Today I’m chillin’ over at Me Sew Crazy as part of Jessica’s Sewing Remix party-o. It is a fantastic idea where a bunch of bloggers share how they take a tutorial or pattern that is well-loved, and mix it up a bit!
There have been some great ideas already over there, so I suggest you hang out a while! I’ll admit- my remix was pretty darn easy!
Now, go to Me Sew Crazy and see what remixing is all about :)
So, aside from packing and cleaning and all that, I have done a few things in preparation for my trip to Utah this next week. One of them is a new make-up pouch, since my other one died nearly 3 years ago. It was time to keep it all in something other than a grocery sack when I traveled.
I knew instantly after seeing this diaper clutch by see kate sew that it would be my new make-up pouch. It was roomy (these performances require us to wear lots of make-up… like eye shadow and lipstick and stuff I don’t normally put on), easy, and I had everything on hand.
The only thing I did differently was add fusible fleece and that little tab thing (same fabric as the lining) so I can just wrap it around my wrist when I’m headed to the bathroom with arms full of clothes and towels. It is sturdy, soft, girly, and practical.
It was a tad bit bigger than I needed, but I can always use it for other things too when I’m not traveling. How perfectly convenient.
Thanks, Kate :)
Ok, I know I’m a young’un. And I was 6 months younger in this picture.
I love my birthday! It is my favorite day of the year. Today is a little different because Mike is out of town and we’re putting off celebrations until after the baby’s birthday (Friday!) and my brother gets back from his mission a few days after that. Poor kid has missed out on a few family related things these past two years and I thought he might enjoy a birthday party :)
This morning I did get to open a few presents, which turned out to be some vintage Pyrex.
My china cabinet is getting full of those!! But, I still have room ;) The munchkin gave me a manicure and pedicure, so if you are wondering what’s going on with my nails, now you now. The other hand is a sparkly purple.
And this afternoon I went clothes shopping- thank goodness the baby fell asleep in the cart, or it would have been less than productive!
So, instead of sharing a project today, I’m going to let you know a little bit about ME!!!
1. My favorite snack is Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn. It has to be Homestyle, and it has to be Pop Secret.
2. My favorite movie is The Count of Monte Christo, although I do know You’ve Got Mail down to every single line and facial expression.
3. My favorite book(s) are the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. No, I was never in any medieval clubs or anything… they are just good books. I’ve read all 13 books 3 times. #14 comes out next year. Thank you, Kirsten, for getting me hooked.
4. Cashew is, in my opinion, the most awkward word in the English language. Go ahead, say it out loud.
5. I would have a broccoli salad for every meal, every day. With a couple drops of Gas-X. :)
6. I hate plucking my eyebrows and will only do it if absolutely necessary.
7. I’m petrified of playing the piano in public, but I’ll sing for you with only a seconds notice.
8. I enjoy public speaking. Not that I’m any good, but I like it.
9. I love doing crossword puzzles, but can’t finish any past the Wednesday level of the NYTimes. It is because I don’t care about pop culture!
10. My two front teeth are total fakes. My we-got-a-bonus-so-I-got-new-teeth smile, and one was covered by insurance… let’s just say I smile a lot more now :)
That’s me in a nutshell, aside for the other things you all have learned by reading my blog! Thanks for reading, by the way. It makes every day a little more fun for me :) You’re the best.
Off to Costa Vida for dinner with my mom! Yumma yumma!
Thanks everyone for entering the Nixo Handmade gift card giveaway. I got some great summer ideas from all of you :)
The winner is #26, Jess, who likes the summer scarf and whose summer suggestions were the pool, sprinklers, and ice cream. Jess, you are a no-reply blogger, so get back to me ASAP!
For those who would like another chance, there is a Nixo Handmade $25 gift card giveaway over on her Facebook page! It ends tomorrow at midnight, so there is still time!
Checked off one item from my “to do” list today.
Those zipper pouches I made a while ago have long since been distributed, and this is actually my third round of making pouches. I’m thinking these patterns will be a hit with girls 12-18 years old, yes?
The little tabs show what fabrics are the lining. I’m totally wanting every single one for myself, and gave an “oops” to the munchkin already :)
{choir/orchestra rehearsal, and our fabulous director}
I’ve got a busy concert weekend ahead of me. And ‘busy’ is putting it mildly. It doesn’t help that my husband is going to be off camping for tonight and half of tomorrow, but he needs a break. Especially since he has been up since 4:30 with the baby. I at least got to go back to sleep! Stupid chirping birds outside the window.
I have a few things to share next week, but finishing touches must wait until things settle down! I know you have had days/weekends like this too!
