The Girl is FIVE!

How did she go from a little four pound fourteen ounce nothing...

(seriously, looking at this picture of her as a newborn makes me cry!)

to this big five year old girl?

I am already hugging Josiah and telling him not to grow up so fast. ;0p

Juliana requested a rainbow skirt for her birthday. I wanted to make a cute Oliver and S pleated skirt, but all she cared about was that it was rainbow. So I just made a simple skirt and called it good!

This week has been busy. Filled with pinata action.

And lots of bike riding on her new bike. She can't stop talking about all the places she wants to go biking to with her daddy. All I want to do is hug her tight and keep her this sweet forever.

Bee Thirsty Mug Rug

I made this mug rug for my partner for The Scrappy Mug Rug Swap. I did it log cabin style, and I love how it turned out! I love making these little things. I get to use scraps, and within a couple of hours I have a really cute something to show for it!

For the center I embroidered these little bees on some linen because you know bees get thirsty...and love twirly straws! This embroidery come from the Picnic Fairy Stitchette in Wee Wonderfuls shop.

For the back I used some of this lemon fabric to match the lemonade the bees are slurping up.

The Fashionable Lady's Sewing Machine Cover

So, I made another sewing machine cover. This one was for my mom for her birthday. She loved the one I made last month. She had made a skirt out of these fashionable ladies, and I picked up the scraps leftover (I love going through her scraps.) thinking that I would make her a pillow, but then couldn't think of a single place in her where a pillow of this nature would go. So a sewing machine cover it was meant to be.

I fussy cut out a few of these fashion divas and added a simple border around them using some fabrics from Authentic and Freebird. For the main part I used Kona Bone which was the perfect off white . As I was cutting them out I realized what funny little sayings were in there. My favorite: "Everyone says I look so nice." Well, of course, she does! So I cut out a couple of these and then appliqued them on.

Now her machine is elegantly adorned, just as every well loved sewing machine should be.

Summer is officially over

Today was the girls' first day of preschool. There was much anticipation over this day, especially on Juliana's part.

I am officially done with my kid clothes making month. These little ruffle shorts about did me in. I was originally going to make these Ruffle Capris by Pink Fig, but I waited until yesterday to make them, and kept fiddling with my rolled hem on the serger and trying to make them perfect. Then around ten last night, I just knew I needed more time to get the ruffles right, but I didn't have more time and my brain was turning off. So they turned into ruffle shorts, but still cute, right? For her shirt I just embellished a white t-shirt with some little roses and put one on barrette for her hair.

For Felicity (what am I going to do with this kid?) I made Oliver + S Sailboat Pants and Top. I have been wanting to make this pattern forever. I made it in a size 3, and it is a little big. I used grey corduroy for the pants and a little Sandpiper fabric from Cloud 9 for the top. I will admit to not being crazy about how the fabric for the top feels, especially since it was expensive! For some reason after washing it feels really stiff, which is strange since I have some other fabric from them which doesn't feel like that.

For the top I chopped off the sleeves (a lot) to make 3/4 sleeves since we will still have warm weather for awhile here. I must have marked my buttonholes wrong on the shoulder because I accidentally had one in the seam allowance (woops.) So I only put on button on each shoulder.

Now I am on to some birthday sewing. Lots of birthdays this month and lots of plans on my part for some homemade gifts (at least, that is the plan.)

Urban Home Goods Swap

This past week was hot, hot, HOT. Way too hot. It was 111 on Wednesday, and my poor AC couldn't even keep up. So we stayed in the house a lot, and I got some sewing done in the afternoons. Right now it 78, and all I can say is fall can't come soon enough!

So, this week I took a break from sewing the kid clothes to work on my swap package for the Urban Home Goods Swap. I was working on these hexies all over vacation for this fall inspired sewing machine cover. I love how it turned out, and hope my partners loves it too! I was inspired by the sewing machine cover in the book "I Love Patchwork". One of my favorite crafting books right now. I just switched the strips of fabric she uses for the hexagons and added a scrappy binding because I thought the plain white side needed some pop of color.

I also made my partner a big coaster or "mug rug" for her coffee or tea for when she sews! This was a fun simple little project. There is also a Scrappy Mug Rug Swap getting under way if you are interested!

I also made this mug rug for myself. I love Castle Peeps, and I used one of the block patterns from the first issue of Fat Quarterly by Comfortstitching. I love how the King is waving hello!

My last items for my partner are two kitchen towels. I used some cotton/linen blend fabric for the towel and then embellished them with some appliqued stars. I tried out the fabric for drying, and it was perfect!

Next week...I return to kid clothes!

Swaps and Blocks

Back from a lovely vacation. So lovely I barely took any pictures. ;0) I did get this one at Hearst Castle. We pumped the girls up about going to a castle. Juliana was excited at first and talking all about princesses, but in the end wasn't convinced that going on a long tour of a castle in the heat was fun. She declared that it had been an exhausting day! I even got to stop in at Birch Fabrics (aka Fabric Worm). Talk about heaven.

I am trying to get ahead with my swaps and stuff before starting on my next clothing item.

These are some hexies that I will be using for my partner for the Urban Home Goods Swap. They are almost all sewn together. This was the sewing that I got done over vacation.

I finished up my quarters for the Mod Bento Block Round Two. Yay! I guess I was feeling my green and pink scraps this round.

Then I made the block for August for The Fussy Cut Bee. I will be honest and say I wasn't feeling these fabrics at first but I am pleased with how it turned out in the end.

Castle Peeps Skirt

When I first saw Castle Peeps I knew Juliana would love it. She draws castles and princesses all. day. long. I literally have hundreds of sheets of papers covering my house filled with drawings. (It sometimes drives me a little crazy. Not the creative part....the paper all over my house part.)

I decided to use the Tea Party Apron Skirt pattern by Pink Fig for this skirt. I carry it in the shop if you are interested.

A little review of the pattern:

I have never used a Pink Fig pattern before, and I liked her style. Pretty tutorial-ish. I don't like how it is on a big piece of paper that opens up b/c it is just too big to really put anywhere, but a lot of paper patterns are like that. The steps were clear and easy to follow. However, she does assume that you know how to sew and are not a beginner. She doesn't explain things like gathering.

I didn't alter the pattern at all except to leave off the apron because well...I think it looks kind of silly. Plus, I in no way wanted to hide the Peeps of the Castle land! She also includes a little flower tutorial in the pattern too to jazz up a t-shirt or the apron, if you want to make one.

Do you see the baby in this picture? I just noticed him! (and the other little hand resting on his head. Poor little guy gets a lot of head pats.)

Juliana could not wait to wear this skirt, and fortunately the girls went to a tea party birthday party and got all dressed up. Felicity is wearing her Claire tie knot dress. It is funny how using the same fabric for the trims make them look they go together so well.