True Patriot

At Old Navy the other day I spotted this red onesie. Christmasy, I know, but red is a color of several holidays, is it not??? And at $1, I'm sure we can find SOMETHING to do with it :)

And don't we have some coming up (or, today!!) that red can be used for?

After chopping off the long sleeves, and using some of my t-shirt scraps and pieces from the sleeves of the onesie...

Perfect Patriotic attire, yes?

The thing about crafting

There are lots of crafts that I do that my munchkin can help me with. For instance, if I ever paint anything, she is usally behind the paint job. Or, at least the first coat.

Then I run into the task later to do another even coat and try to get the lumps out. But it isn't that hard. Crafting is a fun thing to do during the baby's naptime, so we get a little one-on-one time. Here she is working on some more canvas art for her bathroom.

She is a good helper. And she has my sense of humor. Honey, look at me and smile!!

Thanks, thanks a lot.

And if you are wondering, craft paint comes off those little plastic tables like a charm.

Finished bathroom art next week!

A new skirt

Yesterday was just a bad day. We are having ***issues*** with our apartment complex management and I was up to my eyeballs in phone calls and gathering documentation and all that mumbo-jumbo that comes with problem solving, and at one point, I just couldn't take it any more!!! NOPE!!!

So, what do you do when you want to report people to the Better Business Bureau but don't have enough dirt on them? You make a skirt, of course!!

Using my Lovey-dove skirt tutorial from earlier this year, I whipped up this baby. As fast as you can whip up a skirt when feeding children and playing Barbies in between seams. I did elastic all the way around the waist this time, but I think I like the flat-front better. Oh well! The fabric is from JoAnns and I really, really love it. The lining (unseen) is muslin, cheap cheap cheap, and the cute tulle was in my stash. My favorite part about this skirt is all the seams are in on the inside, away from skin. That means super comfy to me.

It is hard to take pictures of a skirt when it is on the child, they are going, going...

gone.

Gifts and giveaway

Well, as you may know, with birthdays come PRESENTS!!! I got some pretty cool ones this year. My family went in on a new Blog Re-Design for me, and I can't wait to get that all finished! I get a lot of comments about the header picture... so I will probably keep that somewhere, no fears my dears! But it will be fun, I promise.

My friend Dani knows me a little too well and got this book for me:

And who might be the mastermind behind this little number? Well, Martha Stewart, of course. Or at least her agent.

"Martha" describes the common things found at flea markets that can be transformed into something uber cool, like this group of old mirrors that just look schnazzy all together in a large grouping:

Or an old coat hanger that has a new coat of paint, and is stuck in a bathroom to hold towels:

Or drawers pulled from an old, warped dresser that have had a makeover and new casters put on, to become under-the-bed rolling drawers. BRILLIANT!!

This was probably my most favorite. Random letters above hooks, the letters of course being the initial of family members, so people know which hook is theirs. L-u-v.

Who in their right mind would pass up some old canisters??? And where in the name of Caesar did they find BLUE ones? It *might* be my favorite color, you know. Oh, you do?

So I have been itching to go to a flea market. Yard and Tag sales around here don't really produce any vintage-y goodness very often, but I hear flea markets are a little more favorable. Do you go to flea markets? Have you ever found anything that made your heart skip a beat???

So, my friend Dani is in trouble for making me want to go spend some money on things I don't necessarily have square footage for. But, she has redeemed herself by offering her photography skillz to one of my local readers!

Dani has a "new baby" shoot up for grabs. If you live in the East Valley (that is in Arizona, for you out-of-towners!) and have a little baby (preferrably under 1 month old so they are poseable), will have a little baby, or know of someone who does, leave me a comment saying so, and you might get a photo shoot with the lovely Dani! You can view her blog/site at daniyardleyphoto.com if you otherwise just want to take a gander! She does the kind of photography I like... but she is also talented enough that she will do whatever the heck you want too!

Only EV comments will be considered for the giveaway... the other comments will just be read and appreciated :)

Make Life Completed

I was cleaning up my sewing area yesterday and noticed an unbound quilt folded nicely on the floor in a corner. Waiting. You can make the same one from my how-to here. Go ahead... give it a try!!!

So I picked it up and bound it!! (notice my last two onesies waiting to be finished... I work on them any chance I get.) I totally started backwards from how I normally bind, so I was thrown off the entire time. But I still got it done. :)

It was the perfect way to spend a birthday evening: sewing something while watching Pride and Prejudice (new version). And eat a Milky Way bar. yum.

And of course, since Mike was at my complete disposal yesterday, he was also assigned to hold the quilt so I could take a picture in the only decent light in the house.

Doesn't he look thrilled? Actually, he really likes this one, so he can't complain :) I just did straight line stitching 1/4 away from each block, on all sides. I have realized that the more loose the quilting, the softer the quilt is. So this one is really soft already. I had to drape it across my legs last night as I was trying to get the baby back to sleep... teething, I hope... and it was really nice.

