Winter Floral Skirt

This is the first of the three skirts, I have two more to go.

The photograph is not the best but the skirt turned out really nice. I received a number of compliments when I wore it. It is made out of a home decor fabric. (I gave tips on how to select home decor fabrics for sewing apparel on an earlier posting.)
Happy Holidays!

Another Yo Gaba Gaba Gift

Another friend of mine has a daughter who is a Y.G.G fan so I made her a throw for her Christmas gift.

The throw was reversible and the faces were painted on with fabric paints. The fabric was broadcloth and I used fusible batting on the inside. It would have taken longer to make if I had sewn the faces, painting was so much faster.
Hope she likes it!

Husband's Birthday Celebration

This month my husband celebrated his birthday. Although his birthday is VERY close to Christmas, I make sure we celebrate his birthday. The day you come into the world is tremendous reason for celebration.
I try to give him at least one personal gift each year-this year that gift was the gift of photography (mine in particular).  I still have much to learn but I do like the photos I took.

He loves trees so I tried to photograph unsual looking trees. I printed each at 8x10 and framed them in black frames.  Now he will have a little green in the city with having to water.:)

I also indulged him in one of his favorite desserts. CAKEPOPS! He is a Mac fan so the baker put the Apple symbol on each one. I think they turned out great. Thanks Julie!

Carolina Chocolate Drops-I LOVE THIS GROUP

I was fortunate enough to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops last performance of 2011.  They were FANTASTIC.

If you don't know who they are, they are a group of young African American musicians who play and perform in the tradition of old time music. They are passionate about the music and it's history.  Their name is even in honor of the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, three black brothers Howard, Martin and Bogan Armstrong, who lit up the music scene in the 1930’s.
The group is extremely talented and play many instruments while infusing old time music with at times bluegrass, r&b, hip hop and gaelic sounds. 
I enjoy old time music and I encourage you to visit their website-carolinachocolatedrops.com and check out Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins. :)

My Next Three Skirts

These are the fabrics for my next three skirts.  I'm working on my photography skills.  My husband gifted me with a great light kit (with different bulbs, umbrellas, backdrops etc) but I don't know how to use any of it yet. It's hard to see the true colors-I think there is to much like in the photograph.  The fabrics are darker than they look in the picture.
I will post photos of the finished products.

Doll Update

Ok!  A few weeks ago, I thought I was just about done with the doll.  I drew arms, cut them out and sewed them.  Once I stuffed them, they looked too small.  So I drew them again, a little bigger this time but the thumbs and the hands didn't look right.  So now, I'm on my third attempt. The arm is a little bigger and so is the hand and thumb.  My goal is to sew them this week.

Above is a picture of my third attempt. If this doesn't work, I will move onto attempt number 4. I'm not giving up!:)

I LOVE Goodwill (and I don't care who knows)!

A birthday gift from a very dear friend!  I go to Goodwill at least once a week and go EVERY 1st Saturday of the month-everything in the store is 50% off.  It is a mad house but worth the savings.  I find the greatest items-friends have suggested I create a blog of my finds. I'll have to think about that, I barely have enough time to do what I do now.


As soon as it's empty, I'll get my husband to put more money on it.:)

And least I not forget, my other addiction-STARBUCKS!

I don't think I need to say anything else.:)

Thanksgiving Day Skirt

I have been in love with this fabric for a long time but it was waaaay out of my price range. It is a home decor fabric at Joann's. Earlier this month it went on sale for 50% off and than I also had a coupon for an additional 10% or 20% (can't remember exact percentage) off of total purchase.  I bought a yard and half.  If I had bought it at regular price, it would have cost me $82 but my final total was $33.  I was soooo happy.

The fabric has an Anthropologie (my favorite store) feel to me so I thought it would be perfect to use for a skirt.  Home dec fabric can be awesome to use in making clothing.  I often go to the home dec department first when looking for fabric.  The fabrics there are always stylish and unique and at Joann's very often 50% off.:)

The finished product.  I really like this skirt.

