumbling, dive-bombing, and performing cat-aerobics across (and under) the entire thing.

This quilt was made entirely out of my stash and combined both modern prints and repurposed vintage sheets. The backing is a large piece of vintage sheet combined with some Kona cotton in pale flesh. (Seriously Robert Kaufman - you couldn't think of a better name for this lovely shade of pink other than pale flesh?)

We have been having a truly wonderful time these past two weeks while my husband has been on vacation. No trips or fancy excursions, but we've gotten a lot done on the house and have spent some wonderful time together as a family. And heck, I even have someone here to hold up my quilts so they can be photographed!

Too bad it's back to work tomorrow. I think we all feel the same way.

Other going-ons

2011-09-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't been the most consistent blogger lately, but now with summer coming to a close I'm hoping for things to slow down a bit so I'll be able to devote more time to this space. Especially since my one year blogiversary is coming up later this month and I've got a great giveaway planned! Well, I don't know exactly what it will be yet, but I promise you it will be great :)

So even though the blogging has been lacking, I've still been keeping pretty busy. Here's a couple of things we've been up to that didn't fully necessitate their own blog post....

I finally made Phoebe her own Sweet Pea Pilot Cap

I've been in bloomer production once again as I have been hit with a slew of baby showers. I also had another batch of three more that were shipped out before being photographed.

Phoebe's summer onesies had gotten way too filthy and stained for my liking, so a quick trip in a dye bath of fall colors made them good as new.

We took some time to visit the area's county fairs and mingle with the animal life.

I've spent many an evening sewing late into the night with my kitty quilting companion.

And finally we've just been enjoying these cooler temperatures and late summer rainstorms.

Is everyone else's summer finally winding down? Do you love fall as much as I do? I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season the other day and it was heaven!

A little baby sewing

2011-09-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I still haven't gotten around to sewing anything for my own upcoming arrival, but I did manage to finish some baby things for some other pregnant friends - and oh boy, there seem to be a lot of them popping up lately!

I made a couple of these simple blankets out of some cute pieces of flannel that I'd been saving in case I ever had a boy. Since pink is the only thing in my near future, I thought another baby boy might as well enjoy them.

I made tons of these when Phoebe was born, simply by squaring up a yard of flannel, then hemming the edges. Most receiving blankets never seemed to be big enough, or were always rectangular and not good for swaddling. These are the perfect size for spreading on the floor, being discrete while nursing, covering a carseat, and of course, swaddling!

Here's Phoebe wrapped up in one of hers when she was just two days old <3

Burp cloths were another thing I could never seem to have enough of, and I found that flannel backed in chenille really got the job done and kept them from looking totally disgusting in between washes.

And of course, what new baby doesn't need a Mooshy Belly Bunny? You can find the free tutorial right here.

More furniture makeovers

2011-09-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

I think that my husband is more excited than I am to have this piece of furniture finally finished, since it's been taking up a good chunk of garage space for the past 4 or 5 months. I'm always on the lookout for this style of furniture (whatever it's called) because it reminds me so much of my childhood. I had standup dresser with similar curves when I was younger and my great-grandmother's house was filled with pieces like this.

When I saw this dresser at an estate sale this past spring for a mere ten dollars I could barely contain my excitement.

Nevermind that I had to drive back and forth across town to borrow my friends truck, or that I had to lug most of it by myself (with some help from strangers who took pity on me) down a super steep set of stairs. And let me tell you, this baby is solid wood.

Aside from the surface looking like crap, it was in pretty good condition and just needed a lot of sanding and a couple coats of primer and paint. You can see a bit of a before shot here. I ended up going with the color Sea Glass from Martha Stewart's line, and I'm still debating about painting that hardware. It actually doesn't look so blatantly gold in person (it's much more dull and distressed) and I don't terribly mind it, but some white might brighten the whole thing up.

I'm slowly working on transitioning Phoebe's nursery into more of a big girl room, so I'll be swapping and moving around her current furniture and giving the room a fresh coat of paint. If only we could do something about that hideous carpeting, but it's just not in the budget right now.

Now we just have to see if all of these drawers will hold the wardrobe of a 2 year old girl. It's gonna be pretty close...

Coffee table before & after

2011-08-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Remember this little guy? Of course you do! I just posted this before shot a couple of days ago.

I picked him up at an estate sale for a mere $3. Yup three whole dollars.

And with one child free weekend, some white paint, Mod Podge, and fabric from my stash, my little thrifty find was transformed into....

The cutest darn coffee table you've ever seen!

After sanding, priming, and painting the legs, I cut a piece of fabric to fit the table top and glued it down with Mod Podge Hard Coat. It's actually still not quite finished, as I have a couple more coats of Mod Podge to apply to the surface, but aside from building up a good topcoat it's pretty much done.

And isn't this fabric just fantastic?! I found it at Hancock's not too long ago for a mere $4 a yard. It actually looks suspiciously similar to some of these Orla Kiely prints, with some variations. Unfortunately there is absolutely no information on the selvedge (it's printed edge to edge), so it stands to remain a mystery....

Open for Business!

2011-08-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Even though I've still got 4 months before this baby gets here, I have been in major nesting mode lately - which I have been quite enjoying since it never really kicked in when I was pregnant with Phoebe.

I guess I just keep thinking that if I don't do it now, then it will never get done once I have two kids. Plus, I might as well use all of this energy while I have it. I remember all too well how I felt last time during my 3rd trimester!

So we've been doing lots of cosmetic work on the house lately - painting, making curtains, rearranging rooms, hanging pictures, and refinishing some recent thrift store finds. I can't wait to show you the final reveal on the dresser above - including the amazing price I got it for! Here it is all sanded, primed, and ready for paint.

