Spa Day

Brace yourself. I finished another gift. I know it's just shocking. Honestly, I've considered making this blog all about homemade gifts because that is what I find myself most enjoying and spending almost all my crafty time on.

But, back to the point. I made up a pair of slippers from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing (love that book more every time I use it!) in addition to a long rice pillow in matching prints and I love them as a set.

The slippers are a little different than the pattern in the sense that I omitted the rick rack and used one layer of thick fleece (because that's what I had on hand) rather than the 2 layers of felted wool it calls for. And the rice pillow was made using this tutorial - I highly recommend it.

One more gift down...countless to dream up and make. Pin It

Mmmm...lemony goodness

A girlfriend of mine just had a birthday and, as usual, I am running behind schedule on getting the card and gift in the mail. However, I think she'll forgive me when she gets this yummy smelling sugar scrub. I used the lemon recipe from TipNut and added a little lemon juice to up the scent.


Now I'm thinking (I often doubt myself when giving handmade gifts...must try to overcome this) that lemon juice may not have been such a wise choice in case of paper cuts and the like...I'll have to see what she reports back.

Moral of the story: a lovingly handmade gift is better late than no gift at all. (timely gifts are, of course, always the best option... ) Pin It

So easily distracted...Focus. Focus.

My sister and I have discussed the fact that we have short attention spans for artsy/crafty stuff and get easily bored sometimes. To that end, I generally have about 4 or 5 projects going at once (one of these is above). Currently, it's 2 quilts to sell, 3 quilts for gifts, and about a half dozen ideas rolling around in my head just begging to be let out.

What's that you say? Don't you have 2 very wee children? Don't you have a husband? A dog? A house that needs cleaning?

Oh yes, I do indeed.

But without my crafting, sewing, creating, planning, daydreaming, so on and so on, I might just go nuts. So I think about quilt layouts as I drift off to sleep, find inspiration in my kids' funny little voices, watch my husband make homemade bread from scratch, and roll different phrases and paragraphs around in my head as I load the washing machine. Oh, and the occasional glass of wine with loved ones always makes me feel more at peace with my messy house and struggling artist side.

So go feed your soul and love up on your family. Happy Saturday! Pin It

Slow & Steady wins the race...

The big white quilt I'm working on for my dear friend Keadin is coming along. You'd never know it from my nonexistent updates, but I promise I'm working on it. Here's the background on this work in progress...#1 & #2.

In case you were just dying to know what inspired this quilt, here's the story. Keadin was visiting awhile back and mentioned that she and her husband had fallen in love with a Pottery Barn quilt but it was around $200 (like this and this). I asked what it looked like. She said it was all white with horizontal stitching.

New project - check.
For a dear friend - check.
Saving money - check.

Um...right up my alley! So I volunteered to make it if she just paid for the materials. It is my biggest quilt yet and I am really loving how it's turning out. Yeah!

All this is to say that she could have had her bedding a lot faster had she ordered from PB, but it wouldn't have all the love packed in. :) Pin It

Another quilt done...

Here's my latest work of love. Lots of love and kind of lacking on precision, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I used a Moda Fig & Plum charm pack along with white Kona cotton squares. The binding is Kona muslin and the back is just one solid piece of a coordinating Moda print.

I just adore how a quilt looks after the first wash. Oh, quilted goodness. Happy Wednesday! Pin It

Keeping little hands busy

The other day I was at Joann's buying some fabric (shocking, I know) and saw some super cute Halloween necklace kits in the checkout line for only $1 apiece. This is my kind of budget for a kid craft. So I brought home this sweet little kit for my 3 year old as a fun surprise (my mom was watching the kids that afternoon, God bless her) and he just loved doing it.

I'm not sure there will ever be anything cuter than those tiny little hands. And sometimes I wonder if I could possibly love my kids any more than I already do...yah, let's be honest, I've got years to pack it in.


For only $1 you can't expect the highest quality...before he even put it on I had to super glue the ghost "BOO" back onto the screw-in ring it hangs from. :)


If I were a really good blogger I would already have an action shot to post. Tomorrow I will work on it. But I had to seize my free moment and free thought space when I could. I know you understand. Pin It

If I were a Superhero, what would my name be?

I have a little confession to make: I have a teeny tiny little obsession with hair. You name the color I've had it. You think of a length I've done it. I even had a brief stint in beauty school - yes, you are reading the ramblings of a genuine beauty school dropout (long long ago in what seems like a different life now). All this is to say that I have long believed that a great stylist is really an artist.

I am not a great stylist. I am girl who decided she didn't want to pay to have her roots done and just knew that she could color her hair back to its natural dark brown all by herself, thank you very much.

As a result, I went from an almost hip Southern California Mama to a comic-bookish raven haired girl. (further proof that my mother and I are almost the same person: my first thought after drying it was "Wow. Very comic book." and my mom's first comment was "You could be a Superhero.") Don't get me wrong. I love having my hair super dark. I spent years coloring over my otherwise perfectly nice brown hair to make it almost black.

