Elastic? Fantastic! (A Tutorial)

So, I tried to post this blog entry last night and Blogger threw a technical fit and deleted it. ::head:desk:: Anyway...If you hate pulling elastic through casing with a safety pin as much as I do...read on!

I recently heard of a super easy way to elastisize your clothes. I know. It's not a word. :) I used 1/4" elastic here, so I made my casing 1/2". Iron your casing to the proper size, then put the end of your elastic inside and do a few stitches/backstitches to secure it.

 Now just keep your elastic against the crease you ironed and sew the casing shut, being cautious not to catch the elastic in the needle's path.

Leave about an inch of your casing open to give you working space. Puuuuuullllll that elastic until you like the fit, do a few stitches/backstitches, clip the elastic and sew the casing shut! Voila! Sorry...forgot to take more photos, but I think you get the idea. Isn't that awesome? I kept shaking my head and wondering why I had not figured this out years ago. Now get over to your sewing machine and make your kiddo something cute! Happy sewing! :)

A Christmas Project With Kirsten

I decided today that it would be so sweet to have Kirsten make a gift for Norah and for Norah to have a handmade item to give to Kirsten. Kirsten and I searched the www for a doll softie and found this one from Sweet Tidings. It is just too cute, don't you think?

I like the face on her doll better, but here is a picture of the one that Kirsten and I made.

I'm pretty proud of her! I think she looks like a little babuska. :) I figured I woul give a mini tutorial (my very first) on how I assembled my doll...here goes:

After cutting out each piece, I began with her head. Under Wonder the face piece to one head piece. Don't forget your stitch and tear on the back or it will come out wonky like mine. :/

Luckily, it ironed flat...

*whew*

Here are the setting I use on my machine for applique projects:

And my model:

After putting the face together, I assembled her arms and decided to make sleeves so she wouldn't be cold.

Kirsten helped me stuff the little lady. <3

See? Arms!

I then proceeded to sew the arms to the body like so:

Oh, before you do this, attach each part of the head to the top of each body part. This way, you can sew the entire body together when you attach her arms. Just leave the bottom of her skirt open to put her feet on.

Almost done! Now hand sew her hair on (I just made cute little x's that made it look like she has pigtails) and paint on her face, then add a scarf and boots. Isn't she darling? :)

I am thinking of doing a tutorial on applique because I had a horrible time finding a good one when I first started. Is anyone interested?

The Holidays Make Me Crazy [Happy]!

It's official! It's the most wonderful time of the year! After a CRAZY and exciting day yesterday full of food and blitz deals at Walmart like this one:

(I only had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours for this one!) my day has been no less crazy today. Norah slept pretty long this morning and woke up with a fever of 102.1. Fabulous. After being sick and taking some infant Tylenol, her temperature dropped to a healthy 98.7 in an hour and a half. Praise the Lord! We are hosting another Thanksgiving meal tomorrow evening (after a full morning of Christmas play practice) and I started the cheesecakes only to realize that I ran out of sour cream days ago. Doh! SO...Ryan went to the store to pick some up for me. Thank, honey! I decided to finish putting the lights on the Christmas tree while he was gone and the girls were curled up in front of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". (<3) This is what the tree looks like now:

See that bare spot in the middle? That, my friends, is a strand of lights that went out half way and won't be fixed. Wonder of wonders, our two spare strands are also the same way. After testing each bulb and replacing the fuses...I came to the conclusion that it will have to be replaced. Reindeer poo. A quick call to Ryan to pick up another pack of lights, as well as more Air Wick inserts since our house smells like a strange combination of tree, Mr Clean, popcorn, and cinnamon pine cone. I am going to crank those suckers high tonight and *pray* that they overpower the funky mixture by 6 pm tomorrow. LOL

Anyway, Norah's first Thanksgiving was a blast for her! She loved picking up baby carrots and green beans and munching away. <3 Kirsten had a fabulous time, too! She loves all of the holiday rushing around and she really loves dancing to Christmas music. :) Well...I had better get to cutting up some fabric to make a present for a birthday party that is Sunday afternoon. Maybe I will just do it tomorrow night? lol Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Slow-going

Okay...so I tried to get my wrap done--I really did! My good friend Charity came over and we cut up all that DELICIOUS fabric into the appropriate widths and began sewing with vigor! Charity got her wrap finished...I...did not. HOWEVER, it was not due to laziness! My machine needs to be cleaned and oiled BADLY and is making HORRIBLE noises. So much, in fact, that I am afraid to sew anything else for fear of hurting poor Matilda. I have always referred to my machine as "her", as if she is a personality, I decided today that I think the name "Matilda" suits her. Don't get too attached, though. It could change at any moment. So, I have decided to inclue some photos of my GORGEOUS Amy Butler fabric that I procured for the BARGAIN price of $3.00 per yard. That's right, folks...$3.00 PER YARD!! :-D Can you sense my excitement? ;-) Here you go...drool away...