This little table has gotten a new paint job, and I just need to pick out some fabric that is going to cover the top.

To go along with the nesting, I've decided to put a few things in my Etsy shop that has been sitting abandoned for way too long. I'm still not quite sure which direction my shop is going to take - be it quilts and other handmade goods, custom orders, vintage finds, or fabric destash (particularly vintage sheets :), but I'll add a few things here or there until I get a better idea of where it's going.

This quilt was actually made over a year ago as a gift, but it didn't end up being large enough after I used up all of my Jenean Morrison's Moondance line. However I think it would make a perfect baby quilt and playmat - especially for a boy or gender neutral nursery!

I'm also putting this little gem in the shop as well. I love it to death, but we seriously just have more quilts than we know what to do with around here. I'm sure it will find a great home with someone who will really treasure it!

I hope you all are having a great weekend. Wish me luck in the coming week - we've decided it's time to break Phoebe of her paci, so I'm hoping we can all make it through in one piece!

A wedding gift - only a year and a half late

2011-08-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Most of my friends and family have come to learn that if you get married or have a baby, you're probably going to get a quilt from me as a gift.

Hopefully they also understand what goes into making a quilt - and the fact that I tend to jump around a bit when it comes to projects - and they may not receive their quilt in a timely manner. For not-so-newlyweds Chris and Nicole, that means about a year and a half after they tied the knot.

Thankfully they're still happily married, and I hope to get their quilt in the mail to them this week :)

I raided my out of control scraps for this quilt, and combined them with a trio of greens and yellows that I thought looked nice together and pieced them to each other on the bias. For the binding, I used the leftover solids (all Kona, but I can't remember the exact colors).

I quilted straight lines 1/4" on either side of the patchwork strips, and the backing is a large piece of vintage sheet with some of the solids pieced in (that I didn't get around to photographing since the mosquitoes ate me alive in the 5 minutes I was outside to take these photos).

What's next on the list? Quilts for two more wedding couples that haven't received their gifts yet, of course!

And in other news, this past week I hit my halfway point in my pregnancy. Twenty weeks down, twenty more to go! (And we still can't agree on a name, lol!)

Bedroom Redo

2011-08-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

We've been putting off decorating the bedroom since we moved in last December since, let's face it - we're the only ones who hang out in there anyways and we wanted to get to the main living areas first.

These swatches have been hanging on the wall above our bed for about the past 7 months and I figured I might as well get started on it now since my motivation is directly proportional to how big my tummy is.

These are pictures from before we moved in (ie. not our stuff), but our bedroom is a super weird setup since the previous owners knocked out a partial wall between two bedrooms. So our furniture is staggered between the two rooms, and we have one of the doors blocked off with a dresser just because there are so many kooky angles to the "room" that there are no other good place to put it.

We're still working on what to do with all of the furniture, especially since we're turning the far wall into a small corner for the new baby, but at least I finally got some decent colors onto the walls!

This is as much as a sneak peak as I can give so far since there is currently junk covering every other square inch of the floor. But we finally decided to go with Winter's Day from Martha Stewart (gray) for the majority of the room with an accent wall of Realm by Behr (deep blue).

About a million years ago I ordered a bolt of Heather Bailey's picnic bouquet in lagoon from Pink Castle Fabrics (my favorite print ever!) and finally got 2 out of six curtain panels made. Next step - painting all of the window, floor, and door trim - a task I despise with all my being, but ends up being sooooo worth it in the end!

Pesto Production

2011-08-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

First of all - thank you so so so much for all of the wonderful name suggestions! A lot of our top choices were brought up and some great new ones to consider. We'll just have to wait and see... we keep changing our minds by the day!

I don't know about you, but we've got a bumper crop of basil this year. I've already made about 6 batches of pesto, and it still just keeps growing taller and thicker.

So I set my little farmer to work this afternoon picking as much basil as her little heart desired. This is such a great job for the littlest of kids, because you don't have to worry about them picking the "right" part of the plant or harvesting anything under or overripe, and the leaves get so nice and large that they're easy to get a hold of.

She was utterly thrilled with her task.

After filling up our entire colander (and leaving the plants looking like they weren't even touched :), we set to work making pesto using the following recipe. I'm not quite sure where it came from, but it's the one my mom always uses, and it tastes delicious.

Pesto

1/4 cup almonds or walnuts

2 T pine nuts

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 T softened butter

1 cup firmly packed basil leaves

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Throw everything in a food processor or blender - except the olive oil - and process to combine.

Then add in the olive oil and process until smooth.

Pretty easy, eh? It can be refrigerated for about a week, and freezes wonderfully. I make tons and tons during the summer so I can eat it all winter long. And seriously - I eat pesto on everything. On top of salmon and chicken, in grilled cheese sandwiches, as a pizza base, in pasta (of course), and I like to mix it half and half with mayo to use on turkey sandwiches. Mmmm....

If you don't have any basil growing where you live, feel free to come over here and take some off our hands!

Name our baby please!

2011-08-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

I am incredibly lucky in that my mom just happens to be an ultrasonographer. So while my "official" ultrasound isn't until Friday, I got to find out a couple of weeks ago if this baby is going to be a boy or a girl.

We got a big wave showing off all five fingers from this little GIRL!

I'm so thrilled that Phoebe will have a sister to grow up with, because even though my own sister and I fought like crazy, she is my best friend and most dear person to me in the entire world.

