Finished Products

Here are the finished planting and sewing products from my weekend work!

Before Shot: Winter Pot Mix

After Shot: Summer Pot Mix

Yes, they are pink and white in anticipation of our little girl's arrival!  They should still be in bloom when we bring her home from the hospital!  It was my Mom's idea to plant all pink and white flowers and I loved it!

Fresh Basil

And since they yard is in full bloom right now, I took some pictures to record the beautiful flowers! I love this time of year and wish it would stay this way forever!

 Finally, here is the bubble I made for Rollins! I think his Mom really liked it :)

The Has Beens, Flowers, Sewing, & Baby Registry

Saturday, Brad and his best friends from high school, Wes, Blake, and Lance, played in the Rick & Bubba Connect 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Met.  They named their team the "Has Beens" since they have been playing ball together since middle school!  Here are some fun shots of them in action taken by Lance's girlfriend.  

They did much better than they expected for being "has beens" and lost in the quarter-finals.  I think they were actually relieved to lose because they were all sunburned and sore from playing 6 games!   Also, they wanted to get home and watch the Masters!

I, however, was hoping they would go all the way because there was a $750 prize for the winning team!

While Brad was playing basketball, I worked on a few projects I have been meaning to do.  First, I went to Lowe's and picked out some Summer flowers for my front porch pots.  

Then, I worked on a bubble for one of my favorite almost-1-year-old little boys! His Mom, Kat and I shopped for the fabric back in January.  Better late than never, right? 

Finally, Brad and I finished up a long Saturday at Buy Buy Baby.  Registering has been weighing on me as something I must do in order to get ready for this baby so it felt great to finally make some progress!  We actually had fun doing it too!!
(Not our best shot :) but necessary for documentation)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

Remember my first sewing project ever?  I pulled these out this month in honor of Valentine's Day!! 
Please excuse the stains on the pot holder - it has been put to good use :)

And this Valentine's Heart Garland too!  It was actually my very first sewing project, but it hardly counts as sewing! 

The Great Sewing Marathon

In an effort to fulfill my 2011 goal of sewing more, Emily, Laura, and I planned a "Sewing Day" for this past Sunday!  We figured it would be way more fun and more help to each other if we all did it together!

Emily and Laura came over after church before the Winter Event started.  We set up in the nursery-to-be!  Laura was making the Lucy dress.  Emily was braving a new pattern -- the Sydney and, I was working on the Taylor bubble!  

These are terrible pictures but necessary for documentation!  Laura did not want her picture taken:)

We had a lot fun and made a little bit of progress.  We laughed at our lack of sewing knowledge, stupid mistakes, and the crazy amount of time that it takes us at this point to finish a project!!  One day, we will get better and we will be faster...at least that's what we keep telling ourselves!!  Practice makes perfect, right??

Laura had to leave mid-afternoon before the roads got icy, but Emily and I decided to press on!  We worked until 9:30 Sunday night with only a break for dinner.  Yikes!!  Things got worse before they got better!  Ha!  I think we were losing our minds!  

The mess!

My outfit in one, giant knot!  Ugh!

Since the weather was bad, Emily spent the night and we worked again on Monday!  (both of our offices were closed!)  Finally, by the end of the day Monday, we each finished our outfits!!!  Whew!  

Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the final projects until after they are given away to the lucky recipient, but stay tuned!!  

"L" is for Lynlee

This Saturday, I helped host a baby shower for Sabrina!!!  She is due with Lynlee Faith in September!  I absolutely cannot wait for her to arrive!!!!

I had so much fun doing my part for the shower and working with all of the other hostesses!  I was in charge of the wreath for the front door and making the breakfast casserole!   I had seen a friend make a moss covered wreath for her friend's baby shower so I decided I would try it.  I was very nervous that it would not turn out since I am not really all that crafty!  I was also not convinced that it would stay together until the shower was over and it survived!  Ha!  Sabrina and the others really liked itso I think it was a success!

I started with two rectangular foam shapes from Hobby Lobby.  I cut the corners off of the rectangles with floss (which worked great!) so that it would not be such a big letter.  

