Fast sewing projects

I have repurposed some old clothes for new clothes. I love it! I think it's the best. If I have something I'm not going to wear, why not try to make something new out of it instead of giving it away?

Here's Kate, texting on James' phone.. just kidding! but she really looks like she is.

I made her this shirt from an old winter shirt - the strawberry was a patch on the shirt, and she had out grown it. I decided the best thing about that shirt was the strawberry, so I cut it off and sewed it to a new short-sleeve shirt. Easy.

This is one of my shirts that's been hanging in the closet for a while (+ a cat)... I haven't worn it since before I had Kate. I like it, but it will never fit again. :(

I decided to cut off the bottom part and make a skirt for Kate. It was super simple to do: turn inside out, fold down the top part to make a casing for elastic; sew your casing leaving a gap to pull the elastic through. Then you sew the elastic together and finish sewing up the casing. The bottom of the shirt was already hemmed.

Done! And because Kate was still napping, I made a little flower pin from the same shirt to go on her onesie. It was also really easy to make.

I made a cover for my sewing machine. Why not? I had some extra fabric, so I whipped it out after dinner the other night. It's just 2 rectangular shapes of fabric sewn together with some ribbon for ties.

Check out Allie the cat.. you can tell she is all up in my business when Kate's not around.

(Please excuse my messy table, too - this is all stuffed in the closet of the office)

If you guys enjoy these post, maybe I'll try to do more of them. Let me know! :)

Summer Dress

It's been a while since I've made anything worthy of posting.. I finally finished this dress. I know I have been working on this for over a month - just couldn't figure out what I wanted it to look like, or I lost interest.

I got the blue fabric on clearance last year for $2. Not bad!

Here's Kate modeling the dress.

.. and her pigtails.
And of course Sally had to have a new dress, too.

Gettin Crafty II

Valentine's Day is coming up, and that means our little Kate turns 1!!!! So hard to believe.

I've been keeping pretty busy with little crafts revolving around the birthday and holiday.

This is my "craft closet". This is where the magic happens!! hahahha
This doesn't really fall under the category of making something, but whatever. I finally hung up some photos that I've had forever. I had stopped putting up new photos and I took down a lot of old ones since we had our house on the market. Well that was 6 months ago, and I'm tired of not having our photos up!! I decided: we do still live here. I don't care if they see them, I want to be able to enjoy them. So here's one arrangement at the stairs. I'm very pleased with it. Of course I've changed the photos inside the frames all around since this photo.

And you can't tell, but these are some photos from our wedding... just hung. When did we get married??? yeah, almost 6 years ago.

Here are some of our Valentine's decorations.. how fun!! I love pink and red, and Kate does, too (she can't argue- heehee).

Here's one of the birthday projects I made. Our little Valentine on the wall.

And we can't forget our other Valentine, Lanndyn. I have always made a point to send a Valentine gift to Lanndyn every year. She looks forward to it! This year, I found out she and her mom are going to start a sewing class (she does want to be a fashion designer, after all). I decided she needed a pincushion.
oooohhhh.... ahhh. Work friends, you will recognize the fabric. :)

And now for my favorite part...

I freakin made shoes!!!!

I got a pattern online for making baby shoes, and I spent 2-1/2 hours the other night making these. I had not completely finished them, but I had to take a photo because I was so excited!! James wants me to go into business, and I told him he was crazy. No way. But I would consider making another pair or 2. Hopefully Kate can where these on her birthday- that will be the true test of craftsmanship. :)

by the way, I have no idea why all of the above is underlined. Blogger is so ridiculous sometimes!!

Vacation begins and Kate crawls!

Hello there!


Most exciting news of the day: Kate is crawling! Barely, but it counts. :) She crawled across the room to me this afternoon after I picked her up from daycare! No one said anything about it at daycare, but I am guessing that she may have crawled there, too. (the ladies are so thoughtful and sensitive - in a good way; wouldn't be surprised if they wanted me to think she started crawling at home).


Speaking of daycare, here's a photo:



Here's some of the babies with Ms. Samira and Ms. Juliet. So, someone got this cool wagon, and they strap the babies in and roll them around the bldg!! It is hilarious.
Of course my kid is the one not looking at the camera..

Starting at the top right is Emme (who sadly cries 99.9% of the times I've been there), Kate (duh), Giavanni (called Gia), Camille and Reed (who is a girl). Lots of little ladies!
I believe we have 6 girls and 1 boy in the class, but we will be getting new babies soon.

Last weekend we went from our normal bottle feeding routine to..
"I do it, Mommy" - suddenly she wanted to hold it! And she's always put her hands on the bottle, but they have been at the nipple where you can't hold it alone. She just understood how to do it one day and now enjoys feeding herself.

And now she knows how to pull up, too, although she does not do this too often. She is becoming more interested in standing.

Standing alone. Amazing!!


I know I said I probably wouldn't write again until after the holidays, but I'm feeling much better today and I feel like the last entry wasn't very "positive".
So I'm writing again because I have more energy than I know what to do with!
And everything is DONE... what a relief. Presents are bought and made and wrapped.
And work is over for a few days at least.
I made these for some peeps at the office, and for Gail. They are hanging candle holders, from one of Martha's ideas. The crystal at the bottom hangs underneath. I have 4 on my front porch and they've been there for 4 years. That's a good thing, Martha.

And I just finished this notebook cover for Lanndyn.

Oh... ahhhhh....
And I threw in a bag. We get lots of goodies from work. This was a free bag that I've had for a while, and I know Lanndyn loves pink - time to hand it down (it really has not been used). I added the flower pin. The notebooks were free from work, too.


Who knows if she'll actually use them, but it's the thought that counts. It was fun to make, especially the felt stitching.


So I don't want you to think that Lanndyn is not getting anything else - she is getting
THE... Justice Hot Pink Electric Guitar!! Apparently a hot item this year for tweens. James did the shopping (we had a list, thankfully!), and he found one at the Phipps Justice store (Justice used to be called the Limited Too, but they are trying to rebrand it or something).
James was trying to decide if he should get the guitar or the boots, and the sales lady told him he was crazy. We didn't know that people had been driving in from out of state to get the guitar, and that it was the only one left in Atlanta. That made up his mind!
I know she will be very excited to get this present - I can't wait to see her face!!!
I WILL bring the camera, so cross your fingers on happy photos (remember, she is 10 and hates to have her photo taken).


Merry Christmas Eve - Eve!! (My Dad always says that.. cheesy, but I love it)