Sewing & Other Stuff

I've been on a bit of a sewing kick for a while now.

I made two skirts at Easter time for the daughter-of-my heart Mimi Flope who is also Miss B's best friend and has been pictured a time or two in the past history of this blog.

Then I made a dress for Miss B, altering it from the pattern.

Then I used some fabric I had purchased over two years ago and made a gown & robe for myself...but I'm not thrilled with them....the fabric is stiffish with no give.

Then I bought a really great book from Amazon and made a sweet top & diaper-cover for one of my SmallPeoples clients for her birthday.

I have three skirts cut out for Miss B. She chose all the fabrics. Two of them use the same pattern and she & I are going to each sew one at the same time in order for her to begin sewing clothes. She's been doing bags and pillows on her own for quite a while now.

I have bought 3 cute dress patterns for myself and have been reading a lot of sewing blogs and perusing lots of fabric sites.

Yesterday I ordered this voile fabric pictured at left and can't wait to get it and start sewing the pattern pictured above. I'm planning to make view "c" entirely of this yummy print! I hope to post a picture of it when I've finished.

Miss B. is currently on a missions trip with 14 other teens in her youth group in Staten Island, New York. They are partnering with some missionaries there in a Liberian area. She is having the time of her life!

Charlie is taking her place working with me in her absence. It's been fun having him hang out with me these last few days. He even changed his first diaper (not soiled, of course).

What have you been up to?
Leslie

SmallPeoples House ETSY Shop

I'm so excited! I spent yesterday sewing up some nursing aprons to try my hand at selling on ETSY. Today I photographed them and added them, along with a few vintage dishes to my shop. SmallPeoples House on Etsy is officially open for business!

Come on over & check me out :)

My Week

Since tomorrow is a holiday for my dear Dr. Love, today is officially the end of my week! I was very busy...SmallPeoples House (my new in-home childcare business got off the ground, I did some sewing and I tried three new recipes (no, I haven't ironed anything this week).

Here's a picture of the flowers Dr. Love brought home to me. He knows that I looooooove tulips, and slightly used flowers (these were the centerpiece at a dinner he attended) don't bother me in the least (I worked for a funeral home & got "used" flowers all the time!). These white tulips are particularly beautiful to me, especially against my red wall.

Here's a couple of pictures of the new pillow slipcovers that I did (except for the crocheted-looking one):

I gave myself a pat on my back for thinking to remove the previous cover on that bolster, tear it apart and use it for a pattern!

And here are SmallPeoples House pictures:

My $15 Craigslist changing table with the new changing pad I purchased and a .99 cent Henry the Octopus toy from Goodwill.

The $1.00 garage sale high chair with the towel that I used for a bib. I need to sew ties onto it!

Two of four gates to limit access around the house. The wooden gate I purchased new to fit the wide entryway to the game room where there are numerous Legos and other assorted choking-sized toys. The plastic gate keeps my second story off-limits and was $1.00 at the same garage sale as the high chair.

Toys, all from Goodwill or Once Upon A Child. The basket has a bunch in it too.

Little Missy K's favorite toy (I like it, too!):

And, best of all, our napping chair!

Wishing you all a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Grace & Peace,

Leslie

Bridal Shower Gifts

Last Saturday I attended a bridal shower for my best friend's daughter who is getting married next week. My friend and I have been "besties" since kindergarten.....40 years! For a shower gift, I made some seasonal table runners & potholders and then added a cookbook that I think is phenomenal for a new cook. When I was going through my mother's wedding things, I found an unused, still in cellophane, shower gift card. Instead of using the original (shown in the picture), I copied it and cut it with deckled scissors to attach to my package.
Enjoy!

Christmas

Patriotic

Spring/Summer

Fall (no potholders, that's the back folded over)

My friend and I (sitting), the bride in white, my daughter in red

Pink Saturday

Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ is once again hosting Pink Saturday. Please click the link to visit her and find the list of this week's participants.

This is the first clothing item I've made for myself in quite a few years. After doing a bit of sewing for Miss B, I decided it was time to try. I especially like my pink shoes. I picked them up on clearance at Macy's last spring for under $20.

Enjoy Pink Saturday!

Whew!

Last week was extremely busy! I know that Monday was full but I can't remember with what!

On Tuesday I cleaned the sunroom really well, including all the windows, even the high up ones! I re-arranged the furniture in there too. I also dusted off and in some cases re-arranged & re-attached my tins in there.

