Hostess Gift

I thought I'd round out 2009 with one last little post.

A couple of years ago, my husband's aunt introduced me to 'hostess gifts'. I love the idea, it is very southern hospitality like. I realize this is nothing new, but I love it nonetheless. Really it is nothing more than giving a gift to your host/hostess whether it be for a party you were invited to, or somebody's house you are visiting for the weekend. I loved the first time they came to stay with us and brought an adorable cookie jar. It's just nice to receive gifts for no other reason than because you are letting people into you home one way or another.

Anywho, we are headed to a New Year's Eve party tonight at a friend's house. The party theme is 'Tropical'. This was just a little something I came up with to say thank you. Sparkling Cider and Chocolate...you can't go wrong!

Git 'er dun

Wow. It's been WAY to long since I've posted. It isn't because of a lack of crafting...it's much the opposite. I have been so busy working on projects and getting stuff done that I haven't taken the time out to document any of it. The tragedy? I was in such excitement about finishing Christmas gifts and projects that I didn't take pictures of ANYTHING before it was all packaged up and shipped off to far-away places. I'm hoping to get pictures from my fam of everything in use...then I'll make a fun post with my real-life models!

I finished everything on the list from my previous post with the exception of quilting my mom's quilt top. She gave me the pass to not have it done by Christmas. That is this week's project and will be flying back with me and my boys to Utah on January 21st.

Completed:
*Two adorable purses for two of my adorable nieces
*An outfit for another adorable niece including: skirt, appliqued top, and matching purse!
*Advent calendar (It was a Nancy Halverson pannel from a few years back that just needed to be quilted, bound, etc.)
*Lots of sewing to build up our inventory for ATT
*Quilt for my in-laws for Christmas

And to finish out the list, I was able to help a young man that I go to church with, in organizing and carrying out a major sewing project as part of his Eagle Scout project. (48 mitered edge receiving blankets is no easy task, but we got it done!)

Whew! These next few months are my favorite time of the year. It's the time that I take for myself and sew projects just for me. I can't wait. I'll keep you updated!

Happy New Year's Eve!

#1 & #2 done!

I finished the first two items on my list that is just getting longer and longer...

#1 - a 'Buttercup Bag' for a great friend who just turned 30.
#2 - a SUPER GIRLY car-seat blanket! This is probably one of the most fru-fru blankets I've ever made...and I LOVE it! Being a mom of boys is great, but I secretly love it when customers order extremely girly stuff...I live vicariously through the stuff make! This is for a friend of a friend. She did a great job picking out materials, don't you think?


Wish me luck in completing the next few items on my list!

Is it really that time of year?

A few years back I made and sold stockings to earn a little Christmas $. It's been a while since I've made any, but one of my dear friends had another baby and needed another stocking for their new addition. I'll be honest, I dragged my feet a bit. All the appliqueing gets a little tiresome. But, I got it done, and I'm happy with the result!

This is my interpretation of an old Nancy Halverson pattern...

Whew! I'm glad that I could check that project off my list. I still have a TON to do before Christmas...
*Purse for a BFF -
*Car Seat Blanket for a baby almost here
* 2 purses for Scott's nieces
*Advent calendar for a sibling
*2 little girl skirts for my nieces
*A quilt top to quilt for my mom
*re-build our inventory for upcoming craft shows...

Wish me luck. I'm sure I'll come up with more, these are just the items that kept me up thinking about them last night. ;)

a Tami original

So here is a new creation that I recently came up with...
Isn't it adorable? I love the simple clean look. The yo-yo's give it a cool dimensional look. Onesies are such fun blank canvases.

(a close-up of the yo-yo's)

This is honestly one of the first projects that I've ever made that I didn't copy from somebody else. The idea was all mine! I can't wait to make more. I think they'll make fun gifts.

Halloween Decor a la me!

I've been feeling the 'bug' to do something other than sew lately. Don't get me wrong, I always love to play on my sewing machine, but change never hurts anybody, right? Anywho, last weekend I made this!
The pictures don't do it justice, but my spider chandelier turned out AWESOME!! I totally borrowed the idea from this blog, and just tweaked it to match my style. My husband even liked it. He said I should do one for each season...we'll see.

Still Crafting!

Contrary to what it may appear, I have been busy crafting and sewing lately. I just took a little break from blogging. We all need a little break here and there, don't we? I'm refreshed and ready to get back on the wagon!! (Although, this little injury did slow things down for a week and a half or so.)
Sorry if you have a weak stomach. It's not every day that somebody has to use their sewing skillz ON a body. I am now a little leery of my extremely sharp bread knife. No more cutting frozen french bread for me!

