Aprons

I was away last week at girls camp. (Church camp for young ladies, ages 12-17) Our theme for the week was 'Be All That You Can Be.' We went with the whole camo look to match our theme. Before heading off to camp, I wanted to make a little something special for the ladies who would be cooking our food the whole week. Making camo cute isn't too easy, but I gave it my best try...
Notice the 'bling' on the pockets? That was my favorite part of the above apron. My attempt to make it girly.
This apron was a little more simple, but the ruffles on the pocket and polka-dot straps helped to girlify it a bit!

And these are the two kitchen angels who cooked our YUMMY food for the week. They ROCKED the kitchen and made awesome food. Not an easy task when feeding 150 people three times a day. Thanks again ladies!

*FYI - the first apron is a pattern that I purchased a while back called 'Flirty Skirty'. The other one I just winged. I used a basic apron that I was given years ago to help size it correctly, but from there it was all me! It was SUPER SIMPLE.

so little time...

It's been entirely too long since I've posted an entry on my blog. My mantra for this summer is definitely... SO much to to, SO little time! I have so much crafty stuff to get done that I finally had to make a 'To Do list' for myself. It is slightly discouraging that the list is growing at a much more rapid pace than the items being crossed off!

A week from Monday I will be gone for a week at a young women's camp for our church. I love camp, but being one of the leaders, and the 'crafty one' at that, has left me with a TON to get done. Wish me luck on accomplishing my tasks! I'll be sure to get up some pictures as I check items off my list!
In the mean time, there is a little something home-made I got done this week...I use the term 'home made' loosely this time! :) It was my contribution to a dinner we got invited to earlier in the week. It looked pretty and tasted great...a success in my book! (I got the idea years ago from a Food Network show to save the top of the pineapple to use for decoration. This is the first time I tried it. I like the visual appeal!)

it's a book-purse!

It's a book...It's a purse...It's a book-purse!...I SO wish that I could claim this idea as my own. I think it is SO original and unique. But alas, like most things in the crafty blogosphere I got my idea from here. The tutorial is great. I wasn't sure how my first one would turn out, but I LOVE IT! I think I especially love the extra flowers and 'bling' that I added to the outside. It totally gives it an elegant 'pop'. (It's wierd, I am almost never attracted to floral prints, but for some reason this print just seemed perfect for the occasion. I might have to give florals more thought in the future!)
This book-purse is going to be part of a graduation gift for my niece. She's an adorable girl who loves bags and purses. This one should be different than all her others!

**Side note - I picked the books up at a local thrift store. I've also seen hardcovers on sale at the Library for like $.50 ea. I found the handles at JoAnn's.

baby shower gift..

So this cute woman that I go to church with is having baby girl #3. It's pretty exciting, seeing as #2 is only 12 months old! There is going to be some crazy times in that household and one tired mommy.

I thought a little something special for the new baby was in order! I kind of just came up with this little quilt on the fly, using stuff from my stash...And because a new mom can NEVER have too many burp rags, I embellished a couple to match the blanket too. Just a little something extra!

I've never quilted flannel or minky material before, but it went just fine. I just decided to do a big stipple, as I didn't want to minimize the soft minky material. The quilt measures about 42"x42". I had every intention of making this a light summer quilt, but it ended up kind of heavy. Hopefully they'll be able to use it one way or another!

And because I think this picture of my baby is super cute, I had to post it too! My hubby and youngest...Colby. (As you can see, my boys get their beautiful blue eyes from their handsome daddy!) It's crazy to believe that Colby is turning ONE tomorrow. Happy Birthday baby boy!

it's totally divalicious!

So I finished this fun little purse last night...Some good friends of ours have a daughter graduating from high school this year. I made her two older sisters quilts for them to take off to college when they graduated. I knew that she'd be expecting something too. Knowing that she is a lot more girlie than the other two, I gave her the option of me making a quilt, or a handful of different bags and purses. She chose the second option! (A girl after my own heart!) She is a fun girl, totally cute, and totally divalicious. This little purse screams Michelle! I love the bling around the monogram...so fun.

And because I was having fun making it all fru-fru, I decided to make it two sided...
It's amazing how much 'pop' can be achieved by just adding a flower. I attached the flower with a pin, so she can either leave it on the bag, or use it as a broach, or what ever her little heart desires.

The first bag I made for her is cute and functional...this bag is a little over the top. I think she'll love it! Two down, two to go.

Its a sCrapy quilt!

Now that our big spring show is over and we have lots of inventory in our shop, it's time for some 'fun' sewing and getting projects done that have been on the back burner!

I've had the idea for this quilt on my mind for a LONG time. I've never attempted to make a quilt completely from scraps. I knew it was going to be crazy, because my scrap pile is so diverse, but the intention of this quilt is to go to a charity, so I figured a little crazy would be okay.I'm actually pretty happy with how my first 'scrappy' quilt turned out. I seem to have a plethora of strips, so I sewed the strips together and then cut the long rectangle into four right-angle triangles, which I then sewed back together to form my squares. I think the blocks have some fun motion in them. The material is crazy and non-matching, but I think It worked for what I was attempting.I'm not in love with the white on white material I used for the sashing, but I had it on hand, so I used it! (I'm kind of glad I stash busted that one, now I don't have to ever use it again!) For the borders, I just continued with my strip theme and used up by last bit of scraps. I would have liked to try out some fun new quilting technique with this, but the youth from my church need to get in a few service hours, so I'm going to let them tie the quilt instead.

I made the goal at the beginning of the year to make two quilts to donate to a charity in 2010. One down, one to go!

Old Town Warrenton Spring Festival

Whew! It's been a long couple of weeks preparing for the the Warrenton Spring Festival. Now it has come and gone, and was worth every bit of the hard work and preparation!

Here's a glance at our tent...We filled the little front table with delicious looking headbands and clips...All of our boutique baby and child clothing, as well as the 'Just Like Mommy Aprons' were hanging up for easy viewing.We had a tower filled with carseat blankets and nursing covers...The table of headbands was a new addition, and a BIG success!
We created a 'wall' of hair clips -And there was one more tower with tie onesies and tie t-shirts, along with all the tutu's.

And last, but certainly not least - a picture of Lynette and I in our tent.I am so lucky to have such a wonderful and talented business partner. She's one of my best friends, which makes it even better! Thanks for such a fun day Lynette, I can't wait for the next big show! (Okay, I'm actually glad we have a little break, I'm ready to do some projects around my house that took a backseat the past few weeks :)

We had a blast meeting lots of new people and so appreciated our friends stopping by to say 'Hi!'

Now I'm on to new summer projects! Keep your eyes out for some fun new things!