Cover Ups & Wraps

I have embroidered about 20 of these cover ups in the last couple of months, some for gifts and quite a few orders.  These cover ups are available in sizes from 2-4 toddler to misses so I have made these for lots of friends and family for gifts. 

 Here are a couple of variations...  This one was for our three year old neice. 

These were for two of Micaela's friends that turned 7 this spring.

One of my friends had me make several for teen girls. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mom's 70th Birthday Celebration

Mom's 70th Birthday celebration was this weekend, we traveled to my hometown of Mission to be there.  Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the party.

The three of us with my parents, I love this picture.

We had two bands for the party...  Mariachis (Mexican tradition) during dinner and another band that played a variety of types of music for dancing.  Here's Micaela dancing and twirling with my Mom and Aunt.  Micaela loves to dance, just like my Mother.

My parents dancing.

Micaela and Troy dancing with Mariachi band in the background!

The cake made by my Cousin Lucy

 Thanks for letting me share. 

Wind Farm in Raymondville

The last few times we have driven to the valley on Hwy 77 we have noticed a windfarm in the distance as we approach Harlingen.  This time we had a little extra time and got off the highway to take a closer look and explore.   

We were in Raymondville-- I've heard of Raymondville my whole life but never really been there. 

 Here we are standing right under a windmill, they are giant.

 There was many windmills under construction. 

It's hard to appreciate how large they really are.  These are pictures of one that is in the early stages of construction.  The blades are very long, you can see Micaela and Troy standing next to them.  The blue circle is part of the base, it was large enough to walk into. 

Here's an article about the project.  http://energyrenewalpartners.com/renewable-energy/sem-massa-pellentesque-massa/.  It was a very cool little side trip on our way Mission.   Thanks for stopping by.

Picking Limes

We are in my hometown of Mission visiting my family for Memorial Day weekend.  While here we will be celebrating my Mom's 70th Birthday.  We had a pre-party party for some of the out of town family last night. When my brother and his family arrived, my Mom gave the girls (both 7 years old) a task to keep them busy.  Here is Micaela and Alyx (brother's step daughter)  picking limes to make lemonade.  

This is one of my Mom's beloved lime trees that produces thousands of limes year round.

Using a stick to reach the limes that are too high.

Here is Alyx counting the limes... I think she is going to grow up to be an accountant because she counted and recounted.

Here are the girls virtually inside the tree reaching for more, you can tell the circumference of the tree is like 20 feet.

The girls picked about 70 limes in about five minutes and there was hundreds left on the tree.

Hope you are having a great Memorial Day weekend, thanks for stopping by.

Hollie in McKinney today!

What a great morning in downtown McKinney, welcoming home our American Idol contestant Hollie Cavanagh!  Parade through Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great parade and incredible concert - that big voice sounds even better in person.

Our Mayor Brian Loughmiller presents Hollie with city proclamation declaring May 26, Hollie Cavanaugh Day.

A street to be named after Hollie.

Hollie during concert, thousands of people in Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great job to the City of McKinney and McKinney Main Street for this wonderful community event. We're so proud of Hollie!  All photos courtesy of McKinney Convention & Visitor's Bureau.
www.mckinneytexas.org/hollie

Faux Pleated or Strippy Pillow

Yesterday while hubby and Micaela went to the donut shop and out to run some errands, I browsed my sewing pins on Pinterest to find a quick to make while they were gone. (it's nice to start and finish a project without interruptions).

I came across this strippy pillow by Jera at Quilting in the Rain then, I remembered I had watched a video tutorial at the Missouri Quilt Company  featuring V & Company's faux pleated pillow.  I decided to make one.

Source: modabakeshop.com via Martha on Pinterest

I don't need another pillow for the bed in my sewing/guest room (already have ten and I have gotten alot of grief about that from some friends) but I could use a pillow or two for a chair I just painted and reuphostered for the corner of the room.

I pulled together all fabrics I have been using to decorate in my sewing area and started cutting strips 2.5 inches wide.  In no time, I had enough to make the pillow-- just 11 strips.  After cutting, I pressed each one in half and tinkered with the order of the fabrics.  Probably the most time consuming part of this project, was deciding the order of the fabrics.  After I figured it out, I used blue painters tape to keep the strips in order. 

I decided to use one of the gingham dishtowels (used on some the bed pillows pictured here) as the foundation fabric for the pillow and then quickly figured out it was the perfect choice because instead of drawing lines every 3/4  inches to guide placing the strips of fabric (like Jera's tutorial)... I could use the rows in the fabric to guide me...  that was a big time saver!

After sewing all the strips down, I used the remaining part of the dishtowel and half of another to create an envelope back... easy peasy (the edges were already finished -- another bonus).

This really came together quickly, I honestly finished before my hubby and daughter made it back home. 

Here's the finished pillow, now the chair doesn't look so loney.... maybe I will make another little pillow so the pillow has a friend...because pillows look better in pairs or is it threes, fours or fives...lol.

Here's a view of the entire corner, you can see the button wreath, and my part of my fabric racks featured last week.

