artsy-crafty babe

Tie One On - March/April 2007

Well guys, here it is, the result of my weekend therapy session - Tie One On March/April.  The theme was rick rack.  I had intended to use more, but after assembling the apron, I think the jumbo rick rack at the bottom was enough.  I think it's cute.  A little busy, but cute.

My original inspiration for it was the spring 2007 Hanna Anderson catalog.  I love those pastel dresses with the combo of fabrics!  Of course, my fabric choice and style are nothing like the H. A. catalog, but that's where the idea came from.

To make my apron, I used KwikSew 3066  for the upper bodice, if that's what you call the top of an apron.  I've used this pattern to make a top in the past, so I knew that it would accommodate the "girls".  I wanted this to be a halter style apron, but after sewing it together, I realized that wouldn't work.  The neckline was all wonky, it wouldn't work at all.  Luckily, my ties were just long enough to go to the bottom of the sash, so I went with it.  I think I like this style better.  Halter ties tend to bug me.

This was a fun project.  I'm usually a planner, so it was fun to wing it.  Other than the pattern piece for the bodice, the rest was trial and error, which is why my sash ties aren't long enough and the halter ties didn't work out.  I may have stayed up until 1am to finish it, but it was worth it!  Who needs sleep when you've got a fun sewing project to finish??

TGIF

Oh boy, am I every ready for this week to end!  I'm feeling a bit brain dead, so you'll have to excuse my lack of content in this post.  But before I continue, I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for my mom and family.   At the moment she is doing about as well as she can.  Thankfully, she has made it through all her surgeries with no complications.  Her recovery will be a long one, that's for sure, but I am thankful that she's still around.  I feel like I should do a gratitude post today, but honestly, I can't even think about it.  Instead I'll post pictures of some recent bags that I made for my friends - this is a craft blog, ya know!

This is the bigger version of my pleated bag.  It doesn't look much different, but believe me, it's bigger.  You get a better idea from the side view.

Another friend of mine loved my original black & white bag so much that I had to make her a similar one.  I have more of this fabric that I'll probably use for a new tote.  You can never have too many of those!

On the agenda this weekend, other than hanging out with the kiddos and spending time at the hospital, is to fit in a little sewing (can't wait to complete my Tie One On) and have a little birthday celebration.  It was my plan to make matching outfits for Ava, Lily and me for Ava's party, but I've given up on that.  I think it will be more appropriate to match on Mother's Day, which gives me a little more time to complete that project.  Right now, sewing doesn't seem so important, but boy, I could sure use the therapy!

Have a good weekend!!!

it can change in an instant

How ironic that my last post was about my family and how grateful I was that they were all healthy and well.  I haven't been around much lately because my mother was in a serious car accident, a head on collision, Monday morning.  She broke numerous bones - arm, wrist, finger, pelvis, leg, ankle, but thankfully she has no internal injuries and will be alright, though she has a long road to recovery.  She's already been through two surgeries and will have one more tomorrow to put her back together.  Between spending time at the hospital, taking care of my family and fitting in work when I can, blogging and crafting has gone on the back burner.  Don't worry, I won't be gone forever!  Checking in on your blogs when I can has been a nice diversion.

And just what does that picture of a dress have to do with anything?  Nothing.  I finished that up this past weekend for a gift.  Sweet girlie baby dresses make me smile :-)

Gratitude Friday

I've regrettably gotten away from my Gratitude Friday posts, but with the events of this past week I can't help but reflect on all that I am grateful for.   

I know I sound like a broken record with this, but I am so grateful for my family.  I am blessed to have a loving a husband and three wonderful children.  We're all healthy and together, what more could I ask for?  These past few days I've been hugging them a little tighter and making sure that they know I love them more than anything. 

Now on to my grocery list, this week I am grateful for:

• my continued commitment to lose weight.  I've been at it since January and have lost close to 20 lbs.  I could have said 20 lbs a few weeks ago, but Easter set me back.  I have to remember that I'm not trying to win a race, so slow & steady is a good thing. 
• a husband who is okay with my letting the laundry pile up because I'm too busy playing in my sewing room to take care of it.
• beautiful, warm spring weather.
• Coke Zero.  Gawd, I love that stuff!!
• my new sewing set up.  Who knew rearranging my sewing studio would make such a differnce?  You can bet there will be a whole post about that when I finally get it finished.
• all of you who read my blog and leave such nice comments.  You ROCK!  Though I don't always get the chance to respond, I really do read each and every comment.

Now on to some Works In Progress for this weekend ~ do I ever not have something in progress?

Baby dress for a gift. 

Bags, bags, bags. 

Future aprons. 

If I can do all this along with attending Lily's first t-ball game on Saturday and a birthday party on Sunday I'll be amazed.  *Wish me luck*

Have a great weekend y'all!!

done enough

These bags aren't finished, but I want to blog about them NOW!  I know that if I wait until I finish them (after the kids go to bed), the light will be too horrible to get any good pics.  All I have to do is sew the straps onto the purse, then they'll be good to go.  Just pretend like the straps are there!

All of these lovelies will be in my etsy shop once they're finished and photographed.  It's going to be hard parting with these!  These are the result of a little fabric binge I went on a month or so ago.  As much as I like seeing my pretty fabrics neatly stacked together, I like seeing a finished product using those fabrics even more.  All of these bags are oh, so summery.  If you hadn't noticed, I have a thing for red.  It honestly didn't occur to me until I saw all these bags together.  I must have had red on the brain when I put these together.

