Petal Pillow

               A long while back, a friend of mine gave me oodles of white fabric of all different weights and textures.  And when I say oodles, I am talking yards upon yards...FOR FREE!    I actually used the fabric to decorate my daughter's fairy birthday party back in October to only be piled up again in my sewing room after the event.  It has been taunting me and beckoning me, just waiting for me to do something with it.   Therefore, I have been finding ways to make use of some of it. 

    I decided to dye a few yards of a satin fabric a very pale pink as well as dying some silk material the same color.  I made a simple tablecloth with the satin material for Valentine's Day.  And, with the silky material , I made this...

                                        I just love it! 

 It oozes with frilly-ness and girly-girl.  Stuff that I go crazy for.   I actually made a similar one as a birthday gift a while back for a very special friend of my son's and knew that I must make some for myself.  Also, after seeing & hearing all of the reaction's from the other mom's, I knew it was a hit, not just for the gift receiver, but a hit with all of them.  Yay for me!  It's always a bit nerve rattling giving gifts to people that you have personally handmade.  You know?

       I was inspired by this pillow here.  Some of the most lovely and beautiful things created with fabric are displayed on this site.    I love visiting V and Co.  and admiring Vanessa's creativity and work.  It is so visually appealing.  You can totally see the passion she has for what she is doing.  She truly is inspiring.

             For the petal pillow, except for a couple minor modifications, I pretty much followed the instructions given to make this super-awesome pillow.  The modifications that I did were to add a fusible lite weight interfacing to each of the pillow pieces. Because of the fabric's delicate nature, I felt it needed a little more stability while sewing it together.  Because it wil be going into my daughter's bedroom, I felt it would also need a bit more durability.

                             In addition to, I opted to make a fabric flower and fabric covered button for the center of my felt flower instead of a felt round. 

                       A very simple & fun project!  I can't wait to make more...but before I can make more beautiful pillows, I must tackle 60 book bags for my son's 2nd grade class.  And that's a whole other posting!!

Through the Eyes of a 4-Year Old

                 Sweet Little L is obsessed with my camera.  If my back is turned for just a moment & the camera is in her reach, that camera will disappear.  Although it drives me a tad bit bonkers, I have to give her credit for her stealth-like snatching.  On Valentine's Day, while I am in the laundry room, I hear Sweet Little L puttering about, opening and closing doors, giggling and tee heeing and repeating Baby M's name over and over and over again.  And I think to myself, "She is up to no good."  I head upstairs and there is Sweet Little L with the biggest mischievous grin on her face and she says to me, "I have been taking pictures, Mommy."  How proud she is of herself.

           I find the camera and take a look.  The photos she has taken are pretty darn good!  I tell her this & she just giggles.  She  really is the cutest and sweetest thing.

           So without further ado, I offer you Sweet Little L's debut as    
                                    the "Photographer in the Making". 
                                           
 **I must warn you, if you are a wee bit squeamish, you may want to turn away.  Little L has been getting over a nasty cold and she has a few very  close-up self portraits (and I'm talking really close up). * *
       Also, lots of photos of Baby Sister M.

Happy Baby M

  
    

Happy Baby M...at the moment

Still happy

A slightly irritated Baby M

Baby M no longer amused

                                                                                       

Some self-portraits

ewwww...get a tissue, Sweet Little L...geez

   

The "Eye-clopse"

Photographing  some Valentine's Day loot & decor

Close up shot of Big Brother's pillowcase that I made

The two surviving balloons after the late night cat attack

This is an outdoor shot.  If you look very closely, in the trees you will
see an orange speck.  That would be our kitten Hammi clinging for his life in the tree. 
Little L found this to be very humorous.  No worries. All is well with Hammi.  A little price he had to pay for chasing squirrels. 

She had taken many more, but I won't torture you with them.
Overall, I think she did a beautiful job and has quite the eye.
Nice work Little L.

I have been working on a little something for my sneaky 4-year old that I can't wait to share with you all!
I hope to have it finished and posted tomorrow.
Until then...

Easy Pillowcase Tutorial

                                          Pillowcase Tutorial

  For every holiday or special occasion I make my wee ones a pillowcase that matches the theme of that holiday or special occasion.  I will also, most times, make them matching pajama bottoms.  It has become a bit of a tradition for us and my children always look forward to receiving them.  Making the pillowcase is  very fast and incredibly simple!  With Valentine's Day only a  day away I need to get my rear in gear and start sewing so as to not disappoint the little buggers.  And while I am at it, I thought I would post my first tutorial.  So Peggy, if you are reading this post, this tutorial is for you!!  

