A Weekend Dress
This morning Scott took Creamie to play at grandma’s house. And two minute after they left I started sewing. I just bought this pattern and this morning I started making Creamie a 4th of July dress.
Red is not my favorite color. Like at all. I had this red fabric in my stash left over from a bag I made for my sister. My sister likes red. Anyway, I thought it was perfect for the 4th of July. I kind of think the flowers look like fireworks.
Just a few hours after I started sewing it was done. Nothing like making a dress before lunch to make you feel successful! And a summer dress wouldn’t be complete without big pockets to put rocks in. Creamie loves rocks. And rockets… and she thinks they are the same thing. So she’ll find a rock and fly it through the air making a rocket noise. I love it.
Dana’s info on shirring and using elastic thread was so helpful and this was such an easy project. I’ll be making more of these dresses, for Creamie and for me! And I’m going to go stock up on elastic thread. That stuff is amazing.
Scott and Creamie are still playing at grandma’s, so no pictures yet of her wearing it. But there will be plenty from the weekend’s festivities I am sure. I’m adding this project to Sew&Tell at Amy’s. Happy Friday!
Alphabetically Challenged
I love having things in alphabetical order. Only problem is I hate actually doing it. Since I was little I have seriously struggled with alphabetical order. Which seems ridiculous. It’s been the same order for decades. If I have to look something up in a dictionary, or a phone book I have to sing that silly song over and over in my mind. For every single letter. It is pathetic.
[ Museo Slab font family from MyFont.com ]
But, I do love typography. When I was in highschool I would frequently make large posters to hang on the walls advertising school dances, games and to shout out my support for the wrestlers. And then I’d sell similar posters (3 feet high and like 12 feet long) to teachers and people in the administration as well (you know, for birthday’s anniversaries or welcome home events). And I used a LOT of different fonts, most of which I made up as I went along. I figured that in my two years as chief poster maker at the high school I probably drew and colored (with pastel chalks) over 400 posters. That is more than one per day. It was good times. I loved it.
Anyway, the other night I was flipping through something (I thought it was the new Pottery Barn but apparently it was something else. Because I can’t find it again) and saw a photo of several framed prints grouped together. Each one was the alphabet, printed in black on white, each in a different font. And it was totally awesome. And I got inspired and went to my desk and made this.
[ A combo of bright afternoon sunshine and just the right angle makes for a blank clock. Oops. ]
This was my fast version. I used my cricut to cut out the letters and then just free handed a heart for the O. Glue on some pink lined paper and voila. Art! Of course, it wasn’t THAT fast because I had to do it twice. I told you, I have some serious struggles with alphabetical order. And I shouldn’t do craft projects after midnight that require me to use that particular basic elementary school skill. Sigh. I am convinced I must have cheated on an alphabetical order test (though I don’t remember doing it) and this is my punishment. Anyway, my second draft turned out all right (though I still have this fear that something is out of place. If it is… please tell me!) but I still have another version flitting around in my head. A few days ago I came across this post at Caitidid Designs and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. This font, Lady Rene at Myfonts.com is how I would write in my dreams. If I were writing in my dreams.
[ I kind of love this quote. It helps explain my magazine addiction ]
See, this font is amazing. But I had that empty shadowbox frame that needed to be filled up (and since I am waiting on some supplies to arrive for my next sewing project) I made my really quick cricut version. But I am going to start on a second. Soon. And I want my letters to look like this font. The perfect mix of hand drawn and artsy and quirky. Laura Varsky and Alejandro Paul (Lady Rene’s designers) are my new design crush. I absolutely LOVE these letters. They are just perfect.
Anyway, I got my quick project done and I like it for now. But a new project is a brewing. Actually, more than one. (Who does that surprise, no one.) I need to finish that chair from yesterday (too hot today to paint). And I REALLY hope that I can start that new sewing project later today. Here’s crossing my fingers. But the best part of all is that Scott has today AND Monday off of work. (Let’s just forget that he worked for 15 straight hours yesterday.) And he promised me a solid four hour block of non-naptime crafting today (which mean’s I’ll get to add my naptime onto the end of that!). Yay! Today is going to be awesome.