So now I've kicked into planning mode, trying to figure out what we're going to do with the nursery situation - I'm planning on them sharing a room down the road, but would still like to set up a small little corner in our room for the first couple of months. However, Phoebe is still in her crib and sleeps wonderfully, so I really don't want to rush getting her into a big girl bed. But if I don't have a crib, it seems pretty pointless to set up a nursery, don't you think? I'm going back and forth between being practical, and wanting to create a cute little nook just for the fun of it :)

Another item of big discussion has been what we're going to name this little girl. We already used our favorite name on Phoebe of course, so we've got about 7 or 8 different contenders in the ring. Something pretty, not trendy... We really like vintage names.

Any suggestions that go well with Phoebe? I've been scouring Nameberry like crazy!

Do you think they'll look alike :) ?

A cake for my own birthday girl

2011-08-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I have been so burnt out on baking lately that I really wasn't looking forward to making Phoebe's birthday cake - especially since I had just made 2 dozen cupcakes for a small playgroup birthday celebration for her just the day before. But I knew that I would feel like a terrible mother if I spent all this time making cakes for strangers, then totally bail on my daughters own birthday.

So I kept it reasonably simple.

Phoebe loves all things fish and we spend lots of time watching Finding Nemo, taking field trips to the pet store, and most of bathtime is spent pretending she's a fish swimming in the ocean.

Everything on the cake is fondant, including these little guys that I hand sculpted until about 1:00 in the morning the night before her birthday.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Now if I could only find someone to do all of the baking, frosting making, and stacking of the cakes and leave just the decorating up to me, I'd be a happy camper.

Phoebe's only request for her cake was that it was "schockalate", so I think she was pretty excited to see that she got some sugary fishes too.

Here's the birthday girl herself before gobbling up fishy number three.

Two

2011-08-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that I am a mother - let alone a mother to a two year old.

There's so much I could say about this wonderful little person - about how much she has changed my life, changed me as a person, and brought more joy to her daddy and I's life than she will ever know - but it would probably fill up more posts than blogger would allow.

Happy 2nd Birthday Phoebe! You are so loved!

More sewing with knits

2011-08-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

This isn't my first time sewing with knits, but I definitely don't have as much experience or skill working with them as I do with wovens. However once you have kids, you realize that they are just so much more comfortable wearing soft, stretchy knits (heck, so am I!) than stiff, itchy cottons. So I'm trying to branch out a bit.

I've had the Sweet Pea Pilot Cap pattern bookmarked for the past year an a half and I finally got around to making it. This is a gift for a sweet little boy who is turning one in just a couple of days, but Phoebe was kind enough to model it for me. Actually, she liked it so much and threw such a fit when I made her take it off, that I started working on another one for her this afternoon.

I just love those curls poking out from under the hat!

The pattern was written by the incredibly talented Meg McElwee who blogs over at Sew Liberated. I also just picked up Meg's latest book, Growing Up Sew Liberated, which is stuffed full of fantastic patterns for more knit clothing and other goodies for kids. I only buy craft books if I plan on making most all of the projects, so I promise you - this is a good one!

But back to this pattern - Super super easy, involving only three pattern pieces and a long strip of 1x1 ribbing. This pattern was written for use on a sewing machine (no need for a serger), and she gave lots of great tips that I will be using in my other knit projects.

Even better - the entire hat is made out of repurposed clothes pulled from my own closet that I don't plan on wearing anymore. They look much better on her anyways.

A finished project - finally!

2011-08-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been sewing in circles this summer. Constantly starting new projects, but never seeming to finish anything. Projects for commission are always a little different, of course, because you have much more of an incentive waiting for you at the end - in my case, more money for fabric, lol.

I posted some earlier progress on this project here.....

....and you can see my first Soft Book of Colors that I made for Phoebe here.

See any scraps that are your particular favorite?

I seem to have kicked myself into gear this week, because I'll be back shortly with a project I just finished today that has been sitting in my to-do folder for years and I am so so so pleased with how it turned out! Now I just have to get Phoebe to sit still for a photo shoot.

The end of wedding cake season - thank goodness!

2011-07-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

I think that from now on I'm only going to accept wedding cake jobs that take place in the winter. This summer's heat and humidity did not make for good wedding cake weather.

Thankfully there were no major mishaps this weekend - even though I piped most of the cake while it sat inside of the refrigerator so the fondant wouldn't get too tacky and the royal icing would set up quickly.

Then we got to spend a lovely hour and a half car ride with my husband holding the cake on his lap the entire time with the air conditioning blasting full force, while he slowly rotated the cake to keep the sun from beating down on one section too long. That man is fantastic.

This cake consisted of a tier of vanilla cake with strawberry puree and strawberry buttercream, two tiers of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and chocolate buttercream, and a top tier of sugar free vanilla cake with sugar free vanilla frosting. I then covered it in ivory fondant, burgundy ribbons, and hand piped burgundy scrollwork.

Have you ever tried to make a burgundy frosting? It was the hardest part of making this cake. I think it took me at least $20 worth of food coloring, and the royal icing is definitely more dye than sugar. Yummy....

Crewel Summer

2011-07-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

Ugh - I hate to leave the blog sitting unattended for so dang long, but our days have been so busy that by the time I finally get Phoebe into bed for the night, I want to do nothing more than crash on the couch. Not only am I behind on posting to my own blog - but I'm super far behind in my blog reader, which bums be out. I've been telling myself that I really need to edit down my subscriptions, but I haven't really had time for that either. Sigh....

Another thing hindering my posting is that my trusty old Nikon has finally kicked the bucket - hence having to refer to Shake It Photo for blog pics since a new camera is nowhere in our budget. But anyways, onto more lovely things.

For mother's day this year, my mom ordered me Alicia Paulson's Daisychain ABC Sampler Kit. The kit is no longer available, but you can purchase a pdf of the pattern here.