When buying home dec fabrics, I keep a few things in mind when selecting a fabric to use for clothing.  (Most often I make skirts or dresses.)
1.  Don't pick a fabric with a very large pattern.  Many of them will have large patterns because they are intended to cover large pieces of furniture or to make draperies.
2.  Don't pick a fabric that is too stiff.  Some home dec fabrics are really stiff.  When you make clothing, you want the fabric to drape your body well.
3.  Some home dec fabrics are thickly woven, so snagging can be a problem depending on how you plan to use your finished product.
4.  Depending on what you are making, be aware of how the pattern runs on the fabric.  If you cut a pattern on the bias and the fabric's pattern runs up and down, you may not like the way it looks after being cut.
5.  Always use a new sharp needle.
6.  Keep in mind, most home dec fabrics are dry clean.  If you are like me, you will just hand wash.:)

This fabric is thick. I didn't want to fold it twice so to give it a clean finished edge, I used grosgrain ribbon to cover the raw edge.

This is the hem. I used grosgrain to give it a clean finish.

IT'S A GIRL-Baby Shower Gift

A friend of mine is having her 1st child and it's a girl. This is perfect for her because my friend is indeed a DIVA (Her poor husband)!
The nursery theme is zebra print and pink. Animal prints are still really popular so zebra print fabric is sold every where. I chose a flannel fabric because I decided to make a blanket and I wanted it to be soft and machine washable. The reverse side of the blanket is made of a pink and white flannel fabric. I also made a reversible pillow with the same fabrics. I chose to do a euro flange on the pillow and used a zebra print ribbon to tie the pillow close.

Can't wait to meet the Little Diva!:)

Preparing for Thanksgiving

I was really excited about this project. I have always liked the square planters but I could never justify spending $80 for one. As luck would have it, my current favorite website, Pintrest (if you have never been on it-a must) had a posting of someone who had taken a metal two drawer file cabinet, removed the drawers, spray painted it and used it as a planet. GENIUS!
The 1st Saturday of the month at Goodwill, everything is 50% off. Wouldn't you know that at this months sale, I scored a metal two drawer file cabinet. It was originally $7 but I got it for $3.50. I bought a $0.97 can of black spray paint from the hardware store and I was in business.

I bought the fall garland and flowers from Joann's for 70% off. The pumpkins are leftover from Halloween.
(I learned to paint faces on the pumpkins instead of carving them. They last longer.) I painted the words with craft paint I bought on sale for $0.33.
I may put a design on the side of the planter. Right now, I'm just excited that I was able to make something that I have wanted for a while.
I love when things come together (and just in time for the holidays)!

11-11-11

My son's actual birthday. (We had his birthday party last month to be sure the weather was nice.) I took a few pics of him before we went out for the day!

He originally had on a jacket. I opened the jacket so the t-shirt could be seen (since I took the time to make it). He decided to take the jacket off completely. After taking a few photos, he walked over to me to look at the pictures in the camera, gave a smile and walked back to the wall to take more pictures. He is a true character and I'm madly in love with him!
Happy Birthday my Baby Boy!

My Inner van Gogh (Sort of)

A few friends and I got together and attended a painting class. The reason for the gathering, my birthday is approaching soon and I wanted to celebrate by being creative with my friends and just because! We had a great time. I will have to do this again for sure.

I hope you can tell that the painting is of Koi fish swimming in water with lily pads.

Back To The Doll

I'm finally back to working on my son's doll. I have made some progress and I have to say that he doesn't look to bad for my 1st doll.

He still needs arms, hair and clothes but I'm glad that I have been able to start working on him again. Pretty soon, I'll have to come up with a name for him.

Nekota's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated our son's 2nd birthday party at Owen Farm. The birthday boy and everyone had a great time. Our son loves animals and the outdoors so this was the perfect place. Ty Owen, his family and staff were wonderful. They truly love what they do and it shows. Everyone was so welcoming, accommodating and they also celebrated with us. I encourage all to go out and visit sometime.

