Happy Birthday, Zoe!!!

My niece, Zoe recently celebrated her 4th birthday. We sadly had to miss her party since we were out of town, but I wanted to make something special for her. I know how much she loves to artsy stuff when she's at her grandma's (my mom), and so I wanted to make something she could take anywhere with her.

This is what it looks like open. I handy dandy little notebook, pocket to store colored pencils and markers, and a smaller pocket to hold little stickers (or what ever she wants to put in it).
I usually do these with a button and an elastic to close it with, but I love the way it looks with some pink grossgrain ribbon.

So seriously, I have made quite a few of these lately, and I have decided that the next one I make should be mine. . . let's see if that happens! ha ha ha.

I hope you all are having a great week. . . we're in the midst of welcoming fall with triple digit temperatures and hunting down pumpkin. . . oh and I was just informed that we are NOT having a pumpkin shortage! I have 5 cans currently gracing my shelves right now and I plan on trying to make my own with sugar pumpkins. . . just to see how it comes out.

Have a great first full week of fall, y'all!!!!

Happy Birthday, Abi!!!!

A good friend of ours turned 2 on Sunday. She is the daughter of our really good friends, Josh and Steph. Not only that, but we have high hopes that she will one day marry Ethan (I must make mention that when they see each other, they squeal joyful squeals of delight. . . it is so much fun!). I really wanted to do something special for my son's best friend, but I also had a slightly selfish ambition. . . I wanted to make something girly. I was going to make a dress, but she would soon grow out of the patterns my mom had, but then I found this pattern by the Oliver + S pattern company. I will also mention that this pattern (off their blog) is totally awesome because it was FREE! You just print it off their website and go! Now, that's my kind of pattern! The fabric I used was American Jane Apple Pie. . . with it's bright reds, yellows and blues, I just couldn't resist! I may have gotten a tad carried away, but I couldn't help it. . . it was a gift for a girl!

Like most girls, Abi is a purse girl (I think she takes after her mommy), so she needed a cute little purse to match. I came up with this mini drawstring bag. . . the perfect size for throwing a couple of little people animals in and maybe a light snack.
Here's a close up of the fabric. . . . so cute, don't you think?

She had to have a #2 shirt to tell the world, she's officially 2 and why not some cute barrettes to match? (the barrette holder is cardstock with a stamped lady bug because her birthday party was a lady bug theme).
The cute skirt and shirt combination. The shirt was long sleeved baby Gap shirt that I found on sale (after searching high and low for a red short sleeved shirt. . . it's still hot here.). But it worked out, because it was a thinner shirt (great for fall) and she was able to roll up the sleeves in an attractive way.
And the birthday girl. . . decked out in cuteness for her birthday!

Happy Birthday, Abi!!!!!

Welcome, Baby Gwen!!!

Happy Friday everyone! I can't even begin to describe how awesome my week has been! I absolutely LOVE not having a ton of things to do and I think I have needed that. It has just been so busy lately, my body has needed this week to rest up. I still have a lot of things to blog, so hopefully things will stay fairly slow (there's not much on the calendar, so cross your fingers!). We are going to enjoy a ladybug birthday party and Clovis Fest to see the hot air balloons (I think Ethan will LOVE it!). Have a great weekend everyone!

My sewing machine has been really busy lately. A lot of my friends have been having babies, so I have been getting excited about these projects.

This set of girls stuff was made for my friend Regina, who just gave birth to a little girl, Gwen.

My favorite thing, we the little girls onesie (children's place) with embroidered circle of coordinating fabric from the line that I made the burpies and giraffe from.

Here are the burpies. .. I love doing the patchwork to break it up a bit. The giraffe is once again from a Lotta Jansdotter pattern.
Happy sewing!!!!

Happy Birthday, Steph!

Well, this post is wishing my dear friend, Steph, a very happy birthday. Her birthday was last Friday, and we spent Saturday celebrating it with her in Yosemite and then had a busy day on Sunday with VBS registration and our small group Bible Study (aka the best small group ever!. . . I may be biased!). I have been so excited to share this with you . . . and now I can.

Steph and I live really close to one of many Savemart locations in Fresno. It just so much easier to walk there with the kiddos in their strollers than packing up our lovely toddlers (they are two weeks apart. . . someday (God willing) they are going to get married). into the cars, driving 2 minutes, unpacking them, shopping, packing them back into the car, driving home and unpacking them. Plus, it's good exercise. Anyway, Steph always has her groceries written down on a nice journal-like notebook and I thought she might enjoy a portfolio-like notebook.