My neighbors (and friends!) next door are expecting their first baby in August and on Wednesday I helped scrape wallpaper off the walls in what will be their nursery. Now you know my issues with wallpaper! I prayed the night before, asking God to help it come off and He did! There were only 2 walls and it took up about an hour to strip each wall! Then we washed them with T.SP and did the remaining walls also. They're planning an elaborate "under the sea" theme that should be pretty cute.
I also had a friend of Charlie's overnight whose parents were out of town.

On Thursday a dear long-time friend arrived with her son for an overnight visit. We had a great time catching up and also got in a little thrifting. Here's a not-so-great picture of us:
Friday night was the Greater Lafay.ette Heart Ball and in preparation I had my hair styled at the salon I've finally settled on here after 2 years! In addition to my firend and I receiving complimentary parrafin hand treatments (because I'd pre-booked the appointment on a previous visit) I also received a complimentary make-up touch-up. Which in my case was my entire face done for the evening! That was a huge treat! After a wonderful day of friendship I had a marvelous date with Dr. Love. And, we're famous! A shot of the top of his hair and my back flashed across the local news as they covered the Ball. Good thing my hair looked fabulous!

Earlier in the week I had promised Miss B that I would sew her dress so that she could wear it yesterday. I stayed up pretty late Saturday evening getting it together. I encountered a few things with the pattern that I hadn't done before, and the zipper gave me some trouble too. The end result rivals any store-bought dress, in my humble opinion. Here's a shot of her showing it off before we left for church yesterday morning. She already had the red shoes from a winter outfit and so she chose the fabric to go with them!


At church, Pastor Viars began a new series entitled "Finding Hope From Your Past." This first sermon focused on ways our pasts can benefit us. When he was finished, he challenged us to examine our pasts and make four lists this week: victories, blessings, forgivenesses and failures.

Yesterday afternoon we dropped off Charlie at Purdue's College of Technology TOTAL Camp. He's got a fun week scheduled. Here's a picture of him with his roommate, a nice boy from Merrill.ville.

This week is shaping up to be slower. I'm hoping to work on my quilt most of today. I do have two pair of shorts to sew for Miss B and her 80's prom dress to alter for her theatre class but I'm planning to save those for tomorrow.

I hope you have a great week too!
Leslie

Strippy Bag

This is the bag that Miss B and I created together. She saw a similar bag at Target that she liked for $20 so we set out to make our own. She picked out the fabrics, made a newspaper pattern of the shape that she was looking for, decided how wide the strips should be and placed them as she wanted. I did most of the sewing except for the strap. The inside is lined with the beige-y fabric. She's been using it to tote her essentials to theatre class in the afternoons.

One week down...

three more to go. Miss B is taking two summer school classes, PE & Theatre. So I'm spending quite a bit of time in my car these days and our daily schedule changes from day to day (and if you know me, you know I abhor change!) I've been able to hang out with Charlie one-on-one and that's been pretty cool. And watching Miss B mature a bit is fun too.

Here's the quilt I'm working on. It's not coming together as quickly as I'd like....having to run Miss B here & there twice a day on top of overseeing Charlie along with keeping up with the house doesn't leave me much quilting time. Plus I've done two other projects and have a dress in the works.

This is the fabric for Miss B's dress. I wish I'd seen it first because I love it too!

I ordered four swim components off the clearance page ($35.00 total) at Land's End.com and received free shipping. I had to mix & match tops & bottoms but I think they look alright for backyard swimming. I love the "swim mini" bottoms. I don't feel exposed if I walk around to the front of the house or out to the mailbox.

Miss B needs 3 costumes for her summer theatre class so we scouted our 3 local Goodw.ill stores on Saturday. We may have found the dress she needs for the prom scene; she took it to class with her this afternoon see if it gets approval. I found these sweet little silver pieces and they look great nestled in among the silver candlesticks on my table.


We noticed on Saturday that Charlie continues to get taller. Miss B thought it would be fun to be the Veri.zon bars. Hence this picture.

This bag is probably my best sewing accomplishment this year. Miss B couldn't find an E.lmo backpack for her baby brother's 1st birthday and so we set out to make one from scratch. She purchased the canvas fabric and the zipper and we downloaded the photo from a free internet site and printed it onto heat transfer paper. Miss B added baby bro's name and then I found the red webbing for the back straps. We even sewed pieces of plastic canvas into the large sides & bottom to give it stability. And the whole thing can be thrown in the wash machine!

"The Dress"

Make a Smilebox slideshow