 The Birthday Boy himself! For some strange reason, his overalls won't stay snapped. (Mainly because he does not like wearing pants.) We decided to let him be, after all it was his day!

                          

                                 

I love old cars. This pickup truck filled with pumpkins is parked at the entrance of the farm.

 Table decorations. I purchased all the toys and books at Goodwill and the mini hay bale from JoAnns. For the babies that attended, I gave them a farm animal print fleece throw. (I forgot to take pictures of the throw.)

My plan was to give many of the toys away but luck would have it that my son was determined to keep them, so most came back home with us. (More things to pick up! What can you do?)

A few of the gift bags I made for the children. I didn't realize how much time it was going to take to make all the animals for the bags but everyone really liked them so the work paid off.  Each bag contained a clay pot with grass seeds for planting, a farm animal hand puppet (lamb, cow, pig or horse), small rake, and a scarecrow.

The cake pops were delicious! They were made by Cake Pops by Julie and she did a fantastic job. She created horses, pigs, cows, chickens and roosters that had vanilla and chocolate inside.

I could not decide which was my favorite.:) Cake pop contact info-partypopsbyjulie.com-she can ship.

Daddy was a good sport and crammed himself in a barrel cart for a ride with the Birthday Boy.

The Corn Maze that did take some time for us to work our way out of.:)

Not sure how to explain this!

Billy himself!

Feeding time! My son's godparents found corn in the maze and decided to feed a new friend.

We appreciate all of our friends that made it out to celebrate our son's birthday. Thank you Owen family for your hospitality and helping to make the day special.

Sidetracked Again-VACATION:)

We went on a much needed and deserved family vacation to Pawley Island, SC. It was wonderful. September is the off season so there weren't very many people, plenty of room for my son to roam. And roam he did, it was his 1st time at the beach and he had a great time. The weather was awesome and it was so peaceful.

I had not planned to put this picture up but he was so happy and he had so much fun. This will be our Christmas card picture.:)

I saw this crab and thought-Oh cool! This will be a cool picture. Initially there were flies on him so I thought he was dead. I waved the flies away so they would not be in the picture. Imagine my surprise when I got on my knees to take the picture and the crab "charged me".:) I nearly fell on my bottom. It was hilarious!

This picture-you may be wondering about. I showed my husband the crab (the one above this picture). He being the compassionate man that he is wanted to help the crab. He insisted on putting the crab in the ocean. I  told him that maybe the crab was sunning and he would go back on his own. As you see, I lost that discussion and he went to put the crab in the surf. As he did, a woman approached him to let him know that he was trying to put a Sand Crab in the ocean-a place it did not belong! He brought it back good-naturedly and we had a good laugh. 

This shovel did not survive the trip. It was in heavy use and just didn't make it. :(

We saw this Starfish in the surf. I wanted to bring it home but my husband advised against it. He was pretty sure we would not be able to keep it alive.

This is some of the marshlands near where we stayed. I have always loved marshlands. To me, they are a bit mysterious. A small bridge goes over this area and people fish and crab from it. We talked to some of the crabbers and learned a bit about crabbing.

Blue Crabs caught by a crabber for his wife.

I could see this every day and never tire of it.:) How can anyone see this and not believe in the awesome power of our Creator?

Sidetracked-Yo Gabba Gabba Pillow

I haven't worked on my son's doll in a few days because my son was invited to birthday party. Being the kind of mom I am, I had to make a gift. I can't help myself. The birthday girl is a Yo Gabba Gabba fan so I decided to make a pillow for her featuring two of the characters.
I don't allow my son to watch much television so I really wasn't familiar with the program. I had to go to the website to do a little research. Very unique looking creatures! I picked two characters at random-Muno and Brobee.

The pillow is composed of a 24"x24" pillow insert. The green and red fabrics are fleece. The facial parts are made of felt and there is a red 20" zipper on the bottom.
I hope she likes it!