Moving along. I have a few friends who have recently been blessed with new little bundles of joy. (The pink kind, contrary to my blue kind!) I had fun making this little number.

front

back

Isn't it ADORABLE? I love how white onesies are blank canvases just waiting to be made into something fun. I wish that I could say I came up with the idea completely on my own, but I didn't. I saw something like it on my trip out to Utah. I did put my own flair on it though. The coolest part about it (and quite ingenious, I think!) is that I attached the flower on the front and the bow on the back with velcro. All you have to do is detach the extras and toss in the wash, and the bow and flower stay looking like new. Since it's all white it can even be bleached.

Stay posted for other fun projects I've been working on!

Ahhhh Utah!

Seriously, I don't know if anybody can argue that Utah is like the crafty-quilty mecca of the west. There are at least four quilt shops within a 15 minute drive of my parents house. (And OH so many more within an hour or so!) I love being able to visit my parents and take advantage of the greatness of it all. The last two weeks did not disappoint. I came home (to VA) with some great new patterns, lots of ideas, and some really cute fabric.

I'm off to the beach this morning with my two adorable boys (and some friends), but will be sure to post some of my treasures from Utah when I get back!

Sun Dress

As soon as I saw this pattern on the Sew, Mama, Sew! Blog, I knew that I HAD to make one! At the time I was supper preggo, and had no intention of making one for myself, but I immediately thought it would be adorable as a little girl's sun dress.

Off to JoAnn's I went in search of some cute material. I totally think I hit the jackpot. This material struck me as so bright and summery.
I used my four year old son, Kyle, as my model, so the dress naturally was given to one of his best friends, Hannah. I love how it turned out. A dang cute dress for an absolutely adorable little girl!
(I made this back in May, but it's taken a while to get a picture of Hannah. I just couldn't post it without her cuteness!)

Ironing made fun!

Okay, is ironing ever really fun? It amazes me how much better it can be when you have a cute ironing board cover to look at during the process. I just recently made this one for my craft-room ironing board.In staying with the theme of my new craft room (and to match my curtains of course!) I used my new favorite fabric. (Moda - Swanky - Peacock Beverly Hills)

Making an ironing board cover was a super easy and quick project, and a great way to spruce up a boring old ironing board. If anybody is interested in a little tutorial, leave me a comment, this is one I could definitely put together!

Curtains...sort of!

The pictures are terrible, but I am SO excited to show off one of my new craft room projects. I LOVE my new "curtain" for my craft room. My inspiration came from this post on the Moda Bake Shop Blog. I left off the beads, attached the tops of the strips with buttons, and tied knots in the bottom. - The project was easy-peasy, super fun for a shabby-sheik look.

Freezer Paper Art!

I have totally fallen in love with freezer paper stenciling. It is so much fun. What ever you can dream up, you can make into a stencil. Below is one of my latest creations...The story: Colby was delivered by c-section. When the doctor delivered him I could hear the doctor and nurses (my husband and mom too for that matter!) saying "he's tiny, just a little peanut." After they confirmed to me that yes, he was small, but healthy and well, I'm pretty sure that I made a comment much the same as everyone else. Needless to say, the nick-name kind of stuck. I couldn't resist making this onesie.

This is another t-shirt that I made as a birthday gift for one of my son's bestest buddies, Carson. (Carson LOVES playing RockBand on the XBOX, the gift was a success!)

I've been busy!

I've been busy...in more ways than one! Mostly with this little one -

Colby Max Pugmire
Born: May 28, 2008 - 8:52 AM
5 lbs. 7 oz.
18 1/2"

So, did you notice his weight and length? He is tiny. My sweet little doll, absolutely adorable. Thankfully he was totally healthy, just little. (Don't let him fool you, tiny size does not equal tiny voice! He's got a great set of lungs on him!)

Colby being born so little has sparked a few crafting opportunities.

Do you remember the little white blessing romper that I made a month or so ago; before Colby was born? Ummm...at least three Colbys would have fit into it. It was ginormous compared to his not ginormousness! Needless to say, it was so big that there was no way to alter it to fit him, I had to make a completely new one for his blessing last weekend.

Here is Colby in the 2nd finished product. a.k.a. mini romperTo give you a little comparison of the size difference. Here is a refrence!

So, if you know somebody who needs a white romper to fit a 'normal' size baby boy, let me know, I have no need for two! Hey, on the bright side the second one whipped up pretty quick since I'd already sewn one a few weeks ago.

I've been busy with a few other projects, but I hear a little boy calling my name in the form of a cry... it must be time to eat again! I'll post again soon, I am finally feeling like I'm back to the land of the living.

