Winner is...

The winner of my giveaway is Julie from Creative Jule!!! Swing by her blog for some great inspirations. I can't wait to make a table runner for such a fabulous mother and friend! (Of course, all great things take time... I mean, ahem, the runner is in the mail!!)

OK - speaking of time. My brand-new niece should be here any day and we can hardly wait. I made her this cozy little baby blanket.Appliqued the "A" and flowers with love onto soft cream flannel.


Must be off to eat my body weight in chips. I mean, watch the Super Bowl.

Oak Street Bag

There is nothing better then having a friend who can sew REALLY good and who lets you practice on their new creations. Kristie over at Simply Stylish Designs gave me the opportunity to test out her Oak Street Bag pattern and I have to admit I was a little scared.

First off I have to say I was really impressed with the precision of the instructions and the pattern pieces. It was so well written that even people who don't normally follow directions (hmm...) won't mind staying on track.

The bag calls for two great big pockets that are just the perfect size for cell phone and keys. Sorry about the picture but if you look closely you can see them.

The bag is big but not so big it overpowers the woman carrying it. I would recommend this pattern if you are looking to create something in a long afternoon that gives you instant gratification :)

Allright now. Stop staring and go look at Kristie's site!!

Refashioned Shirt into Girl Dress

What can be more satisfying then changing a shirt you never wear into one your child will not take off? Let me tell... not much. (ok, see for me, it doesn't take a whole lot!)

I really wish I would have taken a picture of this shirt before I transformed it. But maybe you remember me wearing it? If so, I am sorry for that. Here is how I did it:

Layed the shirt out flat and cut off the sleeves. Layed one of her sundresses on top. Cut the shape a tad bigger all around to allow for about a 1/2" seam allowance.

Then I sewed up the sides and around the arm holes. I had her try it on and it was showing her chest because of the swoop neck so I inserted a piece of matching fabric across the chest and sewed it in place.

No need to hem the bottom beause it was already part of the shirt. Also, because it was knit fabric the sleeves just rolled up nicely and I didn't even have to hem them.

So now poor Carissa not only gets Audrey's hand-me-downs but she gets mine as well.

Friday

Happy First Day of Spring!! Never has this day mattered to me until I moved to the Northwest. I am so excited for some warmer weather. Mean people that live here have told me that there are only two good months out of the year but then some Nicer people have said it is really good for about a four month stretch. I hope the Mean people aren't right.

Spotted this Bluejay out my window yesturday and I couldn't believe it. I don't think I have every seen such a pretty bird up close. There were two of them and wonderfully distracting :)


We have all been fighting a yucky virus this week so it has been a groggy, rainy, mellow week. My neighbor brought me this beautiful plant for watching her daughter on Tuesday. It was so sweet and thoughtful and brightens my living room.

I finished sewing some fabric squares on plain white dishtowels and made a little bread basket for the kitchen to match. I think these are my favorite colors. It just makes the whole place happier!!

Audge woke up today and decided she wanted to make life-size self portraits. Here she is tracing sis and the picture below is "eggzactly like me". The girl has got a gift :)

All our love~

Can't get enough of that water

We are willing spring to arrive around here. I finished my purse this weekend; successfully sewing my first zipper!! It is bursting with spring-i-ness that I feel really silly using it wearing my thick black jacket and scarf. I might have to hold off until the temp reaches above 60 degrees...

Although it is damp here we still just can't get enough of the water around us. This weekend we took a drive to Edmonds which is literally 15 minutes from our house. We can walk right on the beach and listen to the waves. We watched the ferry boat come in from Kingston and wrote our names in the sand.

After walking along the pier Audrey wanted to know who put all that water in the sea? Well, God did, I told her. Oh yeah, she said.

What big faith such little people have!!

Happy Valentines Day!

My suprise is finished for my two beauties - I think they are going to love it!!! If you can't tell from the picture there are love letters, a mailbox, and care packages with "cookies" in them. It was so easy make these felt toys ~ I got my pattern from here.

Cozy Pants

I could spend an eternity skimming craft blogs and dreaming of all the things I want to be making but never do. Yesterday I came across this site - Free Motion and her incredibly easy Pants Tutorial. I couldn't help myself and raced into my closet to find a shirt I didn't want anymore. (That was a relatively painless process, as I hate most of my clothes.)

Almost just like magic my plain 'ol red t-shirt turned into this cutie cozy pants for Kissa*
Go ahead - try it yourself. I am considering turning all my ugly clothes into cute things for the girls so I am forced to buy newer cuter ones.

Weekend Update

It seems like the faster the leaves fall the quicker time goes by...

We had such a nice Thanksgiving ~ Our table was decorated compliments of Audrey.

I finished this fall inspired quilt, just in time to pack it away for the red and greens.
It is so easy to get into the Christmas Season with the cool weather. We actually did decorate all weekend and spent Saturday downtown taking in all the Holiday events. The girls were such troopers and I am so sorry but I forgot the camera :(

I will be sure to post pictures of our Holiday decorations soon. All our love~

Sew Cute

It is perfect sewing weather here in Seattle and that is just about all I want to do. I snagged this idea when my mother-in-law and I were drooling over fabric in the Country Village in Bothell. The dresses and skirt were made from a Mother Gooose & Friends by Moda Jellyroll (2 1/2" strips of fabric).

This is Audrey's skirt - not to much flare, which she wasn't happy about, but I think will look really cute with some brown shoes and tights :)

This dress was so easy to make and I knew it would fit perfectly because I purchased her shirt and attached the skirt to make a dress.

Of course, this is my favorite, by far. It is for my niece Lilly (watch your mail sister). I attached the skirt to a onesie so it should fit just right.

I have lots of fabric left so who knows who might be next!!

Ruffled Capris

I had to come back and post tonight. The pants turned out so cute and they were super easy to make. Not to mention that the whole project was totally free because I was able to use fabric scraps from other projects. Here is my little model showing off my work. The shirt even has a matching applique... Let me know what you think, Cute or Clown?