Sweetest Day cake & a sewing project

Happy Sweetest's Day!  Duane and I celebrated a day early with a yummy meal at Olive Garden.  I had been longing for a good steak and ordered their 8 oz. sirloin.  It was breaded with parmesan and herbs before cooking.  It was incredible!!!  I ate every last bite.  lol  Tonight we had a Taco Salad meal with the kiddos and shared a bottle of special Raspberry Sparkling juice.  The kids were quite excited when the fancy goblets come out. 

This afternoon, while Duane was working, I made this cake for him.  It looked and smelled delicious.  I didn't have a bite though.....gluten....and sugar.....sigh.....I have put myself on a 2 week sugar fast.  This is day 5.  My sugar-withdraw headache has finally ceased.  This is good for my body....but oh so HARD!!!

I've been so incredibly busy with housework and teaching Callie each day that my sewing has been much neglected. Here is a project I sat down and did on Friday.  A lady at our church asked me to make a walker bag for a neighbor that had liked the bag that she had(that I had made).  I had fun going through fabrics and coming up with something bright and cheerful.  This picture keeps rotating....sigh....Anyways, the one side with 2 small pockets and 2 medium pockets.  The have a bit of elastic at the top in a casing to keep them from flopping when things are inside.

 The other side with one large pocket with elastic at the top.  I didn't have any bias tape to match, so I made my own up.  That was fun!!  Now I think I'd like to get one of those bias tape binders to make the process go a bit faster.  Maybe for Christmas.....:)

Thanks for looking! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!

I can't stop......

sewing!!!! 

Maybe it's the crisp, cold weather that's keeping me inside.  Or it might even be all the new fall clothing ideas that keep popping into my inbox.  Please, oh PLEASE. DO. NOT. SEND. ME. ANYMORE. CUTE. GIRL. CLOTHING. IDEAS!!!!  But, whatever, the reason.....I can't stop!!! 

I stated very emphatically last night that I was NOT going to sew a single thing today.  Well, as I was cleaning out my sewing cabinet....straightening up the explosion that has rocked the shelves over the past several days.....I came upon a darling t-shirt I had purchased for pennies a couple years ago.  There it sat, patiently waiting for me to upcycle it into...SOMETHING!!! 

Then, I spied a scrap of lavender/white stripes that would be perfect for double layer sleeves.  It was a done deal....I simply HAD to cut out and sew the shirt that was in my head RIGHT THEN!!!  I made the mistake of showing the shirt to my daughter. She insisted on staying in her nightgown until it was finished sewing it up!

 

Around noon today, the house fairly clean, supper in the crockpot, homeschooling completed, fabric explosion organized (temporarily), I parked myself at my machines and an hour later a new shirt was birthed from the land of garage sale bargains and leftover scraps of fabric. (whew...what a run-on)  Callie was enthralled!!!  We, of course, had to go outside to get some pictures to share. 

I really do have 3 other children, but it's just not as fun sewing boys' clothing. And, seriously.....I don't think they'd appreciate photo shoots in the pj's I sew for them!!!!!!!!!!!!  lol 

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How can a mom resist sewing for such an enthusiastic little girl?  She pushes me to try new things....dream up faster ways to sew....and has opened my world up to the color PINK!!!!

Some afternoons, she will sit beside me and my machines....talking....talking....and TALKING!!!!!  She never stops.  At times....I'll admit....I get weary of the constant flow of words that seamlessly spill from her mouth.

 But then, just as quickly, I pause, and look into her eyes, sparkling with happiness. I am gently reminded to be ever so grateful for those moments we spend together.

~Just the two of us....designing and creating and bonding....

...Making memories that will last a lifetime!~

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack...............

SEWING!!!!!!!!!!!  Yipee!!!  Doing a little happy dance around my machines!  :)  September 1st, was a HAPPY day....it was the start of an online stash sewing game that I have participated in for the last 2 years.  I worked and cleaned the house like a crazy woman the first part of the week so I could 'take off' for the weekend.  It was WORTH it!!!  The first project was a shoulder rest for Callie's violin. 

Used fabric, etc...that I already had so this was basically a free princessy shoulder rest for her.  She loves it!

This was what I sewed on Friday/Saturday.  4 tank tops, 3 long-sleeved fall/winter shirts for Callie, 4 pajama bottoms and 2 pajama tops for Samuel for fall/winter.

Some close-ups of the shirts.  I used a basic shirt pattern and re-designed each one just a bit differently and was pleased with the results.