One more gift set!

Okay, so I don't want to overkill the gift set thing, but I just had to post one more! This one is actually for my little one as well (I'm having fun spoiling him already!) It's technically a gift for my husband, who is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan. I know that by making some 'manly' burp rags he won't mind carrying them around as much! The fun thing is that I didn't have to buy anything new to make any of it, it was all scraps and such that I had on hand. (I made my husband and son matching pajama pants for fun christmas gifts this year, the Seahawks material was all left-over scraps from making the pants.)
The one new thing I tried was the texture/taggie block. It was way easy and super fun to make. I definitely think I'll have to add these to my repitoire! They can be made up with scraps of material and whip up quickly. I foresee all baby gifts in the future that I give to include a taggie block! (Oh yea, I put a couple small jingle bells inside the batting too for a little fun extra noise.)

Tried Something New!

I am super excited to have found another fun creative outlet! I came across this article a week or two ago and decided I just HAD to give it a try. With one almost four year old boy, and another on the way I am always looking for crafty projects I can do for my boys. (I mean lets be honest here, it is SO much more fun to sew a ruffle dress than a pair of bermuda shorts!) This is something I can do for them that is way easy, and fun, yet I'm pretty sure they won't be embarrassed about in the future!

Here is my first go at Freezer Paper Stenciling...I'm definitely happy with how it turned out, and I know Kyle is going to LOVE it! I bought two other t-shirts to practice on too, I just haven't decided what to put on them.

If you are at all interested in how to do this, check out the article above. The process is painfully easy and FUN! I can't wait to make more.

Gift Set

Isn't this a fun layette/gift set?
I've been working on it for a bit and finally finished the bib today. I've been excited to post it but wanted to wait until I had the complete set all done. It's for a very special baby boy...MINE!!

I'm always making things for other people and to sell, it is so much fun to make something for myself. My mom was concerned that the baby wasn't going to get anything his mommy made, but it's been taken care of folks, this stuff is for him! (his arrival is only 8 days away!)

I got this Michael Miller Kids Toile panel a year or two ago on sale. I bought it with the intention of making a quick top for somebody as a gift. Turns out I ran out of energy to make anything too ambitious for my own baby and came across this material. Luckily I love it. It is SUPER simple. All I did was quilt the panel, but I love the simplicity and how it turned out. I 'framed' each picture and then quilted around each of the scenes.I had half a yard or so of material left over from the quilt back, so I made a few other fun accessories to match the quilt. A sleep-sack, burp-rag, and bib. All stuff that is totally necessary...why not make it cute?Now all we need is the baby!

Project complete!

I'll be honest, I'm pretty proud and excited about this little outfit!Not more than a year ago, I had pretty much sworn off sewing clothing. PERIOD. After a nightmare experience involving a little jacket shrug for a prom dress, I was DONE. Obviously my fears have worn off a bit, which I'm sure is due to the 'nesting instinct' I'm feeling (after all, the baby is on his way in less than two weeks!!) I decided to try to tackle a little outfit for the baby to be blessed in at church. I DID IT! HOORAY! It even turned out like I had envisioned. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will fit the baby okay. I sewed the XS size, but it still looks huge to me. We'll just have to wait and see. - Honestly, either way, sewing this outfit has renewed my confidence in myself...which is very valuable indeed.

Handbag

Hooray! I finally got around to making something for myself! It seems like it has been forever. I've been working hard on lots of projects for other people and I finally took a little time for myself. I found this pattern online for free and thought it was super cute. I just used some fabric from my stash for my first try, but am loving how it turned out. I can't wait to make another one or two in more springy/summery colors. I'll adjust a few things here and there the next time around, but overall, the bag is adorable, I love it!

I think I'm done doing projects for my friends for a while. Hopefully I can get a few projects done in the next few weeks that I've got going. My baby is due in about three weeks, so wish me luck!

Just gettin' stuff done

So although I haven't posted any fun pictures or projects lately, I have actually been sewing quite a bit. Some of what I've been sewing hasn't been fun crafty stuff, just things on my list that have needed to get done.

1 - I think I can be considered a 'real' seamstress now, as I have sewn and mastered my first blind hem stitch! Seriously, these baffled me in the past, but I figured it out and was able to hem my son's suit pants all by myself. Actually, I had to take the waste in too. Hooray for me not having to call my mom to do it! It's nice to feel a little more confident in my abilities.