In case you've been living in a hole, Alicia writes the loveliest of lovely blogs, Posie Gets Cozy. This was the very first blog I ever started reading, and is still my favorite to this day.

This is my first foray into crewelwork and I am loving every minute of it. I'm especially enjoying working with the Appleton crewel wool, which is so amazingly soft and really makes your satin stitches look much more polished than they actually are :)

I've been curling up on the couch with this on evenings where I'm just too tired to drag myself to the sewing machine, and it has been so calming to just stitch the night away.

My only wish is that there were more than 26 letters in the alphabet!

A little commissioned work-in-progress

2011-07-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days I have been busy turning this pile of scraps.....

.....into pages for another soft book of colors.

I was recently contacted by someone who is attending a baby shower and was asked to bring a book for the baby's library. She had seen my previous post about Phoebe's book of colors and thought it would be perfect for the shower. What a lucky baby-to-be! Phoebe absolutely adored hers, and it was especially great for tummy time - not to mention that she knew all of her colors by the time she was one.

I've been having a lovely time working on this project again - especially not having to measure anything and the surprising configuration the final block ends up being.

How is everyone else's summer going? Keeping cool I hope! Tomorrow I'm going to brave the Ann Arbor Art fair with Phoebe, close to 100 degree temperatures, another pregnant lady, and 1-2 more kids under the age of two. Wish us luck!

More wedding cakes

2011-07-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

In addition to some yet-to-be-revealed sewing that I got done this weekend, my kitchen was in wedding cake mode once again. I swear, this summer has been filled to the brim with weddings - and there's still one left to go!

I've had the honor of making most of the wedding cakes for my closest group of friends from college, and with Steve being the last one to tie the knot, I'm hoping that they'll still look to me for birthday, baby, and anniversary cakes :)

This cake was a combination of chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling, and a vanilla cake with layers of key lime curd and key lime mousse.

The groom's cake was covered in hand-cut fondant Detroit lions, tigers, and redwings emblems, and per request of Steve himself, was a funfetti cake with rainbow chip filling.

Congrats to the newlyweds, Steve and Michelle!

Curtains - one of the easiest, yet most boring sewing projects

2011-07-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

Thankfully Phoebe's room only has one window, so sewing two curtain panels didn't get too mind numbing; but hemming four yards of fabric isn't what I consider thrilling sewing. Nevertheless, a new set of curtains really does make a huge statement for the little amount of work that goes into it.

The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner's new line, Loulouthi, and the print is Summer Totem in Grapefruit - purchased from here. I really can't begin to tell you how darn much I love this print. I also have a yard in both the strudel blue and tart colorways just waiting for the perfect project.

I was lucky enough to have a whole two days to myself this weekend while Phoebe and daddy took the train to go visit grandparents, so in addition to the curtains, I finally got around to painting the trim in Phoebe's room. Most of the trim in our house is a 1970's dark oak color that really darkens up the place. Even my husband was amazed at how much brighter Phoebe's room is with the simple change to white trim - and that's saying a lot :)

When we moved, we kept her room pretty much the same as her original nursery, and I'm not planning any major changes until we move her future sibling in there with her - which will be quite awhile down the road, since he or she will be staying in our bedroom with us for the first couple of months.

Phoebe playing hide and seek in her new curtains.

Next project on the list (besides painting all of the trim in the rest of the house) is some curtains to cover her exposed closet. We removed the two doors because they were extremely cumbersome, and opened up into each other, silly enough. Now I'm just debating whether to hang a long rod across the entire thing with some full curtains, or to just put in two single panels mounted by a tension rod in each doorway. What do you think?

More pennants - in quilt form

2011-07-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

**Edited to add - This quilt is now available in my shop! **

We had the big reveal of our Kona Challenge Quilts last week at our Modern Quilt Guild Meeting, so I can finally share my finished piece with you! So basically Robert Kaufman provided a charm pack (about 40 five inch squares) to each of the members, and we had to come up with a quilt using only that charm pack and an additional solid or two. No prints allowed!

So here's what I did....

I ironed a piece of fusible webbing to the back of each of my charm squares....

cut them up into assorted triangles....

and spent about three hours rearranging them until it looked like this....

If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit addicted to pennants.

I ironed them all to a large piece of Kona Snow, then zig-zag stitched around every one of them. The quilting was done in long swooping lines - following the curve of the pennants, with some extras added in around the open areas.

And since I still had so many scraps left over - already fused and ready to go, I decided to make this quilt reversible!

Big and little pinwheels and starbursts - and yes, I zig-zag stitched around every piece. Thank goodness I worked on this with friends at a sew-in or I might have gone crazy!

Be sure and check out the other kona challenge quilts from Modern Quilt Guilds all over the world at their flickr page.

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all of my American readers! We spent our long weekend celebrating with friends and family at a lake in Southwest Michigan.

We celebrated with a new skirt made by momma....

homemade key lime pies,

lots of swimming,

our first fishing lesson with grandpa,

bubbles,

BIG bubbles,

boat rides,

beautiful sunsets,

.....and of course, fireworks - made all the more special by watching them on a boat in the middle of the lake.

Hope you had an equally wonderful time!

Summer bloomer production

2011-06-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

I tend to sew Phoebe a lot more clothes in the summer than in the winter. I think it's because these light, summery, cotton prints just scream sunshine and warm weather; whereas I associate thick, cozy knits with winter. And since I don't knit, Phoebe's wardrobe tends to be a bit lacking in the cold weather clothes.

Anyway, since we've been spending lots of outdoor time lately and making multiple trips to the kiddie pool in the backyard everyday, Phoebe hasn't been wearing much more than a diaper lately. I thought I'd at least pretty it up a bit by throwing a pair of bloomers on top.

