Wonderful Wednesday

So we all know Wednesday isn't really wonderful, but hopefully I can make it a little better by sharing one of my favorite finds every week. There will be projects, cool items, recipes, blogs and you name it from all over the web. Hopefully these will help inspire you as much as they help me. The first installment is something that was one of my very first sewing projects and since I have some friends who are new to sewing, as I'm sure many of you are I thought I would share this project. It is a very simple pair of kid's pants that can be made with no pattern and can be embellished many ways or even turned into shorts, pajamas or capris. I have made dozens of these over the years using this tutorial and hope everyone else will too. It is found on a lovely blog called Handy Home Projects and is super easy to follow. Enjoy and happy Wednesday.

Kim

Quilted Easter Egg Garland

I've mentioned before that I am working on Easter Decorations for the house and trying to reuse and re purpose items in the process. This week I hit the fabric stash in my quest for Easter stuff. I have seen some cute garlands in the past on various sites and my daughter and I even made a birthday garland out of scrapbook paper that we have used for many a celebration. The problem with the paper ones is that they don't really hold up through the years. So for my Easter one, even though I initially got out paper to make it I switched to fabric in the end. So for this project I used scraps of fabric, ribbon, trim scraps, lace scraps, buttons and felt. Here is a quick step by step:

1.Draw a large egg on paper(about 6 0r 7 inches tall), cut it out.
2. Use your new egg pattern to trace out four eggs onto your felt, it can be any color.
3. Cut out the felt eggs.
4. Use your pattern to cut out 2 eggs shapes from each of your fabrics. This time add in a 1/2 inch seam allowance to each shape.
5. Cut a length of ribbon that will fit the space you want to display your garland, my window is about 36 inches wide and I used a piece of ribbon about 6 ft long.
6. Take your first two fabric pieces and sandwich a felt piece in between them they should be wrong sides together. Pin.
7. Slide your ribbon in between the layers leaving a tail hanging out long enough to tie around your window.
8. Sew all around the edges catching the ribbon as you go.
9. Do each of your eggs the same way, leaving an equal amount of space between each on the ribbon.
10. Finally you can leave them plain or embellish them as I did. I added scraps of trims and laces to two and then quilted over them. The other two have vintage buttons sewn on from my collection. You could also add ribbons, embroidery or anything else you can think of.

Enjoy!

There's a Wocket in My Smocket!

Well the title is an homage to Dr. Seuss who's birthday was celebrated this week and the fact that Sweets read ten pages of "Fox in Socks" all by herself. You should have seen the looks on her dad and I's faces when she brought that book in our bedroom and started reading from it. In case you can't tell I'm busting at the seams with pride. So in honor of this and the fact that I really need to get started on summer sewing projects I set out to make my first smocket. I found this pattern a while back at themayfly and thought it was adorable and best of all totally easy. I managed to whip two of these out yesterday during Bug's nap. I made one for Sweets which I had to enlarge the pattern quite a bit on since she is wearing a size 5 and the pattern is about a 24 months or 2t. The other I stuck with the pattern measurements since it is going to my 2 year old niece, who is just barely a size 2t. I made both out of some great red and white polka dot fabric that I bought on clearance last year at Hancocks and still have about 3 yards of left. They are reversible so the other side is a solid black quilting cotton with some cute ladybug buttons that were in my stash. I really, really love this design, it is just so cute on. I'm sure I will be making many more for summer and I love that they can be worn into fall with a long sleeve shirt underneath as Sweets wore hers today. She has requested that I make her a pig/butterfly fabric, reversible smocket next time, so I guess I will have to make a trip to the fabric store since surprisingly I have none of either. I also took a few minutes and whipped up a new case for my sunglasses. I had made one before without a zipper, but it only held one pair and I usually have two and it also didn't really keep junk from getting on my glasses. Hopefully this new zippered version, that can hold two pairs will keep the various gunk that finds it's way into my purse off of the lens. If you are wondering what type of gunk could seriously be in my purse, well last week I reached in and found a half-eaten slimy apple courtesy of one of the kids, hopefully!













-Kim

Owl Apron

Okay I am a fabric junkie, I admit it. I can't go into the fabric store without wanting to buy something new. I've been trying to be good lately since I have a huge stash that I am trying to work through but sometimes a fabric is just too good. Fabric is just one of my obsessions along with pretty much anything vintage. Those are the two categories in which a good find can incite major heart palpitations. This fabric sort of did it for me in both categories, while not technically a vintage fabric I don't think anyone can argue that the design has a heavy 60's feel to it, with the owls and black light poster color scheme. I had really only planned on buying some broadcloth when I hit the fabric store yesterday, I was planning to make an apron for my husband's grandmother's 75th birthday this weekend and she, like myself loves owls so I had intended to use some fabric with owls that I already had. Well a 40% off sign later I find myself clutching a bolt of this lovely stuff and breathing heavy. I'm happy with my purchase since 1.5 yards is proving to be enough for an apron for my husband's grandmother, one for myself and I think enough left over for the wallet I've been wanting to make.
Okay so on to the actual apron. I knew I wanted a 50's housewife inspired half apron, I looked at a few commercial patterns but thought the idea seemed easy enough that I could make my own pattern, so that's what I did. It is lined with solid broadcloth, has two patch pockets on the front, has a orange and pink handmade bias tape waistband and orange bias tape ties. It is technically reversible although the green side is pretty boring, on the next one I make, which will actually go to my husbands grandmother I am going to add patch pockets in the owl fabric to the reverse side so it will be pretty either way. I am thinking of trying to make a tutorial as I make the next one if anyone is interested. So I am happily wearing my apron as I sit here and type this morning and will probably be wearing it for the foreseeable future, I just can't get enough of the fabric and of course who doesn't love a big swirly apron to make housework a little more bearable.

