Announcement

Sweet Goodness Swaps announced the Summer Fun Swap today! Just letting you know in case you're interested.

The Smaller Bag

Here is the smaller version of this bag. I rounded the sides a bit more and took a few inches off the body of the bag, but other than that, the design is the same. I also used my one and only red crochet flower to embellish it, along with a the yellow one that I made when I was figuring out the flower pattern.

Front View

the Flowers

Back View

I put it in the shop today.

Is anyone else getting more done now that all the TV shows are over for the season?

My Best Find Yet....

We had a great weekend away with our family. We went to the children's museum and the kids had a great time. We had two family barbeques, a trip to the cemetery, and a night out for mom and dad while grandma babysat. They are still recovering from it all - it is 8:15 am and both of them are still in bed - a miracle in our house.

I managed to fit in some thrifting on Saturday and yesterday and found what I consider to be my best find yet - this fab pieced quilt top! I have read of others finding quilt tops in their thrifting adventures and have wondered if my lucky day would ever come.

It is a flying geese pattern made out of a ton of different retro polyester crepe prints. I love it! It is so well made too - the points all match perfectly and all of the pieces are backed with a piece of muslin. There are six rows of geese and I think it is a twin size or possibly somewhere between a twin and a full. There wasn't a price tag on it when I found it so I took it up to the register and hoped for a good deal - with the 50% off Memorial Day Special they were running I paid $1.50 for it! A good deal indeed! I also found some other great things, but I will save them for later. This one definitely deserves its own post;)!

Workspace

Christina and I are on the same wavelength today. I finished painting the dresser this week and it took me two days after that to get everything organized and in place. So here are the before and after:

I couldn't decide if I was too embarrassed to show the before, but decided you wouldn't really appreciate the after unless you'd seen this mess.

Ta-Da! I really like how the dresser turned out and I especially like the glass knobs. The wall needs some help and my super modern chair doesn't really go with my old sewing machine cabinet, but the dresser has really helped this space to be more functional and to look better.

So, now I'm ready to get back to work after our long weekend away! Hope you all enjoy the weekend too!

A First for Me

I just received an e-mail from my first swap partner! This is so exciting! I am participating in the One Hour Craft Apron Swap. I should have mentioned this sooner - I realized that if I told you when I signed up, you all could have participated if you wanted. But, being new to blogging, I forgot that this would have been a perfect thing to share on my blog. So, next time I will be more on the ball and hopefully, you already heard about it and signed up if you felt so inclined.

Stacey is going to be a great swap partner - she has already blogged about the swap a few times and I love all of her ideas! She seems just as enthusiastic about it as I do and to make things even easier, we are the same size, so getting a correct fit shouldn't be a problem.

I already had an idea of what kind of apron I wanted to make and then I read something on her blog that sealed the deal. But, of course, I can't tell what it is. It must all be hush, hush until she receives her package in a couple of weeks. And I would like to make that package lots of fun, so if anyone has any suggestions for how to create a great swap package (anything you or a swap partner you have had has done), please leave a comment.

If you're interested in participating in a swap, Sweet Goodness Swaps should be announcing their summer swap any day now. I can't wait!

Latest Creation

On Friday morning I saw this bag (kragh rosenberg bea bag) online and fell in love. Since it was a little (OK, a lot) out of my price range, I decided I could try to make one. So, I thought it about it a lot in the morning and we hit a thrift store midday and found a great pillowcase (for $1) to use for it. Baby N was a good little boy and took a long afternoon nap, so while P watched a little PBS, I drew my pattern and cut it out. After the boys were in bed, I went straight to the sewing machine and stayed up quite late to get this finished. Here's how it turned out:


The shape is a little more bell-like than the original, but I like that mine is notably different but with similar design elements. I think I will try again to get a more similar shape to the original, but with a smaller bag. This one is quite large - good for a mom like me who is always carrying snacks, diapers, wipes, drinks, etc. The best part is the custom inside pockets. I think this is going to be a definite shop item - look for some in a few weeks.

I did finish stripping the paint on the dresser this weekend, so now all I have to do is prime and paint and then I can get back to my sewing! Hooray!

