Cute Valance Idea, DIY

I made this sweet little valance for my sewing room, but it would be super cute in a baby's nursery or child's bedroom. Very easy to make, and seriously I just created it using what I had in the house.

I started by screwing into the wall three vintage closet hooks. (I'm minus three in my closet now, but with the cuteness above my window I'm really okay with it.) One above the window casing at each corner, and one at the left of the window for a tie back.

I measured my window, and cut the fabric to length, plus eight inches. You need approx. four for the tie tops and an extra four for the hem. (For my window, I left the width of the fabric the same, from selvage to selvage, or approx. 44 inches.) Start by laying your fabric flat, and from corner to corner, cut a half oval out of the top. Be aware of your print, if it's directional, you want it right side up.

This was about 3 1/2" deep. After cutting, I pressed the top in a half an inch, and then another half an inch so there are no raw edges.  In coordinating thread, sew from end to end, stitching that top hem in place. Back to the ironing board, roll the side edges in about a half an inch an press, then repeat. I also fold in some of the tab a bit, and then sew the whole length, from top to bottom. Repeat for the other side.

 At this juncture I tie the whole panel in place and pin the hem where it should be. Roll the hem up halfway to the pin, then another fold so the pin is at what will be the bottom of the curtain. Press and sew into place. Tie the curtain back up. (For the record, I LOVE this "Windy Day" fabric, and when the curtain is down it lets in just enough light, and shields me from the view next door. Usually I line all my curtains, but I did not here as there is a shade as well.)

For added cuteness (And because I am utterly smitten with wool felt.) I cute out scads of felt flowers in coordinating colors. I laid them all out as I would like to see them up, with the buttons in the center. (Note, they are not perfect, were not cut from any template, and I LIKE it that way. :0) I then cut a loooooong length of embroidery floss. With my needle threaded, I went through the back of the flower, out the button, back through the button, and back out. I then tied a loop knot, and the flower would rest on that. I tied another knot, went through the next flower, and so on. All the flowers rest on loop knots. They were random, I did not care how much space was between them. After I had a long string of fun felt flowers I looped them onto the curtain hooks, and down the sides.

Strung flowers shown with a loop knot in the bottom right corner.

Enjoy! :0)

Valentine Bear

I completed this sweet Valentine bear from an old chenille sweater! He turned out super soft and huggable. He was created from my Fritzi Bear pattern, which is about ready to send to the printers! (Gee I'm not excited or anything) I love re purposing the old into something new to love.

I hope she loves him, I almost don't want to give him up.

Enjoy your day!

What a Neato Project!

I made these for a good friend of mine, my stylist. We used to trade product for hairstyles when I had the bakery, and even for almost 2 years after that, until I decided that baking and decorating from home just isn't as fun as it used to be. (Insert frowny face from her here. Add one from me for having to tell her.)

She approached me with this project not too long ago, and originally it was all supposed to be paper. I wanted to step it up a notch since I do love my fabric. The budget folders are paper, and then laminated. The holder is an outer fabric, a lined fabric, and both are pressed with a fusible interfacing for stability. I can do a tutorial here for them, it just can't be right now. In a couple days maybe? (I have another order going out, a bright red Valentine bear, sweet!)

I'm considering making myself some, after I find out if placing your money in pre-designated budget folders works. I know it will work for her, she's uber organized. Me? Not so much. My version of saving money is sending my husband to Costco instead of going myself so I'm not tempted by all the wonderful things they have. Go for milk and eggs, come home with milk, eggs, wine, cookies, yoga pants and a blender. Oh, and more wine. :0)

Enjoy your day, I'm enjoying the bright winter sunshine and hot cocoa made from Nutella. Who knew THAT would be SO good!

Frustrated.

I so wanted this post to be the pictures of my latest projects. Instead, I miscalculated a critical piece of one, sewed it up, and whoah. Not happening for the project intended. Still super cute, but not at all what I needed for a PAID ORDER. *sigh* Luckily this doesn't happen often, but when it does I get so frustrated that I give up for a while and retreat to Pinterest in search of the much-needed inspiration I crave. So that's where I've been today.

Where my son has been, however, is all over the house. With his big trucks. Crushing goldfish crackers. ALL OVER. Insert another sigh here. I have a hard time crafting when my house is mess. I don't know why, but it's like house cleaning is what I view to be my "real" job, still. The whole stay at home Mom thing I guess. So. New plan. P goes to my Mom's tomorrow, so if I clean up the goldfish mess tonight, I can start fresh first thing. Look for new pics tomorrow, after all, (I'll use the phrase I use for my girls all the time)

...Tomorrow is a new day.

Enjoy yours :0)

Sneak Peek at the Ruffle Vest

It turned out super cute, I'm working on sizing now. Since it takes me about five finished projects to work up a new pattern, there will be more! I am thinking Voile next time for a softer, even more ruffly look.

It's really difficult to take a nice picture of yourself, by the way.

Enjoy you day!

Here We Go With Another HUGE Catch-Up Post!