   This is just for a very basic standard size pillowcase.  I will later post tutorials on how to make them more frilly and what not using different types of trims. Enjoy!

What you will need:

3/4 yard fabric for pillowcase body cut into a piece that is 27" x width of the fabric
11" x width of the fabric for the cuff edge

Basic Supplies:

thread
scissors/rotary cutter
cutting matt
pins

You will first want to wash and iron your fabric before cutting and sewing.  Once finished ironing, locate your camera that has been taken hostage by a 4-year old photographing herself.  Retrieve your camera once a deal has been made with the 4-year old.  (Usually anything containing sugar will win this particular 4-year old over.)

                          Cut your fabrics to the dimensions below:

                          pillowcase body= 27" x width of the fabric

                                 cuff = 11" x width of the fabric

pillowcase body is the pink fabric with skunks
the cuff is the squiggly print fabric

Place the cuff fabric right side up with the raw edges at the top and bottom and the selvages at the sides.

Then place the pillowcase body fabric right side down on top of the cuff fabric, lining up the top raw edges and pin in place. 

You may find that your selvage sides do not match up, therefore, go ahead and trim the selvage edges to the same width.

                              Now you will  begin rolling the pillowcase body fabric
                        until you reach the bottom edge of your cuff fabric.

Roll until you are able to grab the cuff fabric. 

Then pick up the cuff fabric and  bring the cuff fabric up to the raw edges that have been pinned.

You will now remove the pins and re-pin so that all the fabric is lined up and pinned together again.  This will create a tube.

The cuff fabric will now be on the outside of the fabric wrong side out and the top of the cuff, top of the pillowcase body and bottom of the cuff will now be pinned together.  The pillowcase body will be rolled up inside the tube that you have created.

                 Now sew along the pinned edge using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Then search for my tiny scissors that I prefer to cut threads with.  Pesky   4-year old had decided to play hide and seek with them earlier that afternoon and I am now unable to locate them. Because it is very late at night and the  4-year old is now sleeping ever so peacefully, I opt to let her sleep rather than wake her, demanding to know where she has hidden them.  Grrrr.....proceed with a crummy, dull scissors until tomorrow when, hopefully, favored tiny scissors will be found!!

(I then went back and did a zig zag stitch along the same edge.  You may or may not choose to.  Completely up to you.)

 

Once edge has been sewn, reach inside the tube and turn fabric right side out.

The seam allowances have now been magically hidden inside the

cuff!  Amazing isn't it?  I was in complete awe the first time I ever

did this.

 

Press the pillowcase flat. 

I then did a topstitch along the cuff (bottom of the cuff where the pillowcase

body and cuff meet and also along the top edge of the cuff.  Again, entirely up to you if choose to do this.  I

like how it looks and it  helps keep the hidden seam from

bulking up after multiple washings and drying.  I am not into

having to iron my linens after washing and drying and this seams to help

prevent the unwanted ironing chore).

                                    If you like, iron again to set the topstitching.   Fold the pillowcase right sides together and pin.  Sew the bottom and the side edge followed by doing a zig zag finish along the edges.

           Turn your pillowcase right side out, push out the corners  and give it a final press. 
                             
          Now marvel at your creation!!

You can have these made in well under a 1/2 hour from start to finish.

I also like to make toddler/travel size pillowcase.  Follow
the steps above only using the following dimensions below:

Toddler/Travel Pillow
8.25" x 24.25" for cuff
14.25" x 24.25" for pillowcase body

Happy Valentine's Day!

Proudly linking up to the following:

First Tutorial to be Posted Soon, Soon, Soon!

I am hoping to have my first tutorial posted later this evening.  Please, check back!!!!

The Camera Bandit

Birthday Wishes for Mom

 (This post was suppose to be done on Monday and yes, I am a tad bit of a slacker, but my house has been occupied by three sick wee ones. Oh, and I did make an actual phone call.  Now if I could just get her gift made.)

Happy Birthday, Mom! 

Many, many birthday wishes to an amazing mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and the bestest, greatest, most incredible Grummie there ever was!  You really are the best.  May your birthday make you feel as beautiful and special as you are and hoping happy dreams and magical moments surround you on your special day.  The wee ones and I are sending you many pocketful of kisses!

Love you Mom (aka Dah-lene...oops Darlene)