*All “Lady Rene” images are from MyFont.com. I didn’t draw them, but I sure wish I did!
Fingers Covered With Paint
I have a lot of projects that need paint. Like, a lot of them. But I don’t have a garage and I don’t like being outside when it is hot. And when it’s not hot it’s dark… So, those painting projects have been languishing for a while. Until today. Today I made some good progress on a thrift store chair thanks to spray paint. My trigger finger is a few different shades of paint this evening. And I’ve learned two things about myself and life in general.
NUMBER 1
Kilz Primer is like a million times better than any other kind. I had two partial cans of different primers and after those were gone I used my new can of Kilz. And the Kilz is at least a gillion times better. Seriously. It covers so much better, thicker and faster than the other two. And since it’s not that much of a price difference, just get the Kilz. It’s not worth it to use the other brands.
NUMBER 2
[ image ]
If I give Creamie a popsicle she will sit quietly in the shade on the grass and work on it/dribble it down her chin and all over her hands and legs for 15 minutes. Which is conveniently about how long it took to do one good coat on my chair project today. (It’s got a lot of little curves and turned legs and required some serious concentration to get paint in all those little spots.) And then it takes me about as long to clean her up as it takes for that coat to dry. If I told you that I did four coats of paint today will you promise not to tell me I’m a bad mom for giving her that many popsicles? Awesome, thanks. Besides, it is SO funny to hear her ask for an “op-opic-ko”. You’d give her another one too.
I’ve got one more finishing coat of glaze to do tomorrow during naptime (as long as it’s not blazing hot….) and then I can post pictures. As I was recovering the seat cushion tonight I noticed that it has 5 layers of different fabrics that it has been re-covered in. I think this chair began life in the 70’s. And unfortunately the topfabric (if you can call it that) was the worst of them all. It kind of amazes me that through all those layers not one person thought “Hey, this chair could be totally awesome if I painted it.” Because that was my very first thought.
Anyway, now that I’ve discovered Kilz Primer and popsicles I might make it through a few more painting projects. But I’m not making any promises. Happy Thursday (is it really Thursday? And July? It’s July?!?).
PS- In case you were wondering: The Pink Oreo’s that I posted about for Pink Week (here) are not delicious. They aren’t even OK. They are gross. And it’s totally unfortunate, because those pics are so cute. And they are pink. I found some of those Strawberry Milkshake Oreo’s a few days ago and when I got them home and tore open the package I couldn’t make myself eat a second. Which is saying something. This is going to be the first package of Oreo’s that goes stale in my pantry. In case you were wondering.
So, I’ve been thinking…
Yesterday I started thinking. And that usually takes a lot more time than I expect it to. And then all those important, unimportant, serious, unserious, depressing, undepressing thoughts get sprinkled in with a little bit of random happiness. And that’s what I am going to tell you about.
[ Recipe and pic from Emma at From Scratch ]
This recipe for buttermilk pie is pretty front and center in my mind. I can make pie for breakfast, right? In my book there isn’t anything wrong with leftover pie for breakfast, so there certainly couldn’t be anything wrong with doing it on purpose, right?
[ image found via weheartit ]
I think I want to go on a picnic. Like a real one. Full of yummy homemade food and warm (but not too hot) afternoon sunshine. Oh, and I think I’ll pack my lunch in a suitcase full of grass. Because that just looks pretty.
[ image found via filminthefridge ]
If I was going to be the type to hang quilts on the wall, I think I’d want them to look just like this. Oh, and those yellow bowls are going on my wishlist.
[ image found via weheartit ]
After I finish making buttermilk pie, I kind of want to make this cake. Pie for breakfast, Cake for lunch and Ice Cream for dinner? Sounds well rounded to me.
