Patchwork Twirler Dresses

I found an adorable patchwork twirler dress pattern on Etsy, here is the address of the shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetshop

And then I found this fabric:


One great thing + one great thing = Pure excitement!

So I got to work! These dresses were extremely time consuming, but worth ever minute! I have plans to make at least 4 more, plus some for my nieces.

I cut out the bodice pieces:

















I cut out all the squares, 105 for Heidi's dress and 87 for Karilyn's:

















I put the bodice together:

















I started attaching the layers:

















I used clear elastic for the gathering to save time, it really helped.

















I ironed each layer as it went on:

















I hemmed it:


















I slip stitched the inside of the bodice. The pattern suggested doing it another way, but I like this way so the seam isn't rubbing against their skin.

















I accidentally slip stitched a bit too much, or rather slip stitched the skirt into the top part, oops!

I used fray check for Heidi's dress, but I got smarter when I make Karilyn's and I zigzag stitched the seams. A serger would have come in handy for this part, I could have gone to use my mom's, but these dresses were already time consuming enough.

They're finally done!
I wanted to take pictures sooner, but the kids had the flu and I didn't want anyone puking on their new dress during the "photo shoot".






















Heidi wanted to go inside because she's "afraid of the wind", yes, afraid of the wind! I haven't heard that one before. She refuses to let us have any windows open, looks like it's going to be air conditioning all around for us, oh shoot.

Weekender Tote Project

I'm very excited to participate in an online sew along! This week is "gather supplies" week, probably the most fun!


Here is the fabric I chose:

I'm also making dresses for Karilyn and Heidi that will match. I'll be posting pictures of both along the way!

You can see my full progress here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18126702@N07/4546871608/in/pool-1358168@N25

Diana's Delectable Chocolates

At the last craft fair I did, I was approached by a shop owner who wanted to have my cards in her store. Her shop is in Louisville and the name of it is Diana's Delectable Chocolates, bet you thought I was talking about my baby from the title didn't you!

She makes yummy chocolates and has crafts in her store. I'm very excited about this, mostly just for the fun of it. I went on Friday to pick up my first "paycheck". I sold a whopping 4 cards for a grand total of $9.60. I'm positive sales will pick up once people know that they're there, if not, it's fun anyway! Right now I just have my smaller card rack there, but I might move my big one out too.




I've been working on a ton of projects, mostly sewing projects. I'm taking pictures of my progress and I will be posting pictures soon, well, as long as my Etsy shop slows down... Yes, you heard that right! For the first time since I open my shop I'm selling stuff as fast as my amazingly talented sister. I'm attributing it to the fact that she just had the most adorable baby boy that she's too in love with him to sell stuff. I'm sure once he gets a little older people will buy her stuff again and my glory day will be over, but it's been fun while it's lasted.

Cinderella

Karilyn recently played the part of mouse number 14 in "Cinderella" for the little theatre troupe through the stark county library. There were 23 mice total and Karilyn knew most of them by their number. She told me after one of the performances that "mouse number 13 had a bloody nose"-apparently a major event. Karilyn's good friend from church, Aiden, was mouse number 19. He was also her dance partner, which you can see in one of the pictures. They would only dance with each other. When another little mouse tried to dance with Aiden, he told her he had to dance with Karilyn. This happened at every performance, apparently Aiden is a very popular little boy, but he would only dance with Karilyn. So cute!

Karilyn's line was "Maybe we can cheer her up." She said it very well, but a bit quietly. She was in awe of Cinderella. During the song at the end she'd always forget to sing, instead, she would turn around and stare at Cinderella.

Karilyn made a lot of friends there, he favorite new friend though was Caroline, also known as mouse number 22. She's the teeny tiny one with blond hair sitting next to Karilyn in one of the pictures. Her and her two sisters are triplets. Caroline's sister, Emily(mouse number 21), fell off the stage during the last performance, poor little mouse! She's okay, just a little traumatized!


























And I'll leave you for now with this picture we took before church on Sunday:

Winter Wonderland!

We got some pretty serious snow! It started to fell yesterday evening and we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow! Yesterday there was no snow on the ground at all.




This huge snow drift was on our deck:

Diana's Room

When I was a little girl my mom did my room in yellow and green. I had a canopy bed and she made me a yellow bedspread with two girls braiding hair. She designed my room around this wallpaper:

She made me lots of things to match! I wish I had a picture to show you. I had matching lamps, a chair pad, and wall hangings. Well, she saved a bunch of it. There was half a roll of wallpaper that she saved along with the bedspread, and a few other items. So I got this idea to redo it while adding a new artistic touch for Diana's room. Here is how it turned out:






I'll add that the whole project was really cheap! The paint was $25.00, my mom made the curtain for Diana's gift, the curtain rod was from our old house, the chair rail we already had for a project that we didn't end up needing it for, the wallpaper paste was $10, and the shelf was free.

I plan on painting the ceiling fan blades to match the wall and make some hanging from the small pieces of left over wall paper, but it could be a while until I get these finished.

Don't let a little rain spoil your fun...

Heidi has a knack for sneaking out of the house. At random times of the day she'll just pick up and leave. Like yesterday, she saw our neighbor mowing his lawn so she thought she'd go out and have a chat with him.

So today it was pouring down rain and I thought, "oh good, I won't have to worry about Heidi leaving the house". I was wrong, she disappeared and I asked Karilyn, "where's Heidi?" She said, "oh, she went outside."

Sure enough, I look outside and she's there, playing in the sand box with her little umbrella.





She played outside for a long while before she came in all dripping wet and happy as a clam! And don't think I'm exaggerating, it WAS pouring!