they know us well

I go in spurts of decorating our house.  A little at a time right?  Well, my parents are redoing their kitchen and my Mom has been bouncing some ideas off me, so naturally I started looking at kitchen things too.  Then, when Brent and I were standing in my parent's work-in-progress kitchen Saturday night, my Dad apologized to Brent for the ideas their project has put in my head.  See, the women in my family can get a little crazy when it comes to new projects.  And poor Dad and Brent know it is inevitable that if one of us starts something, another will follow.  They know us too well.  

And that is exactly what happened!  My Aunt remodeled her kitchen, which lead to my Mom remodeling hers, which has led to me surging ahead with new energy to decorate my house.  (Needless to say, there will be plenty of material for new blog posts!)  I was so energized that early Sunday morning, when I couldn't sleep, I came downstairs at 4:30 am and moved around/reorganized my piano room, placed holds on decorating books from the library, went to church, went to the vintage store worked on our quilt and made dinner.  Then at 8 pm, when I crashed on the couch, Brent kindly woke me up and told me to go to bed.  Even as Brent's to-do list gets longer and longer, he is still patient and supportive of my crazy ideas, as I'm sure my dad is of my mom. 

 

My vintage store finds:



coffee table that i am using as a bench



dark yellow wood frames with nature prints

blue tin tray to catch my threads and scraps



shirt to girls tunic refashion

Since we've had these little teases of warmer weather, I've been bursting with clothing ideas.  Yesterday I took this old shirt of mine....

 and refashioned it into this tunic for Ella! 

Extremely brief instructions:  Using one of her shirts as a pattern, I took in the neck, sleeves and body.  Then I added the ribbon to form a casing for elastic and changed the buttons (told ya' they would be brief...)    

Guess who likes the lemon filling on her girl scout cookies! 

denim skirt and new fabric

A few weeks ago I ordered this skirt from Old Navy. 

I really liked it online, but when I tried it on I did not like the pleats in the back.  Pleats are cute but not when they make your backside look puffy!  Then on Sunday, I remembered my mom had given me some lightweight denim, (chambray I think).  So I made my own, pleat-less, elastic waistband version. 

  

I'm pretty happy with the finished product.  It is a little stiff, but will probably get softer with more wash and wear.  I know it would be better to have pictures of me in it, but pale legs and an almost 3 year old photographer just don't cut it.

Also this weekend, I visited a new fabric shop in Cincinnati called Sewn Studio.  There was so much beautiful fabric it was hard to limit myself to two! 

Wouldn't the red cherry print look cute paired with blue for a skirt or sundress for Ella?

cargo pants to tote

 I've been eyeing all the military/utility canvas jackets popping up in stores, but can't bring myself to buy another coat.  So instead, I was inspired to make a tote out of old cargos from one of my brothers.

it has cool sideways pockets...

and polka dot lining (which is not so military, but fun anyway)!

I might have to say goodbye to the diaper bag!

new spring clips

So I've had my etsy shop for almost four months now, and I feel like I am still trying to find my niche.  There are a LOT of hair clips/headbands out there!  So I am trying to combine two of my favorite things right now - felt and embroidery.  Here are my favorites so far...

a tulip trio!

bicycle clip!

and because I wish I could wear the little girl clips, I made something more mommy friendly. 

birthday presents

Last week I made some heating pads and gave them away as birthday presents to two of my sisters.  

 They have a removable bag of rice inside, which can be heated in the microwave.  (Brent and Ella took turns trying them out - sorry Mary, yours was heating Ella's toes!) 

I thought they could also double as a cold compress...just stick in a bag of peas! 

striped pillows

Pillows are definitely the easiest and fastest way to give a room a new look.  And I did just that a few weeks ago when I found some large, striped fabric at Ikea.  

 

I love the chevron pillow (from this tutorial at MADE), but ran out of fabric, time and patience, so I pieced the back.   

(The yellow pillows are actually on our purple couch - yep! we have purple couches and I love them.)

Now, if I can just keep our dog off the new pillows...

the LOST sweater

After Christmas we didn't have a whole lot going on, so Brent and I started watching LOST.  I wasn't really interested in the show while it aired, mainly because everyone told me I needed to start from the beginning or I would be "lost"  (haha sorry - it was going to happen sometime...). 

 We were totally sucked in!  In less than two months we watched ALL 6 seasons!  But at least I didn't just sit there and do nothing.  I made a sweater...

It is a bolero pattern by Debbie Bliss, from her Junior Knits book I believe.  I shortened the sleeves and used a different yarn - the sleeves were suppose to have a rolled-up cuff, but since I used a heavier, cotton yarn I thought the cuff would look too puffy. 

After all that time in front of the tv, I'm now looking for a new book to read.  You know, stimulate my brain a little.  Any suggestions?

sunshine

I think all of us could use a little SUN today!

p.s. i'm coming back to the blog!

ripped pants

I was really excited for naptime today.  My plan was to make some pants for Brice to wear at Christmas.  I even thought I'd be able to do a tutorial on pants with a knit waistband.  I used black corduroy and they were coming together great!  Then RRRRR-I-P!! 

The pants tore right down the side seam!  And it was the fabric, not the stitching.  Turns out, this corduroy can tear everywhere -  the pants are now in shreds, in the trash can.  Each time I tore it, I imagined Brice crawling around at Christmas Eve mass, ripping his pants every time he moved!