[ image found via weheartit ]
This might be one of my favorite camera pics ever. Like ever. It kind of makes me want to “borrow” my dad’s old Pentax and make hair accessories for it. Because Creamie is pretty much done with that stage of her life. For now.
[ this little mobile for sale here ]
Cutest mobile ever? Yes. Going to make one for Creamie’s room? Yes. Dying of cuteness? YES!
[ image and pattern from the brilliant Dana at made ]
I think I’m going to make Creamie this dress in red for the 4th of July. I already bought the elastic thread and everything. And did I mention I want to be like Dana when I grow up? No, well I was thinking that today too.
[ image found via weheartit…. but clearly should be credited to Confucius ]
Is it really only Wednesday? I am so ready for a long weekend. But, I’ll settle for pie at breakfast and a long afternoon nap for Creamie. And then I’ll go play in my crafty room in my paper and my scraps and my glue and my thread and come to terms with Wednesday. See you tomorrow.
Feathers
So, I kind of have a little crush on feathers. Not real ones mind you, the real one’s kind of creep me out for some reason. They are beautiful and soft, but I don’t really want them in my hair. You know what I mean? I could wear feathers, just not real one’s. Last year I actually entertained the idea of being a peacock for Halloween. But that would have required making a lot of appliqued feathers on my skirt. And I just didn’t have time. Maybe next year. (By “next year” I mean 2011. Halloween costume 2010 is already booked!) So no wearing feathers in my immediate future. Unless it was a necklace. I”d really love a silver feather necklace. Kind of just exactly like this one.
[ Oriole necklace by SimonandRuby etsy shop ]
Or maybe kind of exactly like this one.
[ Feather pendant from kellyssima etsy shop ]
And then I saw this felt one….
[ felt feather necklace on sale! from danae777 ]
And in my feather “research” (read window shopping) I found a bunch of other pretty things too. Like, a lot of them.
[ Feathery Plume No. 24 Watercolor painting by GollyBard ]
[ Fall Feathers painting by Elsie, buy prints here ]
[ image by Jenn Ski I think this one is “leaves”, but it looks like feathers]
[ Peacock Print from dekanimal etsy shop ]
[ another from dekanimal etsy shop ]
[Peacock feather from deedee914 etsy shop ]
I could go on for days about all the little things I have a crush on. I really could. So I guess it’s convenient to have this handy blog to write about all those things, right? What are your little pet crushes? (You know, besides typewriters?)
Thirfty Monday
I still can’t believe that yesterday was real. I hardly know what to do with myself. What do you do when a dream comes true? One of the best parts about dreaming is having the dream. But then what, when you have the reality? I did promise Scott not to look at typewriters on ebay anymore. And let’s be honest…. nothing else is going to come close to this. Le’sigh. Moving on…
I didn’t make it to the thrift store at all last week. Not going thrifting feels kind of weird, and I sort of feel like I’m having withdrawals. What if there was something awesome and I missed it! (But now I can just pinch myself and be reminded that I scored the most awesomeness ever. Like ever. ) Creamie asks to go to Dye Dye (her version of one of my local spots) almost every day. I think she likes the shopping carts. Anyway, I’ve got a lot of treasures that still haven’t made their way into blogland. Here are a few few bits of recent thrifty goodness to show you today. I am particularly excited about this first one! (You know, in a moderated kind of excited compared to The Pink Pimpernell.)
This piece of 1930’s (I am guessing… it’s only 36 inches wide, so that’s got to count for something, right?) floral cotton. It’s alsmot four yards and I got it for a buck. One dollar! There is only a teeny bit of yellowing on a few edges, but it’s not faded or stained and it doesn’t’ have any mothy holes or dusty cracked folds. Not bad for something 80 years old, right! I don’t know that I can pull off a dress with this. But maybe for Creamie? I don’t know…. I still might make a skirt out of it. I can’t decide, but I do know it sure would make cute aprons, right! (And yes, I am aware it kind of looks like your grandma’s tablecloth or kitchen curtains. It probably was.)