These were made with using the Ruby's Bloomers pattern from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. They come together so quickly and only use a half yard of fabric for each pair. My only warning is that the sizing is terrible. Phoebe is currently wearing a size 2T, and she fits perfectly into the 6-12 month size bloomers. I actually made a pair back when she was only six months old and she was swimming in them. At least they fit her great now - a year and a half later. So as long as you keep that in mind, it's a great, quick sew!

New Heather Ross - eeks!

2011-06-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Is it a blessing or a curse to have the owner of Pink Castle Fabrics live right around the corner from me?

I ran right over soon as I got the text that Heather Ross' new line, Far Far Away III was in today. Sadly, there's no way I can afford the entire line, but I picked out a couple of my favorites. These pinks, yellows, peaches and browns are my current favorite color palette (and have been for the past two years if you take a look back on Phoebe's nursery).

I'm sure I'll have no shortage of projects in which to incorporate these beauties!

My absolute favorite cake recipe (at this moment in time)

2011-06-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Remember this cake?

This is the cake that disappeared the fastest from the dessert table at my sister's wedding. Triple lemon blueberry. Mmmmm.....

My husband missed out on this one at the wedding (not quick enough!), so he's been bugging me ever since to make another one. He really had to twist my arm, of course.

I found this recipe a while back on Pinterest, and it was practically screaming my name. I usually adjust a few things in most of the recipes that I use, but this one I found to be pretty much perfect. My only changes are that I added an extra cup of blueberries, and I divided the batter between two 9" cake pans instead of three 8" pans. Also, in addition to just the lemon curd, I put a thin layer of the Zesty Lemon frosting between the layers.

Finally, I also took the baker's advice and sandwiched a layer of vanilla cake between the two lemon blueberry layers. I think it brings everything together perfectly.

Now wipe the drool off your face and get baking!

Turning the old into new

2011-06-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

It has been so nice to jump back into quilting after being finished with all things wedding. Especially when I'm sewing with one of my favorite things - vintage sheets!

It's funny how these old sheets can turn into the most beautiful baby quilts. Reinventing themselves for a new generation.

I'm not sure what this quilt pattern is called, but I fell in love after seeing it here. I made my blocks much larger than hers, so the octagons ended up being 14 inches across. After the entire top was sewn, that was just waaaay too much white space for my liking, so I machine appliqued some pinwheels in the centers using some leftover scraps from my Kona Challenge Quilt. More details about that later next week.

The patchwork binding is also made of vintage sheets and the back is (what else!?) another vintage sheet. Sorry for the wrinkly pictures - this was before I got it all washed and ready to ship out to a wonderful mommy-to-be.

I think if baby number two ends up being another girl, I'm going to do her whole room in vintage sheets. How lovely would that be?

Sheet swap and other news

2011-06-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

So are you tired of wedding posts yet? So am I. Especially because in the middle of all this wedding prep, my husband and I found out that we are expecting our second baby! This was a HUGE surprise to us since doctors gave us a less than 1% chance of ever getting pregnant on our own (Phoebe was conceived via IVF).

Thankfully I don't have any problems with morning sickness, however I have never been so tired in my life. It's much more difficult this time around trying to keep up with a toddler when all I want to do is nap! I'm still not quite sure how I cranked out all of that wedding stuff. I keep hoping that my energy will return soon, but it never really did when I was pregnant with Phoebe, so I'm not holding my breath.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, and I'm just now heading into my second trimester. Our new arrival can be expected at the end of 2011 or early 2012!

So anyway, back to fabric. I recently participated in my fourth vintage sheet swap, and I just received my package of goodies this afternoon!

I'm off to start cutting them up to add to this little sneak peak I showed you awhile ago.

Wedding Details

2011-06-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for all of the cake and dessert love! Not to mention the strawberry recipes. Although I have to say that after being immersed in baked goods for the past couple of weeks, the thought of cake makes me a little sick to my stomach at the moment. So let's talk about the rest of the wedding, shall we?

I had many of you ask about the location of the wedding, which took place at the Blue Dress Barn near St. Joseph, MI. My sister originally found the location in the 2008 edition of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.

A shot of the outside of the barn.

Looking into the barn.

Looking towards the entrance. The dessert table is located on the far right, and the bar is on the far left.

We kept the tables pretty simple with a burlap overlay and wildflowers in blue mason jars. A favor of all the fixings to make s'mores were placed at each seat.

These are two empty frames that I picked up at a garage sale. We strung twine around the backs and clipped on the place cards with mini clothespins.

Gift table

Hand stamped paper doilies are clipped to twine for the sign that hangs above the gift table. It's a bit difficult to see in the previous photo because of the opened window.

The burlap and coffee filter garlands, seen earlier in this post were finally finished and strung on the balcony above the ceremony site.

There is an additional little building next to the barn that is used as a bridal suite so all of the girls can get ready on site.

If you were still hungry after visiting the dessert table, the bonfire was ready for s'more making!

I found this idea for a guest book amongst many wedding blogs and fell in love. Everyone puts their thumbprint on the tree branches along with their name, and you have a beautiful piece of art for your home. I wish I had a picture of the finished product after everyone had left their mark - it turned out beautiful!

Finally - I can't take credit for doing all of this myself. Not only did my amazing cousin and her girlfriend help out immensely, but we had the best wedding planner in the entire world helping us out with all of the big and little details that can get lost in the shuffle. The flowers, the bar, the food, the schedule, the setup and tear-down.... I could go on and on. Thank you so much to Mandi and your team from Element Even Design!

I'll be back later this week with some quilting..... finally!

Three berry, four berry, hayberry, strawberry!

