Hand-Applique Shirt

Here's a little football t-shirt I quickly made for Jackson.  Tutorial here.  If you don't have time, or the desire, to hand applique, head on over to my friend's 418 Stitches non-profit site, and she can whip you up a delightful appliqued item in no time.

I finally bought a pants sewing pattern, so I'm off to learn how to quickly sew brown corduroy pants for Jackson.

Happy Crafting! 

(confession:  My Heat-n-Bond Lite they suggested in the tutorial did not have a second side to unstick it, so I basically just sewed the interfused felt onto the t-shirt. Do any of you expert/handy women out there know what I did wrong?)

Burlap continued

I had posted here about some burlap curtains I made for our dining room, and I questioned what to do with the extra burlap.

Thanks to my friend Lauren, for her guidance and encouragement in making burlap footballs for our front door.

Here's the pics and easy tutorials :)

This was the first football I made.  Then I realized this tan burlap matched our front door perfectly, hence making for a not-very-pretty-colored door hanger.

So I scooted back to Jo-Ann's and bought some chocolate burlap to make this:

Happy Crafting :)

Curtains

I have some beautiful silver sage Restoration Hardware Thai Silk curtains gracing my dining room right now.

I love them.  We bought them on sale (even better...), they first graced our master bedroom in our first home, and now they liven up our dining room.

However, whoever created Restoration Hardware Thai Silk Curtains obviously did not have the grimy hands of toddlers in mind.  (That can also go to say that whoever buys silk curtains is not thinking of cute toddler hands.)

Thus, my recent revelation that these curtains need to migrate back to a grown-up bedroom, and we need to get a kid-friendly set of curtains in our house.  I don't want to have to worry about curtains or reprimand little hands for wiping dog bowl water all over expensive curtains.  (Yes, you heard me right.  Jackson, when he's in a feisty mood, will play in Tucker's dog bowl, bring wet hands to mouth and lick them, then run and giggle to the curtains while I chase him with a dish towel to wipe said wet hands, usually hunting him down in the midst of yards and yards of Thai Silk curtains, following the sweet little giggles.)

These drapes were my inspiration.  I love these burlap Ballard Designs drapes almost as much as my Restoration Hardware drapes.  Then I started "pinning" and found many inspirations to make your own burlap drapes at a more budget-friendly price.

So, here is my attempt, copied from this site.

I found the standard tan burlap at Jo-Ann's on sale for $2.99/yard, so I bought 12 yards of it, estimating for 8 feet per panel (and needing 4 panels).  I have other fun ideas planned for the extra burlap fabric.

I also found the Stitch Wichery half off at Jo-Ann's.

Here's how my day went down at Jo-Ann's.  Imagine, pregnant lady with no make-up, very short hair in a teeny pony tail (yes, I got over 5 inches cut off with multiple short layers and can barely pull it in a ponytail), with a cute little 18 month old in the buggy.  Here's the conversation that ensued with the disgruntled fabric cutting lady there.

Me: I'd like 12 yards of this burlap please.

Disgruntled employee (DE):  Let me see if we have another bolt already opened.

Proceeds to bring a burlap of a slight different tan, verified by myself and yet another employee.  I kindly asked for the burlap I had brought over.

DE: (muttering under breath but very audible for me to hear) Looks like the same color to me!

(You get the picture.  I realize she's ticked. But she repeats several times to justify her own opinion and to attempt to prove me wrong.  And... I'm the ONLY customer at the counter, so it's not like I'm holding up a line or anything.)

DE:  What you going to do with this?

Me:  Make curtains

DE:  Mmmm, people doing the weirdest things with this.  I don't get it.  I'd never want this in my house.  Eww, the smell.

(And on and on and on)  I tried to explain about Ballard Designs, and she's still rambling, sometimes muttering incoherent paragraphs and at other times rambling about who knows what.  I honestly couldn't keep up with all she was saying.  And, I'm starting to slightly doubt my decision to make my own curtains and wondering why I just didn't go through Ballard, and maybe I should forget this, and will my house now reek of burlap???

Then DE found out they were going in MY house, and she was quiet.

I kindly thanked her and proceeded to wander around the store, all the while wondering if I'm crazy to attempt this project.

Then, a very classy grandmother stopped me, pointed to my burlap, and said, "I absolutely love this!  Where did you find this burlap in the store?"  Whew, sigh of relief.  Classy lady knew of the burlap rave hitting up stores, and she was thrilled I was making curtains.

This is no slam against Jo-Ann's at all, as I shop there often and love the store.  I could wander the aisles for hours.  I just happened to catch Disgruntled Employee at an off time, and my attempts at educating her on the latest trends were simply futile.

All that to say, my house does NOT smell of burlap (which is a powerful statement for a pregnant women with a highly sensitive sense of smell to say), and the curtains were as easy as the blog claimed, and I'm perfectly content with my kid-friendly yet grown-up curtains.

I made these drapes for around $10 per panel.  Score!  (I already had the rods up, but I did have to go buy clips for the drapes from Home Depot.  But I'm not counting that added cost to these curtains.  But if I had to be precise and include the clips in the panel price, then these panels were about $18 each.  I'd say that's still awesome, considering I was about to spend $140 for 4 panels from Ballard Designs!)

