no more holey knees

I saw this quick fix idea using reverse applique on another blog somewhere, but I can't remember exactly where. (Heidi do you remember?) Regardless of it's origins, I knew it would be worth my while to try it.

Thankfully, Haven was way ahead of me and had already ripped holes in both of the knees of her jeans without having to be asked. She is so very considerate of my sewing needs. I cut out a cardboard template of a heart that was large enough to cover each rip and still be centered on the knee area, traced around the template, pinned a scrap of pink print fabric underneath, and stitched all around it using my pencil outline as my stitching guideline. And why may I ask does her shirt look red in these pictures, I thought it was dark pink? Whatever.

All that was left to do was to cut away the excess denim on the inside of the heart around the edges, leaving a scant 1/8"-inch to the stitching, which will fray up a bit and look even cuter with each wash. I then handed them over to an ecstatic 8 year old girl who immediately put them on, exclaimed that I am the best Mom in the whole world, and declared herself the coolest girl in her school.

 

Next up, a boys version. Not using hearts, of course. I mean, what kind of a mother would I be stitching pink heart shaped patches on my boys jeans and sending them off to school to face every bully on the playground. Although I have been known to dress my boys in outfits akin to Little Lord Fauntleroy.

fix-a-flat

A few days ago I bought a pair of insanely cute ballet flats for Haven, and even though they're the right size, she had a hard time keeping them on because her feet are quite narrow. Not wanting to let these shoes sit in her closet unworn, I thought I would take a stab at fixing the problem myself.

 A strap across the top of the shoe seemed like a good solution, but without black elastic on hand, only white, I went went with what I had. I took some 1/2"-inch double wide black bias tape, stitched it together at the sides making a casing, and cut some 1/4"-inch wide elastic and inserted it into the casing.

 

I made the length of the casing about twice the length of the elastic so that it would ruffle up, and then I stitched it across at either end of the casing, catching the ends of the elastic, to keep it in place. Then I wedged the shoe onto my sewing machine, and after some contortions I was able to slowly push it through and stitch the strap on. I had to crank the wheel on my machine by hand to make sure it would go through the sides of the shoe without breaking my needle.

 

And voila, a shoe that will look cute and will also stay on her feet as she runs around at school and on the playground.

Because every 8 year old girl needs sequin covered zebra stripe ballet flats for school, right? Right.

after many goofs and mistakes…

...I finally finished the baby quilt. Not that she has had her baby yet, but she is threatening to go into full blown labor any day now, so I'm happy to be ready.

After a few revisions to make up for using 45" wide fabric instead of the 60" the pattern called for, here it is all laid out before I stitched it all together. Maybe a quilt design wall would be better for this, but for now the carpeted floor will have to do.

I really love the equal mix of modern and classic in the quilt, and it didn't take long to get the top pieced so that I could put it together and quilt it. I loved tossing it into the washer and dryer knowing it would come out all crinkly and soft.

I ended up doing a pieced back due to an error of mine in not buying the right yardage for backing, and this flannel being far too expensive to just go back and get more. So I pieced it and I love it. My idiot error worked out after all.

The flannels from the "Woolies" collection are incredible, and were very easy to work with. They are incredibly soft, wash up beautifully, and they're the best flannel I have ever laid my hands on. And as for the mistakes I made along the way, well they were frustrating, but not impossible and I was able to work through all of them with a little extra effort. In other words, I still want to make more quilts. Hopefully with fewer goofs next time?

double argh

I am trying to make a quilt for a new baby boy arriving in a few weeks time, and I finally settled on a quilt pattern I liked. After reading the instructions thoroughly, or so I thought, I bought all of the yardage I needed at my local quilt shop, which of course is not cheap. Meaning everything starts at $9 a yard. So, six different flannel prints later cut to varying lengths, I get home and grab the pattern again to start in with this project, and I realize the amounts called for in the pattern are for 60" wide fabric. The fabrics I bought are 44" wide. Totally my own stupid mistake. I. Want. To. Scream. So, now I get to spend lots of time figuring out if I can still make the quilt I had planned on, just in a smaller size possibly?