This cutie little piece of embroidery is hanging up in my craft room right now. It was only $.75 in the frame. (It came with a matching sized mushroom, but it doesn’t’ quite fit on the little bit of wall I had left.) I love the three little ladybugs, so cute!
I’ve had this set of 1937 Encyclopedia’s for a few months now. I had looked at them for a while at the thrift store, but didn’t want to pay $1 per book, which would make the set $11. But one day when I visited they were having a sale on all their books and I got each one for a quarter. A quarter! At $2.75 for the set I couldn’t resist. (I maybe bought like 20 books that day… maybe.) These are great old books, they’ve got a lot of cool photos and engraved plate illustrations in them and I’m sure I’ll have a great time looking through them. Right now they are just stacked up on my piano with all the other great books that don’t fit in the bookshelves, but were just too good to leave at the store. I am such a sucker for old books. I loves them.
I found this teeny little handpainted souvenir plate a few weeks ago. It’s only about three and a half inches wide. I’m not sure exactly what made me bring it home. I’ve only driven through Kentucky once. But I really really like cardinals, so into my basket it went. It’s also hanging in a little bit of wall space in my craft room. Price $1.50, cuteness factor? Way more than that.
This makes a grand total of $6 spent for this round of loot. Not bad, right? I’ve got a lot of other things that need to be cleaned up and painted before I can take pictures of them. One thing that I really do like about the summer is going to yard sales and thrift stores. And then I can spend all fall and winter cleaning up and painting and photographing all my treasures! (I’ve got a LOT of painting to do…)
It’s a Pink Week Miracle!
Just four minutes ago I was dancing around my living room swinging Creamie in circles. And all because of an incredible Pink Week Miracle. No, like for real. A miracle, complete with angels me singing and everything.
[ She is mine. (Not this one, but her identical twin sister.)….. Image borrowed from here ]
SHE IS MINE! See… it’s a Pink Week Miracle! I hoped for one on Wednesday in this post and now it is real. I’ve found My Pink Pimpernell. It is more than a dream come true. My heart is still racing and my fingers are still shaking from enduring the last few minutes of an intense ebay auction. And I won. By thirty eight cents. (I couldn’t swipe a pic of my new baby, but I’ve got plenty in my typewriter file to choose from.) I still can’t believe it’s real. Someone pinch me.
[ image found via weheartit ]
And now Pink Week can sail on, until next year. Because it will be back. and I’ll be back too. But right now I need some time to recover from my shock. And the dancing. So I’m going to eat ice cream. And a lot of it. SQUEEEE!!!!!
And the winner is…
I want to tell you how fun it was to read everyone’s favorite pink thing! And I have one winner picked out, but first I want to point out some of my very favorite answers. You all have so very many favorite pink things from ipods, flowers, favorite pink clothing, nail polish, antique/vintage collections and ice cream. (Mmmm… ice cream). And a lot of sweet comments about the adorable little girls in our lives who love pink. So in order of appearance (that’s how they do it in the movies, right?) Here are a few of YOUR favorite pink things that are now some of MY favorites (some edited for length … )
[ image by giggleberry (best name ever, right!) ]
It certainly spices up the science deparment, that’s for sure… (seriously, I know. Greatest teacher ever. My HS chemistry teacher also taught taxidermy… so you can imagine what was usually on his lab coat.) 
I think I’ll go have a good cry now!! Egads! Blasted hormones!! (Dee’s words, not mine… but I agree! I LOVE this story!)
OK, time for a winner. (Boring Admin stuff, feel free to skip: If you are looking close you’ll notice that there are 136 comments listed on the post. But I only used 129 to generate the winning number. My blog host counts all the times I linked to my giveaway in my own posts as comments and tacks them on the end. So that means that comments 129-136 are all mine. And it’s not really fair for me to win my own stuff, right? Right. But before I did anything rash, like pick a winner without making SURE those last 7 were mine… I counted them all up.) And our winning comment is number 13 (also my favorite number!)
and it belongs to Kristin who said: For sure, my favorite pink thing is a peony! But, my favorite girlie wears pink a lot and she is my FOR REAL favorite! I’ll email you, we have plans to make.
