Happy November!

Happy November! 

Now that Halloween is over it's time to start preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have another list of items I wish to complete by Christmas. Starting with...

Tiny Ticker Tape Quilt

Doll Bassinet

Floor Cushion

Thanksgiving Banner

I think thats enough for now! Off to sewing...

Cinderelle, Cinderelle

(Are you getting my good side Mom?)

My daughter wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween. I followed this amazing tutorial by Make it and Love it for her costume. She loved it, I loved it!

Happy Halloween!

Final days of KCWC

So it took a bit longer than I thought to finish up KCWC. My plan was to have an item per day so that at the end of the challenge I would have 7 complete items. However, I'm still new so it takes me a bit longer so at this point I'm just ready to move onto other projects.... Did I mention that I have a short attention span??

Here are the remaining pieces I made.

Floral Jumper made following  ikatbag's simple jumper tutorial. (I think mine needs some cute pockets.)

Little Tikes Neighborhood market

I entered to win my girls this Neighborhood Market from Little Tikes over at The Ethertons.  It's a great giveaway valued at $99 and my girls would love it! This stand is really three markets in one! With a quick change it can go from a fruit stand to an ice cream shop to a bakery. 
If you are interested just head on over to The Ethertons, contest ends 10/29/10.
Here's hoping we will it!

Owls

Owls are hot right now and are flying around blogger space. I have found a lot of great tutorials for them such as 

Toad's Treasures 

Mel's Own Place

Ultimately I went with Hammer and Thread's

Here's Mine!

(sorry for the dark photo)

Kids Clothes Week Challenge day 3

I'm still behind schedule but I'm determined to do 7 days for the KCWC even if it takes me 2 weeks to do it. :). Now that our internet problems are fixed I can get back to it.

So for Day 3 I had a little bit of this cute fabric left that I really wanted to use. I found this tiered skirt tutorial over at ikat bag that worked perfectly!

I'm thinking this skirt, cowboys boots and the Rodeo.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge day 1 & 2

I'm participating in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge but I'm a bit behind schedule. I decided really late on Day 1 to enter. So much of that day was spent trying to decide what to make and finding a tutorial for it. I ended up deciding to make a spaghetti strap dress and shirring the top. I finished the dress the first night but didn't get to shirring it until the next night.

Since we live in FL this dress will get a lot of wear and when it cools down a long sleeve white shirt will extend it's life. I love how it came out and so does my daughter.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I just decided spur of the moment that I'm going to try this Kids Clothes Week Challenge. I have a huge stash of fabric and even longer list of projects. Lets hope this narrows both down. Wish me luck.

I-Spy Quilt Finished

Hooray! After many late nights, I have finally finished our I-Spy Quilt.

Here's a recap of my quilting journey.

Awhile back I stumbled across this Disappearing Nine-Patch tutorial over at Obsessively Stitching. I knew right away that I had to make it for my girls. So, when So Simple Stephanie's hosted an I-Spy swap, I jumped at it and ended up with 200 awesome squares. Thus, bright eyed with 200 squares in hand I started my journey that ended in this amazing quilt.

Now I'm going to revel in this quilt until I can work up the courage to tackle the project of making daughter #2 one also.

Favorites

Since I'm still working on my first quilt and I promised myself that I can't work on anything else till it's done. So instead I'll show some of my favorites that I hope to create.

Little girls patchwork skirt by Polkadot Chair

Jump, Hop, Count Playmat featured on Moda Bake Shop. (my daughter would love this)

Scrappy Clutch from From an Igloo (I pretty much want to try everyone of her tutorials, she is so talented and creative).

Owl Stuffies from Hammer and Thread.

Thanksgiving Banner from Bee in our Bonnet.

What do you love and hope to create one day?

Happy Sewing Month

September is National Sewing Month so in honor of it I'm going to do what I do best and sew! I have a list a mile high of projects I would like to create. To make things easier and not so overwhelming, I going to start the projects I bought fabric for and finish the projects I already started and put on the back-burner. That is after I finish the I-Spy quilt I'm working on.

Heres a glimpse of how my I-Spy quilt is coming along... almost done with quilt top!

This will soon be my nephew's birthday present. Can't believe he will be 4 years old. Where does the time go?

More I-Spys that will be my other daughter's quilt.

These were bought with the intention of making them into layered shirts but now I'm leaning towards layered dresses. We will just have to wait and see what my mood is when I finally get around to them.

So Simple Stephanie did such an amazing job hosting the I-Spy Swap and I enjoyed it so much I'm doing another one. I'm doing this one through A Trio of Boys...I also believe that at the moment there are still a few spaces left if interested. I highly recommend it!!!

Camera? There you are!

It's been awhile since I posted because my camera decided to take a vacation. Now that it has returned I can share all the things I have done this past week.

I finally finished this baby romper that I started oh way back at the beginning of the summer. It was a pretty easy project... don't be afraid of shirring like I was, its not as hard as it looks. Not the best picture but she was smiling for the camera.

I can proudly say that all 200 of my squares for the I-Spy swap have been cut and shipped out. I can't wait to see all the squares that everyone sent in.

I-Spy Fabric Swap

I'm super excited to tell you guys that I just entered my first I-Spy Swap with So Simple Stephanie. It's where everyone contributes 200 4" squares out of 10 different novelty fabrics. Once all the sorting is complete everyone will have 200 different novelty squares.

I plan to make this Disappearing Nine-Patch quilt from Obsessively Stitching (pictured below).

Crayon Roll

My new addiction is making crayon rolls. I pretty much want to make one for every kid I know because they are that easy and cute. I used this tutorial by Skip to My Lou and made one in an evening.