This corduroy isn't new.  My mom gave it to me and it was probably from when she was making clothes for us kids.  It might be 20 years old!  So maybe the age made it less durable.  I'm going to blame it on that, and move on to the jeans...   

easy christmas garland

Over the next few weeks, when I'm not making Christmas gifts, I plan to add to our decoration collection.  And just in case you're in need of a few ideas, I'll share some here.  First up, Christmas garland! 

I'd seen this Fall garland on Cluck Cluck Sew and thought it would look great for Christmas too! 

Supplies:

felt

scissors

circular objects (I used a wine glass and a kids cup...does that say something bad about me?)

trace a bunch of circles and cut them out

 

sew them, down the middle of each circle, in one long line, keeping them very close together, but not overlapping

and hang it up! 

You could probably do this with paper, or I thought it would be cool to use felted Christmas sweaters.  Let me know if you try it!

Now I'm off to finish some t-shirt quilts...

quilted coasters

Last month, I participated in a coaster swap with the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild.  The pattern I used can be found in Joelle Hoverson's book Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  (If you haven't seen her books yet, check them out.  She has two wonderful knitting books and the sewing one is just as great.) 

 Anyway, here are some coasters similar to the ones I brought.  I made two sets, thinking I'd save the other for a Christmas gift...they just need to be finished! 

Here are the coasters I got in exchange!  Aren't they adorable??  I just love the print- it reminds me of a Christmas book we read when we were little. 

Thank you Barb!!

And I can't keep them away from Ella.  So, if you're at our house and need a coaster, check the playroom!

infinity scarf pattern

Wow, how many knitting projects can I have going all at once?  Today I counted 5! 

There is a dark red sweater vest for Brice's Christmas outfit, a scarf for our church donation, an unfinished infinity scarf and the new infinity scarf.  Not included is the hat I've slowly been making myself!  Hmmm...do I start projects and not finish sometimes....yes. 

But here is a pattern for one I did finish!  Have you seen or heard of infinity/cowl scarves?  Basically they are a long, wide loop.  Super comfortable and easy to wear.  Here's a pattern that I made up. 

For a scarf that is about 80" around and 8 inches wide you will need:

size 15 (10mm) circular knitting needles

a chunky ball of yarn - I used a super bulky acrylic yarn.  It called for size 11 needles and had 104 yards.

basic knitting/purling skills. 

Cast on 120 stitches.  Place a marker and join, careful not to twist.  Knit 2 purl 2 all the way around (and around and around!)

Be careful when you are going to cast off.  I recommend ending with WAY more yarn than you think you will need - definitely don't want to cast off halfway around and run out! 

new headband designs

Yesterday I was up at 5:30 am unable to sleep because I had so many ideas in my head!  (There are definitely worse reasons for being up that early...)  But I took advantage of the extra time and made some new designs for headbands.  I'm so excited about these!! 

Ella was such a good model this morning!  All it cost me was one hershey kiss :)  I hope to have these in my etsy shop this afternoon.  Happy Friday! 

old chairs, new look

Over the summer I found 3 of these chairs at the Loveland Vintage and Thrift.  They were 3 for $15 - what a steal!  I thought I'd find super cute fabric and cover them right away. 

 Well, I did one of them that day...

I covered the first chair in a fabric called Freebird by Momo for Moda.  I love the print, but wasn't sure I wanted three of them.  (It's not home dec weight fabric at all - just quilting weight.  I put some thick interfacing on it which helped make it more durable.  Although, who knows how long anything will last around here with our two kiddos racing around!)

 

I finally brought the other two in from the garage this weekend.  I was waiting for the perfect fabric and just couldn't settle on one, so I found a $3 curtain panel at Target and again thougth, what a steal!  But it was horrible!!  The fabric was so slippery and had no give!  They look fine now (just don't look underneath them!)...

 

 

 but next time I will use better material, even if it's not "a steal". 

 

a little shop

I finally did it!!  An Etsy shop!  Check out naptimecraftime.  Ok, so there's not a whole lot there yet I know - I wanted to put up just a few things and see what happens.  Also, my plans to take pictures have been ruined by the gloomy, rainy day we're having here in Cincinnati.  But it has been the perfect day to sit down and get serious about Etsy.  If you check it out, please bear with me, I'm still learning! 

All this worrying and thinking about whether our not I should do a shop has left me pretty far behind on my blog.  So hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow and allow me to do some catching up!



a quilt for us

I'm finally getting around to making a quilt for our bed.  Our bedroom has become pretty pitiful - kids toys on the floor, laundry that needs to be put away...so I thought a quilt would make it all better!  I decided to go with greens, blues, purples and greys with a little brown.  The pattern I'm using is Amy Butler's Lotus Brick Path, which I just made larger to fit our queen size bed.  

The problem with working on such a big quilt in our house, is that there is no where to leave it laid out while the kids are awake!  So I laid it out during naptime, then placed each row in its own plastic bag.  This way I can work on it when I have the time.  (And hopefully finish before Christmas!)    

Meanwhile I'm working on some more felt things and considering using Big Cartel or Etsy to sell a few headbands and hair ties.  Maybe I'll have some for next week...  Better get crackin'