This is the view from the inside. . . there is a little triangle pocket to fit business cards or that most important Starbucks card. There is also a separate pocket in the middle for a pen or pencil, and a pocket for holding recipes, mail, or coupons.
This is my favorite way to hold the notebook. Just sticking the back into the pocket and allowing the pages to hang out. This way, you can see your entire list, whether it's a "to-do" list or a grocery list. I also cut out and glued a piece of Amy Butler cardstock to the back of the notebook to make it look nicer.
The portfolio closes with a button.

My sewing machine has been busy!

It is baby season around here again (don't get any ideas. . . these are not for me). Last week, I had 2 baby showers on my calendar, so it was sew, sew, sew! For this gift, I used some of my Heather Ross orange, blue, and tan stripes, and polka dots.

I am loving this new idea I had for burpies. . . add some fabric swatch strips in the middle of them for extra pizzaz. I don't know. I am a little unsure of the owls in here, but they matched and so, I through them in. My favorite one is the one on the bottom.

A taggie, of course! This time, I decided to add some thin batting inside. Oh, I think I will always do this. It is just so cuddly!

I had fun making this bib. I saw the idea over at tree fall design and thought I might give it a try. I really like the way it came out. But, it was so much fun to make and way cute to give away.

I'll be back next week with some more of the projects I've been working on. Hope you have a fantastic first weekned of June!

A new fabric store to love. . .

I may have mentioned before that my husband just celebrated his 3oth birthday. One of the things he wished to do was go to the CA Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. We LOVE the city. It's our favorite place to go and meander around and enjoy. It never really gets old and we are having so much fun showing Ethan many of the sites that we enjoyed when we weren't parents. On this trip, we drove into the city (a rarity, since we are BIG fans of the BART) because it's easier to get to Golden Gate Park via 19th Ave. We feel like we are slightly (just barely) familiar with that side of town because we rode the MUNI to visit Jon's cousin and his wife when they lived over there several years ago.

But, back to my point. Last April, when we were in SF for Jon's work, I checked out Britex fabrics near Union Square. . . it was huge and beautiful. But more of a place to go buy fabric if you are making some outfit. . . there plain old fabric section I found to be disorganized and not well stocked. I had found a website for a different fabric store . . . but it was on 18th, a few blocks away from Golden Gate Park. On that trip, it was way out of my way. So, Jon did some research and decided that I could make the trek to this fabric store on his birthday adventure. . . (Have I mentioned what an AWESOME hubby I have?). We were really close the whole day and found the store so quickly. The store is called Pea Pod Fabrics and it absolutely the CUTEST fabric store I have ever set eyes on. It is also the smallest store I have ever seen! It was the size of my living room with neatly shelved fabrics along the walls and a large cutting table in the middle. This was not a stroller friendly store (sniff sniff). But they had the most beautiful table of sale fabrics - with lots of Amy Butler prints! (If you haven't noticed, I am a HUGE fan of Amy Butler's fabrics). I bought several different fabrics for super cheap. . . which is great, because my fabric fetish can totally add up. It was really hard to pick from because this store had all sorts of amazing prints. . . this was definately NOT a store my grandma would shop at (no offense. . . there just weren't all those florally prints that you find in EVERY store in the Fresno area!).

Jon, being the most amazing husband of all time, waited patiently outside the store (and even snapping the above photo for me), while I shopped. I am not sure if he was fearful that our life savings could very well have spent here or if he was truly enjoying hanging out watching the kids across the street head home from school. The owner tried suggesting that he head down the street to a nearby bar, but I knew it wouldn't take me long and certainly didn't want to drive home. Plus, my very AWESOME husband would have rather just had a phenomenal drink of high end bottled rootbeer. The owner, was really nice, although she thought Fresno was only an hour away. . . if only! She also wouldn't let me take pictures of the inside to show you all, so I am adding a link to her website store front which as TONS of pictures for you to glance at at your liking and fall desperately in love with it that you all travel this very weekend to visit. . . oh wait. . . she's on vacation and the store is closed until after Easter, sorry.

Here's the link here.