(Please forgive the photo quality, I seriously need a new camera... and probably a few photography lesson! )

Dreamer

After 24 years, I have come to the conclusion that I'm a dreamer. I spend most of my time dreaming up my next project whether it be sewing, cooking or craft-related. I make lists constantly even keeping a notepad in the bedroom to jot down those clever ideas that come to me before bed. Now the reality of it is always tomorrow... domani. I'll start that project that I can't get off my mind later. I have come to realize that I love the idea of a project but when it comes down to it my inexperience and lack of patient usually gets the best of me. When a big WHEN I finally start I usually stop midway because I found something that I love even better. So I have set a goal for myself and hopefully sharing it will me stay focused... I am going to start turning my dreams into reality one project at a time. Starting with this awesome tutorial for a Tutu Pettiskirt.

Bug's Backpack

My oldest daughter is obsessed with Dora the Explorer because of this I am always on the hunt for anything related. Well I have yet to find an actual backpack like what Dora wears in the stores. I decided to make a backpack myself with the help of this tutorial and a few tweaks of my own. I picked fabric that resembled the Dora's backpack then I put the felt facial features on and followed the directions in the tutorial. I love it!! I can't wait for Bug to wake so I can give it to her.

my niece's 2nd birthday

My niece just turned two and for her birthday I offered to make her a cake. I thought this was the perfect time to practice my cake decorating skills. I decided to go all out and make her cake from scratch without isn't as hard as it sounds but just time consuming with little ones around. I decided to make her a butterfly cake and she loved it!

Birthdays are a great opportunity to craft awesome gifts. A while back I stumbled upon this awesome personalized pillow and since then I have been wanting to make one. (can't remember where I saw it but when I do I'll give honor where it's due) So I just started messing around and this is what came out. It was such a hit that I am working on a Sponge-Bob one for my nephew.

One-Yard Wonders

I am a huge fan of One-Yard Wonders. First let me say I am a beginner at sewing and I have been able to make a few projects from this book that actually turned out well. I have to return my copy to the library but I plan to buy this book asap. So if you have a chance I would recommend flipping through it.

Here's a Rocketship I made as a gift for a little boy's 1st birthday. (seeing this picture reminds me that I need to reupholster my rocker)

I originally made this elephant to be a gift but I was not satisfied with it enough to give it away.

I love my sewing machine cover. My man actually thought I bought it which only makes me love it even more!

my baby steps into crafting

So I have been bitten by the crafting bug. A few weeks ago I pulled out my mother's sewing machine for the first time since middle school and started creating with help. I'm going to go ahead and show everything you I have created. Please remember I'm a beginner and learning as I go.

My oldest is obsessed with Dora the Explorer and during the holidays a special ran in which Dora wore a cape. Ever since then, my daughter would flap her towel yelling "shake your cape". I got the brilliant idea to make her a cape. Using this tutorial, I created a cape similar to the one Dora wears. Here is my daughter modeling the back of it. She's 2 so this was the best photo I could get ;).

I have been wanting an apron for a while since I recently started cooking. So I thought this would be a great beginner project. I'm happy with the way it turned out and just in time for V-day. I used this tutorial to create my apron.

Last night, I made these cute headbands for the girls. Here is Banana modeling them. Now I just need to figure out how to get the girls to wear them, maybe bribery ;).

While checking out some other great blogs I spotted this tutorial and knew I had to make it for the girls. Well mine did not come out as I had hoped. I accidently mixed up the measurements and did it in centimeters when I should of done inches. On the bright side, I learned in the future to double check my measurements and the instructions :).

Well we went to Joann's today which was an adventure in itself. Two kids who both had not napped and had been cooped up in the house for the last few days, it was not pretty. On the bright side, I got lots of pretty fabric and 30 % off too! I also finally got a rotary cutter, I can't wait to try it out. Well now that I have fabric I better figure out what I want to do next.

Hates Flu season

So about three weeks ago my family was hit with this AWFUL bug that stayed with us for about a week. Well with my awesome luck, it seems that my daughter is sick again. This time it is not as yucky as last time, just a bad cough. I would really like to know how we keep getting sick when we don't leave the house or interact with others very often. Boy, summer can't get here fast enough.

On a positive note, we went to grandpa's today and Bug had a lovely time playing with the cousins.

I'm proud to say that I started to make bias tape for the first yesterday and they are coming along quite nicely (I think?). Now I just need to find our iron to finish them... I have till the 8th to finish this project which consists of finishing the tape and sewing together. I also need to start on baby G's gifts and C's b-day gift and do some cutting on the girls quilt. I should probably make J something too so he won't feel left out. With all these projects to do that means a trip to Joann's, this time I will make a list so I don't forget anything. I already know where I'm going when our tax return comes in :)

Lost Countdown: 2 days until premiere!!

our first story-time

Well we finally made it out to story-time at the local library. It didn't go so well, Bug had a major meltdown and we had to leave early. ugh! I've decide two can't go by fast enough... terrible just doesn't quite cover it. On a positive note, potty training is going well sorta. As long as Bug is naked she will go to the potty all by herself with no accidents. However when she is wearing anything (panties, pull-ups) she goes in them... baby steps... baby steps!

Speaking of growing, Banana played peek-a-boo with me today. It was the cutest thing. I don't think words can describe how adorable it was. Must get video of it :)

Leaving you with this, 4 days till new season of Lost!

Welcome

So I finally decided to dive into the electronic world of blogging. Follow me as I grow and learn from every obstacle life throws my way. Being a stay-at-home-mom to two beautiful girls allows me to try my hand at several hobbies. My new found love is sewing! I have been gifted with my mother's gently-used 1990 Singer sewing machine and I can't seem to stay off it. My next endeavor is a quiet book. The muslin has been bought so I just need to get my hands on felt, lots of it. Off to the craft store I go (this grown-up's toy store).