Friday Update & Finds

I was going to wait until I had finished the re-finishing project to show pictures, but I've been using the desk for a few days now and it just didn't seem right not to share it. I really like how it turned out - just enough brightness to add a bit of fun, but not so much that I'll get tired of it in a few months. Technically, it is not finished yet as I will still be replacing the knobs with some cool glass ones that I found on ebay. Hopefully those will arrive next week.

I am still working on stripping the dresser and bench - things have slowed way down in that department. I think it's holding me back in general - do you ever have a project that you haven't finished and you don't feel like you should start anything else until it's done? That's how I'm feeling about this re-finishing. I haven't done much sewing or crochet this week and I actually haven't done much re-finishing either, but I still feel like I can't do anything until the re-finishing is done. I'm hoping to have a few hours to work on it tomorrow while DH is home and can watch the boys. Not only do I want to use the dresser and bench, but I also want the garage back. It's starting to get warm out and parking in the hot sun is no fun.

Even though I've neglected the sewing machine this week, I haven't neglected the thrift stores. This is becoming a serious addiction! And no wonder - today I got a set of quilt frame bases (no long boards or clamps, just the bases) for $15! I actually saw these a few days ago and then early this morning while I was up with baby N, suddenly they came back to my mind and I thought, "Why didn't I buy those?" I wanted to get some about two years ago and looked into it and couldn't find any for less than a few hundred. So this morning we were there right when the store opened and luckily, they were still there. YEAH! Now I will just have to find some boards and clamps, which shouldn't be hard. Here are some of my other finds:


A couple of sweaters that I felted. This was my first try at felting. It worked really well. The sweater on the left was a very large mens sweater and the wool was actually woven instead of knitted. Now it looks like it would fit my 3 year old.


On the left is about 1 yd of denim and on the right about 1 yd of teal corduroy. Both will be great for totes. I also picked up this set of embroidery iron-ons. I am really in love with these lately although I haven't embroidered since I was a girl. I had to buy an entire bag of yarn (for only 50 cents) to get those great scissors - I don't think anyone knew they were in there. They are still sharp enough to use. Now I have two pair of old scissors. Maybe this will become a collection.


And this is the great sheet that I picked up. I'm not sure if it's vintage or not, but it's in great shape and I love the pattern. I think it would make great totes or maybe another summer skirt. Any other ideas?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Summer Skirt

I finished my skirt for Skirt Month Sew Along at Sew, Mama, Sew! It was a lot of fun to make. I was able to put it together quickly and it fits well. I was inspired by the top border of a vintage sheet. At first I thought about making it into the bottom border of the skirt, but then I saw New Look 6569 and thought it would work out really well to be the vertical border on the wrap skirt. I love wearing skirts in the summer, so this will be a great addition to my summer wardrobe.


Check out the other skirts here.

Happy National Apron Day!

Randi at i have to say... reminded me that it is National Apron Day today. Hooray for Aprons! I love them - mostly because I am a naturally messy person and they have saved me lots and lots of stains. This is my most recent apron creation. I made it as a housecleaning apron - lots of pockets to keep things that need to go to other places and just the right length to not get in the way. I will be wearing it today as the house needs some serious help! Happy Monday everyone!

Making Progress

I don't have much to show this week except for this refinishing project, but I am making progress on it. The desk is just about ready to prime and then paint. I am finished stripping it, but need to sand it a little bit. Then today I discovered a pretty big hole in the top (not sure how I missed that before), so I need to get some filler. Here's what everything looks like today:

The desk with drawer on top and stool. The top of the stool only had two layers of paint on it so I thought I could just sand it, but then I discovered that the sides have the same six or so layers that the desk and dresser have - yuck!

The dresser - I just started on this yesterday.

This photo shows all the layers of paint - green, black, blue, peach, lavender, and then white. This is why I had to strip the paint. It seemed inane to add any more layers.

Thanks for all your well wishes for Baby N! Like any mom, I love it when others dote on my baby.

I've been trying to reply to comments, but it seems if you haven't left an e-mail (I think you do this when you register with blogger ) I can't get back to you easily, so please know I love getting your comments even if I don't reply. Sometimes I reply as a comment too, so if you're interested you can check back.

Have a nice weekend! Hopefully, I'll be bringing the desk in the house by Monday. I do still have to decide on a paint color, so that may hold me back, but I do want to get this finished and get back to my sewing machine.

Birthday Boy

Baby N is one! We had a fun little celebration on Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa and then yesterday we celebrated a little bit more with just us.