Happy Saturday everyone! I realized yesterday that it has been over a week since I last posted something . . . and man, I have an entire camera full of stuff to share with you all! So, first, I apologize for slacking off. Because in sooo many ways I have been so lazy! But, also, I have been so incredibly distracted. You see, Spring is here. . . yes! I may have posted something recently about how spring has sprung. In the past few weeks I have planted my very first garden full of cute little rows of strawberries, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, broccoli, and lettuce. I am so very excited about reaping my harvest this summer. I can already see a little broccoli growing and some sugar snap peas developing. My strawberries are getting big. . . still a little green (i think the birds may be eying them. . . so if you have any suggestions on how to keep birds out of a garden, please comment. . . i need help!). I have also been tackling the weed problem (Let me clarify. . . I mean the weeds that are overtaking my yard. . . not the illegal plant LOL). I am absolutely loving my yard. .. it is a haven of green! I have also started cleaning carpets and taking down wallpaper in our kitchen. Last night, we bought paint for our kitchen and front bathroom. I am so excited! Our front bathroom has been blessed with nice blue tiles, sinks, and a tub. Yes, blue. The former owners also painted the walls BLUE! no joke! I am going to paint them a color, called "sand between your toes." In other words, I have a nautical theme going on there and I think a sand-like color will be a nice contrast. Out kitchen has this ugly green leafy, floral wall paper and border around it and I am slowly taking it down during nap time. I hope to start painting it a grey color this week. I am so excited about painting! I have lots of projects in my brain that just can't wait to get started!

Okay, so at the top of this post, I placed a picture of a recent diaper pouch I made using some Michael Miller fabric. I had so much fun making this for a friend. I was told to make it boy-like and green and brown. I found this fabric and couldn't resist. I also played around with a business card because this was a gift for her friend. I would love to start selling more of them.

And finally, I will leave you with a recipe that I made this week. They were eaten far too quickly for a picture to be taken. . . they were delicious. This recipe was featured in Rachel Ray's magazine a few months ago, when she did a feature on classic recipes. Being a fan of Oatmeal Raisin, I just couldn't resist. So, I made them and delicious they were! You can find the recipe here. There's also a picture there, so you can see just how tasty the are too!

I hope to be on here very soon. . . hopefully I won't get lost in the wallpaper and paint! Have a fantastic SPRING weekend!

My first baby gift of the year. . .

Saturday marked the first baby shower of the twenty-ten. So, I must unveil my first sewing of the year. I have to confess that it felt good to sew. The past two months have been fairly chaotic and it was so nice to sit in my own space and sew during Ethan's nap time. And, when I was done. . . I didn't have to put my machine away so we could eat. . . it just stayed right where I had it set up. Let me just say. . . it was so NICE! So, in honor of my sewing space I must show you what I've been working on. It was my friend Lindsay's shower, so I had to make her a diaper pouch. . . she would need it in the church nursery (the workers LOVE them!), a taggie, two chenille burpies, and a matching rattle. It was also really nice to use some girly colors. . . for a change. My next set of baby stuff will be boy. . . fun stuff!

Time for tea. . .

My good friend Stephanie gave me a tea holder thingy for my birthday. I absolutely love it. . . I can carry tea with me everywhere. My sister is also a tea lover, and so I finally got the time to create her one. I didn't use the same style as the one Steph gave me. . . I wanted to try and modify it.
This one if far from perfect, but I sent it to her anyways, and she LOVED it! It was a really fun thing just to send a cheap gift in the mail (my sister lives in Wyoming) just to surprise her.

These ones worked great for fitting the TAZO teas in. . . which was my goal. Ohh, and these could also fit those new VIA instant coffee pouches from Starbucks. . . another great gift idea to keep in my brain!

dish towels

Procrastination and a long to-do list have entered into my life. . . causing both organization and insanity. I am finding it hard to pack, but super easy to sew (It is so relaxing!). So, I thought I would share some dishtowels I made for the new house.
Believe it or not. . . I started this one last January! I just have been so busy with other projects I completely forgot about it . . . actually, it has been staring at me for 9 months! So, when all other projects had been completed I took the time to get the last few stitches finished. All that waiting and it took me 15 minutes! But, It will look perfect in my new kitchen.

This is one of my favorites. It matches the potholder I did awhile back. I plan on making a couple more after the big move, between unpacking, painting, and working on Christmas gifts. just love it!
This one uses my Lizzy Dish and Red Letter Day fabric. I

I finally got my pictures downloaded onto my computer! I have been such a procrastinator! But, oh, we have had so much fun the past few days and weeks! Check my here for details. So, now that I have pictures to show you, I am going to move on, so I can get started on this week!

Pot Holder

I found this Lizzy House fabric last April at the Cotton Ball (Morro Bay's really cool quilt shop) and have been wanting to make potholders out of it ever since. Now that I have my own copy of Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing, I decided to try out her pattern for a basic potholder. I really, really like it! Plus it was super easy! I opted to use the insulated batting that is specially made for hot things. Lotta Jansdotter warns about using cotton batting as it is flammable.