2 - A friend contacted me a few weeks ago and needed some help mending her grandfather's boat cover. Yep, I said boat cover! As in a big ole ski boat with a HUGE canvas cover. There were a few tares in the cover and the boating place wanted like $800 to fix it. OUTRAGEOUS! While I wasn't willing to use my new machine to do the job, I pullout out my trusty older Singer and did the job quite well. I will admit though, It is the first time that I have ever broken a sweat while sewing! Heaving and moving around all that yardage of heavy material was not easy.

3 - I have been intermittently working on a scrap quilt. I haven't decided weather I'm going to keep it for my family or find a charity to pass it along to. Other than the sashing it's totally made from scraps in my stash. I'll post pictures of it when I get the top done.

4 - Another quick project I picked up last night was to make straps for my neighbor's prom dress and sew a little filler in the open back. Lucky for us the dress came with a nice big shrug thing, so we've got plenty of matching material to work with.

I'm not sure how I get roped into some of the crazy projects for my friends, but what do you do? I love them and try to help when I can. I joke that I work for food, but really I look at it as 'paying it forward'. Hopefully one day when I am in need of one of their services they'll return the favor! (I will admit that I charged a bit for sewing the boat cover, that was a crazy project and I saved them a TON of $!)

NYC!

I so don't love this picture of me... seven months pregnant will do that to a person! But seriously, this was just ONE wall of ONE fabric shop in the garment district. So much beautiful fabric in one place...so little time!
My trip to NYC was for a fun ladies weekend with a group of my girlfriends. We spent most of the time site-seeing and doing the touristy thing, but I was able to talk a few of them into accompanying me to the garment district to fuel my passion! Thanks girls.

FYI - if you've ever thought of seeing The Lion King on Broadway...DO IT. Seriously, it was UNBELIEVABLE. I didn't think it would have been my first choice of shows to see, but my friend got all the tickets and told us to trust her. HOLY SMOKES, I was NOT DISAPPOINTED. Awesome!

My Productive Weekend!

Scott and Kyle have been away this weekend on a fun daddy/son trip. I took full advantage of the opportunity to craft my little heart out!

I was able to finish the top and quilt a quilt that I started a week or so ago. I can't say it is completely done, because I am still finishing the hand-sewing part of the binding, but you get the gist! I got the pattern and inspiration from the Moda Bake Shop (http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/02/bettys-baby-bowtie-quilt.html) I thought the quilt was adorable but didn't love the colors they chose. I went with a different charm pack...Snippets, and fit the base colors more to my liking. The quilt is going to be a gift for someone, but it's a secret!The instructions suggested to do a grid pattern for the actual quilting, but I didn't love the look, so I went with a big stipple instead. I just stitched in the ditch around the small red border, and then in the yellow border did a fun loopty-flowery pattern.

I also took the time to do some scrapbooking. Another favorite past-time of mine! I didn't get a ton done, but enough to fully enjoy myself and make a big ole' mess of the kitchen table!

It's been a fun productive weekend!

Ribbit!

One of my latest nap-time projects!!

This frog was SO much fun to make! It was a quick project that I literally finished during one of Kyle's nap-times.

Teresa - thanks for sharing your pattern with me. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be the sewer/quilter that I am today without all of your inspiration. Thanks for turning me over to the 'dark side!'

Mom - does the material look familiar? I LOVE that you pass me down your scraps and left-overs. Thanks for keeping me going with lots of fun scraps.

What was fun about this project was that it mixed piecing, quilting, and sewing all into one project. I think this is going to be the new baby's (due in early June!) first stuffed animal.

Side note...My sister-in-law Teresa fill hers with the little hard plastic beady things that you would fill bean bags with. I SEARCHED around here for that stuff and couldn't find it. I ended up filling my frog with the little micro-bead poly-fill foam balls. It made a horrendous mess, but after cleaning up a few times with my vacuum all is well and I am super pleased with the outcome. Because of the light weight of the filler I used, it'll be way more suitable for a small child's toy.

A fun give-away

Hey ladies! So you know the fun website that I mentioned in my last blog? I hope that you have checked it out. Anywho, they announced a selvage give-away, and I wanted to pass along the info to you! You can either click on the 'Selvage Blog' on my 'Blog List' or go directly to this site to check it out: http://modalissa.blogspot.com/2009/03/selvages-tell-story.html Maybe one of us will be lucky enough to win. Now that I am all excited about doing some 'selvage' projects it would be nice to have a little bigger stash to work with!

Great idea for going more 'green'

Check out this website... http://www.selvageblog.blogspot.com/
Seriously? The projects are AWESOME!! I never once thought to hang on to my all my selvage edges. I can't even begin to imagine how many yards and yards of selvage I have tossed. I will DEFINITELY start hanging on to them now. I can't wait to start trying some of these selvage projects.

