Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sandy's Pillowcases

So...at lunch one day, my friend Sandi asked me if I would make a Valentine pillowcase for her granddaughter.  I said sure. Go to Strawberry Patches because they have the cutest fabric with valentines on it called Pam Kitty Love.  They will help you with the amount and help you coordinate the 3 fabrics you need.

Later that afternoon, she called me from Strawberry Patches and the first thing she said was "I'm going to pay you." I'm butting in and saying "Oh no...I'll just make you a pillowcase...they are easy peasy."
"No, Beverly, I'm going to pay you. I just bought 10 yards of fabric from the fabric line Pam Kitty Love and I want you to make it all into pillowcases.
I should have taken a picture of the big stack of fabric she brought me. Knowing my love for Pam Kitty fabric, you must have known how my heart pitter-pattered just looking at it.
I was anxious to get started.

So...here are the pillowcases for her granddaughters.
You can find a tutorial for making these easy peasy pillowcases here.

I just had to put one on a pillow to see how it looked.
SEW CUTE!!

Then Sandi sent me a link to this on Pinterest and asked me to use all the rest of the fabrics to mix and match for pillows like this. I don't crochet any more, so she gave me a bunch of pom-pom trim and ric-rac.


I got 5 more pillow cases out of her yardage.

I wanted to put them on a chair like the photo on Pinterest, but I don't have a chair in my RV small cottage.
So here one is on my sewing table.

I noticed in all the pictures on Pinterest I saw of pillows stacked on chairs, the pillow was covered with a coordinating fabric.  So by adding a 5" facing inside the case, I could slip it over the pillow for the right effect.
(If you click on my Pinterest button on my sidebar, and go to my Pillow Love board, you will see all the pins for pillows stacked on chairs.
SEW CUTE!!

Met Sandi last night and delivered her pillowcases.  She loved them.
I had a hard time letting go of them...there's something about that fabric and anything that's made from it that makes my heart pitter patter.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Pinterest Try Thursday


I had a recipe and a hemming technique planned, but I was so excited to show you a couple of Valentine inspired projects, just had to do these first. I'll share the recipe and hemming technique next week.

Last week was Bernina Club at my favorite quilt store, Strawberry Patches. I hadn't been to one in a while and I was excited to see what other ladies had been working on and to see all the new fabrics Suzanne had to show.
I remembered that Suzanne had encouraged us at one time to make name tags. A lot of the ladies had them, but I had not got around to making mine.
When Suzanne put these up on Pinterest, I knew right away what I was going to do for a name tag.
You'll find a tutorial for these here
They are made from my favorite Pam Kitty Love fabrics.  They no longer have the heart fabric, but the button card fabric is still available, I think.

Here's my version...my name tag,
Complete with vintage buttons.

and one of my tags that I hand stitched around in red of course.

Sew...while I had my pink and red going on, I made my February Mug Rug.
As before, I got inspiration from Pinterest, but did my own thing with the Pam Kitty Love.
Thanks goodness I bought a yard of that heart fabric a while ago.
Again, vintage pearl buttons, a little lace 

(Opps! Sorry it's sideways.)

and...little red glass beads for some sparkle.

I love a little simple patchwork to practice my machine quilting on.


I have been loving "Grandmothers Flower Garden" lately and have done a few small projects. I have had a Hexie board on Pinterest since I started pinning.  Hop over there (Click the follow me on Pinterest button on my sidebar) and take a look at all the cuteness.
When I saw this on Pinterest, I just wanted to make some Hexies so I could put them in a cute little box like this...I know how silly am I.
  
www.auntiesquaintquilts.blogspot.com


I had a bag full of scraps from my Dresden quilt that I have been cutting into hexies.
Pam Kitty Morning...what else.
So I went looking through my stuff and found a box...not a cute box like the one above, but it helps me keep organized and it does look cute with my little hexies all lined up. Have a bunch of white ones cut laying underneath the colored ones.
This way it is all ready for me to take to the other room to work on while watching American Idol.
I'm making a pillow for my little blue and white trailer.
Gotta love that Pam Kitty Morning fabric.



That's all for my Pinterest tries this week. Have you tried anything you saw on Pinterest?
If you blog about it, come back and tell me and I'll link to your blog.



Leaving you with this:


God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

My New "Little" Girl

When I found this Vintage valentine on Pinterest, I knew I just had to do a post about the newest member of my family.
Isn't this just
Sew Sweet


 Remember Rosie. I found her a couple of years ago at Home Goods.
She has been dressed in dresses, bibs, aprons, skirts and even had bags thown across her shoulder for pictures.
I don't know what I would do without her. She also helps make my little space look more like a Sew Studio.
 Well, before Christmas, I was looking for some gifts for the American Girl dolls that live in the house in my front yard and I came across this little beauty.
She wears clothes that fit an 18" doll...AKA "American Girl Doll.
She is the perfect little sister for Rosie and her name is

Rosebud

Four of my girls have American Girl dolls and I have made several outfits for them.
Two of them...Lexi and Camy celebrate their birtdays on Saturday, so last week I made robes and jammies
for their dolls.
It was so much fun dressing Rosebud and taking pictures.
This one is for Lexi who got a new white robe for Christmas and loves the color blue.

Of course it is a little hard to get a good picture of jammie pants on a one legged girl,
but we persevered.
Here's Camy's and she is  still in the purple phase.
The Minkee for both the robes are scraps from pillowcases and the fabric for the jammies was out of my stash too.
I don't have a lot of purples, so had to get a little creative with these.
Then I  went back to Amazon where I found Rosebud and found the cutest slippers to match each robe.
If you are looking for a less expensive line of clothing and accessories for an American Girl doll, I have found
Sofia's has the cutest things. Not only are they less expensive, but very well made.

