Just a little rambling

I always have good intentions when it comes to my blog. I intend to post often but it just doesn't always happen. Life happens and gets in the way of intent sometimes.

First we have been very busy on the school front. We have been playing math games with dice, This is a great way to encourage addition, subtraction multiplication and even division. All you need is a pair of dice per child, a piece of paper and pencil. We often sit around the table and play games so this is not unusual. I use the dice to help the children remember their math facts. The person with the answer first wins the round. One round is addition, the next will be subtraction, then Multiplication, then division. For more complicated rounds we add the total of the dice and then multiply or divide it by the smallest number rolled. We also have been off to the park twice, its a mile walk and then we played ball, walked the track and of course played on the equipment. One of those days my pedimoter said I walked over 6.5 miles!  Another favorite game this past week has been Scrabble Slam. It's the card game scrabble and its quick easy and fun. You play with four letter words changing them with one card. It helps children learn word families and how one letter changes a whole word. Great fun and even my 7 year old likes to play.

There has been a new addition to the family, Lizzy is her name. I will post about her later this week. I have been trying to get good pictures of her but she has been a bit camera shy.  

Of course a good number of us also got sick in the last few weeks. Head colds are never fun and they are always long lasting when you have a large family. I am sure glad I don't have more kids because I can't imagine how long it would take to get everyone healthy. My kids tend to not get sick until the person before them is just about better. So for us if each kid is sick it usually takes about a month before the whole house is healthy again. I know some families get sick and all do it together which I am sure is miserable but hey, at least its all over with quickly!

I have also been trying to sew, but with sick kids and constant interruptions that has not been an easy task. I have many patterns cut out and just waiting for me to get them together, adorable aprons that are calling out to me to finish creating them. I need a designated sewing room... maybe the kids should all bunk up in one bedroom so mom can have a sewing room? nah! the fighting would drive me crazy! :) I know the attic... hmmm somewhere there is bound to be a space for me to create a private little oasis of creativity.

Of course lets not forget the Giveaway! It ends Wednesday night at 12pm EST. So its not to late to share and enter! Remember you can enter more then once. Share a link on your blog, or social networking site and share on my where you shared the giveaway... You will be entered for each share as well as your original entry.
Drawing winners will be announced on Thursday morning! 

Apron's

Well I have been absent from my own blog for a little while and the reason is I have been busy sewing and creating a facebook page just for the sale of my lovely creations.

I have mostly Apron's on the page right now and have the fabric choices listed so that I can do custom orders.

You can find my facebook page Here.

Some of the adorable styles I have up on my page are my finished Cherries apron (this one is mine, I have a policy to always sew for me first. Then I can sew whatever I want for others.)

My Apron on me

My Apron on the Bookworm

Reversible Half Moon Apron

Other side of Apron

Up close of pattern 

I have several more apron's in the works and am taking special orders for the holiday season. I have fabric listed on my page so the order can be placed for custom orders.

I am still awaiting the replacement for my camera and I am using my daughters camera. The color on the camera is not very true and I have limited ability to edit the pictures well enough to get the shading right. I miss my camera and my ability to take pictures that turn out beautifully.

Repurposed Curtians.

I found these handmade curtians at the salvation army.

I saw them and thought O my! I could totally make these into the cutest apron ever!

They are already just about the right size and only really need some ties to hold them back, perhaps a cute little pocket and then you have an adorable apron to use while cooking.

Don't you just love these little puff ball fringes? I do!

The vintage fabric is adorable.

I took some fabric I already had on hand that matched the green in the fabric pretty closely to make the ties.

Check out the ruler, its metal on one side and then backed with cork to make it non skid. I love it for placing on my fabric. It wont slide and stays where I place it for perfectly clean cut lines.

It turns out that there is enough of this fabric to make an apron for all the girls in my house. My youngest has been asking me for an apron for over a year now and being that my life was complex and breaking out a sewing machine wasn't so easy not that long ago. I decided to let her have the first one. It is cute and small because so is she.

Here is the finished product:

Here is my adorable girl modeling for me.

Recycled Skirt

Today I got to sew. I spent hours sewing in fact. Its the first time since we moved that I have had the sewing machine out, So of course I over did it.

I started this project a while back (probably 8 months ago, before my life turned upside down) So I do not have any pictures of how these jeans started out, or the dress that I used either. But the new skirt and its many stages have pictures.

I started with an old beloved pair of jeans that had worn to thin in the thigh area to be suitable to wear any longer. I cut cut off the legs just at the fold for the crotch. (sorry there is no nice way to say that when you are talking about sewing old clothes) I left the top part of the jeans in tact. I then disassembled a less then flattering very out dated, someone donated it to me dress. The print is a cute little floral number that I love but the cut and style were very dated and just not so flattering. We wont mention the buttons... yes they were that bad.

Once I got the dress into pieces I started to assemble the layers. I needed to take two strips and sew them together then I ran stay stitching around the top.

It looked like this:

Once that was finished I started the long process of pinning the piece to the top half of the skirt while I pulled the thread to add small gathers to the floral part.

Like This:

Once I had a million pins in the thing I began to sew it together. First I sewed it inside out, then I flipped it and sewed it with a top stitch (in the ditch) as shown below.

First row completed it looked like this:

Then I moved onto the second tier, which is another layer of the same floral fabric.

Second Tier added

 I turned and top stitched (in the ditch) each layer for added strength.

closer look of stitching in the ditch

Then I decided to finish off the edge with some eyelet lace. It gave it a nice finished look and its a perfectly comfortable skirt.

Eyelet going on one way

Eyelet flipped and being top stitched in place

I got a cute skirt that cost me nothing more then a little time and energy. Its all completely recycled right down to the eyelet lace that once belonged to my grandmother.

Ignore the backdrop, just look at the cute skirt!
Please?

Fall

I love the fall.

I love the crisp air and the anticipation of cooler weather.

I love the smell of rain on the earth.

I long for days spent quietly with a good book.

I am a crafter and I long for a craft room where I can lock the door behind me and just create.

inside of the diaper bag I made for my cousin.

                            The outside of the diaper bag.

A post stitch crocheted baby blanket for my cousins baby. Booties to match. 

The most colorful star ripple blanket made for a dear dear friend. I have made a couple of baby blankets that have the same pattern but I love this one with all the vibrant colors. 

Relaxation masks filled with a blend of lavender & rice. They make wonderful soothers for headaches and are good either hot or cold. 

I love to create wearable fun jewelery too

My favorite thing that I have made was made for myself for the first time in over 15 years. It is called the Wool Eater and I love this blanket. it reminds me of fall. It is lap blanket size and had I not run out of yarn I would have made it larger, but it is perfect for sitting under with that afore mentioned good book. 

I think the time has come for me to break out my crafting skills again, they always seem to take a back seat in the summer as I am usually busy doing so many other things. The fall is when the crafting bug starts to hit and I have miles of yarn that need to be used, yards of fabric that are calling for me, piles of beads that are screaming to be made into something beautiful to wear and lets not forget all the creations in the kitchen I am longing for. Apple pie, pear torts, fresh baked breads and soups and stews. I love to cook too... perhaps tomorrows blog will delve into that subject. Today I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into things I love & have created.