2011-06-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

We interrupt the wedding coverage for a quick strawberry break.

Phoebe and I along with some friends hit up Rowe's Produce Farm yesterday for some delicious strawberry picking goodness.

Phoebe was super into it.

Although she did have a questionable choice in berries, and a lot of her contribution had to be heavily edited.

She was quite fascinated with all of the misshapen and unique berries and got good little collection started.

The sad part is that she doesn't even like strawberries (or any kind of fruit for that matter - the girl has some seriously weird food preferences). But at least she tried one. I'm sure I ate enough to make up for her.

We ended up with about 15 pounds of fresh berries.

I was hoping to go on a freezer jam spree last night, but ran out of pectin after only 2 1/2 pints. I also froze a bunch to use for smoothies. What's your favorite strawberry recipe? I've got at least a half a tray left!

Because one wedding cake just wasn't enough

2011-06-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

Heck, four cakes weren't enough! I have a tendency to go overboard on my projects, and my sister's wedding was not the place where I was going to hold back.

Four cakes, 150 mini cupcakes, french macarons, cake pops, sugar cookies, and lollipops.

I definitely learned a lot during the process - like that cake pops do not like to be frozen. They taste delicious frozen, but they're not so happy when they come back up to room temp. I made three different types of cake pops (that I got to make twice due to my freezing experiment); dark chocolate covered strawberry cake, chocolate cookie dough truffle, and pumpkin pie pops covered in white chocolate.

The front cake is a triple lemon blueberry cake and is my current favorite cake recipe. I've got another post on that coming up later this week.

This one was a snickerdoodle cake with cinnamon buttercream. The flower is made out of gumpaste.

The stand on the left holds coconut cupcakes, while the right is filled with carrot cupcakes covered in cream cheese icing.

Chocolate peanut butter cup cake. Three layers of chocolate cake with peanut butter cup chunks, filled with two layers of chocolate buttercream and a layer of peanut butter filling.

We did have one casualty to the dessert table. The large, three tiered blue floral cake (dark chocolate with nutella mousse) didn't quite make it in one piece. It was an incredibly hot day, and after a long car ride, and having to sit in a car for an hour before we could get into the venue, we opened up the trunk upon arrival and found that the fondant had cracked and split and the bottom tier had slid apart. Ohhhh, it was a sad moment. But by that time, it was pretty much "on with the show" mode and we put it on the table anyways, and it was delicious nonetheless.

I just love making lollipops - they're usually an unexpected throwback that everyone loves - especially the kids (I know my daughter had about three of them). I made four different types - peppermint, peach, lemonade, and blueberry/cherry.

So it's definitely true that making french macarons requires a a bit of skill. It took me 5 failed batches just to get these, which are far from perfect. But while they weren't perfect in form, they definitely tasted good. The green ones were filled with a mint ganache and the pink were filled with a mixture of blueberry jam and buttercream.

And here I am - glad that I can finally kick back and enjoy the party! And the great part is that all that was left at the end of the night was that smooshed bottom tier of nutella cake. I call that a success!

Phoebe the Flower Girl

2011-06-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

So I know I'm a little bit biased, but my daughter pretty much kicked butt as a flower girl. In my mind I had prepared for nothing but the worst - but that's when she usually surprises me anyways. We walked down the aisle together, because I knew there was no way to coherence her down by herself - and each handful of tossed petals was met with an enthusiastic "Wheeeeeee!"

Pretty freaking cute - and not bad for a little girl who isn't even two years old yet!

So the dress. Can you believe this entire dress cost me a grand total of $7 to make? Take that, David's Bridal! I bought a yard of this fabric from Joann's with a 50% off coupon (originally $14/yard), and the buttons, thread and lining fabric was from my stash.

I used the Flower Girl Dress pattern (very fitting) from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. It was super simple to make, and I finished the entire dress in a single sitting. I made a little more work for myself by adding a lining to the skirt since my outer fabric was rather sheer (I used a soft old sheet since Phoebe is always complaining about clothes being "too itchy"), but it definitely added to the floofyness of the dress, which earned her more cute points.

She was quite the dancing machine at the reception. Glow bracelet - check. Lollipop - check.

I read over the errata for this dress before starting, so I followed everyone's advice and added buttons to the back of the straps to make it easier to get on and off, but it was still a beast trying to shimmy that tiny little bodice over a squirmy toddler's arms and shoulders. But once it was on, it fit great and looked darn cute.

And it was comfortable enough to rock out in - very important!

And life can resume

2011-06-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaaaack! The wedding is over and my life is mine again. Even though it consumed my every waking thought for a solid two months straight, I'm so glad that I put so much time and love into everything I created for my sister's wedding. It turned out beautiful and I think that everyone had a wonderful time - I know I did!

Before I get too carried away, I need to announce the winner from last month's Giveaway Day! I am honored and flabbergasted to have received so many entries - and thank you for all of the speech advice! I ended up writing my speech the day before the wedding and kept it short, sweet, and heartfelt. I think it went over nicely :) Anyway, the winning comment was #410 which belonged to Holly of Bijou Lovely. Hopefully Holly has already received her package - I can't wait to see what she comes up with from all of those Heather Ross scraps!

I'll be back soon with lots of wedding loveliness - I took a few pictures, but was so busy that day I had to leave most of the photography up to the professional, so I'm hoping we get those photos back soon to share with you.

Congratulations Abby & Joe!

Wedding Prep and a Giveaway

2011-05-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

First of all welcome to all the new readers who are visiting from Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! Be sure to visit their blog for lots more giveaways and to discover some fun new blogs to follow.