I love how this one has a layered-look to it.

I used my coverstitch machine to put binding on the necklines and sleeves.  I also used it for ALL 4 of the tank tops I made for her to wear under shirts/dresses.  Talk about a BUNCH of coverstitching!!!!

This was another project of mine this week.  Matchy outfits for Callie, Kanani & Jenny.  Here they are all ready for church.

I wanted to find a daisy to embellish the lacy part of the dress, but we just couldn't find what I was looking for.  The yellow ribbon bow will have to work until I find the right looking flower.:)

I drafted the cross-front doll shirts from a plain t-shirt pattern.  The skirts are just circle skirts trimmed with lace.  These were so fun to make.  I managed to eek out a dress AND these outfits for the dolls with JUST ONE YARD of fabric!!!  WOW!!!  It was really pushing it!! lol

This was my Sunday afternoon project.  The cascading ruffle skirt.  I used a large piece of project leftover from a shirt I made for myself awhile back.  These are NOT colors she particularly cares for, but I wanted to 'test' the pattern/tutorial FIRST before using up some fabric that she would like.  I was VERY pleased with the results of this skirt and am planning on cutting out 2 more tonight.  She JUST woke up from her nap and was not to happy to have to try on a new outfit!!!lol

She's outgrown her cute yellow sweater already.  I'll have to come up with something different for her to wear this with.

She was giving me her 'sleepy' twirl shot!!!:)

Thanks for looking!!  I have sooooo much fun sewing new things for my family!  Be prepared for tons more sewing this month.  I have a looooooooooong list of 'to-do's'!!! 

Sewing Costumes, gifts, baking and puppy-sitting....

 Samuel wanted a cape to play outside in with some other kids.  He picked out the fabric and design, length, etc.....  I hurried as fast as I could to get it finished, but 15 minutes later it was raining.  So he wore it around the house that night.  The next day, it was barely light out and he was outside running around in the dew-covered grass with his cape on.

 Love what his shirt says....

 Seth and Simon got to puppy-sit Jack over the weekend.  It was a learning/teaching experience for all of us.

 Simon loves to bake.  He made me some yummy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies!!

 Full of chocolate chips!!!

 Callie's 1st. Day of School dress.

 The back....

 A quick model shot.  She'll wear it with a different shirt of course.  This is what she already had on for the day. 

 Modeling one of the costume hats I made for my mother's newest Children's Worship Themes she is writing.  This will be Blueberry Muffin's hat in her Captain Munch theme.

 Raspberry Rafael's funny hat.......

Captain Munch's vest, along with Blueberry Muffin & Raspberry Rafael's vests and hats.  So glad I was able to finish these over the weekend and send back with my brother so she get get them right away.

Matching dresses for 2 of my nieces.  These are birthday gifts for them.

 The front.....

 Love the bow that ties in the back!

Loads of Doll Clothes!!!

I am participating in a doll clothing swap and so this week I started sewing doll outfits for 18" dolls.  This fleece sweatshirt is for Callie to keep for her doll, Jenny.  It was made out of scraps from a bathrobe I made her last winter. 

Everything pictured below will be shipped out to exchange with other mama made doll clothing.  Callie is excited that some new outfits will be coming her way soon.  She did want to keep a bunch of this, but I kept telling her we were going to ship it away.  :) 

 I braided strips of knit fabric to make some stretchy headbands to go with these outfits.  I love how they turned out.

 Pink is not my favorite color, but I love how it looks with chocolate brown.

 These hooded sweatshirts are fun to make.  Callie wants an outfit like this, so I may make another one later....much later.  I'm doll clothing sewed out right now. :)

 Another stretchy braided headband.

 All four outfits together.

 I love the way these plaid outfits turned out.  The skirt has pleats in the front/back.  There was a tiny turquoise stripe through the plaid so I chose that for shirt color.  Trimmed the shirt with black ribbon, buttons and a small ruffle.  I made a cute hat also to go along with it.

 Another plaid outfit.  This one has a different ruffle on the shirt and the hat was designed just a bit differently. 

 Both outfits together.

Hooded sweatshirt dress with a funky belt.

 the dress from the back...

 A stretchy braided headband with some embellishments.

 Had fun with this one...it's definitely 'different'.  lol

 Dress, belt and headband

Now to clean up the sewing mess and cook supper.....It was fun sewing doll clothes this week, but I'm ready to tackle something else right now. :)