Update soon

Sorry for the silence this last week and a half.  Life got a little crazy at the end of last week, and the computer I update from is on loan for a very important mission.  So, I will be back soon with some updates for you - including the craft fail... it turned into a craft success!!!!!!!

Thanks for hanging in there with me, I'll be back really soon.

KCWC Days 1-6

Here's my recap so far on Kids Clothes Week Challenge from Elsie Marley:

Day 1 - Rested (I injured myself working last week so I had to skip Monday)

Day 2 - attached the sleeves to Marion's shirt for Halloween (tea dying tutorial here), made her Pebbles dress and Goy's Bam Bam bottom (just without the sash), made a sweater dress for Marion (tutorial here)

Day 3 - Finished Goy's Bam Bam costume (added sash and bone button), made marion's hair bone and bracelet (to mimic Wilma's necklace)

Day 4 - Rested, and got ready to do Potty Training with Goy

Day 5 - Marion's jeans - poor girl only had 1 pair of skinny jeans (in white) that fit... she needed some more.  I used Dana's pattern and used the flat front lines, and just shortened it since my kiddos have a bigger belly than hers :) and used a pair of Daddy's old worn out jeans to make.  I even put in a fake fly using embroidery floss in the same color as the seam at the bottom :) and a button.  I kept the original hem on the jeans to save a step and keep some detail, and tucked the excess material up with a hidden stitch so we can lengthen it as we go.

Day 6 - a craft fail - tried to make this Raglan T but used too big of a shirt for the pattern, so I have to take it all apart and size it down... will take a picture once I do that. 

After a break, I came back and made Marion this dress.  I found inspiration for it here and made my own pattern to make an A line dress, add the pleats at the bottom, and the collar and button at the top.  It's not perfect, but it looks great on her!  The best part... it's made from an old Oakley collard shirt Frankie bought me for my birthday when we were dating... so it's sentimental too and its probably the only Oakley toddler dress since they don't have a kids line :)

Stay tuned for Day 7, 8, 9 & 10 (it's supposed to be 10/10-17 but since I missed 2 days, I'll do it through the 19th).

2 Projects in 2 Hours

Would have been quicker if I didn't spend 20 minutes scared to cut the fabric.  I've never worked with fabric this expensive, and was so afraid, that I didn't touch it since I got it in February/March.  Yes, thats right, it sat for 7 months because I was scared.  Scared because it was expensive; scared because I'd heard it was hard to sew with... but I was afraid for nothing.  It was the easiest material I've ever sewn with, didn't slip, didn't bunch, hid my mistakes beautifully, and still came out as soft as when I started.

I won't go into too much detail since its a simple blanket, but I sewed them right sides together, clipped the edges, flipped them right side out through the 12 inch opening I left on one side, and did a zig-zag stitch around all the edges to finish it off and keep it square.  Can't wait for the kiddos to see them in the morning.

Next up, jeans for little miss.

Sailor Girl Sweatshirt

Okay, Buddy Boy loved his sweatshirt and wanted to wear it ALL day, thankfully it was cool enough he could get away with it!

And after nap, he spotted Baby Girl's and got so excited... she was too excited and immediately asked to wear it.  What do you think?  Too much Navy, or just enough to be Patriotic :)

Spring Training Sweatshirt

Okay, so I originally got the stuff to make these months ago from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar, but I finally bit the bullet and did my first ever refashion project.  There are a few things I would do different next time (like having thread that matches my zipper and a zipper foot too), but overall, I'm really happy with it.  This is the first time I have ever attempted something so complex...

I used 3 different spring training shirts from 5-6 years ago that were wearing out and a turtleneck shirt from the clearance rack, knit ribbing and an exposed zipper.

I lined the hood because the spring training shirts were thinner than the turtleneck and I wanted it to give him some warmth.

And I love that you can see most of the graphic on this side of the hood (had to cut from the middle of the shirt and then attach the hem to finish it off nice, but with lining it, I was able to hide all of that pretty well.

He hasn't seen the finished product, but after I put the ribbing on the bottom, I tried it on him and he didn't want to take it off...  Hopefully tomorrow he'll love it even more (especially since the graphics and the hood came from Grampa & Gramma).

Now off to bed and tomorrow maybe I'll get baby girl's done (with girly touches of course!).

Notes to ...

A friend's son recently left for a couple years and he told me that they are best friends.  I don't know about you, but I can't get through a day without calling mine at least 10 times :) sorry  mommy :).  So, I thought it would be nice for him to have some place small and simple to keep those little thoughts we want to share with our closest friend, but that might not come back to mind when we sit down to write a letter.  I didn't upload the finished product because it has a nice picture of them just before the son left but just add a picture in the middle of the white block and you've got the idea :).

I used stickers and then mod podged over them and the area I wanted to put the picture, placed the picture backing (seen below) down, and impatience won out - I didn't wait the 15 minutes I was supposed to, put another layer of mod podge down and put the picture in the center... didn't wait again, and mod podged over the whole thing to seal it.

The mod podge isn't all the way dry here, but you get the gist.

If I were sending this to a woman, I'd wrap it all pretty and put a bow on it, but since it's going to a man, I'm just going to wrap it in parchment paper when it dries and send it off that way.  Sometimes simple is best.

WE ARE GETTING A HOBBY LOBBY

I am so excited!  I have only ever been in one Hobby Lobby, but I fell in L.O.V.E!

Okay, so technically I'm not getting a Hobby Lobby, it's in Roseville :(, but its on the way to all our doctors :), so yes, I will claim this one as my own.  And besides, if I happen to be over there for doctors appointments (at least 4 times a year), then hey, why not stop in and browse right?  My husband just might kill me if I stretch my trips to Roseville any longer than I already do (leave the house between 6-7am and get back around 6pm - if I'm lucky), but come on, it's HOBBY LOBBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I mention I'm excited?

Stay tuned, I've got quite the list of projects I'm going to be working on in the next couple of weeks :).