Who can explain the motives of a complicated artistic woman? Really.

So here is the before...















And here is the after.

My husband was being so cute taking the pictures..."OK, honey. Turn your head a little now. Yah, just like that!"
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New Inspiration

I just love finding new, inspiring crafty sewing blogs. Here's my new favorite: julie-k. She does a lot of repurposing and recycling of materials. I recommend it so go check it out. :)

That's it for today. Have a great Wednesday! Pin It

Cutest little backpack ever!!

Grosgrain does a ton of great giveaways and today she posted one for one of my all-time favorite crafty sewing blogs: Made by Rae. So, head on over and check out the absolutely adorable backpack you could win...so stinking adorable!

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! Pin It

Market Bag for Christmas

So I've decided to just post the Christmas gifts as I make them, otherwise I'd have hardly anything to post. Honestly, I'm all about making Christmas gifts right now. I had been holding off because some of them are going to loved ones who read the blog. But, I'll just leave out the recipients and give you everything I've got. :)

To that end, here is a market bag I made this morning based on the tutorial on Film in the Fridge (a great quilting blog!).

And, of course, I put a little love label on the inside pocket that I added to the pattern.

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Mommy's Tank Top into Little Girl's Top/Dress

 If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your creation! 

Feel free to post it to the Handmade Mommy Tutorials Flickr Pool.

Recently, one of my comfiest tank tops got a couple stains on it that could not be hidden or fixed. I think it was ink or something else mysterious and kid-related that wouldn't budge. Not wanting to just throw out the tank, I decided to remake it into a little smocked top for a dear friend's daughter.

And, just in case it was a success (which, luckily, it was), I took some pictures of the project. So here's a little tutorial from my messy sewing table to yours!

Here's the tank top before I tore it all apart.

And the offending stain...

Besides the fact that the stain was a stain, it happened to be in just the right place for my plans.
I cut the body of the tank straight across, as close the the armhole seams as I could.

Then I cut the straps off so I could reuse them.
I have to say, I am not very experienced at reinventing clothes, and hacking them up still feels somehow illegal to me.
I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough.

Next I folded the top of the tank's torso section over about a half inch (folded toward the wrong side), and stitched it in place with a straight stitch.
If you have a walking foot, it's a lot easier to sew stretchy fabric like what I had to work with here.

Then I set to work on the smocking.
Load your elastic thread in your bobbin. Load your top thread with the color you want to show on the outside (the right side of your fabric).
Starting at one side seam, I simply sewed around and around the tank.
This is what it will look like...

Once you've sewn a wide enough section (about 6 inches worked well for this top), steam it thoroughly with your iron.
Your little tiny gathers will scrunch up and look genuinely "smocked."
I have to say, I love the variegated orange thread against the blue fabric. :)

Next are the straps. Take the straps you cut off and pin them to the top edge of your bodice at the right spacing. To do this, I made my little man model it for me and the pinned while it was on him since he's about the same size as his little friend I'm sending this to. (To salvage his future manhood, I did not take pictures. His Daddy thanked me.)

I found that using 2 rows of stitches really helped to keep it in place, and kept the raw edge of the strap from flipping up and showing itself above the edge of your top.

When you attach the straps, sew with the right side facing up and stitch right along the smocking lines you already made (see the picture below) - this helps them to blend in. I also used thread that matched the fabric (rather than matching the thread I used for smocking) to help it blend even more.

And, there you have it! One very sweet smocked top or dress (depending on how tall your "client" is, and how long your tank top was to begin with. Yeah!

ps: Bree, let me know when you get it! :)

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Place Mat into Purse

If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your creation! 

Feel free to post it to the Handmade Mommy Tutorials Flickr Pool.

Walking though Target the other day, I passed by these adorable placemats on clearance for less than $3 apiece and just had to get one. Feeling inspired by the placemat clutch tutorial over at Happy Together, I took it home and then waited to figure out what to do with it. It didn't take long. After a little work, it is now a Christmas gift for my girlfriend's 5 year old! Yep, still working on Christmas in 100+ degree weather...weird.

So, here is a little tutorial for turning a placemat into a little girl's purse.

First, you need a place mat, of course. :) I picked this one because it had the super cute trim at either end (and, of course, because it was on clearance). Make sure to prewash your place mat before doing anything.

Next, fold your place mat end to end, right sides together, and pin the sides together. Sew close to the edge, about 1/4" of possible.

When sewing the sides, I stopped about 1 1/2" from the top. One, it's really thick for my little sewing machine. Two, it gives it more of a grown up feel to have the opening at each corner.

Fold your handle material over about 1/2" at each end and pin to the inside equidistant from either side. I used a leftover piece of grosgrain ribbon because my friend loves grosgrain and it was the right color - highly technical process.

Sew the handles to the purse using 2 lines to keep it in place securely and avoid fraying if using ribbon. I made sure to use green top thread and pink bobbin thread so it coordinated on both the inside and outside.
And, here is the finished purse, little gift label and all!
Now I just have to sit on it for 4 months... Pin It