Then, I used a knife and cut a slit through one of the forms for the pink ribbon.  Next,  I glued the two shapes together to make an "L."  I first tried glue that is specifically for glueing styrofoam together.  It did nothing but drip on my counter.  So, then I moved on to hot glue which worked great! 

Finally, I hot glued reindeer moss from Hobby Lobby onto the entire form all the way around.  I was surprised that I did not even need 3 full bags of moss!  Here is the final product hanging at the shower!

The only thing I would change if I make another one is to use a stiffer ribbon, maybe with some wire in it so that I could make a bigger, prettier bow!

Here is my breakfast casserole along with all of the other food at the shower!  All of the hostess did such a great job with their food so everything tasted delicious!

As a gift for Lynlee, I wanted to make an outfit since I have been learning to sew!  I made the Taylor bubble in turquoise and white checked fabric!  I picked this fabric since it is not pink and since she may have red hair like her Momma!  It is not perfect and I made a mistake with the snaps, but overall, I think it turned out well!  I want to make so many more things for Lynlee!

Here are a few more pictures from the shower!  Katie has a beautiful house in Homewood that worked perfectly for the shower!  We had a great turnout and Sabrina recieved so many wonderful gifts!!  Now, we just wait for Lynlee to arrive!

Happy Birthday Rollins Ford Jones!!!

My friend Kat and her husband, Hank welcomed their first baby into the world on May 25, 2010!!

Rollins Ford Jones

6 lbs 6 oz

I finally made it to meet Rollins and visit Kat on Friday! Rollins is such a perfect and tiny little babe!

Since I have been learning to sew, I wanted to make Rollins something special! Hank and Kat have a French Bulldog named Scout that they love!!! I think she is actually their first baby:) In honor of Scout, I decided I would make the Johnny pattern for Rollins with a French Bulldog applique! I chose gray and white gingham fabric since gray is one of Kat's favorite colors and also one of the main colors in the nursery! I quickly ran into a problem - there are no French Bulldog appliques, period. So, I googled French Bulldog silhouette, found one I liked, printed it out, and then cut out some solid gray fabric in the shape of the bulldog! Then I went on to make my first ever John John! I sewed the applique on by hand-turning the wheel so that I could follow each curve and detail. I think that it turned out very well and so sweet!!

I also made a pacifier clip out of the same fabric and with a similar applique! Instead of the entire French Bulldog silhouette, this one just had the head of the bulldog!

I think that Kat was surprised and excited! Congratulations Kat and Hank!! I'm so excited for you!!!

New Ironing Board Cover

For Christmas, I recieved a sewing machine from my parents!!! I have been dying to learn how to sew and get busy making all sorts of things for around my house as well as baby clothes for friends!

My very first project was a kitchen and bathroom hand towel. I bought two white towels from the Dollar Tree (just in case I messed them up!) and some cheerful pink and red Joel Dewberry Fabric! I thought the end result was pretty good, but it definlty took F.O.R.E.V.E.R! The hardest part was trying to get the fabric straight at the top where it met the towel! I even had the leveler out!!

My second project was a new ironing board cover for myself! I thought this would serve two purposes: 1) A new sewing project that no one would necessarily have to see if it didn't turn out and 2) motivation to do the ironing on a new and cheerful cover!! I followed a tutorial that I found online here: http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2008/01/my-accidental-n.html

Notes:

At first, I used the cording that she suggested to gather the cover. However, I couldn't get it as tight as I wanted without slicing open my fingers. It also just didn't look that good. So, I used 1/4 elastic instead and it worked great! Also, I used double wide bias tape instead of cutting fabric on the bias as suggested. Here is the my new cover!!

Cutting out the new fabric

The final project!

When I showed my Mom my new cover, she requested that I make her one for Mother's Day!! Her ironing board is an irregular shape so she has not been able to buy a standard one! As I have found with anything in sewing, the second round always goes much faster and smoother than the first!

Here is my Mom's new cover with the fabric she requested!