Chocolate Raspberry Bars

I made a pan of these because they looked so delish here. Here's the recipe.
I baked them for Jon. . . he loved them and would eat them again. . . really. . . he's my biggest critic! I also sent some home with our Breauna, a college student who is just such a great friend and help! She deserves all the study food I can whip up for her!

Baby Card

There seems to be a wave of babies being born around here. I made this quick card for Jon's cousin Erin's shower last weekend. The stamp set is Nice and Narrow (SU) and I used the water color pens to color in the ink from the Buckaroo Blue and Chocolate Chip ink pads. I then layered it with matching blue and brown card stock, snipped off the bottom and tied with a light blue ribbon. Then stamped the bottom of the card/inside of the card with "hello little baby" stamp. Super easy and quick. I am finding that this stamp set seems to be my no fail set when I need a quick, impromptu card.

Coasters:
I had my eye on this fabric for a long time. I bought it right after Christmas. I just now started using it. This fabric is the colors of our living room, and so I thought I would start making a batch of coasters. They are basically two pieces of fabric lined with some really thin batting and sewn at 1/4 inch.

Tag Blanket

I am finding more and more that these tag blankets are the answer to a quick, easy, and inexpensive gift. This one went to Jon's cousin Erin's baby on the way. I really like how the Heather Ross fabric looks with the blue chenille fabric.

Now, it is new week and it looks busy. I am hoping for some time to create. I hope it works out! If not, I have a ton of baking to do! Have a great week everyone! Enjoy the beautiful fall weather that God has given us!

Finally!

My senior year of college, I decided to try my hand at quilting and loved it! I was also really into the colors red, white, and blue. . . it was how I was going to decorate my house! Needless to say, my house is not red, white, and blue. But, I digress. Let me get back on track here. . . oh yes, the quilt. I started it sometime during my senior year (back in 2001!). I got the actually squares cut out, sewed my quilt blocks and then the whole thing together. At this point, I knew absolutely nothing about quilting. . . just what I had seen from my sister, who was learning to quilt in her home-ec class. When the top was finished, it got packed away and unfortunately, it never got made into an actual blanket, until this past weekend. . . almost 10 years later. But it is finished and I am proud. It has lots of character since my lines are probably not the straightest, but it's my first quilt and I am proud. I think it will be a great picnic quilt.

Ethan's Birthday Party

Ethan's birthday shirt. . . fabric applique. . . so very easy!

I needed something fun for party favors that would be appropriate for all age ranges. So, I found these bubbles in the dollar section of Target (one of my favorite places!) and put them in plastic bags, tied with some leftover ribbon, and attatched a stamped tag on it.

Fabric Bunting - I made this out of Michael Miller and Amy Butler fabric. My inspiration was to have on that matched his bedroom. . . I can't wait to put this up when we move!

Happy Birthday Ethan! I made this out of cardstock and used brown ribbon to connect the pieces. So much fun!

Ethan's birthday cake - We did cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting, and green sanding sugar. I made the toppers using a circle cutter.

Cupcake up close.

A gift for baby boy Gerking!

Lisa's shower was Saturday, so I can finally post some of the things I have been working on. This summer, I was on a search for some really neat boy fabric for BBGerking's quilt. The fabric I had wanted, was not available until the end of July, so, on a quick stop in Cedar City, Utah, we found this really neat baby fabric at a Ace Hardware/Quilt Shop. I have to say, Jon picked out the fabric and he did a great job! The fabric is blue owls, blue birds, blue and white stripes, and blue chenile. It made a great combination.

Lisa and her quilt. Her card: Stampin' Up Just My Type stamps, Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper (don't remember the name. . . don't think they carry it anymore), white button brads, and brown grossgrain ribbon

Diaper Pouch: holds several dipaers and some wipes.

Diaper Changing Pad

Tag Blanket

Giraffe Rattle: Pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simple Sewing for Baby.

Quilt (again). The Pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's book also.

sew. . . I have done something besides bake.

I really have been doing something other than filling my house with baked goods. Here is something that I can share with you and give me MOPS buddies a sneak peak (Shhh!).

My diaper pouch has been such a hit in the realm of church-life that we decided to make some for a future Mops event (coming soon!). Last week, I sewed seven of the little guys up very quickly. . . they don't take long.

Our church has so many babies in the nursery, that there have been too many diaper bags to store. These pouches have been so nice to just stick in a basket and clip Ethan's name on it. I usually just make sure it has at least 2 diapers and his Binky in it. The pouch is very roomy, so if I need to pack a Ziploc of some snacks and some wipes, I can do that too.

