sew darn cute

Last week was my birthday. Since it comes just after Christmas, it always seems to take everyone in my house by surprise. My kids look at me like I have two heads. You have a birthday?

Well, my husband did remember with a little help. By way of a list of books that I would like. Like I needed more! I'm sure that if you don't already have this book, you have walked by it and picked it up many times. Sew Darn Cute will be the book that I am reviewing next. And if all goes well, a little giveaway will soon follow!

special order

I just completed this custom request. I showed you some fabric pictures last week. This cute animal/bug fabric was just the perfect fit. Julia picked the super soft flannel and the yellow minky was an even softer complement to it.


I think what really sold her on this fabric was the cute chipmunk! It was irresistible.

thrifty adventures

This is my thrifted collection of baby ceremic planters. I don't know much about them, but I expect that they once came from the florist full of flowers to welcome home a new baby. I do know they were so easy for me to fall in love with. So adorable.



I keep them in my house on this little shelf in my kitchen. I think they would look so cute with succulents in them set out for a baby shower or first birthday party. My kids are all past that age, but I do love the idea.

Here is the bottom of the vase. It says "EFCCO Quality Imports San Francisco California Made in Japan". And I can't believe that I spent that much! It's great to find something for $1. But I know I couldn't walk away from this little one. Especially since it has no chips or cracking. So it was the perfect piece to add to my growing collection.

Now it's your turn! What did you find this week that you couldn't live without? Just add a picture of it here to join the fun! And visit Stacey at Pill's Place to see her fun giveaway.

And remember, please use our thrifty adventures button to your blog sidebar or post.

sewing school class #3

The Sewing School class #3 was held Saturday at my home. Where we made the "Soo Soft Pillow". A first for the girls to use fabric, not just sewing with felt. They were so good and dedicated to making their pillow look very nice, making sure their cutting was precise. They were so cute!

I put out a wide variety of fabric choices from my own stash. And I cut paper bag circles for the pattern. Can you see their cute pincushions? They got to use them too! The sewing took some time for them to do, and they did get a little tired of it, so a donut break was an important part of the morning.

Then we got to the stuffing of the pillow. That was the fun part for them. And look at how proud they are of their work! I just love how they each picked out such different fabrics. Each fabric choice matching their personalities.

The girls were also sent home with scraps of fabric. I asked them to make something, anything, to bring back and share next week. Which is the last class for this group of girls. It is ending with a slumber party! I am going to be exhausted Sunday morning.

And here is some fun news to share with you! The girls who wrote the book Sewing School, wrote about our little class over on their blog. So be sure to take a look and see what nice things they had to say.

reviewing

My sewing goal for 2011 is getting into my sewing book library and actually doing some of the projects. This is the first book I picked. Seams To Me by Anna Maria Horner.



And this is what I wanted to sew, a simple fabric covered cushion. Not for my dog, but for my girl. The directions called for an inner cover and an outer removable cover. So it could be taken off and washed. I just wanted one cover, so it should be simple, right?



And I also wanted to follow the directions exactly. I usually sew something the way I want to sew and don't use a pattern. It's a habit that I learned from my mom who is a master sewer. This time I was a good girl and not a pattern rebel.

Well this did not go very well. I measured my cushion, cut my fabric, and sewed it up. It was just too big. The problem came with the directions asking me to add 2" to my cushion measurements, and use a 1/2" seam allowance. This did not equate to making a nice fitting cushion cover like the directions said it would be.



So I ended up sewing in another 1/2" on my side seams. And taking up the bottom seam when I was stitching the opening closed. A little to adjust too. So it came out alright in the end, but thankfully I knew how to fix it and not get frustrated.

I did add a little handle on the cushion. Making it so much easier for my girl to take it and sit down by the fire with our dog. And I am not giving up on this book. I will give another Anna pattern a try and hope it's better.

thrifty adventures

For our first Thrifty Adventure, I found a cushion that I wanted to reupholster for my girl. remember? I used some fun and sturdy Wizard of Oz fabric. I'll tell you tomorrow how that went.

As soon as I finished sewing up that cushion, we hopped in the car. With a special hope that our thrift was still open. We had spotted this book on a previous trip. But I am truly not a big Wizard of Oz fan. But getting this big book for $1.50 was just the perfect thing to go with that little cushion!


And we have been reading it every night since. Right now we are on chapter 16. And it is so much better than the movie! Most importantly, my girl is loving it too :)




Now, it's your turn! Show me your thifty bounty! And be sure to visit Pills' Place to see what she has there.


When you've done that borrow one of my buttons to add to your post or sidebar. Have fun!

a few fabrics

I am just finishing up a custom order.

And to do that special order,


I took a lot of pictures of my fabrics.


Boy fabric and really great gender neutral fabric.



I just thought I would share the fabric love with you!

sewing school: class 2

Our second lesson for Sewing School began with a big stash of felt. Perfect for first time sewers. Each girl also got a pair of scissors for her sewing box. They were then told to never use her scissors on anything but fabric. Do you think they will remember that rule?

