Desert Deployment

Right after the Designer Darling Contest, Stuff to Scrap asked if I would be interested in a Guest position during the month of April. uh, YES! I didn’t really want to win the contest, per se, but I wanted an opportunity to  see if being a designer was really something that I could do. To see if it was a good fit for me, for my family, and for STS. So really, I won, and working with the other designers and moderators at STS has been awesome.

The first kit I knew I wanted to work on was one to honor my husband’s service overseas the last year. He’s been back now for almost a month and it’s been wonderful. Desert Deployment has 14 papers and 37 elements and is S4H/S4O friendly. I’m going to use it to scrap the hundreds of pictures that my husband took in Afghanistan. These are definitely memories that need to be recorded well for posterity. I love looking at pictures of my grandfathers from WWII, and I know someday my grandkids will love looking at the record of this war (back when Grandpa was young and hot).

The kit has word arts with the mission names from the Iraq and Afghan wars, overseas service ribbon, Afghanistan service ribbon, Maps of Iraq and Afghanistan, razor wire, bullets and bullet holes (erase the layer behind it for an awesome effect), two patterns of camouflage, and several pieces of military gear.

 

To get a better look at this kit, I’m offering a freebie quickpage in 8.5x11 and 12x12! Download it from mediafire by clicking on the preview. Enjoy!

My first mini kit freebie

I decided to try my hand at designing for the October color challenge at Stuff to Scrap. They gave me a color palette and I tried to run with it. I think I might have fallen flat on my face.  Oh well. I don’t think this designing thing is for me. I’ll leave it to the professionals. I did like enough that I would make a mini again for other challenges, but it takes a lot of brain power!

I hope you enjoy it! There are 5 papers and 9 elements: two 4x6 frames, 2 strings, 2 leaves, a flower, a tree, and a leaf scatter You can get other minis in the STS forum under challenges>color challenge. Click image to download.

How to make a ruffled shower curtain

You will need:
1) a white Shower Curtain Liner (or another color if you are wanting something other than white. Look at the thrift store!
2) disappearing ink marker
3) 3-4 yards (if you have a serger) or 5-6 (if you only have a sewing machine) of muslin or whatever color of material you are wanting to use.  Wouldn’t this look great with fading shades of a given hue? red and pinks? blues and greens?
4) a flat space to lay it all out on
5) a long ruler or tape measure
6) 8 yards of grosgrain ribbon

Instructions:
1) mark lines every three inches onto the liner with the  disappearing ink pen
2) tear your muslin into 3 1/4 inch strips (serger method) or 4 inch strips (sewing machine method). Each row of ruffles is 2 strips wide.
3) sew 2 strips end to end to make one ruffle.
4) make a rolled hem on each side of the fabric strip. On one side, gather it. The serger is a really easy way to gather and hem at the same time. You could use a ruffle foot on your sewing machine, or just use the ease method while pinning the ruffle to the curtain.
5) Pin the ruffles to the curtain along the lines you drew. Work up from the bottom. On mine, I didn’t have enough fabric to cover the entire thing with ruffles, and I like how it turned out. I placed the majority (I did 7) of the ruffles at the bottom. I skipped one row, and placed three ruffles. I skipped two rows and placed two ruffles. I skipped three rows and placed one ruffle. Overlap the ruffles so that you can’t see the top of the ruffle underneath it.  You will probably only have enough pins to do a few rows at a time. It’s not a bad idea to only do a few rows, even if you do have more pins, so you don’t poke the crud out of yourself.
6) Sew a straight stitch over the ruffle tops.

7) cover the tops of the top ruffles with ribbon to hide imperfections. I used 3/4” grosgrain, but satin would be very chic, I think.
8) Hang up your curtain with liner behind it (the curtain you just made is simply decorative) and ignore your husband’s snide comments about how girly you just made the bathroom look. Happy sewing!

Pioneer Day Costumes

As a former theater costumer, I always try to replicate things to the best of my ability and historical accuracy. I’m a nerd like that. This site was really helpful in designing the costumes. I was bummed when my oldest wanted her outfit a certain way, even though I didn’t think it would be as nice. Whatever. The customer (not costumer) is always right, I guess. Her bonnet turned out great and her shoes were good for the period.

The boy’s vest is made of wool and is one of the most nicely put together things I have made in a long time. I knew that there was no such things as plastic buttons, and I had some that look like wood, so used those. I flipped his collar in because a flat collar was the style of the day. His hat I rushed and made in 45 minutes and it was all wonky, but he rocked it. Couldn’t have asked for anything better.