-Kim

Appliqued Pillows

Let me just start off by saying that I love all of the kids in my life dearly, my niece and nephew and little cousin's mean so much to me. I love being called Aunt Kim or Aunt Im depending on who you're talking to and I love that they are so close in age to my own kids. I know that they are forming a bond that will last forever. So whenever holidays come around I find myself sewing for not two but four or more kids every time ( last Easter I made close to 10 little bunnies). I just feel like handemade gifts mean so much and I want to share them with my loved wee ones. So even though it may mean some late nights I am up to the task because its worth it when I see a little one running around with a toy I made, or wearing something I stitched. So this year I wanted to make personalized pillows since my kids and my niece are having their rooms redone. I did some major stash busting on this project and only bought two half yards of fabric from the remnant bin. Basically I wrote out the names on my wonder under, remembering to make the letters backwards so that they will be right side when reversed, then I ironed them to a variety of coordinating fabrics to match each room theme. I then figured out how big to cut out my pillow by laying the letters out on top of my fabric and leaving a few inches on each side (I just eyeballed it). Once I had my two rectangles cut out I layed my letters out again and after peeling the paper off of them, ironed them down. Next I carefully zigzagged around every letter with the smallest zig zag stitch on my machine. When that was all done (and believe me it takes a lot of patience) I placed the pillow pieces right sides together and stitched almost all the way around, leaving a small opening at the bottom for stuffing. Then I flipped it right sides out and stuffed. Last I tucked in my raw edges and stitched up. For the one that says "Kayleigh" I also added bows and a button. I still have one more to make for my nephew so hopefully I will get to that tonight. I think this may be the present that I make for all of Sweets' friend's birthdays this year, it was really easy and would probably be quick if you weren't mass producing them. :)

yummy candy for v-day, thrift store finds, and some pillows.

I've been keeping my v-day crafts in my back pocket so as not to spoil any surprises but I've been wanting to share something valentine-ish with you so I made something special just for you. Strawberry Cheesecake Truffles, they are way easy to do, take just 3 ingredients and are sure to make someone happy this Valentine's Day.

1 small tub of strawberry cream cheese
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
white or regular chocolate for dipping (or candy melts)

In the bowl of your mixer whip the cream cheese until fluffy, add the graham cracker crumbs and stir until blended. Use a small ice cream scoop to form them into balls, or just a teaspoon and your hands. Pop them in the freezer for an hour and then dip in your melted chocolate. Keep refrigerated.

I think that you could come up with a lot of different variations on this, some of the ones I have thought of are using vanilla wafers instead of the graham crackers, or how about regular cream cheese and chocolate chip cookies?

Today I managed to drag the kids out for a bit to check out some of my favorite thrift stores, I'm in search of a waffle maker, the old really heavy kind, not the plastic versions that are everywhere. I have had some pretty good finds recently and have actually discovered a new interest in Pfalztgraff china. I have seen this stuff before but it was always floral and never caught my interest. Recently however I came across a set of 8 white mugs that I love, they are perfect for coffee or tea and remind me of my favorite coffee shop. Today I added to my budding collection with a pistachio chop plate, which is just fancy talk for a really big plate perfect for a cake or cupcakes. I now have to keep my eyes open for some more of this fabulous stuff, it's really heavy stoneware that goes into the dishwasher beautifully. I love getting stuff from a thrift store, I feel like I am rescuing it and I love to imagine the person that it previously belonged to (who in my mind is always a little white haired lady with a cardigan on).

I'm also posting some pillows that I made two weeks ago and am just now feeling inspired to write about. We have this very nice brick fireplace that is unfortunately non-functioning, but has a nice wide ledge that is perfect for sitting on, just slightly uncomfortable. So I thought making some pillows to sit across it would hopefully make it more comfortable and less bare looking. I found these awesome decorator weight fabrics one day at Wal-mart for like 3 bucks a yard, so I got 1.5 yards of each and this is what I came up with. The bird and oak leaves pillows are done with appilique and feature my original designs. They are all stuffed with fiberfill and very cushy. They measure about 20 inches on each side.










And just because, a picture of tonight's dinner, beef stew.


-Kim