Whew! It's been a crazy, wonderful, (mostly) spectacular couple months. I should apologize for not blogging more, but with three birthdays just in our family and two more (niece and nephew) parties, plus Christmas and all that jazz... You get the picture, BUSY! And I love it. (mostly) The above picture is my beautiful daughter and I at a craft show in the fall. Where I purchased that gorgeous hat. I love felted wool, wish I would have bought another! Hailey supports me in everything I do, and I'm pretty sure this is the child we count on to not put us in a home when we are old. ;0) I'm going to do lots of pictures and updates in this post as it's been a while, and I promise, I. Have. Been. Busy.

A huge shout out of thanks to Grandma Wanni and Papa, and Nana Lana who watch P. so I can still be busy! Love them!

We had Madison's birthday the 7th of December, and Phoenix's the 8th. Combined into one big party for the family. We did a Candyland theme, as they both love their sweets! The cake was three tiers of candy bliss, and there were jars and dishes of asst. candies all over. I wish the cake had turned out better, but when you add that much candy and color to something, it's, whoah. A lot going on. I should know this by now, right? But the kids had fun, and that's what it's about anyway! So I'll post a picture anyway, even though it's not a favorite.

And a couple pics of the kiddos...

Madison giggling because when I said "One, two, three... Happy (insert the song here)" She thought it was time to make a wish. So she did. And blew out all twelve candles!

P saying a big "Thank You!"

Madison beyond excited for the book she's wanted "forever". Our little bibliophile pretty much only asked for books this year. :0)

For Christmas I so wanted to take the time to make everyone in our little family a special present. For the record I put some of Madison's own art on a pair of Converse shoes. They turned out awesome, but she is wearing them right now, so you'll have to trust me that they are cool, because there is no picture!

I made my husband a sign out of an old wooden ski, that says "Happiness is a large, loving, close-knit family... In another city. (It's a quote from George Burns, and an inside joke for us, in case that came off as rude...)

Hailey loves Alice in Wonderland, and her room has that theme. So I made her an art doll of the Mad Hatter, which she LOVED!

I made a fuzzy hugable blankie/softie for Phoenix. He immediately took to him and we call him "Pete".

*Love*

My Hubby and took a trip to Portland, just for a couple days, as he now does service and repair of Janome sewing machines. He had training there, so P. and I tagged along and went to The Children's Museum, and the Portland Zoo. It was a cold, rainy, blustery day, but when we got to the zoo, it cleared up. All of the animals were out and about, and the zoo was all but deserted. It was great!

He had such a good time! We had a nice lunch, with I swear the BEST latte I've ever had. He had cocoa, just to be clear. :0)

Hailey had her 14th birthday a couple weeks ago, and in keeping with the "Alice in Wonderland" theme, this was her cake.

I wish she didn't look far older than 14. But that's a Mom thing I'm sure!

On to my sewing! I promised I was busy, so here are some pics to prove it!

Happy Birthday Owlette...

Fritzi Teddy Bear...

Elphie Circus Mouse, not a great picture, and she'll be holding a felt bouquet I bouquet I believe...

Some fabulous pins I'll be offering for sale on my soon to be website...

My personal favorite. :0)

And just because it makes me smile. :0)

Now my time is up, as I heard a crash from my sewing room. My sweet curious boy is into things again. *sigh* Until next time! Enjoy your day, it's snowy, sunshiney and sparkly here now. *Love*

Ramblings on a Very Junk Food and Movie Kind of Day

Whew. It's hard getting an almost two year old to take a nap when there are so many things to do: Taking all the ornaments off the tree that he can reach and arranging them on the sofa. (With the exception of the glass balls that he rolled across the floor, I don't know how they survived, but they did!) Feeding the dog home-made blue play dough, (That he promptly and efficiently puked all over the floor, eeeew.) and parking all his vehicles in the kitchen like it's his very own garage and I don't have say, dinner to make or anything.

 It's the beginning of December, and I've got the Christmas cards ready to mail, most of the shopping done, and some prepping for birthdays done as well. This will be the first time in four years that cards get mailed out. My goal as of right this minute, is to have all the shopping done, and presents wrapped by Wednesday. Lofty goal to be sure, but you see, it's my daughter's 12th birhtday on the 7th, and my son's 2nd birthday on the 8th. We have lots to do, and a lot of people coming over. I am always so stressed out by the time their birthdays and Christmas comes that I am reduced to tears most days, and grouchy as _____ the others. I vowed not to do that to myself this year. Pre-planning should go a long way in that!

I have a craft show going on right this very minute, and although I wanted to go, a tummy bug kept me home. It wasn't a show that I needed to be there for, but I sure wanted to. There were these wonderful cake plates... *sigh* Maybe if I'm super sweet she'll make me one since I'm sure they are sold out. I found out that my three appliqued windows have sold, and I am So. Happy. I don't have to cart those back home again! If nothing else sold I'm ok with that! Hopefully there is an art/craft show in your future? I would love to see people support our local crafters this (and every!) year.

I have been working, a bit slowly with everything else, on patterns. I now have three ready for printing. Just waiting on some feedback, then it's a website/Facebook/Twitter launch. So excited, I feel like a racehorse sitting behind the gates. With the patterns I'll also be debuting a couple embroidery patterns, and some nice prototypes. Would have loved to have gotten everything ready to launch by November. Slow and sure wins the race though, right?

It's a gloomy cold day today, so I'm going to make myself a hot cocoa and watch Up with the kiddos. Enjoy your day!