Speaking of finishing, for my tidbit for today I wanted to share an audio clip. A friend of mine was interviewed as part of a TMA student project (one of her own students? I am not sure.) at BYU. She puts perfectly the thoughts I have on crafting and why it is so satisfying! I recommend you go have a listen. I listened twice today already as for a motivator, especially after ruining dinner twice this week and just filled yet another laundry basket after cleaning the girls’ room.
Also, remember the Giveaway for a $25 Gift Card for Nixo Handmade ends tonight!!
Got crochet plans this summer? Try Jenny and Teddy!! Adorable patterns and ready-made lovelies for you.
I almost forgot- my Daisy Top made it to the Top of the Tops at Made by Rae. It is up for voting today if you want to support me.
My darts, bias tape, and new sleeves aside, there are lots of amazing tops up today. Wowzahs.
When Sabra from Sew a Straight Line first invited me to participate in her Make It Work series, I eagerly agreed and thought it would be fun to take a pattern that I normally wouldn’t use and make it work. I had no idea this little circa 1988 gem was on its way to me:
When she says she picked “choice patterns” from the thrift store, she wasn’t kidding. And this one is choice. The thing was, it was already used. Meaning, someone wore it. Probably a Doris Christensen.
And after looking at it for a few days, I thought, “this looks a little familiar…” so off to the family photo box I went, and pulled this treasure out:
My mom used to make her own clothes and then model them for my stylist-Great Aunt’s runway shows in which she explained how everyone had a “season.” My mom was Spring, apparently. The back of the photo?
So, I guess when the pattern says “Today’s Wardrobe” they really mean it. Although my mom’s top is much more flattering, don’t you think? Love the matching belt, ma.
You are probably wondering how I Made It Work, huh? I’ll be honest. The pattern sat on my desk for a long time, waiting for inspiration to strike. I wanted to use fabric from stash, which meant smaller amounts. That is when I figured out what to do: Make the pattern smaller! Much, much smaller :)
Pleats are kind of universally accepted through the ages, so I stuck with that aspect of the pattern and pulled out the skirt front piece (already cut out and pin holes all over it!). When I pulled out the pattern piece for the front of the skirt, it was basically a rectangle with pleat lines on it. Easy peasy!
I made a copy of the top of the pattern piece and shrunk it to 70%. Then I adjusted the seam end marks, since the original pleats were really, really long. My fold marking should have been on the other side; I fixed it after I took the photo. I’m brilliant like that.
Then I marked the pleat lines onto my fabric (I think this is suiting fabric, I got about 3/4 yards in the clearance bin), with a little less curvy-ness.
Then I sewed up those pleats! I referred to the instructions in the pattern to see which direction to face the pleats when I basted the top. I made two front panels, since I wasn’t installing a zipper on this small size skirt.
I just added a waistband to the top and inserted some elastic. A little hemming, and I was done!
And it looks so cute with those pink tights. Don’t you love gray and pink?
I originally wanted to make this for the baby, but 70% wasn’t enough shrinkage for a 2T. It became a 4T! I can easily shrink the pattern again and make a matching skirt for the baby.
Pleats are so school-girl on a knee-length version of the pattern. Absolutely endearing.
By re-drawing the pleat seam ends, you can change where the pleats open up on the skirt. I totally just guessed when I drew mine, but I think it ended up perfectly.
The skirt looked a little blah until I took it to the ironing board and finally ironed all those pleats in. The skirt came to life! I really shouldn’t avoid ironing so much :)
And since my girls have a new fascination with dresses and skirts, this is a winner around here.
I am so glad I was able to make such a lovely pattern work! It was fast, fun, and easy when all said and done. This technique of simply shrinking the pattern and making small adjustments has opened a whole new world of clothing options for my girls. I think I’ll make this shirt (sans bust line, obviously) for the girls now!
I have to chuckle at being involved in a Bloggers Quilt Festival because three years ago I didn’t know what a rotary cutter was. Or why a cutting mat was important. Or that fabric could cost so much :) Or that young people quilted!
For this year’s quilt, I was going to post the Tufted Tweets Quilt (which I love and am very proud of!) but I crossed another quilting bridge recently with this Toss Up Quilt:
I usually play it really safe with my fabric choices and stick to the same line as much as I possibly can. Designers make it so easy, don’t they? And the fabric lines often coordinate with previous lines so you can mix them. I would take the easy way out and just pick a fabric line, grab a few fat quarters or a pre-cut and stay securely there.