Finding the right pair of scissors proved to be a challenge. Something that would fit in their small hands and not cost too much. In the end I just bought some Crayola scissors. $3. a pair and they were just fine. I think by the end of the class they should be able to handle the Friskars Student scissors.

For this class we had two projects. The first was a needle case. We just sewed together 3 squares of felt and then the girls then sewed on buttons for a little decoration. This took some time. Then we quickly did a pincushion. They made apples, and blueberries with little colorful leaves. They each got a sewing needle and a few straight pins to add to their sewing supplies.

Learning how to tie a knot proved to be the most difficult thing to learn this week. But they are still having such fun making it themselves! One girl said to me "This is the most fun ever!" I don't know who is having more fun at these classes? Me or this wonderful group of 6 year old girls!

thrifty adventure

I am a sucker for small kid chairs. Especially ones that look like vintage school chairs. I think this became a love for me because growing up we (me and my 3 sisters) always had a play house. We moved 3 times and our Dad always built a special structure for us.

The only real remnant that I have from those days is a little white wrought iron chair. It's like an ice cream parlor chair. My own girl sits at her tiny table now on that same chair. And being such a heavy little chair it has worn well.

So I when I saw this little doll high chair (shown above in the middle) at my local thrift I knew it was one to have. For $5! There is no tray for the top. But I think I can take off the hardware and fill it in with a wood filler and sand it down. Then paint it (my fav color of blue) and add a little cushion. Doesn't it look cute with the other little chairs in my collection.

Please join our link party! Just link up here with your thrifty find. Be sure to visit Pill's Place to see Stacey's little discovery too!

a goal

If you are like me, and you like to sew, you probably also like sewing books. And I have a few, a few too many. My shelves are a little overflowing now. I have started looking for new places in my house to store them. Like my kids closets. They never hang up their clothes any way. Plenty of room there.


Since I do have so many of these books. I hardly ever get to sit down and use any of them. I just want to pick out a fun project and make something new.

I also want to follow the direction exactly. For the most part. Maybe add a little design detail of my own in the process. But I want to test my books for their accuracies. Like I'm in a Better Homes and Gardens recipe test kitchen. I want to put my sewing books to the test. And of course have fun sewing.

So this is my goal for 2011. I plan to review at least one sewing book a month. And you can see my first sewing project will be this Doggie Dream Bed. Although it will actually be the floor pillow I am making for my daughter.

Do you having any sewing goals for 2011?

sewing school: class 1

The first day of Sewing School began with no sewing (though we did practice threading a needle at the very last few minutes). First each girl got to dig in to stacks of papers, stickers and modge podge.


They loved it! The stickers were such a huge hit. And I loved seeing how each girl went about making her sewing box all her own.

We then had a little break and went back to filling up their box with a few supplies. They each received a pencil covered in cupcakes, chalk, safety pins, and a needle threader. We also cut up a cracker box and made little card spools for embroidery thread. Each girl got to pick out a color and went home with about 7 different spools.

Next Saturday we begin to sew! Needle cases and pincushions. I am just as excited as they are! p.s. can you guess which girl is mine?

let's get this party started

Thank you for coming to the first of our thrifty adventures link party! Stacey and I are excited to see what each and everyone of you love to find at your thrift. What has made your heart sing?

Believe it or not, this pillow did just that for me! I have had the idea for a while to sew up a pillow for my girl to take around the house with her to sit on whenever and wherever she wants to. Then I found this pillow for $2. and she sat on it and liked it.

I thought I just had to take off the outside fabric and then we could pick out some new fabric together. But there was a surprise waiting under that top fabric for me. Look at this bark cloth! It is actually a real yummy yellow and brown.

Then there was this pretty paisley too! Whoever had this little cushion before me, really liked it enough to restyle it three times! Now that was a thrifty gal.

And here is what I found underneath it all. A vinyl cushion! My girl still likes it. So I wiped it down and bought some white duct tape and sealed it up nice and tight.


Then just look at the adorable fabric that she picked out! I have had this 1 yard bit of Japanese Wizard of Oz fabric for over two years. My hub got it for me as a birthday present. Thankfully I have finally found the perfect project for this adorable heavyweight fabric!

Sorry to say though, you will have to wait a few days to see how it all turned out. I am using a new pattern to figure out how to cover this cushion so it will be just how I envisioned it in my head.

Thank you for visiting this first link party! Now it is your turn to show us what you've got.

thrifty link party

Hosting a link party has been on my "to do" list for a few months. Now it's a new year and time to jump into something new! Together with my friend Stacey Ball from Pill's Place fame that's the plan.

We both love to thrift. And if you are visitng my blog, I bet you love to go thrifting too. Why not share the love!

party plans:

• Every Thursday we will both be posting on our blogs our thifty find of the week. Sometimes we might even be upgrading our finds into something new.
  
• You are invited to join us and link back here with a picture of your treasure and a link back to your blog sharing what you love about it.
  
• We will be sharing some of our favorites each week. So check back to see if we are talking about you! Then you can use the "featured" photo how ever you like.

Please share the fun of this link party with others. Use our pictures here on your blog sidebar, and tell your friends! It's wouldn't be a party without you. Our Adventures begin tomorrow.