Thanks for stopping by., I hope you have a great week.

Rock Star Baby B & B

This is proof that any crazy unusual baby theme is possible if I can find "THE" fabric. This is for the son of major rock & roll fans.  When I got the request, I couldn't even envision what to do then my customer mentioned guitars and I went on major guitar fabric search.  After a local search at four diffierent stores and lots of online browsing, I found this fabric at Wal-Mart--of all places.  (Wal-Mart actually had two other cute guitar fabrics besides this one-- who would have thought?)

The guitar & rock star design is one I had seen online last year at Digistitches, I am so glad I remembered it because I think it coordinates quite nicely with the fabric. 

Made this a little different than usual.  I sandwiched a regular 2-4-2 burp cloth between flannel and the guitar fabric, so the entire back is guitar fabric too.  I top stitched around all the edges in black and then the two center panel seams in white with black bobbin thread for the reverse side to hold the fabrics in place. 

The bib was the usual varsity font I use for boys.  All in all, this is probably the most time consuming set I have ever made but I am very happy with the finished product. 

It's Friday and I am so excited for the weekend even though I have to work a city event tomorrow, hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Fabric Organization Wall

I've struggled with a good way to organize my fabric (mainly fat quarters and less than a yard cuts) for a long time.  So far this system is working.  This wall is opposite the wall where my embroidery machines are located. These are CD racks and the fabrics are organized by color and theme.

I am on the verge of ourgrowing this but for now this holds all my "small" pieces of fabric, you can see some cubies have more room than others.   The rest of my fabric (mainly large pieces) are in the cubeical bins below the CD racks and are also organized by theme or type as well

If you follow my blog, you might remember a picture of my sewing area last year where I had the racks on the ground  in the corner by the window.   When I started to run out of space, I had the idea to turn the cubeical bin (that was on the wall where the bed is now) on it's side and put the racks on top.  (Don't know why it took me so long to think of that!).  The CD racks are extremely sturdy and quite heavy so they can hold the weight of the fabric well.  I had a difficult time getting all three, it took me about 6-8 months to "find" them because I refused to pay regular price $40.    I actually found two at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore here in McKinney (9 months apart)  and the last one at a neighbor's yard sale last fall.

Here is a picture of the entire wall .  You can see how all of the posts I've done for the last month or so fit together.  The fabric letter banner, button wreath, lamp shade, covered cans, pillows on the bed, etc.  My space is still a work in progress but I think it's coming together nicely.  I got all my ideas from looking at craft rooms on Pinterest, I hope this inspires someone else. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a nice day!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

After making the mousepad and tissue holder for my boss last week, I decided to make sets for a few teachers at Micaela's school since it's Teacher Appreciation Week.  I used the same tutorials but this time added embroidery to both items. 

Made this pink set for her main teacher, pink is one of her favorite colors. 

Close Up of the Tissue Holder...

Made this set for the music teacher.  I thought the music note fabric would be fun for her and I embroidered the letters in her favorite color purple. 

Close Up of the Music Tissue holder.... had to embroider this one vertically.

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking to Made by You Monday

Owl Bag for MIL

Made this Owl Bag for my mother in law for Mother's Day. I used the Lola Owl Pattern by Virginia Lindsay of Gingercake Patterns. The directions for easy to follow and the project was quick. Here is the bag. I used denim I had gotten from my mother's stash for the main fabric. The other fabrics are from my stash. The blue willow looking print I actually purchased with my mother in law in mind because she loves blue. I used double buttons for the eyes and simple white felt for the beak. Here is the back of the bag (the pocket is straight in real life, the angel of the camera and the stuffing I added for the picture make it look kinda crooked). After I sewed in the pocket, I thought about embroidering so I just added Mimi, the name Micaela calls her to the top.   The inside of the bag is lined in the same blue willow looking print and I added a silver magnetic snap by Everything Mary for closure. I had never used snaps like these before, they were super easy to install, there are videos on the website with step by step instructions.

I am looking forward to making more of these bags in other color schemes. If you decide to by the pattern please tell Virgina, Martha sent you. I hope you all had a great Mother's Day, I know I did. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby Shower at School

Micaela's teacher is expecting and today for the final day of Teacher Appreciation Week, we had a little baby shower. 

Here are the items I made.
A banner.  Did this with felt adhered to fabric using thermoweb.  Added on letters I cut out with Cricut using the Cuttin' Up cartridge and did a simple satin stich around the edge, then stitched each piece to ribbon. 

Here is a close up of the banner.

A pillow for the nursery, theme is lambs.

Here's a closeup of the lamb.  This is the first time I use this design and I think it's adorable, I wish I knew more people with this theme in their nursery.

The last thing was a simple diaper cake.  Instead of ribbon, I used the same fabric as the pillow and banner to wrap around the 'tiers' and embroidered it in the same font as the pillow.

It was so fun to make all these things, I wish I knew more ladies having babies!  Thanks for stopping by.

Linking to Made by You Monday