PROM DRESS!

When my baby sister texted me that she was going to prom, I totally flashbacked and got EMBARASSINGLY excited for her.  I kind of feel that I'm reliving my high school days by being close to her, and this was NO exception.

I got really excited and asked her to go prom dress shopping with me.  Again, it should have been the other way around; either she would have asked me to go with her, or the realistic point of her just going with her friends.  Who really wants to go shopping with your older sister?  Isn't that like taking your dad?

But then one morning she sent me a few frantic texts of pictures, her wearing different dresses and which one should she get?  What jewelry goes with it?  What could her date wear if she got this dress or that dress?

OooOoh!  I was so excited that she was asking me.  Thoughts of beautiful dresses flashed in my eyes and my mind started reeling with things to add or do to whatever dress to make it super trendy and unique.  She had to bring me down a couple notches.

Being the classy chick that she is, she wants to be more "sharp" and "classy" and "sophisticated", rather than "I-want-people-to-remember-my-ultra-trendy-just-like-the-great-80's-poufy-sleeve" for prom.  She found this GREAT medium-toned, brown dress with pintucks all the way to the ground and a beautiful ribbon at an empire waist.  Only problem was that it was just a little too long and even though she's convinced she needs 5" heels, she still needed some alteration to the length.

We went shopping today for shoes for her, and even though she didn't find any, she got a few good leads.  THEN we found the find of the CENTURY: her date's tie.  It is my understanding that he already has a suit that he wanted to wear, but he doesn't know how to really coordinate with a girl's dress [makes sense... boys...], so he asked her to help him figure out what to wear.  I must say, I'm pretty impressed with the image in my head of these two prom-goers.  I'm excited for her!

So, tonight was all about the dress.  Who knew I could do alterations on prom dresses?

Moving Right Along

So, I got this quilt finished. I machine quilted it with inspiration from a few different quilters' blogs that I read. I did a triple diagonal stitch to the right and a single diagonal to the left and finished the borders with a nice 1/4 inch double fold and blanket stitch. I've discovered how much I LOVE the blanket stitch. Pretty impressed. Maybe someday soon, I'll try a different binding, but I just love the way these look.


Now, I'm moving back to this quilt. Quick refresher:

Quilt for Kids

In my previous post, I said I did a quilt for the Quilt for Kids project. I am VERY excited to say that I'm done with it (in record setting time, I'd say) and nearly ready to send it back in the mail. Just needs to be washed and dried.

The Quilt for Kids, Inc. is a program that takes donated fabric and fabric that would otherwise have landed in a landfill and make quilts for kids that are hospitalized, in poverty stricken families, or who have been victims of crime. Their website has stories of children keeping their "security blankie" on their lap as they appear in court or on their bed as they receive their next dose of chemo.

Every blanket has been handmade by volunteer quilters and Downy "Touch of Comfort" has now partnered with Quilt for Kids to provide a monetary donation for every specially labeled product they sell.

Yep, this was a pretty good use of my National Quilting Day. And in case you can't tell, the blue squares on the inside of the quilt have bright yellow duckies on them.

Not Quite Nesting

Nesting by definition is when expectant mothers start preparing a dwelling for their kids. Well, I'm not having kids [soon to have a puppy], but I'm finally getting somewhere with setting up the house. I've been working on this for awhile, but I'm finally seeing some finished products. And I like it.

This is now what the dining room wall looks like. I guess I won't be taking any more pictures of quilts up against that wall...

Then, yesterday while Love and I were tooling around town running errands, we came across this chair. We are constantly scrounging for places for people to sit when we have company, and one less camp chair in the living room makes me smile.

Puppy Prep

What do puppies need?



Leashes!

Last night I set to work to finish the puppy bed and matching leash. I'm in LOVE with plaid.

Marissa's Quilt

I've been getting MUCH better at my corners.... thought I'd show them off a bit. This is Marissa's Quilt finished.

Baby G's Blocks

Awhile ago, I found a picture online of some fabric baby blocks. I thought they were ADORABLE and set out deconstructing them from the picture. I sat there and stared at it until it all made sense.

I wanted each block to have a little bit different design to it, so we've got blue circles, green swirls, yellow stripes, and red stars. I found all of the bright fabrics at JoAnn's and added a secondary fabric to each block. Most of those were scraps that I had from other projects.

The only thing was that when I found the blocks, I couldn't think of any kiddos that might be interested. But now I do!

Enjoy Baby G!

Hmm... Polka Dots

I had decided awhile ago that for the last decorative pillow for the sofa, I wanted to try a Cathedral Window that I found on this tutorial from Hyena In Petticoats. This is a GREAT tutorial because it is put down step-by-step and because I'm a visual person, the pictures help A LOT!




I was going at a pretty good pace, but then got distracted by some other fabric that was sitting out. I really shouldn't leave fabric laying around becasue I'm bound to drop everything and start a new project.