The middle got to wear this pinafore I made of an old tablecloth. I am in love with it. Kids used to wear pinafores all the time for play and meals to protect their beautiful clothes. They didn’t have entire closets full of $3 t-shirts and $5 dresses from wal-mart. I made everything my kids are wearing with the exception of their shoes. I love that! All the materials are upcycled, too. Can you tell my kids are wearing tablecloths and curtains?

The church had a dinner to celebrate and the kids were invited to dress up and have the costumes judged. Sarah was given an award for strongest pioneer girl (totally generic), but the other two children (that didn’t argue with me about my sewing) won “Best Pioneer” girl and boy. I know every kid gets an award, but I felt pretty special that my kids were the “best”. Again, I’m a nerd like that.

The Eye Spy quilt is almost done!

Last week my daughter and I finished up the eye spy quilt (except the binding) with no time to spare before her end-of-the-year school picnic. This quilt was made with the intention of using it on such occasions. While the kids were outside doing this: (thanks, sis, I really appreciate that!)

I was inside making a quilt top out of all the squares I put together a while back.

First, I taped the backing onto the floor since I have no quilt stands. I used this duct tape only because it was cheapy and I knew it wouldn’t leave glue on my floor or fabric. Painters tape would probably work best. I love using sheets as backing. They are always the perfect size, plus it is a lazy girl’s binding. The edges are already hemmed, to you can just fold them over to the front and sew them down. Thrifted materials? Even better! I used a polyester felted blanket as the batting for this quilt. It’s not so puffy, but just as warm. It has a little stiffness to it which is perfect for our intended use. The sheet and blanket cost me less than $3. 

After laying out my now sewn together quilt top, taping it down, and pinning it all over, I pegged down my wild girl long enough for a quick knot tying lesson. She was hooked. She even shooed her friends away when they came to play! We did the whole thing together. I loved every minute.

I just kept it all on the floor and did my best to get my needle in there. With minutes to spare before we were supposed to leave for the picnic, I quickly serged around all the sides.  I promise, SOME DAY I will get this thing off the UFO list. Someday.

I-Spy swap (or eye-spy, if you prefer it like I do)

The MADE blog has got me and a lot of other bloggers hyped up on I-Spy. I was able to get in on a swap with Joanna at the Project Corner. We cut 20 4-inch squares out of 10 different novelty fabrics. Do the math, that is 200 squares boys and girls. We did snowmen, stars, flags, turtles, cats, and dogs, and some other things I don't remember. It was a great way to get rid of some of the stuff in my stash.  My girls and I had a blast cutting them out and the oldest one insisted on ironing them. I've learned not to argue with her. I sent off all my squares and Joanna split the 200 squares that the 20 other ladies sent in. That is 4000 squares that Joanna had to divvy up and keep track of, making sure every one had 200 different squares by the end of the swap. I just got my self addressed package this week and it is fabulous! 


The children and I headed to the thrift store to find some sheets to use for the back of the quilt and a thick blanket to use as batting because I'm cheap. I ended up getting a polyester mattress pad and the weirdest looking turquoise with zebra stripe sheet for the back. I think we decided that this will end up being a play/picnic blanket. What fun it will be to play on and around with my little ones, looking for bears, cars, lobsters, etc on our eye-spy quilt. 

tunic==>skirt

I just went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes that don't look good on me anymore (part of my FLYing). I stuffed them in a box, and while I *should* have put them in the car straightaway headed for goodwill, I just couldn't do it. Here the box still sits. I've rifled through it, my mind reeling over all the things I could turn them into. I've read many a blog post lately on refashioning, and it was time for my tunic. I found it at a yard sale, saved from the 70's, it's that awesome polyester knit that never dies. I wore it a lot because I like the fabric so much, but even though it did nothing for my figure, I just didn't want to see it go. The oldest also liked the fabric, so to her it goes as a new skirt. Inspired by this skirt and these pockets, I accomplished my task by  using the stretch of the knit instead of elastic for the waistband. I LOVE the way it turned out.

