Matilda Jane

Since I have been posting about other people's cute stuff, I can do one more! I do think I forsee me making some of my own versions of this stuff! BY far some of the cutest clothes I have seen in some time! Matilda Jane is the name of the clothing line. I think I love it because it reminds me of Oilily a bit or Cakewalk with all the mixing and matching.

I do so heart apron dresses and the combo with the pants with ruffles on the bottom. I will need to start thinking of how my creations will come to be...perhaps that shirt I was going to make into mommy daighter aprons might be best for a project much like this....

FYI- Nora I think the first pic reminds me of little baby Alice!

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

Seriously, this is a designer after my own heart! Amazingly she also makes reversible skirts...and she loves Michael Miller fabrics. I think she is my sewing twin! She will be designing and selling these skirts with reversible shirts - which I love too.

But the socks....I think I have seriously overdone tights as Ella has more than 20 pairs...I love love love these socks. How cute would she be going off to kindergarten in these?

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

A is for Ant

I told you this would be addictive! The "A is for ant" shirt for Lars easily came to fruitition! Here are some pics of this new cute outfit. I also am proud to say I got more blank shirts at a garage sale so bring on the prints!

Re-Purposing Clothes ... coming soon!

I am working on re-purposing some items I love into something new. Part of this whole green movement that I think we all need to try! I wonder how long I can go without buying anything new- clotheswise for my kids? (Does not include underwear or socks!) Let's see how this works!

I am hoping to get a mother daughter apron set from this old shirt/dress I wore in my Phishing days.

This was a dress of Ella's and I still love the fabric but not the huge black mark her brother made in the front. Perhaps this will become a dolls dress or just scraps for use in a project to come? I will post finished items following vacation unless they get done sooner!

Copycats

Do you notice anything similar here? Today Ella came out of her room dressed like her build a bear. She thought this would be the perfect outfit for church. I figured any clothes and church is better than no clothes & church or dress clothes and no church. So Lars was nominated to dress like Holly Polly as well. I think they pulled it off pretty well! Is Lars a ham here or what?

Little Boy Pants

It seems like I always think of fun things to make for Ella, so I have been working on giving Lars some creative attention. I think these pants (and the robot shirt) should help me in this category. I think making him elastic pants makes sense because he can actually get them on and off for potty.

First, I used a pair of his Hanna pants I love so much and I traced them with a generous seam allowance and made my own pattern. I decided to add a contrasting cuff onto both pants for cuteness and for length. I figured if they were too long, then they could be rolled up with a splash of color. Lars loved the Heather Ross cars material which I trimmed out with a pinwale orange cord material. So sweet!





I fell in love with the next material which is logs with tiny pink ants hiding throughout the pattern. I picked up on the blue with my favorite go to aqua blue dots. I have a plan to make a coordinating t-shirt with some kind of "A is for ant" message with an image likeness of an ant from the material. I think this will be a great outfit for school in the fall.

Freezer Paper Robots are So Addicitive!

Actually I am not referring to the robots as addictive, but I am sure this process will completely be a fun one and I will be hooked in no time so I am sure there is more to come. Ella has all ready requested a kitty shirt and I am also working on my own version of the Appaman age t-shirts for Lars & Ella.

By the way, this a super easy and did I say cheap way to custom design your own shirts. I used freezer paper for $3, fabric paint for $.99 (I barely used any), and a fabric paint brush (set of 3 for $3). Follow the directions here. I think anyone can do this! More to come!

More Loose Teeth

Shocked it an understatement...as Ella has not one, not two, but three more loose teeth! One fell out about a month ago and the one next to it on the bottom is really close to falling out soon. The other night, she complained of her top tooth hurting and sure enough it was loose, as well as the other one. So it is entirely likely that Ella will loose both of her front teeth by the start of kindergarten. She is becoming such a big girl!

I will need to look for some pictures of me from kindergarten missing my front teeth...coming soon!

Storms Storms Storms

We seem to not have a shortage of rain here. It seems lately that it is hot & humid or stormy with high winds. Even the kids are wondering why it is raining so much...isn't it summer? Why can we play outside? Well, a thunderstorm is a reason to stay in. Winds of 60 mph is another reason to stay in- little Larsie would be blown away in the wind at that rate. Now I have small branches and one big one littering the backyard. I have offered the kids a quarter to help pick them up tomorrow. They love coins right now and will do lot to earn them. Let's see how long this lasts! Meanwhile, bring on summer go away rain!