So lately I have been in crafting overdrive since my sister's wedding is seriously just right around the corner (less than two weeks - eek!). I'm making lots of the decorations, and am putting together an eight and a half foot dessert table - not to mention making all of the desserts for said table. Yes, I am the queen of taking on too much. Anyway, here are some sneak peeks of what I've been working on.

Pom pom garlands

More free hanging pom poms

These little guys were made out of burlap and coffee filters....

....and are waiting to be strung together for another garland. Seriously, if this wedding had a theme, it would be garlands - I'm crazy addicted. Just check out my Pinterest boards. All garlands.

Lollipops - in four different colors and flavors. These are peach.

Gumpaste petals for one of the cakes. Yes, one of the cakes - there will be four.

Of course I volunteered to make the favors as well.

Phoebe is the flower girl, so I made her this giant corsage out of eyelet trim. Sorry for the disheveled, scraped knees, naked baby model - it got into the 80s today, and she pretty much lived in the kiddie pool/water table/sprinkler. I have a feeling that she's going to look like this the rest of the summer.

Except for when she's wearing her flower girl dress - which is waiting to be cut out and sewn as soon as I'm done writing this post.

So.... that's what I've been up to lately, now onto the giveaway!

In keeping with last giveaway day, I scrounged up more Heather Ross scraps - they don't seem to end! Most of them are from her most sought after first line, and to give you some perspective, I think all of those squares along the right side are 5".

And I'm throwing in a fat quarter of some Flea Market Fancy for good measure.

I'll keep it easy for you - just one comment per entry (don't you hate when they force you to follow for a vote?! It drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for you to follow - but I'll let you decide that on your own terms :)

So just say hello, tell me what you're up to, or give me some advice for writing my maid of honor speech. Or if you write my speech for me, I might just call the giveaway over and let you win.

*Comments have been closed! I'll be back soon to announce the winner*

Hello Kitty University of Michigan Cheerleader Cupcakes

2011-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

That was my request from birthday girl Madeline - who obviously knows what she wants :)

White cupcakes with pink swiss meringue buttercream topped with a fondant Hello Kitty. Next time I make Hello Kitty cupcakes, I'm definitely going to find a cookie cutter. My wrist is still feeling it after cutting out each kitty head by hand.

This was the topper for the birthday girl's jumbo cupcake. She was pretty excited when she saw it, so I think I met all of her requirements.

Make sure you stop back on Monday - I'm participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's giveaway day! I'm not sure what I'm planning to give away yet, but I hope to keep it up to par with the last one!

Still Here!

2011-05-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm completely sorry that I ducked out on you guys for a whole week with no notice! Unfortunately I can't promise that it won't happen again - we're in major crunch time with all things related to my sister's wedding and it has completely consumed my life. And when things get busy, the blog is usually the first thing to go. Personally I would rather just abandon cooking, but I don't think my toddler and husband would be very happy with that idea. Three more weeks and I will have my life back!

So anyways, not only is my sister getting married this summer, but my sister-in-law is tying the knot as well. Her bridal shower was this past weekend, so I can finally reveal the quilt I've been working on for her. I apologize for the haphazard photos. I seriously ran outside and threw the quilt on the ground at around 7:30 at night so I could get a couple of shots before wrapping it for the shower in the morning.

Basic specs: I used the Picnic and Fairgrounds line by Denyse Schmidt (the same collection that I used for Phoebe's dress), and the pattern is called Small Plates and is from Elizabeth Hartman's book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork". FYI - This is the best darn book ever for someone who wants to learn how to quilt.

I used a couple leftover scraps on the back, and all of the white was from a large vintage sheet.

After looking at these photos, I realized that I never ended up washing this quilt to get it to its nice, crinkly goodness stage. For me, that's one of the most satisfying parts of quilting. I wonder how batty I might seem if I ask for it back so I can give it a good round through the washer :)

Frothy pinkness

2011-05-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Dare I say that spring has finally arrived here in the Midwest? I don't want to jinx anything....

Ever since it warmed up to a balmy 30 degrees back in March, Phoebe has been standing at the door at all hours of the day saying "outside, outside, outside". Well, I'm finally more than happy to oblige her.

I've been puttering around the yard planting, weeding, and pruning to the best of my knowledge, but I often still find myself in a staring contest with a plant for a good 10 minutes waiting for it to tell me if it's a weed or not.

Most of all I've been enjoying all of the loveliness that the previous owners clearly put so much care into. The absolute favorite of our family is this gorgeous weeping cherry tree that is simply covered in foamy pink. I don't know much about it, but is it too much to hope for that it stays like this year round from now on?

It's also a clear winner in Phoebe's eyes - for she is unable to walk by it without gazing into the branches calling " Pink! Pink!"

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-07T21:56:00.000-07:00

To my wonderfully amazing mother, who I never fully appreciated until I became a mom myself.

And thank you to my sweet little Phoebe - for making me your momma.

Craft supplies from the produce section

2011-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

First of all - if you are my mom, mother-in-law, or grandma - STOP READING!!! We just mailed your cards yesterday and you've probably not gotten them yet.

But for everyone else who is still scrambling around for a cute handmade Mother's Day card idea that is fun to do with toddlers or kids of any age - you're welcome to keep reading :)

First off, I cannot take credit for this sweet idea. I saw this pin on Pinterest a couple weeks back (are you as obsessed with Pinterest as I am yet?!) and stashed it away on my board of kid crafts, knowing that it would be perfect for Mother's Day.

You start off with a bunch of celery, and chop off all of the stalks, leaving the end hunk about 3 or 4 inches tall.

See how it kind of makes the outline of a rose? Well there you go - instant stamp!

I set Phoebe to work stamping away. Press....

.....and lift.

And voila!