T-shirt hack: peasant top

I saw this tutorial by Obsessively Stitching and fell in love with how easy this is! I cut off the collar and the bottom of the sleeve, stitched around the top with some elastic thread and voila! I resurrected an old t-shirt that I never wore anymore! If you don't have a serger to finish the edges, you can also fold the edge under and encase elastic. Elastic thread is really simple to work with, just wind it by hand onto a bobbin without stretching it, and use it as you would a normal bobbin. The only thing I would have done different is making the collar cut just barely over the shoulder seam, and cutting the sleeve off just over the sleeve seem. The shoulders on this are on the skinny side for my taste. AND, I would not have cleaned up the bacon grease on my griddle after I made this either. Thirty minutes after my 6 year old took this photo, I got a three inch splat of bacon grease right in the middle of the shirt. I think that the baby "helping" me had something to do with it. And I also think that the stain finally came out in the last washing. Maybe I can wear this out in public now!

My project today: A Cute Couple!

My sister in law invited me to shoot some engagement photos for her friends Jen and Andy. This couple is so stinking cute. I miss those dating days. It was so cold out there! Andy was so sweet trying to keep Jen warm. I got a few good shots and then came home and played with them for about 5 hours and made some invites just for fun...oh, SO MUCH FUN. And, yet again, I can't get the pictures on blogger to do what I want them to. sigh.

Feeling like I sucketh

My friend posted this video last week and I thought it DIDN'T apply to me. Sure, I knew I had that crappy period with my sewing, but I really feel like I'm on my way out of it. There were many a time when I was a costumer for theater that I thought my bosses were crazy for hiring me and that the performers knew my clothes and alterations totally sucked, even though they never said anything. I was still experimenting, I was still learning.

Today, I went blog surfing here, here, here and here. I really have a lot more to learn about this blogging thing. I want to think I'm good at it, but like Ira, I have to be honest with myself: I am really crappy. Why, oh, why would anyone want to read this blog? I'm not as funny as I think I am. My pictures are not as good as I think they are (every day KT patches her eye, I hope for a good shot so I can replace the crappy one on my most popular post, but she always looks like a ragamuffin, that's just her). My stories and projects are probably not as enthralling as they could be. My life just does not seem as glamorous as it could be. (read: my house is not as clean as these mom's) Meh. So, I guess this is the time when I am supposed to realize it and do something about it, right? Step one: new background and header...

umm...I think I have some laundry to do....

We have lockers and not a dresser

As you may have noticed from my laundry post a few days ago, the kids room has lockers in it and not a dresser. I picked up this set of lockers from a surplus sale shortly after we moved into our house. The college in town was remodeling the student union building and other parts of various buildings. All the old sturdy furniture was sent to a warehouse downtown and there was a silent auction. I think I spent $36 or something like that on this 3x5 set of lockers (that hold all my kids' clothes, all the diapers, baby blankets, books and toys, on one wall), two coffee tables, and three stacking padded chairs. The lockers were in perfect shape, but orange. We propped them up against the shop wall to wait for painting. Then my husband bought a transfer case and put it right in front of the lockers. Then a strong wind came. A VERY strong wind. The panel of lockers fell onto it and smashed in one door right smack in the middle. We call that one the ugly locker. I've tried taking it off, and hammering it out, but I've never been able to fix it. I spray painted them yellow so that they would match whatever decor I thought any of my kids might want in the future. There are holes in the back wall of the panel, so I drilled screws all over the place to bolt it to the wall in the kids' room. This was crucial because that thing is heavy, and kids like to climb. Anyway. Long boring version there. That's the deal with the lockers. they hold more and take up less space. Plus, magnets stick to them. Pretty rad. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for sales like this if schools in your town are renovating.

first attempt with elastic thread: success!

I finally tried my hand at elastic thread last month. It was so fun! I've used this pattern quite a bit, and the thread made it a lot easier to gather the sleeves and make the shorts underneath into bloomers. I used two rows a little above the hems about 1/4 inch apart to gather them and keep them flexible and comfortable to wear. To use elastic thread you wind the bobbin with the thread (I did it by hand) and use a regular thread for the top. It was really easy to use. The first row that I did didn't gather like I expected it to, but with subsequent rows, it got tighter.
For the bloomers, I recycled the elastic band out of my husbands worn out underwear. I ALWAYS rip off elastics, clips, and buttons from whatever I might be getting rid of (unless I am donating it). I usually enclose these in a casing of a new pair of shorts for the kids. As you can see, Katie is pretty excited about her new outfit :)

Bohemian Dresses

I promised the kids that I would make them dresses when I nabbed some fabric on sale. They went together really quickly (a half hour from cut to hem on the second one). So well, in fact, that I am considering putting this dress in different fabrics in the shop later. I can see how comfy it would be in a gauzy linen or as a nightgown in something silky. They are not the most pretty things to look at, but I think they can be improved with the right material.