I've decided it is cupcake year for us and so here is the concoction I made for Saturday - these pineapple cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I used a star cookie cutter to give shape to the sprinkles.Yesterday we had little banana cakes (basically banana bread, but with a cake shape) with peanut butter frosting. I have never done anything like this before and I really liked it. So did N!

In Progress

I think this refinishing project is going to take a lot longer than I had originally planned. It is taking three coats of stripper and then rubbing with mineral spirits to get to the wood. Last night I did finish the stripping on the top and one side of the desk. I have a better idea of what I need to do now, so hopefully it will go a little faster. Here is what the pieces looked liked yesterday afternoon. There is a desk, stool, and dresser. I got them all for less than $60, so I am hoping for around $100 for the whole project. We haven't decided what color to paint them yet We are leaning towards some sort of orange shade. We picked out a green last week, but then realized it was the same exact color that they already are! Yikes. It looked much darker in the store. I think I need to go look at colors without the kids so I can be take a little more time to decide and think about it.

These will all go in the kitchen. The desk will be for my computer and the dresser for fabric, sewing supplies, etc. Unfortunately, my sewing area has to be in the kitchen right now because I need to be able to sew after the kids are in bed. The other room available for sewing is right next to their room and the noise would wake them up. I wake them up now sometimes.

Well, I can't wait to get them finished. I think I'm just going to tackle one piece at a time, so hopefully I will have the desk finished by this weekend.

A Green Project

I hoped I would finish this for Earth Day, but I think I started only about two days before that, so instead I finished it today. It is the first of at least a few more of these shopping bags. We have an insanely large collection of plastic bags that I feel more guilty about every time I go to the store, so this seemed like a great idea. The yellow-orange variegated is thrifted and the green/white combo on the bottom and one of the straps is from some leftover from other projects. I decided not to make the envelope because I figured I would rarely go to the trouble of folding up the bag and that it would be easiest to store it on a hook. I also think the pattern makes the bag way too large (especially because it stretches so much), so I think for my next one I will cut off 5 to 10 rows. I might also make the base a little larger - maybe an extra two rows. Last week I picked up a lot more thread at the thrift store because it was all tagged with the half off color tag, so hopefully I now have enough to make at least four more, although it will probably be a while before I get them finished or even started. The ink finally came so I hope that I can figure out some tags and get my hand-crafted items in the shop. That and a refinishing project(of some thrifted furniture) will be my main projects this week.

The furniture is a bit overwhelming. I've never really done anything like this before, so it's turning out to be an experiment and an adventure all in one and all I've done so far is start stripping off the layers of paint. So far I have seen green, gold, peach, purple, black, blue and white paint. I'll try to get out and take some pictures tomorrow when there's a little bit of natural light in the garage and you can see all of the fun.

latest creations

We had a lovely time visiting family and friends last week. Unfortunately, P threw up (while being babysat by DH's sister) during the wedding, so I didn't stay for long. Oh well, such is life with a 3 year old. And now things are busy around her as we are preparing to celebrate N's 1st birthday on Saturday (actual b-day is next Tuesday, but family will be coming up so we'll celebrate with them on Saturday).

Here is what I've been able to fit in (probably mostly due to ignoring things I really should be doing) in the past little bit:


This is a little bag for P. I'm thinking of using it either as a lunch bag for pre-school next fall or as and activity bag - something that he can put a few things to do while we wait for the the doctor or at church. I used the fun alphabet fabric I found a couple of weeks ago for the stripe on the flap. I'm still trying to decide what kind of fastener to put on it - button, snap, or try to figure out how to do something with magnets? Any other suggestions?


These are some more towels with all sorts of different ribbons and fabrics for the pear and apple appliques. I still need to stitch around them, but they are getting there. The two ribbons with blue backgrounds ribbons I found at the thrift store a week or so ago. They remind of something I might find in my grandmother's stash. I'm thinking of keeping one of them for myself. I will use the others either as gifts or to put in the shop.

Speaking of the shop, I think I'm going to try making my own tags with printable fabric (thanks for the idea Jenn). I'm just waiting for the ink to come that I ordered last week. I'm tempted to just go get some at the store. DH says that if I do, the ink will come tomorrow and if I don't, it won't come for a few more days. He's probably right. Well, I won't wait past Saturday.