I'll be interested to see what my mother's day card looks like this year. Last year I didn't actually get a card, but instead came home to a husband and a baby who both had stained red hands, a paint covered highchair, and the apology that "crafts are hard!".

A new spring frock

2011-05-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

Aside from Phoebe's repurposed dress, I haven't done too much sewing for her lately. Winter clothes are just not nearly as much fun to make as bright and flouncy summer dresses.

I took a break from all of the wedding crafting I've been consumed in lately to sew up this cute little number using the perfect party dress pattern by Heidi and Finn. You might remember another version that I made here. The main fabric is from Denyse Schmidt's Joann line, and the sash is some older Alexander Henry.

I made a size 2T, which ended up being a little large in the waist, but the sash takes care of that problem

I made this dress in hopes of coaxing spring out of wherever it was hiding, and it seemed to have worked! We spent a lovely afternoon picking every dandelion in sight and running through the grass. Although this was after spending an hour and a half stuck at the store due to locking my keys in the car for the millionth time - doh!

A little fun and sunshine was much needed around here. That second set of molars isn't fun for anybody!

Maddie Quilt in Action

2011-04-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Remember this quilt?

Well I was finally able to present it to the lovely little Miss Maddie the other day.

I'm pretty sure she likes it since her mom later told me, "Maddie has not let go of her blanket since we got home. She got in the car and said 'Emily makes the best presents ever!"

Maddie is such a cool kid, she even has her own blog. You can follow her adventures here.

Love for the Dead Feminists

2011-04-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog yet, but my lovely and wonderful sister Abby is getting married in a couple of weeks. I'm making a lot of the decorations and will be creating an eight and a half foot dessert table, so my life is pretty much consumed by that right now. Some of those projects might be sneaking on to the blog here and there :)

Anyway, Abby had her first bridal shower a couple of weeks ago and while her big present will be revealed at another shower later next month, I still wanted to get her something special for this one.

I personally think that letterpress prints make lovely gifts. It might be TMI, but I actually find them quite sexy, lol. I stumbled across Amagram Press not too long ago and fell in love with their Dead Feminist Series, which is described as...

A series of collaborative, limited-edition letterpress broadsides created by Chandler O'Leary with Jessica Spring. Each broadside features a quote by a historical feminist, ties in with current political and social issues, and is letterpress printed from hand-drawn lettering and illustrations.


"To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the sun lines of the continents for untold thousands of year ... is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be."

My sister and her fiance live in Florida and have a deep love of the ocean, so I thought this print fit them perfect. (You can see it larger here)

The thing about this series is that each print is only in production for a short period of time and when they're gone, they're gone. However they do offer oversized postcard reproduction prints - and at only $1.75 each, you can afford to put them all over your house!

But to fancy it up a bit, I matted it on some cardstock, stuck it in a clip frame, and glued some vintage crocheted trim around the edges. I think the entire project cost me about $7.00.

"One tends to give one's fingers too little credit for their own good sense."

Next on the list is to frame this one that I picked up for myself which I loooooooove. But it will have to wait until after the wedding.

Last bit of Easter sewing

2011-04-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

I never got around to sewing an Easter dress for Phoebe, but it was okay because her Liberty of London dress (which I loooooove) that I got her last year at Target fit her perfectly. But I had to have something mama-made in her Easter basket, so I whipped up this cute little dachshund necklace from Wee Wonderfuls. You can see my review of this book and another project I made from it here.

Super simple, cute as a button, and I finished it in one sitting. Gotta love that.

Speaking of cute as a button.....

Naturally dyed Easter eggs

2011-04-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is the third year I've experimented with dying Easter eggs using natural ingredients. You can see the results of my very first batch here.

This year I made the dye baths from some ingredients I haven't tried in the past. The top left corner is blueberries, bottom left is spinach, and the right is cranberries. Please pardon the messy stove - I have better things to do with my time than clean :)

After boiling down the ingredients, I let them cool, strained out the plant material, and added a couple tablespoons of vinegar. Clockwise from top left: spinach, cranberries, blueberries, and some pomegranate blueberry juice I had on hand.

I always use eggs that have been hollowed so I can give them as gifts and keep them from year to year. I had planned on using these eggs for another project, which is why they have extra large holes - but I never got around to making anymore so I just went with it.

I wrapped the eggs in bits of lace trim and also plant material that I secured by wrapping the entire egg in nylon.

Here are the results from left to right: Spinach, cranberries, pomegranate blueberry juice, blueberries, turmeric, blueberries, cranberries.

The blueberries definitely made the darkest and most vibrant dye, and the turmeric came out pretty nice as well.

I was surprised at how light the spinach dye turned out, but I found that you need heck of a lot of spinach to get a good green color.

I let Phoebe, on the other hand, go crazy with a good old fashioned, tablet-style Easter egg kit. Bright colors and instant results for her toddler attention span.

Happy Easter everyone!

Too busy to think of a title

2011-04-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Lots of sewing going on here - and all projects have deadlines attached. Here's a sneak peak of tonight's project using the lovely DS Quilts collection (by none other than Denyse Schmidt, of course :) that can be found at Joann Fabrics. I know I've ragged on the quality of fabric sold at Joann's in the past, but I'm quite impressed with how soft and lovely this collection turned out. Hopefully the trend will continue?

Big shirt, little dress

2011-04-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

You've got to love the clearance racks at Target.

Where else can you find this much knit fabric for $3?

And turn it into this....

gotta love that face!

This was made using my trusty Tee for Two Pattern, (you can see a shirt version I made here) but I sewed it inside out so that the raw edges are on the inside this time. I went up a size and made the 2T so Phoebe will (hopefully) be able to wear it for quite a while.