samesies?

I think Molly and I may have the same pattern for bean bags. I would put the link, but I have no idea how you do that. I feel like a computer dumb bucket - how do you not put the link, but a simple word to go to a site? Anyways, Michael loves rolling it, climbing on it and as you can see perching on it! This was my first sewing project!

My next big sewing endeavor is cloth diapers - some amazing women have me convinced it is the way to go! I hope I will be able to post soon the diapers and my thoughts on the whole thing.

I am on fire with the skirts.

I used this tutorial to make flowers. They were easy but took about 30 minutes each while I watched a movie.And I used this tutorial to make the skirt itself. Beware the annoying Madonna that plays over and over on the website. You should definitely shut off your speakers. I made the flowers with felt and thread but I attached them to the skirt with embroidery floss. They are designated as dress-up so I wanted them to be sturdy.

Mission accomplished: It spins beautifully.

Easy girls skirt.

I found this tutorial a few weeks ago and when I found a free pair or cords I decided to make it. I modified it a bit since I had to dismantle a pair of pants but the concept is the same, my skirt just has a few more vertical seams than hers and my flowers are much more basic. I recommend this if you are learning how to sew for your kids. The shape is very forgiving and corduroy is ideal for a play skirt so it doesn't matter if it gets beat up.

If you sew and have boys you should check out this website. She dedicated a month to boy projects. Some are difficult but most are manageable for someone who is learning.

Bean Bag Chair

I made this as a birthday gift for our nephew. It's actually an easy pattern...but I managed to make it take FOREVER by trying to cut corners. I swore off ever making one again, but Chloe loves it... so there ya go.

It has an inner shell (that holds all the static-y little balls we still find all over our house) and an outer shell that can be taken off (with Velcro) to be washed.

I chose a space theme for the fabric.

It's time to play kitchen.

One of my favorite toys growing up was my play kitchen. I have fond memories of baking up a storm, pulling out the fold-down table and sharing a delicious snack with my care bear, rainbow bright & Gem.
Imagine me dicing up a little treat at this state-of-the-art kitchen center.

Being that I'm so obsessed with the fuzzy memories of my tiny little culinary feasts, I've been researching play kitchens for Chloe pretty much since she was born. I have big plans to give her a fully stocked kitchen for her 2nd birthday including dreams of a beautiful wooden kitchen for our little chef, but to be honest, the plastic kitchens are striking my fancy more these days - they are usually larger, cheaper and come with more accessories. But nothing seems to fit the bill when it comes to the 'perfect' play kitchen: wooden, well spaced, plenty of doors/drawers/shelves, table included for serving up a mean tea party, a phone, doesn't include sounds, and has a sleek vintage/modern look...oh yeah, and less that 500.00 would be nice....and by less than 500.00 I mean it has to be less than 200.00.
I'd rather make a modified version of this...or this this or this or this or this or this or this. I just have to convince myself to commit to this seemingly monumental task.

more valentines

Since Molly shared her valentine creations I thought I would share a few of mine as well. I found tons of vintage valentine images online (I posted a list on my blog HERE). Mostly I just printed them all on cardstock and them cut them out and Jimmy gave them to everyone in the family. I took pictures of a few of the ones I did a little something extra to.

I just stuck all of these ones on my bulletin board with some other non-valentine things, but it was the easiest way to take a picture of them all at once. The one in the bottom left I found at an estate sale and it is the only real vintage valentine in the bunch. It says, "To Betty From Hermie" which I thought was great. I couldn't really part with it so I guess it was my valentine to myself.

Valentine.

Here is my idea of a great Valentine Decoration...
Frames from Target's dollar spot with vintage valentine's from a garage sale.

I plan on doing the same with Easter & Christmas cards I got garage sale-ing too.