This morning, Andy hung these curtain rods I bought for a really inexpensive price at Target, now gracing our master bedroom.

 (Bottom two pictures are not excellent shots, but you get the idea.  And yes, my bed is stripped bare because I'm washing sheets now.  Whew, if this is nesting, and I'm only halfway through my pregnancy, I could get alot done to my house!)

One funny note about making these curtains...I can't cut in a straight line.  I don't know what my problem is when I'm cutting fabric, but I can't do it.  So I had a little bit more trouble trying to get my burlap even.  So don't look too closely if you come visit my house.  I was cracking myself up at my inability to cut straight across.  Practice makes perfect?  Maybe?

Also, Jo-Ann carries burlap in a beautiful white ivory color, which I seriously contemplated (and then I remembered cute but grimy toddler hands).  They also have a pretty chocolate brown color, but I thought that might look a little dark in our dining room.  I do love how the burlap allows some sunlight to peek through, more than my lined silk curtains did, so I'm hoping our dining room will look a little brighter now.  

Please pass on any and all ideas for my leftover burlap!  I've contemplated making a fun burlap pillow (but nervous about it spreading burlap particles all over my white bedspread), burlap bed skirt (but I'd need to go buy more burlap as I only have about 3 yards left), burlap shower curtain, etc.  I'm open to any and all suggestions. 

Sewing

Here's my latest attempt at sewing and doing my own applique on a t-shirt.  I thought it turned out cute (but see my further thoughts below.  And I haven't tried it on Jackson yet since he's sleeping and I just now finished it).

Thanks to Alicia's blog and inspiration,  and the tutorial on this blog for how to hand applique, I whipped up this whale applique in no time.  Because I accidently bought the wrong bonding (I got Heat N Bond instead of Heat N Bond Lite), I couldn't stitch it.  But this just cut down on my time in making it, and I still like the way it turned out.

I have heard that shorts are the easiest thing to make.  Well, after some much trial and error, here is an attempt at a creation without a pattern.  This is the tutorial I used, and Dana has lots of great step-by-step instructions and other tips on her blog.  But my favorite blog is Cool People Sew, and Jama has a great tutorial for shorts on there.  Now I just need to purchase the shorts pattern she uses.  I plan on using this latter blog with pattern for my second go around. (fabric from Jo-Ann's)

Next step, sewing a Jon Jon!

p.s.  I used the Circo t-shirt from Target that I had bought last year. However, I'm noticing that the Wal-Mart and Target brands have pockets on their plain t-shirts for boys.  Anyone been able to find another good but inexpensive alternative, without pockets on the shirt??

DIY

Have I mentioned a few fun DIY projects I've been doing lately?

Here they are:


1) Making Burp Cloths


2) Growing Green Onions in your Windowsill

3) Making your own hardware for drapes
I ordered these beauties for the white room, and the love of my life made a grand visit to Home Depot to assemble these. We plan to hang them this week, all in preparation for house guests staying with us for Lucy and Mark's wedding! (I'll post pics to show you how they turn out. My sister-in-law did this in her boy's room and it looked awesome. Hence, my inspiration.)



Send more crafting ideas my way! I still need to learn how to make a jon jon. I have all the materials, supplies, and patterns. Now I just need to drive and determination to do it.

War Eagle

Above is a picture of how my child usually falls asleep at night: right arm raised up and resting on the bumper pad. He slept like that for a few hours last night. I have no idea how he doesn't lose all feeling in that arm from the lack of blood flow, but oh well. He sleeps.

I couldn't think of another "Title" for this blog post, and since football season is right around the corner, I thought I'd just say War Eagle :)

Pinterest has gotten me on a craft kick. These are the projects I've been doing lately:



These are lavender scented sachets from Kimberly Kennedy's book



These are fun little housewarming gifts, and if anyone wants to know how to make them, just let me know.

Second craft: Crinkly Taggies. You can find the tutorial here.



I thought I'd use wax paper as the crinkly inner part. But once I washed it, the crinkliness (made up word?!) was greatly diminished. Next time I'll use a baby wipes plastic packaging like she suggested.



This and this are next on my sewing agendas.

I just now realized that I'm not a big fan of messy eating. See Exhibit A below.



I also realize that I've got to get over myself, and that really, the sweet potato/breastmilk/rice cereal combination really wasn't that messy on Jackson, and I've only BEGUN to see messy days. Many more to come, Lord-willing.

Jackson is just now deciding he wants to eat foods, and thus far he's had teeny amounts of blueberries, a little bit of sweet potato, a teeny bit of squash and also banana, and just today, a huge helping of pureed zucchini. He loved it! Jackson still nurses during the day, every 3 hours, and he sleep for long stretches at night, getting up to nurse usually once or twice. His two bottom teeth are coming in more, and I know he'll be getting more teeth in soon as he continues to drool and gnaw on everything.






Jackson is definitely moving, as in he'll get whatever object he's after, whether he has to army crawl, do forehead-down-bottoms-up crawl, or get up on all fours, rock fiercely, and propel himself forward. It's so cute and so funny.