  

The flannel I bought is really lovely, it's from the "Woolies" collection by Maywood, and it's the softest 100% cotton flannel, but it looks exactly like wool. So cute. I must admit though that I'm having a hard time enjoying the fabric because I'm so frustrated right now I could spit. Just not on the fabric. Argh.

making time for foolishness

I sat down today and started sewing one of the aprons I had previously cut out. I finished the first one with no trouble, and it was nice to have a fuss free project to work on. Especially since Craig had taken Noah and Haven snowboarding and I was trying to keep the rest of the kids entertained as I was sewing. Ciel, feeling bored, picked up my camera and began snapping away at whatever she fancied, as evidenced by the above picture. Once I finished the apron, I joined her, and we spent the next hour being very goofy and laughing ourselves silly at our dorky antics. What better way to spend an evening than acting like a total fool with your 15 year old daughter and taking pictures of it all.

Like this one Ciel snapped of me "eating" the apron.

 

Making my Mom proud, one picture at a time.

Or not. Nothing like poking fun at yourself with your kids for some goofy laughs though.

it’s a wrap

When I was sewing Haven's wrap dress, I was in love with it from the beginning, and by the time I was finished that feeling had only increased. It was such a fun dress to sew and it turned out so beautifully. Although I wondered if the reason that I was loving it so much was because I was using some much loved, and very expensive fabric. So I was curious when I made Gracen's with far less expensive materials if I would love it as much, and if it would turn out as nicely. Happily, it did. The pattern really is that good, and I love her dress just as much. I even went so far as to make my own bias tape to bind the neckline and make the ties by using an extremely handy bias tape maker (seriously, I am in love with that tool and I cannot rave about it enough). It was the perfect finish on her dress. So in the end, this dress pattern is a clear favorite of mine as it just turns out a gorgeous dress, and is ever so easy to sew. Love that. Of course the best part is that both of my girls love their dresses. And Gracen had no problem dancing for me as I took her picture. Silly girl.

 

 

annie:musical fun and a parking violation

I finished sewing the dress at 5pm. And let me just add that the pattern was difficult, not fun, and one that I will never willingly sew with again. Ugh. Moving on...

 The performance started at 7:30pm so Haven and I got ready and headed out the door for the drive to Heidi's house.

 My parents had dropped by to see the dresses Heidi and I had made for Livy and Haven.

 

All Annied up and ready to go.

 

 We left it a little too close to opening curtain, so we found the closest parking spot we could, and ran the 1 block to the theater. We made it with about 5 minutes to spare, found our seats and settled in. It was fantastic, the sets were great, the actors were well cast, and Miss Hannigan was the best. We loved it.

And because Heidi and I couldn't resist, we bought each of the girls a little silver locket that we gave to them to open during intermission so they could have a locket just like Annie, thus completing their Annie outfits. Unfortunately, the whole locket thing was totally lost on both of the girls until we explained it to them So apparently the whole locket thing that Heidi and I were squealing over and so looking forward to turned out to be more fir us than for them. Oh well, they put their lockets on and loved it, so there you go. Three fun hours later, it was over and we headed out for the car.

We had parked in the parking lot of the old V-1 and there were several other cars there with ours, with nothing posted warning us of any violations to be incurred.  That we could see when we arrived in the dark anyways. Because as it turns out there was no parking allowed. Once we came within a few feet of the Suburban, there it was. A sign taped to the window from the towing service, and a boot on both the front and back wheel. Oops. The good news was that the guy that booted us was waiting for the call, and was there within 1 minute, no joke.

 But not before I had Heidi take this picture.

And this one. Do I look sad enough? I thought so.

 

So, with a $70 swipe of my credit card, a few jokes with the guy removing the boot, and much laughing between Heidi and I, we were on our way.

 (Heidi drove by the next day, and was finally able to see the very badly placed signs warning of no parking. Oh well, no hard feelings.)

We had a great night, the musical was wonderful, the girls had an awesome time, we had fun all around, and Heidi and I got be act like fools more than once. Which is the way it's supposed to be right? Livy and Haven are too young to be too embarrassed by their nerdy moms for now at least. Not hard though since there was no Darth Vader around for any kissing. Maybe Daddy Warbucks?