I hope you're not sick of these yet because I have a few more in the works, none of which are red.  But once those are done, I think I'll move on to something new. 

couldn't stand it

Thank you all for your comments yesterday about being content with our homes.  I hope I didn't come off sounding ungrateful for what I have because that couldn't be further from the truth.  Believe me, I know how blessed I am to have a home to fuss over!   Deep down, all the fussing, complaining, dreaming, planning, and doing are FUN.  I've always said that I could never move into a brand new house with everything perfect.  I like the challenge of making this house my home.  Of course it would be nice to have a few holes repaired in the walls!!!

Never mind that I have a ginormous mountain of laundry to tackle and dirty dishes out the wazoo, this afternoon I decided to rearrange my sewing studio.

I have a lot to do (this is how I left it), but I think I'll like my new space.  If anything at all comes from this, I'll at least get to organize my much neglected stash.

Agghhh!  But this is so much FUN!!!  There's nothing like the feeling of satisfaction after you finish a project like this.

Will I ever be content?

I'm talking about my house.  I seem to have an endless list of things that I want to do to my house.  I truly wonder if I'll ever be satisfied with any room.  As of now I'm not.  My problem is that I have a vision in my head of how I want things to be, but rarely do I achieve that.  There's either a budget restraint, a time restraint, or I just plain can't find what I'm looking for.   In all honesty, it's the time factor that gets me.  If only I had time to repaint the girls' room, or the bathroom, or my bedroom, or the kitchen cabinets, or, or, or, you get the point. 

My latest gripe is with my sewing studio.  Before this weekend I thought the only things that needed to be done in there were the shelves in the corner and a new work table (that Matt has been promising for some time now, or rather, that I've been nagging about for months).  Having finally sewed in the daytime (something I never have the chance to do) I realized that my sewing table is in the wrong place.  It sits directly under the small skylight in that room, which I thought would be nice, being able to sew with natural light and all.  WRONG.  I nearly had to wear sunglasses to sew!!!  How freaking annoying!  So now I've got to come up with a new furniture layout.  I'm not so upset about this, but that goes to show you that there's always something. *sigh*

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that my house should be finished at this point.  I take great pleasure and pride in working on it and searching for the perfect items.  I feel like your house should be a reflection of you, a collection of personal things that you've accumulated over time.  Those things that I cherish most in my home are things that have special meaning to me.  I love that the majority of my furniture has a story.  I know that I'll have these items for years and will work them into any decor.   What I'm complaining about are the basics - paint, flooring, cabinets.  It's hard for me to enjoy what I've created when in the back of my mind there's still so much that needs to be done.  Oh well, I guess that's what you face when you're a do-it-yourselfer with three small kids and a full time job.  Hopefully one day I'll be content (but then what would I complain about??).

works in progress friday

So many things going on, so many things to finish, so many distractions.  I don't know where to start.  When I get like this I know it's time to make a list.  Yes, you know how much I like making lists.  Because I'm feeling particularly unmotivated this is going to be a very detailed list.  The more detailed it is, the more things I get to cross off, which in turn makes me feel more productive.

Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with the details.  The main project I'm working on is a whole stack of bags, some for my etsy shop, some custom orders.  I started these a few weeks ago, so I need to get them finished.  It's time.

 

Yesterday marked the start of the birthday train for the artsy-crafty family.  Happy 37th Matt!!  Yep, our whole family celebrates birthdays within two months, starting with Matt, then us three girls in May, followed by Alex in mid June.  Needless to say, it's a whirlwind of birthday cake and parties.  With Ava's big day right around the corner, I'd like to spend some time working on a few things for her.  I think all us artsy-crafty May birthday girls will be sporting matching outfits.  You can bet that we're going to be oh, so girlie!!

Have a great weekend :-)

The girlie room.

I found this post from November that I never published.  How funny that I'm calling this room "finished" when I now have plans to repaint it yellow and make some art to hang above the crib!  I think yellow walls will make the pink & green girliness all the more pretty.

Ta da!  The new and improved girlie crib!  I love how this all came together.  Sugar and spice and everything nice, for sure.  I surprised myself in being able to complete this project before Ava outgrew the crib. This is the first time I've had a finished room for my kids.  There's always a project or two hanging around that I never get to finish, but I'm calling this one good.  I did take a few short cuts, but who cares.  Done is better than perfect, right?

Here's the rest of the room.  I love how all the fabrics coordinate, but don't exactly match. 

Even though I started making stuff for this room 3 years ago when we moved in, I still love it.  Every time I come in here I smile.  Yep, I'm in girlie pink bliss! 

what's going on

There's not a whole lot on right now, craft wise, that is.  Matt & the kids are on Spring Break, so we'll be going at a slower pace this week.  I've been finishing up some bags and *thinking* about lots of new projects.   Always, always thinking, which can be good and bad.  Lately my thoughts have turned to creating another piece of textile art.    I made my first one about a year ago (that's it pictured above).  I made it to match the then future nursery, but today it proudly hangs in Alex's room.   Though it isn't my own composition, I still love it.

What I like so much about this type of textile art is the way it combines my desire to paint and create art pieces with my love of fabric.   I can't draw worth a flip, but I can cut out and sew simplistic shapes.  I like the challenge of mixing fabric patterns and textures to create "pictures".

The latest design I'm working on is inspired by New Orleans.  I'm only to the point of sketching out a few buildings I've seen in photos, but I can't wait to make this one.   I'd like to do a series, actually.  Hopefully one day soon when we're having a beautiful spring day (before the sweltering heat sets in), I'll go down there to take some photos for myself.   Until then, I'll be thinking and planning…