Kitties & Birdies

I have been excited to do some sumer sewing and here we go! Ella chose this adorable and retro kitties fabric by Michael Miller. They seem to be on the way to becoming my favorite fabric company! I thought kitties would be cute with birdies, so I found this to go with.


I began with the idea of making a skirt with bird trim, but if you know me my creative mind works as I go. I also found some oh so soft muslin at Home Ec. which is a bargain price of $4 a yard - which is even better since it is 90 inches wide. I decided to line the skirt with this muslin and attach the bird fabric as a large bias peeking out from under the kitty skirt top. I then found some pink bias trim to put on the bottom of the kitty skirt. I thought the contrast would be cute and really make the birdy fabric from the bottom stand out.



Well I made the casing for the elastic and tucked the liner inside the casing as I sewed. I then took a good look and realized this skirt could be reversible!!!! So I used some remnant kitty fabric and made two small pockets made for little hands. I love how you have the kitty waist band, pockets and then birdy trim. The muslin makes a great background for these fabrics.



Ella was a little sad I could not get this done in time for Farmer's Market tonight but I think she will be fine when she realizes she got not just one but two skirts! I am pretty sure she will like the kitty side, while I like the slightly more reserved side. All in all I love both.

Coming soon, pants for boys!

Holly Polly

A little photo essay to remember Lars' first trip to get his own Build a Bear for being potty trained! As he says, "I am a big boy now!" It took about 15 minute to choose the animal- I had to steer him away from the red, white & blue bear. He almost chose a rabbit- it was pretty cute too! He made me laugh when he had a name ready to go, Holly Polly, when the lady asked. He referred to it as Holly Polly all afternoon. He was very proud to show it to everyone adn tell them that he is now potty trained. Way to go Lars!

Card Table Makeover

I think this was a curbside find,and Bret did not know why I kept it as it was old and not pretty. Well I thought it had good structure and I knew I would be able to save it.

I have had this project in my head but have not gotten around to it. The other day I was in the garage and I spotted my table and some nice brown spray paint...so I naturally decided to get to work. The top pried off easily with metal bent tabs holding it down. Then I cleaned and sprayed the table base and legs a dark chocolate brown and then a clear coat to protect the paint from scratching off.

Next was the best part. I visited the girls at Home Ec. for some truly fantastic oilcloth- which is a little thinner- more of a vinyl backed fabric. It is a Michael Miller fabric and they call it laminated cotton. It is great as it still has some stretch in it.

I stapled this to the base taking care to line up the geometric design and to also not mar this fabric. The corners I saved for last wrapping them around and stapling them like crazy using 1/4 inch staples using my trusty staple gun.

Then on to assembling! This proved to be the most difficult (but not by much) part of the whole task as I was struggling to get the metal tabs to bend back over to hold the top into place.


Voila- a new table- I may need to have my very own lemonade stand! Or a rousing game of cards may need to occur on one of these summer nights!

Buttons Buttons Buttons

Inspirations strikes me in different ways. This is a lot of inspiration as well as a lot of nostalgia. My grandmother always had a jar of random buttons I found great to sift through and sort out.

I ran across an ad on Craigslist (my new favorite place!) of a woman with a lot of buttons and she asked for an offer. I offered her $20 for half. She and I played a little cat and mouse and a month later she brought the buttons to my house for me to choose what I wanted. Needless to say I was completely overwhelmed and in awe of this massive and incredible collection. I easily chose all the pretty colors and unique ones. Ella came out and began to sort away fro a couple of hours that afternoon.



She made a jar of her favorites and labeled it with her name. Sound familiar to anyone? It does to me! The colors are incredible! I really can't wait to create some project with these.



She also had a bag with trims and bias. It is old stuff and I will find ways to put it to use! She even said she would look to see if she has more as she doesn't sew and won't use it. I am in love! What a great day it was! Now I need time to create- I am really inspired.

Iowa City Arts Fest- Kids Day

face painting

painting the city

Lars trying to balance the yoke

duck pond

dancing & singing


Ella made a quilt

Bret & Ella spotted some pigeons

making fossil depressions