At least I finished this one.

I picked up this fabic a few days ago and had NO idea what I was going to do with it. I didn't get a lot because it was just a remnant, but it turned into a 30 x 30 blanket. Small, but I imagine a cute little baby laying down on it.

I'll get back to my Catheral Window Pillow soon. Updates later.

Duckie Blanket

I said I'd share better pictures when it was light out. I'm pretty proud of this blanket. It might be my favorite if only because of the orange duckies. And a shout out to Love for holding it while I fiddled with my camera to take a picture.

Aurora's Blanket

Aurora's Blanket

I like this blanket. I used nine different and most amazing remnant fabrics for the blocks and then a solid cotton for the borders. And just because I LOVE a good fleece blanket, I quilted fleece to the back.

I'm also falling in love with my blanket stitch on my sewing machine. Pretty much AMAZING!

This blanket goes rather nice with my dining room...

Sofa Pillows

Ok, so I've made 5 new pillows so far for the living room. This is my beloved orange sofa. I don't think I could live without it. Seeing that it sees SO many heads, butts, and naps, I needed some sturdy pillows along with some decorative ones.

Love picked out some gorgeous deep brown cotton that has a slight sheen to it, so I made two pillows of solid brown cotton. Then I made two pillows with solid tan flannel. These are most likely going to get the bulk of the use.

The decorative pillow that I started with was the one from the Martha Stewart website tutorial. I am REALLY not one for following the directions, but I DID! I followed the directions just like it said, and this pillow will most likely not hold up to any possible use. Apparently, it is decorative only. My problem was that when I stuffed it, the more filling I used, the more the "pinches" came out of it and no longer had the deep creases I'd created. It still looks nice, but it isn't going to be one that will stand up to any sort of butt shuffling or drool.

I plan on trying the Cathedral Window pattern to make another solid brown decorative pillow for the sofa and I have a long narrow pillow I'm making with the brown and a slight gold patterned fabric in a colorblock. In the end, there will be TONS of comfy pillows.

Oh, Projects.

Meet my new project. I'm much further along on this project than this picture makes it appear, but that is just because I'd packed up my camera before my sewing machine....





And do you remember this one? Yeah, it's officially finished.

Baby Quilt: Finished

Last night I decided it was a fine time to finish the baby quilt. Love ended up staying WAY late at work and it gave me the opportunity to push myself to see what all I could get done. This is a light baby quilt backed with a light yellow flannel. I'll admit, the size is a little unconventional, but I don't care; I love this quilt. Finishing at 33 x 47 inches, it is just the right size and weight for a soft blankie.

As with any project I've done lately, I definitely didn't use a pattern. That's my downfall. In this case, I got distracted at some point and forgot to put in additional separating strips between panels. Either way, I love the way this one turned out. And it has a basic pattern....

Catch-Up

Yesterday was a pretty great day that didn't include any projects. Or at least, not really. After a successful work-out at the gym with my husband, he went off to work and I went and enjoyed some much needed girl time. We went to a spa and got PEDICURES! I don't frequently have people do my nails for me because I feel I can adequately do them myself most of the time. Yet sometimes, it is TOTALLY worth it to go out and enjoy a little pampering.

Afterward, we went to this quaint little (or not really so little because there were about a million people waiting to be seated) restaurant for dinner. Now, I've definitely heard stories about how good the food is, etc., etc. I'm not sure why, but I just never decided to eat there until last night. IT.WAS.AMAZING. They had an eclectic, small menu, but it had some good choices on it that sounded wonderful. I ended up picking a burger and chips. WOW. One of the greatest burgers of all time.

As for projects, I didn't get much done yesterday, like I said. A couple nights ago, I'd remembered a tutorial I saw while web-browsing and decided to do that for more flair in the dining room, but once I started, I realized that I'd need my husband to help with the spray paint. So, that might wait until he's got time on the weekend.

But that didn't stop him from waking me up this morning so I could help him with a project he's been bugging me to do. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of impressed with his ingeniousness, but it took me awhile to figure out what he meant and where he needed things stitched. And this is what he came up with; a tactical tourniquet.

It has a cinch buckle on one end with a clip sewn in about an inch away. On the strap, there is a floating "D" ring and then a sewn in "D" ring as a stopper through the cinch.

As in his example, once you get the tourniquet in place and cinched on, you can tighten it by moving the floating "D" ring close to the clip, twist to tighten and lock with the buckle.

Well, now that THAT project is temporarily finished, I'll go back to working on a baby quilt. P.S. I also bought more fabric and am excited for what it is going to turn into!

I have a rapidly growing "To Do" list of projects. Next up will be to finish a couple of things I've started, design and construct a rifle ammo case for my husband, make myself a Christmas stocking, and finally make a tote bag of some kind. I'm excited for that!