Yummy!!! <3



I don't know why this one self-rotated to portrait...The blue is going to be a panel in the middle for added visual interest. :)

The fabrics together. They are much prettier when seen in person.

Hopefully I will get my machine in working order soon! I have a LOT to do before Christmas! For now, I guess I will get down and dirty...which means cutting out patterns. I hate that part. At least it will all be done and all I will have to do is sew! :) I think I will start on some new Christmas stockings first. I have had some pretty gold fabric for a few years that has been screaming to be turned into something lovely! I think it's time to sacrifice it on the craft alter...LOL

Happy crafting!!!

Ruffled Scarf Tute

Since my blog entries are sporatic (at best) I am going to attempt to be more *regular* at posting. haha Here goes...

After seeing Ashley's tutorial for a ruffled scarf here at Make It and Love It, I decided to give it a whirl! It only took me a week--during which I painted the girls' bedroom and the living room, not to mention attempted to organize our house after our move, attend the funeral of a dear friend,  etc, etc, etc... ANYWAY.....Here are the results!

I just love how the ruffles fall so effortlessly...can you believe that this scarf was only recently a pair of gouchos that made me shriek, "What was I thinking when I wore these things?!" But it was too much fabric to just throw away...right? I've not worn them in almost five years and now they are being put to use once more. :)

Now...onto hanging some decor on the wall...or maybe cutting the fabric for my new baby wrap?? Can't decide...Whatever I do, I will *hopefully* post tomorrow! Stay tuned... ;)

Going Crazy

I think the residents of my house are going a little batty. Here's why: Ryan has been in Texas on a business trip since Monday. He doesn't return until Friday...five more days. (Breathe. Just. Breathe.) The first few days are what I thought would be the hardest; I was wrong. Days one and two: Kirsten and I both cried a lot, when I cried, she would pat my cheeks with her sweet little hands and tell me, "Don't cry, Mommy, Daddy will be home soon." Which, of course, made me cry harder! To think that my child was the one comforting me instead of me comforting her... Ryan being gone has been so hard on all three of us. We are so close-knit and have never been apart more than 72 hrs since Ryan and I started dating 5 years ago this month. Oddly, each day that goes by gets harder. Kirsten gets crankier and begs for Ryan to come home (who can blame her?!) which makes me crankier because I am trying to reason with a three-year-old. Reasoning with a pre-schooler is NEVER successful. Ever. Bribes (candy, snacks, a special toy, etc) only work for so long. lol Today my heart broke when I picked Kirsten up from the church nursery and she ran to the sanctuary screaming, "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY!!!" in excitement. Having to remind her that Daddy wasn't here wasn't fun. Her little face dropped, but the tears were abated when she saw her best friend, Izzy. *Whew!* Crisis averted. The dog and cat miss Ryan, too. For the first three nights, the dog slept by the front door and the cat was posted at the front window staring out of it. I assume they were waiting for him to come through the door. They have since taken up their normal space in the bed with me, but they both get up and wander downstairs a lot in the middle of the night. I feel bad for my sweet husband; here I am with our daughter to cuddle and hug when I cry, but he only has his work friends who miss their families, too.
I know I've rambled a lot...kudos if you've gotten this far. lol

My Little Turkey!

After I worked SO hard on this project, Kirsten decided that she didn't want to put the outfit on so I could photograph her. Little turkey. HOWEVER, once I got it on her, my little turkey performed like a HAM!! I used a tutorial I found at The Cottage Home to make this shirt and put my own twist on it! Here it is!!!

This ADORABLE clip was inspired by Ashley's adorable embellished tee over at Make It and Love It. Thanks for the inspiration, Ashley!!! Now my little turkey/ham is ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in one-of-a-kind style!!! Sorry for the poor photography...the sun has gone down and we're in our living room. *sigh* Oh well.

A Thanksgiving Project

I came upon an adorable tutorial the other day and decided that Kirsten must have this cute shirt to wear on Thursday! Last night we went to Walmart to get a white long sleeved shirt and could not find one in Kirsten's size that was NOT a turtleneck. As a kid, I LOATHED turtleneck shirts (and still do!) because I always felt as if they were too tight around my neck, so I have always sworn not to put Kirsten in one if I can help it. However, I thought that I would try to cut the neckline and alter it to make it more comfortable. After some alterations and getting the applique nearly finished, I began to alter the sleeves...and proceeded to run out of bobbin thread while still un-pinning. Yes. I thought I was sewing and I wasn't. Crap. So, the shirt will be done sometime later today, but I wanted to post a teaser of the pretty fabric that I got!

