A little ol' snowman

I love snowmen as decor because you can use them all winter long.  This snowman was a cute one that took me a year and a half.  Isn't that pathetic?  My problem wasn't just the fact that I had to start over half way through the embroidery because I cut the muslin too little for a frame, but it was also the actual framing.  But once I finally got it in there, it has been one of my favorite things to put up.  Makes having a long winter a little easier when you have cute decorations you can look at.  Ha, I wish.

This little guy I found online before I got the above pattern from my mom.  He is so cute.  I love the mouth and rosy cheeks.  I have another snowman embroidery I am drawing up but I can't get it right or figure out what size I'd want it.  It's a snowman looking at the star of David.  It's been sitting around longer than I can remember.  Who knows, maybe someday.

Easter dress and tie

I decided to make Easter clothes for the kids this year.  So I made a couple ties for Mister and a dress for Missy.  The ties were soooo easy.  I found a tutorial on Pinterest.

As for the dress, I actually found one that I LOVED on etsy (I fell in love with the design and the fabric and really the whole shop) and was going to buy it but the Easter cut off was over.  So I decided to attempt making it myself.  It was difficult since I didn't really have a pattern but I used one that I found for a 2T peasant dress and went from there.  I had to make it smaller and having never made clothes before, was a little lost on how to do it, but I managed to figure it out in time for Easter.  

It's a girl

My friend is having a girl and we threw her a baby shower to celebrate.  Since I have tons of girl things that I want to make and all the supplies but little motivation, I felt this baby shower would give me the kick in the pants I need to get 'er dun.

I found a really cute onesie on etsy that I wanted to recreate.  But when I bought the 6-9 month onesies, they were for my now 14 month old.  I am a total procrastinator but it doesn't stop me from still using them. 

I REALLY wanted to do a pink onesie with pink ruffles and so I dyed them in some RIT fabric dye.  Well, there's a first for everything and this one did NOT go well.  I seem to be overly confident on some things and this was one of them.  I didn't let the dye powder dissolve all the way before I put my fabric in so there are dark spots all over the 2 onesies I dyed.  Thank goodness I only did 2 because I was still able to use the other 3 from the package.  I did also throw in a strip of a blue shirt I don't wear anymore to see if it'd dye it pink or purple.  And that's what I used for the ruffles on this onesie.  It also had some dark spots but they aren't as noticeable. 

(I found a tutorial on fabric dying and would recommend it even though I screwed mine up.  It was still helpful to have more than just the directions on the box.)

Then I made a flower to go with it.  It's pretty basic.  I followed the tutorial here minus attaching it to a hat.  

This one I made with fabric scraps and it was pretty easy.  There's not a tutorial on how to make it but the idea came from this video and she gives you the basic instructions.

This one I also copied from one on etsy, I think from the same shop too.  Not too hard to figure out.  I just made sure to put fray check on it.

And the flower was found on this tutorial.  I think it's super cute.  My flower is smaller since it's for a little head.  I think I went .5 in smaller than the measurements the tutorial gives.

Nativity

My mom made this nativity for all the married kids one Christmas before I was married.  I thought it was so cute that when I got married, I asked her to make me one to put in my home.  She started it but handed it off to me 2 years ago saying that I'd probably work faster than her since she was having some problems with her hand going numb.  After her hand ailment was long gone the embroidery still sat there partially finished.  I'd work on it furiously for a while and then run out of thread and never get to the store.  Then it'd be forgotten for a couple more months.  Anyway, this took me forever to do but I finally finished it!  My mom framed it and sent it just in time to display for the season.

Tis the season

After 4 years of having the pattern and 3 years of working on it, I have finally finished our family's Christmas stockings.  My goodness, that took forever.  I am so happy they are done.  Well, they are presentable at least.  I do still want to do something to label them with names.  But have decided to put that off until another year.  I'm thinking little wooden letter hanging like pendents.  

Fall embroidery turned runner

I have finally finished my fall runner.  I started it in September, a really dumb time to start something for fall. After a lot of careless mistakes and a few trips to the store, I finally have a runner I can pull out every fall for my table.  I think it turned out really cute and since I've never sewn a runner without a pattern of some kind, I have to give myself a pat on the back for a job well done.

Travel preparation

For Labor Day weekend, our little family took our first road trip with kids.  It was a wonderful experience and we will do it again but maybe not too soon.

I found a few things on Pinterest that I knew would help the travel go more smoothly.

The trash bag

I completely copied the girl with the fabric but I didn't have boning so I left that out for another day when I get some.  It'll be easy enough to insert.

The travel clutch

There are actually 2 tutorial I found for this one.  Here's the other.

Easy burp cloths

Made some burps cloths for a friend.  They were so easy.  I found the tutorial here.  I found another tutorial that said to add batting in the middle.  Maybe next time I'll do that just to give it more absorbency.  But I'm pretty happy with the final result other than the awful lighting in the pictures.

Baby, look at those legs!

 Just finished another pair of baby legs!  These things are so nice to put on "sissy Q" now that she's moving around and it's getting a little cooler.  I know, it's still summer but we live in Minnesota so you have to take it while it's here.

Anyway, in the past, I have made my baby legs using a very simple method of cutting off the feet to knee high socks, folding the cut edge under to make a hem and whip stitching it.  Doesn't take long, but I kept seeing them with the cuff and I knew there was a way to do it if I could just find it.  I hate to admit this, but this whole time, I never googled it...

