♥ Pockets!

I think the term for what I did to this dress would be "upcycle," but I think "embellished" would work also. I found two cheap dresses on clearance at Target. This one is orange with a pink ruffle on the bottom and pink straps, the other is blue with green. They were cheap - super cheap, I want to say $3 a piece. I knew before I bought them that I wanted to add some pockets or some sort of applique to them. After I bought the dresses, I took them to JoAnn and matched them up with fat quarters.

Since Lauren has been into pockets lately (especially for the ability to carry around her little tiny princesses), I decided to go with a little function in the fashion.

The top heart isn't a pocket, it is just sewn on and I added three mismatched but kind of coordinating buttons in a row on it. The bottom middle heart is actually two pockets. I sewed a seam straight down the middle and left the rounded parts of the heart open. The two pockets on the side are also hearts, the top open to make the pockets.

And the dress was a hit. She put it on as soon as I finished it and went out to play and we went out to dinner with her wearing it.

The only bad news I have about this dress is how much it has inspired me to use buttons from Lissa's stash in upcoming projects. I must have laid out a dozen different setups for the buttons before I decided to go with the simple three button design I used.

I also hit up Hobby Lobby on Tuesday and picked up four patterns, taking advantage of this week's 99 cent special. I may wait until we get up to Washington, but I may not. I just need to find a fabric store that sells better fabric for apparel. I'd like some better knits instead of the stiffer cotton that I've been using.

Ladybug Dress

Here's Lauren in her ladybug dress. This is the same pattern as Mia's waterymelon dress. The prints on the fabric are similar, so they look cute and coordinated without matching perfectly.

I got a close up shot of her ladybug button and the ribbon I used.

It always makes me so happy when she picks out one of the dresses that I've made for her as the dress she wants to wear for the day.

Mia's "Waterymelon" Dress

This is my almost three year old niece, Mia, and today I gave her the watermelon-print dress I made for her (or, "waterymelon" as she calls it.)  I added pink ribbon to the bottom hem and between the bodice and skirt sections for the dual purpose of adding flair and covering my not perfectly straight stitching.  The pink ribbon has little black dots in it that look like little watermelon seeds.  There are also two watermelon buttons that I added where the straps meet the bodice on the front.  She really liked it.  Tomorrow I'll post pictures of Lauren's ladybug dress made from the same pattern.  (Click on the photo to enlarge)

Sewing Up A Storm

I've been doing a bunch of sewing lately. Tons of dresses for Lauren, and some shirts for my sisters-in-law (or is it sister-in-laws? Doesn't matter...) and I have some projects on the horizon that I'm thinking about and figuring out how I want to do. I need to get pictures and post them soon, maybe I'll get that done today so I can start posting tomorrow.

Lots of baking has been going on here, too. A few good recipes from The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook (thank you, Jayna) and more planned from the Pink Princess Cookbook and the Pink Princess Tea Parties cookbook.

Plenty of plans, a few finished projects, and now I'm just looking for some time to get a bit more done. Hope to post soon!

Sugar Cookies

I made sugar cookies a few weeks ago and let Lauren decorate them. She did the sprinkles and after they baked, I decorated them with icing. She had fun and we all enjoyed eating them.

STICK A FORK IN IT

IT'S DONE!!!!!!!! It will be wrapped tomorrow or tonight and opened on Christmas Day. Yay! And it turned out really nice. I'll get pictures of it up later.

Down to the Wire

On the last of the 4 squares, about halfway through already. I think I'm going to end up machine stitching the edges as well as the binding. Hopefully tonight will give me some time to work on it. Only a few days left to get it done. :crossingfingers:

Back at it!

I have been working feverishly- whenever I get the chance - on finishing up this quilt. There's still a lot to do, I'm aiming at a no later than date of December 19th.

Working on the 3rd of 4 squares, have to do two more of the rungs, and then the border. I may end up doing that by machine in the interest of time. And then, of course, the binding. Ahh! That's a long list.

Off to get some more done!

Next Quilt

I'm going to go back to the quilt I was working on before the baby blanket sometime this week. I will pull it out and I will set up my quilting table and I will get some work done.

I will myself.

Photos - at long last

I was so lazy about getting these pictures up. I wish I had uploaded them from the camera sooner, I would have taken more if I had. They're not the greatest. But the quilt will be delivered today or tomorrow so it's a little late for me to reshoot the pics. Oh well.

I opted for the satin ribbon binding and I added a tag with the baby's name where the binding overlaps. I think it's a cute little personalized addition.

FINISHED!

I just put the final stitch in and stuck it in the washer. Once it's all cleaned up and free of loose threads, I'll be posting pictures! YAY!

He's Here!

And less than three hours after his arrival, I finished the quilting on the piece. The binding goes on tomorrow and then it can be mailed off! Yay!

I'll post pictures when it is all finished.

so so so close!