Ribbon Skirt

I saw something like this around Christmas time, and I have been SO excited to have an excuse to try to make one myself. With one little boy and another one on the way, little girl skirts are something we just have no need for in our house :). Lucky for me one of Kyle's best friends is an adorable little girl who just turned 4 and is having a birthday party this Saturday! FINALLY a legitimate reason to try my hand at making a ribbon skirt. (We're coupling it with a cute fru-fru white shirt and white leggings, and some matching hair-bows that I am going to make.) I am super pleased with how it turned out. Not only does it make a plain denim skirt colorful and fun, but it adds a little length to it to make it just that much more modest. - Hopefully we can get Hannah to put on the outfit so that I can take a picture of it in action!

I didn't follow any set of directions to make the skirt, just kind of figured it out on my own. If you'd like to duplicate it and can't figure it out, leave me a comment and I can walk you through it. It'd call it a beginner/innermediate project. Not necessarily hard, just time consuming.

It's here! I can hardly believe it. I can't imagine needing another sewing machine in my life time!

When I came across a deal for this new Bernina 430E it was seriously too good to be true. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. (Although my husband may disagree!) We've been talking for a while about me getting a new machine with all the 'bells and whistles'...I figured it would be another year or two before it happened though. Anyway, long story short, the UPS man brought it to my door today!

A GINORMOUS thank you is in order to Scott, my sweet hubby, who understands me and what makes me happy. The good news is that you've got birthday's and Christmas' covered for at least the next three years! I Love you...and I Love my new 'toy'.

Sharin' the Love!

I am so thrilled to finish this quilt that I can hardly stand it! Truth be told, this has been over two years in the making. It's been one of those projects that I've started and stopped a million times and always had something else take precedence over it. One of my new years resolutions was to finish THIS quilt... WAHOO! Goal accomplished!

Other than a quick quilt made for my son, this is the first quilt that I have EVER made to keep for myself! I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I LOVE IT!! The greatest thing about this quilt is that it has material on it from all over the world, literally. I know for certain that there is material from Cozumel, Mexico (I bought while on vacation), Egypt (my best buddy's husband brought home from a business trip for his wife and I), Annapolis MD, Laurel MD, and West Jordan UT. Also, the very first "real" quilt that I ever made was for my Best Friend, Jamie, as a wedding gift. There are a handful of scraps from her wedding quilt in here too! It has lots of fun memories, truly a quilt to treasure.

Quilting this specific quilt was a blast! I tried some new things and LOVED the outcome. All the light colored material was stippled. On the hearts I did a fun curly-q stitch (I think you can kind of see it on the last picture). The small plaid border had a loopy stitch, and then on the large red border I quilted the word 'love' over and over. SO MUCH FUN!

For anyone who may be interested the pattern I used is called... Ragged Hearts by Homespun Quilts (Designed by Anna Laura Reidt. Code HQ 105 (I borrowed it from my awesome sister-in-law)

Bows for my adorable nieces!

Even on vacation I can't seem to take a break from craft projects. After all, crafting is something that makes me happy, so to combine it with a vacation is a natural marriage!

Since we live so far away from our nieces here in Utah, I have to do all I can to secure my status as 'Favorite Aunt'! (Not really, but I do love to spoil them when I can.) I decided to make them some fun bows for Valentines. Each of them are getting a korker bow and a flower. I even made a mini korker for my little one year old niece, Sophie.(you can see the mini one in the last photo, it's adorable if I do say so myself!) They are all attached to alligator clips that I covered.

Scrapbooking Weekend Jan 09

You know your a scrapaholic when:

• You spend way more money on scrapbooking papers/stamps/tools/etc. than clothes.
• You are a Close To My Heart consultant just for the discount!
• You take weekend get-aways to feed your habit.
• On your weekend get-away, three women's stuff fills up an entire mini-van to the top!
• You can't wait to scrap some more!

Yep, it's official, I'm addicted! I just got back from a super fun weekend of scrapbooking with 17 other great ladies who have the same addiction. We had a blast! It's the longest I've been away for such a trip, and I missed my boys, but I got so much done and had a great time doing it. I can't wait for the big weekend again next year.

Below is a slide show of what I got done. (I honestly expected to get a little more done, but being pregnant slowed me down a little. I had to take brakes and get up and walk around more than usual, but I'm still definitely proud of what I got done.)

Flirty Skirty Apron

My friend asked me to make her an apron like FOREVER ago. I'm a slacker and have just now gotten to it. I wish that I could claim that I created this pattern, but I didn't. Although, I'll admit that I have made changes to better suit my style of sewing. It's fun and flirty, and looks super cute when being worn. Hopefully Miss Kimber will like it.