[ image by moddyboy80 ]
And one last favorite. “All time favorite comment ever” won this title simply because it came from my adorable 6 year old niece Miss K: My favorite pink thing is my new pink summer night gown that has a matching one for my doll Elizabeth. I love you Aunt E! 
Isn’t she the cutest! That one little comment totally warmed my heart! My niece reads my blog! (OK, so her mom reads my blog, but whatever, don’t spoil my moment. Miss K left me a comment. Which makes me happy.)
[ image by KreinikGirl ]
Thank you all for your fun comments, and for participating in Pink Week. I am totally doing this next year, and I guess now the pressure is on to have an even better prize! Happy Sunday.
Scrap Flower Tutorial
Next up for Pink Week is the tutorial for the sweet little fabric flower brooch that is part of my giveaway. I used the scraps from this skirt to make those little flowers and it couldn’t have been any easier. These scraps are from the quilt I finished at the beginning of May. The best thing about these little flowers is that they are incredibly versatile. You can glue them to a headband, or an alligator clip and use as a hair accessory. You can string them together for a fabric statement necklace, you can attach a pin to the back and use them to decorate your jacket, or your purse. There is no end to the possibilities! Without anymore blabbing from me, I’ll give you the…
Materials needed:
- Scraps of fabric- these can be any pattern, or a solid, any width from 1 1/2 inches down to as skinny as 1/2″ They don’t need to be cut straight, threads hanging off the side only add character, you can use a selvedge edge, and the length doesnt’ really matter. A true scrap busting project!
- A small scrap of felt in any color- this one is about 4″x6″ and I used a little more than half. You aren’t going to see this from the front, so any color you have will be fine.
- A few inches of ribbon, tulle, fabric, ricrac or whatever other scraps you see laying around for a leaf.
- Small scissors
- Hot glue gun and glue
- Pinbacks, alligator clips, headband, whatever attachment you want. You could even use a safety pin.
To start cut a small square of felt, this is about .5″ square. If you are using a patterned fabric, fold it in half wrong sides together. (Or you can leave it unfolded- your flower will be brighter if you don’t show much of the wrong side of the fabric.)
Start twisting your fabric around itself until it’s a good little twisted rope. Put a dab of hot glue in the center of your felt. Tuck the raw end under and start coiling your rope into a circle. Keep going, adding more hot glue along the edges until your flower is the desired size (or until you run out of fabric or felt) Tuck the tail end onto the back and secure with hot glue.
Another option is to start with a skinny-minny scrap and add a wider scrap for the outer few layers. To do this, cut your large scrap into a point, and tuck it into the end of the skinny-minny before you glue it all the way down. This will give your flower a little different dimension.
When your flower is all glued down trim off your excess felt. (This particular scrap was about 30 inches long, and so after I trimmed the felt I cut the tail off and glued it down on the back side.)
After you have a few flowers made (stick to odd numbers, it’ll look better) cut out two leaf shapes, one larger than the other, from a scrap of fabric, or tulle. You could also use a little scrap of ricrac, a small feather, or some ribbon. Whatever you’ve got in your scrap box. I made the base of the leaves wide so that I could gather them a little. Then glue them onto the back of one of your flowers.
Arrange your flowers however you’d like and then using a lot of hot glue, glue them to another piece of felt, and trim the excess off the edges.
After it’s all done I saw this little polka dot ribbon and I decided that I might like that better. So I just trimmed off the striped leaves and glued the ribbon bits on. At this point you could embellish it with little buttons, beads, rhinestones or anything else that you’ve got lying around. Glue a pinback, or a clip to the backside and wear your scraps in style!