I really like baby-sized quilts, have you noticed? Fast and cheap!

Hey, have you heard about www.WeAllSew.com? It is a great website sponsored by Bernina, and it helps us sewers connect and learn new tricks! They are featuring my blog this week, but every week there is something and someone to learn about. Check it out. :)

Birthdays.

I woke up this morning to two sausage egg McMuffins and a tall glass of milk, accompanied by "Happy birthday!"

I love my birthday. It is my favorite day of the year. Is that totally selfish? Ok, I'm selfish!

For my birthday, I wanted to give YOU my measurements for the table runner. But I forgot to scan it at my mom's yesterday so you will have to wait :). I was too intoxicated with chocolate cake to remember to scan it.

But, I will share with you the things I am working on/will be working in the very near future.

-This bucket hat, except with cute girly fabric and possibly a fabric tab with a big red button.

-Re-do the munchkin's doll stroller with this tutorial. I already have the stuff, just need to do it!

-Make a rosette necklace, complete with a tutorial. I am excited for this one. :)

-This Subway art. I just love it and I need it.

-These fabric "flat" dolls. Am I too old to play with them?

-An amazing pillow using this tutorial. Soooo lovely!

-Moving. No links here... just boxes. I suppose I better find a place to live first, eh?

Go ahead and check out the links, and tell me which should be a top priority. I am going to spend my day playing and enjoying my quarter-of-a-century-old birthday.

Quilt Festival Quilt

Last year's quilt festival proved to be too early in the year for me, as I was just beginning to feel the quilting urge and hadn't even started one yet. This year, I had a few options!!!

I chose the "nap quilt" I made for a little NICU baby boy at my church as my entry for the quilt festival. It was one that gave me a heck of a lot of trouble, but I had to complete it because it was for someone who really needed a bit of comfort. It turned out smaller than I wanted, but even now he is still hooked up to oxygen tubes and confined to his crib, and probably won't be super mobile in life if he ever becomes mobile at all. Size doesn't matter here. Just love.

This quilt gave me the most gratification. It was my first stippling attempt and free-motioning around shapes. It was my first quilt for a cause. And it was a challenge which I overcame and conquered!! And this, my friends, is why I chose this to be my entry to the quilt festival. :)

In a Quiltin' mood!

My sister called me last week (?) and said that she wanted to make a change in her life. That change? To start quilting!! Inspired by Kirsten's Quilting Basics post, she figured it can't be THAT hard, and wanted to try it out. She has called a few times with questions, and that put me right in the quilting mood.

I got a Lizzie House's Red Letter Day Fat Quarter pack (plus one fq that had the same colors in it, but it isn't from Lizzie House) off of etsy, and this is what I have done with it. Or, with most of it, anyway. I could keep cutting and do more blocks. I like all the orange in this. Have you seen any other Red Letter Day fat quarters around? I am on the lookout for more. Everything I find is in yardage or half yards. Should I have some solid blocks of color in there? What do you think?

I just love the little ducks. These blocks will finish at 8", so at this point, I only have blocks for a very small quilt! Better keep going.

Today I am off to spend some quality time with my girls at a local resort hotel!!! Lugging kids around a resort isn't exactly my idea of a grand time, but my husband has job training there and we thought we'd take advantage of it one night :) And the pool. Yessir.

Spruce up the Loo

Did you see me on Monday at Crystal's Craft Spot? I totally forgot to mention it on my blog. But, hop on over HERE and see what I made with a little craft paint, Con-Tact paper, and a Canvas! I am working on a complete set, Coming Soon! :)

Shirt Refashion

My husband handed me the keys last night and told me to go have a little fun, so where did I go? Target! I love that store. And I love that he was willing to put the kids to bed :).

I found a Liberty of London shirt, size XL, in the clearance section for $7. I LOVE their fabrics. They are so pretty, and really bold. Anyway, I just had to buy it to turn it into something else.

At first, I thought I'd just make a skirt for myself, but then this unevenness problem arose. If I straightened it out, it would be too short for a skirt. So I just took out the shirring (lots of unpicking...) and made some tank tops for my girls.

The baby's probably would have fit better a few months ago, but that's ok!! I only had so much fabric to work with :). The munchkin was really excited to see that they matched! I used the existing straps for the munchkin's straps, and the top's contrast band for the baby's straps. I used a small piece to make a front ruffle on the munchkin's tank, just so I know which way is front and back :) I have a few small pieces left over that I am going to have to incorporate into a quilt someday. MMMM!!!!

Just ignore the fact that I didn't do her hair today. :)

Finals

Since it is the end of the school year 'round here, I thought we'd do our own finals here. So, to begin...