Until tonight.  I found a pair of cute socks in my pile of procrastinated projects, of course I had forgotten all about them.  I had seen another really cute way to hem the socks and thought I'd try that this time around.  I just couldn't remember where I saw the tutorial, so I googled it and lo and behold, not only did I find the one I was looking for but 3 more that show you how to put cuffs on.  So I ditched the original plan and made them with cuffs.

Some below are all the tutorials I've used to make this cute accessory.

Simple whip stitching method

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Ruffled edge- this is the method I ditched tonight but still want to make.  Consequently, I have no pictures.

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Attaching a cuff- I actually followed 2 pages for this

Little Birdie's Nest

Everything Your Mama Made

Tutus!

Now that I have children, I am part of the cousin Christmas gift exchange.  We get to give to my cute little niece every year.  I decided to make a tutu for her.  A tutu is super easy to make and you really don't need a sewing machine even though I used one, or did I?  I might have just sewn it by hand.  Anyway, in preparing for this project, I read quite a few tutorials.  Here's a simple enough one on The Idea Room.  I bought tulle by the yard and found a great video tutorial that gives you a secret on cutting your tulle.  I used elastic and would recommend it over ribbon.  Make sure when you measure the waist to take about an inch or 2 off to find the measurement of your elastic band.

I needed to see how it was coming along half way through so I tried it on my boy.  It was so fun to watch him crawl around in that cute little thing.  It made me so excited for my little girl that was on her way!

And now it's finished!   If you want a fuller skirt, put more strips of tulle on.  If you want it puffy, make the strips shorter. 

When my girl was born, I whipped up a quick one for her newborn shots.  It really is that easy.

Embroideries for the wall

A couple years ago, I took up embroidery.  It was so easy to learn as long as you knew how to thread a needle, which I did.  So I was at Gardner Village during one of my trips to UT and they have a shop that sells embroidery patterns.  So I grabbed one and got to work.  

This pattern was a birthday gift from my mother-in-law.

And this one I actually stole from my mom.  It's really the first one I ever did.  I made it for a birthday present for my mother-in-law.  It was so fun to do because it gives you the chance to personalize it leaving room for lots of creativity.

Since then, I haven't done a whole lot by way of embroidery only because my projects have been a bit bigger and more time consuming.  I just finish a Nativity scene including everyone but the angel and camels.  I've been working on it for 2 1/2 years.  I'm really excited though because every year I would tell myself that I'll finish it by that year's Christmas and this year will be the year that is true.  Can't wait to get it framed so I can enjoy my hard work!

I have a whole drawer full of patterns my sister sent me that I can now get to...

Something Blue

My sister got married last February.  Since I wasn't there for any of her showers or preparation, I decided it would be fun to throw her a Bachelorette Party.  We went with the theme of the old adage, "Something Old, Something New, etc."  Each of my sisters and I took a "Something" and got her a gift she could use on her honeymoon or shortly after that went along with it.  It ended up being really fun!

My "Something" was Blue!  I went a little overboard because I just couldn't filter all the ideas that were coming to me.  But I had 2 ideas that required the old crafty in me to come out.  And so I present them now.

My sister loves her hair accessories and I was already in baby hair accessory mode so I whip one up in adult size.  

It was really easy.  I followed a tutorial I found on Craftaholics Anonymous to form the petals.  The only difference between the tutorial and what I did is that I made more petals and put them together a little off-centered rather than having them all centered.  Then instead of using a brad to fasten, I sewed on little pearls.  It looks more delicate.  Note: Something I learned from singeing the petals is not to catch them on fire.  It's a lot harder to get rounded edges.  Also, on this one it didn't show up but on lighter fabric, it definitely shows that it's burnt.  If you like that look than great but I don't.  The same tutorial shows you how to make a nylon headband.  Instead, I just sewed on some softer elastic that I got at JoAnn.  

When I got married, someone gave us a journal.  I was not sure what to do with it until my hubby and I talked about making it a couple's journal.  We would use it to write about our spouse and our relationship.  I have a husband who loves to write and make up poems and claims to be an AWFUL verbal communicator.  So he was very excited to be able to express himself to me in a journal.  So I made one for the happy couple.

I copied the idea from another Little Birdie Secrets post.  Yes, I love them.  Here's what I did differently.  They tell you to modge podge the paper on.  MP and I have an "on again, off again" relationship and at the time we were off.  So after trying to modge podge it on, some of my paper wouldn't stay stuck.  So I took some clear packaging tape and taped it all up.  I would've used contact paper for a seamless finish but I didn't have any on hand.  Then I hot-glued the ribbon instead of sewing it.  I really like the sewed look but I have not gotten that far in my relationship with my sewing machine.  We'll start sewing paper eventually but I don't want to push it.

Bibs that are cute AND durable

When I was expecting my first, a boy, my awesome and talented sister offered to make me a bunch of bibs.  We picked out the material and she whipped them up.  They were really cute, of course because I picked out the fabric, but they were also durable and awesome because they had buttons.  Totally child proof!  My almost 20 month old still can't get his bib off.  

So, upon having a girl, I felt I NEEDED girl bibs.  I got the pattern from my sister and pulled out my new and rarely used sewing machine.  I bought it in hopes to someday learn how to sew.  And I had made 2 things on it prior to this project but both times I had a highly experienced seamstress sitting right next to me the whole time.  So I pulled my machine out and got to work.  It was crazy how easy it was to make these.  The hardest part was figuring out how to do a button hole but that didn't take too long and before I knew it, I had 6 bibs!

I don't have the pattern on here, but if you read this and want it, I'd be happy to figure out how to post it and give you a tutorial.  Otherwise, enjoy the pictures!