Diaper Changing Pad

Finally a sewing update! (I still have much to update you with, but will wait a little bit longer to post the rest of my creations). I made this diaper changing pad to go with the diaper pouch for Ethan. I absolutely loved the fabric (rabbits and race cars, by Heather Ross) and wanted to keep making things. Plus, I really wanted a diaper changing pad for our road trip out West. My diaper bag has one built in, but I am constantly sticking stuff in that "pocket" that there would be a ginormous explosion of "Stuff" from my diaper bag if I ever considered unzipping it! This pattern was so easy and came from Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simple Sewing for Baby.

I really liked using it and it became very practical on our road trip with quick diaper changing stops in the car and using those yucky ones in the bathroom (I am sorry, i just can't stand using them unless it's my only option). Ethan also likes to take it apart and play with, so I guess it doubles as a new toy or blanket for Ethan.

Monday . . . .

It's once again a Monday. I usually love Mondays (generally the days I bake and get ready for my week), but today it is just plain HOT! Did I mention that it is HOT today. Really, Jon came in this morning and said it was supposed to be 112 degrees! I do not want to see our next PG&E bill! So, as the heat has arrived, I don't want to bake as to heat up the house. So, I am attempting to do my "Weekend Recovery" this morning while Ethan naps so that I can tackle my list of upcoming projects this afternoon. I am very excited about my upcoming projects, including Ethan's birthday party stuff and VBS stuff. I will post pictures of all projects as soon as I can.
Oh yes, I did want to mention that someone just ordered a tag blanket from me. I am so excited! My first sell!. It was never really my intention to sell the stuff I made, but if I can make a few extra dollars to pay for my hobbies. . . then I'm all for it!
I did want to post something fun this morning, though. This is a giraffe rattle that I made Ethan before we left for vacation. The pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's baby book, Simple Sewing for Baby using fabric from Amy Butler. Ethan absolutely loves carrying it around the house! Hopefully I will get the motivation to make cookies for Jon's lunch. I found an awesome cookie recipe that I am just so excited to make!

Diaper pouch

There are so many times I have quick errands to run, and just don't feel like hauling my diaper bag around. This pouch is a cute way to store some wipes, a diaper, and even a binky all in one place that even fits in your purse (with the exception of those who can manage to carry around a small purse that barely fits their wallet).

My sister bought me the fabric to make something for Ethan. It is a heavier fabric, which will make this pouch even more durable. I got the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simple Sewing For Baby and then modified it to fit my needs. Lotta Jansdotter reccomended using a velcro strip. But I used an elastic and button to close mine. I was hoping to find a neat car button, but the yellow one did the trick.

IPOD sleeve

Vacations is coming very quickly and I have just been having so much fun sewing that I am trying to tie the two together. We just bought a car adapter for our IPOD and wanted to try making something to keep it protected and still be functional. After looking at several tutorials, I came up with my own idea and I really like it's functionality and they way it protects my IPOD. I used fusible interfacing between my two pieces of fabric which helps make it sturdy. I also sewed a button whole in the right hand corner of the bottom fold. That way, I can stick the cord right through there. To close the sleeve, I used a rubber band (see the tutorial for the coffee cozy) and a button. This was super easy!

A Coffee Treat

I have been so busy lately, that I finally got the opportunity to sit down and read some of the blogs I like. Being the end of the year, and all, a lot of them had ideas for what to get your child's teacher for the end of the year gift (is it the end of the school year already? I think I have maintained a very busy stay at home life). On houseonhillroad, she had made some great coffee cozies for her kids to give to their teachers. It was love at first site for me! I immediately clicked on the link to print out the pattern, bought some elastics at Target, and washed my new fabric. Man, I was on a mission! I also had a fantastic way to put them quickly to use. I made my friend Steph one for her birthday yesterday (So I couldn't post this until today . . . didn't want to give it away!) and then made myself one. They were a quick and easy project. I will totally make more! Steph's brother in law said it would be fun to make one for him with guns or trucks or something. The wheels are turning! I can't stop them!

I took mine yesterday morning to Starbucks and put it on instead of those cardboard ones. I could say I am going "green," but the reality is that I just wanted my coffee to look cute . . . or maybe me look cute holding my hot latte. Who knows? I do know is that I got a compliment from the barista when I picked up my coffee. That made it all worth it!!!

I should note, though, that I used batting that is made to go in pot holders, so there is a nice insulation from the heat. It worked nicely, keeping my fingers perfect. It was also more comfortable to hold than those cardboard ones that you normally pick up with your cup of joe.

Happy Birthday Steph!