I may just have to make Rosebud an outfit to wear all the time. Kinda like having my very own little girl to dress. Maybe she will get a whole wardrobe.

I think I have messed up my font and the size, but bear with me. I'll get it back...maybe.


Beware...Valentines Day brings out something in me...remember last year?  I feel some posts
in Red and Pink coming up.

Also, I'll be starting my Pinterest Try Tuesday again, only I am going to try it on Thrusday instead.
Someone I know has a Tutorial Tuesday and I'm hoping to see more posts there...hint hint, Suzanne
No pressure, I'm just sayin'.

So since I found the Valentine at the top of the post on Pinterest, I guess this is my first Pinterest Try Thursday.
If you try something you find on Pinterest and post about it, come back here and tell me and I will put a link to your "try".




God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Crazy Fun!!

Oh my! The RV small cottage is so quiet right now.
My two grands from Tehachapi arrived Thursday in time for dinner.
Then Friday, after golfing for Papaw and Kyle and lunch out with some friends for Madi and I, we picked up two more. Then just before dinner the other six arrived...yes...you read it right. All ten in the RV small cottage for 24 hours.
CRAZY FUN!!

After a dinner of  Tacos, we had dessert of brownies and Peanut Blossom cookies. Before bedtime, the whole batch of Brownies and the whole cookie jar of Peanut Blossom were as Mr. SS said "History".
Kyle, Cade Jack and Camy.
Lexi and Kobi
For the first time ever, we were not all together for Christmas Eve. The kids always draw names and write or draw a picture for whomever they draw.  The first year, they framed the picture and the frame was part of the gift. Now they just add their new picture to the frame each year. It's really fun to see what they come up with and as they get older, the pictures change and more words are added. It is the sweetest thing to see how excited they are to see who drew their name and are so proud of their new pictures. From age 2 to 18, it is still special
I'm not going to show you each one, but here's a few.
Jack drew Kyle a football. Even 6 yr. old Jack know his big cousins love of football.
Kyle used the computer for pictures and  wrote the nicest encouraging letter to Cade who loves playing baseball.
Madi's picture and letter to Drew made me cry...I know...what else is new??
Brooke drew Kobi a sweet picture.

After all the excitement was over and showers everyone was off to bed.  Amazingly, our RV small cottage sleeps 12. Just perfect for Mamaw, Papaw and 10 grands. However the two youngest went home to sleep and came back the next morning.

There are 2 queen bunks in the back where my sewing area is. The youngest boys started out on the top and Kyle on the bottom. The next morning when I woke and checked on them I found the little boys down with Kyle...one on each side...so cute.
Later while I was making breakfast, the picture had changed.
Cade, Jack, Camy and yep Emmy were watching Tarzan with Kyle on his phone. Guess who has the best "seat"
Three full sized TVs in our RV small cottage and five of those silly kids are watching a "phone"!!
Between doing hairdos, the other five are at the other end of the RV in my bed watching Disney channel.
Oops...Camy jumped ship and is in this picture too.
All this while I'm making breakfast.
What do you fix 10 hungry little(and big) munchkins for breakfast, you ask?
Well, Mickey Mouse pancakes, of course. From 2 to 18 they still like Mamaw's Mickey pancakes.
I think it's the chocolate chips, don't you??

It's a good thing it was a nice sunny day, because some of that sugar from breakfast needed to be run off.
So  for a while there was jumping on the trampoline.
And there was lots of throwing the football around.
Then after lunch there was card playing
and castle building in the sandbox. (Sorry this isn't a video???)
and nap time for the little ones.

Then before the party broke up and everyone went home, they all got together for a picture.

I don't need to tell you, do I, that my Blessing's jar got a little fuller this weekend.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

January is Here

Can you believe it is January already. My Mom used to tell me that the older you get the faster time goes.
I believe it. It was only yesterday I was complaining about the heat.

 New Years Day is a day of back to back football around here. I'm not a great lover of watching football, but I love to sit and sew next to Mr. SS as he is consummed with 1st downs, tackles and touchdowns.
(see I know a little about the game. My three sons played youth football from the age of 8.  Mr. SS and all three sons played HS football. Mr. SS and one son played college football and I never missed a game when they were playing.)

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I wanted to make a mug rug for each month this year.  So while watching the Rose Parade, I got started on my

January Mug Rug
 I machine appliqued the Snowman but
the rest was hand work. So, I was able to sit with Mr. SS and "watch" football with him
while I made cute little black and white Hexies and hand appliqued them to my rug.
I also had the face to embroider by hand.
I love his little crooked smile.
This is the same snow man I used on Emmy's snowman Santa bib.
I added a piece of ric rac to the seam and hand sewed little glass beads. Kinda like snow, don't you think?
 This is my new label. I actually remembered to sew it on the back before putting the little rug together.
The binding was hand stitched and finished before the last play of the Rose Bowl.
Even though I pinned many mug rugs and used them for inspiration, this is my own design. I couldn't find  anything that suited my fancy. I have been wanting to do some hexies and thought about doing this in blues, but since the RV small cottage we live in is Black and tan I decided to do black and white. That way it doesn't look Christmasy either.

It will be time to decorate for Valentines Day soon, but I will enjoy this little guy for a little while before I design my February Mug Rug.

I'm off to the grocery store. My Tehachapi kids will be here for a couple of days and tomorrow night we will have all 10 for dinner and a sleep over...can you hear me say "CRAZY FUN"


God is Good!!
Life is Good!!