For this quilt, I really wanted to use fabric that I had on stash, mostly for budget reasons. Like I said, good fabric is comparatively expensive. I also have a habit of grabbing cute fat quarters without any project in mind and then get hung up with them at home. This was the perfect opportunity to branch out and actually use those! It ended up being a bright hodge-podge of colors and patterns that I love. It is my favorite quilt I’ve made for my girls. It makes for a much more interesting quilt!
Guess what else? This was also my first time using a paper pattern. I have just followed tutorials or made something up before. It was so much easier to have everything on paper, in front of me, the whole time. I loved it and have purchased more paper patterns since then.
My problem now is that my stash is significantly smaller :) See more blogger’s quilts here.
See last year’s BQF quilt here, and my very first BGF quilt here.
Huh, I didn’t bother taking pictures of my current projects because I figured it would take all weekend to get back online. Looks like they pulled through, and now I’m the one slacking.
NEWS!
This concert is next weekend. I am mentally tied up memorizing music. Come. You’ll love it.
Ok, Utah folks. That Tabernacle concert in Utah was “sold out” (the tickets were free) 20 minutes after the tickets became available. No joke. I didn’t even bother reminding you about it because I didn’t even get a ticket for Mike. We Arizona peeps sometimes forget the world isn’t in our static time zone.
BUT! The directors and everyone on the board searched high and low and probably called in a few favors, and we are now also having a Saturday matinée performance on June 4th at 2pm, in Abravanel Hall. BYU Television will also be filming it! Tickets are extremely cheap, starting at $5. Again, not kidding. They go on sale on Wednesday, May 18th at 10am MST. There are a little over 2,000 available seats. The Tabernacle’s 3,500 sold out in 20 minutes, remember, so if you want to go (and you know you want to! You’ll get to see me perform, if you can find me in the sea of singing women!), set an alarm or stand at that box office window.
I know I talk about my music here a lot, especially when it gets close to a concert, but I just love performing. I love music. I love singing! It is part of me and therefore part of this blog. It is my hobby I really can take anywhere, and don’t have to haul around machines or anything. And that, my friends, is as good as it gets.
Speaking of music, I’ve had half a yard of this music fabric (just notes; it isn’t Battle Hymn music, although that would be awesome) for a while now, and don’t know what to do with it. Any ideas?
Oh, I wanted to tell you about something fun starting next week here in blogland. Jessica at Me Sew Crazy is hosting Sewing Remix starting on the Monday the 16th, where I’ll be sharing a new twist on a well-used pattern or tutorial. This is so fun! Hopefully you get some good ideas.
Support my sponsors by clicking on their buttons! They are great and have just what you need.
I’ve been working on a quilt with Twin Fibers, the Mod Times Quilt-Along, and it is pretty darn cute. It had set-in seams which I was sweating bullets over, and then when I did it, I was almost embarrassed I was nervous about it they were so easy. I need nicer thread for quilt piecing though… the stuff I have is too heavy.
I finished the quilt top this morning and left it in the sewing area. Later I walked back to the room and saw the munchkin meticulously snipping off all my hanging threads (while little sister pulled all the books off my bookshelf). At first I wanted to say “get away from that!” and take the snippers, but she was being really careful so I just grabbed my camera and snuck a picture instead. She’s 4, and growing up fast.
We went to Old Navy last night and I got her some capris to match mine. And a new shirt while we were at it. She thought trying on clothes in a fitting room was awesome. I thought she looked so grown up with her cute pants, curly hair (we had two braids in yesterday), and that necklace. We had an impromptu photo shoot.
The baby is getting potty trained right now (she’s nearly 2 now), and I haven’t taken pictures of her lately because she is mostly running around without anything on. She has a hard time pulling off panties, and ends up wetting herself wrestling with her underpants, so I’ve left her free and wild. But, we hardly have any accidents (one a day, usually), so I can’t complain. She was more than ready. You can imagine I haven’t spent a lot of time working on crafty stuff.
Anyway, this is my life :) Have a great day!
This one is another amazingly creative shirt-naming because the fabric is from the Daisy Chain line by Amy Butler. I was going through my fabric stash, saw a half-yard of this one, and went to my nearest FQS to get more. I knew they’d have it (and in their 40% off section) because they never rotate fabric lines and everything has been the same since I first went there a year ago. Sad, I know.
Anyway.
Mike had a fun time taking pictures- so much fun, in fact, that he didn’t bother letting the camera focus before he snapped a picture. These are the best we got. But you can see the darts, the bias binding on the sleeves and neckline, and my beautifully centered print. I’ve worn this two days straight.
This is my third and final entry to the Spring Top Sew-Along at Made by Rae. I haven’t made anything earth-shattering, but the whole point of the sew-along is to get us to make something for ourselves. I have to admit, the reason it is easy to make clothes for kids is because you only need small quantities of fabric, which is cheap!