Today I actually decided I was done with this baby quilt. I pieced the top rather large, too large for a baby blanket, so I decided I'd just use the extra to hold it still in the frame, and then only quilt the portion I wanted to use. Somehow in my mind I thought I had done 5 rows of 4 squares and took everything down and admired my work only to recount and discover I had only done 4 rows. Boo. :( So I thought I was done, but I actually have to set it up again and do at least another row. I folded it under so I could get a better feel for the finished size and I actually think 6 rows would look the best, but this baby is due in less than a week. Granted, it doesn't have to be there before the baby is born, and getting a package a few days after they get home might be nicer than having one waiting for them when they bring the better new package from the hospital. ;)

So - I'm very close but STILL not finished. I can't wait to get it sent off, though. If I can do 2 squares every day I can have it all quilted by Sunday, do the binding on Monday and hopefully have it out by next Tuesday. IF.

2/3 Done!

I have four of the six rows of stitching done on this baby quilt! Yay! It seems to move pretty quickly, I just have been up to a lot of things, so I haven't devoted a lot of time to it lately. Two rows and the binding left and this one is done! (And then I'll post pictures!)

Enough Already!

Well, I put away the daffodil/tulip quilt to continue at a later time. I was just so bored looking at it anymore that I decided I should go ahead and start on the baby quilt for my friend and get it done, and then I could come back to this when I was feeling more up to it. I just need something new to look at for a while.

I've decided to do an X pattern over the whole thing, and I haven't gotten very far yet, I just set it up this morning. But it already looks good and I love the fleece-y/flannel-y fabric for the backing. I think it's going to end up being really soft. But I am going to cut it down to about half the size it is now so that it will be more of a baby blanket size than a twin-size like it is now. Which I didn't intend on making it, but I just kind of got carried away as I was making my rows.

Anyway, I have been thinking about taking some graphic design classes and seeing if I can make something happen from my digital imagining interests. Before I was a mommy I could spend hours in Photoshop just changing images around and having fun with my photographs. I'd love to get a job retouching photos or creating images. So we'll see how long I stick with this idea. Right now it's just a little musing, but it may be worth going after.

A Little More Progress

I have 2 1/2 of the 4 ladder rungs done and 2 of the 4 squares done. I would love to be able to say I'm halfway done, but I'll still have the border and the binding to do. Maybe I'm 1/3 of the way done? I'm not looking forward to doing the next square. It just seems really daunting.

However, this was supposed to be a gift, and I mailed something off in it's place, so now the pressure is off to finish it in the next week or so. Maybe I'll look forward to doing it more when I don't feel like I *have to*.

Since I have another one that needs to be quilted before September, I may put this one away and start on it. I made it quite large, though, and I think I'm going to cut it in half. It's supposed to be a blanket for a new baby and it's almost twin-sized. And thinking of all the stitching that would take, really is daunting.

Also, I'd like to give a quick congratulations to Red Carpet Fashion Awards and their recognition by E! and the Style Networks. The blogger, Catherine, is being filmed next week for a segment on one of their shows. Yay! Go Catherine and RCFA!

Quilt Progress - no pictures

So I've been quilting my little fingers off lately. I made a lot of progress over the last two days. Basically, there are four squares that have intricate quilting inside them, then the ladder (two horizontal rows, two vertical rows) and the border around the whole thing. As of right now, I have one square done, one about to be finished this evening, one ladder done, and two halfway done. I probably will not finish this quilt in the next couple of weeks like I was hoping to, but I'm still happy at the progress I've made. I've really been pushing it to get something done. Plus, I want to get started on the two other projects I have sewn up that just need to be quilted.

I'm locked into the designs in the squares and the ladder, but I keep changing my mind about the border. I'll have to finish the center of the piece before I start on that so I can decide at the very end.

My Quilt

I really really didn't want to post anything that wasn't finished. But I also don't want to go a month without posting anything. This actually isn't the project that I'm focusing on right now, but since it's a gift, I'm not going to post my main project until it is done. Follow that?

So, here's the quilt I started for my bedroom almost a year ago. Sheesh. But I put it away when someone came to stay and the sewing/guest room became a guest room minus the sewing slash. And then it just kind of stayed put away. And then it got buried deeper. But I pulled out the sewing machine to piece together two other quilts, and wanted to finish this one off before I put the sewing machine away again.

Long story short, I finished piecing it this morning.

This is a detail picture of the fabrics. The squares are 2"x2"


And this is the whole quilt. It's really hard to get a picture of such a giant quilt, even standing on a table. So part of it is not in the picture, and you get the added bonus of the corner of my coffee table. :)



And, back to sitting it will go while I finish hand quilting the two other pieces I'm working on.

A Garden of Stitches

I finished the last daffodil last night! I set myself a goal to finish all four before the month was over, and I pushed on and managed to beat my goal! :)

I have to wash my fabrics today for the quilt, and then I'll start planning it out and cutting the pieces. Hopefully my daughter will cooperate and give me the chance to get some work done. I think I'm going to have to bring the sewing machine out into the living room, though.

Three Blooms

So I have three of the flowers done. This time, I reversed the stem and leaves and kept the blossom facing the same way. I have one more daffodil to go, which I'm reversing entirely. I've got a little big already done on it, but thought I should post this tulip for now. :)