Earth Day Project

Since Grace was born on Earth Day and will always celebrate a Bearthday I think it would be awesome to incorporate some kind of activity into her Bearthday celebrations to help take care of the Earth God gave us (1). This year she is only 1 so I did the project during her nap. Anyway, I came across a fun and EASY project. Reusable tank top bags. I had just gone through a bunch of clothes and sent a pile including several tank tops to our Goodwill basket (2). So I went out to the basket and reclaimed my tank tops and have 2 fun shopping bags. All I had to do was sew a seam across the bottom. It was so easy that I'm willing to make these for anyone as long as you supply the tank top.

(1) As a side note I get the impression that saving the Earth has become somewhat of a religion in America. While I think it is very very important to take care of the Earth I have to wonder if some of the passion people feel towards the Earth is misdirected. We should express passion towards the God who gave us this great place to live and take care of it because that's what God called us to do. It just saddens me that so many people don't know the God who made this planet and them.

(2) A helpful tip I learned from my mom to keep your closets less cluttered is find an easily accessible place in your house to keep a laundry basket deemed the Goodwill basket. As you come across things you want to get rid of take them out to the basket. Then when the basket is full make a run to Goodwill or sort the stuff to give to whomever or wherever you'd like. Our Goodwill basket is in the garage so it's easy to run stuff out there and my clutter stays to a minimum. You can also teach people about your basket so they can "basket dive" and pick out stuff they might want. My sister and I always do this at my parents house.

Grace's New Chair

For the past several weeks I have been on the lookout for a kid's chair for Grace. She loves to climb in and out of her Bumbo seat but gets one leg stuck and it just doesn't look comfortable. I found that either I'm looking in the wrong places or cheap and cute chairs just aren't out there. Pottery Barn has an adorable chair (pictured below) but I wasn't willing to part with the $ for it.


So I began looking for something cheaper and again also cute. I kept coming across character chairs that I hated and that were still running $25 plus. I found one (that wasn't that cute) at a consignment sale for $14 and passed it up but was beginning to wish I bought it because I really couldn't find anything I sort of liked cheaper.

This past weekend I was sharing my chair perils with my friend Emily and she offered to give me (for FREE!) the Spiderman chair she had in her classroom at school. Since she is having a baby and going to be done teaching in a few weeks she has no need for it anymore.


Of course I'm not a fan of a Spiderman chair for Grace and figured it was worth the time to cover since it was free. But as soon as I got it I was pleased to see that it would be an easy fix. I had the perfect fabric to replace Spiderman with. So, I ripped out Spiderman and sewed in a $2 swatch of fabric I bought a while ago just because I loved it. So, 45 minutes and $2 later Grace had a new chair. I love it!!!!

Quilting Machine

I've had this post ready to go for a few days and now that I've given the gift I wrote about away I can finally post it.

My mom bought a quilting machine about a year ago and I was able to use it for the first time recently. We have some friends who are expecting twins in May and I decided to make them baby blankets and then quilt them. Using this machine has totally stepped up my game in what I can do with baby quilts. So if you are one of the lucky people who has received a homemade gifts from me I apologize that it isn't as cool as these.

Here I am quilting and posing like a dork.

The quilting is done so I'm pulling them off the machine. Now all I have to do it cut them apart and add binding around the edges.

The boy's quilt.

The girl's quilt.

Pillowcase Dress

My SIL recently clued me into a cute idea for a little girl's outfit called the pillowcase dress. She ordered an adorable one for my niece for her 1st birthday so I figured I'd look and see what these dresses were all about. Well, as you can see from Grace's picture they are cute. Fortunately for me, my mother taught me how to sew. So I decided to use some leftover fabric from Grace's curtains and bed skirt and try to make the dress. I think it turned out pretty nice but I will be making some modifications to my pattern for the next time I make this dress. And there will be a next time. The great thing about these is she can wear it as a jumper this spring, a dress this summer, a shirt over long sleeves next winter, and a shirt by itself next summer. So versitale and long lasting. Isn't she just the cutest? Don't mind the jeans underneath. I just slipped it on over whatever she was wearing that day.

Kindle Case

My sister came to visit today and we had quite a time trying to make cases for our Kindles. She told me she was going to bring fabric to work on a project during Grace's afternoon nap. So, after Grace was settled down and sleeping soundly by 1:30 we embarked on a sewing project that was supposed to be done by 3:00 and we sort of finished at 8:15pm. And by sort of I mean although the project looks cute it doesn't really serve it's purpose.

After realizing Laura's original design for the case was a bit too small and a few ideas needed some tweaking we headed to the fabric store to buy more supplies. We returned home, got back to work, entertained Grace, had dinner, put Grace to bed and tweaked our project. After the original design turned out to be a little too small we very carefully measured and fit the Kindle perfectly into the new pouches. Everything was perfect until....THE ZIPPER. The way we added the zipper caused the opening to the case to shorten by about 3/4 of and inch. And the Kindle ceased to fit into the bag. It was unfortunate. Now I just have to find something that I want to read to carry around in my reading case.