I like this one, it was only supposed to be two pattern pieces, but I needed to add sleeves. Well, wanted to- you can layer this pattern (McCall’s 5977). It was an adventure getting a sleeve pattern to work since the arm opening was not originally intended for sleeves and the shoulder seam isn’t at the shoulder. It took two tries, but I got it! It is a great length too.
Ok, that’s all the sewing for me for a while. I have lots of things I need to do, so I better get cracking! Can’t wait to share!
One of my greatest challenges as a mom is getting my girls to pick up after themselves. Granted, I’m still working on picking up after myself, but I’m hoping to get better habits in my kids than I have :)
When I first read up on MyJobChart.com, I was amazed at how simple it can be to help my girls see a reward come from fulfilling their responsibilities, like putting Barbies in the right bucket. Picking up toys can be daunting!! But it can be made easier by knowing once you’ve cleaned up, you can track your chore online and see how close you are to getting that new Fancy Nancy book or Bakugan whatever (I have only girls. I don’t even know if I spelled Bakugan right!) you’ve been eyeing.
My Job Chart is a FREE online program that encourages saving, sharing, and spending, and helps you teach these values to your kids. Created by a regular dad for his own kids, it allows parents to determine child-specific chores and at what point kids can receive a reward for their work. The rewards are pre-determined by the parent, so the child knows the whole time what they are working for! My Job Chart even has an Amazon store built into its site to help you with those rewards!!
Want to see how it works? Check it out:
Frankly, kids these days are on the computer more. Why not integrate daily responsibilities into such a widely-used medium?
I think it is great to teach saving, sharing (like donations to charities or organizations), and spending wisely. This is a super great online tool to help us as parents demonstrate to our kids how to manage money in a responsible way, even at a young age. I love it!
Over 75,000 kids currently use the site, with 300 more joining every day. It must be a good thing! Go ahead, give it a try and sign your kids up today!
I’ve been busy this week preparing for a Young Women activity, and now that it is over, I can resume my life :). It wasn’t that much work, I just made things harder on myself by ruining a cake, breaking dishes, and trying to be crafty while I was at it. This is why I don’t decorate for church parties, ever. I destroy too much in the process.
Anyway, I knew I wanted pedestal plates for the center of each table at the activity, so I went to the thrift store to hopefully find some big/decorative ones. I did find a small one for $8, which of course I wouldn’t pay. I found, instead, an excellent condition, large vintage Pyrex bowl for $8 and bought it promptly! I was so excited to take it home and wash off that Goodwill sticker! But like I said, I like to destroy things. Wet hands, a hot wet bowl, and a granite countertop =
I almost cried, but realized crying over Pyrex was silly. Even when Mike stepped on a shard and started bleeding all over the kitchen. So I just moped around for a while and e-mailed Char about it.
Along with the now-trashed Pyrex, I found a cheese cloche. I am always on the lookout for one, and I finally found one that wasn’t priced at $16 or more. Seriously, those thrift stores need to work on their pricing strategy! Anyway, we were over at a French family’s home recently and they had this ENORMOUS Cheese Dome, complete with a marble slab to slice le fromage on. This wasn’t marble, and I don’t keep my cheese on the counter anyway, but wood takes to spray paint wonderfully!
Before:
After (the hubs needs a lesson in spray painting, but that’s another topic):
I did find some glass pates, and stopped by the dollar store on the way home to buy some candlesticks.
I got 4 of these for the same price as the one plate at the thrift store. Thank you, Gorilla Glue Epoxy. And yes, I do realize I am the last person on the planet to make some of these. They were great on the tables at the party, and held yummy brownies, mini muffins, and other treats.
And while taking pictures to share with you, I took it all a step further and did this:
Rocket science, I know. Hee hee.
So, doing these crafty things made me realize why I don’t do a lot of “crafts” here on the Crafty Cupboard. Broken Pyrex makes me introspective, I’ve discovered. Anyway, it’s because I don’t have the space to put things!! Sewing is easy because it gets put in a drawer or hung in the closet, or under the bed if it is a quilt. I wish I had something with a flat surface to decorate for every holiday, like a buffet table or piano top. That would be so fun! And, while taking these pictures, I realized how naked my table is without a cute table runner and that jazz, but it is totally impractical for my little girls who are constantly eating and spilling milk on that table. You should have seen me freak out every time the girls went to the table when the Spiderweb Runner was there… it was pathetic.
Someday!
In the meantime, thanks for stopping by. You’re awesome.
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