The final kids clothes week clothes:

This one was a shirt my mom got for my munchkin on a recent vacation. She brought it back and charged me with embellishing it somehow. The answer was in some fabric flowers (cut from the same fabric I used here) and a little Wonder Under. I still want to do some type of fun stitch to really keep them on, but the shirt was stripped from my hands and promptly worn by the munchkin when she saw it.

This was made from Simplicity 3513, a Lizzie McGuire pattern. When I took the picture, I was convinced this would be huge and floaty all over the muchkin, but to my surprise, it fits REALLY well. The arm holes are a big big, they could probably be a little more shallow, but it turned out to be perfect. I was also concerned that there wasn't a zipper or button or anything. Not a problem! I love it, she looks great in it. This is now a new favorite pattern.

And now lets finalize the Table Runner Giveaway! Out of 155 entrants, I was soooo surprised to see that...

#7 was the final winner! Roberta-mac, who said:

I'm a follower! I love this, it reminds me so much of the treasure hunting finds I'm looking for when going to tag sales, so vintage, but yet so fresh!

is our lucky winner this time! Roberta, e-mail me (click on the contact link at the top) your address and I'll send this out ASAP!

I'm surprised at the success of this giveaway- I spent way too many hours this past week browsing through blogs and getting to know you a bit better. I had a lot of people to acquaint myself with, so I didn't leave many comments. Sorry! I still love you, though :)

Oh, and if you wondered how I kept the dresser clean... I'll let you in on a secret. I cleared it off for the picture :). Usually it is clean, however, so I can bask it its vintage beauty and charm when I walk in to my bedroom. I will be buried with this dresser. The end.

What I was up to

I know I said no more fabric. I know! But the little quilt shop in my neck of the woods is closing and had fabric, magazines, notions, and patterns for 70 % OFF. No kidding. So I went. It was slim pickings but they did have some fun fabric left. I ended up buying 10 1/2 yards of fabric, two magazines, and one quilt pattern for a little over $30.


And I feel fully justified. I even have fabric for a quilt top that will go with those 30's yellow flowers. The bottom two prints are just the pinky-purple colorway of this skirt. But I did restrain myself from buying a bazillion yards more of other stuff.

This past weekend my sister and I threw my OTHER sister a baby shower. She has the first boy in the family, so it was a big deal. I have been saving baby food jars for... well, 6 months, and I finally put some of them to good use.

The husband spray-painted the lids and cleaned out the jars AND bought the peanut M&M's to go inside. I just cut paper and punched little tags (same as this project) and then stamped them with the letter "T", the initial of the new arrival.

I just used a glue stick to put everything all together, though when I ran out I switched up to Mod Podge. Everyone at the shower got to take one home with them! It was a fun way to keep the baby shower spirit all day. I know I have a jar in my purse and I eat the M&M's while the kids play at the park. I'm sneaky, so they don't ask for any :) I'm a good mom!

Have a great weekend! One final reminder about the giveaway- click the link above the post to enter for your chance to win!

Guest Blogger: Amanda from Every Crafty Endeavor

Hey peeps! I am sure you are in need of a break from my regular self (I know I bore myself sometimes!!), so I am thrilled to the core to have Amanda from Every Crafty Endeavor as a guest poster on my piece of blogland today. Don't we all love her? I first fell in love with her family stitcheries, but then I realized that there is so. much. more. to this gal. I hope you stop by and drink deep from her well of crafty ideas! And, if you absolutely need a daily dose of me, I have a little tasty something on her blog today that shows I know how to use a cake mix. Impressive, I know (oh sorry, did some of that sarcasm drip on you? oops!). Say hello to Amanda!

I am so excited to be here today at the Crafty Cupboard!

Melanie is such a cute girl and has a darling little blog and it is great to be a part of it! I am always adding things to my "to-do" list just by looking through her ideas.
My name is Amanda and I am the creative mind behind “Every Crafty Endeavor.” I am married to a dashingly handsome, hard-working man named Spencer and we have a little boy named Quinn! I work part time as a writer on a marketing team for an Engineering Company and craft in my “spare time.” I have been a “mommy blogger” for a couple years – and started Every Crafty Endeavor to showcase some crafty ideas that I have made.

Sometimes I come up with ideas on my own and sometimes I see ideas that I love and copy - always giving credit of course! That is what I love about blogging - everyone shares ideas and our homes and babies and lives are much cuter! I love to craft and cook and I have lots of fun ideas and tutorials that I love to share. I am constantly thinking about things to cook, make or sew, accessories that pop, ways to decorate my home and things to photograph.
When visiting my blog - you will find ideas and tutorials for:
Home Decor

Yummy Recipes

Baby Stuff

Accessories

and a whole lot more!

When you have a minute, please stop by and say hello and see what other crafts I have been working on. I am always looking for new ladies to blog swap and fun and fresh ideas to add to my "to-do" list!