Grace's Christmas Outfit

I've been working hard to make a cute little outfit for Grace for Christmas this year. I think it turned out adorable! It was hard since it has been a while since I've made clothes especially with ruffles, sleeves, a hood and tiny little seams. But, I had fun making it and think it turned out well. I couldn't wait to take pictures of Grace in it so here is a preview. I'm sure I'll post again with her wearing the outfit:)

Belts and Leg Warmers

While Matt was away on a men's retreat this weekend Grace and I got to spend some time at my parents' house. It was lots of fun and I know Grace loves spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. Since my mom has a serger I was able to spend some time working on a leg warmer project I had been thinking about for a while. I bought a pair of super cute leg warmers at Target long before Grace was born and am a little appalled that I spent 10 dollars on them. So, I did some interneting and found several tutorials on how to make baby leg warmers out of adult knee socks. Lot's of people have blogged the steps with pictures but I felt weird linking other blogs of people I don't know to my own so just search "baby leg warmers out of socks." The eHow directions are found here. Anyway, I had three pairs of knee socks that I never wear (they annoy me) so I made some cute leg warmers for Grace.


The other project that I decided to work on was kids belts. I was watching my friend's 18 month old little girl the other day and her jeans were constantly falling down. I decided since my mom has tons of cute fabric I would whip up a couple belts for her. It was fun and thought it would be a fun surprise for my friend. Of course I had to make matching ones for Grace. (Amy, I will probably be dropping the belts off on Monday afternoon for Charlotte seeing as one of them is seasonal.)

Burp Cloths

I spent the day decorating cloth diapers to make cute burp cloths. My friend Amy gave me some cloth diapers (including several other very practical things) for a shower present. She claims they make the best burp cloths and I believe her. I realized too that I only had received 3 or 4 burp cloths until I got the diapers. So I'm sure they will prove to be much needed. Anyway, I decided to make a project out of them. I have lots of scrap fabric, my mom had some ribbons, and I bought some ribbons for $1 a spool at Hobby Lobby. I don't think they turned out as nice as they could have because the diapers were pretty stretchy to sew with, but I still think they are very cute and I can't wait for Grace to spit up on them.

Curtains

I had a ton of fun making curtains for the nursery over the past couple of days. Matt put the curtain rod up today and I LOVE them. I just want to sit in the room and stare at them. It was fun making them but I'm glad I didn't wait much longer because I had to crawl around on the floor cutting and measuring the 3 different fabrics and the lining. I'm starting to get a little bit uncomfortable for that. In the end it all ended up matching up pretty well. I had to keep repeating different numbers and measurements to myself and always went by the rule measure twice cut once. And here it is folks...

Closed

Open

Sewing 2

The second thing I made this week was and apron. I was baking a lot a few weeks ago (when I had the giant zucchini) and my friend AmyJo came over. I was wearing an apron that my mom had made for me at the time and she commented that she has never had an apron. I love my apron so I set out on a mission to make one for her. I actually bought a pattern for $2 but then decided that I wasn't really into following someone else's directions. So, I just used the apron my mom made me as a guide. It was fun. Also, in case you were wondering the perfect TV show to watch while sewing is Felicity. My friend Jenna has all the seasons so I borrowed the first one and am 1/3 of the way through. You don't have to do as much watching and listening to the dialog is very entertaining.

Finally, if anyone reads this blog because they like to read Matt's posts I'm hoping he posts soon. He has discussed a couple of posts with me but he just hasn't done it yet. So, keep waiting and you might be rewarded.

Sewing

One of my goals for the summer was to work on some sewing projects so I got my sewing machine out last week and visited the fabric store. I founds some cute fabric on sale and decided to make a purse. I actually ended up making 2. So the one on the left if the purse rightside out and the one on the right is the purse inside out so you can see the lining. There were a couple of instructions that confused me a little, but I decided not to call my mom and try it on my own. And I did it. I guess I learned something from all the years of sewing my mom made me do. Below is a picture of me dorkily modeling one of the lovely purses so you can get an idea of what size it is.

I Made a Quilt

I just wanted to show off the quilt that I made today for our friends Adam and Erin and their soon to arrive baby. I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my parents and decided that the first thing I want to make was a baby quilt. My mom is an excellent seamstress and has made several things for me including my wedding dress. She taught me how to sew and helped me sew several projects (many of them were extremely challenging and I don't know if I could ever do those types of projects again without my mom's help). But, I have never made a quilt before. So, with some good instructions in hand and confidence in my ability to sew straight seams I started sewing the quilt. It was actually pretty easy but I wasn't always precise enough in my cutting for every square to match up. I didn't cut every square individually but followed some really easy instructions and then just tied it together with yarn to avoid the actual time consuming quilting part.