Here is the brooch I made for the giveaway, with a little tulle for the leaves. Both brooches measure about 2.75×3 inches. The size of each individual flower will depend on the width and length of your scraps, as well as how tight you twist them up. And, since it’s just scraps, make a bunch and play around with it. It’s basically a free accessory for you or a pretty gift for someone else!
I’m adding this to Sew&Tell at Amylouwho’s. It’s a great way to start the weekend!
*** This pattern is for personal use only. You are welcome to use this tutorial to make pins for yourself or to give as gifts, but please do not sell accessories made from this tutorial. If you post pictures of something you made using this tutorial, please link back to this site I’d love to see your pictures. But please don’t post any part of this tutorial on your blog. Thank you. ***
A Pink Swingy Skirt
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for Sew&Tell! And being Pink Week, you can probably already guess at least one thing about what I made. A few weeks ago I was browsing at Anthropologie and I saw this fantastic shower curtain. (If you are visiting from Sew&Tell (or anywhere else and are wondering what Pink Week is) Pink Week is my weeklong celebration of my blogiversary and favorite holiday. I am sporting pink hair for National Pink Day, which was on Wednesday, and I celebrated with an all day blog party full of posts of all of my favorite pink things, and then finished off the day with a very pink, very fun Pinkalicious Party.)
Anyway, back to the shower curtain. I loved the soft colors, the pretty ruffles, but not the $118 price tag. And I already have a shower curtain. But I thought it would make a perfect skirt. So off to Joann’s I went, and lucky me I caught a sale and I think my total price for this Anthro inspired project was about $12. Perfect! (Full disclosure: When you are making up a pattern as you go along some things end up not quite working out in the end. So it was TWO trips to Joann’s. I was literally one inch short of the darkest pink. Next time measure first. Then go shopping.)
I opted out of the loose ruffles… mostly because that seemed like an awful lot of hemming, and I wasn’t really loving the idea of loose ruffles around my hips. I thought that would make them look wider, which isn’t something I’m really looking for. So I made each colored strip a little longer than the last and then just gathered them to make the ruffles. I love the finished product, even more than the inspiration. And of course, mine is pink! (I’m not sure a pink ruffled shower curtain would go over well with the hubby…)
[Doesn’t my mom’s veggie garden look great! You can’t beat homegrown brocolli. ]
I ended up spending a lot more time gathering than I expected. Each layer is only a little bigger than the one before, so it took a lot of pins to get my gathers even. And the bottom layer ended up being a lot more skirt than I expected. It’s almost 180 inches around. But that makes it perfect for twirling. Or swinging. And also perfect for holding a squirming toddler in your lap during church. All that fabric means that she has to do a LOT of squirming before the hemline rides up too high on my leg. (We are at church, after all.) And thankfully it is forgiving enough that I can catch that creeping hemline with plenty of time to spare. And that will seriously reduce my church time frustration. Which is another bonus.
For the waistband I used a piece of 3″wide elastic. And I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. (I used this tutorial for the waistband). The wide elastic makes for a very comfortable fit. I wish I had made one of these when I was pregnant, it would have been perfect! I will definitely be making more of these skirts. They are the perfect summer staple. It was also the perfect thing to wear to my Pinkalicious Party on Wednesday night. Which was exactly the reason that I made it in the first place. So I was doubly thrilled that it turned out as perfect as it did. This was one of those projects that turned out even better than I had envisioned.
On a non-sewing/non-pink note, these swings are at my mom’s house. My parents got this giant park style swingset for my second birthday. It has four swings, a set of rings and a swinging trapeeze bar. It was one of the greatest toys ever and I remember many happy hours in those swings. Even now, 25 years later, I love to swing here. Creamie also loves to swing. I just showed her how to do it this week and she wants nothing else but to swing. I think she’d do it all day if I let her. It reminds me of a little girl I used to know…
(PS- Click that link up in my sidebar to enter my Pink Week Giveaway! Comments close Saturday night, so you’ve still got a little time!)
pinksuedeshoe 