New

Appliqued flowers in embroidery hoops.

Great alone or as part of a group.

I've been collecting hoops at thrift stores and garage sales and I think the vintage metal ones are my favorite.

Click the pics to go to the listings in my shop.

Fall Mantle

I really like most things about our tiny rental house but one feature I really wish it had is a mantle. I love seeing people's mantles all decked out for the holidays but I have to use the closest thing I have which is our china cabinet that sits in our living room.

While decorating for fall this year, I tossed out some old cheesy stuff that just isn't my style anymore. Think fake vines and leaves and a plush turkey. I used this mantle I pinned as my inspiration...

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Kelci on Pinterest

And here's my "mantle"...
I bought the owl at Marshall's for $5. The candle stick and glass jar were $6 and $3 at Marshall's. Some tiny pine cones from Walmart, mini pumpkins from Vons, a new wreath and the look was complete. I bought a plastic pumpkin at a yard sale for $.50 and glittered it myself.
I used to have a HUGE wedding picture hanging above the china cabinet. I decided to switch it out to give me space for more seasonal decorating.
The only thing purchased for my wreath was the burlap ribbon. The felt, feathers, and owl are from my craft stash. The wreath used to be covered in knotted strips of fabric and I just cut them all off so I could reuse it.

I wanted to do a bunting across the front of the china cabinet like in the inspiration picture. My plan was to use clothespins to display the girls' fall art work but the old artwork I had was either lost or torn by Matea and they haven't brought home anything new this year.

What fall projects have you pinned?

Pinterest Dress

If you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen this dress making the pinning rounds. I thought it was adorable so after a string of super hot days here, I decided to finally make it. I know, it's crazy, some people actually make the things they pin on Pinterest. Truth be told, I've already made a bunch of stuff I've pinned so bonus points for me.

Here's my version...

I screwed up on my first go round. I didn't actually read the tutorial which would have been helpful. So instead of keeping the entire band of elastic on the outside of the dress, I sewed it into the seam which just turned out terrible. Lots of folding and bulk and just bad, bad, bad.

I used an old tank top from Old Navy and some jersey I got from Joann's at 40% off. I think the jersey ended up being a little too heavy. I like the idea of a knit on the bottom but what I bought is definitely heavier than tshirt weight and I think it's just a little too bulky once gathered.

My two big tips are to make sure the tank top fits fairly snuggly. Probably more fitted than you normally are comfortable with. And second, make sure the elastic band is the same size as your empire waist point. Too tight will be uncomfortable and ride up. I initially made mine too loose (along with a too-loose tank top) and that was a disaster too. It ended up looking like the dress was kind of hanging on my body instead of my body wearing it if that makes any sense. Overall, not bad for an $8 project.

Pattern Review: Simplicity 2205 by Sweet Pea Totes

I hardly ever buy patterns. Partly because I'm cheap and there are so many great free tutorials online and partly because I'm super incompetent when it comes to patterns. But we had a new Joanns open in a neighboring town a few months ago and I picked up this pattern during one of their big pattern sales.

And here's my finished product.

Notice any difference between mine and the picture on the pattern? Yeah, one is upside down. And it's not mine. I think getting the final product photographed in the correct orientation is kind of key, don't you.

The pattern itself was fairly easy to follow but it does require very precise placement of certain pieces and transferring a lot of markings to your cut pieces. These are not my strong suits (I don't really think I have a sewing strength, to be honest). I think the pattern is probably a little too complex for a very beginner seamstress but would be fine for an intermediate seamstress. Honestly, the biggest issue for me was the picture on the pattern package. I kept thinking my clutch wasn't coming together correctly. I even ripped out the interior pocket at the last minute because I realized it would be upside down based on the orientation in the picture. And when it came to the final step of folding and top stitching closed, I just couldn't make it fold up, look like the picture, and be functional. Once I went to Sweet Pea's site and realized the picture was upside down, I was irritated with Simplicity but relieved that I wasn't completely incompetent.

I think the clutch is absolutely adorable and I love the pleated ruffle. I picked up some really cute floral trim at Joann's to use in place of the ruffle and I think lace or crochet trim would be really pretty too. I really like the final product but not for myself. I tend to carry a lot of junk, even when I'm traveling light and I think I need something with a boxed bottom. It took me about an hour and a half to complete the clutch including cutting fabric and stumbling over the upside down picture issue.

A Bit of Sewing

My blog has been quiet but we've been busy with sewing and crafting around here. Bella got the cutest Hello Kitty Sewing machine from my mom for her birthday. We've worked a little on her biggest sewing issues - not pressing the foot pedal too hard and thus speeding through her sewing, and keeping your fingers out of the needle's path - and she seems to be doing really well. When I quiz her on the different parts of the machine, she knows all of the answers so I can tell she's really interested as opposed to me forcing it on her. Anyway, a few weeks ago I helped her make a ruffled scarf.

She was so excited about it and even wore it to a birthday party she went to later that day. I didn't have the heart to tell her I had actually bought the fabric to make a ruffled scarf for myself!

I'm also working on a new quilt I pinned on Pinterest.

I'm only using scraps and going for sort of a bold, primary-ish color scheme without it looking too rainbow. I started cutting scraps last weekend and already have all of my blocks made:)

And I've also been doing some sewing for my supposed-to-be-closed shop. A few trick or treat bags and some totes and purses here and there. I tried something new with this bag, gathering the bottom section so it has lots of texture and dimension. I'm very happy with the results.

Crafty Girls

Both of my girls love to do crafts, especially Bella. She can spend an entire Saturday working on an idea she's come up with and the bits and pieces she needs for her idea always end up covering our dining table. I wanted them to have their own crafty space but we definitely couldn't fit it in their room so I decided to give them their own set up in the garage.

I already had the desk on the right. It's actually an old sewing machine desk that I got at a yard sale several years ago. I found the desk on the left at a local thrift store for $20. That's more than I would usually pay for something like this but all of the drawers are in working condition and slide smoothly which is hard to find with something this old. The baskets and supply caddy are from the dollar tree so the whole makeover cost under $25.

The best part is that their new craft station is located right outside the door to the garage and my craft station is right inside the door to the garage so we're only a few feet away from each other when we're working.

And yes, that's now their laptop but trust me, it's no prize. It's been dropped a few times so the screen is damaged, we can't close it, the "u" key is missing and the cd drive doesn't work. Other than that, it's great!

Trick or Treat

Is it too early to start thinking about Halloween? The planner in me says definitely not! Now that
Back to School is behind us, Halloween is the next big event on my mom calendar. We already picked up Matea's costume a few weekends ago. She saw a Rapunzel costume at Costco that she loved. It was the last one and under $20 so we grabbed it. Of course, now she wants to wear it every day until Halloween which is driving me more and more nuts every day.

I really like more creative and original costumes but force myself to let the girls decide. One of the greatest tragedies of my life was when my mom made me be a hula girl in 3rd grade instead of a punk rocker. She said every other girl was being a punk rocker and I needed to be something different. She scarred me for life...also, I'm sure she'll read this and call me. Ugh, the worst though was when I had to be a strawberry and my sister was a pumpkin. My mom found us green beanies for our stems and we had these huge felt bubble costumes. Looking back now, I appreciate the effort she put in to them and can admit they were cute, but as a first grader in the school Halloween parade, it was awful. I'm sure I'll find other ways to damage my children.

Enough with the therapy session...I'm offering a limited number of trick or treat bags again this year (maybe up to 4-6 in each fabric). I know I get a few emails from past customers every year who want a bag for their new baby that matches older siblings.

I have cute retro kitties, bats, and spider webs available and you can see all fabric choices in my shop.