I love how all of the textures showed up so well on my little Canon PowerShot A1100 IS in PINK!!! I would have whipped out the Nikon D90 that Ryan and I both love, but for simple shots like this, the Canon is just as good! We read a review from a highly respected photographer (can't remember his name right now) that said he preferred Nikons when it came to SLR's, but Canons when it came to a point and shoot. Wow! We made good decisions! :) Anyway...I am off to re-pin the cuff onto Kirsten's sleeve. I can almost taste Thursday's turkey now...When it comes to me, Grandma and Dad...ol' Tom doesn't stand a CHANCE!!!!! We're like the father on "A Christmas Story" who picks at the turkey while being yelled at by the mother, "Don't touch that turkey, it's got an hour to cook! You'll get WORMS!"

Feelin' Thrifty!

EARLY Sunday morning I was laying in bed and could not sleep. I decided to lay there in the dark and figure out what each of us was going to wear in a few hours and lay it out before Ryan and Kirsten got up to avoid the endless battle of me pleading with Kirsten to JUST. PICK. SOMETHING. I remembered that I had some cute zebra patterned cotton laying around just begging for me to make a skirt out of it and I got to thinking about what shirt I would pair with it. She has a plain black longsleeved tee that she wears, but it's BORING and it needed some pizazz. SO, I got up and made THIS! I am so proud to have whipped it together in about 35 minutes. The skirt was made from scratch and I just added the cute ruffle to the neckline on her Garanimals shirt from Wal*Mart and voila! Super cute outfit for less than $5! SCORE! What do you think of my creation? Please ignore my pitiful photograph. My cute little model is napping. I think I will have her daddy do a photo shoot in this outfit, tho! I think her baby sister needs one of these outfits, too! :)

Now doesn't that ruffle on the neckline just make that plain shirt DARLING?! Next I am going to attempt to make a cardigan with another of these frugal little t-shirts using this tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff as inspiration! :) Happy day, everyone!

Mm, mm, good!

I want to start off by saying a big THANK YOU to our veterans, past and present, living or gone! Without veterans to fight for our freedom, Americans would be slaves to tyranny, because freedom is never free. Thank you to all my friends and family who bravely have and are serving our country!


Today I determined that I was going to make my husband something other than sandwiches or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for supper.  I am normally an avid cook, but this pregnancy has kicked my butt! So, I set out to make Chicken Cordon Bleu, Green Bean Casserole and Mashed Potatoes. Okay, so the mashed potatoes are coming from a box, but I only have a few potatoes left and want to use them this weekend. Don't judge me. I took my chicken out this afternoon and allowed it to defrost to save myself some energy later. At this point, I also thought how yummy some fresh bread sounded and decided to set my hand to that, as well. However, the kitchen was in such disarray that I couldn't even begin to cook, so I set out to clean the kitchen. Two dishwasher-loads full later, it looks MUCH better! Again, don't judge me, I'm having trouble finding the energy to walk up and down the stairs without passing out right now. While I was cleaning in the kitchen, Kirsten started to complain of a headache. Not a surprise since she had been screaming at me for no apparent reason just before. After a few minutes, I had pity on the poor child--I could tell her head really did hurt--and gave her some children's Tylenol. I kissed her forehead to find that it was hot. Great. Took her temp and it was suddenly at 100 degrees--after having no symptoms and playing all day. Not a horrible reading, but I knew she wasn't feeling well. Giving her some water and covering her up, I told her to lie down and take a nap...she was out in moments. Back to the cleaning grind for me!

After lots of effort, supper was in the oven and smelling delicious! There are few things that will make you feel better than food. Specifically butter and cheese, which I had used lots of! I decided to put a twist on my chicken cordon bleu and use havarti cheese instead of swiss. Swiss is not my favorite cheese and I feel that havarti has a more refined flavor anyway, so rather than buying swiss, I just opted to use the havarti I'd already purchased for ham sandwiches! I also crumbled havarti and sprinkled parmesan into the sauce that I spooned over the chicken...that tasted heavenly when I dipped my finger in to test it! Here's a picture of our simply delectable meal!

 When supper was done, Kirsten was feeling too sick to want anything to eat so Ryan and I ate it all. Halfway through our meal, she tells me that she needs to go to the bathroom...while I'm carrying her, she gets sick. Everywhere. You know you're experienced at kid puke when you can clean up and happily finish your meal. We were laughing pretty hard about that.

I am off to take care of my sweet little girl...